Chapter Text
Their eyes met, his wintery blue ones meeting her rich, earthy brown ones. Her gaze, which was usually so warm and tender, was chilling and distant. An electric purple haze Rian had seen once before, back in the caves of Grot, when the Nurloc attacked them, glossed over her stare. Her gaze made his heart ache. Something was wrong—more than wrong. The darkening was still in her. . .She broke their gaze and turned her back to him. He watched as the world seemed to tip top-side down and the air became thick with a heavy dark aura. The foliage wilted at Deet’s mere presence, and began to tangle itself, blocking Rian’s view of her vanishing figure.
He stared in morbid fascination at the withering world; memorized by it’s sudden, drastic change. He almost became entranced with it all, and his insides seemed to turn cold. He quickly shook his thoughts clear, now wasn’t the time to dwell on the sad sensation, “Deet! Wait! Where are you going?” He ran forward, into the falling foliage, grabbing and tearing branches to get to her, “Deet, please! It’s not safe out here! We need to stick together,” he winced as the roughness of the branches tore at his skin, “Deet!”
Her figure was fading and the thicket was becoming almost too dense to navigate through. Rian forced and squeezed his way through, not bothering about the added cuts and scratches to his already battle battered body.
He finally caught up with her, out of breath; she’d stopped when she sensed his close proximity and felt the breath of her name leave his mouth. He made to touch her shoulder, but a thick aura seemed to keep him from doing so, “Deet?”
“Leave me,” a voice spoke, it was Deet’s but it was distorted darkly.
“Huh” Rian’s eyes widened at the demonic tone, “Deet what’s wrong? Let me help you,” he made to grab her shoulder again, this time making contact, but was instantly shot with a purple bolt of electricity, throwing him backward to the ground with a thud.
“Leave me,” The demonic voice bellowed, shaking the earth beneath him. The petite Gelfling radiated an intense gloom around her and the evening’s glow seemed to turn to twilight, “please...I just need to be alone right now.” her plead was only her own voice; a sweet hushed whisper. The sound of it broke Rian’s heart.
Rian propped himself on his elbows, and watched as Deet slowly faded away as more verdure withered around her until she could not be seen. He brought his hand before him, the one that made contact with Deet, and watched as tiny purple bolts fizzed around his fingers and palm then faded into oblivion. The air seemed to purify in her absence and the dark veil was lifted from the atmosphere.
. . .
Rian stumbled back to Stone-in-the-Wood after his encounter with Deet; rattled and confused by this sudden change in her. As he neared Stone-in-the-Wood he was greeted by sweet celebratory flute and drum music and the joyous noises of festivity. He stopped in amazement as he looked upon all the clans of Gelfling celebrating their victory over the Skeksis. It had gone dusk now and the city, though in ruins, was alight with lights, and dancing, and laughter. The fountain of sparkling booze overflowed and folk were already noticeable drunk on happiness. He walked through the crowds in sheer wonderment. He wondered if the Gelfling had ever been in such harmony as this before in all the history of Thra.
He spotted a familiar face amongst the crowds, dancing around with a battered, yet merry looking All Maurdra. Brea caught his stare and quickly shoved her dance partner to another near Gelfling and ran over, almost tipping Rian over with a hug, “Where have you been,” she said into his hair, still a bit breathless from dancing, “look what we’ve found,” she pulled away and took from her robe’s pocket a cloth-wrapped something. She carefully unfolded it and revealed a gleaming gem shard and offered it to Rian.
“What’s this,” he looked at the glowing glass in confusion, taking it from Brea’s small hands.
“Rian..” she took a steadying breath, “it’s the missing piece of the Crystal,” Brea declared with joy.
Rian looked at her blankly, then to the crystal, then back to Brea, eyes widening; gasping, “but how? I mean wher—”
“It was in the Dual Glaive! That’s what the Heretic intended us to find from the beginning!”
Rian was lost for words, this was great! “ Now we can fix everything! And the Skeksis and Mystics can become one again! And we can live in peace and rule over ourselves! And we can all be happy again!” Brea’s eyes sparkled in the moonlight, filling with tears as she embraced RIan again in a gripping hug. He tenderly hugged her back, trying to balance the crystal so it wouldn’t fall. Once she let go he gave it back to her to wrap up and put away safely.
“Where’s Deet?” Brea looked around him, thinking she’d be within his proximity.
Rian was jolted by her inquiry,“Oh...” he looked at Brea, his emotions obviously a muddle; Brea could read him well. Rian looked at her tender face, and noticed all the cuts and bruises—yet still she glowed with such hope right now. He didn’t want to worry her, not now, “she’s...she said she wants some time alone is all…” he wasn’t lying...just not elaborating. He couldn’t bring himself to burst her bubble of happiness, not after all they’d been through, not after everything she’d lost, they’d all lost. Brea looked at him despondently, and made to speak but was cut short by Onica appealing and catching her attention. Brea and the redhead Gelfling embraced and excitedly proclaimed how happy they were to see each other alive and well. Rian took the opportunity to slip away into the crowds.
He went about looking for his other friends, wanting to double-check they were all okay. They were, albeit, except for some bruising and cuts. Gurjin was drunk and Kylan and Naia were grudgingly in charge of keeping him from going back to the fountain for elevenths. They all asked about Deet, and Rian gave them all the same answer he gave Brea. They insisted he stay and celebrate with them, so he did. But his heart was heavy for Deet. He thought his head was going to burst with worry. Last time Deet had used the power of the Sanctuary Tree, she passed out. He couldn’t help but worry she’d past out, alone in the woods and was being taken by the Skeksis! He couldn’t keep still, and fidgeted in worry.
His friends informed him of Maudra Fara’s passing and he paid his silence respects, disheartened to think of the brave, courageous woman as gone forever. He refused to drink anything, saying his head felt too dizzy from the excitement already, but was handed a pint by insisting hands. He more or less just sipped at it and put it down somewhere to hopefully get lost. He was pulled into a dancing crowd and performed the traditional line style dance a little reluctantly, his mind was a little too occupied by a particular green skinned Gelfling to worry about the movement of his feet. This in turn led to him stepping on many unsuspecting toes.
The night faded away in merriment and the Gelfling started to mellow down, as softer music was tuned and the stars flickered high in the heavens. Rian’s heart had had enough, Deet hadn’t returned and he worried something might have happened to her. He huffed out a frustrated sigh that caught Brea’s attention, “go get her,” she said softly to him, meeting his gaze,“please,” she pleaded. Rian nodded in response, relieved he wasn’t the only one missing their Grotten friend. So, while Naia was trying to pull Gurjin off of Kylan, who had made the mistake of telling Gurjin he had had enough to drink, Rian took the opportunity to excuse himself and ran to the forest's edge.
He stood there wondering if he should go after her. She wanted to be alone after all...But some time had past now, it was nearing twilight....He started forward, then stopped, knowing he should probably wait till she was ready to come back on her own terms...But he was worried...something might have happened in his absence. He shook his thought determinedly, and started forward again.
It wasn’t too hard to find her, he just followed the dead path of foliage, the full moon provided a sufficient glow to see. He had to fight his way through some of the tangled branches and vines but most of it was so dead and eroded by now it crumbled at a mere touch.
He came to what seemed like a huge bird’s nest; the ticket was so curled and tangled here. He stopped in awe. In the middle of this all was an orb of tightly knotted branches. He carefully made his way over to it. Coming closer, It was quite large, and seeing this is where the dead path of vegetation ended he suspected Deet must be inside it.
He awkwardly clawed at the tangled globe and forced an opening, the rough vines tearing into his already tender, blistering skin. Peeking inside he saw Deet curled up and sleeping on the floor; the moonlight dripping in and casting a blue-white glow on her. He didn’t feel any kind of dark aura coming off of her, and was relieved. He broke more of the branches to just about fit himself through, and climbed in.
Once inside he quickly marveled at the intricacy of the hollow globe, all finely knitted together, but enough little gaps remained to sprinkle moonlight through; it was oddly beautiful. He turned his attention to the still sleeping Deet, and thought, absentmindedly, ‘oddly beautiful’ was a good way to describe her too…
He knelt beside her and stared at her intently, admiring her white hair that was glowing in the moonlight and her soft complexion and features. He could stare at her for a thrine straight and never get bored. Her skin was stained with bruises, and she had a deep cut below her eye. Rian had the urge to kiss her all over, wanting to show love to her skin that had been beaten by such evil beings. His heart burned, wanting justice for the gentle Gelfling who saw the best in everything and everyone and was unfairly thrust into such an age of corrupt injustice. He forced the anger out of himself and filled his spirit with love for the Gelfling girl. He brought his hand to dust a stray snow white strade from her eyes. She looked so peaceful sleeping here and felt guilty waking her up—but he was selfish and needed to see she was really okay.
He shook her shoulder gently, murmuring her name, and she stirred; her face scrunching and a tiny moan leaving her lips. She slowly propped herself up and rubbed at her eyes to adjust to the lowlight, she could see much better in the dark and stared at the boy Gelfling and drank in his presence. “Rian?” she whispered.
“Yes, it’s me,” he spoke softly. She looked around herself at her surroundings and finally back to Rian, her eyes gleaming like two black pearls in the starlight.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice mild from sleep.
“I was worried and came looking for you,” he replied, “are you alright Deet?” She scrunched up her face in thought, “my head hurts a bit, but I’m alright.” She gave him a forced, weak smile. He brought his calloused hand to her face and brushed her matted hair from her eyes, then continued the motion till he cupped her cheek. Deet relaxed into the warmness of his hand, “Our friends will be so glad to see you’re okay, we were worried about you being all alone out here..” he spoke to her tenderly, rubbing his thumb warmly across her cheek, delicately tracing her now scabbed cut beneath her eye.
“I’m sorry I’m such a burden,” she said ashamedly. Rian watched as glittering tears spilled from her eyes.
“No, no Deet,” Rian pleaded to her, nonplused by her sudden shame, “you are no burden!” He shuffled his knees to meet with her own, grabbing her face between his palms, looking her straight in the eyes, “We would do anything for you! We love you so much, Deet. I love y—” he bit his tongue, not sure if Deet would be happy to hear such a detail, “..we love you...to the ends of Thra and all the universe!” Her eyes went wide at his words, “so I don’t want you to think for even one more second that you, Deet the Gentle and very brave, are a burden,” he chuckled out the last line, coaxing a small smile from her too.
“Thank you, Rian the Brave..and also very gentle,” she whispered back; his cheeks reddening at being called such a frilly word. She hugged him then, tightly. He in turn wrapped his strong arms around her tiny frame. They breathed in each other's presence, and their heartbeats bounced off each other.
She started to push her full weight on him, making him start to lose balance. She pushed until he fell back on his back with a thud, Deet on top of him, “uh Deet?” he asked puzzled.
“Please.. just lay here with me a bit,” her voice was muffled from being pressed against his chest, “I was having a nightmare, before you woke me up, the Hunter had really chopped off your head and I was left—” she started to hiccup with small sobs, the dream feeling all too realistic, “feeling so empty and cold..” She moved her face to look up at his, reddened and tear stained, “Please, Rian, never leave me like that!” she choked out.
He hugged her as tightly as he dared, lest me break her, and buried his face in her hair, as he too began to shed tears, “I vow, Deet, I will never abandon you, I’ll always be with you..forever.”
“..promise,” she asked in the tiniest voice.
“Promise,” he kissed her hair and rubbed her back. And they stayed there. Deet’s breathing became even as she relaxed into Rian’s promise and earthy scent and entered a sweet dream realm. Until Rian felt her go completely limp, only then did Rian allow himself to let sleep take him too. . .