Dust to Dust | ✓

16 || Reunited

To Aiko's surprise, Zehra was not dead.

When she stepped from the portal door, she expected to be met with the sight of Zehra's dead or perhaps unconscious body laying on the rocks atop a puddle of blood. She had steeled herself for the sight and tensed her whole body as she stepped through, but the spot where Zehra once had been was empty, and the puddle of blood in her place was not nearly large enough to signal death.

Instead, she found Zehra sobbing on the ground, holding her sister against her chest in a warm embrace. Blood had dried in her hair, which was slowly returning to its usual black as the magic of the Pure was expelled from her body. Her sister blinked, staring at Aiko over Zehra's shoulder in pure, wide-eyed confusion. She was like a tiny version of Zehra, only her eyes were a stormy gray instead of blue. Nor did she seem as deranged as her sister, certainly not enough to feed on magical creatures and attack her travel companion. But then again, Aiko hadn't expected those things from Zehra either.

Although she had been rather unreasonable at times as well. It was fair to assume that love drove people to make rash decisions, pushed them to do things they would not otherwise do. There was a feral desperation behind both her and Zehra, a need to be reunited with the one they had lost. Now that they were, Aiko could finally breathe easy. The nightmare had finally come to an end.

With a hiss, the portal began to shrink. Aiko turned just in time to see a tiny light inside the darkness, a flame that burned steadily as it grew to consume the black of the void. The portal shrank to a tiny pinhole, then disappeared completely. Like a thread snapping, a sudden eerie quiet fell over Aiko's mind and an emptiness yawned within her. Cold crawled through her bones as the power of the Bright Soul fled. In its absence, she shivered.

She never knew freedom could be so hollow.

Felix's weight pressed heavily against her shoulders, all at once collapsing upon her. With a startled yelp, she staggered and sent both of them tumbling to the ground. She landed atop him and her breath hitched. At least he felt solid beneath her, no longer breaking apart at the mere touch of skin on skin.

It was difficult to support him alone, but his corpse-like sleep had yet to break. Shakily, she pressed her ear to his chest, praying she would find something this time. The faint, rhythmic beating of his heart thumped in her ear. She sighed and sagged against him as the tension in her body fled. His heartbeat was soft, almost quiet enough to miss, but it was there. As she pulled away, his breath tickled her cheek. Though still pale, some of the color had returned to his face and the deep, dark circles under his eyes had lessened. Freedom from Dinah's debt had breathed new life into him. It was only a matter of time before he woke.

In spite of herself, tears rose to her eyes. She gave a broken sort of laugh and cupped his face in her hands, tracing her thumb across his jaw. His skin was soft, no longer crumbling to dust at her touch, and though still slightly chilled, it held some of that lively warmth to it again. He would be okay. Everything would be okay.

"Aiko!" A pair of strong arms crushed her in a hug before she had a moment to process who was calling for her. Zehra buried her face in her neck, her cheeks wet with ice cold tears. She sniffled and squeezed Aiko. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so sorry for everything." After a moment, she pulled away and held Aiko at arm's length, a shaky smile turning the corners of her lips. Her blue eyes had dulled, her hair now completely black as the last of her magic abilities left her. "Thank you for rescuing my sister," she said.

Aiko stared at her in dumbfounded confusion for a handful of seconds. Fumbling for an answer, she pulled away from Zehra's touch and dipped her head awkwardly. "Ah, your sister. Yes. You should really be thanking Cinere. She made the exchange."

Zehra's face scrunched in thought. "Who?"

Oh. A shaky laugh fled Aiko's lips. She waved the question away. "N–never mind. Don't worry about it." Clearing her throat, she forced a smile. "I'm glad your sister is safe. But... why would they take her in the first place?"

"I stole from the Seafoam Core," a small voice answered from behind Zehra. The older woman stepped aside to reveal her sister, dressed in a dirty green dress that fell past her knees with a tattered hem. Her pin-straight hair fell down her back in messy tangles, unkempt and in need of a good combing. Folding her hands in front of her, she dipped her head in a bow. "I tried to escape with its power."

Aiko shot to her feet, mouth hanging open as she stared at the dirty little girl. It clicked in her mind—why Zehra refused to speak of the Core and why the Reapers would take someone so young. However, all that came out of her mouth was, "So you enchanted that flask!"

She smiled sheepishly and shrugged her frail shoulders. "It's hard to find a good gift for Zehra."

"We're returning to town." Zehra slid her arm around her sister and pulled her close to her side. "If you have nowhere else to go, you should come with us. "I'm sure your friend will need time to recover." Her face softened as she added, "As will you."

Her words brought Aiko's walls crumbling down and, all at once, her exhaustion slammed into her. Her legs, which were sturdy enough a moment before, suddenly crumpled beneath her and sent her crashing back down to Felix's side. Face burning with embarrassment, she let out a laugh, shoving her untamed curls out of her face. Her gaze lingered on Felix's peaceful expression, on the soft rise and fall of his chest. For a brief moment, she wondered if he felt this lost after the collapse of Niveus.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded firmly in Zehra's direction. "We'll go with you. But this time, no more weird rituals and hunting the Primordials' magical guardians. It gives me the creeps."

"I have no more need for the magic of the Primordial Three," Zehra said. With that decisive statement, she released her sister and bent to help Aiko lift Felix. Though she barely needed Aiko's help as she slung him over her shoulder like he weighed little more than a sack of potatoes. Head high and steps confident, she marched back to the horses with her sister trailing at her heels.

Aiko hung back a moment longer, emptiness pulling sharply at the hole in her chest. Once, a roaring flame burned deep inside her, and her mind was always full of Cinere's distorted whispers. Now, she had neither the hot fire nor the presence of her greatest nuisance. And yet, her heart ached as she stared at the empty place where the portal door had been.

"Thank you," she said. "I promise not to forget you."

All that answered was the ocean waves crashing against the rocky cliffside. This time, she knew it to be true.

Cinere and the flame of the Bright Soul were truly gone.

ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GOOOO and potentially an epilogue but that's a big maybe right now.

*clears throat* Anyway. I decided to just let this chapter flow the way it wanted to and it ended up being pretty short! For once, I'm early which means I get to update on time (for real this time. I'm scheduling this and making sure it goes up on time).

See you guys with the next chapter soon! Can't believe Felix and Aiko's story is coming to an end T^T