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Darkness. It’s such a comfort these days.
The few times it wasn’t, they were few and far between.
The most recent case that Vax’ildan is very aware of was the punishment he’d endured for quite some time trapped in a spherical prison.
And when he was freed, the comfort did not make itself known right away, as he had found himself in the thick of battle on the mortal plane once more.
Back in that familiar locale that he had last been in, shielding Keyleth from that assassin.
Even when the battle had ended with the enemy armies routed and the structure that kept him contained destroyed, the comfort would still elude him, even among family.
The people that saved him, so much older now.
The sole exception being her.
The very person that he would defy the fates over and over for.
Aside from her attire, she looks mostly the same as that day that he entered the Matron’s realm for the foreseeable future.
Her eyes had told a different story. So much grief, sorrow, anger, and longing in those eyes.
It’s what he felt, too. How he yearned for their life together.
But it wasn’t meant to be. And even now, he’d been given a single night to be with them.
That night was a double-edged sword.
He was content being around his nieces and nephews, and among Vex and Percy.
They had grown so old, yet fully content with life. Percy had lacked the anger that he had, now replaced by the grouchiness expected of age. And Vex had an aura about her. An aura that was not unlike their mother’s.
He’s so happy that they built a family, and that it’s been prospering.
Scanlan and Pike were doing okay too, as was Grog.
On the other hand… Keyleth had made herself scarce.
It was probably for the best. He had known that she’d been suffering, and had done so mostly in silence.
She would end up outliving everyone. And as such, she would have resigned herself to never being happy. What would be the point in forming a family she would outlive and outlast?
So of course she’d deny having any other partner in life. Of course she would deny anything that would provide something similar to what the two of them shared.
She kept herself prisoner as a result. Having the world pass her by while she watched.
The end goal of the Aramenté was very much a curse at this point.
Even so, the selfish part of Vax’ildan wanted her here. He missed her so much.
So it came as a slow, gradual shock to Vax when he found himself sequestered back to the Matron’s realm.
And he wasn’t alone. Morrighan Ferus, another faithful in Her service, was also beckoned here.
And what the Matron had shared with the two of them had begun to change everything that Vax thought he knew.
The Matron, along with all of the gods, would remove themselves off of the divine dinner table, as it were, to avoid the scent of the god-eater.
They would eventually be reborn as mortals, becoming one with Exandria in a cycle of reincarnation.
Here would come the hard part.
The faithful would have to be vigilant, seeking out those they follow in the hopes of protecting them and guiding them until they regain their memories.
After that… there was really no ironclad plan.
As expected of a scheme that was supposedly formed at the eleventh hour, or so he assumes, but he’d never dare say it aloud. Especially not in front of Her.
And speaking of Her…
Not only had She given Morrighan the same mantle as Vax, but also had tasked them both with finding Her in this new upcoming age.
“Age suspended within feather and shadow”, which would mean… he wouldn’t age.
But of course he wouldn’t age, he hasn’t aged since that day.
The day he left her side.
So why…?
The Matron had also answered that question. He was tasked to walk Exandria as Her symbol.
Wait… “walk Exandria”?
Was She seriously allowing him to walk the mortal plane again unimpeded?
She was being serious as She bestowed warmth into his being again.
He felt his heart beat for the first time in three decades. He felt his blood warming.
He felt… alive. And if he felt alive, then…
“Take a fragment of your life back. There is more than your duty now. You've shown me your true, loyal self. But you are loyal to many and I've held you as my own greedily for too long.”
Vax is stoic… but he wants to cry, feeling his eyes glisten for the first time in forever.
“Come find me. In the times where you need to rest, where you need to lean…”
Was She seriously saying what Vax dares to hope She is saying?
“Go to them.”
A pause, a very meaningful pause. And then…
“Go to her.”
She was. She absolutely was.
She was allowing him to return home… to his home.
The Matron departs, promising to see Her champions again, before darkness claims his awareness again.
When Vax opens his eyes… he’s back where he was plucked from.
A hallway in Whitestone Castle, albeit there’s something different.
There’s hardly a soul around.
He realizes that he’s standing outside the door that would have led to Keyleth’s guest room.
That’s right.
He had intended to at least say farewell before the Matron would claim him again.
But right now… he doesn’t have to.
He doesn’t need to open the door to know that she’s no longer there.
The sky outside is bright with morning light. It must have been at best a couple hours since he had vanished.
A quick search results in a couple of servants letting him know that the entirety of Vox Machina had gone to Vasselheim for something critically important.
And then it dawns on him.
The rites that the Matron had talked about, the ones that would bring the gods off their pedestals and into this new cycle.
She would of course have them performed there, the dawn city itself.
And speaking of… if what he believes is true…
Then the deed is already done. And somehow Vax can tell.
Everything has changed.
What hasn’t, though, is what he had already decided to do now.
“I’ll find you, I promise.”
Keyleth had promised that, three decades ago, just before his departure.
And she had actually fulfilled that promise just the other day, returning to the battlefield with an army at her back, personally freeing him from his prison.
She had found him, just as she said she would. Not the way she’d intended, but… even so, she found him.
And now… it’s his turn.
And there’s only one place he needs to go.
Sure, he could also wait here, wait for Vex and Percy to come home, spend a little more time with them.
But no, at this point they are so content. And Vax had kept the love of his life waiting for too damn long.
“This time, Keyleth… I’ll find you.”
It takes him at best a full week to make his way back to the only place he could think of.
A humble village in the Summit Peaks, pleasant winds carrying cherry blossoms every day.
That’s the Zephrah that he remembers.
It’s the same Zephrah that stands before him now.
There are very visible changes, architecturally speaking.
But it’s still the same place.
Many of the townsfolk that cross his path are curious, but there are also those that remember him, all very much older now.
One of them in particular he recalls from a random summer day when he was pitching in with some odd jobs.
The look of recognition on her weathered face was enough to make Vax want to cry, especially when she gave him a warm hug.
“The Tempest will be overjoyed to see you, son,” she had said as she gave him a hearty snack.
Just that little taste of Zephran comfort made him emotional.
And yet, it was a prelude to what was coming.
When he knocked on that door, he wasn’t sure what to do or say.
All he could do was speak from the heart.
And so he did when she answered the door and eventually let him inside.
They agreed to start over, to begin again.
They shared glasses of wine, another thing he missed.
And then… their first kiss in decades. It was the ambrosia he missed most of all.
Every kiss they had shared in their brief time together, he had committed to memory.
But this kiss was the best one of all.
It was the sealing of their new beginning.
As if that wasn’t enough, in spite of their wanting to start slow, old passions die hard. And so they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
Soon enough, the two of them are holding each other in a very familiar bedchamber, neither of them wanting to move as the sky grows darker.
The candles are already lit with a flick of Keyleth’s wrist.
And when he looks into those old familiar eyes, a lot of that past pain is still there… along with something new.
Hope.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”
Keyleth wipes a few tears out of those eyes.
“I forgive you. Just… don’t keep me waiting that long again.”
Vax takes her hand and kisses the back. “I’m home. And I won’t leave you alone again, Kiki.”
She’s suddenly crying again. And already he’s cursing himself. Did he say something wrong? Again?
“It’s been forever since you called me that. I missed it.”
Oh. That’s it.
Something so simple, yet so meaningful to both of them.
“And I missed you, my love. My home.”
Another kiss is shared between the Tempest and the Champion.
At long last, he’s back where he belongs. With the very woman that he would defy the fates for.
No longer does he have to merely yearn for a life together.
He has all he needs here, as does she.
And now they can greet this new age together.
It all feels right… at last.