"He really did it." She thought. "He found his own way."
But before she could say anything else, a sudden flash of light enveloped him, and in an instant, his empowered form vanished. He was back to normal and already on his way to collapsing.
She rushed forward and caught him just before he hit the ground. His body was heavy with exhaustion, his breathing shallow but steady. Solaria immediately recognized the signs his body wasn't ready to sustain that power for long. Not yet.
She cradled him gently in her arms, holding him close. With a sweep of motion, her great wings unfurled majestic and radiant, with a single powerful beat, she lifted off the ground. Carrying him against her chest, she began flying back toward the castle.
As the wind rushed past them, she looked down at his resting face and gave a proud smile.
"When he wakes up… I'll have some food ready for him." She thought.
He had shattered his limits, and knowing him, that would only fuel him to go even further.
His eyes fluttered open, and there she was. Solaria sleeping beside him, her head buried in his chest. But then she began to wake, her eyes meeting his and greeting him with a sleepy smile. She nestled her head deeper into his chest, and he smiled back nervously as she drifted off again.
Yohan thought it best to let her sleep, so he tried to slip out of bed quickly. Unfortunately, he used a bit more force than intended and ended up catapulting himself out of the bed, slamming into the opposite wall. His head hit the stone with a resounding thud, loud enough to rattle the silence and stir Solaria awake
She blinked, then burst into laughter at the sight before her. "If you wanted to move…" She said, grinning. "You could've just asked me to get up."
Yohan lay there rubbing his head, feeling quite embarrassed.
"Yeah I know, you just looked too peaceful. I didn't wanna disturb you."
Solaria had already walked over to him and offered him her hand which he took and pulled her down to him, the exchange ending in a bit of rough housing. Soon after they went into the dining hall to have a meal. They both didn't need to eat but it was a special ritual and in Yohan's words, it was a shame to not eat all that food.
Yohan looked at the beauty in front of him, happily scarfing down her seventh bowl of stew, for a long time he was lost in the grandeur of this otherworldly quest he found himself on but in this moment of calm his other thoughts surfaced, he was afraid, afraid he would fail, afraid of possibly dying again, afraid of what might happen to Solaria if he did fail. He looked up at her with somber eyes and upon meeting them she knew something was wrong.
"Is everything alright?" She asked, voice full of worry
He looked at her then dropped his head.
"Sol, I'm scared, I mean, what if I fail? Before coming here, I was just a kid who barely started his life just to lose it a few months later. I'm no warrior, I'm no Aurelius and I'm no great savior. I was serious when I said I wanted to free you, but what if I screw it up? What if you're even worse off with me here?"
His voice started to crack as tears welled in his eyes, memories of his past started flowing into his mind, times he had let people down, where making a simple choice for himself seemingly spelt ruin for others.
Family, friends, no matter what he did it was as if nothing he did was enough or the right choice and now with the odds stacked against them and with all that he knew was at stake, he worried that the same might happen here.
"What if I make the wrong choice? What if I'm not strong enough? What if I make a mistake and it ends up costing you?" I don't want to disappoint you…or even worse have you hate me like everyone else did, for the first time in a long time I feel at home with someone….with myself. I guess all I'm trying to say is that I'm afraid of losing it all… Of losing you."
Solaria listened to it all, her heart aching for her love and the worries that plagued him. How foolish of her. She had forgotten for a moment that Yohan had an entire life before they met here, forgotten that he had been out there on his own and from the sounds of it; alone. Her dearest had experienced such hardship and she rue that she hadn't been there to support him and lighten his darkest days.
She couldn't change any of that, alter what he had gone through but… She reached out and cradled his hand in hers, undeterred when he hadn't lifted his head to acknowledge it. She could change now and the future.
"Did you know?" Solaria asked softly as she stroked his rough palm with her thumb, finding the texture soothing. "Fear is a constant in all beings. Even gods and goddesses have been afraid." She told him and Yohan peered out at her from beneath his bangs, eyes rimmed red.
"My greatest fear is an eternity on my own in this place, in this prison, only knowing sorrow and isolation… It was a fear that gripped me so tightly, it was suffocating… But in the depths of that fear and loneliness, a miracle happened…" She smiled as she glanced through the window behind him.
"An odd soul had wandered here, in this inescapable prison of mine and had latched himself to my side. He vowed to stay with me, to be my comfort and my savior from this realm that confines me. He's brought laughter to the emptiness of this place, warmth, comfort, he has made me stronger."
"I was afraid he might disappear one day, that I would wake up to find that it was all a dream, a cruel joke my mind has played on me. But this strange soul hadn't shown any signs of going anywhere. Instead, he has become the last thing I see when I go to sleep and the first thing I see when my eyes open. His warmth is a constant reminder that he will always be with me and his smile tells me that he is happy to be here with me…"
Her smile slipped a bit.
"I think to myself sometimes… Am I selfish to keep them here, when just being next to me will be dangerous to them? Am I making the right choice to have them be so deeply involved in my situation.. Forced to stay with me in isolation in hopes that we may be able to break free…"
Her smile returned.
"But then, they would smile at me, wrap their arms around me, laugh with me and plan with me… And I decided that if they are so willing to do all this for me, someone they just met… Then the least I can do is to have faith and meet them halfway."
She focused on him and cupped his cheeks, using her thumbs to swipe his tears away.
"Not even gods know if our next move is the right one. We don't know if the next choice would be the best one either. We mess up too, you know, so there's nothing wrong with making mistakes or screwing up or anything like that. Whether you mess up or choose wrong or whatever, it doesn't matter to me. If anything, I'll only be grateful that you acted or chose with me in mind. Anything that comes after that, we can work on together."
"I know the risks and I'm ok with them. The only cost I can't take is…"
She trailed off as she brushed his bangs away so their eyes could properly meet before she gave him a soft, affectionate smile that had a small twinge of fear in it.
"... Is losing you. My love."
She whispered to him with feeling. She chuckled a little at that.
"I suppose losing each other is a fear we have in common, but I have no plans on going anywhere any time soon. After all, we have to escape this place together… And who knows. We could visit an actual beach when we do." She said smiling at him.
Her words hit him like a boulder,
"Yeah, I'd love that." He chuckled, giving a teary smile.
He felt stupid for having those thoughts, almost as if he forgot his promise to give his all, that whatever came their way they would handle it together.
He scoffed "Thank you Solaria, I needed that, I forgot that I had already promised you that we would be doing those things, yet here I am like an idiot, I should focus on what's at hand."
Solaria smiled at him tenderly.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." She laughed.
It had been a little over six years since the pair started living and training together, and a little over a year an unspoken tension had been building between them.
Yohan, having lots of trouble with women in his past had finally met one that looked at him with admiration and respect, she stood by his side and genuinely cared for him and he slowly started to develop feelings for her but he decided to hold them back due to the current situation, preferring to confess to her after he freed her, wanting to keep his head on the mission.
Despite the last words Aurelius spoke to him, he more or less guessed he could be an incarnation of him but again tried to think of Solaria first and didn't want to be selfish, having feelings for her while she was clearly still hurting.
So he kept his feelings to himself. In the same breath Solaria had also started having feelings for Yohan, after all, he was the first man she had met in eons and the first man to remind her of Aurelius, even so she did not want to be with him just because he had reminded her of Aurelius, that would just feel like she was replacing him or just being with Yohan just because he resembled her beloved, and that would be unfair to Aurelius' memory and to Yohan as a person.
After this exchange the two could feel it, their feelings were genuine, and both of them knew that the other truly cared and with that the two smiled at each other as they held hands, they then finished their meal quietly smiling all the while never releasing their hands, when they were finished they walked to the kitchen, dishes in hand so they could wash them together before training.
"So, 'my love' huh?" Yohan said with a cheeky smile only to be met with a swift strike to the face from Solaria's tail, the force causing him to spin a few times before crashing to the ground, using her speed to catch the dishes Yohan was carrying before they hit the ground, her blushing face hidden behind the plates as she ran to the kitchen at top speed.
Yohan looked up and as he collected himself smiled.
"A tsundere huh?" He chuckled to himself as walked to the kitchen behind her, picking up a cup she dropped in her hurry.
When he got to the kitchen Solaria had already started doing the dishes, Yohan smiled at her then gently hugged her from behind, gently wrapping his arms around her waist and gave her a small peck on the cheek which despite her having a rather low body temperature caused her to heat up to tremendously, making Yohan use his new frost attribute to send a cold shiver down her spine, causing her to settle down, then gently placing her arms on his, asked in a somber tone.
"Are you sure about this? About me? About us?"
Yohan smiled gently, his warm breath touching her neck released his arms from around her and motioned her body to face him, then took her hand and kissed it. He looked into her shimmering eyes and smiled as he lovingly placed his hand on her cheek.
"I would stand beside no other."