At Hero's Bay

Homeward Bound

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫

𓄹 𝐘/𝐍 𓄼

        My Brightest Star.

        He called me, My Brightest Star.

        Breathe, Y/N. Breathe.

        What immaculate and profound reasons Krow could've had for committing treason, betraying her trust, and committing regicide were lost on her. Y/N ruminates in between this fraught silence, looking back on her life to find where exactly it all went wrong. Perhaps it was when she told him of her courting and potential marriage to Cyreus, with love—or jealousy—being a strong factor to commit such atrocious acts.

        No, Y/N thinks, Krow was much smarter than that; he knew from the beginning that she would say no, even if she was threatened with her life. Y/N tried for a wound that cut deeper, one that drew more than blood and hit bone. It could have been that he was so worried about not being able to see her again, desperate to keep himself in her life, even against the warnings from the Queen.

        However, Y/N denied that prospect again. No, he still killed their king, her father—a man who was more than willing to let Krow stay beside Y/N until the end of time. Father made him my appointed knight himself, Y/N thinks as her eyes slowly narrow, personal reasons—think personal reasons. Yet, before she could think of anything even remotely conclusive, Krow had met her at the steps and held a gaze that Y/N could only recognize when he was staring down at an enemy. Then, Y/N wondered if she herself was to blame.

        Krow's psionic abilities wreathe his knuckles with a discordant and viridian flash, and Y/N jolts to be on her guard. In her intrusive thoughts that question why Krow doesn't strike or crystallize where she stood, the macabre details and images slowly trickle into her mind; he's followed her through countless wars and battles, perhaps she overestimated his flair for the arts of war during their younger days. It was personal enough.

        "I should've realized it sooner," Y/N whispers in a brittle voice, "I should've known that people like you...never want to stay around someone like me for too long."

        Y/N is a curse, she's realized that by now.

        Krow does not falter, instead of striding past her down the steps until he reaches the intricate golden mosaic in the center of the room. Y/N's eyes do not follow his form, trained onto the steps as her mouth slants into a tight frown, her brows creasing harder from apprehension to doubt. The act of comforting, persuading, or negotiating with him was not in her cards now, where Y/N struggles not to revert back into a senseless and teary-eyed child, who used to plead that cretinous youth not to fight anymore. She wants to reach out a hand to him, but she somehow knows that it just might get sliced off.

        "Gardenia is gone, Krow," Y/N explains in a shaky voice, but is still met with silence, "I trapped her at the bottom of the Norrathian ocean. She is going to face an eternity of being imprisoned. She cannot hurt us anymore. You can stop being...like this...You can stop acting like a wounded guard dog. You and I both know this isn't what we really want."

        "And what about what I want?" Krow finally says, spurring Y/N to veer around to him, "You're just going to imprison me in a cell next to her's."

        "Imprisonment over death is the only mercy I can grant you." Y/N spits through gritted teeth, and it was her own personal reasons that gave her the strength to ask, "How could you do this after the things we did?"

        Krow's power finally ceases within his fists as he turned away from the mosaic, meeting Y/N's gaze with what appeared to be a contrite smile. His eyes never lose their evergreen shine, however, as Y/N squints, she can see the subtle flicker of white surge throughout his pupils. Her heart drops below her stomach, and her mouth that is suddenly too dry loses any coherent syllable that wants to ask why. Why does he have her eyes?