Lonely Throne- TDP

Dying Hope

I'm going to skip ahead to the change. Everything is the same up until S1 Ep6, 'Through the Ice."

"You dropped it!" Callum accused Rayla, rushing over to the hole that the egg had made. The icy water sloshed around, almost belittling their clumsiness.

"I told you, my hand was messed up!"

"Well, use the other hand!"

"Stop arguing, we have to do something!" Ezran said, jumping in after the egg before the others could move.

"Ez, no! Ezran," Callum shouted, preparing to follow Ezran, but at the last second, Rayla grabbed his arm, pulling him back from the water. "What are you doing!"

"You can't go in after him!" Rayla struggled against Callum. "Ez'll be fine, he's strong and brave, and besides, we need to be up here to pull him out!"

Callum sagged, recognizing the sense in her words. "Fine."

---Line Break---

Under the ice, Ezran twisted around, trying to spot the egg. There! A faint, blue glimmer in a patch of weeds!

Ezran swam over, carefully picking the egg up. As he reoriented himself, he began kicking his feet, only to find that a weed had crept around his ankle, shackling him to a watery grave.

Moving as quickly as he dared, he held the egg with one hand, tugging at the weed with the other. He needed to get free, the fate of the world was at stake!

But it was no use. As his vision slowly faded, Ezran put one last effort, pulling with all his might. The weed pulled free of it's roots, but it was too little, too late. Ezran's last thought was the hope that he had given enough so that Callum and Rayla could finish this.

---Line Break---

After two minutes of anxious waiting, Rayla was forced to face the music. "I-I'm sorry." Rayla absentmindedly tugged at her wrist binding, as had become her habit over the past few days. "My wrist binding!" she exclaimed, heartened again. "As long as it's tight, he's alive!"

But, in a cruel mockery of their new found hope, it was at this moment that the binding turned blood red, falling off her wrist. There was a dull thump from across the ice, and the pair rushed over to see Ezran's limp body cradling the rapidly dimming egg.

"Oh, Ezran..." Callum sobbed. "You did it, bud."

Rayla took out one of her butterfly swords, and started chipping away at the ice. With three powerful strikes, the ice cracked again. Callum quickly pulled the egg out, setting it aside. Then Callum dragged Ezran out, desperately feeling for a pulse. But the pale, frozen skin said it all.

"Ezran... you saved the egg... you saved it," Callum cried, cradling his dead brother.

"Callum... I'm... so, so sorry." Rayla put her hand on Callum's shoulder, seeming on the verge of tears.

Callum gave himself another couple of seconds before hardening his heart."Right now, we need to get the egg warm," Callum said, picking it up. He'd be able to grieve more later, but if he didn't do all he could for the egg, it would make Ez's death meaningless. He glanced up at the sunset. "Find a cave, start a fire, then we can talk."

For the first time, Rayla couldn't detect any emotion in Callum's voice, only icy coolness. Gulping, she glanced around, then led Callum and Bait up into the mountains. 

---Line Break---

After setting up a fire, Rayla had paced awkwardly at the entrance of the cave, giving Callum room to do whatever humans did while grieving. After a couple minutes,  she left to go forage and clear her mind.

Half an hour later, she found herself outside the cave, trying to think of anything else she could do outside. Then, with a sigh, she stepped around the entrance. "I found some moonberries. They should last us a couple of days."

Callum was still in the back of the cave, silent. As she waited for a response, Callum got up and walked past her, a distant look in his eyes. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Rayla blinked, turning to look at him. "I assume we're not talking about Ez?"

"My stepdad, King Harrow," he spat. "When we first met, you had a binding on both wrists. That night, one fell off." Pause. "Oh. That was what you wanted to tell us... before... before..." he broke down into sobs.

"I'm sorry, Callum," Rayla said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I should have taken it sooner. I should have been more open fr-" Rayla froze as Callum pulled her into a hug. "Is this something humans do when someone dies?"

Callum chuckled weakly. "Sometimes. But right now, it's what a friend does when you're being too hard on yourself. Ez made his own choices. Pretending you're at fault takes away from how brave he was to sacrifice himself."

Understanding his words, she hugged him back, letting her tears flow as well. It felt good to cry.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Callum asked, half an hour later. They had moved to the back of the cave, sitting close to conserve heat.

"Same thing as before. Take the egg home."

Callum grunted. "I'm... not so sure."

There was a gust of wind, causing Rayla to shiver. Callum rummaged in their pack for their blanket. Leaning back, he scooted closer, draping it around their shoulders. "I'm technically the king now."

Rayla smiled. "I suppose so."

"What if..." Callum sighed, wrapping his arms around his legs. "What if I could help better from a throne? More importantly, though, what's happening around it? What factions are vying over it?"

A stronger gust nearly extinguished the flames, and Rayla shivered, hard. This was starting to get intricate.

"Hey, first we help the egg," Callum said, scooting over and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Who knows what'll happen in the meantime."

"Yeah. A lot can happen in a day or two," she yawned, suddenly realizing just how tired she was. "Let's work on that in the morning." With a sigh, she wrapped an arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder, already half asleep.

As carefully as he could, Callum shifted around so he could lie on their pack, letting Rayla keep her head on his chest.