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Brand once made a comment along the lines of being worried that Aelfric and Melantha would one day burn themselves out. Aelfric knew what his older brother meant, but he still found the comment foolish. All humans burned themselves out. Their flames were small, weak against the winds of time. Like candles, their lives guttered within a pool of wax until eventually flickering into nothing but smoke.
Well... if they went quietly.
Melantha hadn't wanted to linger and Aelfric knew full well her time had come. Pieces of the wooden ship of her mind were falling off. She had been struggling to breathe. Aelfric knew that if he stopped monitoring her heart and lungs for too long, they would stop functioning. He hadn't slept well in months.
She had accepted her fate a month ago with Dohter's diagnosis.
They were tired. This past week especially had worn both of them down and he... he couldn't be selfish anymore. He had known this day was coming.
That didn't make the inferno around him hurt any less.
There was basically nothing of her ship left now, the black and blue flames around him had eaten everything. The chains, the pillows, the blankets, every piece of wood. The sea itself was dissolving into steam, turning this place into a wasteland of darkness and salt. He could see the stars falling through the clouds.
One of the stars fell right towards him, growing smaller and smaller, and Aelfric recognized the sway of flame around its core. He reached up. The falling star slowed and landed in his cupped hands.
A little bird made of golden fire fluffed out her wings and looked up at him. She looked as tired as he felt.
"You could extinguish yourself here too."
"You're a little late on the offer," Aelfric murmured, eyeing the black flames that were starting to fade away in the face of the blue. "She's reminding me that I still have work to do."
The black flames tried to reach for him, but they were too little and too weak. They created a good imitation of their master's claws, though. Aelfric could distantly feel the pain in his back from when his little brother had shattered his spine by throwing him against a mountain. He was well acquainted with those flickering hands.
"Come visit me once you're finished with her," Galdera demanded.
"Eventually," Aelfric promised. "I can't give you an exact time right now, but... eventually."
There was a surge of rage, but the claws collapsed, and Galdera's presence faded.
Aelfric could hear Aviete's voice calling out to him. Her words were muffled, distorted. Something about a ring.
The little soul in his hands ruffled her feathers, bonking her head against his wrist. She wasn't trying to burn him like the rest of the flames were.
"...need...ring... lord... you have to leave the ring, milord! Please!"
Oh. Right.
Aelfric watched Melantha bonk his wrist again. Leaving the ring would be necessary to get her to Journey's End, wouldn't it? He should... figure out how to do that. The oppressive heat from the steam and fire had forced him to his knees at some point, his legs were partially covered by the rapidly growing dunes of salt.
"Lord Aelfric!"
Aelfric sighed, but he focused on Aviete's cry rather than the heat around him. He knew what the Sacred Springs looked like. He knew the scents of the place. He remembered the power thrumming through the tree. He could feel the pull of his ring.
Melantha spread her wings, and he felt the connection to the ashes that remained of her.
It was quick. Most endings were. One moment he was sinking into the remains of his home, and then he was sitting in the cool air of the Sacred Springs, his back against the tree Melantha had been leaning against.
Their burning hadn't affected the landscape, it seemed. Aelfric would have to open his eyes to check for certain, but his body felt... wrong. The air felt wrong. Everything, especially his back, ached. The sounds around him were too soft and too loud, the air and the ground were too soft and too hard. So much was happening at once. The natural sway he'd gotten used to was gone.
Melantha's feathers ruffled, little licks of cool flame across his too-hot wrists, and his nausea eased a little.
He sensed Aviete crouch down next to him. "Welcome back," she greeted him softly. "I'm... sorry I yelled. Wearing the ring might help everything settle. I don't know that for certain, mind you, but--"
"It will, according to my siblings." He had observed. He'd listened. All of his siblings' ringbearers had died before Melantha, so he knew that coming out of the ring had an adjustment period. He shifted Melantha so she could rest in the crook of his arm, then held his left hand out to Aviete.
Her paws carefully slipped the steel ring onto his middle finger. The steel was hot--too hot for a mortal to be touching. Healing magic pulsed from the ring into her paws. He could feel the minor burns on her pads evaporating. "Thank you," she murmured. "Would you like some space to adjust?"
"Yes."
She stepped far enough away that her presence was only on the edge of his senses. Aelfric cautiously opened his eyes. The world was blurry, but as he blinked, it slowly began to come into focus. The details were still escaping him, but soon enough, the blue, black, and green landscape solidified into trees, flowers, and grass. He could hear the water trickling through the roots of the sacred tree.
The Sacred Springs still looked different than it had through Melantha's eyes. It had...been a very long time since this body had been on land. Aelfric doubted that the aches in his bones and the tingling in his skin would ease when he got closer to the mortal plane. The ethereal nature of this place was likely why he was doing relatively well.
He felt Melantha clamber up from the crook of his elbow and onto his shoulder. She settled there, curled up against his neck. She was still blessedly cool compared to the heat in his skin.
The world grew blurry again, but it had nothing to do with the pain in his head or nausea. Aelfric sighed, wiping away the sizzling tears on his cheeks. He thought he had cried himself out over the past week, but maybe he'd just lost the energy to sob. The tears kept coming, but it was too early to have tears hindering him. He shouldn't keep Melantha waiting for longer than necessary.
He could also see Aviete, Sneak and Mist standing awkwardly to the side, and he really shouldn't keep them away from their lives for longer than necessary either.
Sneak came closer when he saw Aelfric looking his way, his white tail swishing back and forth in the grass just beyond the ring of ashes that surrounded Aelfric and Melantha. Aelfric watched the young cait pace around the edge of death, staying still himself.. Focusing on Sneak's movements helped with the fact that the land was so... still. Aelfric reached out to his staff, gripping it tightly The metal was cool to the touch. The feeling of being too large and heavy had only faded a little, but he managed to pull himself to his feet, using the staff as support.
"Being in the water may help, Lord Aelfric," Aviete suggested. "You didn't burn anything during the blaze except for a few grass blades where your ring fell. Holding all the heat within you during that is probably contributing to how much you're struggling right now."
"I'm going into the water anyways. Touching the mortal plane would be... very foolish right now. " Aelfric pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll need to take a few shortcuts." He might feel better in Journey's End than he did here. He took a careful couple of steps and managed to leave the ring of ashes.
None of the grayscale flecks were on his robes. He stared at the ashes lying innocently in the grass, and Melantha aggressively snuggled up to his neck.
"I'll spread them out more once they've cooled down," Aviete promised. "If... that is still what you want."
"That is what we want." He and Melantha had talked extensively about the fact that she didn't want to be buried like Nephti. Prome had requested that his body be burned and scattered. Melantha wanted the same treatment for hers.
The gray mounds on the ground weren't her. The gray rain drifting over the Flatlands hadn't been Prome. She was on his shoulder right now, steadying him. Prome was waiting for them in Journey's End.
He turned away from the caits. "Thank you for everything, Aviete."
"Of course, Lord Aelfric." Her voice was softer now. Her own grief was seeping in. "If there is anything you require from me--from company, to work that must be done--you need only ask."
"I know."
She was too good to him. She always had been, but that meant she was also good to Melantha. He was certain that she knew how unlikely it was that he would ever come to her again.
Aelfric walked away from the group and into the water of the Spring. The water hissed as he entered, steam rising up around him. His staff dissolved into flame, and he reached up to take Melantha into his hands again. "Time to go, Flower," he murmured. "Follow my lead. Let's take you home."
She spread her wings, and Aelfric dissolved into flame. They dove into the steam together, passing through the rift it created.
They skipped over clouds, high above land and sea. They had never been up this high before. Melantha would not have been able to breathe. Aelfric cautioned her away from diving into the clouds a couple of times, and despite the fact he was only flame, he ached. She had not been so playful in years. Discouraging her hurt.
He found the rift soon enough and they dove into that cloud together. Their ribbons of flame swirled downwards to a field of white orchids, and both of them were physical again once their feet hit the ground.
Melantha looked up at him, and he could see from all of the scars across her face and the length of her hair that she had indeed chosen to be Melantha, not Fiore. She looked him up and down for a moment and then hugged him tightly.
"It's so good to finally be able to see you," she whispered.
Aelfric could feel tears on his cheeks again, and he bent down so that he could embrace her as well. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to accept this."
"Don't be. Don't." Her voice quavered. "I didn't mind. I have a long time here in Journey's End. I was happy for every day more that you gave me. I know how hard this is for you. It's hard for me too."
"...If you're certain that you were alright with lingering..."
"Ael, I know you're not going to let yourself stay." She loosened her grip so that she could look up at him. Her green eyes were sincere. They always had been sincere, and too often filled with tears like they were now. He let go of her so that he could cup her face in his hands. "I knew that dying meant leaving you. I... wasn't ready either. Even if it seemed like I was."
Aelfric wiped some of her tears away with his thumb. "You handled yourself well for those last few months. I..." He took a deep breath. He needed to let go. He knew he needed to let go. He had given up on her being his permanent home decades ago. "You'll find peace here. More peace than I could ever bring you."
"I know," Melantha buried her face in his chest again. "I know I'll be okay. You've always made sure that I'm okay before caring about what you want. It drives me insane. You can admit that we're not sharing the same amount of pain for this."
Aelfric winced. "Saying that this hurts me more than it hurts you feels... wrong, Mel. You just died."
"And it didn't really hurt because you took most of it onto yourself. Again." She let go of him, wiping away her own tears with a soft huff. "I fell out of my body, and you caught me, and then we flew here. That's really all there is to it. Watching everyone around me..." her voice cracked, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Dying hurts, but it hurts the ones left behind more," she finished, opening her eyes to look up at him. "I'm joining everyone else now. You and your siblings are left behind. Of course this hurts you more than it hurts me."
...She would understand that. It was the pain that had driven them both to the brink of madness, after all. Aelfric looked down at the field of orchids that stretched out into what seemed like forever. It could be forever if a soul wanted it to be. This was Journey's End, after all. The destination. The search for everything was over.
Aelfric took a deep breath. "This is it, then."
"Ael." She quickly grabbed his arm. "Don't--don't go see Galdera after this, okay? At least, not immediately. I need you to come back to visit me. I know you won't stay permanently. But I can't handle this being goodbye forever."
Everything was... there was a dangerous pressure building up in Aelfric's mind. The sort of pressure that let him know that Melantha was right, but he also needed to end this quickly. Everything was too new, it was hard to think.
"Of course not," he heard himself say, tone distant. He shook his head, trying to ground himself in the present again. "I won't. I still have work to do. Father still isn't awake, and I don't want to leave the entirety of his mess for Mother to clean up."
"And you'll visit me," Melantha insisted, squeezing his arm.
"I will," he replied firmly. "This isn't... goodbye forever. It will just be..."
"Different."
"Different," he echoed.
He was going to miss being the echo of her thoughts. He was going to miss the optimism she had regained cheerfully bumping up against him whenever he felt too sick to move. He was going to miss being the beat of her heart and the air in her lungs, and the fire within the shadows of her magic. He was going to miss that sunlit sea she had returned to, he was even going to miss the storms.
"Melantha! Aelfric!"
Both of their heads snapped up at the familiar voice. Prome was rushing through the orchids towards them, red curls flying behind him. He, too, had kept his scars, but they didn't hinder how fast he ran. It was the fastest Aelfric had seen him run in a very long time.
It had only been a year since his death, but Aelfric's heart still leapt into his throat upon seeing him again.
"Prome!" Melantha ran forward and the two of them practically tackled each other in an embrace. They fell into the flowers, unable to keep their balance, and Aelfric couldn't tell if they were crying so hard that they were laughing, or vice versa.
He supposed that it didn't matter much what exactly it was. That pressure on his mind was returning, he could feel tears stinging his eyes again, and his chest felt hollow.
He should leave.
He couldn't bear to leave. Not when both of them were happy and whole in front of him. He watched them pull each other to their feet, and he once again knew that Melantha would be okay. This past year hadn't been the same without Prome's steadying presence. She needed him as much as she and Aelfric had needed each other. He had needed both of them.
It was time to let them both have their peace.
He opened his arms when Prome came forward to embrace him. The other man's soul was warm in a way that his body hadn't been for most of his life. Aelfric carefully picked some of the flower petals out of Prome's hair. "It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too, Lord Aelfric."
They pulled away from each other. "I trust that you and Nephti have been doing well?"
Prome gave a decisive nod. "She didn't notice the fire when I did. I probably should have told her what I saw before rushing off, but..." He gave a small, sheepish smile. "I was very excited to see you two."
That sounded correct. Aelfric huffed softly, but he couldn't help smiling as he wiped away the latest round of tears. Probably not the last today. "That's alright. I can't stay much longer. I'll visit you all again at a better time."
Prome tilted his head, clearly processing all of the available information. That little gesture's absence in Aelfric's life had been... he shut the door on that thought. Later. Later, he could deal with all of this later. He was not grieving when these two were right in front of him.
Still, the way that Prome's brown eyes lit up in understanding, and the way his expression subtly shifted into a frown was so familiar that Aelfric wanted to hug him again and hold him forever. "Very well. I'll let her know. We'll wait until then, milord."
"Formality," Aelfric and Melantha scoffed simultaneously.
Prome gave an embarrassed huff of laughter. "Old habits are hard to kick."
Melantha took his hand, shaking her head. "You managed when you first saw us. We've got forever to get that habit out of you now."
Prome smiled warmly in return. "...I suppose we do, yes."
Aelfric watched the two of them interact and sealed the moment of them smiling at each other into his mind. He had never seen them interact when his hand was not Melantha's. Being able to see them together again, interacting, happy...
This was what mattered. This was the image he should leave with until he was stronger and his chest didn't feel so hollow. When he didn't feel like he was swinging between euphoria and the deepest, darkest pit of horror he had ever experienced. He needed equilibrium. He would not get it here.
He turned away. "Goodbye," he told them softly. "I'll see you soon."
There was silence behind him for a moment. "...Goodbye, Ael. See you soon."
Melantha couldn't quite hide all of the pain in those words, but he couldn't focus on the quavering in her voice. He couldn't turn around. If he gave in and turned around and saw them again, he would never leave. His place was not here. Not permanently.
He dissolved into flame again and roared up towards the rift, back to the land of the living.
---
Aelfric crashed into the doors of his shrine. He was forced into being entirely physical from the shock, and he collapsed into a crumpled heap.
He had caught several concerned brushes from his sibling's auras on the way here, so he took a winding path through the air in order to avoid all of them. He didn't want to talk to them right now. He knew that they knew what his unfiltered presence in the mortal realm meant.
He couldn't handle their pity.
He dragged himself to his feet again and undid the seals on his shrine. He slipped inside, closed the door with his back, and immediately slid down to the floor again, unable to hold back his sobs.
His shrine was cold. Everything was cold now. He knew that he still had all of the personal touches from their corner of the Tower in Sanctuary. He had their sketchbooks, their swords, their line of silk. Their pile of blankets.
Melantha would be able to see Mika, and Cress, and Prome, and Nephti, and everyone else they had lost over the years. He knew his mother and his siblings would visit her.
She would be happy. All he had ever wanted was for her to be happy.
He should be happy.
Aelfric continued to sob quietly on the floor of where he knew he would be dwelling now that she was gone. His new home that they had tried to make a home in preparation for her death.
It wasn't home.
It was too cold, too still, too quiet, too empty. It wasn't alive the way she had been. This place was where he had slept before he met her. It was where he would sleep again. A dwelling-place. Perhaps a tomb. A tomb for all he had lost.
He knew he would never be able to go home again.