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Time crawled onwards, the sun’s rays darkened and faded, and Asbel’s heart drank deep of dread.
His friends talked the day away without a care in the world, passing around stories and plates of food alike. Asbel could hardly follow the conversation. He was sure that the anecdotes were charming, and the dinner delicious, but all sensation fled from him like he was trying to catch the wind in his hands. He heard the words, but didn’t register them, and he ate the food, but tasted nothing.
After an agonizing half-hour, Asbel finally excused himself from the encroaching chatter and stepped outside to the relative solitude of the main hall. His eyes glazed over as he stared out into the burnt-orange sky through the manor’s front windows.
How could he possibly relax? Time was passing Asbel by, and he couldn’t think of anything else. Every moment, every breath brought him closer to his confrontation with Richard—with Lambda.
Was he ready? Asbel’s eyes flicked down to his hands. Did he have the strength he needed?
He’d failed before, in the catacombs beneath Barona, where he’d lost Sophie the first time. He’d failed Richard again and again, every time they clashed and Asbel had been unable to rescue him—unable to even see what was wrong. He had to be better. He had to save his best friend.
Richard needed him.
A listless energy seized at Asbel then, and he heaved the front doors open. He wandered out into the front garden, steps searching and vague.
The air was cooler here, at least, and Asbel could finally fill his lungs again. Sophie’s flowers were beginning to bud, waving in the breeze that had just come in.
“…Asbel?”
Asbel didn’t bother turning to face Hubert. His hands dug into his pockets as he gazed up and out into the sky.
“…I think I’ll go for a walk.”
Anyone else would have protested. Captain Malik would call him foolish, and Cheria would fret, and Sophie would insist on coming with him. Hubert understood, though.
“Alright. Don’t be long.”
“Yeah. I won’t.”
It was a silly urge Asbel was indulging. They’d just been to the meadow, to the tree that grew there. But Asbel needed to return there alone, to mourn with the comfort of privacy.
Lord Windegarde creaked above as he passed through the gates. Blades of grass bowed in the wind.
There was just this feeling tugging at his mind, at his very soul. Asbel should go again, for Richard’s sake. It didn’t feel right without him. None of this did.
Even if Richard couldn’t be there, Asbel would go for him—in his place. He had to be the sort of person Richard could rely on, especially now.
As he trudged up the hill overlooking the meadow, however, hand raised to shield himself from the sun’s rays, Asbel realized quickly that he was not alone. A familiar black cape curled in the same breeze that wove through golden hair.
Asbel froze.
He didn’t know what to do—to rush for Richard, before he could flee? To slow his approach, so not to startle him?
Asbel took a deep breath, split the difference, and continued to stride forwards evenly, boots crushing softly through the flowers beneath.
He stopped just behind Richard, still standing rigid in place. Were it not for the wind buffeting them both, Asbel would wonder if time had stopped entirely.
He wished it would.
“Will you draw your sword?” Richard spoke lightly, but his voice was hoarse.
“Do I need to?”
“No. Lambda is… sleeping.”
Asbel’s eyes flashed open. “So then-! Richard, if we act now, we might be able to separate you two!”
Richard’s chuckle was almost musical. Asbel wanted to join in it. He wanted them to be laughing together.
“I’m sorry to have given you false hope. That would be impossible. We’re too tightly linked, now. There’s no way to tell where one ends, and the other begins.”
His hand rose to the side. A single flower laid in his fist—lavender. A sopheria blossom.
“I don’t believe that.” Asbel shook his head. “I know you, Richard. I don’t think you’ve been lost to Lambda. I’ll find a way to separate you—”
“Neither of us would desire such a thing. Our wills are one and the same, now, and we need one another to accomplish our singular goal.”
Richard opened his palm and the flower drifted away, carried off in the spirals of the wind.
Asbel’s eyes tracked it idly, watching it dip and soar across the coastline. He lost it somewhere in the sand dunes, the rocky coast, the sea-grass that danced in the wind. Asbel knew the path well. He had climbed that same distance, seven years ago.
A nostalgic smile rose onto his face, unbidden. “Remember when we fell off those cliffs?”
“I still have the scar.”
Asbel winced. “…sorry.”
Maybe it wasn’t such a pleasant memory for Richard. He’d nearly lost his life that day, after all. He’d been betrayed by a trusted ally—an adult, who terrorized him and towered over them both.
Richard’s hair flung into the wind as he turned around, cape twisting around him. The searing red in his eyes had faded, but the unfamiliar hue lingered still, faint, hungry. Asbel missed the usual woody brown of Richard’s irises, the shade he remembered of the boy he had met seven years ago.
Creases wore around Richard’s eyes now, set deep in dark purple bruising. His skin had always been fair, but now it faded far paler than usual.
“It was one of the happiest times in my life.” Richard tilted his head. “You were my first friend, Asbel. The first person I truly trusted.”
Asbel could only stare helplessly at his friend’s gaunt face, his thin frame.
“You look exhausted.” Asbel said.
“Heh.” The mirth on Richard’s face looked genuine. “Are you worried for your enemy?”
“We aren’t enemies.” Asbel’s fists clenched. He loathed the insistence. “It’s not too late, Richard. It’s never too late. We can still work together. We can find a compromise. Things don’t have to be this way.”
“I could say the same to you, you know.”
Asbel blinked. “What?”
“Join me, Asbel—my sword. I will forgive you, completely and utterly.”
Asbel could only continue to stare at his friend, cast in red and orange by the hues of sunset. A glimmer of light danced through Richard’s worn eyes.
Was he serious?
“Is that what you really want?” Asbel asked, throat dry. “Is… any of this?”
Richard just chuckled, glancing down. His eyes roved over the foliage beneath, idly fascinated.
That was no answer. Asbel wanted answers, so desperately.
“Why, Richard?” Asbel’s fists clenched. “Why are you doing this? Why ally with Lambda? Why accumulate so much Eleth? What could you possibly hope to accomplish?”
Richard’s chin tilted up, jawline pointed towards the winding branches and scatterings of clouds. It was like he was searching, but for what, Asbel didn’t know. He couldn’t see anything but sky as he looked up, pastel swathes of pinks and oranges.
Did Richard see something else there?
“Do you recall when I invited you to the castle, seven years ago? We planned to pass through the royal sanctuary, and ascend the catacombs.”
Was he toying with Asbel? “What does that have to do with—”
“I died that day.”
A chill punctured Asbel’s skin, raising goosebumps on his flesh.
“What?”
“Poisoned. By my uncle. I was only eleven.” Richard said, voice perfectly neutral even as he tore Asbel’s world asunder. “If it weren’t for Lambda’s intervention, you would have discovered my corpse in those catacombs. It’s a possibility which… haunts my mind.”
Asbel fought for words—something, anything to say, some sympathy or comfort, but he could only stare. Richard’s hair rippled in the breeze enveloping them both, sweeping over his cheek.
“…I’m not like you, Asbel.” Richard’s voice was quiet. “You hold within you such profound kindness… an ability to forgive this world again and again, no matter what ill befalls you. That’s a quality I lack.”
Asbel reached out for him.
His palm extended, outstretched, nearly of its own volition. Asbel hardly even registered offering his hand to Richard. The action came on pure instinct.
It just felt right.
“So then… let me forgive you, Richard. Come back with me.”
Asbel smiled as Richard started towards him, tender, welcoming. A weary smile tugged at Richard’s own lips, but his head ducked down. Asbel could only turn to watch, eyes widening, as Richard passed him by entirely.
“It’s just as well. I expected no different.” Richard stopped at the edge of the flower field, cape flapping behind him. “I didn’t come to negotiate.”
Asbel turned towards him again.
“Why did you come?”
“To reminisce.” Asbel could picture the look on Richard’s face, softer than it ever was these days. “To remember… better days.”
Frustration seized at Asbel suddenly. “And even as you think of them, even then, you still want to put this world at risk? Richard, think!”
“You’re a man of strong convictions, Asbel. As am I. There’s no going back now.”
A faint cry floated down towards them.
“Asbel!”
Asbel jolted at the sound of his name, carried up and over the hills.
“Asbel! Asbel, where are you?”
“Hello?”
How long had it been? Were his friend really searching for him already? Asbel’s eyes rushed back to Richard again, frantic.
Asbel had no intention of fighting, but his friends wouldn’t avoid a confrontation if they saw Richard here. Richard was smart. He had to know that. He was sure to leave before they found him.
That just meant he was slipping through Asbel’s fingers again. Asbel’s heart beat thunderously loud, echoing like a death knell in his ears.
Richard’s head tilted.
“…I didn’t just come to reminisce, Asbel. I also came to tell you something.”
“Yes?” Asbel took a halting step forwards.
What did Richard want to tell him? Would he give Asbel advice? A warning?
“I always loved you. Since I was a boy.”
No. This was something far more devastating. Asbel’s mouth opened and closed, searching in vain for anything at all to say. Richard continued, voice ragged.
“But… some things are never meant to be.”
“You’re wrong!”
Asbel stepped forwards again. This time, his fists clenched tighter than ever—enough for his nails to break skin.
“I will stop you.” He said. “But not at the cost of your life. I’ll save you tomorrow, Richard. Then we’ll come back here, together, and it’ll be like how things were. Like nothing ever changed.”
“Asbel!”
“Brother?”
“As-bel!”
The voices only grew louder. Whatever spell of sanctity had shielded Richard and Asbel shattered, crashing to the ground alongside Richard’s humorless chuckle.
“I look forward to seeing you try.”