Slain Among Ice And Fire {Fairy Tail}

Chapter 36- Still Here

Chapter 36

Still Here

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's and Ideas

.:+:.

"... Sleep..."

Hora blinked slowly, the lingering remnants of Lixue's voice trailing after her even as he, and that vast ice-filled space was pulled away from her, and she got dropped in the waking world. Above her that roof from before was lighter, pale white and yellow light sneaking it's way passed the curtains, and completely quiet.

Like all times before it (of that she could clearly recall anyway), she felt heavy, a little dizzy and faint, and her body hurt- but this time at least, she could breathe much better, and the weight of her body wasn't all that bad... hell, she felt she might have even been able to sit up without it being ridiculously difficult doing just that simple thing.

She took in a slow, deep breath, her eyes falling closed again for half a second when she reached the limit of how much she could inhale before it hurt too much- and then she let the breath back out as slow as she had taken it in. It wasn't a huge breath by any means, but it was much bigger than what she'd managed before now, or really probably should have been able to manage just then, so she couldn't complain. And of course, the ache and sharp pain in her lungs that was common of Over-Drive was still there, but again- it wasn't bad, and it should have been.

... so that being said... why do I feel better than I really have any right to...?

She blinked her eyes open again, shifting slightly as she pulled her hands up and in front of her, tracing along the white lines of bandages wound about her hands, and surely there to cover the slices worn into her flesh from grabbing Callan's claws. She couldn't see the wounds themselves, but they hurt less, so she figured they were mostly closed now. There was also distinct lack of bandages that had been wound up her arms too- those slices and such they would have been covering now pink and white lines of their own, and only just healed and near gone, leaving only her hands still covered up.

... okay... that's... fast...?

Well, 'fast-ish' I guess. I don't know-

Hora's thoughts broke off, her eyes widening a little and instantly alert to the gentle laying of someone's hand on her right shoulder. Her attention on her hands failed and she looked that way quickly, dark blue eyes glinting in the low-light to find Rufus sitting there at the side of the bed, one hand holding a book open and the other being the one to find her shoulder. He was more dressed down than was usual for him, long blonde hair braided down his back and smiling faintly as their eyes matched, and her gave her shoulder a gentle pat.

"... Welcome back, Horatia." Rufus murmured softly, dipping his head slightly to her and his other hand closing the book he was holding with a soft tap. He set the book down in his lap and turned in his seat to face her more directly, his hand moving back from her shoulder and folding with the other in his lap atop the book- still smiling softly all the while and Hora blinked once, a little surprised still. "How are you feeling?" Rufus asked gently and Hora blinked one more time, before swallowing a little and giving him a small nod.

"Mostly okay... and better than I probably should be..." She mumbled, her voice rough to start and forcing her to break off and clear her throat a bit, her eyes shutting against the grating sensation. She forced a breath after doing so, sighing a little and her hand moving up to push her hair back from her face wearily, before glancing back his way, blue eyes flashing. "... How long have I been out...?" She asked slowly and his smile faded a little, a small breath of his own escaping him and betraying the exhaustion and concern in his eyes that he otherwise kept hidden rather well.

"It's been about eight days now." He replied levelly and Hora stiffened a little at the answer. Rufus shook his head faintly, his shoulders sinking a tad. "You've given us all quite a scare, Hora... Up until last night we still weren't completely sure you would pull through." He pointed out quietly and Hora grimaced a bit,

"... I'm sorry..." She murmured, but he shook his head at it.

"Please don't be." Rufus told her coolly, another smile making a reappearance on his face, and a much more steady one this time- and even sort of relieved too, though she wasn't sure why. Rufus straightened up a bit, some of his usual refined posture coming back and shaking off some of the weariness and worry that had had his shoulders sinking beforehand, tilting his head toward her a bit. "You needn't worry about scaring us, or anything of the like. Truthfully all that really matters is that you're doing better now, Hora." He told her lightly, his words echoing similar to those assurances Lixue had given her, and Hora bit the inside of her cheek for it.

Rufus smiled a little more at the way she seemed to hesitate though, "Our worry will be easily forgotten with you on the mend, and you having worried us at all is not an issue either. You are our friend, and family, it's natural we worry. And you needn't feel sorry, so please do not linger on it, hmm?" He pressed, and Hora hesitated a second longer, before nodding stiffly.

"... alright..." She relented, before forcing another breath and shaking her head at herself almost imperceptibly.

... I say that, but I'm still gonna feel awful about it all...

She cast the thought off and shifted, her hand falling onto the bed and gritting her teeth as she started to push herself up without warning. Rufus jumped faintly as she started, before the blonde wordlessly moved his book out of his lap and set it down on the nightstand beside him, before quickly climbing to his feet and reaching for her. He said nothing spare mumbling 'careful' under his breath while helping her sit up, stacking the pillows up behind her and so she could lean against them instead of keeping herself straight all on her own, once she was up all the way.

Sitting up at all hurt, unsurprisingly. All her muscles felt cramped and rigid, and they didn't wanna cooperate with her moving. Even her bones even seemed to groan under it too, but the worst of it was a sharp stab of pain running through her left side (which was still bandaged) and radiating through her chest. She even cringed slightly for it, before letting out a shaky sigh as it began to fade and just ended up throbbing.

Hora leaned heavily against the pillows and headboard with it, holding her breath a moment to try and ease the intensity of the throbbing... but hey, she was up, and stayed up without sputtering, or struggling to breathe to boot.

So that's kinda a plus, yeah...?

Rufus' hands hovered slightly as she settled again, watching her intently in silence as the little show of pain she let slip faded again. Once she seemed relatively steady enough on her own, his eyes moved away and his hands did too- reaching for a pitcher of water and a cup on the nightstand he'd set his book on. He filled the cup and handed it her way, Hora casting the glass a sort of uneasy look, before taking it from him in both hands and mumbling a small 'thanks'.

Drinking it didn't sound all that pleasant in that moment, her stomach was in knots and all tense just like her muscles felt- and she was sort of afraid she might retch the water up as soon as she drank it... but her throat was dry as hell, and she didn't need to end up coughing if she could help it, so she had to give it a go.

Hora took a few tentative sips, her eyes down on the water itself and not Rufus. The blonde settled slowly back into his seat while she took a few drinks, watching quietly all the way through and up until Hora lowered the cup and her hands into her lap.

She glanced around the space silently for a moment, taking it all in quickly and finding it was just her and Rufus in the room... the big room, clearly part of the Inn SaberTooth stayed at for the Games- and so big she thought it must have been the one Jiemma would have been in...?

She gave the air a sniff and recognized the man's scent, confirming the suspicion, and she huffed silently at thought of him, but otherwise just kept going on her once-over.

She smelled other people too, Rogue, Sting, Lector, Frosh, Yukino and Orga were rather heavy on the air still, though they were not in sight at the moment. There was the heavy scent of her own blood hanging on the air, frost, ash, and sickness too... And along with all those scents she also caught the familiar ones of Lyon, Wendy, Sherria, Natsu, and Gray too- that last one making her stomach curl, and she gave up looking the room over.

Her attention turned toward Rufus again and he blinked, unease and question both flitting across Hora's expression in no time at all, along with a sort of intense flare to the look she gave him.

"What happened?" She asked quickly, leaning in toward him ever so slightly and blue eyes flashing. "Is everybody okay? What went on with the Dragons, and the Eclipse Gate, and everything else? And the other Guilds too?" She rounded the questions off rapidly, before breaking off slightly, and her voice dropped too. "Is... Did anybody end up... Dead...?" She asked a little shakily, and Rufus' expression softened for the last question.

"You needn't worry, everyone is alright." He assured her quickly, "There is a fair share of injuries to go around certainly, but nothing fatal. Your condition has been the worst of everyone in both SaberTooth and all the other Guilds." He told her, and Hora let out a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, her posture wilting slightly.

... Oh thank goodness...

"... As for what happened, it's all rather complicated, in the grand scheme of things." Rufus went on coolly, "I will spare you the finer details, and give you the short version. That being that Natsu defeated the Other Rogue from the Future, and destroyed the Eclipse Gate as well. Doing so sent the Dragons back to their own Time, and even some of the damage the city sustained was undone too, though not all. Most of that destruction has been repaired the last week, however, and most everyone has recovered, or nearly so, from all the damage they took in the fight by now as well." Rufus told her, Hora stiffened.

"... Y-You guys know about... The Other...?" She asked quietly and Rufus nodded stiffly,

"Yes, and unfortunately our Rogue has taken it quite hard." Rufus replied, and Hora grimaced at it. "Upsetting as it is to find out some version of himself set into motion such destruction all aside... Realizing that that Future Version of him was the one to have attacked you at the Palace was even more so upsetting to him." Rufus explained and Hora grimaced a bit more, her eyes flashing as they fell into her lap and her stomach knotted.

Shit... She hadn't wanted him to know that, for that very reason. She knew it'd tear Rogue apart to find out that some other version of him had hurt her so badly, that's why she kept it to herself.

But he knew now, and 'upsetting' as Rufus had put it, was probably putting it lightly.

Shit... Shit shit shit-

"-I understand why you did not tell any of us who it was when we regrouped at the Square." Rufus broke into her thoughts. "It would have been better if Rogue had never known, but he does know... And while no one blames him, or thinks him capable of anything the Other Version did, our assurances have done nothing to reassure him thus far." Rufus murmured quietly and Hora swallowed at it, glancing back toward him warily. He sighed a little as their eyes met, looking uneasy now and Hora felt the same. "I think you will need to talk to him about it, Horatia." The blonde told her quietly, "I honestly doubt anyone but you will convince him of anything."

Hora nodded stiffly, her eyes falling into the water in the cup she was holding and her shoulders fell a little. "... Yeah... I'll talk to him..." She murmured softly, shaking her head slightly after a moment and casting Rufus a sideways glance. "... Is he okay other than that, though...? Sting said he'd passed out... I remember him falling over, he looked terrible." She asked, and Rufus nodded a bit.

"Mostly he is alright now, though he's nursing a mild fever still, and he's still rather exhausted as well." Rufus told her, and Hora's stomach churned at the words. "He slept for awhile after first collapsing, and now the others have managed to convince him to step out for some air and something to eat- so I suspect he'll be a bit better after that." He murmured with a tilt of his head toward the door out of the room, and Hora nodded.

"And everybody else?" She asked softly, earning a blink from Rufus. "You look tired as hell, and Sting did too- so how is everybody holding up, the wounds and whatever from fighting aside...?" She elaborated, and he paused, his shoulders sinking a tad.

"... Well, we are all exhausted." Rufus told her quietly, his eyes falling closed a moment while linking his hands together a bit more firmly in his lap. "No one in the Guild has slept much the last week, or hardly left the Building either, since we've been worried and looking after you. Many of the others in Lamia and Fairy Tail have done the same, and they are actually spread out in the spare rooms, since they stayed rather than returning to their own Inns. But as I said there are no fatal injuries to speak of, just some exhaustion and strain really..." The blonde murmured, trailing off for half a second and Hora's eyes narrowed at the pause.

"... There are a few others like Rogue who pushed themselves to the point of collapse too, though nothing quite as dramatic as he did. They simply got to the point where they couldn't continue with what they were doing, though most of them are rested again by now, for the most part." Rufus added after a moment and Hora turned to him all the way that time, her eyes flashing and frowning for the news. Rufus seemed quite aware of the look though his eyes were still closed, and he nodded slightly, leaning back a bit in his chair. "Explaining that will require going over what happened to you because of Over-Drive, however." He hummed, blinking his eyes open and matching her gaze steadily. "I don't suppose you remember much of anything, hmm?" He asked quietly and Hora frowned, shaking her head tensely.

"... No... Everything's more or less a big blank, or a blur after... That last Spell I did... After... Time Rewound and..." She trailed off, her eyes dropping despite herself at the memory surfacing again and Rufus blinked once, sympathy flitting across his face to see the fear and grief suddenly appear in hers.

Rufus let out a silent breath, one hand moving forward and coming down on her arm gently in a comforting gesture. Hora blinked, her eyes widening a tad at it and glancing up slowly, looking a little unsure for a moment and more so for the somewhat... knowing look he gave her...?

Hora stiffened, her eyes widening further and dark blue eyes flashing.

.:+:.

"... Are you guys okay? You look like you got beat to hell..." Hora mumbled and they seemed to sigh at the mention, Orga gritting his teeth in agitation and looking away from her rather pointedly, while Rufus simply gave her a small, somewhat weary smile.

"We are alright." He told her softly, "Fairy Tail was full of surprises today, it was quite a spectacle to behold- today will remain imprinted in my Memory for all the years to come." He hummed and Hora blinked, her eyes falling from him for a moment as she bit the inside of her cheek and... hesitated.

"...so... he won, against you...?" She asked at length and Rufus tilted his head slightly in question, especially so when she failed to meet his eyes again as she asked, and her hands still in his trembled, ever so faintly. "... Gray... He won... you two fought... right...?" She asked quietly and Rufus' eyes flashed at the question, his expression falling slightly slack in intrigue, before he smiled just a tad, and nodded.

"Yes, it was a splendid battle." He murmured lightly, his eyes flashing as he dipped his head slightly to her, and his voice dropped to something quite low, "You needn't worry over either of us, we fared just fine in our battle." He added quietly, and Hora jumped slightly, her eyes snapping up toward him in shock, but Rufus only smiled, squeezing her hands one last time and pulling away entirely.

W-wait a minute... that look...?

.:+:.

That's... that's the same look as... that night...?

"... I am sorry, I cannot imagine how awful any of that was for you." Rufus told her softly, Hora's mind racing and staggering to a halt all at once as he kept his hand where it was for a few seconds more. "From what everyone said of what happened at the end, when things rewound, well... you did not deserve to experience something so horrible, or watch that happen. Not after everything else, and not after having already lost him once before." Rufus told her softly, his eyes falling from her and to his hand as he gave her a small squeeze, and then pulled back again, and Hora just stared, stunned, reeling- because he...?

"... Y-You... do you know about...?" Hora stammered, and Rufus nodded just the once. Hora's eyes went even wider for it, her heart skipping a beat. "B-But how the hell do you know...?!" She asked quickly, and he blinked, his gaze moving up to match with hers levelly and letting out a quiet breath.

"There were a few memories I saw and recognized, while we fought one another during the GMG." Rufus explained quietly, "I didn't wish to delve too far into his mind at the time, I had only been hoping to find something to give me an edge in our battle- but I ended up stumbling upon some very old memories... and in them I recognized you, even as young as you were. After what you had told us about what happened to your Village and family, it was not hard to put the pieces together." Rufus told her softly, and Hora swallowed hard, her eyes darting away from him quickly and fidgeting slightly now.

"... I... I didn't realize... I... I didn't realize he was still alive until...tch... I haven't told anybody about him..." Hora mumbled, "... I... I was going to tell you guys, after all of this shit settled again, I swear, I just... I couldn't add that on top of everything else..." She hissed and Rufus blinked, nodding slightly.

"You don't need to explain." Rufus cut her off gently, "Is it after all, entirely up to you what you share with any of us, and when. And I do understand why you chose not to, things were quite hectic." He murmured and Hora nodded stiffly, her hands around the glass of water in her lap tightening as her shoulders hunched a bit. Rufus paused a moment with his gaze level on her, almost debating for a moment or two to himself, before shaking his head slightly, casting off whatever he'd been mulling over just before.

"Anyway, I am sure this will likely not comfort you, but Gray is one of those who pushed themselves too far." The blonde started again and Hora looked up quickly, worry and shock flitting quickly across her face again, and it made Rufus' stomach churn a bit for it. He held up a hand in a calming gesture, shaking his head once and as composed as ever, which was sorely needed with how quickly her heart felt it was gonna give out for the news.

"He is fine now, but in order to keep Over-Drive from killing you at the start, both he and Lyon had to use their Magic quite a bit just to keep the heat at a level that would not be fatal for you. They did so without pause for about a day and a half, and as you can probably imagine, that was a rather large strain on their energy. Especially so after all the fighting beforehand." Rufus explained and Hora swallowed hard at the information,

Shit... I mean it makes sense, but... they used their Magic for over a day straight...?

And it wouldn't have been a small amount of Magic either, not if Over-Drive really got so bad-

"-Though Gray did push things further than Lyon, as he had to give you several blood transfusions... since you had lost so much, and kept losing more." Rufus added in cautiously and Hora froze, her heart skipping a beat and eyes going wide.

W-What...?

"His was the only blood type that matched your own... As I'm sure is no surprise to you." Rufus murmured, and Hora swallowed hard. Rufus paused another heartbeat as she seemed to stiffen, her eyes darting away again and the blonde let out a quiet sigh. "Hmm... it's lucky he was here, else you would not have survived the first night. And you certainly wouldn't have survived the next few without him, or Lyon either- what everyone else did to help notwithstanding." He told her. Hora swallowed again, her eyes falling shut before nodding stiffly, and just once.

... shit... I didn't... I didn't mean to get so bad that anyone would have... that Gray would hav- tch.

"... I... I understand... but..." Hora mumbled tensely, her shoulders hunching a tad further as she asked the question. "... he is okay, right...?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper now and shaking slightly too- making Rufus wilt a little at it.

"Yes, he is alright. Tired, but alright." The blonde replied gently, and Hora swallowed.

"... and Lyon..?"

"He is fine as well."

Hora nodded a little, sucking in a breath of air and holding it as she kept her eyes shut a few moments more.

... damn it... get ahold of yourself, dumbass... you... you're not supposed to be getting all worked up about it, remember...?

Don't feel guilty... just live...? Isn't that what you said... Lixue...?

'... hmmph... quite...' Was all the reply she earned, a terribly exhausted and entirely flat reply- but an answer nonetheless.

He was still there, awake and not dead, and actually able to hear her- not like before.

She grit her teeth at the thought, shaking her head at herself and forcing the breath she was holding back out. She straightened up a tad, her head coming up from having bent a little and her shoulders sinking out of the hunched posture they had adopted too.

I won't stop feeling guilty, or bad about any of it... I don't think I can... but... I'm trying.

I'll try to not get... sucked up in it, anyway...

'... that would be best...'

She let out a breath at it and looked toward Rufus again, blue eyes glittering and her lips a thin line, but suddenly a little steadier, and he blinked.

"Who else pushed it too far?" Hora asked lowly, her eyes steady with Rufus'- clear, alert, and intent.

"Please, tell me all that's happened the last week. With Over-Drive, the fighting, everyone else- everything."

.:+:.

Her fears that Over-Drive would be worse when it hit this time around hadn't been big enough, apparently. Because this time, Over-Drive didn't just almost kill her- it had killed her- and would have done so a dozen times over if not for everyone else.

Of those Rufus had told her had pushed themselves too far, and much passed their own limit as Rogue, Gray, and Lyon had- there were three more people to add to the list.

Wendy and Sherria had pushed themselves too hard over and over again, on several repeats of trying to Heal her while Over-Drive had been tearing her to shreds, and her wounds had refused any amount of healing for it. They'd apparently tried for hours, several times a day, or at least as much as anyone would let them or they had the strength left to try... which wasn't much, given how much Magic Energy they expended without end. According to Rufus, both girls had come in to close her wounds up after a few had reopened in that stint to catch Rogue, and they'd come again a day later and done quite a lot of work- which was why a lot of the bandages were gone when she woke up, and she felt sort of okay.

The last person on that list of pushing it too far was Natsu, who had apparently sat with and kept hold of her while Over-Drive went on a nosedive from blistering heat to deadly cold... and that having been when her heart had stopped altogether. Natsu had been the one to keep her from freezing to death (again), and had kept at it the whole time Over-Drive remained locked in that icy-cold fervor, which had apparently lasted two full days, and a little over that. But he'd kept up the whole time, and once Over-Drive had tapered off again, Natsu was fairly well spent... especially after having been fighting as much as he had with the Other Rogue, the Dragon Motherglare, and all else.

Once Over-Drive had mellowed out and away from being at it's worst though, Rufus explained that her wounds had gotten pretty badly infected- either from just not healing, or from her immune system being damaged by Over-Drive and the Anti-Magic Poison (yes! Poison...!) she'd been given to try and combat it, it wasn't really clear which was the cause. Whatever had brought it on didn't really matter much though, all that mattered was that it had been bad.

Bad enough everyone had thought that was it. All the work, and effort, and days of worrying and trying to handle Over-Drive even a little had just lead to her body giving out because of infection and sickness she'd had little to no strength left to fight off. And that all made a lot of sense, given how out of it she'd felt, and how overwhelming everything had become- as well as all that floating and drowning in an endless ocean... The infection setting in and raging through her mind and body, pushing and pulling at her, holding her hostage in delirium and oblivion, and making it so...

"... I... I don't... F...feel... Good..."

Hora sighed heavily at the hazy memory of it, shaking the image away and shutting her eyes against it.

... Well anyway, she'd apparently worked through the worst of the sickness, infection, and whatnot- even if there'd seemed little hope of her doing so at all.

Her fever breaking had been when Rogue had collapsed, and then after that had been her wounds reopening, the conversation with Sting that had had them both crying, and then Lixue. She'd slept for about three days after that, and had woken up now to have this recanting of events by Rufus.

All in all?

This turned out... so... So bad... Tch...

It hurt to hear it all and really be forced to coming to terms with how awful she had gotten, and just what that had forced everyone else through. Because of course they'd been terrified and worried about her, but all the things they had to contend with, and do just trying to keep her alive? How hard they had tried to keep her alive...?

Wendy and Sherria exhausting themselves to the point they couldn't use their Magic anymore without resting a few hours, and trying again as soon as they could?

Rogue staying with her all through it, not eating or sleeping? All while living with the fact that it had been some version of himself that had caused so much chaos, and even tried to kill her? He and Sting rushing to try and revive her after her heart stopped? Sting hating himself for how he reacted the night Jiemma used the Possession Link, and blaming himself for hurting her? Being terrified she was gonna die and that was it, he'd never get a chance to apologize?

Lyon, Natsu and Gray using their Magic for days on end just barely keeping Over-Drive at bay? Gray having to do that, on top of multiple blood transfusions that kept her alive just as much as his Magic did?

A million things and people rushing, hoping, praying and struggling to do anything they could while she seemed to just slip further and further away...?

She... She never meant for any of that to happen. She never wanted to put them through any of that, and yet she had.

Shit- she knew she shouldn't have wavered on it, but how could she not doubt what Lixue had said? That none of that pain and suffering and fear they had felt the last week would mean anything, not as long as she got better, and stayed alive...?

How could she not doubt that they'd forgive her for all of it, hearing and learning about all that awful...?

Her lungs were starting to burn and she knew she was getting worked up way too much, and she really couldn't afford to let that happen. She heard Lixue mumble something about not letting it eat at her, and she knew he was right... but hell.

... I never meant... for any of this to happen... s..shit...

She shut her eyes tight, swallowing hard and holding her breath still as the fire in her chest continued to deepen, and she went rigid against it. Rufus stiffened slightly himself in his chair, the calm in his expression suddenly shifting toward unease when Hora went quiet after having been asking small questions and such through all his explanations. She'd asked only a little, but she'd been listening intently the whole time, mostly calm, and even drinking the rest of the water in that cup he'd given her- he'd been watchful and wary the whole time. He'd not started in on anything he wasn't sure she was alright to hear, he didn't wish to upset her too much, and she had seemed fine the whole time... but now she went deadly quiet, and he shifted forward slightly in his chair when she started to fold over a bit.

"... Horatia...?" The blonde started, but Hora didn't hear him, she just grit her teeth harder as the burning in her lungs moved rapidly toward a peak.

Stop... stop... you can't... get all w... wound up right now...

She tried to take in a breath of air that was meant to calm her down, but it was an instant mistake.

She choked on it, and it sent her quickly spinning into a coughing fit that felt like her lungs were getting shredded apart every second. She hunched over, Rufus on his feet in an instant and his hands falling on her shoulder and her back, holding her steady as her body lurched underneath him. He could do nothing but stay where he was, keeping her as steady as he could and from falling over entirely, his hand on her back moving in small circles while the coughing kept up, and waiting for it to stop on it's own.

The door into the room jerked open, Orga popping his head in quickly once he heard the coughing start from outside, and grimacing as he shouldered his way into the room, hands full with a tray with some cups and a teakettle. He cast one glance toward Hora and Rufus before heading quickly inside, setting the tray down on the nightstand beside Rufus and only earning a fleeting look from the blonde, both men grimacing. Orga spared no time in moving himself around to the other side of the bed, settling down on it next to Hora and his own hands moving forward to steady her a bit more- and with a little better luck than Rufus as Hora leaned more into the larger man as he curled his arm underneath her gently.

The coughing fit didn't let up for three minutes at least, the sound of the sputtering breaths rough and raspy. When the coughs themselves stopped it left her panting heavily, puffing for air in shallow, wheezy breaths and her whole body trembling badly. Her right hand fell from covering her mouth, the inside of her palm flecked in little dots of crimson and her jaw clenching hard for a moment against the pain now radiating through every inch of her, hot and throbbing, with her head whirling in a sudden bout of dizziness that made it hard to make sense of anything at all. She ended up leaning into Orga's arm rather heavily, her body tilting left a bit so her shoulder bumped up against his, and she curled her left hand around his forearm, hugging him into her- and him being just about the only reason she stayed sort of sitting up. Rufus pulled back once she did, hovering slightly at the edge of the bed and frowning as Orga took up his previous motion of tracing circles on Hora's back.

Both Rufus and Orga grimaced, casting one another uneasy glances while five minutes came and went, and Hora coughed one more time, low and shallow, before she swallowed hard and groaned a bit under her breath. Her head tilted up wearily, some of her weight against Orga letting up a bit as she glanced up, her eyes glittering slightly and still very much out of breath as she caught Orga's eyes.

"... Hey..." She mumbled breathlessly, and he paused at it, biting the inside of his cheek and sighing.

"Hmph, kind a lame 'hello'... But hey." He mumbled a little exasperatedly, and Hora smiled tiredly for half a second at it.

"... Kinda..." She admitted hoarsely and his eyes flashed, biting the inside of his cheek and head tilting slightly.

"You okay?" Orga asked slowly and Hora nodded once, pushing herself up a bit more and off from leaning into his arm, though she didn't unwrap her arm from around his right off, and he didn't move to pull back either, he wouldn't dare. Rufus shifted a bit uncomfortably where he was, frowning still as Hora did her best to compose herself again.

"... Yeah... I'm okay..." She replied softly, taking in a slightly bigger breath of air and holding it for a moment. She let it back out slowly and let go of Orga all the way as she leaned back against the headboard and pillows again, her hand closed into a fist and pressing lightly against her chest as she let out a small grumble. "... Sorry... I was trying not to... End up doing that..." She apologized softly with a small shake of her head.

... But of course I'm gonna keep ending up coughing my lungs out for awhile regardless of 'trying not to'... Damn Over-Drive.

It didn't stop bothering me even three months after last time... I'd be lucky if it only takes three months to mellow out again this time, tch.

"You don't gotta apologize." Orga told her, and Rufus nodded stiffly.

"Yes, he is right. There's no need, Hora." The blonde sighed. "... But are you sure you're alright?" He pressed a touch apprehensively, which was quite unlike him to be able to see it so clearly, and Hora felt her core knot.

Hora nodded faintly, forcing a weary smile up to the surface as she did. "I'm sure." She mumbled softly, and she hoped it sounded more convincing to them than it did to herself. But not wanting to see their faces and know either which way, she quickly diverted her eyes from Rufus and Orga both toward the tray that Orga had previously set down on the nightstand. There were a few cups and a teakettle, along with a glass filled with a greenish blue liquid near the edge that felt rather out of place with the other cups.

Hora's nose twitched, drinking in the scents off the tray out of sheer instinct and picking up a familiar whiff of tea, and then something stronger than that, bitter, quite sharp, and herb like- which was probably coming from the out of place potion glass she'd mentioned.

"Is that for me?" Hora asked quietly, glancing back toward Orga as she said it and tilting her head faintly toward the glass in question. He nodded once, letting out a breath.

"Yep. And you gotta drink the whole thing, Doctor's orders." He answered simply, a small slightly weary smirk making an appearance on his face as he leaned back a little. "You're gonna hate it." He added and Hora wilted slightly.

"Oh, lovely... thanks for the warning... I guess..." She sighed and he chuckled under his breath, Rufus smiling faintly in amusement himself.

"My pleasure." Orga told her a touch cheekily, and Hora smiled faintly for it, shaking her head once while a quiet chuckle escaped her- a small one only, since she didn't wanna end up coughing- but a chuckle nonetheless.

Looks of relief flashed across both Orga and Rufus' faces for the sound of it, the two men's still slightly stiff posture unwinding a little for it, while their heart's twisted and lift all at once.

It was a million times more heartening than could be described just to hear that tiny little laugh. To say things had been hard for her as of late would be to horribly understate what chaos and hardship had come to fall squarely on Hora's shoulders in the last few days, months, and even longer before then. She had been through so much, and not just physically- but mentally and emotionally too. Far more than she deserved to be put or suffer through, and more than most ever had to... So to hear her laugh, even the once, and to see her smile just then and for it not to be so forced or strained?

That was one of the most comforting things they had felt in much, much too long. And a sorely needed comfort, as well as bit of weight off their shoulders after so much constant bad to worse.

Maybe she actually was okay, like she said. And perhaps they could worry a little less that she would be truly alright in time, even after all the terrible things that had happened. Hopefully, and more than anything they really wanted that, for her sake more than anyone else's. No matter how long it might take, or how much time she may need, or how shaky things might be for awhile yet- eventually they hoped it would end up that way... and maybe even believed a little more in their heart's it would come to that.

She'll be alright

Orga pushed himself back a little and settled a little more comfortably on the bedside, sitting crosslegged and his hands finding his knees while Hora turned her attention off him, both her and the Lightning God Slayer watching Rufus quietly as he started to pour the tea. He handed a cup off to Orga and then Hora, smiling coolly as he handed it her way,

"It might be better to take some of this first, rather than take the medicine on a completely empty stomach." The blonde hummed lightly, and Hora nodded slightly, another sigh escaping her as she took the cup from him slowly.

"... That's probably a good idea..." She relented, her eyes dropping into the amber colored liquid in the cup, the scent of honey and a few other herbs rushing up to meet her full force and she let out another silent breath, before tentatively raising the cup to her lips and taking a few small sips to start. Rufus waited for her to take a few more, before taking a delicate start on his own cup, while Orga took a big gulp with much less refine and manners than the blonde.

The tea was warm, and while sort of bitter from the herbs themselves, the honey offset it pretty well. And the sensation of it running down Hora's rather ragged and dry throat was incredibly pleasant, and the warmth of it settling in her stomach should have been so as well, but it kind of made her feel a little queasy, if she were to be honest. But she swallowed hard against the sensation and kept up with the tea, doing her best to at least get through a quarter of it, before she had to take a break and let it fall into her lap.

... that's great. Even just tea makes me feel nauseous... ugh

'... you've been on death's door for near a week now, and poisoned with an Anti-Magic Toxin in order to keep your Magic in check... of course you will feel nauseous... and you will feel the same for more than just tea, surely... I expect solid food will be even less pleasurable than tea for some awhile yet...' Lixue intoned wearily, and Hora bit the inside of her cheek for it in faint annoyance- though he was not wrong, and definitely had a point.

She grimaced faintly, her eyes dropping closed and holding her breath a moment as her stomach churned a little more.

I mean yeah, but hell... don't make me think of food, Lixue... you're gonna make me throw up...

'... hmmph, apologies I will cease...'

She let the breath she was holding back out slowly, her eyes still closed a few moments longer as she sat in silence, before eventually taking another drink and hoping the more she did, maybe her stomach would actually settle.

I really don't look forward to drinking whatever is in that 'medicine'. Especially since I'm 'gonna hate it'... Way to make me dread it more, Orga.

But it's not like I have a choice. It's supposed to help, right? And I could definitely use it, after all of this.

... I'll have to say thank you to Porlyusica, and Wendy and Sherria too, huh...? And Natsu, Lyon... Gray...... I'll actually have to say it to pretty much everybody, huh...?

From what Rufus said, they all have been trying their best to help me... Keep me alive...

Hora's shoulders sank at the thought, her eyes opening halfway and settling on the tea in the cup as she held let it sink into her lap again.

... This must have been so awful on all of them... All of it was such a mess all on it's own, but I made it worse, hmm...? Sting was a mess, and Rogue is too, apparently... and that's not mentioning anyone else... shit.

I hate all of this

"Oi, you're zoning out there Hora."

Hora jumped slightly, her eyes snapping off the teacup she'd been staring rather broodily into, and up toward Orga, whose voice it was that caught her attention so suddenly. She blinked a few times as she caught Orga's eyes again and he quirked a brow at her, before she shook herself out a little.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to..." She mumbled quickly, and he tilted his head a bit, pausing for half a second as if he was gauging something, before shaking his head slightly, and nearly all to himself.

"Hmm, well anyway, what I was saying;" Orga started again, clearly retracting back to some point he'd been making while she was entirely unawares. Which made Hora wilt a little for the realization, but she made sure to listen intently this time, "Porlyusica'll probably be back in a hour to check on you, and Wendy and Sherria will probably be in tow." He told Hora, and she nodded slowly in understanding.

"Right, okay." She murmured, her hands around her cup adjusting slightly as she said it. "Porlyusica... I've not actually met her face to face yet, huh...?" She mused quietly, and Orga smiled a little.

"Nope. And just so ya know, she's kinda grumpy." He told her lightly, and Hora blinked, her head tilting.

"Grumpy...?" She echoed uncertainly and Orga nodded, smiling wearily for a moment while Rufus even seemed to wilt a little in exasperation for the thought.

"Oooh yeah." The Lightning God Slayer hummed, and Hora looked a little more unsure, her face falling slightly for it. Rufus shook his head, pausing in the drinking of his tea as his hand moved, and landed on her shoulder gently in a reassuring gesture.

"To clarify, she is not 'grumpy' with you personally, Horatia." Rufus assured her quickly, and seemingly quite aware that was where her mind had immediately started to wander. "She is simply a rather cross personality just naturally. But I wouldn't expect her to be too harsh with you, so please don't worry about that." He assured lightly,

"Ah, alright..." Hora mumbled softly and nodded again, smiling faintly in return though a touch nervously all the same. She really wasn't all that reassured, despite his efforts, and Rufus shot Orga a slightly scolding look that the larger man stiffened at. Orga swallowed, shaking himself out a little and waving a hand at Hora in a dismissive matter, the motion earning her eyes on him again.

"Don't sweat it so much." Orga told her, shaking his head once. "Seriously, she's just gonna be glad you're finally doing better." He murmured, and Rufus nodded once in agreement.

"Quite." The blonde hummed. Hora paused, still not looking 100% sure, but a little more so, so she nodded once.

I hope they're right, I really don't know if I can handle being scolded by a 'grumpy' doctor who's probably had her hands more than full with me the last week.

Hora dropped her eyes back into her cup as she brought it up slightly, a small sigh escaping her.

Not that I might not deserve to be scolded and lectured after all the trouble I caused, and worry I put everybody through

She bit the inside of her cheek a moment for the thought, before doing her best to toss it away and focus on drinking the rest of the tea.

She managed to get through finishing the cup without the sensation to retch getting too overwhelming, and after handing the empty cup Rufus' way, he uncorked the bottle the medicine was in and handed it to her slowly. She held it in her hands and went quite, chewing on the insides of her cheeks as she glared a little half-heartedly into the murky liquid.

"You good?" Orga asked after a moment, sounding both a little amused and a little weary at the same time, and Hora grumbled.

"I'm debating on whether or not I should down it all at once." Hora mumbled in reply, and he let out a sort of amused breath at it.

"Probably better not to, or you might end up coughing your lungs out again." He commented levelly, and Hora frowned a little more for the reply.

"He does have a point." Rufus intoned lightly, and she sighed heavily, her eyes dropping closed and her head tilting back a little in defeat.

They're right. I know they're right... but I really, really don't wanna drink this

'... But you must.'

I know, but I'm not gonna be happy about it.

'... You needn't be happy about it, Horatia. As long as it does you good, you can't afford not to take it.'

I know, I know... But I hate it when you're right though

'Hmph... I am well aware...'

Hora huffed slightly under her breath for the response, her head dropping back down and eyes opening to rest on the bottle once more.

Well, might as well start drinking it. Can't avoid it forever, and I don't need to give Porlyusica a reason to be more grumpy and at me specifically by not taking my medicine.

The first mouthful of it was just about as bad as she imagined it would be, after Orga commented about her hating it. She grimaced, her face twisting as she swallowed hard and almost shivered for the rather unpleasant and queasy sensation that followed as it settled into her stomach. She groaned slightly under her breath, the back of her hand pressing against her mouth while her posture folded a tad too.

"... That's... Disgusting..." Hora mumbled under her breath, the words muffled by her hand.

"Told you." Orga replied without missing a beat, "I saw her making the thing, the stuff she put in there didn't really look fun." He commented, and Rufus sighed.

"Orga." The blonde mumbled a touch warningly, and the larger man blinked.

"What? I'm just telling the truth." Orga mumbled,

"Yes, but you are not helping to make it easier for her to drink it." Rufus pointed out levelly, and Orga paused under the sort of steely stare the Memory-Make Mage settled on him as he said it, before wilting a little.

"Ah, right... Sorry Hora. I'll shut up about it." Orga mumbled, glancing back toward said woman and earning a small nod from her, though her eyes were still halfway closed and grimacing.

"Uh... Maybe we can just talk about something else...?" She suggested, her eyes trailing up off her lap and toward Orga and Rufus both, "Anything really, just... To maybe keep my mind off how awful this tastes a bit more...?" She mumbled, and the request earned slightly sympathetic smiles from both.

"Can do. I actually have plenty I wanna square away with you, after all the crazy." Orga smirked, leaning in a little and Hora blinked at it, her head tilting.

Square away...?

"Like for starters, the thing in that Lacrima of yours is a Dragon?" He kept on, one hand falling on his knee while the other held the teacup he'd already drained, but hadn't bothered to put down or refill. "Which makes you a Dragon Slayer, on top of being a Devil Slayer. And with two different elements too." He said, leaning in a little more, while Hora wilted slightly.

"Oh, that..." She mumbled softly, and he nodded firmly.

"Yeah that." Orga said, "We heard about the whole thing from the Ice Dudes; all about that Dragon you guys went head to head with, the fact that it was after you because of the Dragon in that Lacrima of yours, and all the details of the fight too! You really went all out on the Dragon Slayer thing, huh?" He smirked, a little bit of enthusiasm making it's way into his posture and voice. Hora faltered, shaking her head slightly and looking nervous now, and totally not sure why he seemed to... excited about it..?

"I wouldn't say that, I'm not even close to being a sort of fully-fledged Dragon Slayer. I've never learned how to use that Magic at all, I was just winging it the whole time..." She told him quickly, but he shook his head at her next, and she paused.

"Dude, do you not realize how badass you were? Even being a total newbie at the whole Dragon Slayer thing?" Orga asked and Hora's head tilted a little at it. To which, Orga noticed the sort of lost and unsure look she gave him right away, and he grew a little more energetic (and a touch exasperated now all at once).

"Hora, you totally rocked it." Orga smirked, "I already knew you were gonna fight like a boss even before hearing about that fight from everybody else, cause you are badass just on the regular. But after hearing about it, and seeing that last Spell you sent off? Total badass boss." He grinned, Rufus nodding faintly in agreement and smiling himself, though he was a little more composed than Orga- who now looked ready to jump up and start singing, as he was prone to.

But Hora was still rather lost, and totally unsure of the excitement and praise. And that bit about the Spell-?

"Wait, what do you mean?" She mumbled quickly, "How did you see the Spell? You weren't anywhere near where we were... were you?" She asked, and Orga paused for a moment, looking almost dumbfounded, before he smiled and looked way more exasperated this time.

"Heh, you really don't remember a lot of the end of fight, do you?" Orga asked next, completely skimping passed her own question and Hora hesitated.

Truthfully she actually remembered a lot of it, in terrible vivid detail. She would remember it as long as she lived probably, forever with it haunting her, regardless of that fact that what she had seen come to pass having been, thankfully, rewound and averted.

But Orga asking that now, and with her mostly remembering it all, it left her all the more confused- and that confusion was clear as day on her face.

Orga let out a small breath, smiling still as he suddenly pushed himself off the bed and to his feet. He abandoned his teacup on the nightstand and moved over toward the curtains drawn across the windows and glass doors that lead out onto a balcony. Hora's head tilted all the more than it already was as he did so, before she ended up having to squint and blink against what amount of light came in when he pulled the curtains back and let the sun in without warning. She frowned, scrunching her eyes closed hard against the stinging that followed with the (quite ridiculous level of) brightness, and rubbing the back of her hand against them a moment to try and dissipate the feeling.

"Oi, warn me next time before you do that." She muttered a touch irritably,

"Sorry, but I am trying to make a point." Orga replied lightly and Hora grumbled a bit under her breath, blinking her eyes back open slowly, another flash of rather dazzling light flitting across her vision and she paused.

Wait... That's not from the sun is it?

It's like a reflection off something... But what? And to reflect that much?

Her hand came up to try and block the light some, eyes narrowing against it.

"I wasn't anywhere near you when you sent that big ass Spell off, but I didn't have to be." Orga hummed, smirking faintly as he pushed the glass doors to the balcony open, a waft of fresh air rushing into the room in it's quake and washing over Hora with a million different scents. Most of it was just the regular smells from the city- people, food, open air and sky with plants and whatever mixed in- but the rather out of place scents of smoke, ash, and ice caught her a little off guard.

Smoke and ash made sense, after all the fighting that had gone on in the city- but Rufus said most of that had been undone when the Eclipse Gate got destroyed, hadn't he?

And what's with the ic- heh?

Orga smirked, stepping off to the side of the now open doors, his arms crossing over his chest,

"Nobody had to be near you to see that Spell. And I guarantee the whole freakin' city saw it." Orga told her simply, finishing his earlier thought while Hora's hand fell slightly from shielding her eyes, her jaw dropping.

HEH?!

The city of Crocus stretched out passed the balcony railing, shimmering in the early morning light and mostly intact even after all the trouble and destruction that had befallen it. Like Rufus had said, there was near to no hint of any of those destroyed buildings and blocks upon blocks that had been leveled and uprooted in the quake of the Dragon's wrath. It almost looked untouched, and like none of it had ever happened.

Almost

Scattered at an incredibly wide angle, almost in a half-circle like shape that covered a distance that was easily more than a two dozen city blocks, was an entire wasteland of ice and fire both. Spires and spikes of ice broke up out of the shattered earth, buildings, rubble, streets, and everything in between overtaken in a thick sheet of ice with tracks of red-hot embers burning like pyres. Where the fires had originally raged and turned what they touched into nothing but smolders, they'd dimmed to steadily burning flame in places, where otherwise it was cheer ice with embers still burning dimly under the shinning surface. Fire danced across the smooth surfaces, the golden-blue glow refracting every which way and shinning bright even against the light of the sunlight hitting the Ice and Fire Wasteland... but not even the sheer reach and persistence of all of that was the most shocking thing.

Still looming over the city in a tall, tower-like structure that cut high into the sky with a dozen spires of ice and flame burning in their depths, was the icy silhouette and mold of a seemingly suspended Dragon.

And not just any Dragon but Callan- the ice and fire both stuck in place and perfectly forming her shape where she had been trapped underneath it now a week passed. Where that Magic had remained and retained her shape even once Callan herself faded from this timeline, and nearly all other damage and traces of Magic mayhem the city had endured had vanished.

But Hora's Magic hadn't

Hora shivered involuntarily, her heart dropping into the pits of her stomach as shock, incredulity, and panic all at once rushed through her.

H-Holy shit...!

I didn't realize the Spell was that big?!

It's almost as wide as half of the fucking city!

W-WHAT?!

Orga smirked, looking rather amused with the incredibly dumbfounded look that overtook Hora's face at seeing it. He chuckled under his breath, stepping back a few paces toward the bed and catching her wide eyes off the towering Dragon and wasteland.

"Heh, like I said; total badass boss." He hummed as their eyes matched, "You're actually the only one out of all the other Dragon Slayers that got even sort of close to beating a Dragon. And you're definitely the only one who managed to stop one totally in it's tracks."

"Hmm, it is quite the sight." Rufus imputed lightly, "You are truly a powerful Mage Horatia, that is very clear. Even though you have never truly learned your Dragon Slayer Magic, you used it very well- and in a rather exemplary way, when combining your Devil Slaying Magic with it." The blonde told her, but Hora bristled, fumbling for proper words and the praise and whatnot totally going right over her head.

"B-But... it... I didn't think it was gonna be that big..!" She hissed shakily, "I-I didn't even really know what I was doing, I don't how I did that, I just... I just did it..! W-Without thinking about it, I just reacted..! A-And...! A-And why the hell is it still there...?! S-Shouldn't it have gone away with everything else...?!" She stammered quickly, and Rufus smiled faintly at the questions and rambling.

"Hmm, well I have to assume some amount of you're supposed to have not been alive, as the Other Rogue mentioned, probably has something to do with why your Magic wasn't unwound like all the rest." Rufus replied calmly, but Hora shook her head a little.

"I-it should still have faded, or... or broken or something after eight days..!" She hissed, "Especially with me so out of it because of Over-Drive, o-or even when I wasn't alive alive... it... it should have fallen apart-!"

'-it will not go anywhere, not until you purposely unwind the Spell yourself.' Lixue intoned coolly and out of nowhere, cutting Hora off rather abruptly to start with, before she bristled more.

"W-What the hell is that supposed to mean...?!" She snapped hotly, the rather surprised and confused looks she earned from Rufus and Orga going totally unnoticed by Hora. Lixue sighed heavily,

'That particular Spell is rather persistent. It's nature is to destroy anything it's path, or indefinitely trap and stall all living things in it's grasp that it cannot simply destroy so easily.' He elaborated calmly, 'It is one of the more tenacious and destructive Spells that any of those I have been bonded with have ever been able to use. As it is the nature of the Spell to trap and destroy, it is very hardy, and will not break nor weather by the passage of time, nor even your own death. The only way it will cease to exist is if you undo it yourself... Or I suppose a substantial Magical Force outside yourself may be able to get rid of it, but it would prove a difficult task.' Lixue told her, and Hora bit the inside of her cheek, a little bit of her panic settling as the listened.

'There was no time to divulge the finer details of this Spell at the time you cast it, Horatia, but now you know... And though it is a sore topic, I will mention this particular Spell was one of Arden's most popular. As is why it's name became his title.' Lixue went on, his voice dropping slightly and especially so at mention of Arden's name- and Hora grit her teeth, anger and hatred sparking in her core in no time at all.

Tch, that bastard-

'Quite. Arden used it indiscriminately, and caused great havoc and suffering with it. Most of the places that fell victim to his use of that Spell are likely still trapped in it's coil, even all these years since.' Lixue grumbled, 'However, please do know that your use of this Spell was much more refined. The only things that fell victim to it were the Miniature Dragon Clones, I assure you of that. No human, or any Wizard in the city was affected... Your control and precision in the sheer reach and strength of the Spell was exemplary, by all standards.'

Hora swallowed, her eyes flashing slightly at the praise even around the anger that flared and wilting for it. She forced herself a breath, nodding stiffly and her eyes falling into her lap.

Hmph... Thank you.

'... Of course.'

Hora looked back up again, her attention moving back toward Rufus and Orga, and for the first time registering they were watching her rather curiously.

Ah shit I talked to you out loud, Lixue-

"-sorry, I didn't mean to snap out loud." Hora apologized to both men quickly. Rufus tilted his head a little though, looking calm as ever even with what was a rather strange outburst on her part.

"No need to apologize, I assume you were speaking with 'Lixue', hmm?" The blonde replied coolly, Hora stiffening a little got the assertion, before nodding slightly.

"Ah, yeah actually..." She mumbled, and Rufus nodded once more in understanding.

"Oh? So what did your Dragon say then?" Orga asked, butting in slightly once he caught up again (albeit a bit slower on the uptake than Rufus was). Hora paused, her shoulders sinking at what was sort of an odd question, and glancing down into the barely drunk potion in her lap for a moment.

"Uhm, he was just saying that the Spell I used is still there because I have to undo it myself." Hora replied quietly, "Apparently it's not gonna go anywhere until I do, that's just how that particular Spell works... Though I didn't know that, when I used it..." She mumbled, before trailing off entirely.

Rufus and Orga paused at the answer though, a little of their calm and cool breaking off into small hints of unease ad they shot one another a silent glance. They seemed to hesitate, before Rufus dipped his head ever so faintly and Orga swallowed, one hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he slowly paced another step or two closer to Hora.

"Ah, that actually... Kinda tracks." Orga told her quietly, and Hora stiffened at the words, glancing up toward him with narrowed eyes.

"... 'Tracks'?" She echoed, and he nodded stiffly, still rubbing at the back of his neck and looking a little more uneasy now.

"Yeah... Please don't get all worked up about it, Hora, but some of the Old-Timers in the other Guilds recognized that Spell of yours." Orga told her quietly, and Hora instinctively stiffened for the words. "They knew it was the same Spell that that Arden guy you mentioned used to use a lot... ya know, while being a bad guy and everything." Orga mumbled, "We figured he must have been a less than good dude, since you said he forced you to take his Magic, but we didn't realize how awful that guy was until the Old-Timers told us about him, and what he did up in the Northern Territories way back when... and what Yukino said that Wolf Knight guy was talking about too, when you guys were in the Labyrinth thing under the castle."

Hora's eyes dropped, her shoulders hunching a tad and her face falling as she grit her teeth.

Shit... I didn't think there'd be so many people who'd recognize the sort of Magic Arden used... least of all recognize the exact same Spell he used to do so much damage, and kill so many people.

Damn it, I'm never gonna outlive all of the shit Arden did, am I...?

She grimaced further at the thought, her hands around the potion that was by now forgotten getting tight enough her knuckles turned white. Orga and Rufus wilted a little to see it and her posture go rather rigid all of a sudden, her head falling too and they fidgeted a little uncomfortably- because despite Orga asking her not to get worked up about it, she definitely did.

Not that they blamed her mind you, after all they had learned and heard of Arden once things had started to settle a little, and what Hora herself had said of him- even if she only really said little. Clearly Arden was a sore topic, she had told Yukino that and they understood why it was, and they'd even been wary of mentioning it in the first place- but they had to, because it was better to say it now than to let her be unprepared in case anyone else brought it up later.

Though seeing how tense she got the minute it was brought up did make them regret going into it, at least partly.

Orga let out a small sigh, shaking himself out a little and stepping up toward the bed, one hand on his hip while the other came down gently on Hora's sort of bowed head. She stiffened a little in surprise at the sudden and unexpected contact, stiff in her spot for a moment and making no move to glance up right off.

What is he..?

"We know you're nothing like that guy, alright?" Orga told her softly, the words making her swallow rather hard while her stomach churned more than it already was. "Everybody else knows that too. Even if you've got the same Magic as him, you aren't him, or even like him in any way. He was a bad dude for sure, but you aren't. You're about as far from being bad as anybody can get." Orga told her firmly, but gently all the same and Hora bit the insides of her cheeks at it, her eyes falling closed and holding her breath now.

How the hell could he say that after all the lies, secrets and constantly hiding things and mucking up? How he could he say that and mean it, after all the trouble and pain she had caused, and kept causing...?

Even if she wasn't Arden, or anything like him, she wasn't a good person, not entirely. She'd hurt too many people, made too many mistakes, kept so many things hidden from everyone- all the people she should have trusted and opened up to, and been a better friend for.

She'd been a terrible friend. She'd kept lying to them, never telling them the full thing, and always either hurting them, herself, or standing by and doing nothing and letting them be hurt. Or pushing things hard enough she ended up nearly dead and then actually dead, which hurt them so much more than maybe Jiemma or Minerva ever had.

You can't be as a terrible a friend as she had to all of them, and still be a 'good person'-

"Oi, are you listening to me?"

She jumped faintly, Orga's hand still on top of her head suddenly a little heavier as she ruffled her hair and somewhat forced her to tilt her head back and look at him again. She obliged, though her eyes were slow to move up and meet his even still- and he waited patiently for their gazes to match before continuing on, his expression as calm and as resolute as can be.

"Nobody thinks of you like Arden, okay? And I mean that, nobody does. And we never will." He told her levelly. "We know you better than anybody, and you're a million times better than that dude ever could be. You're our Family, and the most badass Devil Dragon Slayer ever." He smirked faintly, and Hora's eyes flashed faintly at it- especially that one word;

Family

"I didn't bring him up to say make you think we were like, thinking you did any of the sort of stuff he used to do, or anything like that. We know that ain't you, and it won't ever be you, period." Orga hummed, "We just wanted to make sure you knew that everybody's heard about the guy by now, so you wouldn't end up freakin' out if he got brought up. 'Cause we get it's a sore topic for you, okay? And nobody's gonna pester you about him, or force you into telling us the details. He's gone and we can leave him alone forever if that's what ya want." Orga told her, and Hora swallowed slightly, her eyes dropping again.

She couldn't leave Arden alone forever, regardless if everyone would have actually been okay with doing so... she appreciated it more than she could describe that they would all be willing to leave it be. But still, she couldn't.

She'd promised to tell them everything right? Explain it all, all those millions of things she'd kept hidden, and never should have, for as long as she did...?

She'd meant it, when she'd said she would tell them. She still meant it now, even if the idea of doing so still had her feeling sick to her stomach, afraid, and so very on edge.

But still-

Hora forced herself a small breath, nodding ever so faintly and glancing back up to meet Orga's eyes again, a tiny, almost imperceptible smile making it's way over her lips.

"I can't not explain it to you guys... I have to talk about Arden, and everything else, eventually... but thank you, for being willing to let it go." Hora told him quietly, "I promised I'd tell you all everything I should have told you a long time ago, and I'm gonna keep it... but please be patient with me for a little longer, yeah..?" She asked, and Orga paused, before nodding once.

"You got it." He hummed, smiling slightly himself and ruffling her hair again, and rather more playfully this time around before he pulled his hand back entirely. Rufus shifted, his hand coming down lightly on Hora's shoulder and earning her eyes, the blonde giving her a small smile as he nodded at her.

"Take your time, Hora. You can tell us whatever you wish, whenever you are ready." He murmured gently, a little bit of that knowing look making a reappearance in the man for just a second, and Hora let out a breath.

She smiled a little more, nodding once in return, her voice dropping to something shy of a whisper and dark blue eyes gleaming.

"Thank you."

.:+:.

"-they've been trying to deny anything happened, and for the most part everybody they evacuated from the city think it was some sort of hoax or something as part of the end of the GMG." Orga hummed, fiddling slightly with his cup on the nightstand beside him, the large man sitting now in a chair there that he'd pulled up with Rufus a bit behind him, stacking a tray with a now empty tea kettle, his own cup, a second one, and the empty medicine bottle Hora finally got all the way through finishing while Orga talked away. And Hora didn't mind him talking, it was nice to be able to listen to his own recant of the last week and what else had gone on she'd not been told about in full- namely the more sordid details of the last day of the GMG, and what an upset it had been.

Orga probably embellished a lot of the fights more than just a tad, especially since he'd apparently gotten knocked out not long into the whole thing by Jura (a fact which he seemed still a little touchy about), but Hora didn't mind him overselling any of it. It was a nice distraction, and a little more lighthearted and altogether thrilling to hear... She kinda wished she'd been able to see it for herself, but of course she had been rather busy.

After he got through the GMG he started in on the Dragon Attack and whatever, going over things Rufus had given her the quick version of and doing so in perhaps an even quicker pace. He didn't wanna linger too long on all that crazy, or upset her too much, so he skimmed it, and then skimmed the several days worth of her being on the edge of death or at it because of Over-Drive and whatever. Again, he didn't wanna work her up talking about all that, and she already knew how bad she had gotten- no use making her feel worse than she already did, yeah?

Now they were on the subject of the cleanup and whatever following the whole incident- which amounted to little actual cleanup, since Time rewinding or whatever had erased the bulk of the damage the city sustained. All that was really left of it all was a pile of rubble that used to be the Eclipse Gate, and the large chunk of the city trapped in Hora's own Magic... With what was sort of like a life-size ice state of a Dragon settled on a tower made of ice that was easily about as tall as the Castle itself.

But apparently even that was still seen by the people evacuated as part of the 'hoax'-

"All the townspeople think your stuff is cool, but a little overdone." Orga hummed, smirking faintly at the way Hora seemed to wilt slightly for it.

'Overdone' is sort of putting it kindly

"The Magic Council stepped in to try and clean it up too, but they've not been able to make a dent. So they've been trying to limit the amount of people walking all through your Magic Zone- but they aren't having great luck, since it's so big." Orga kept on, "Like I said, most everybody thinks it's kinda cool, even if you've frozen over a bunch of people's homes and shops and stuff, hehe." He chuckled, and Hora sighed.

"Right... I'll have to see about undoing the Spell..." She mumbled,

'... Quite.' Lixue agreed softly,

"Yeah, but there's no rush." Orga told her, Hora blinked.

"Right, no rush. It's just hundreds of people who can't get in their buildings and homes." She mumbled flatly and he paused for it, before smiling a little uncertainly.

"Ah, true... but nobody wants you to push yourself too soon, Hora." He replied slowly, and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"He is right, I don't believe trying to tackle that issue any time soon is wise, even if you're only unwinding a Spell, rather than casting one." Rufus imputed calmly, the blonde casting a glance over his shoulder toward her a moment and stalling his stacking of the tray.

"Yeah, doing any sort of Magic stuff isn't a great idea. You're still in rough shape ya know." Orga told her, and Hora sighed heavily, her eyes dropping.

"... I know..." Hora murmured quietly,

And I will be in rough shape for a long time too... ugh, fucking Over-Drive.

Rufus and Orga cast Hora sympathetic looks when she let out that sigh, the exasperation and even frustration clear in her posture and expression.

TAP TAP

Hora blinked, glancing up quickly and her attention (as well as Orga and Rufus') instantly diverted to the soft sound of knocking on the door into the room. And any thought to the conversation or the slightly looming need to undo the 'Arctic Hellfire' Spell was totally forgotten as the door started to open slowly, almost cautiously so.

"You guys can take a break, Porlyusica's gonna be here soon." A familiar voice started quietly before the door was even halfway open, "We can stay awhile until she gets here, and ther-"

Sting cut himself off abruptly, the door opening all the way and giving him a good view of the room, his attention settling on Hora almost instantly. He stalled, hand still on the doorknob, face falling slightly in shock while his eyes widened, and he just stood there for half a second in utter stillness, staring... Before something about his expression twisted and brightened all at the same time, the White Dragon Slayer swallowing hard.

"... Hey." He mumbled breathlessly in a quiet and almost out of place sort of greeting that sounded much too unsure and even awkward, and Hora wilted a little for it.

"... Hi..." She mumbled softly in return, and it sounded even more awkward- enough that Sting seemed to wince a little for it, a small sigh escaping him as he shook his head a little stiffly to himself, quickly pushing the door the rest of the way and stepping inside the doorway instead of standing in it. He cast her a slightly weary look as he did, pausing once he took a small step to the side and a tiny, very shaky smile pulling his lips upward at the corners.

"It's good to see you up, Hora." Sting told her softly, redoing the greeting a little less awkwardly this time around and Hora nodded in return, her blue eyes flashing. Sting held her eyes for only a second after she did so, before his face twisted a little anxiously all over again and his attention darted back toward the now open door beside him, Hora quick to follow where his eyes went and freezing soon after.

Yukino was there, standing stiff as a statue in the doorway and not even daring to move an inch or make her way into the room like Sting had. The minute she heard Sting say hello from where she'd been behind the blonde, she'd struggled to even look up from the floor, her heart pounding as he stepped inside and the shield of his body ahead of her was gone and replaced with nothing but the open doorway. And when she did get her eyes up, they landed on Hora just as quickly as Sting's had, and Yukino could not move.

Actually, she couldn't just not move, she couldn't really breathe either. Or think, or anything at all, she just stopped- heart pounding painfully in her chest and her body quickly adopting a faint tremble in no time at all, her brown eyes shinning and quickly growing glassy.

Hora stiffened at it, Sting doing the same as the blonde turned quickly back toward the Celestial Mage, his hand reaching out uncertainly and looking nervous and pained all at once for the sheer amount of ache in Yukino's face and posture just then- and just how quickly that faint trembling in the girl began to quicken, and grow stronger. Rufus and Orga even grimaced slightly themselves for the sight, while Hora swallowed hard, her heart dropping even further.

"Yukino..." Sting mumbled quietly, his hand falling gently on the Celestial Mage's shoulder and she jumped faintly for it, sucking in a sharp breath of that air she'd so suddenly been unable to catch. Her eyes dropped quickly from Hora and to the floor, her arms coming up quickly to hug tightly to herself and she sniffed slightly, shutting her eyes tight a moment.

"... S...sorry..." The Celestial Mage apologized quickly, her voice just shy of a whisper and Sting bit the inside of his cheek for it. His eyes flicked away from Yukino and toward Hora for a moment, grimacing further to see that Hora was looking quickly more uneasy and even a little guilty- which he hated, nearly as much as he hated to see how worked up Yukino was so suddenly, and he swallowed hard. Sting stepped closer to Yukino, his hand moving from her shoulder and falling on the small of her back instead, urging her forward gently out of the doorway, and then slowly up toward the bed. And Yukino stepped forward, stiffly so and not daring to break her eyes off the floor the whole while.

Yukino came to a stiff halt at the side of the bed, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her and eyes trained downward, Hora swallowing hard for what refusal there was from the Celestial Mage to even look at her.

Hora's lips pulled into a thin line, her stomach knotting itself so tightly she felt like she needed to retch, but she held her breath to keep the sensation as at bay as possible. Her eyes flashed, the breath she took in to hold a little shaky, and Sting shot her a halfway worried, and halfway sympathetic look when he heard it. And similarly Yukino sucked in a shaky breath of air too, the room deadly quiet for a few heartbeats too long, and it was very uncomfortable. The tension on air was heavy and almost suffocating, and quickly getting worse with each millisecond of nothing being said.

Sting shook himself out slightly, his hand coming up from hovering behind Yukino's back and instead landing gently on the top of her head, patting it once and breaking the Celestial Mage out of her rigid posture just a little. She glanced up his way uncertainly and he smiled gently, nodding his head toward Hora, and Yukino swallowed hard for the gesture. The Celestial Mage sniffed slightly, her already glassy eyes growing even more so as she fought to keep the tears back, and she turned her gaze slowly on Hora, her entire posture growing a million times more rigid.

"H... Hora... I..." Yukino started, her voice scarce above a whisper and shaking so, so badly. She broke off again, sucking in a sharp breath of air while her eyes dropped from Hora once more, the Celestial Mage's head suddenly dipping and her shoulders hunching as when did a sudden, trembling sort of half-bow.

"I a-am so sorry, Hora..." Yukino stammered out breathlessly, her voice breaking off in a sob she tried so hard to stifle- and Hora froze.

Her face fell flat in shock and confusion, blinking once and completely lost in an instant- because wha...?

"... s-sorry...?" Hora echoed uncertainly, and Yukino nodded stiffly, her body bending a little more in a bow.

"I... I am so sorry... F... For even thinking f-for a second that... That what that man in the Labrytth said about Arden m-might have been you... I... I should never have... e..ever..." Yukino hissed hoarsely, the words making Hora go stiff as a board all over again, and her heart to drop.

.:+:.

"... Ardendous...?" Several people, including Yukino, echoed uncertainly, their eyes flicking toward Hora once they realized she was the one being addressed. Even Arcadios looked up, his face twisting in shock and maybe even slight bits of fear- because unlike the Fairy Tailers and Yukino- he had heard that name before, and he knew what evil it spoke of.

"What the hell is that?" Natsu grumbled,

"A true monster." The scythe guy answered before Hora had a chance to, "True sin... a beast that swept through the northern continents, leaving murder and mayhem in it's quake. Hellfire so hot it was icy cold, destroyer of lives and slayer of humans... a monster and demon of which you can only imagine, and one that killed near two thousand people in only five years." He murmured and then everyone stiffened, their hearts skipping a beat and a cold chill falling over them at the words- and they turned their slightly horrified eyes on Hora, as the man dipped his head toward her,

"I recognize those Markings, those flames... you are Ardendous. The Arctic Hellfire."

Hora grit her teeth, all so aware of the looks she was getting from everyone and how quickly the thought crossed their minds; could that-?

"...w..what...?" Wendy stammered,

"... two thousand people...?" Lucy whispered,

"... Arctic... Hellfire...?" Natsu mumbled, his eyes locked to Hora and questioning.

"... there's... there's no way that was you... right Hora...?" Yukino asked quickly, Hora winced a bit, her eyes snapping toward Yukino and the words tearing her heart in half- did she really have to ask that..?!

"No of course not!" Hora hissed quickly with a sharp shake of her head, her eyes glittering and her expression pained for half a second as her voice seemed to break a bit at the end too.

.:+:.

Hora grimaced at the memory of it, her stomach churning all anew, and worse now to realize that Yukino was actually still hung up on it. And not just hung up, but guilty as hell, unable to look at Hora at all, and on the verge of crying as she stammered out that breathless apology.

Because of course it hurt to even be asked that, especially in the moment, but that was forever ago! It wasn't still an issue..!

Well... I mean, not a huge issue... A-And she doesn't need to apologize for it...!

Especially not after everything else that happened... Shit, I should be the one apologizing after all of this...!

"Y-Yukino, you don't have to apologize for that, I know you didn't really mean anything by it...!" Hora said quickly, her still bandaged hands waving a little in front of her in what was supposed to be a calming gesture, but it really did little good. Yukino even shook her head rather sharply, her hands wringing together all the harder and to the point her fingernails must have been digging into her skin. Hora broke off a little, eyes flashing.

"No, I do...!" The Celestial Mage hissed, "I... I saw how much it upset you after I a-asked it, Hora... I can't believe I did, I just... I was so shocked to h-hear any of it... b..but after what the other Guild Master's told us about... about Arden... a-and how awful a person he was... I..." Yukino trailed off, her body bending further and Hora stiffened, her attention locking to the spatter of tears hitting the floor at Yukino's feet now, grimacing. "H-Hora... I am so sorry... I s-should never have a-asked you that... I know... I know y-you aren't that person, Hora... I k-knew that even when I s-said it, and I... I'm so s-sorry... I should never have s-said it, ever... I... I know t-that isn't you... I do... I... I wanted to apologize the i-instant I did it, but... but then everything just... k-kept getting crazier, a-and you k-kept getting hurt... w-worse and worse... and... I should have s-said it right away, b-before we all got split up the first time... o-or before you l-left to go w-warn the Guilds... I..." Yukino kept up, her voice growing increasingly more broken and shaky, while the tears kept coming in multitudes, though she still never lifted her head.

"... I s-should have apologized... i... immediately... e-especially since... y... you got hurt again, k-kept getting hurt and you... you a-almost died again... d-did die... a-and... I couldn't live with myself... i-if we lost you and I never got to a-apologize for it... I... I couldn't take it... I'm so sorry... I... I don't mean to be so... so w-worked up Hora... I've just... I've been so scared..." Yukino stammered, her voice dropping away to something shy of a whisper and then breaking in a sob, and Hora swallowed, hard.

This was nearly exactly the same string of guilt and apologies she'd heard from Sting- albeit for a different reason than his had been. But all the same, it was still a bundle of fear and regret and guilt hanging over Yukino's shoulders for what she'd said and done, just as it had been with Sting, and it was just as agonizing as it had been with the White Dragon Slayer. And upon casting a quick glance Sting's way, Hora could see an echo of all that ache and guilt flash again in his eyes, the blonde grimacing as he watch Yukino in rigid silence, his heart twisting a million times over again.

Hora's own twisted painfully to see it in him, her eyes dancing off Sting and back toward Yukino, blue eyes flashing.

It was good Rufus and Orga had mentioned everyone finding out about that bastard, and it helped a little now- but only just. It still sucked having Arden brought up, and him and all his bullshit being the main reason Yukino was so wound up now.

Tch, even after all this time Arden continues to be a huge pain in my ass, and to screw my life up... shit

Hora swallowed slightly, a bit of heat and ache rising in her chest making her cringe faintly, and she had to stifle what amount of anger and annoyance had stirred with the thought.

Damn it, I can't get mad and worked up about him now, it's just gonna make me start coughing again

Hora took in a small, tentative breath to try and settle out some of the ache in her lungs again, tossing away the deep anger toward the man and glancing up toward Yukino again slowly.

"... I... I'm sorry... I..." Yukino whispered, continuing on with the very shaky and breathless apologies while the tears kept hitting the floor. Hora bit the inside of her cheek, holding her breath for a moment as she shifted, leaning forward as much as she could manage before the wound across her ribs started to ache a little too much, and just enough so her hand was able to come down lightly on Yukino's bent head- patting it once, just like Sting had done just moments before.

"Yukino, you really don't have to apologize." Hora assured softly, her hand shifting slightly to muss up the other girl's hair just a tad, before it glided down to just under her chin, gently pushing Yukino's head back up from being bent. Yukino's tear-filled brown eyes met Hora's blue ones hesitantly as she was directed to straighten a little, and Hora offered up a small, halfway reassuring, halfway sad smile for the Celestial Mage. "I don't blame you for asking about it back in then, it was kinda out of nowhere, so I do get it... and I really do know you didn't mean anything by it." Hora assured quietly, her eyes flashing as she tilted Yukino's chin just a little more, before pulling back again. Yukino swallowed, amber eyes glittering and her lips pulling into a thin line for the smile, her tears stalling for just a second as she listened, and Hora's smile softened a tad.

"Thank you for making it clear, though. I appreciate it." Hora hummed softly, hints of ache, sadness, guilt, and relief all bundled into one swimming in those blue eyes of hers so suddenly, and Yukino stiffened. Hora forced herself a breath, her eyes dropping slightly and her smile almost fading to none as her shoulders hunched ever so faintly, and she shook her head once. "And I am sorry for scaring you... for scaring any of you... I really didn't mean to push it to the point I got this bad." Hora mumbled quietly, her voice wavering despite herself on the hushed apology, and everyone else in the room grimaced for it, their hearts twisting. Rufus, Sting and Orga all wilted a little at the apology, especially Rufus- who had already assured her worrying them was not an issue.

But of course Hora still ended up saying sorry for it again, and likely would several times more.

Yukino on the other hand, her briefly stalled tears started all anew, and with a sudden vigor. The Celestial Mage sucked in a sharp breath of air, shaking like a leaf as she suddenly jolted forward, her arms lunging outward as she less than gracefully landed with her knees on the bedside and swept Hora up in an almost frantic, desperate embrace. Hora stiffened in surprise under it, Yukino's sudden weight against her pushing them both back against the headboard, Yukino holding tightly around her shoulders, burying her face into the crook of Hora's neck and her entire body shuddering against Hora's in sobs that weren't near as quiet or desperately stifled as they'd been before.

"Y-You... H-Hora it's... it's fine... y-you don't have to... s-say that...!" Yukino stammered, while the redhead paused at the words. "... A-After everything... I'm just... as long as you're getting better, t-that's all that matters... N-no matter what... you being okay is the most important thing... p-please don't apologize for anything...!" Yukino stammered breathlessly, her voice breaking in another sob and she held tighter, shaking her head a few times and trembling all the more. Her voice dropped terribly next, another sob breaking her voice painfully as it dropped into a hushed whisper.

"... Y-You're okay... I... I'm so happy you're okay..."

Hora's hands hovered a little uncertainly for about a second more, before she let out a silent breath and they wound around Yukino gently, returning the embrace as tightly and gently as she could manage, her nose bumping against the Celestial Mage's shoulder as her head dropped into it wearily.

... me too...

Yukino didn't stop crying, not for a rather long time. Hora didn't dare pull away or try and disrupt the hug, not even when her chest and ribs started to ache with being held on to. She just held on to the crying girl, Yukino mumbling a few more hushed words along the lines of being 'so relieved', and Hora stayed quiet, giving the Celestial Mage a small squeeze for each one that she hoped would help reassure her more than words ever could.

Thankfully Yukino seemed to realize after awhile she was leaning a little too heavily against Hora, and she collected herself enough to lean back and loosen her hold around the fiery-haired girl. Yukino settled onto her heels, sniffing as she fought to steady her breathing again and shaking her head once, shooting Hora a teary, and much too apologetic look.

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't hurt you did I...?" Yukino asked quickly, and Hora shook her head, her hand landing lightly on one of Yukino's reassuringly.

"No, don't worry about that." Hora replied softly- and lied, a little. It actually did hurt, though not badly, but hurt all the same.

Hora wasn't about to let Yukino feel any sort of guilt over that though, she was worked up enough already.

No use making her feel worse... Or anybody else either...

... Though that being said, I really don't think I'm gonna be able to handle much more of people rushing and hugging me like that... I'm sure there's gonna be plenty more of people trying it, once everyone else starts to come pop in and check up... Ahhhh...

Hora winced internally at the thought of it, but otherwise kept her face from showing any discomfort or aversion to what inevitable ache and pain was to come. She understood the hugging, and she would still understand it whenever it happened again, because she knew anybody grabbing on and holding to her like that was out of relief, fear, happiness, and whatever else... but still, oww.

Yukino seemed a little unsure with the answer of 'no' she earned to her question, but she nodded slightly anyway, her eyes dropping as she sucked in a shaky breath of air. The tears were still coming, and though they had slowed a tiny bit, they didn't seem likely to stop just yet.

Sting let out a quiet breath, moving forward to be just beside the bed and Yukino with it, his hand coming up and arm hooking gently around her head and shoulder, pulling her sideways into him so she bumped against his chest. Yukino stiffened in surprise to start, before she sank a little into him and sniffed again, the crying picking up slightly- though a little quieter now. Sting smiled sadly at it, rubbing her hair a bit as she buried half her face in his chest, her hand shifting in Hora's and holding tightly even as she continued to cry for a little longer.

Hora bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes flashing as she glanced up from Yukino and caught Sting's eye, the blonde shooting her a somewhat somber, and altogether appreciative look she swallowed back at. She knew what it meant, even if he never said anything aloud; thank you

Hora nodded faintly and Sting nodded once in turn, his free hand coming up and patting Hora's head in a similar manner as he had with Yukino, though a touch gentler.

It took Yukino a bit longer to settle all the way, her crying stilling finally as she pulled slowly back from Sting and rubbed at her eyes. The Celestial Mage shot Hora a fleeting, still sort of sad smile before adjusting, her hand unlinking from the Fire Devil Slayers. Yukino took in a big breath of air as she pushed herself off the bed and stood up, Sting shifting to the side to give her room, with Rufus stepping up not longer, handing a handkerchief Yukino's way that she took gratefully.

"... Thank you Rufus..."

Hora's shoulders sank a little, her eyes lingering on Yukino for half a second before her attention got snatched away by someone's hand tapping her shoulder ever so lightly. Her attention snapped to her left, Orga standing there after moving a bit closer and tilting his head her way.

"You good?" He asked quietly, and Hora hesitated for half a second, looking a little unsure as to the question so suddenly, before nodding slowly.

"Yeah." She mumbled and he nodded once, his eyes leaving her and skipping straight over toward the door with a weary smile.

"Cool, 'cause you're about to be fussed over a lot more." Orga hummed and Hora blinked at it, brow quirking and still very confused-?

TAP TAP TAP

Hora's attention left Orga, who was already headed off, and landed on the door for a second time in so short a span, everyone else in the room glancing that way expectantly, while Orga was two steps ahead of all of them. The Lightning God Slayer drew up at the door, opening it slowly from this side before whoever knocked had a chance to do it themselves. He stepped to the side as he pulled it open, revealing the slightly surprised pair of Wendy and Sherria standing there, Wendy's hand hovering slightly still from having knocked, and a very grim looking pink-haired old woman behind the pair with Carla floating at her shoulder.

Orga popped his head passed the edge of the door as he shot the two girls a small smirk, his head nodding inward away from them toward the center of the room. "Come on in." He murmured lightly, Wendy and Sherria seemingly a little stunned with such a quick invite, before their eyes darted from Orga and found Hora instead, and they both seemed to almost have their breath snatched away... and nearly just as quickly there came specks of tears at the corners of both Sky Wizard's eyes.

Hora swallowed, her face shifting from surprise to a small smile- a sad, nervous, and exasperated one all at once.

Oh, that's what he meant-

"H-Hora...!"

Unlike Yukino, who had to be prompted to even enter the room, both Sherria and Wendy could not rush in fast enough. One second they were in the doorway, and then in the next they'd darted across the threshold, jumping up onto the bed on either side of Hora and all nerves, relief, ache, and tears... lots and lots of tears.

They were sitting in front of her on their hands and knees, bawling their eyes out with breathless and shaky smiles across their faces as they trembled just in front of her. They refrained from actually throwing themselves immediately into hugging her, which was very much appreciated, but the tears still made Hora wince internally, and had her heart to twisting rather painfully too.

"Y-You're awake!" Wendy stammered, her voice much more hushed than she probably meant for it to be.

"W-We've been so worried about you..!" Sherria gasped out with a trembling shake of her head, "W-We were trying so hard, but n-nothing worked for so long...!" She hissed, her hands curling tightly around the bed sheet's while Wendy's did the same, her head bending slightly.

"E-Even after everything, a-and you got so sick... w.. we didn't know what to do...!" Wendy stammered shakily, swallowing hard and shaking her head once. "B-But... y-you're awake now, Hora... we..."

Both girl's heads snapped back up from having bent a little, teary eyes glittering like mad as those shaky smiles broke across their faces even wider, both of them leaning in a little on their hands.

"W-We're so happy you're doing better, A-Atia..!" Both girls told her in unison, their voices nearly breaking on her name, and Hora swallowed, blue eyes flashing.

They looked so relieved... shit.

Hora nodded stiffly, swallowing back at the lump in her throat and the stinging in the back of her eyes, keeping both at bay with everything she had. Her hands moved up out of her lap, reaching out toward both girls and hooking behind their heads softly, pulling them gently forward into her where they'd not dared get too close. Wendy and Sherria resisted the motion at first, before they seemed to tremble a little worse and gave in, pressing into Hora on either side and their arms snaking around the older girl, while Hora's own arms wrapped around both of them, their heads pressing into either side of her chest and crying a little more fervently for the embrace. Hora let out a quiet breath, nuzzling her face into the top of both Sky Wizard's heads as their bodies and breaths hitched.

"Thank you both, for everything you did." Hora murmured quietly, smiling faintly as she nudged their faces up just enough she could press her lips against the crown of both girl's heads lightly. "I really owe you two, so much." She whispered and they trembled, hugging her a little closer and gasping too much to really garner a verbal response, but they nodded stiffly anyway.

Hora's eyes lifted off the two Sky Wizards and toward the rest of the room, moving slowly among everybody else in the room, most of them smiling sadly as the two girls kept crying, while others (like Porlyusica and Yukino) just watched quietly and remained mostly calm. But all of them still had a million traces of ache, pain, and ghosts of fear still in their eyes regardless... even with the relief, and happiness trickling back in, the hurt was still there.

It's always gonna be there

Everyone... They all tried so hard, just trying to do anything to make sure that- tch.

Hora's eyes dropped closed, holding her breath against the sensation of her heart cracking and willing it to fade, and take the fiery sensation of tears that so wanted to spill, to go away.

... shit... I am so sorry... to all of you... I don't know if I can ever make up for all of this, but...... Thank you so much, all of you... Without any of you... I would be dead, a hundred times over... so just...

Hora swallowed hard, forcing herself a small breath and shaking her head once, and all to herself.

"... Thank you... all of you."

.:+:.

Later-

"... She was awake...?"

Sting and Yukino jumped slightly, the quiet mumbling between them, Rufus, and Orga breaking off at the sound of Rogue's voice from up the hallway. Their heads turned, locking to the still pale-faced Rogue standing a bit up the way from them, Lector and Frosch hovering on either side of the Shadow Dragon Slayer.

Rogue's red eyes flashed, dark lines still running under them and his posture faintly titled, though he was for the moment rather intent on the group ahead of them- and specifically what he'd heard them talking about just before. Lector and Frosch's ears perked too, though they cast the Shadow Dragon Slayer wary glances when he took a few tentative steps forward, and Sting grimaced slightly himself, immediately aware of what the Exceeds were looking so worried over.

"Yeah, for a bit." Sting mumbled, turning more up the hallway and walking Rogue's way, Yukino quick to tag along behind him with Rufus and Orga trailing at the back. "Sherria, Wendy and Porlyusica checked in, and did some work on her a little while ago. But Hora's nodded off again, and she'll probably be out of it for awhile too. The medicine Porlyusica gave her made her pretty drowsy." Sting explained quietly, coming to a stop in front of Rogue, who's eyes shown at the confirmation of Hora actually being up- Lector and Frosch perking too and looking happy as can be, though they stayed quiet for now. Rogue looked happy too, but it was brief, and quickly replaced with exhaustion as the Shadow Dragon Slayer nodded stiffly, his eyes dropping to the floor.

"... I see..." Rogue mumbled lowly, and Sting bit the inside of his cheek, blue eyes flashing.

"You should be asleep too, ya know." The blonde grumbled flatly, and Rogue stiffened faintly at the assertion, though he didn't lift his eyes. "You still look like crap man." Sting grumbled, Yukino beside him frowning faintly for the assertion, though she nodded in agreement.

"Sting is right, you need to get more sleep." She piped in softly, and Rogue's eyes fell closed, not replying even still.

Lector at his shoulder let out a heavy, and very exasperated sigh, his paws falling on his hips and tail flicking behind him wearily. "We tried to tell him the same thing, but he wouldn't listen." The tomcat told them, Frosch nodding slightly with a small, worried little mew.

"... But Rogue-Kun did eat, a little." Frosch murmured softly, earning blinks from the others at the confirmation.

"Well that's something, I guess." Sting murmured with a sigh, Yukino looking a little relieved with it, but only barely. Rogue grit his teeth at the comment though, his hands at his sides balling into fists and red eyes flashing as she stared at his feet, rigid.

"... Is she okay?" Rogue asked lowly after a moment, the question earning weary looks from Yukino and Sting both, while the Exceeds cast each other uneasy looks got how terribly tense Rogue's voice was. Rufus and Orga grimaced faintly for it too, they all did, because they could all hear fear and guilt buried in the dark-haired man's voice, where they had remained ever since learning of the Other Rogue.

"Yes she is fine, for the most part anyway." Rufus murmured coolly, the blonde the first to to push passed the way their stomachs churned just then. Rufus stepped up and passed Sting and Yukino, stopping just before Rogue and smiling faintly. "She is still hurt of course, a few of the more serious wounds are still persistent, and the effects of Over-Drive will take awhile yet to fade entirely- but she is in much better condition. She even seemed in better spirits than I anticipated as well." Rufus explained lightly, Rogue glancing up slowly at the words, red eyes gleaming, while Rufus seemed to let out a small sigh. "Her fever has also gone down significantly." Rufus went on calmly, his hands unhooking from being behind his back and one raising toward Rogue wordlessly. Rogue flinched away a tiny bit, but Rufus persisted regardless, his palm meeting Rogue's forehead lightly and the blonde grimaced faintly, another small sigh escaping him. "... I'd venture to say yours might be higher than hers at this point." Rufus mumbled and Rogue grimaced, separating himself from the blonde by taking a single step backward, shaking his head once.

"I'm fine." Rogue mumbled lowly,

"No dude, you're not." Orga piped in rather flatly, his arms crossing over his chest and eyes glinting. "Ya know, if you keep being all stubborn about it I might have to knock you out just to make you catch a few Zs." The larger man told him, and Rogue's face fell, his posture growing ever so faintly defensive.

"Don't even try it." Rogue muttered lowly,

"Don't make me have to do it." Was the instant reply Orga gave, shaking his head once. "Seriously, I don't wanna do it, but I will. And it won't even be hard, you look like you can barely stay on your feet, so you sure as hell ain't gonna be able to stop me." Orga told him, and Rogue frowned rather indignantly at the words, but Orga wasn't quite done. "Besides, you can't go in and see Hora once she's up looking like crap. You'll give her a freakin' heart attack." Orga pointed out, and Rogue went rigid for it.

"He's got a point, she was already worked up over you after you passed out, and she tried to stop you hitting the floor." Sting grumbled, the blonde and everyone else wincing a little at the mention of it, and what memory of her wounds ripping open because of it surfacing too.

"... It's probably better to try and not scare her, or upset her too much..." Yukino pitched in quietly, shifting uncomfortably on her feet and eyes down as she wrung her hands together. "... Even if she's doing better, she can't get too worked up, or Over-Drive might start effecting her more, right...?" The Celestial Mage mumbled, the words making everyone frown a little. Yukino sighed, her shoulders sinking and lips pulling into a thin line.

That being said, Yukino herself probably didn't help with not upsetting Hora, considering how fast she'd ended up crying- even regardless of Hora handling the tears rather well.

Yukino frowned a little more at the idea, her hands winding more tightly together, and Sting shot her a sympathetic look, his hand coming down lightly on her shoulder in a quiet gesture of reassurance, and nothing else.

Rogue's eyes dropped from them all and back to the floor, his shoulders hunching slightly and a small bit of trembling in his hands at his sides starting up.

Some part of him wanted nothing more than to see Hora, just to be able to see her up, to know with his own eyes she was actually doing better like Rufus said- hell, a large part of him yearned for it. So badly.

But... another part of him didn't know if he could see her, not after what the other version of himself had done to her. What right had he to see her, after the damage that Rogue had done? Would she even really want to see him? Could she stand seeing his face? The same face of the person who had tried to kill her, and so brutally?

She'd not seemed to have any sort of aversion to him any of those brief moments she'd woken up, but all those times her mind had been trapped in a haze and she'd been nothing but delirious. He couldn't trust any lack of aversion when she'd been so sick... and the fear that if he were to walk into that room, with her awake and clear-minded, and she might flinch from him?

His heart felt like it was cracking at the simple thought of it, and if it were to be a reality he was sure he'd shatter into a million pieces and never recover.

He wasn't sure he wanted to see her and risk that. Risk losing her in a way that might have been just as bad as losing her, should her life getting snatched away would have been... had been, for those few awful minutes where her heart stalled.

Rogue's hand clenched harder at his sides, his shoulders hunching faintly as the trembling in his hands slowly moved up along his arms and into the rest of him, the Shadow Dragon Slayer holding his breath and shutting his eyes tight.

How could he even think of facing her, when she might... when she might hate the sight of him...?

H-How do I even look at her... i...if she might...?

"Oi."

Rogue started, a stinging sensation flaring across the center of his forehead as someone's fingers flicked him rather harshly, snapping him out of his own head. His red eyes quickly lifted to try and pinpoint what the hell just-?

Sting was staring him down, blue eyes steady and almost flinty, his hand still raised between them after having been the one to flick him. Rogue blinked, eyes glittering in shock and confusion both, and Sting huffed.

"Quit with whatever you're thinking." The blonde mumbled lowly, and sounding suddenly exhausted.

Sting shifted slightly to the side, his head tilting back down the hallway from the direction he and everyone else had come from, and Rogue stiffened at the gesture, and what it meant.

"Go." Sting murmured levelly, and Rogue went rigid, red eyes flashing and uncertainty so, so clear in his face... fear too, and so much guilt. The same fear and guilt he'd seen in Rogue that night with the Dragons, after he'd found out about the Other Rogue, what he'd done, all of it.

Sting's posture wilted at the sight, a low breath escaping him and shaking his head once.

"Go." Sting said again, his voice softening a tad. "Sit with her, okay? And try to get some sleep while you do, for both your sakes." Sting mumbled and still Rogue hesitated, which was so painful for every one of them to see.

He couldn't move his feet, he meant to, he both wanted and did not want to- but shit.

"Go, Rogue-kun."

Rogue stiffened at the sensation of tiny hands falling on the back of his shoulder and nudging him forward. He glanced up, his eyes landing on Frosch as the Exceed smiled softly at him, and pushed him a little harder forward.

"Go see Atia, Rogue-kun." Frosch mewed softly, nodding slightly and eyes glimmering. "Atia will be happy to see you, but Rogue-kun needs to rest first, okay?" The Exceed hummed and Rogue swallowed hard, his core twisting so painfully for how easily the Exceed said that;

'She'll be happy to see you'

And words could not describe how much he needed that to be true.

Rogue hesitated half a second more, red eyes glittering like mad as he sucked in a small breath of air, and nodded stiffly.

".. Al... Alright..."

The trek down the hallway and to that room he had spent days in, falling apart and so afraid, was one of the longest walks he'd ever had. The corridor stretched in front of him three times it's actual length, his heart pounding loudly in his ears as he traveled it, and then grew to a boom as his hand hit the doorknob... the booming in his head still so heavy as he pushed inside, hesitantly so, and did everything he could to try and keep his eyes off the bed straight ahead.

She was asleep, he knew she was, but that fear she'd see him and be afraid of him kept his eyes on the floor all the way through settling into a seat on a couch near the wall. And his heart kept pounding, drumming... though not as heavy and overbearing as the thought that followed him all the way down that hall, all the way in the door, and all the way to that couch;

Please... please let what Frosch said be true

.:+:.

"... What has five claws? Or five... fingers, maybe...? With really long, dark, sharp... Claws... made of Shadow Magic...?"

The blood on his hands did not go away, he could feel the sticky warmth, smell the metallic tang of it- and smell her scent laced with the awful scent.

He was already swiping out, Magic blazing, steady, and deadset.

No hesitation, whatsoever

The Magic around his hand condensed, fingers bent and the shadows forming claws from every finger, long and wicked sharp. He swiped up, the claws slicing across her body in one quick motion, tearing through the flesh of her stomach, her ribs, her chest, both arms, and almost across her neck too- wearing scarlet lines through her body and blood splashing up into the air in five huge streams.

She stared, the world shuddering to slow motion as she watched her blood stream passed her, and he did the same. Her flesh split as easily as paper, the Shadow Magic hissing and spinning as it tore through her.

And all that blood

Hora's blood was on his hands, and he... He...

The sound of flesh, muscle, and bone ripping- the wash of red it brought forth in a swipe of a hand and claws oozing wild, cold pitch black... A storm of sticky crimson ripped from her body torn five ways.

There... There was so much blood... S...shit...

She was staring at him, paralyzed as her lifeblood painted the air between them, horrified and betrayed.

Her mouth fell open, soundless as his name trembling on her lips, so pained and haunting as the light and life faded from those deep blue eyes of hers.

'R... Rogue...?'

His name... His name the last thing on her last breath fleeing her body... Her body and flesh rendered as ribbons in the quake of his hand-

'R... Rogue...'

Her voice was breaking, echoing ghostly, over and over... Over and over he swiped out, shadowy claws tearing through her body with utter ease, the stain of red never ceasing-

'Ro...gue...!'

His hands were littered in crimson, over and over, never clear, never stopping, never not dirtied, never not lashing out and killing her without hesitation-

'... Rogue...!'

Why... Why couldn't he stop himself...? Why couldn't he stop... Stop killing her...?

P-please... Please stop...!

Flesh ripped, muscle snapping and bone scraping, another wave of red between him and her, springing up in the quake of his utter brutality-

-P-Please... I want to stop...!

I... I don't want to do this...!

He felt the skin of her throat split under his movement like it was nothing-

S-Stop-! I c-can't... I can't do this, n-not to her...!

Please STOP-!

"Rogue!"

.:+:.

He started, the world whirling and spinning around him in sickening manner and he could make no sense of any of it- save a sudden weightless feeling that came and went in the matter of a frantic heartbeat, and then his body slammed painfully into something rigid, and unrelenting.

It knocked the breath from him- what little of it he actually had to begin with- and he sputtered, lungs seizing, gasping and almost suffocating. Which was a terrible sensation made worse on an already confused and terrified mind, the horrors and carnage of his own actions still chasing him fervently, and he could not escape them. They kept coming, the slick and warm wet of her blood on his hands still as heavy as ever, the want and need to stop himself and the utterly heartbreaking realization that he could not stop still hounding him, making it all so, so much worse.

He coughed, his bones rattling all the more with every new one tearing at his throat, and each more raspy and breathless than the last. His lungs burned like a fire with each one, that same fire and heat racing outward from his center and through every inch of him, amping up the haze clouding his mind and making it impossible to try and settle. It was just heat and fire laced with pain and terror and guilt, all on a terrible repeat while he struggled to breathe even the slightest bit.

He curled in on himself, shaking violently and with not an inch of strength nor the mental capacity to even try and pick himself up. And even if he did, his body would have refused him with every wheeze layered in a shaky sob.

He barely registered the floor, though some corner of his mind knew that's what he fallen onto, even though he could not make out his surroundings- his vision was blurred and spotted dark in all the corners, swimming nauseatingly, eyes stinging with tears that could not, and would not cease... and he only barely registered someone's hands against him, trying to steady him, one on his back as he kept sputtering and another curled underneath his head- where it had been there from the start, stopping his skull slamming into the floor like the rest of him.

There were muffled words that only barely reached him, his ears ringing too much to make out what they were saying, or even who it was. Around the coughing it would have been impossible to discern it, and then it was still a monumental feat once the sputtering ended, his breathing harsh as hell on his own ears, and the sobs still racking him even worse a sound in his own ears than that. He couldn't stop the sobs or the tears, and for the longest time he couldn't even begin to settle and ease out of the fractured state brought by the visions of carnage on repeat... and when it did finally get there, it took so, so long.

Years it felt like before his mind only barely stopped spinning as fast as it was, the harshness of his own breathing making his ears ring a little less, and his bleary, tear-filled eyes managing to focus just enough to make out the floor in front of his nose... his head pounding terribly, breath ragged as he panted, the raspy bouts of air just as uncomfortably warm in his lungs as the rest of him felt- strung out, shaking, every inch of him aching something fierce, but no worse than his heart hurt. He shuddered, one of the last of the sobs that had started to die away sticking in his throat and his body hitching against it- but this time he had mind enough to hold his breath, the short stall in the frantic tenor of his breathing making his head pound a little worse, but the panic and rush of it all lessened a bit more for it. He hissed, the breath coming back out harshly and cringing a little as he tried to push himself up a bit, palms sweaty and slipping slightly against the floor- and almost sending him tumbling back down.

But those hands he'd only barely been aware of suddenly held tighter, steadying him while stalling his movement all at once, pulling him backward a tad and forcing him to quit with trying to get up for a moment... their hands gentle yet firm under his arm and against his jaw, his skin sticky with a cold sweat that soaked almost immediately into the lengths of... white bandages wrapped around... Their hands...?

"... S-Shit, slow down Rogue... please..."

His heart skipped a painful beat, glassy red eyes moving up slowly and lungs stalling, the hand against his jaw shifting, trailing along his cheek and pushing his bangs back from sticking against his forehead as his head tilted up to look so, so slowly. He heard them let out a shaky hiss, the breath washing against his face and their hand trembling faintly as they pushed his hair back all the way. The back of that hand pressed gingerly against his forehead, their other hand around his arm (and more or less holding him up now) tightening slightly, while her face twisted- worried, afraid, and a little panicked all at once.

She hissed under her breath, her hand trembling a little more against his head for how warm he was compared to her- her, who was always warm as hell and running a fever of her own. But he was hotter than she was and her stomach flipped, dark blue eyes flicking from where her hand was and downward, searching his own gaze for any sort of recognition or clarity. Their gazes locked, him staring and stunned in a sudden stillness along with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and she swallowed, hard.

"Crap... Rogue, can you hear me...?" She asked shakily, her hand on his forehead falling slightly and pressing gently against his cheek again, searching still, and he just kept staring, not moving, not breathing, his mind just... faltered. It was much too shredded, way too clouded and hazed over, and lagging badly.

He hadn't heard her at all before then, not once- not as she struggled to save his head smashing against the hardwood, or when she'd tried to stammer out something reassuring while his body lurched and shook beneath her in his coughing. He was shaking like a leaf, he could barely hold himself up, he was burning up, crying, and absolutely terrified as he struggled to come out of whatever nightmare that had held so tight to him.

She trembled a little more, heart pounding in her chest and nerves on high as she waited for any sort of response or sign he heard what she asked, even barely. And when he failed to even react to it, and even stopped breathing for a few seconds too long, she felt her pulse quicken more than it already had, fear settling in quickly into her core and making her feel sick.

"... Rogue, please... please breathe, okay...?" She stammered shakily, almost pleading now, blue eyes glittering like mad and quickly about to be on the verge of tears herself, though she was fighting so hard not to freak out too much or crumble.

He blinked, the tears that had stilled for but a second starting anew as his mind finally managed to make sense of any of it, his voice shaking badly and so hoarse.

".. H-Hora..?" He whispered and she stiffened at it, eyes flashing and nodding stiffly, and a perhaps little too quickly. She leaned into him a little, pushing up under his arm a tad more and trying to steady him further, her arms still shaking faintly as she did it, and he just kept staring, the tears silently streaming from his eyes.

"Are you okay...?" Hora asked quickly, grimacing faintly and shaking her head stiffly. "You were thrashing around so much you fell off the fucking couch...! A-And you're running a fever worse than mine, Rogue... you... You look awful...!" She hissed, and he blinked one more time, his lips pulling into a thin line when he saw small hints of moisture peck at the corners of her eyes, and her hand around his arm got so tight it shook more than just a little.

This time his mind caught up with the situation, for the most part. The shock and whirl of it all mixing with the shock of seeing her there just before him, holding on to him, and nearly about to cry finally snapped him from the daze, and he jerked backward away from her in an instant.

Rogue ripped himself out of her hands, staggering slightly in his movement from how badly he was shaking, but he persisted even when his body nearly gave out on him to send him hitting the floor. He scrambled away from her, his shoulder slamming into the edge of the couch he'd fallen off of with his thrashing, panting again for the rush, even small a movement it was, and his posture bending. He leaned heavily against the couch he ran into with an arm, fingers gripping tightly to the seat to keep himself from tipping over as he hissed, shaking violently while his head whirled and the color drained from his already pale face, head bending to fall against his arm and shuddering as he fought to settle again.

He didn't end up putting much space between himself and her, given the couch was basically right there. There was little more than a handful of inches between them, a small distance by all accounts- but distance all the same.

Hora went still, her hands hovering slightly and nearly paralyzed as she stared, the tears at the corners of her eyes glittering in the dim of the room and her heart sinking into the earth.

Did he just... Flinch back from me...?

Something heavy and cold fell into the pits of her core, a shiver running up her spine in reaction to it. Her hovering hands trembled, pulling in back toward herself slowly as her eyes dropped from Rogue and toward them, swallowing hard.

... I knew he was all worked up about what happened with the other version of him, and he's clearly all freaked out from whatever that dream was, but... Why... Why would he... Back off from me like that...?

Like he... Doesn't want me anywhere near him...?

Her hands closed tightly around each other, the ripped flesh beneath the bandages stinging for the pressure, though she didn't really feel it around the way her heart and stomach had suddenly knotted.

Shit

Her shoulders hunched slightly, closing her eyes tight for a moment and shaking her head at herself faintly.

... No... No... Just... He's freaking out, he looks like hell and is feeling like hell too. It makes sense he'd be jumpy or whatever, so just... Just...

She grimaced, her teeth gritting faintly and her hands clenching harder into fists, before she forced them slowly down into her lap, and kept them there.

... Just let him calm down a little, Hora... Maybe he just needs a second... T.. Tch...

Her chest burned a little, stalling her breath for a second as she bit back at the pain quickly rising in her lungs.

... Fuck, I hope that's all it is... Just... Needing a minute...

Hora grit her teeth a little harder at the thought before she blinked hard, shaking her head again and casting off the specks of moisture lingering at the edges of her eyes, forcing a breath and trying to steady herself as best she could.

But either way, I have to calm down... me freaking out too is not gonna make anything any better.

Hell if it wasn't harder than anything to actually force herself into being some semblance of calm, though.

But she did it anyway, even when every part of her wanted nothing more than to reach out and try and make sure he was okay... Fuck, he was definitely not okay- he looked ready to pass out, he was shaking so bad, and his breathing was awful too. It took everything she had not to try and move closer, it hurt more than she thought to not move, but she wouldn't dare. He pulled back for a reason, and she wasn't about to make him freak out any worse than he already was.

So she stayed still in her place there on the floor, hands in her lap and sitting with her legs tucked under her, only a few inches away from the Shadow Dragon Slayer shaking and pressed against the couch. Her eyes flashed in the dim of the room, deep shadow surrounding them and the room on all sides, spare a glow of the moon trickling in from the glass balcony doors, everything utterly silent beside the sound of Rogue's harsh breaths persisting for what felt like way, way too long... But they slowed eventually, his shaking did too, and a little bit of the color worked its way back into his face half-hidden in his arms and against the seat cushion. Hora bit the inside of her cheek once a few more minutes ticked passed and he seemed to have finally fallen out of the climax of all the franticness and whatever.

"... Rogue...?" She tried again, her voice quiet and so unsure- he stiffened against it, his shoulders hunching and burying his face further behind his arms.

"... tch... I'm so sorry, Hora..." Rogue hissed, his voice breaking, and Hora went rigid, her eyes widening a little.

Sorry...?

"... I never... I n-never wanted to hurt anybody... e..everything that happened... t-that was all me... so... so many people got hurt... and I never w-wanted that... I never wanted to hurt you... I... I can't believe I c-could do something so awful... t...to you... I... I tried to kill you..." Rogue hissed, his voice quavering so badly the words barely formed together, but they did and Hora's eyes went even wider, glinting in the dim. Rogue folded in on himself a little more, legs pulling into him as he hunched against the couch all the more, the harshness of his breathing picking up again after briefly mellowing out.

"... W...when the shadow told me... that... that it was all might fault... tch... I wanted so badly for it to be a lie..." He stammered, "... I... I c-couldn't believe that... that I would do that t-to you, e-ever... but... but I knew it was true... I knew it in an instant... t...that... it was me.... T-tch... I hurt you... I almost k-killed you.. I tried to tear you to s-shreds with my... my o-own hands... my hands... how... h-how could I ever do that...? H-How could I ever t-touch you... harm you l-like that...? H-how could I d-do that... a...and... l-live with that...? O-or... m-make you live with the f-fact that I... I tried to m-murder you...?" He hissed, his hands closing into fists so tightly his fingernails started to cut through even the fabric of the cushion and prick at his palms. "H-How c-could you ever even... s-stand to be anywhere n-near me... after that...? I... I h-hurt you, a-and I... I can't... y... your blood... w-was on my hands... a..and I... I c-can't get it off..." He whispered, his voice nearly strangled at the end and Hora stiffened, eyes gleaming and throat running terribly, terribly dry.

That's... why he backed away from me...? Because he... he's afraid I don't want to be near him...?

She swallowed hard, lips pulling into a thin line and her eyes dropping from Rogue and to the floor a moment.

This... This was exactly why she never wanted him to find out about the Other Rogue. Because she knew instantly he would not take it well, it'd haunt him, hurt him, maybe even destroy him- and he did not deserve that.

"... t..tch... I... I can't get the blood off..." Rogue whispered, or more really whimpered, and Hora felt like she wanted to throw up for how badly her stomach flipped at it.

Shit

Rogue stiffened, his breaths and stifled sobs with them hitching when he felt something suddenly tug at his shirt, and rather roughly too- pulling him from leaning against the couch and to the side before he had a mind to resist it or even understand what was going on. And then just as quickly as he got pulled sideways he was forced into facing forward when her hands came down firmly on his arms, holding him steady in place directly back in front of her, and where he'd scrambled to get away from before.

But she didn't stop there, her hands left his arms the moment he was facing her and grabbed firm hold of both his instead, pulling them forward and stopping with their hands equidistant between the two of them- both of them now face to face, their knees touching, hands linked, and Hora's dark blue eyes steady on him, so utterly calm and even steely.

"There is no blood there." Hora told him lowly, forcing his hands open with her own and leaving his palms facing up, her hands hovering under them. Moonlight spilled in from the window over them, the white of the bandages around her hands glowing dimly even under the shadow his own hands cast down, the silvery light turning his skin a paler white than it already was- but they were clean, utterly so, and Hora shook her head once, eyes still locked on him and not wavering for even an instant. "There's not even a single drop, and do you know why?" Hora went on, Rogue's eyes flicking quickly between their hands and then up toward her face, breathless and reeling- and not able to understand at all how she could look so... So steady just then. Unflinching, her voice almost flinty, and so, so resolute;

"There's no blood there because it wasn't you."

Rogue froze, his heart skipping a beat, fixed.

"None of what happened was you- not the Eclipse Gate, not the Dragons, not me getting hurt- none of it." Hora kept on, dark blue eyes gleaming as their gazes remained locked, and her hands around his stayed exactly same. "Whoever he was, he wasn't you- you would never do any of what he did. Ever. I know that, and so does everybody else. He was not you, Rogue." She nearly growled the last bit, a sudden spark of fire and light igniting in those blue eyes of hers, and he almost flinched at it. "I didn't tell you who he was because I knew you'd end up blaming yourself for all of it, and you cannot do that." Hora hissed, her voice dropping slightly once she realized her voice got a little harsher than she meant it to. "You can't, because it is not your fault. Not a single thing he did is your fault, don't blame yourself for something you didn't do. Especially when it's something you would never do, not in a million years." She told him and Rogue sucked in a shallow breath of air, red eyes glassy and a line of tears starting down his cheeks, his lips pulling painfully downward at the edges and stiffening slightly in her hold.

"... B... But... He was me, he turned into that... I c-could too, I... I could fall into Darkness j-just like he did... E-Eventually it might happen, I'd be... That..." Rogue stammered breathlessly and Hora frowned faintly as his eyes finally broke from her, his hands in hers pulling back a little despite her still holding on.

Hora fell quiet for a minute then, frowning faintly as Rogue slowly but surely hunching further in on himself as the tears got a little stronger, and he was right.

He wasn't wrong saying that. At some point that unrecognizable version of the Rogue she knew so well- this one crying and broken and so guilt ridden before her- he and the Other had been one in the same, once upon a time. Somewhere her Rogue had turned toward the Abyss and became that brutal and cold one who had caused so much destruction, and that she had faced in the Palace, when she'd been hurt by him... Him, who she'd not been able to react against, even knowing he was not her Rogue.

Somewhere, somehow, for some reason that Rogue had been hers before he had fallen... And why did he turn into that?

She'd come to that answer and reason why when she'd figured out that the Eclipse Gate opening was a trap... Though she really had no proof to say it was the correct reason, she still had a feeling she was right. And then seeing how torn up he was now about all of it, she was even more certain of it.

Hell... Even just thinking right then about how she'd not been able to react back at the castle against the Other Rogue, even after he'd killed Lucy, and was about to kill her- she was ten times more sure of the why.

Because... If its that way for me... Would it be too much to think it's the same for him...?

Hora swallowed, her heart twisting at the thought and her eyes dropping closed, the steeliness fading and turning to something... Somber.

She wasn't sure if it was 'too much', but she hadn't a chance to try and ask, or broach that particular subject and realization on her part just then- she had something else to say, and make clear, first.

"You won't become him, Rogue." Hora murmured, breaking the silence after a few tense heartbeats of nothing. And unlike before, this time her voice had dropped, it was no longer that steely sort from before, now it was so gentle.

"I understand what you mean, I know... I know you're afraid that might happen eventually, but I promise you, it won't." Hora went on softly, and Rogue faltered, not for the first time, his eyes snapping open to stare directly at the floor and not at her, "... I... I don't know for sure what happened to him, that caused him to become like he was, but... But I do think part of it was the fact that, in his timeline, he had to watch Jiemma kill me with the Possession Link that night."

And then Rogue froze, again. And he felt so, so very cold at just the thought of it-

"... I... I can't imagine how awful that was... And it might not have been the whole tipping point for him, but... it definitely didn't help anything." Hora mumbled quietly, her hands still holding under his tightening ever so faintly, and Rogue blinked, his eyes moving toward them, holding his breath. Hora broke off a moment, the Devil Slayer taking in a slightly shaky breath of air, and then letting it back out before she kept on. "... I realize with everything that happened, and how bad I ended up getting... I know I really worried everybody, and I am sorry. I really didn't mean to." Hora apologized suddenly, her voice wavering a bit and Rogue stiffened against it, which Hora was all too aware of. "I am sorry for all of it, for scaring any of you... For what seeing me die must have been like for him... And how much it must have hurt, and how much it might have driven him to change like he did... Truly... But... I do mean it, when I say you're not going to become him. I know you won't because.. I..." She mumbled, her voice trailing off to nothing, silence settling between them for a heartbeat or two, not a one of them moving, or daring to in Rogue's case... Not until Hora did move.

Her hands underneath Rogue's shifted, cupping around his and slowly pulling them up and in toward herself. She didn't pull too hard, she went slow, she was almost unbearably gentle in the direction, and Rogue could do nothing but let her lead him. His head and gaze snapped up in surprise the moment it started, leaving him watching in breathless silence all the way until their hands stalled again- and where she stopped them had his mind stuttering to a standstill.

She pulled his hands apart much like she had before, flattening his palms as she pressed them against her chest and just above her heart, Rogue easily feeling the rhythmic beating of the organ under his touch, and the sheer warmth of her skin against his. Hora's eyes lift from having been down and matched with his steadily, a million different things and emotions swimming in those dark blue depths, and so many he could not even begin to place them all... But he recognized one among the many, and instantly.

"I'm still here." Hora whispered, "I'm still alive, and I am not going anywhere, I swear... What happened with him is not going to happen with you, because I am never gonna leave. I will never leave you alone, and I will never let you fall that far Rogue, not as long as I am still here." She breathed, her hands atop his trembling slightly, but her voice... Everything she said, it was said with nothing other than complete and utter sincerity.

Rogue's eyes flashed, his heart skipping a beat and picking up, quickly.

No, it wasn't just sincerity- it was more than that.

What she'd said... It was everything he'd already heard from everyone else- from Sting, Frosch, Yukino, Rufus, Orga, Lector- everyone. A Guild full of people saying a thousand times over that it wasn't him, it wasn't his fault- and even more people scattered among other Guilds repeating the same things too.

A hundred times of saying it all, over when over, and it never made a dent. They could have spent a thousand years saying it, but it would never have mattered. Because of all those people, there was only one person he needed to hear it from, and actually be able to know and believe it with all his heart.

Just one person.... That one person, with those million things swirling in that dark blue gaze of, too many to place- but one he did.

A Promise... A Vow

And then there came a second thing that flashed in Hora he wasn't sure he did see- just one he hoped he might have. But still, he couldn't be sure, and he had no mind to wonder or hope on it just then.... because that vow?

It was the answer he'd asked for- the thing he had pleaded for, sitting at the bedside and holding her hand, begging for her to come back and not lea-

"I promised you I'd come back, Rogue... And I swear, I am never going to leave you." Hora told him steadily, gently, and so genuinely- his breath caught in his throat.

She couldn't have heard him ask it. She'd been too far gone, too far drowned in some place between life and death... So how...?

How could she do it? Say the very thing he'd begged for...? Say all of that, mean it, be able to make him believe it... with all his heart...? Just by... Saying those words...?

Weeks now of fear, worry, sorrow, grief, guilt, pain and all manner of things- months of it, starting from when she'd been so hurt by Jiemma, sent off to North Wind, and all the insanity that ensued after it... Mayhem and chaos that had a dozen times already broken him, torn him down, and hurt so badly. Months now where all the heartbreaks and fears had been bottled up and pounding at the walls so violently- that was it.

That was the last of any amount of keeping it all together Rogue had, and he finally crumbled completely.

His hand against her chest shook, the rest of him quickly following suit and taking over with a fervor, destroying any amount of posture he had or strength to keep himself up- and he didn't even try. He fell forward into her, hands fumbling as he hugged to her desperately, sinking into her lap and Hora quickly moving to catch him in her arms as he did. His head fell into her lap, hugging around her stomach and crying harder than any time previous, Hora's hands coming down gently on his back and the top of his head, quiet... All while doing her best to keep her own tears back, and her own emotions in check.

She couldn't let herself crumble too, or get worked up, lest that dull burn deep in her lungs sharpen into flames and send her sputtering and coughing. Not right then, not with him sobbing and already hurt and worked up enough. She needed to stay as composed as she possibly could, and just be there... just like he'd been for her, that night she'd broken down after finally fessing up about the Possession Link.

Though of course, it didn't help anything to staying calm when he started mumbling apologies and words in between hitching breaths, most of them barely anything more than just rambling, and rambling driven along by heartache and a still slightly whirling and clouded mind. He was exhausted, mind and soul both shredded every which way, and she understood the feeling all too well.

".. t...tch... I thought... I thought I was gonna lose you forever, Hora..." Rogue stammered breathlessly, holding to her a little tighter, "... I... I c-can't lose you... thank you... f-for coming back..."

Hora stiffened against the words, her hands around him trembling faintly despite herself, shutting her eyes tightly against the way her heart felt like it broke in half.

S-Shit... he... he's making it r-really freakin' hard to... n-not fall apart too... damn it...

She bent over a bit, her ribs hating her the posture, but she didn't really care about it. Her nose bumped against the top of his head lightly, her hand falling to hold the back of it, fingers twining around the jet black strands of hair. She forced herself to take in a breath and settle a bit, his scent washing over her senses... so familiar, so achingly his, and so right.

The breath escaped her, stirring his hair faintly and warm as it traveled down the back of his neck and his spine. And when her voice came next it just as quiet as his, quivering faintly even when she did her best to keep it steady, and so achingly hers.

"Always...... I always will, Rogue... I promise."

.:+:.

Heeeey!!

Ooooh man! We finally got around to some good reunion stuff (though perhaps not the reunion you all want ;w; )

This chapter is long and full of a lot of 'happy's to see you' and crying, and lots of assurances, but little else XD

I do hope you enjoyed it, even if not all that much really happened- and I do hope you look forward to the next one!

Next chapter is gonna have some good fluff stuff with Hora and Rogue, and we'll get back in touch with lots of other people too!

We are now working down to the last few chapters until the story ends! I do oh so appreciate all the patience my lovely readers, and all the support you have given me and this story! As we near the end I do hope you continue to enjoy the story, and I encourage you to check out some of my other fics if you have time!

Because this story is so close to it's finish I am gonna do my best to settle in and write it all in quick succession, so forgive me if my other fics get updated a lot slower for a bit!

Anyhoo, thank you all! Please Vote and Comment if you can! <33