Dreaming Ends

"God, you look awwwwwwful." Shand grimaces at the sight of her, more for her benefit than his as he sizes her up and down.

"Sorry about Ears. She was such an unbelievable delight and a ray on sunshine upon this earth."

Either the alcohol or the situation or the years he's lived so far, or a combination, has numbed Shand's fear altogether so that he approaches the mouth of the cave boldly although not in a very straight line, spitting in the direction of Ears' crystal-frozen corpse as he passes it.

"I'd be in mourning too, if I️ was a washed up, blind old bat whose favorite person on earth died just to get away from her."

Shand raises both his arms out almost in a challenge, although there is no lightning yet. He's still just toying with her.

However, he has pulled the ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto his finger, making sure to roll it across his bloody arm before doing so.

"Not to mention, trends change, Olvreign. This junk may have been all the rage when I️ first met ya, but I️ said it then and I'll say it again."

Shand put a boot on a short outcrop of crystal and kicks it over with ridiculous force.

"You're tacky and I️ hate you. And just because I'm in particular need of some catharsis, today is the day you die."

"Oh, is that what you came for?"

Olvreign sizes him up and down a few times but that spark of disgusting interest she once had for him all those years back is completely gone and she sees the man that stands before her now.

"Bold words coming from a shell of a man."

Clearly unthreatened by his tone, posture, and words, she turns her back to him to walk further into the cave, no more bothered than him as if he were a fruit fly on the opposite side of a room from her.

"I think you have the story wrong. She didn't die to get away from me. She died because of that fool of a man she pledged her life to. He didn't deserve her. He doesn't even deserve to remember her fondly. The idiot, if he actually cared, he shouldn't have taken his eyes off her. Although..."

When she looks over her shoulder at him, her green eye is glowing wildly. He is trash in her eyes, that much is obvious like she's upset with him at how the situation turned out.

"Then again, I suppose you're here just the same. You're here because you 'cared' for her, yes? If you actually did, then this would all be unnecessary. You are just as much of an oblivious, hopeless idiot as the man aging alone in a cabin by himself desperately trying to rewrite history for someone he couldn't even keep alive and love properly. You both disgust me."

It's true. All around the town Shand had wandered in people were singing praises of the death of the "witch" and there were even old wanted posters still plastered on every wall and building. Not that Shand had gone into anything close to a library, but the history books reflect this undeserved hatred. Perhaps it's for the best he didn't see those.

"I'll only say this once more, pirate-boy: Leave."

Her choice of words is pointed, painfully so.

“The disgust is mutual.” Shand scowls, his face laughably judgmental and at the same time, contrived that way to hide the pinprick of pain at what Nameless has called him so many times.

“If you cared, maybe you’d be doing something about it. You’re as bad as Ivor, sitting around doing nothing, feeling sorry for yourself.”

Shand follows her into the cave now, yelling after her and when the cave starts to get too dark to see, he holds out his hand and sparks up a writhing ball of lightning to light his way.

“What are you gonna do if I️ don’t leave, huh? You gonna kill me? I’ve waited two thousand years for action like this. Don’t disappoint me, not after I’ve come so far.”

He keeps poking at her, taunting her with his slightly drunken slur as he follows her into the heart of the cave, the lightning in his hand cracking and jolting more and more with each step.

"You would like me to kill you, wouldn't you?"

The cave finally opens up to a small cavern that Olvreign has been calling home for the past year, repairing herself for another attack.

"Seeing you like this, stupid and broken, is much more amusing."

She glides over towards the back, there, hanging off a crystal in the wall, is a very recognizable hat, tattered and torn, but still notable.

Drawn like a moth to a flame, she approaches it, taking it from its hanging space, holding it away to examine it. This is routine for her, she probably does this a handful of times each day.

"Filth, all of you. All of you did this."

Taking a deep breath, she rests the hat on her head. It doesn't seem right, it's not the same. The color clashes with her bright hair and outfit, it's all wrong, but, even after seeing her reflection in the mirror, she doesn't take it off.

Turning to him, she snaps her fingers, the crystal closing the path out behind him.

"I may not want you dead but if I can increase your pain, I gladly accept the challenge."

“Sure thing, witch bitch.” Shand says dismissively, rolling the ball of lightning around in his hand several times, and as it moves it sparks especially upon the ring he wears, as if it is conducting the heat.

“But before we start this, just so we’re on the same page about the end game, I’m here for Luna’s soul. So pain or not, I’m blowing up your happy rainbow party and taking Luna with me when I️ go.” He watches her in Luna’s hat like she’s playing dress up and his lip curls into a silent snarl.

“And I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt since our worlds work so differently and we’ve been estranged for quite some time. But I’ve been alive over two thousand years now, give or take, and although I’ve grown out of my curious and investigative phase, it happened to be one of my longest ones.”

He whispers something to the ball of lighting in an unrecognizable language and it floats slowly and unthreateningly to the ceiling of the cavern.

“Long story short, I’ve added some new tricks to my show. Now I’m not saying that I️ go around yanking souls up out of graves all the time, but I won’t lie and tell you I’ve never done it before.”

He thinks of Dakara now, how afraid she had been at first to face death. And then, after the added years that seemed like no more than a blink to Shand, how weary she had been, how she had begged to stay in the ground this time.

The hurt must flash across his face because she smiles menacingly at him.

“I’ve pulled people out of the ground and put their idiot gods in it, so you might wish you had 20/20 vision for this. Just a heads up.”

The ball of lightning expands now and engulfs the whole roof of the small cavern, striking the ground in multiple places, the largest pillars of consistent lightning growing out of Shand’s outstretched hands.

His eyes glow furiously, now a bright and blinding white light as a lightning strike opens up a chasm in the floor between them. The cave rumbles and groans and shifts.

Olvreign's eyebrows raise and something flashes across her eye, some unreadable, foreboding plan turning and forming in her mind as she stares at the crazed man, hearing how desperate he is.

There's something in the tone of his voice, his lost, reckless nature, everything sets her brain in high gear.

When the floor opens up, she passively waves her hand, a platform materializing under her to keep her from falling, though the window of the impact sends the hat flying off her head, tumbling down the new chasm. Her eye never leaves his face, sizing him up and judging any possible reactions he may have based on what she's going to say.

"Her soul? Is that all you wanted? My boy, I can help you with that."

Unable to hide her pleasure with her idea, a smirk crawls along her face.

"You've tried this before and failed, yet you want to push that potential fate on Fengari despite this display of affection? You're smarter than that. But, between you and I, your power and mine, I'm sure we can figure this out."

“Oh no ma’am, you misunderstand me. I️ didn’t fail at all.” His mind crunches back through those years its frozen over, isolated to keep him safe from them. Years filled with a family of his own and loss and new hope and even greater loss.

“Mortals are different from the ageless. They can’t carry vast stretches of time and changing worlds on their shoulders like Luna and I️ can. They can live and die and live again, but they can’t bear anymore. Death is their right and they crave it. But she wants to come back. And she can.”

His eyes flash a deep, yellow gold like glinting metal as his anger continues to rise. “And I️’d much rather personally escort you to hell than work with you. I️ don’t need your help.” He spits his words out like they’re filled with venom.

He reaches down, takes hold of the rough edge of the chasm he’s just created, and yanks.

The rest of the cave floor follows, closing the gap and sending chunks of displaced rock flying everywhere.

He looks up at them, and they still, floating in the air until suddenly, they are transformed into huge, blinding blue dripping gobs of his blood.

“Does that one seem familiar at all?” He asks with a wicked grin.

But despite the protests and the shows, somewhere deep in Shand in churning with the possibility that this all might be easier than he had thought. Would this deranged goddess really just step aside and hand over Luna’s soul? It couldn’t be that easy.

"Oh, tsk tsk, you may have years under your belt but I cannot be bested alone. Did you learn nothing from Fengari's example?"

Proving her point, she motions her hand in a star formation, casting a glowing pink barrier around her that disintegrates the pieces of rock that fly towards it and she seems to have confidence that it will do the same to his blood dripping down from above.

"I wish you would be civil for five minutes and listen to the proposition I have. Even if you get her soul, what are you going to do with it? Carry it around in your pocket for all eternity? Her body is basically nonexistent, Shand. You have no suitable vessel for that soul. And you know as well as I do how upset she'd be if you implanted her soul in someone else, forcing her to possess them"

Her smirk grows.

"We know her track record with possessions. Not exactly her favorite thing."

Oddly, despite knowing how painful the memory may be for Shand, she looks back on that time fondly, the look in her eye temporarily softening, remembering how close she finally was to having Luna under her thumb.

"Besides, even if you decided to disregard her feelings on the matter, an average human body cannot contain her soul because, she herself, is not human, she is an Aterkin. Not that I expect you to know what that means since you just decided to descend on this world like an illness without knowing a thing about it. So, from what I can tell, you need my help."

She stays calm in the hopes it calms him down to the point of talking, seeing that deranged look in his eyes.

"Are you ready to talk?"

Shand eyes her warily, realizing that she may be right. The idea of keeping Luna’s soul in his pocket forever is appealing, the idea of keeping her safe and close and eternal.

But that would be purely selfish, and although Shand knows selfishness spurs this quest, it’s not his only motivation.

“I’ll listen to what you have to say, but that’s all I️ can promise. And I have a few ground rules.” Shand folds his arms and the lightning powers glows the same yellow gold color as his eyes.

“First off, don’t freaking touch my face. Those scratches did scar, you tramp. Secondly, I’m keeping my will and my emotions and all that crap. I’m over your whole save humanity spiel.”

He glances away but only quickly, hoping she won’t be able to tell how far from the truth that actually is.

“And the most important one. When I get Lina back, she’s back for good. Stay away from her with your dumb crystal.”

At the mention of that, Shand flicks his eyes over to the crystal jutting out of the wall where Olvreign had hung Luna’s hat. At his glance, it disintegrates and falls to the ground in a pile of sparkly sand.

“Just do not test me. You’re still rapey and I have no patience for you.”

The goddess holds her hands up, showing her palms to him to take away any threat and distrust for the moment.

She can follow those rules, most of them. In fact, they don't even really matter in the long run.

"No touching your face and no trying to enslave Fengari in crystal, you have my word."

Nodding, she lowers her hands calmly, clasping them in front of her, about to give a presentation.

"Crystals will be necessary, however, you have my word that they are not Corruption. You can even inspect to your heart's content and refuse them before we put them into use. I say this because we will have to use the crystal to piece her back together. Take what remains under the dirt with crystal acting like filler and connective tissue. And before you ask: No, she won't come out looking like one of my soldiers. She'll look just as normal as she did before. A common trait of my species is the creation of life via this mythical material, but we have to base that life off of existing information and objects, hence the need for her remains, which, given she's an Aterkin, should be decently preserved. It takes thousands of years for Aterkin bodies to break down."

There's a pause as she wonders if he can keep up or even wants to, his face is too difficult to read, the use of crystals spurring a strong poker face.

"Of course I have my own conditions for this, but I'm willing to discuss the plan through more before we get to deals, trades, and legal matters."

“No no, what is it you think you’re going to get in return for this? Let’s chat about that now.”

Shand’s stomach has turned in a way that it hasn’t in a very long time. When one realizes they have all eternity with essentially no consequences, nothing gives much pause anymore.

But he’s now reminded that high stakes still exists. And his lifespan as it is only makes them higher.

“Tell me what you want from me and tell me what the effect will be on her.”

He demands harshly, having work hard to suppress every desire he has to strike her down with lightning, to maim her somehow, to take her other eye.

He realizes, too, that somehow allowing Olvreign a chance at Luna’s remains will not only be dangerous, but nearly impossible. Seeing as they’re in Ivor’s back yard and everything.

“So if you’re swearing not to hurt her or claim her or whatever, and to leave the rest of us who know and love her alone, what is you’re endgame? How does this benefit you?”

"Well, if you mean by 'us who love her' yourself and Ivor, then I can only promise the well-being of one of those. My body is in a state that it cannot heal itself. She wounded me that badly, yes. I probably should have died not long after her, so, I'm in need of a new form. But, like her, I cannot exist in an average human, I need someone powerful. That leaves Fengari... And you."

She says her words very carefully, keeping her tone even as to not alarm him of anything she's saying.

"My condition: One of you becomes my vessel and I have a feeling I know which one you'd prefer. This will give me dominant control over you to do as I please, but, seeing as your hate your immortal life anyways, you can just sleep while I take the reigns. I'll visit you and allow you to have certain moments awake, but I will be the main driver."

This condition isn't sitting well with him and she can see it, he's not even trying to hide his reactions as they flash across his face, changing with each new bit of information.

"Fengari will live safe from me and Corruption, free to carry on a normal life for as long as she lives. That is your goal, right? It's a noble goal. I feel free to make the terms known because I'm sure you are here entirely for her and no selfish reason of your own. I am playing on your goodwill, yes, but I feel like both sides are fair trades."

It feels like time stops when Olvreign looks at him, smiling.

Of course it wasn’t going to be an easy fix. Of course it was going to require something like this.

Of course it was going to require from him his eternity, something he’d loathed entirely until now.

He wanted her back and he wanted to have her, to not be alone. This way, he’s be condemning himself to a forever of alienation not just from her and everyone else, but from himself.

How badly does he want her back? He closes his eyes and sees her face in his mind in those last moments, scared, alone, clinging to him and to life and not wanting to be torn away.

She still had so much more to give. So much more to enjoy. And maybe now that Ivor was telling the world her true worth, things would be different for her. Maybe it really would truly be like a second chance.

One Shand would never get to witness. Even if Olvreign did ever let him experience any piece of his life, and although he says it now, he’s sure it’s just niceties to make the whole deal seem acceptable. Even if she does, Shand would never, never on his immortal life amplify that evil woman’s power with his own and then put her in Luna’s path.

Long story short, if he goes this route, he can never ever see her again.

“And if I️ say no, altogether?” Shand asks, keeping his face painfully blank and unfeeling despite the protest and dread raging inside him.

Will he feel the Corruption cut in his veins like before? Will he writhe in agony like Luna in Nameless’s created shack? Will he be confined to a life in crystal? It prods at him, but ultimately none of those things are important in the light of saving Luna’s life.

"Which you are free to do."

Olvreign adds at the end of his question to make things still seem like a decent deal, to make herself seem reasonable. His face is blank but there's something in his tone that tells her... Tells her he's already agreed to the terms.

She's not sure what future he's thought of for himself and what she will do with his body but, whatever it is, it's good enough that he's convinced himself of this solution.

"If that's the path you pick: You fight me, take her soul back, then just keep it in your pocket forever. It won't be able to speak to your or communicate, the only comfort it will give you is a warm glow during a dark time. It will be nothing more than a candle at that point, only you will know somewhere within it are Luna's memories and who she was. You won't ever be able to access those things."

It takes everything in her to hide the pleasure she feels from watching him in his defeat.

“If I️ agree to this.” Shand inhales shakily, “You’ll leave her alone. You’ll never bother her ever again.” He repeats this condition. “And I️ want to see it first. I️ want to see you bring her back.”
The light snaps out of his eyes, and the lightning above them fades slowly like dying fireworks.

Ivor has told him not to do something stupid and get himself killed. Somehow he feels the man would consider this much much worse.

He hates the resigned and defeated look on his face, to go in with guns blazing and leave like this. But he can legitimately see no other way out that ends in new life for Luna.

And this way, her second chance could be so much better than everything that has come before. Luna has always been the better of them and if anyone deserves this, she does.

He imagines Ivor’s face, what it will look like when he sees her again for the first time. Shand is suddenly struck with envy that this man will get the rewards that he is purchasing with the rest of his immortal life.

Again, maybe it’s better for Luna this way. They hadn’t stayed overly connected over the years, only through their dreams, and Shand always got the feeling that she was dealing with enough already without his nightmares to add to it.

And truth be told, he’s turned into someone he’s not even sure she would like anymore. The degenerate, bitter, alcoholic hermit slinging punches and insults and hate and venom whenever he feels pain.

He thinks back to that time in the tower. Even then, Olvreign had made the prospect of her offer seem so appealing. So appeasing in the face of everything torturing him.

It’s no different now- if anything, the pull is stronger. Maybe he and Luna have the capability to carry heavier weights on their shoulders and the world with them, but Shand is tired.

This is just another way of surrendering just what she wanted from him all those years ago. And it’s not that Shand is any less stubborn or reckless. Perhaps even more so now.

But he is so, so tired. He wants to fight, but he knows he can’t go on this way forever.

“If you can promise me that... I’ll do it.”

Despite her annoyance in him demanding she repeat something she already said yet again, she keeps her face smooth and patient.

"I promise, I will not harm her. Once she is alive and well, she will never see me again in her long life."

She steps forward and crystal spreads from her step like ice, bridging the gap between them. With all the poise and grace in the world, she walks towards him, stopping just a few short paces away, but she doesn't close it as to not alert him to the utter joy in her eye.

As if this were a business deal between two traders, she holds out her hand for him to take, sealing the agreement between the two

"I so look forward to having two eyes again, and hazel at that. It'll definitely be different."

The joke, even if hinting at a sinister conclusion, helps to keep the air in the room light, pulling out all the stops to win him over. It may be a little too much, but she's sure she can't lose him at this point. From his perspective, the deal is too sweet.

As the crystal moves toward him, fear courses through his veins violently, and he can’t stop them from glowing a wild, electric blue that courses with his racing heart.

He can hear the crystal growing and the closer it gets, the more he can feel the pain that awaits him. He hasn’t felt true fear in so long, and Shand has gotten good at reminding himself that feelings fade in time.

But this fear feels like it will last eternity with him. He wonders if he’ll be banished to his own subconscious room, like Luna. Back to that cold, bright white room his life pretty much began in.

It doesn’t matter at this point. And really, if he’s being honest with himself, it’s not a panicked fear or the more familiar fear of desperately searching for an alternate path, for the way out.

It’s a fear of acceptance because deep down, Shand knows this is what he deserves. He’s going to be miserable for the rest of his long existence, and really, there is no more fitting of an end for him than to slip back into the recesses of his own mind to be haunted by his memories forever. This is as close to death as he can get.

She holds her hand out to him and he hesitates, thinks about what would happen if he were to turn, break down the crystal, and walk away. But it’s gone too far now. He can’t go back to nothingness in his own dimension to drink and wile eternity away in fits of fury and depression.

He is glowing the brightest blue he ever has in his life, with fear soaring to match, as he takes her hand.

She grins wildly the second his hand takes hers but it falls soon after, so fast that it could have just been a figment of his imagination.

"Let's go get Sleeping Beauty, yes?"

Olvreign nods, walking by him to lead him out of the cave, staying true to her word and allowing him to see the process first before she takes control of him for the next eternity.

A flash of light and she vanishes but the light flies from where her form once was and envelopes Shand, teleporting him with her, back outside that little cottage, door still wide open, hinges broken beyond simple repair.

"Ivor!"

Olvreign sings, walking to the doorway and knocking on the frame. The look on the man's face makes her laugh cruelly.

"W-What are you doing here?!"

He stands quickly from his desk chair, knocking over the tea he had just been holding, staining the chapter he had just been writing. His eyes are wide with panic, doing a once over of the room to see if there's anything within reach he can use as a weapon.

A short giggle and she's gone, reappearing behind him outside the back window, tapping playfully on the glass.

"I missed you too, my dear, but I'm not here for you today. I have a very important meeting. So be a good old man and stay where you are. Quietly."

Crystal vines grow up from the ground, tying around him and pulling him down to the wood floor, making sure to wrap around his mouth to gag him, keep him from interrupting. He tries his best to free himself but he can't. All he can move are his eyes which are glaring at her through the glass. He's not being infused with and by the crystal, it is harmlessly keeping him stuck to that spot for the time being.

"Oh, Shand! It's time to do that soul thing you were talking about."

Quick steps and she's at the grave, staring down at it, nose wrinkled at the sight of the dead flowers and weeds growing around it.

"That foolish man, how dare he not even take the time to tend to you."

She kicks the dead flowers off the grave in an open display of disgust. Leaning down, she touches the stone and it begins to glow a peaceful blue, more crystals grow from it and down into the ground to where Shand can only assume are Luna's remains. This glass rock is smoother than the other type that Olvreign commands, more like a pebble worn down by the sea than broken daggers. It's much to calm and pretty to be controlled by the goddess of chaos and destruction, but she manipulates them with ease.

Shand watches half in horror, half in giddiness as the stones glow and the crystals grow and feed down into the earth.

He wants to see Luna’s face again so badly. He just wants to see her alive, and if he can, it’ll be worth this eternity.

While Olvreign works away in her labor of love, still clearly obsessed with Luna even from beyond the grave, Shand remembers something, sending a jolt down through his bones.

Olvreign is paying no attention to him whatsoever, which he welcomes. He figures he probably won’t get much alone time in the future.

He quietly slips the pearl necklace from around his neck. It’s tarnished and worn and the cheap chain it hangs from is nearly done for. But the pearl glows as ever, it’s smoky gray-blue hue glinting in the light.

He spies a garden area, a small bench. Noiselessly, he slips the necklace behind the bench, piling some soil on top of it. He doesn’t know why he’s hiding it, like he’ll have an opportunity to ever come back for it.

He might as well just destroy it. But he can’t bring himself to do so that. Other than Luna, it’s been his only constant companion for so long. His friend, guardian, teacher.

He returns to the spot he’s been standing just as Olvreign looks back at him.

The blue crystals start pushing something from the ground, the soil and grass opening up like a sea of dirt parting. And the sight is horrifying.

It's Luna and her body looks as fresh as the day she died, granted dirtier now, but most of her just in pieces, grueling wounds over every part of her body that is still there.

"Hello, my love. Your Aterkin blood really did save you from time, didn't it?"

Olvreign seems to have temporarily forgotten Shand is standing with her, happily absorbed in the sight of the perfect preservation, not bother that there are certain parts of Luna's body where you can just see straight into her or clear through her.

"This is such a simple fix, there's still so much of you here to work with. Holding back in a fight isn't easy but I'm happy I was able to for you."

Too pleased with her past self, she turns energetically towards Shand, trying to see if he's as happy as she is. He doesn't appear to be. He actually seems ill and that bothers her. It bothers her that he isn't appreciating her "self-control."

Rolling her eyes, she holds her hands in front of her, over Luna's body, and the blue crystal starts melting into the gaps and gashes, filling the cuts and scrapes, molding as if someone is sculpting her back to working condition.

"Get ready with the soul thing it is that you do. She'll be perfect again in no time."

Some of the crystal areas start solidifying, taking on skin and flesh properties as they do. She's being formed again right before his eyes.

Shand swallows hard and tries to keep from becoming ill.

He wasn’t lying to Olvreign. He’s done this before. And wasn’t even something that’s taken him centuries to figure out.

Something about the experience with Luna, with Nameless, with Olvreign and the spirits in him that day had jumpstarted something that had been dormant in him before.

And when the time had come that he had to choose between tapping into it and feeling excruciating loss for the first time ever, well. The rest just came naturally.

“Alright.” He replies to her finally. “Do you have it- her soul?”

"Of course."

As Luna's body finishes, Olvreign diverts her attention to Shand. Her stare is long and hard, concentrating on something in the distance for a moment and, as each second ticks by, the crystal in her eyes socket glows more and more until it's practically blinding. In the light it takes a different shape.

She reaches up and delicately plucks the small orb from her eye, leaving a disturbing open hole in its wake. Still smiling, she hands it to Shand.

It's small, condensed and light. Its cool violet color mimics Luna's hair but brighter.

"In there."

Quickly, she checks on Luna's body, clapping her hands once satisfied with her work. Luna looks whole as if the fight had never taken place, as if she had never closed her eyes to sleep for the last time. The only remnant of what happened is her airless lungs.

"She's ready! Do your stuff."

He takes it gingerly, gently, reverently in both hands. Aside from holding Luna while she took her last breaths, it’s been a while since he’s held anything this tenderly. Not since...

This has only ever failed him one time. That time. He’d lost more than he could ever measure. That had been what had started this spiral, the never ending drinking and the seclusion and the violence and self destructive experimentation.

He swallows hard again, like his fears are welling up too strong, too much for his body to contain and he has to swallow them down.

He closes his eyes, holding her soul in his palms for a few moments, keenly aware that this is all he’ll have with her.

He can’t draw it out too much. He should do it quickly and get it over with and get on with eternity. This hurts too much already.

He whispers down into his palms in the same language from before, something so ancient it barely even sounds like words and sounds more like a gentle, chiming melody.

With the words, the glowing sphere in his hands is wrapped with wiry blue sparks, feeding from his veins. He rotates the sphere all around, so the electricity can hover over every inch of it.

He looks away for one quick moment, trying to gather himself. Then, with the utmost tenderness, he takes Luna’s chin in his hand, opening her mouth slightly.

He rolls the small orb into her mouth and then closes her lips back around it.

His hand to her forehead, he whispers in her ear, too. His eyes start to glow that golden lion yellow and then, so does Luna.

Starting from where Shand’s hand rests lightly on her forehead, glowing and growing and encompassing her whole body.

The light lifts her, emanates from her until she is floating, hovering in the air above their heads.

Then, a lightning strike cuts at her chest, right at her heart, and she slowly sinks down to the ground in a crouching position. When the light dies, Shand takes a step back and holds his breath.

And Luna picks up her head and looks at him.

Everything aches like she was asleep in one position for too long. Why? What is she doing here?

Where is here?

Wasn't she just...?

Sitting in the cottage, reading a book on a chair near the fireplace, the small-form Nameless in her lap, right?

No, that can't be right. But that's what she remembers.

Ivor brought her tea and Nameless mumbled in his sleep, the two of them laughed quietly, not wanting to wake the fox up.

Right? That's what happened. The fire was so warm, the tea was sweet, Ivor's laugh was soft, and Nameless was peaceful.

Then why is she on the ground, grass her chair rather than the red one by the fireplace? Or, maybe bed is a better term, she's not exactly sitting.

She keeps blinking to regain her thoughts, tasting small remnants of dry blood in her mouth. Blood?

It hits her all at once. Jiden, Nameless's sister, Olvreign. Dying. So, is she in the afterlife?

She finally focuses on Shand, brow furrowing as his presence only confuses her further. When was the last time she saw him? Ten years ago? No, it's been more recent than that. It was painful last time she saw him, she remembers that much. But he's immortal so he can't be here if it's the afterlife, right? Then is she alive?

The sun is warm and the breeze washes over her, her nerves extremely sensitive as if this is the first time she's felt anything before.

Slowly, she sits up, her muscles straining but they push her up as commanded.

"What... Happened?"

Her head feels fuzzy on every other detail so she turns her blue eyes back up to the man near her, looking for answers.

Olvreign stands behind Luna with a cruel, obsessed smile, staring down every so intently at her, but she stays silent for the moment, taking in the sight of the life she helped recreate.

Only Shand sees the full picture. Luna’s confused face, Olvreign’s hungry one behind her.

He wants to be overjoyed and relieved, he wants to rush to her and catch her up in a hug and hold her tight enough to feel her heart beating.

He wants to be proud that it’s worked and he’s responsible for her life, for bringing her back here where she belongs.

But there is an undercurrent of something on her face that puts stones in the pit of his stomach.

Dakara’s face had looked like that; eyes wide and nearly horrified at her confusion. Like she didn’t know what to do with her body after being parted from it.

This is different. Luna has been somewhat absent from her body before. But she still seems lost.

“You... I️...” Suddenly, Shand wishes Olvreign would just hold up her end already and take him away so he wouldn’t have to explain to Luna what he’s done and why. She won’t understand, she’ll be upset at him. He doesn’t want her to know, just to live obliviously and be happy.

So no words come out, but several tears leak from the corners of his eyes and he just stares at her, trying to take enough of her in to last him eternity.

“You’re back now.” He finally says, chancing a slight brush of his hand against the back of hers. He doesn’t think he trusts himself, or Olvreign, with much more.