TW: Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Rythian stares at the monitor, shocked beyond words, mouth opening and closely uselessly behind his mask. He can't believe what he's seeing. He doesn't want to believe it. Slowly his brows furrow as his shock dissipates and melts into anger. He shoots Zoeya a hard look and she visibly crumbles under his gaze. Without a word he flies back up through the hatch and begins to make his way out of the underground facility.

Zoeya follows, keeping her distance. She bites her lip, unsure of what to say, finally gathering up enough courage to reach out and grab his shoulder. Her touch is light but he stops dead.

"Rythian, I-I'm sorry I-"

He shrugs her hand off and turns slightly to look at her again.

"How could you?"

He asks, his voice soft and calm, and it terrifies Zoeya more than any amount of shouting ever would. She backs away, pressing herself against the cold metallic wall. She feels it hum with a forbidden power under her fingers.

"How could you?"

Rythian repeats with a harder tone. He turns to face her fully and takes a step forward.

"I-I didn't... I mean I-"

"Why did you do this?" he hisses, cutting off her jumbled mess of words. She gasps at the level of anger that's spread through his voice. He slams a balled fist into the opposite wall and stops there a moment, forehead resting against it. She hesitantly reaches out again but he moves suddenly and she jumps back.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" he demands, fixing her with an icy stare, "Anything, anything at all? Why you did this? All of this? Took what I gave you and spat on it? Stepped on it and laughed in my face? You played me for a fool, Zoeya, after I took you in and gave you so much, and all I want to know is why! Why?"

She begins to tear up, watching him as he paces in frustration, running his fingers through his spiked hair.

"Rythian, please, listen, I-"

"No, Zoeya, I'm not going to listen. I've had it up to here with your excuses! I'll bet you're running around behind my back with Sjin and Lalna! And I bet Teep hasn't been kidnapped and it's actually just an elaborate trap you and Sjin set up to get rid of me once and for all. Because I'm too much of a threat, aren't I? I saw the monitor. Do you even care anymore, Zoeya? Did you even care about me?"

"Did you ever even..." he pauses his irritated tirade and another emotion flickers briefly over his features.

Sadness.

"...love me?" he questions quietly.

Zoeya sinks to her knees sobbing, face buried in her hands as he walks away.

/\/\/\/\/\

Rythian storms out of the mines, flying through the trapdoor so quickly it gets ripped from its hinges and sent spinning across the room. He goes straight upstairs, into the bathroom. He pulls down his mask and splashes water on his face, paying no attention to the stinging sensation or the pale purple clouds now rising from his skin. Leaning over the sink, breathing heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut. He stays like that for a long time, trying to calm down, trying to straighten out the thoughts screaming at him in his mind.

"...I don't understand..." he whispers eventually. "I don't understand. I thought... I thought we had something. Something special. What happened to us, Zoeya?" he looks up and searches his own face for an answer he won't find. "What happened to us?"

He thinks he might've cried if it were possible.

Instead his thoughts wander, replaying the past events. The idea she did such a thing on her own with perfect clarity of the damage she would cause with it was too much for him. She must've been tricked, Rythian decides. By Lalna. Or Sjin. Or both. His blood boils. The puffs of purple smoke increase in intensity as shadows begin to cloud his thoughts. The same darkness mars his skin, dancing across his face like spider webs. He looks up again and sees his own narrowed purple eyes.

He rests a hand on the hilt of his sword and straightens up.

He's going to pay them both a little visit.

/\/\/\/\/\

I'm sorry, Rythian.
I'm so sorry.
Really.
But I had to do it.
If you'd just listen.
You'd understand.
But I'm sorry.
I'm sorry...

Zoeya wipes the salty tears from her eyes and stands up, brushing imaginary dirt from her knees and biting back another choked sob, failing miserably and letting a few more pathetic sounds escape and echo in the painfully empty silence.

She's not sure if she should regret any of the past events. She feels guilty, just like she did all those nights she snuck out, hiding away under the cover of darkness, satiating his curiosity with some excuse, just to slip underground and continuing work on her secret laboratory.

She feels bad about betraying his beliefs, his teachings, his trust.

But she knows these tracking machines could help, if only he'd let her explain. If it weren't for her mushroom spies keeping all this data organised, Teep's disappearance might've gone unnoticed longer, and who knows what his captors would've done during that time. She thought Rythian would've at least been happy to have a way to keep tabs on the opposition.

She regrets everything and nothing.

But, for now, she thinks it best to leave this place behind. She hopes Rythian will see what she sees and warm up to the idea eventually. If not, she guesses she'll just have to destroy all her hard work. After Rythian's reaction she's almost sure it will be the latter.

On unsteady legs she makes her way to the master switch and pushes it down with a bit of effort. All the lights power down in sequence, starting at the far end and spreading the darkness towards her. Finally it engulfs her and the hum of power ceases. She composes herself, and then begins the slow journey back up to the castle.

Her head pokes out of the now trapdoor-less hole in the floor and she looks around for him but finds no trace.

"Rythian!" she calls.

There's no response. She clambers up and heads into the magic room with a hurried pace.

"...Rythian!"

Still, all she gets is silence. She heads upstairs. Checks the bedroom, the bathroom. The bathroom sink is running and has over flown. Something has been scrawled on the mirror in a thick, black liquid. She recognises the symbols as the runes Rythian occasionally writes in. He had started teaching her the basics just last week. She picks out the symbols for L, A, N, S, J, I...

"...Rythian?" she croaks, stepping back. "Rythian, no, please, no..."

She sprints out the door and takes to the skies, course set for Honeydew Inc.

/\/\/\/\/\

She touches down in front of the gleaming white building, bursting through the door. Sips greets her by pulling out his sword and pointing it at her, level with her neck. Lalna and Sjin fly down and he backs off, though his hand remains poised to draw his weapon again.

"Hey, Zoeya! Do you need anything?" Lalna asks. There's a slight tinge of awkwardness and forced cheerfulness in his voice.

"Ryth-Rythian. Is he here? Has he been here? Have you seen him?" she rapid fires.

She glances between them as they look away. Sjin rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat.

"W-Well, Zoeya-"

"Rythian? Is that the bastard that attacked us earlier?" Sips interjects, pushing into the crowd between the others. Zoeya nods vacantly.

Sips laughs. "Last we saw of him he was flying off to bleed out on a hillside somewhere!"

He received a slap on the back of the head from Sjin. Lalna moves forward and rests a gloved hand on her shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry, Zoeya. He attacked us. We didn't mean to injure him so badly. We were just trying to defend ourselves."

She's gone numb. Blank eyes stare at nothing. She needs to find him, and quickly. Lalna and Sjin share a worried look as she leaves, while Sips merely shrugs and occupies himself with something else.

She flies up again, scanning the immediate area. There's a small patch of black across from the factory. Over the wall there's another. There's a streak of it over the hill behind it. With tears in her eyes she follows the trail, though she's not sure she wants to see what's at its end.

She finds him, at long last. Just as Sips said. Bleeding out on the hillside. His sword lays a few feet from him, broken, stained with his own black blood. His armour and clothes are heavily stained. The gaping wound in his chest is still bleeding.

She lands softly beside him and he turns his head slightly, glazed eyes saying everything his blood-filled mouth can't.

"Rythian..." she sobs, voice cracking, shakily running her hands over his chest, peeling off what clothing she can, trying to assess the damage his wounds have caused. "Rythian, I'm so sorry..."

"Zoeya..." He sounds so weak. He coughs and blood splatters on her cheek, blending with the tears that now run in rivulets. "It's not... It's not your fault..." he says, cradling her face with a hand. She places her own hand over his, squeezing it.

"But... But it is!" she insists. "If I hadn't built all that stupid science stuff in the first place none of this ever would've happened!"

He chuckles and she stares at him. "But if I hadn't been so close-minded and controlled my anger better, I wouldn't be here right now." She goes to argue but the hand on her cheek moves to her lips to silence any words.

"Besides," he adds, "You're going to need all that stupid science stuff to protect yourself now. Use it. Harness it. Find Teep. And whatever happens, promises me you'll stay safe." She nods, and he drops his hand.

"I'm sorry, Rythian..." she murmurs again.

"I forgive you, Zoeya." He whispers back.

His eyes close and she starts crying again, scrabbling uselessly at his shirt, begging him to take another breath.

"I love you, Rythian." she sobs into his chest. The ender pearl clasp on his mask-cape glows and she picks it up, clutching it to her chest. "Please, don't go! You can't... leave me...."

But he's already gone.

Though she swears she hears a voice from the pearl whisper,

I love you, too, Zoeya. I promise I'll never leave you.

Credit to gamux on Ao3