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The woods are silent and dark as David and Alec run through the forest, fleeing the carnage of their home.
“Leave me.” Alec coughs, the sound worryingly wet. “Your highness, you must – leave me. I can hold them off, but you must flee. I –“
“Shut up.” David hisses. “I’m not leaving you. We just – we just have to find some place to hide. Long enough until they give up the chase.”
Even as he says it, he knows it to be a lie. There is no way that he can escape with Alec slowing him down, wounded as he is. But he can’t leave him. No matter what, even if it means dying trying to protect the man he’s loved for years on years, he’ll keep Alec by his side until the very end.
“Hurry, in here.” David says, opening the door of the ancient temple. It’s been here for who knows how long, inside the deepest reaches of the forest. He and Alec had played here, before, with his siblings, as children. It was larger than life then, full of secrets and places where children could run around, their giggles echoing in the wide space. When they grew older it became a place of fascination for David, and he’d spent many a day peering at the faded engravings on the walls, carefully taking old relics from the altar, from the side rooms, to study them. On the days that he left the castle for the temple, Alec had always accompanied him, a large and looming guard for the bookish second prince of Ausozar, and he’d sat with a good-natured smile while David went on about his latest find or his latest and most interesting speculation of the history of the place.
Those days in the temple had been warm and comforting, though David isn’t sure if that was the temple itself or just Alec being by his side. Now it seems cold and unwelcoming, a tomb for them both rather than a haven.
“I can hear them.” Alec mutters. “They’re coming. You have to go, David.” That he chooses to forgo formalities now speaks to how much pain he’s in. “Huh? That’s…”
His head snaps up, then, his gaze confused, looking first at David then around the temple.
“What is it?” David asks, worried. Alec’s senses are keen as the wolves his house bears on its crest, and if what he’s sensing now is something that confuses even him, then…
“I…” Alec coughs again. “Do you not – no. Foolish question. Just… ignore me.” He staggers over to the dusty altar, leaning heavily on it as he catches his breath, a hand held to his bleeding side.
David hurries over, his hands already ready with healing magic – but Alec waves him away, his eyes still looking warily around. “Save it. You’ll need it for when they find us.”
David ignores him, pulling his hand from his wound to see the damage. It’s deep – and, knowing the methods of the Dragethians, probably already sick with poison. White magic on the field can only go so far, with wounds like this. Alec needs a doctor, and fast.
But just looking at Alec’s huge frame slumped against the altar, and knowing that there were soldiers from an invading empire on their way to slaughter them now…
David bites his lip, a heavy mix of anger and grief swirling in his chest. But it’s all impotent, in the end – after all, he’s just the powerless second prince of a kingdom sacked by Dragethia. His older brother, the heir, is away on campaign. His younger siblings are in Eoia and Frey, pursuing their own interests, and he had stayed at home in Meon, helping their mother manage her queendom while they waited for his siblings to return.
And now, she was dead – with David soon to follow. Michael and Rhea and Leila would lose their mother, their brother, and their home in one fell swoop, and there was nothing David could do about it but stand here, waiting for his own end to come for him.
At least, David thinks, blinking away his tears. They’re with people who they trust. Who’ll take care of them.
“I… I’m not…” Alec whispers, eyes unfocused. “I can’t…”
The poison must be of the addling variety, David notes worriedly. Something meant to rob an opponent of their senses and make it impossible for them to fight back. The air around them seems to warm, sweat beading on David’s brow as he redoubles his focus on pushing healing magic into Alec’s wound. His expertise with white magic and field medicine is intermediate, at best – and he is used to practicing it in a clinic, not in a dusty, abandoned temple with people out to kill him. He’d never been prepared for war.
There are no potions or remedies at the ready here, no doctors or nurses to stabilize a deteriorating patient. He doesn’t know what poison Alec was dosed with, and he doesn’t have the time or equipment needed to learn. It’s all he can do, now, to staunch the bleeding, bandage the wound, and hope against hope that the poison won’t kill Alec... or that it does, but painlessly, so he might not need to be slaughtered by the Dragethians like David surely will.
“Anything.” Alec hisses when David’s hands press too hard on his wound.
“I’m sorry. Just a little more, Alec. I’m sorry.” They don’t have anything to serve as a proper bandage besides David’s cloak. Alec cries out in pain when David ties the cloak around his midsection, the knot pressing tightly against his still-oozing wound.
“Alright.” David pants, hands shaking. “Alright. We’ve stayed here long enough – we have to go. Maybe… maybe north. To Galin. It’s small enough that maybe the Dragethians didn’t bother with it.”
“Yes.” Alec says, though seemingly not to David. “Anything. As long as he’s safe. I don’t care.”
David takes Alec’s arm around his shoulders and helps him stagger to his feet. “We shouldn’t be far from Galin. I’m sure we can find a patch of ghysahl on the way, lure some chocobos to ride into town.” He’s babbling now, a nervous habit that he’s never been able to get rid of from when he was a child. Michael had teased him relentlessly for it, ruffling his hair and laughing whenever he started talking too much because of something that invariably involved Alec in some way.
“Never change, little brother. Or maybe do, but not too much.” Michael grinned. “He makes you happy, and I know that’s all that mother would have ever wanted for you.”
He’d denied it, at the time. Felt it strange and inappropriate, for a prince to feel such things for his trusted retainer, best friend or not. He regrets that denial now, because it means he doesn’t even have that small admission out for the creator to preserve.
He opens his mouth to speak, impulsive, tongue heavy with words left unsaid, before everything is torn away –
“David.” Alec fixes David’s gaze with his own, amber burning with a fevered sort of flame. “Stay behind me.”
“You’re in no condition for this kind of bravado.” David insists. “And we’re about to leave this place, anyway. Come on, Alec, we have to hurry.”
“No. Please, David,” Alec pleads. “They’re already here. You can’t –“
The temple’s doors slam open, and the Dragethian hunters march in, their armor stained by blood and dirt from the battlefield. Their commander walks in last, his face twisted into a sneer as he takes in Alec’s state and David’s trembling, defensive stance
“S-stay back.” David warns. He’d never been trained for combat – he was a scholar of magic, not a proper practitioner, and his expertise largely lay in matters of managing a kingdom that he might be able to help his mother and his brother when it came time for him to take the crown. But knows enough to do damage, if nothing else.
They won’t kill him and Alec without a fight.
“Brave little princeling, aren’t you?” The commander smirks. “Or is it because you’ve got your dog with you? How is he, by the way, your great commander of wolves?”
David doesn’t respond, thinking. What spell would work best here? What would do the most damage? Who should he aim at? How –
“You’ll not speak to him.” Alec growls, his voice low with anger, even as he staggers in front of David, ignoring his cry of protest. “You haven’t earned the right. The second prince of Ausozar has no need to waste his breath on a worm like you.”
The Dragethian commander scoffs. “Big words from a dog lord. I see that poison is not enough to muzzle you, at least.”
“Alec, get back.” David whispers. “Please, you’re in no condition to fight.”
Alec takes a deep breath. “It’ll be okay.” He says, voice quiet, but calm, all traces of his previous delirium gone.
“Please, I can’t – I have to do this. Let me protect you, just this once.” David pleads. Begs.
Alec seems to shudder, before throwing a look over his shoulder at David. “You already have. So many times.” He murmurs.
“This is very sweet, but my men and I do have orders to carry out.” The sound of swords and bows being drawn fills the temple. “Last words? I promise that I’ll try to remember them.”
David feels the tears trickling down his cheeks, the finality of the moment finally breaking the dam.
“I love you.” He says, quietly, giving voice to the one thing he’s wanted to say to his oldest and closest friend.
Alec turns to look at David again, eyes wide with shock, and David gives him a watery smile.
His expression shifts from shock, to wonder, then to boiling fury as he turns back to the Dragethians.
“This isn’t for you.” He snarls. “His tears, those words, his fucking face – none of you are worthy. None!”
“Alec –“ David starts, worried. He’s never seen Alec this angry before, never this tense and wound up, like an angry wolf ready to pounce at an intruder to its den.
The Dragethian commander rolls his eyes and whistles, and his men charge at them both, backed up against the temple’s altar, with nowhere to run.
Alec turns and takes David into a tight embrace, almost crushing in its intensity. He leans down, and David thinks this is it – their final goodbye, before the end.
“Always, David.” Alec whispers into his ear. “I’ll always be with you. No matter what.”
David blinks and looks up at Alec, but before he can say anything –
The room – no, Alec explodes into a pillar of flame, knocking the nearby soldiers back with the force and destroying the temple’s ceiling. The fire scorches the now-ruined temple’s walls, burns the few remaining seats, and makes the closest Dragethians yelp and scamper back. Their commander yells for reinforcements, his voice lost to the roaring of the flames.
David stares, transfixed, as the fire licks over his hands, across his cheek, warm, but not burning.
“I would never hurt you.” A deep growl rumbles from within the flame. “Never.”
From the fire steps out a massive beast, like a demon from ancient scripture. Its massive horns curve upward and away from its brow, fire burning red-orange-blue-white on its head, spilling from its snarling, wolf-like muzzle and along its back. Massive hands tipped with claws as long as swords flex at its sides as it widens its stance on two powerful legs, a thick, scaled, reptilian tail whipping about behind it as its burning amber eyes down at the Dragethians.
“What…” David breathes, speechless.
“It’s still me, David. Don’t be afraid.” The creature’s voice rumbles, so deep it feels like it’s shaking the ground just by speaking.
“Alec…?” David reaches out, unthinking, laying his hand on the beast’s – Alec’s – side, where his wound would have been. Should have been. His dark skin is hot, as though he were running a fever, but…
“How is this… possible…?” David stammers.
“He’s a summoner!” The commander shouts, David’s attention snapping back to him. “Kill the princeling, and the Eidolon dies with him. Quickly!”
“A wha – ah!” David yelps, ducking as an arrow flies past him, narrowly missing his head. The Alec-Beast roars, moving with speed that seems impossible for its size at the Dragethians, who scatter and quail at the monster assaulting them.
Their swords melt into slag before they can even connect with Alec’s skin, and their mages’ ice magic evaporates into steam before their very eyes. Their commander keeps shouting orders to kill the summoner, to kill David, but his men are scrambling, panicked. Arrows fired at David are swatted aside by Alec’s tail, soldiers are burned alive by gouts of flame, split apart by vicious claws, and crushed by stomping feet and hands. Fleeing, fighting, it matters not – every single soldier is burned to ash in seconds, not a single one of them managing to leave so much as a mark on Alec’s new flesh.
Soon, all that is left is their commander, trembling and curled up sobbing on the ground, his armor warping from the heat as Alec stomps toward him, the ground shaking with each heavy step.
“You will live.” He rumbles. “You have witnessed and heard something far above what you are worthy of. Yet you will live.”
“T-thank you! Thank you, your grace! I –“ The commander’s babbling thanks are cut off abruptly as Alec picks him and holds him in one massive hand, pressing the tip of a claw against the commander’s neck. The commander screams as his skin bubbles and smokes where Alec’s claw touches before it is lifted, leaving a brand the size of a pea.
“You will not speak of David. But you will run back to your masters, and tell them this:” Alec leans in, hovering sharp teeth menacingly over the commander’s neck. “We are beginning to return. And we remember everything. They will know what that means. And they will be afraid, if they have any sense.” He drops the commander, who doesn’t even bother to wait for anything else – with a whimper, he runs away, crying.
Alec turns, and walks to David, who stays still, transfixed, at the beast the man he loves has become.
“David.” Alec purrs, dropping to all fours to press his massive muzzle against David’s hair. “My consort. Are you well?”
“Alec…?”
“Yes.” Alec breathes deeply, a contented growl echoing through his chest. “I am Alec Garm Vezac, but I am also Ifrit, ruler of flame.”
“Ifrit…” David breathes, reaching up to stroke Alec – Ifrit’s – muzzle. As he does, Ifrit seems to sigh, leaning into his touch, before his form seems to burn away, leaving only Alec behind.
But it’s a different Alec. He holds his head more confidently, looking at David with more pride than deference as he had before. His ears taper to a point, longer and His hands are tipped in claws, and Ifrit’s horns, though smaller in this form, still curve, huge and majestic, from his brow. His face seems to shift every so often – one moment, Alec’s human face, and the next, Ifrit’s bestial muzzle.
“How did this…?” David asks, lost for words as Alec fixes his eyes – orange, like burning flames, with pupils slit like a demon’s – on his.
“When we entered the temple, I was close to death.” Alec says, his tone somber as he pulls David into a tight embrace. “It wasn’t the first time Ifrit spoke to me, but every other time was… muted. A whisper of a whisper on the wind, easily ignored until then, when I was on the brink of death, and desperate for a way to save your life.”
“I can’t describe what happened in words, exactly.” Ifrit confesses. “But I remember one of us asking the other what we would do to keep you safe. If I would take Ifrit inside myself as Alec and become one with him. I agreed. And now…”
“Who – what – is Ifrit?” David asks. Part of him still can’t believe what he’s seeing, what he just witnessed.
“A god from a time long past. An Eidolon.” Alec murmurs, cupping David’s cheek with his hand. “I am lord of flame, the bringer of destruction, and the guardian of the people.”
“I – I don’t understand.” David admits. “You’re Alec, but you’re also… Ifrit?”
“Yes.” Ifrit says, simply. “Ifrit and I are one and the same. This was a joining, only possible because… I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Alec Garm Vezac was the vessel, and Ifrit was the soul. Or perhaps it was the other way around. From the beginning, they were the same. They wanted the same things. I don’t know what determines such things, neither do I have much interest in it. All we knew at the moment was that you were ours. Mine. My beloved, beautiful consort in need of aid.”
“Consort?”
Ifrit chuckles lowly. “Alec wanted – wants – you. Alec and Ifrit and I are all one and the same. We have loved you for years and years and years. And, dear David, I am as much a beast as I am a man, now.” His eyes burn with possessive hunger, so much that it makes David shiver. He’d never imagined that Alec would ever turn such a look on him, and now…
“Forgive me. This is likely quite intense. I don’t mean to frighten you, but I can’t –“ Alec growls, closing his eyes for a moment. “You know how my mortal family was. How they threw their children into the wild, were they deemed too weak to inherit the name. I was the strongest of their ‘litter’, such as they called it, and they culled every other one for not having enough. I was alone, in spirit and in truth, separated from the me who slept in this temple and isolated in every other way. Then the prince chose me as his brother’s guardian, and his brother treated me like any other human child. Like I was not of the House of Beasts, a dog lord, an animal in the presence of nobility, but a friend. You showed me kindness, shared your interests with me, endured my terrible moods and too-sharp senses, without even so much as questioning anything.”
Alec presses a soft kiss to David’s forehead. “How could I not love you, then? But you were too kind, David. Too given to ignore that I am still a beast, at heart, no matter how much I tried not to be. I grew greedy of every moment with you, and covetous of everything you were. I wanted to possess you, and leave all others envious of the treasure I had secured. To blanket you in my scent, like an animal marking his territory. I wanted all of your time, all of your attention. And you gave me almost everything I wanted without question, even though I was too afraid to ask.” Alec chuckles. “Now I know why, eh? That you would give your heart to a mere beast like me… I would say that was a mistake, highness. But you’re mine now, and I don’t intend to allow you to regret that.”
“I… I never thought… you’re not an animal, Alec.” David murmurs. “Not then, not now. You’re just… you’re just Alec.” He blinks. “And Ifrit. I still don’t really get how that works.”
Alec laughs before sliding an arm around David’s legs and lifting him effortlessly off his feet, laughing harder at David’s surprised yelp. “That you would take offense to that, rather than anything else of what I said, is why you hold my heart in your hands, consort.” He leans forward, then, slowly, eyes fixed on David’s, cautious and giving him space to deny him if he wished, but David says nothing and tilts his face up instead.
With a soft smile, Ifrit closes the distance, and presses his lips to David’s. It’s a soft kiss, clumsy and awkward with the angle they have, but still one that leaves David breathless with its emotion.
Alec’s eyes seem to glow even brighter when they part, the possessive edge of his gaze blunted into soft adoration. “I’ve an idea of where we should go next. My peers – the other Eidolons – are scattered all throughout Azela. Now that I have found my true vessel, the others will have begun to stir – if they had not, already. It would be wise to meet them and gather strength to help us against the threat of the Dragethian empire. That, and I wish to ask after the state of Bahamut’s seal.”
“Will you –“ David coughs, lightly embarrassed and still flustered at the kiss. “Uh, that is, would you be willing to tell me about… you?” He asks, looking up at Alec with wide eyes. “Of the Eidolons, what a… a Summoner, is, and what you told that commander?”
Alec’s eyes darken for a moment before he sighs and begins walking, David still in his arms. “If you wish to know about that, then, yes. I will tell you of the history of my kind, and why we left in the first place. But…” He hesitates. “It is not a kind story. We did not leave entirely because we wished to, nor did we leave on good terms with mortals.”
“I don’t mind.” David says. “I’m a scholar. I like to learn, even if the story behind the knowledge isn’t… great.”
Alec huffs. “I’m aware. You and your books, honestly.” And, so saying, he recalls what Ifrit remembers.
---
Thousands upon thousands of years ago, humanity worshiped the Eidolons – immortal spirits of flame, of light, of ice and water and every facet of the world. Beings so powerful that they were considered gods.
So it was for a long, long time. Not every Eidolon was benevolent, and not every one malicious. There were many of us that were content to simply live in the wilds, doing as they pleased without being beholden to the whims of humanity.
I was one of the Eidolons that was worshipped more formally – not by my own choice, mind you, but it was the way of things at the time, and convenient. In the absence of a proper host, Eidolons sustain themselves as spirits on the aether in the air. The same aether that makes magic possible for you, is what keeps us alive without a host.
The knowledge has been lost to time, but… aether is created from most living souls, released into the air by every act of yours that brings you life. Strong emotions birth strong aether, which in turn gave nourishment to we who had no true physical form to speak of. Humans that worshipped us were a ready source of aether, and so those of us who grew to be worshipped as gods allowed it so as to continue existing.
There were those with the ability to call upon part of our spirits and enlist our aid, and they were called Summoners. They were mortals born with a particular gift for channeling aether, who took a great strain upon their bodies and their souls to call for the aid of Eidolons in battle. Many of them were priests of the Eidolon they called upon, believing that their faith drew their gods to reward their service… well, I’m sure some Eidolons did see it that way, but summoning an Eidolon was as much a spell as casting a regular fireball is for humans.
Using enough aether allowed a summoner to manifest us in a temporary physical form, able to exert even greater influence over the world. When summoned in such a way, we were bound by contract to carry out the will of those that summoned us and fed us aether to exist, even for a short time. This is part of the reason why vessels were so highly prized – not only were they the other half of an Eidolon’s very being, they allowed Eidolons to exist in physical form without need of any other source of aether, and prevented that Eidolon from being summoned unless they wished to allow such a thing to happen.
In any case, it continued like that for a time – humans and Eidolons living alongside each other in a truly literal sense, in the same space and sharing lives but not necessarily cooperating. Eventually, however, humanity grew. Their knowledge, their capability, their civilizations…
I wasn’t there, when it happened, but one day, the Dragon King Bahamut found his vessel. It was a day of great rejoicing among his followers and the other Eidolons. Bahamut is the oldest of us, and… well, he makes a case for the most powerful, at least. He never had much of a taste for violence. Their joining was happy, and proceeded quickly and easily, but it was then that the Galmorians – the ancestors of those you now call the Dragethians, and the very people who worshipped at his altars – invaded Bahamut’s home, and took his husband hostage.
I’ve told you before, David, that an Eidolon and their vessel are one being, separated into two parts. What his host wanted, Bahamut wanted. What his host loved, Bahamut loved. Perhaps it was in different ways before they became one, but in the end, they loved their spouse all the same. I heard that Bahamut's host was a decorated dragoon serving in the Galmorian capital of Ernst and was legendarily devoted to his husband, who was a simple farmer. I'd heard, as well, that their joining was not immediate. That Bahamut's host had spoken to the Dragon King before they joined, for many days and nights, though about what, no one knows. I could not imagine such devotion being made greater still when an Eidolon joined with their host, but I know it now; the strength of it is terrifying.
Love can be a curse as much as it can be a blessing.
The Galmorians enslaved Bahamut, threatening to kill his husband if he didn’t comply. And so the Galmorians used Bahamut as a weapon against other kingdoms, burning armies to ash, destroying temples, killing other Eidolons who came to their land’s defense… and eventually the Galmorians grew to be the most powerful nation in Azela. Through him, they learned about what Eidolons were. They learned of our weaknesses, our need for humans, our search for our vessels. With that knowledge, they pressed on with their slaughter, killing, enslaving, all the things invading kingdoms are known for. Bahamut complied with every demand, desperate, for he could not act against them for as long as they held his beloved against him. He complied, destroying old friends and the people they cared for, to keep his husband safe.
It pains me to say it, knowing how much others of my kind lost, but my followers, those who would eventually go on to establish the kingdom of Ausozar, were left largely unharmed by the war. They retreated to the forests, their druidic arts allowing them to hide themselves in the woods. They had no true kingdom of their own that the Galmorians recognized as worth anything, and their lands were not large enough or flush enough with resources to be of note. Bahamut did not come to destroy my home.
But it was all for nothing, in the end. No one knows how it happened, but… eventually, Bahamut’s husband died. Perhaps the Galmorians grew arrogant, believing that Bahamut would serve them regardless, and disposed of what they believed to be a risk that might motivate him to move against them. Or perhaps they simply neglected to care for him, and he just wasted away…
In any case, Bahamut’s fury was… destructive, to say the least. He went mad with grief, and his final rampage… the great crater of Dragethia is where their former capital once sat. He reduced it all to ash in the span of a single night, his roars of grief audible from every corner of the continent.
I – and several others – came to quell his wrath, but his mind had already broken beyond any hope of words to repair, and he had decided in his madness that all of humanity was worthless and deserved death. Even himself, joined with his vessel as he was. Perhaps especially himself.
We had to stop him, somehow. But how could we? He was one of the greatest among us, and having become one with his vessel allowed him to bring all of his power to bear, a sharp contrast to those of us who had no vessel and needed summoners to grant us lesser forms for a limited time. Eventually, Shiva, Leviathan, Ramuh, and Asura chose to seal him away. It was the only option available to us, who had no way to oppose him.
In the effort to seal the Dragon King away, many of us were lost. Death for Eidolons is different, but no less final. When an Eidolon dies, whether in their temporary, summoned form or in their true vessel, they eventually return in the future. But what returns is no longer the same person as the Eidolon that died – they are an entirely new existence, distinct from the previous one in personality and memory. If an Eidolon fades away from lack of aether, it is only then that the final end comes for our kind.
Leviathan, Fenrir, Titan, The Magus Sisters… so many, killed alongside their summoners before the ritual was finished, and Bahamut was sealed in the void.
In the ruined crater of Galmoria’s imperial capital, we were faced with a decision. Galmoria was a kingdom of humans and a nation of worshippers of one of our kind, and they had betrayed their Eidolon in horrific fashion, in a way that no Eidolon had ever thought was even possible. It struck fear into our hearts – the fact that humanity knew our weaknesses, the fact that we would have such weaknesses if we ever found our true vessels, the fact that so many of our kind and humans were lost… We were afraid of so very many things, at the time, and in our fear, we decided to leave. We would sleep for as long as it took for a new age of humanity or some other civilization to rise, and we would be stricter in directing them away from such atrocities.
Some of us protested. Not the long sleep – after such chaos, it would be a relief to rest – but the notion of forcing civilization to bend to our wishes. That was the realm of more malicious beings, and we had seen, and even had to deal with, the aftermath of another Eidolon doing just that long before.
I… thought it best if we exerted more control. I believed that mortals couldn’t be trusted to change even given thousands of years, that when we returned – and we would need to return, eventually – we would be faced with the same, or worse. We needed humans, but we also possessed the power to guide them – so why shouldn’t we? There were those who agreed, and those who did not. The arguments between us, the survivors of Bahamut’s madness, lasted for hours and hours on end.
No real resolution was reached, then. We went to sleep in our lands of origin, abandoning our followers and leaving the world to go on without us, waiting for a time when we could wake up, and walk with humanity again... either as its rulers, or as its companions.
---
“That’s a lot.” David mutters against Alec’s chest. Alec sighs, leaning down to press a kiss to his head.
“I do not know for certain why the Dragethians are expanding once more.” He says, looking up at the sky. “But the fact that that commander recognized me for what I am means that, at the very least, they have uncovered the knowledge of Eidolons learned from Bahamut that their ancestors left behind. Their capital might have been destroyed, but they may have stored their knowledge, or copies of it, elsewhere. We did not stop to check before we went to sleep.”
The reminder of the Dragethian invasion makes David’s heart drop into his stomach.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” He whispers, beginning to tremble. Alec looks at him, muzzle twisted in question. “O-our home is… it’s gone. Mother is gone. I… what am I going to tell Michael and the twins? I couldn’t keep her safe, I couldn’t do anything to keep our home… safe…” He sobs, tears spilling abruptly, fat droplets dropping to the ground as Alec stops and lowers him to sit on a stump.
“Would that I could take this pain away from you.” Ifrit says quietly. “But I can offer to be here for you. And then, when you wish to move on, I will be by your side. And if you ever feel the need to grieve, I will be there to wipe away your tears for you.”
“I – I’m sorry.” David sobs. “I… this is… Please, just give me a moment, and I…”
“It’s alright.” Ifrit cups David’s cheek in one warm palm. “Remember, David, that I was considered a god of fire, and of destruction. I know more than most how much destruction takes. I brought destruction, yes, but also protection to those who were left behind. Your grief is not foreign to me.” He tilts David’s face up, and presses a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. “Grieve as much as you need. I will be here when you wish to proceed.”
And so David cries, and cries, and cries. For how long, he doesn’t know, nor does Alec tell him. When his sobs die down and his tears run dry for the moment, he takes Ifrit’s hand in his, allowing the Eidolon’s warmth to seep into his bones, and follows him into their uncertain future.