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Adolin settled down on the grass, and it crunched beneath his weight, all either dead or dying, unable to retract. The sky was a dark, ugly red, flashes of orange lightning— a color of neither Odium or Honor, when it relates to storms— scattering the horizon. Gravity didn’t seem to matter in this new version of Roshar. Not that it didn’t exist, rather, that the laws of it were irrelevant. Adolin sat firmly on the ground while pieces of debris, houses, and other miscellaneous objects floated in the air. It seemed to pay more mind to living beings, this new gravity. It wasn’t random.
He was somewhat mesmerized by the destruction, so far away from him. The rubble formed patterns in the sky, lit up by lightning— and not uncommonly, they would get struck by lightning, and Adolin would hear a faint crash before it all fell eerily silent again.
At first, after they realized not even Odium knew what was happening, they tried to fight it, the abstract danger. People started dying, meaninglessly and in vain— Adolin felt a pang of grief for his father and brother— they— we gave up.
His aunt, and cousin, were somewhere in this wasteland, too far for him to reach; he didn’t want to risk spending his last moments searching for them. And Shallan… Shallan would be safe, flung into the Spiritual Realm when this all started. She was a good ally, and a great friend. For who he did have near him…
“I hate that I feel… peaceful.” Kaladin said with a heavy sigh, staring up at the sky as he rested his head on Adolin’s shoulder. His hair was longer than it was when this all started, not because a significant amount of time had passed. He wasn't sure why his hair was longer. Before he died, Renarin had grey hairs, but his father seemed younger than before, almost in his early 40’s. Time, like gravity, decided to play by abstract and unknown rules.
Kal had long discarded his uniform, wearing a long, dark coat with tattered civilian clothing. He kept the Kholin coat that Dalinar gave him wrapped around his waist, in a decidingly unfashionable manner. Who really cared, now, though?
“I feel the same way,” Adolin replied after a few heartbeats. Time had left Adolin alone, for the most part. He had more pronounced smile lines, but that was it. On the matter of clothing, he kept his princely raiments. Wore his fanciest outfit for the event that was the end of the world.
“Though, it’s different than thinking a battlefield looks peaceful. It’s just… rocks.” Kaladin just nodded in agreement. He shuffled closer to Adolin, and rested his head on his shoulder. Adolin, in turn, wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned his head on top of his.
Lightning crackled, like the sound of shardplate breaking, and the sky lit up to reveal hues of red and black and orange.
“The more I watch… the more I realize I'm… grateful I can’t do anything. No one can.” The dark haired man kept his eyes fixed on the sky for a few more moments, before he turned to Adolin and stared into his eyes.
“All my life, I've blamed myself for not being able to help. That… surely, someone better than me could. But storms, not even Odium knew how to stop this. That… makes me feel better, I think.” Adolin gave him a small smile, brushing his hand through the waist-level locks of hair that fell across his back, and pressed his forehead against Kaladin’s.
“That was always so silly to me. Who’s better than you, in your eyes?” Adolin said with a chuckle, and Kaladin, for once, laughed back with a shake of his head. His eyes were brown again, and it suited him. Syl was… not gone, but suppressed within their bond.
Everyone’s was. Just on a whim, he reached out to Maya. Nothing.
“I don’t know, actually.” Kaladin admitted, smile lingering. “Who would be better than me, the high, mightly, honorable, just, kind, honest, heraldic-”
“Okay, okay.” Adolin laughed and tightened his grip around Kaladin’s waist. “We all know you’re shard-like, much beyond the heralds.” Kaladin let out a huff and pressed against him. The smile faded, and his gorgeous brown eyes fixated on the sky again, all veins of orange. It was almost idiotic of Adolin to not realize how much he loved Kal before this.
No, it was idiotic. He felt a smouldering, burning anger at himself for not letting him feel this earlier; so many moments and memories he could’ve made. He glowered inside, at himself, until Kaladin noticed and gave him a kiss on his brows, then his lips.
“What could you possibly be angry about?” Kaladin asked, in a light tone, before he switched to something more befitting his personality— serious, and considerate.
“I will not allow you to be mad on your last day on Roshar.” He sounded deadly serious— like he was able to just will away whatever was making him mad. He probably could, knowing him.
“I just—” Adolin broke off into a laugh. “Sorry, sorry, no I-” he giggled again, and Kaladin couldn’t help but chuckle with him. “Just thinking about how stupid I am. How much time I missed being with you .” He cupped Kal’s face with his hand, staring at him. At least, in these last moments, Kaladin would be his. Maybe that could be enough.
He hummed, and leaned into Adolin’s hand. “Just me? Only thing you’ll miss spending time with?” Kaladin retorted, in that way where he sounded like he was looking for a specific answer.
Adolin considered, then shook his head.
“No. A blue sky, the sounds of horses-” Really? Kaladin muttered- “the smell of the arena and the feel of Maya’s blade, and… my family.” He sighed.
“And so many other things. I guess I won’t be around to miss it much longer, though.” At that, Kaladin shifted, looking oddly… guilty. Adolin turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” He could not seriously be mad at Adolin for missing things other than him. Maybe he just… didn’t like the thought of Adolin dying.
Too bad, He thought with no emotion other than resigned sadness.
“Well—” As Kaladin started. The world shook. The ground around them cracked, the sky rubble shifted and some came crashing down around them, hitting spots near them.
Kal immediately rushed to curl himself over Adolin, and he heard a faint grunt of pain from him as rock hit his back. Lightning rumbled continuously now, with no breaks, growing in strength and hitting the ground.
“Is this— it?” Adolin said, voice shaking. He wasn’t afraid, wasn’t afraid to die until now. Until it was actually happening.
He clung to Kaladin like he was going to fade away— maybe, maybe he was— and hoped Kaladin wouldn’t die first.
“Not for you.” Kal said simply, and Adolin let out a confused noise. The rumbling got louder, the shaking got more pronounced, the lightning lit up the entire sky without ceasing, and Kaladin’s face looked ethereal.
Somehow, Adolin knew that was the last he was going to see of him.
He pulled something out of his pocket, glowing with Voidlight. He trusted Kaladin. He didn’t need to tell himself he trusted Kaladin. It was engraved in his blood, in his brain, in his skin. There would never be another person he believed in more—
He shoved the thing into Adolin's chest, straight into his skin because he unbuttoned his shirt because the end of the world was so storming hot .
It glowed and pulsed, and Adolin was scared and confused into frozen silence.The contraption— extremely small, barely the size of his thumb, and half as thick as the width of a finger— filled his body with a drowsiness, like he was drunk, and he leaned back onto the dead plants, feeling the ground break underneath him.
“Don’t worry Adolin. You won’t die. I swear.” He heard Kaladin’s mumbling, and he felt his father’s— Kaladin’s— Kholin coat lay on top of him, and then the last thing he saw of the Windrunner, his vision fading, was a face full of fear as he crouched down, rubble raining on top of him.
The last thing he heard Kaladin say was "Take Syl."
And he felt something rush through his soul, next to the mental space he knew Maya lay.
Kaladin still tried to cover Adolin, even as stones hit his head, and he collapsed on top of him, still shielding him. He blacked out and—
Adolin dropped down, down, down, looking at a mirror sky of the place he was just in, but the rubble was gone from the sky; The lightning seemed to be covered by a layer of fog, misty and diluted. It lit up the sky regardless, getting harsher and all-encompassing. It was all… distant. The sun was gone, fully gone.
He held onto Kaladin’s coat with a desperation he's not sure he’ll ever feel again, and as he dropped into the sea of beads, he knew everyone he’s ever loved was gone.