OC In throne of glass

45

At some point, Yrene practically dragged Miranda out of the room so Neon could rest. It had been a few days now, Manon had snuck in to applaud him in his bravery for taking on Erawan , Neon offered his condolences, not being able imagine the pain of losing friends that had fought by her side for over a century.Lorcan would come in to check on the Lycan and others to ask him strange questions about his physiology or to just admire him,Miranda doing most of the admiring and seemed to be chagrined when the others did it. Aelin had referred to it as 'territorial fae bullshit'.

One night, Neon was all by himself trying to fall asleep but being confined to a bed 24/7 had got him frustrated to never seen before extents. However little did he know, he would be having an unwanted visitor tonight. "Miss me Neon?" He never really spoke to her when she tormented him and didn't intend to but it caused him great distress when he learned that purging the Valg demon from him wouldn't cease the hallucinations of Maeve. "Don't get so cocky boy, Erawan and his forces still stand and will recover from this defeat just like he recovered from Elena and Gavin's trick, you have achieved nothing ".

It wasn't true, Neon fought against the Valg possession and managed to free himself whilst simultaneously getting rid of one of Erawan's most powerful warriors, he fought Erawan and single-handedly drove him and his forces away from Terrassen allowing the heroes yet another chance to see another day but that wasn't it, even through all the pain, Neon was still here, still fighting and he had survived, the torture, the agony, the Valg.

And her.

He hadn't broken despite Maeve saying he would, he hadn't broken and he would keep going till the very end, until he faded away because that's who he was.

He doesn't break.

Maeve continued to throw everything from the book at him, putting him down, even berating his very existence and Neon wouldn't just lay there while this illusion of his brain continued to haunt him so he did the very thing the healers had told him not to do. He crept over to the nearby window and opened it, as the northern wind blasted in his face he turned around and the dark queen was gone, he was doing the right thing. Since he was in a bedroom in the castle, it was dangerously high up but there was a pipe nearby so within moments, Neon was on the ground, his bare feet upon the grass,he hadn't understood why Yrene was so adamant about him staying in bed, he felt perfectly fine.

So he walked through the grass, the fresh air filling his body with euphoria, his swift movements had lead him a good distance away from the castle and he just wondered around, enjoying his solitude under the beautiful star-decorated night sky, the northern wind in his messy black hair and the fact that his brain was pulling up hallucinations of the dark queen. "Hmmm?" He hummed to himself when green specks of light suddenly began to float around his bare feet, he realised he had stepped into a territory of fireflies."whoa" the Lycan whispered, he'd never seen something so beautiful in his life of darkness and war.

Neon gently stomped on the ground causing more fireflies to fly up around him, he laughed at the aesthetic sight and started to run around, a trail of green following in his wake, at one point he just jumped up and the ground exploded in emerald wonders as Neon gazed up as green spots decorated his sight of the dark sky. This sweet reminder that the world wasn't all death and gore.

As the fireflies floated in the air above him, Neon let his mind wander back to a few months back when Miranda had told him that the Lycans of Lycria had awaited their lost king.What she had said was true, The body of Prince Lycaon hadn't been recovered anywhere and he certainly would have made an appearance in battle if the Valg had taken control of him but Lycans had never been seen amongst the the demonic attacks which did unnerve him but it was enough to know that he wasn't there.

His family had always believed in selflessness even if the world had inflicted every horror upon you, to always remain the virtuous one, Rosie had believed in that, Chris had certainly believed in it. Neon had seen it. The golden heart of his lover that could never be stomped out by an force in this world, Chris was the sort of person that would put you behind him and defend you to his last breath even if it meant facing an army my himself, Chris would have done that for Neon, he did do it for Neon and the Lycan hadn't deserved that sort of love, the world hadn't deserved someone like Chris so he was pulled out of it, to a better afterworld where no one would hurt him ever again.

And even if Neon missed him more than he missed joy, to the point where it felt like his chest would just disintegrate into nothing, he would always be glad of that. Always.

And if Rosie had the chance, he was sure she would have gone down swinging for Lycria but most of all for him, she would have tore her way through all of hell if it meant keeping him safe, her death might have been an insulting result of a demonic coward who had to much power but she was yet another person who was to good for this world, to good for him. Yet they would had still saved everyone in a heartbeat and do whatever it took, even if they had to give their own lives, perhaps that was something he simply couldn't be but maybe he should die to try to fill that empty hole of goodness that Rosie and Chris had left.

So Neon looked up once more at the beautiful sight of the starry night sky, the moon that illuminated his golden face and the fireflies that surrounded him in an almost compassionate way, as if to tell him that he wasn't alone, the beauty of a world that Erawan would stop at nothing to flip upside down with blackness, it wasn't right and if he didn't do everything in his power to protect what he was to defend them he was no better than the Valg.

Lycria had to rise again.

So he turned around to the queen and healer who had spent the past few minutes watching him from a safe distance, they had thought that Neon wasn't aware of their presence but of course they should have known better. As Neo. Walked over to them, Aelin whispered to Miranda "what do you see when you look at him?" Miranda who didn't break Neon's gaze murmured back "I see a legend rising" Neon now stood in front of Miranda, ignoring Aelin's presence to her chagrin and spoke "I'll reunite the Lycans again no matter the cost" Miranda just smiled with tears of pride in her eyes. "But I need to do it alone" that's when the smile disappeared "no Neon, where you're going I will follow you there, even if it means going to hell itself" Aelin couldn't stop the sob in her throat, Sam Cortland had pretty much said the same thing to her once, even if he wasn't physically here, he had never truly left her.

"No Miranda, as much as I want you by my side, the kingdom must solely by restored by the Lycan as it was left by the Lycan, I will be the one begging for forgiveness for my sins and I need you to remain with Terrassen". Miranda just shook her head. "You don't need to do everything on your own, I'm right here with you" Miranda whispered to him."I'm here as well" Aelin interjected "we're all here for you Neon, you don't have to do this alone".
"I appreciate that and trust me I have never felt like I never belonged anywhere more" Neon's voice cracked, he didn't want to leave Miranda or his new friends "but things aren't that simple, not anymore" Miranda frowned and was about to say something but then her eyes widened as something had just occurred to her.

"What did you mean when you said that the 'kingdom must be restored by the Lycan, as it was left by one? why is it important that you do all the work of rectifying someone else's mistake?" Neon didn't give her a straight answer instead he simply asked her a rather odd question. "Do you know why I kept repeating that Prince Lycaon was dead?" Miranda's brows furrowed and shook her head, Neon suddenly came really close and whispered into her ear

"Because Prince Lycaon had burned to death in a fire alongside his family and a warrior of darkness had taken his place" .

His statement was loud enough for Aelin to hear it and both women were left baffled by what he said.Without communicating anything further, Neon suddenly shifted into a his usual falcon form and took of into the air, soaring through the swarm of fireflies that had surrounded them this entire time and disappearing into the night.Miranda needed a moment to think about what Neon had just told her, twelve years ago, Neon Riding had lost his family in a fire that was set during the Valg invasion just like how Prince Lycaon Warrios had also apparently burned to death just like Neon had claimed.It then hit her like an entire place falling on top of her and she looked towards Aelin to see if she had figured it out as well and judging by her descended jaw, she did.Miranda walked forward into the firefly filled air and just stared up into the sky where the Lycan warrior had soared of into.

Neon Riding is Prince Lycaon Warrios, the long lost king of Lycria.