GOLDEN SUN, ikaris

09. CONFESS

GOLDEN SUN

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AKOI TRIED TO TURN AWAY BUT HE HAD ALREADY SAW. The Moonlight did nothing to hide the tears on her cheeks, nor the frown on Ikaris' face as he leaned in to wipe them off.

Akoi started to protest, but Ikaris gave her a look, as he always did.

"Let me help you, my love," He said softly, and for once Akoi did not have the energy to fight him. She allowed him to wipe the tears from her cheeks, and then she allowed him to pull her safely in his arms, his head resting on top of hers.

Akoi could not deny that her heart was ready to burst out of her chest, but it was a feeling she was used to by now. It happened every time she was around Ikaris, and she had accepted that it probably would never go away.

"Are you going to tell me what has gotten you so upset or are you going to hold it in as you always do?" Ikaris tried to joke with her. Akoi let out a out of shaky breath, managing a quiet chuckle.

"You always did know me so well," She said, painfully so. "I guess that's why I don't really blame you for leaving me. It gave me a lot of time to get to know myself, you know."

At this, Ikaris grimaced. He was not expecting her to talk about this so openly, but he figured that this conversation was long overdue.

"I...I did not expect you to find positives in my departure," He said, "though I hoped that you would."

"Is that why you did it then?" Akoi asked him softly, noticing that Ikaris was avoiding her gaze. "Is that why you abandoned me after 6000 years? You left, so that I could finally know what it would be like to stand on my own?"

"I left so that I could protect you," Ikaris suddenly confessed. Akoi rose an eyebrow. "I wanted to protect you, as I have always done. As I always will. But I realized that day, that maybe as much as I wanted to shield you from the world, it wasn't the world that you needed shielding from. It was me. Thena and Sersi always said that one day, I would be the death of you. That one day I would fly to close and end up destroying us both. And no, I didn't want to believe it, and it took me 1000 years to except it. But when I did, I just wanted you to be on your own so you would know that there were other things out there besides me. Me, who always seems to break your heart and destroy it."

The story of Ikaris and Akoi wasn't always an easy one. They were together for 6000 years, spending more time together than they did apart. They did everything together, and they loved each other. But being together that much, and for that long was bound to create arguments. Sometimes these arguments would get to the point where they wouldn't speak for years. They were still together, they just wouldn't speak to each other until someone (usually Ajax) intervened. There were also times where someone was hurt, and the other person would do their best to get back at them. Usually this was Akoi, using other men to get back at Ikaris knowing that was the one thing that could set him off.

She couldn't count how many times they had make up sex because of it, and she briefly smiled at the memories. And then she frowned, because she realized that he was right. Akoi and Ikaris were slowly destroying each other. They loved each other, but sometimes their love was like poison. Sometimes it hurt one another and sometimes it hurt the people around them, too. So much so that at one point, practically all the Eternals begged them to stay away from each other.

Their love was not an easy one, no, nor was it the healthiest. But it was the strongest love anyone had ever seen, and it took everything out of Ikaris to walk away from her. To let her grow in peace. And Ikaris tried—god did he try. He even contemplated locking himself away and letting someone else take the key just so that Akoi would have a chance to thrive without him. Just so that she could grow into someone that she could be proud of, not someone that she wanted him to be proud of. God—he had tried, but it was like his very existence yearned for her, and he couldn't stay away from her for too long.

He always ended up finding her one way or another, up until Greece. And Ikaris had to admit, she was extremely clever for that one. He would have never thought to even look, but that was what he loved about her. Ikaris loved everything about her, including the way that she hurt him. And she loved him, including the way that he hurt her, and that was what made their love so dangerous.

"Still, we were quite the pair, weren't we?" Akoi smiled briefly. "This planet has given us so many things, but I think it is the reason why we destroyed each other. That was the only thing we ever saw happening, over and over again. Civilizations that we loved fell, and we would move on. Never morning like we were supposed to, because we were Eternals. We don't love and we don't grieve because we're infinite; but living here, we eventually became human. And I don't know if that's a bad thing, or if it's the best thing that's ever happened to us."

Ikaris stayed quiet for a moment, contemplating. As he did, he watched the wind blow Akoi's hair over her face and smiled softly, remembering how the wind used to flow through her hair whenever he would take her flying. Out of instinct, he reached to push the hair out of her face, and he was surprised to see that she did not resist him.

"You think it is this planet that destroyed us?" Ikaris asked softly, watching as Aiko nodded. Ikaris pursed his lips, something bubbling in his chest. Perhaps it was hope, hope that all was not lost after all.

The other reason that he left—the secret that he had been carrying for centuries—may actually be the key to them finding their happiness again. Everything that he feared, might actually be the solution.

For the first time in a long time, Ikaris genuinely smiled.

"Well, what would you say if we had a chance to leave it all behind? If we never even had to think about the humans here anymore? If we could get another chance and go someplace that won't destroy us?"

"And how are we gonna do that?" Aiko asked softly, watching the way Ikaris' eyes flickered over her face.

He seemed to particularly be looming over her lips. Out of instinct, Akoi's tongue darted out to swipe over them and Ikaris sucked in a short breath.

"What if I told you there was a way?" He said seriously his eyes shining. "What if...what if I had something to confess? I always thought that you would hate me for it, but if I told you that, maybe there would be another chance. Maybe we could get another chance. Would you like that, my love? Would you give me another chance?"

Akoi stared at him breathlessly as the words seemed to die on her lips. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, except for soft breaths of air as she tried to process his words.

Her heart was hammering and Ikaris looked almost as if he was pleading with her. She briefly wondered what he was even talking about, what his so-called confession was. What did he know that could possibly give them them second chance she wanted?

Akoi wanted to ask.

She was aching to know.

However, as soon as the words began to form on her lips, they were quickly replaced by the shouts of her family members.

"Ikaris! Akoi!"

Sersi suddenly came rushing up to them and at that moment, all the hope that Ikaris felt died away. "I need to tell you something."