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After years, and centuries, and several ‘failed’ attempts—G’raha had finally succeeded.
He had successfully brought the Warrior of Light to the First.
He rushes past the bustle of the Crystarium, nearly bumping into a number of citizens who look at him in awe and confusion as he rushes to meet her at the gates — she’s finally here, the person he’s missed for centuries.
Panne Nini.
But who meets him instead is almost a completely different person who bears her teeth at him and goes for a lunge.
—His only line of defense is Lyna’s arm as she struggles to hold the woman back.
“Who are you?!” Panne snarls, shoving her body against the arm that holds her back, “and why did you bring me here?!”
“I—“
“I was so close…I could almost taste his blood on my hands—but you got in my way—“
Lyna has to turn and use her whole body to barricade the woman now.
“My Lord—are you certain this is the guest you were talking about!?” She exasperates.
G’raha catches himself from the shock of the exchange and places the enigmatic face of the Exarch back on.
“Though she does not seem too pleased to be here…it was I who invited her.”
“More like ‘dragged’ you fucking bastard!”
“Shall I subdue her, my Lord?” Lyna asks, sending him a look of concern. “I would advise against bringing her into the city like this. I still have some pixie dust, and—”
“No.”
He looks back at the friend who stands before him now and something inside him breaks.
What did they do to you?
“Let her go, Lyna…this is no way to treat an esteemed guest.”
“B-But my Lord—“
“Please.” He says with finality.
The veena sighs before slowly backing away. She keeps her hands on both of her chakrams as she watches the two of them closely.
“Panne…” The Exarch starts—tasting the unfamiliar feeling of her name on his mouth, “I beg of you to listen to our plight.”
“Fuck your plight! Die for all I care!” She spits.
Her words strike him like a blade, and then he’s flooded with memories—
Of the toothy grins she’d send him when he’d stumble on his feet.
Or the time she successfully hunted down a gigas and brought it back to camp, convincing everyone to try to roast it and eat it with the most triumphant look on her face.
When she had once split off from the rest of the group, and he had found her in a clearing gazing so softly at the field of flowers beneath her feet. She had plucked a white lily and had given it to him then. “Since you caught me looking,” she had giggled with mirth.
That same woman remains curled in form, her fingers clenching yet her body unmoving.
Ready to strike at anything and everything she sees as a threat.
He dares to take a step closer to the person he no longer knows.
“You shall have your revenge yet…” He says, feeling bile start to form in the back of his throat, “but what if I had told you that the outcome of it depends on this.”
That had gotten her attention.
She lifts her head to look at him now, her teeth still bared.
“…fine. What do you want?” Her voice gravels.
“I shall tell you soon enough, but you have had a long journey, my friend. Please, allow me to show you around the Crystarium, where you will be staying throughout this journey. There will be food and water there as well, as I’m certain you are famished.”
“Whatever.”
G’raha sees the way Lyna’s hands twitch around her weapons as Panne steps forward.
He sends Panne a warm smile, despite the glare her single eye is shooting his way.
“Follow me.”
For the first time, he had sensed some fear in turning his back to her—but he would ignore it and push on, as he has a mission to fulfill.
His death might even bring her some relief, and there was a sickening twist in his stomach at the realization of that statement.
He spares another glance at his old friend once more—trying to conjure up the memory of the rambunctious young spirit he had known, but the scar he can see that’s just peaking out of the eyepatch over her right eye kills that fantasy just before it can begin.
What have they done to you, the question keeps echoing in his mind.
He wants to grab her shoulders and shake her, hug her, kiss her— anything that would ease the burdens she carries now.
The ones he knows she’ll never tell him.
He’s thankful for the effectiveness of his cowl and glamour.
He leads the way into the Crystarium, and the dialogue he had rehearsed before comes surprisingly easy to him—perhaps because his brain has had enough emotions for a day.
What a reunion this had turned out to be, he concedes, as he takes the true first steps towards his path.
The one that is destined to lead him into a pit that leads him down
and down.
and down.