It's a long walk back. We're covered in blood and dark shards of stone, and I think Iris wants to bite everyone's head off when the questions start flooding in. I hear Vivian's name over and over again, as well as Natrina's, until I'm half-convinced we killed them ourselves. It's not entirely untrue... if I'd only been faster... I don't meet eyes with any of the officials who meet us at the Dreamlandian side of the portal before it closes forever. They're swept away in a sea of medics and injured Sentients. Many have the dark shards embedded into vital organs, from the final burst of all Obsidians following Nethera's death, but others bare older injuries. They are tired but hopeful, and it makes walking on my half-functional legs a little easier.

"Is that Torch over there, with Iris?" asks a Canira I don't know, and soon there's a mob of unfamiliar faces around us, closing in on all sides.

"Where are they going?" Another voice chimes in. We're surrounded on all sides, with the mob pressing in. I can almost taste their concern.

"Excuse me, you appear to be injured-"

Iris turns around, teeth gritted. "We're fine."

"I think I might have a few injuries," I admit, and my body decides it's had enough of me. I feel my paws leave the ground and I fall forwards into darkness.

---

When I awake, Avery and Heilin are staring at me from overhead. Iris is off to the side, her slender tail wrapped around my bushy mess. I blink, trying to filter the rush of light out of my eyes, and as I sit up in the grass I realize I'm back in the room where it all started. There's paste and some sticky tape substance all over my pelt, which assuages the pain a little, but it's still near impossible to stand up.

I do so anyways, ignoring the torrent of physical pain it brings. "Iris. We're home."

Iris grunts.

Avery nuzzles me, her snout against my neck, and my tail waves. "Oh, you have no clue how happy I am that you're safe!"

"Yeah... we're safe..." I say, looking to Iris. Her eyes narrow.

"Vivian and Nat are really gone, then." Avery completes the sentiment. Her ears lower as she draws back. "They went out as heroes. I'm sure that's the only way they'd ever want to go down."

I blurt, "It was my fault. I could barely move-"

Heilin's face twitches. Iris runs over to me, placing herself between the Auspicia and I.

"He made the last move! We never could have fought Nethera without him. Whatever you do next, you can't punish him for that."

Iris and Heilin stare each other down for what could be a few heartbeats or an eternity. Heilin looks away first. "I owe you two an apology."

"Wh-what?" I ask, my fur sparking up.

Heilin nods. "I understand you two are afraid of me, perhaps even resentful. I treated you as weapons, as Nethera did, instead of respecting your autonomy, and as such you've spent most of your time here as bewildered as in the Factory. After I lost Vivian and Lotus, I thought I would never make such a mistake, but I continued to do so right up until today... for that reason, I can no longer keep you here. If you two wish to depart this night, following some formalities, then you can do so- now that the Veil is down, all of interdimensional space is open to you."

Iris's eyes glint with hard want.

I lower my head. "I guess we'll have to work that out, right?"

"There is one place we'd like to go before we decide on anything." Iris says. "Torch?"
Avery smiles, and Heilin moves out of the way. We thunder down the half-remembered hallways, with Teresa yapping behind us, "You two need to heal up! What are you doing-" and into the castle proper. Once we're out the door, all of it falls away into peaceful, lush woods. There are few Sentients, save for Defenders surveying the land, and before we know it we're home again. 'Home' is strange to even think of at this point, now that the door's been opened, but I guess we'll work out what it means to us on our own time. I can't say that I'm not excited to figure it out.

For now, our best bet is this old tree. The willow's branches have drooped since we last visited it, and it looks dull beneath the overcast sky. There are flowers lying around the base, as there were before, and their fragrance is unbearable.

"So." Iris says, rolling a plucked blossom beneath her paw. "I suppose we're free, then?"

"You don't sound excited as I thought you would." I say.

"I'm nervous." Iris corrects me. She pushes through the branches, and I follow her into the heart of the tree. "Sometimes I feel like setting up here. We wouldn't need to be in the castle, but we could be close to them, so you could go do Defender things."

"Would you be okay with that?" I ask, my tail and ears already perking.

"I'd be okay with anything that would make you happy."

"You know what would make me happier than anything?" I ask, voice hushed.

"Is this a rhetorical question?" Iris replies. "If you say my name, I will be flattered, but I'd prefer not to end up in an endless loop of obsequious comments."

"Actually..." I say, embarrassed she didn't even cross my mind, "I just had this crazy idea. Do you think there are other Virtues out there, like us? We could help them. Maybe make sure they don't believe they're doomed from the outset."

Iris opens her wings. Her tissue is healing, but she already looks ready to go starwards, here in this moment. I believe I could go with her, my heart beating in time with hers.

"What do you think, Lotus?" I ask the tree.

The sky booms and rain pours down around us, miraculously missing the willow.

"Well that's portentous." Iris remarks.

"Only one way to find out." I peer out of the tree and push myself into the downpour, water seeping into all my scars and destroying the humble wrappings meant to bandage them. I let the rain roll down my chin and damp fur. Iris tilts her head in the shade of the canopy. "Doesn't feel portentous to me." I say, hoping the word means what I think it means.

"You're not worried about getting wet?" Iris asks.

"This rain is ours. We took the water back."

She steps out besides me and we embrace in the rain, which seals our pelts against each other. We tumble next to the tree until our pelts are covered in willow leaf debris and mud, all of it simple and unmistakably real. Iris wrestles me into the ground, her razor-sharp claws pricking my fur, and I look back into her eyes and press my nose against hers. She smells like the ground, the trees, and a hint of bread, all coated in the scent of rain-touched flowers. My fur heats up but does not spark, and the moment stretches on as the rain intensifies, cascading all around us and driving away all sensation but this.

Water. According to Sentients, it is the elemental alignment of love. What can I say? I'm learning to believe it.