TW: Angst, MCD

"Why are you so upset?" Zoey yelled. She was confused. Why was Rythian so angry? She thought he would be proud of her of her work.

"You used science! Science! You didn't even tell me!" Rythian clenched his fists as they shook with frustration.

"What is so wrong about that? I was only trying to help!" She exclaimed as she attempted to step forward. Rythian stepped back and gritted his teeth.

"Well it doesn't help! You don't understand! You don't!"

He reached for the door. He slammed it with a great force which caused the hinges to snap and the door to fall to the ground. His footsteps became more distant as he walked away. She could hear another door open and heard the aggressive rain falling. It slammed shut.

She glanced out of the window to see him pulling up his hood and flying away into the raining clouds. She tightly gripped her clothes until her knuckles were white with fury.

"Then tell me what I don't understand! I can help! Please..."

She sank to the floor as tears began to stream from her eyes. She didn't want to cry. She didn't want Rythian to be mad at her. She wanted to smile. She wanted to hold his hand. She wanted to hear him breathing beside her. She wanted him

Zoey sat for a while after the argument with Rythian. Her worries did nothing but fill her with fear and unsettling thoughts.

Is he coming back?

Where has he gone?

Does he hate me?

Organising her thoughts in her mind, she wiped the tears with her fingers. She pushed herself up and walked towards the window. She opened it to feel a rush of cold wind and fresh drops of rain on her skin. She stared into the night sky, searching. She sighed and firmly closed the window. She wanted some company. Thoughts crossed her mind about going to see Teep, but it was the middle of the night. Zoey pulled her cloak around her shoulders for warmth as she began making her way out of the door and into the hallway. Speedily, Zoey went down the ladders and stairs to the monitors.

She walked in to see a gargantuan amount of information displayed on the screen about her allies and her foes across the room. She then made her way to a small door and traveled down a short ladder to find what she had been searching for; Rythian's monitor. She inspected the screen to discover something she never wanted to see.

Location: Unknown

Her mouth opened slightly as she stared at the screen. Trying to Composing herself, Zoey dashed out of several rooms and made her way to the front door. Her hand reached for the handle and hesitated. She was scared. Scared of what she doesn't know.

He's right.

I don't understand.

He gripped the door handle, forcefully pulled it open and ran into the night. Hearing the creatures of the night, her fear began to grow stronger. She had no weapon to defend herself. If she was caught...things would not end in a good way. Stealthily, she hid behind the trees as she travelled to an unknown destination. All she wanted to do was find him.

To calm down.

To breathe.

Her face tilted upward towards the dark skies. The clouds were too dense to fly in. She didn't want to risk anything. Besides, she had more important things to do than try to fly in the dark, not including the rain and heavy gusts of wind. Zoey remained on foot and traveled in the depth of the night in her search. Abnormally, her pace started to quicken and increase in speed dramatically as her emotions were swirling wildly in her mind.

She leaned on a tree to try and catch her breath. She was panting heavily and her chest hurt. It hurt from the loss of breath. It hurt from the loss of Rythain. Gripping her chest, she could feel her heart beating rapidly. The pounding of the blood coursing through her body somehow soothed her. She closed her eyes and let the needles of water hit her.

Why does it hurt so much?

It hurts when I can't see him.

Once she was able to breathe again at the standard rate, she pushed herself from the tree and walked through the forest in the deep night. The shadows grew thicker as she felt a presence. We walked quicker and ended up in an open field of grass.

The wind blew the previous light rain away and brought thick raindrops with it. Zoey was drenched with the rainfall but the cold never affected her as the blood of a blaze flowed through her veins.

Zoey glanced at the open field and scanned it for her companion.

I don't want to feel this.

She stopped walking and embedded herself in her thoughts once more. She was lost. Lost in her mind and lost outside of it. The path of her thoughts always led to him. She pictured his face.

His eyes were sullen and glazed over when they met. She knew something bad, something traumatic had happened to him but in fear of hurting him she never questioned him on it. However, as they spent more time together, the glaze started to drift away. His eyes started to shine with positive emotions. She also recalled the first time she saw him without his mask. It was accidental when she grabbed him when she fell as her reflexes gained control of her body. She fell hard on the floor with the mage lying on top of her, staring down at her. His scar was prominent and deep. Zoey reached out her hand to touch it, but Rythian flinched and his eyes filled his horror. The panic in his eyes showed Zoey how he felt about revealing his old wound. She decided to calm him by pressing her hips on his scar and mouth. The memory made the sides of her lips rise into a gentle smile.

Zoey's mind then snapped back to reality.

She stared in the rain and again scanned the area. Her heart was beating fast as the panic and desperation started to set in.

She was about to move on until she spotted something. Catching her attention, Zoey dashed for the item that was blowing in the wind. Once she reached the item, her heart fell.

It was part of Rythian's cape and on it were fresh drips of blood.

Wrong.

Something if definitely wrong.

Following the blood trail along the moist ground, Zoey moved with haste. The drops grew larger as she went along. However, the blood was beginning to wash away due to the heavy rainfall.

He must be close.

She kept moving, rushing in the rain for him. Zoey then found what she was looking for.

Rythian was lying in the rain on the floor. She could see the scarlet liquid leaking out of a gap in his stomach. Zoey rushed to his side and held his face with the palm of her hand.

"Wha-What happened, Rythian?!"

He mumbled something as he tried to sit up, but he let out a cry of pain and clutched his wound.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't move around so much otherwise you will make your wound worse".

"Z-Zoey! Get out of here! NOW!".

"What are you talking about? You're hurt!".

At that moment, Zoey felt a presence of something behind her.

She turned around to see dark eyes staring at her. The endermen edged closer to the pair with eyes full of fury. Then, a grin slowly grew across its face.

"Zoey, run!"

The shock Zoey felt at that moment paralyzed her and prevented her from taking action.

Suddenly, the enderman moved. It disappeared from her view and teleported elsewhere. The fear inside of her was disappearing in relief.

"What were enderman doing her-"

Zoey turned to Rythian to see an increase of blood on him. His neck was scarlet his own red liquid. His eyes no longer had life contained in them. She held his dead body in shock and despair.

Tears formed in her eyes and streamed down her face along with the rain.

"Rythian?"

Zoey kept repeating his name over and over for a long period of time.

No.

I don't believe it.

This isn't happening!

She was crying into the dead Rythain's chest when she could hear chuckling around her. She gripped Rythain's cloak and stared at his still chest.

Zoey.

ZOEY.

OPEN YOUR EYES.

"NO!"

This is not happening!

"Rythain, don't you dare leave me!"

IT IS YOUR TIME NOW, ZOEY.

The pain of the loss of Rythain had destroyed Zoey.

I want to go back to before I knew the meaning of love. I don't want to feel it. It hurts too much.

The footsteps of the endermen grew louder and closer. She lowered her face in between Rythian's face and shoulders and embraced him. She wanted to hold him before her time came to an end.

Just before the enderman struck the fatal blow upon her, Zoey whispered tearfully into her dead lover's ear.

"I will always love you".

Credit to ParanormalFruitBat on AO3