Chapter Text
“Agy, we’re back—oh! Snowy is here…”
Upon seeing Phainon in the room, quietly seated on the bed with Aglaea sitting beside him, her hand over his, Tribbie lowers her voice as she flutters over. “Where did De go? He isn’t accompanying him today?”
“It seems the Kremnoans required his presence for some matters, so he requested that I look after Phainon while he handled his countrymen's affairs,” Aglaea answers. “He should be back soon.”
“I see… Everyone’s been so busy since Okhema was restored. But especially you, Agy… We haven’t seen you resting for even a moment,” Tribbie says worriedly. “Make sure you take the chance to relax when you can.”
“I appreciate your concern, teacher. However, I do welcome the distraction that my current duties bring me.” Aglaea turns her head, gazing at Phainon softly. “Although, I would never count taking care of Phainon among one of those burdens.”
Tribbie nods in agreement, then looks up at the silent swordsman. The expression on his face is blank, his normally bright, exuberant blue eyes so dull and lifeless. Gazing upon the pitiful sight, perhaps Aglaea lets too much of her pain show on her own visage, because Tribbie starts speaking again, trying to reassure her.
“Naxy and Cinny are working on developing a cure for him, right? And we even have Little Grey and her friends helping out. So everything will be fine, Agy! Snowy will get through this.”
“...Indeed,” the Goldweaver replies. “This child has always borne such a strong heart. This will be but another one of the many trials he will overcome. But…”
Aglaea reaches over slowly, pausing, her hand hovering over Phainon’s head, as if convinced that he will flinch away from her touch. The rejection and disgust that she envisions that she believes herself deserving of never comes—no reaction does—and she gently cards her fingers through his white locks of hair.
“I do wish I could know,” she murmurs, her voice quiet and heavy with emotions that she had long thought beyond her reach, “What his true thoughts were, when he learned that the expectations that I foisted upon his young shoulders were built upon a lie.”
Tribbie looks saddened at that. “Agy… It’s not your fault. No one could’ve known…”
“Perhaps not… Perhaps, as mere playthings to higher powers beyond our comprehension, we never had the power to take control of our fates at all. And yet, I entrusted that impossible task to Phainon.”
“But Snowy wouldn’t have blamed you, Agy! We know this… We know that even now, Snowy doesn’t blame you.”
“No… He wouldn’t.” Aglaea’s even tone belies the unspoken turmoil that swirls in her heart. “And that is the hardest part to bear.”
Her hand moves to his cheek, lingering there. The Phainon of the past would have leaned into her touch and smiled, ever receptive to physical affections of any kind. But as he is now, he only stares ahead, unseeing and unresponsive. The very image of the once animated, cheerful boy who had grown up under her care and tutelage being reduced to little more than an empty shell is more devastating than Aglaea can put into words, driving the stake deeper into her heart.
“It would be easier…if he did blame me,” she whispers. Even now, even after the soul-eroding effect of the coreflame of Romance has been removed by their allies from beyond the sky, she still can’t find it in herself to shed any tears. She wishes she could, if only to alleviate her own guilty conscience.
How cruel and selfish she has become.
Unable to find any words of comfort, Tribbie simply lowers her head sadly. The silence feels heavy between them, but Aglaea can’t bring herself to try and lighten it as she usually does. She closes her eyes, allowing her hands to drop from Phainon's face and pressing her forehead into his shoulder.
Phainon… Please wake up soon.
If not for me…then for all the others who mourn for you.