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"Better Circumstances"
The song of the wind. How it flows throughout the lands, the writing of a poet, the tune of a bard, the voice of a nightingale, the heart of a God. Even the faintest tune, everyone listens, as if it was the answers of a God. But what if a lone bird chirps solemnly to the open sky? Will it receive the same praise, or is it nothing but a fly?
These were the answers one could not find in his eyes.
His eyes, cyan and coursing with the colors of the wind, stared at theirs, who reminded him of the many crystals in hidden under rocks. Wondering in the greenery of his creation, a hidden gem or rather a hidden raven revealed onto Barbatos, one crowned with black thorns, its horns tangled within. Their pinions were black, plumes shining under the lune. Their fingertips were black, and their nails were as inky as their feathers, but out of all the oddity in their form, his eyes glossed seeing theirs.
Their eyes were lackluster, the shine they had, now a faded memory. The smile they had, now cracking in misery. What could have been an open heart, now a mere philosophy.
And who was to blame if not the God of winds?
Cyan eyes stared down at their figure under the rubble, leaving them to fall onto ruins as the land they protected became nothing but a pile of debris under Celestia's feet.
Khaenri'ah's hidden angel, the first traitor of Celestia, Y/n.
They were in silence, only hearing the winds. The archon of the wind held their face lovingly, caressing their blackened cheeks. Corruption washed over most of their body, and the once angelic figure of the purest of wings become that of an inky black.
"Y/n..." They hear their name whispered by the Lord Barbatos.
"B..." They whispered, voice falling into silence. Not even they could say their name without falling in their overwhelming sentiment. Barbatos's eyes glossed, knowing well that he was fresh in their memory, and so was Morax, Baal, and all the other archons that brought down the land of what Celestia called sin. The recognition on their eyes, confusion, discombobulation, uncertainty, they were all present in their diamond eyes, but there was no anger, and no fear, just sadness. The way their eyes gloss, welling up at the feeling of his hands on theirs.
"I didn't think I'd be holding the anemo archon's hands one more time..."
The way that their eyes fall back to the ground, droplets of salty rain falling to the ground from their eyes.
"I'm filthy aren't I?"
Barbatos would have spoken, but it was cut of by the laugh of a sad ave.
"After Celestia charred my wings, chained me down, and turned my people into monsters... I thought there was no hope."
Venti was drowning in their bitter laughs, "for a God of Hope, they're looking very hopeless, huh?"
"I know... I should have called myself the God of Despair, huh?"
Suddenly, they felt the wamth of a God, caressing their body as if to hold for dear life. Venti held them close, a wretched cry echoing through the dragon's lair. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry for the things Celestia put you through... for the things the archons put you through..."
"For what I put you through."
Y/n stopped, looking at him from a peripheral, and they sighed with a somber smile. They played with his hair, each strand forked on their fingers.
"Well there's nothing we can do about it. What's done is done, and all I can really do is forgive," said the winged god.
"But... I should have helped you." They smiled, though it wasn't the same as before. "I should have helped you... your people are humans like all of ours," his voice trembled.
"Celestia is scary, Barbatos..." Y/n whispered to his ear. "What they did to him I never wanted done to you." The memories of the late Dendro archon... fresh on their mind, like dew of this night.
"No one needed to face the same punishment... I am nothing but dust in Celestia's eyes. Helping me will only hurt you." "It will hurt me more if you hurt yourself!" His grip tightens, his eyes closing shut as he holds them in his chest a little longer. "Do you want to be killed?!" Y/n exclaimed. "Do you want to end up like him?!" Y/n's eyes bore to his own teal ones. "All for the sake of saving me?!" Tears ebbed and flow.
"I don't want ANYONE suffering for my sake... This is a battle I can only do on my own." Sniffles and sobs rack through their body, shivering. The trauma they held onto so long was still a fresh wound.
"So don't bother, Barbatos... It's my broken nation versus the gods."
Their hands wiped away their tears, harshly removing the evidence of their tears.
"So don't bother... there really isn't a need for you to hold on any longer." Retracting, Y/n gave Venti one last smile.
"Oh yes... Before I leave... back to the abyss, where the last of my nation thrives." An empty vision of Khaenri'ah was kept in his hands. They become like that of space dust, blue slowly engulfing them.
"Happy Birthday, Venti... we'll surely meet again on better circumstances."
And off they went, becoming like stars on the firmament.
"Yes... we'll meet again on better circumstances, Y/n..."
