He's falling once again.
He watches the cliff edge grow smaller and smaller as he descends to the fog and mist of the darkness and when he looks over, he sees that Regan is once again falling with him.
He watches them both become ensnared within the smoke of the void, awaiting the ground that's inevitably going to sneak up to them.
But they don't hit the ground.
Instead, as they reach the bottom, they are submerged underwater.
Cree is able to breathe just fine, but fear strikes through him as he recalls how Regan can't swim.
He searches and searches, panic and desperation taking leave of his senses as he pushes himself through the water until he eventually grabs hold of Regan.
He returns to the surface and sees that Regan is alright. He's breathing and conscious.
And he has a confident smile on his face.
They make it over to the face of the cliff and together, they begin to climb.
__________________
Cree wakes up as the sky is still dark and Regan and Reela are still asleep in the room of the inn. The room does have two beds, but he opted to sleep on the floor beside the one Regan and Reela are asleep in. After what happened between Reela and her father, she shouldn't be alone. She has instantly taken a strong liking to Regan as he strangely fills such a 'motherly' role in her life over just the short amount of time they've known each other.
Cree doesn't know who he is to her, but it doesn't matter. He's here for her no matter what and will do whatever it takes to protect her. Not just her, but Regan.
He's still very uncertain of how exactly he feels about Regan. He wasn't wrong when he said that while Cree may not be 'heartless', his emotions are probably the one thing he struggles to cope with. He just doesn't understand how he thinks he feels compared to how he thinks he's supposed to feel.
So when he thinks about how he feels about Regan, he can't tell if the emotions are what he's really feeling or if it's his mind telling him how he should feel.
Maybe there isn't a right answer. He will always be ashamed of the way he's treated Regan over the years, but most of all since they've been in Aramora. If Cree hadn't considered how Edith would feel, he probably would have killed Regan that night in the forest.
Thinking about that, and as much as he wishes he could deny it now, he knows it's true. So maybe his emotions are not only conflicting between his heart and mind, but also his conscience. Maybe there's this subconscious part of himself that prevents him from admitting how he feels because deep down, he knows that he doesn't deserve Regan. Not after everything he's done to hurt him.
With Regan, there's this part of Cree's mind that has been trying to force himself to act a certain way. Maybe it's out of his own insecurity or just the overall fear of defaulting to his 'Tyrell' state of mind again. Maybe both. He wants to change for the better, but he's starting to think that 'forcing' himself to change isn't the best way to go about it.
He sets those thoughts aside as best he can. It's probably always going to linger at least a little in the back of his mind, but he can drown them out enough to focus on what's in front of him.
His back feels stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor and leaning back against the edge of the bed, but since it was for Reela, he doesn't mind. He still doesn't know how the girl managed to creep into his heart, but she has. He typically doesn't like kids, but she's surprisingly tolerable.
Is it weird to think she kinda reminds him of Edith? The way she can be so carefree despite the weight of the world on her shoulders. Not only that, but how she's able to take the situation presented to her and understand it enough to do what she needs to. Only Reela's a child and can't really defend herself like Edith can, so Reela typically gets an understanding of the situation and knows to turn to Regan or Cree for help. But he supposes Edith can be that way too. Like John, she doesn't let her pride stop her from seeking help when she needs it.
Again, he has to stop his train of complex thoughts about the people he's currently stuck with until they can figure out how to get the hell off this continent.
He rolls his shoulders back and pushes himself off the ground to stand beside the bed. He looks down at Regan and Reela as they continue to sleep, and he unconsciously smiles. Even with everything going on, it's refreshing to see them in such a peaceful state. It even eases his nerves a bit as well to just see them like that.
To spite his current state of bliss, he suddenly hears screaming coming from outside. At first, it sounds like someone might be hurt. But then he hears more screaming, making him believe it's more likely that people are panicking about something.
Then he smells the smoke.
The scent instantly makes him dread what might be happening. The last time he smelled smoke like this without it being from a campfire was the siege in Mortal, which does wonders for his growing anxiety.
He rushes towards the window and opens the shutters, peeking through the narrow slivers in the wood to peer out at the winter city at night. He doesn't see anything at first, but as people start running past from the ground below, he looks around for something that possibly might be chasing them, but he sees nothing.
Then a massive shadow passes overhead with a tremorous gust of wind beating down. He wasn't able to see whatever that was, but he does start to see ashes and embers float through the air, then the growing flames engulfing a wooden building across the street from the inn.
Shivers run down his spine as he hears a jarring roar echo through the night. He turns his attention towards the sound, which is when his face pales.
Of course. Of all things he could have expected to encounter on this continent, of course it had to be a motherfucking dragon.
He shoves himself away from the window and rushes back over to the bed. He hates to have to disrupt their peaceful state, but safety, unfortunately, takes priority over comfort. He frantically shakes Regan by his shoulder and Reela as well while continuously checking the window.
Regan begins to stir and groans as he opens his eyes. Sleep has been pretty scarce, especially sleep in an actual bed, so it's understandable for Regan to not exactly be thrilled about being woken up after just a few hours of rest. Safety over comfort.
He squints his eyes up at Cree. "Ty...? What's," he yawns, "What's going on?" he looks around quizzically, but his drowsy state of being half asleep is instantly shattered as he hears the same chilling shriek come from outside then the panicked cries of people running and the building shakes.
The sound almost reminded him of a Dread, which is already a pretty big thing to cause fear for anyone who even imagines coming face to face with one. But give a Dread wings and the ability to breathe fire and you've got the most terrifying and deadly creation you could possibly think of.
Seeing Regan awake, Cree starts to focus on waking Reela. "The city's under attack from... something. I don't know what exactly it is, but no bullshit, that thing is a fucking dragon," he states and sees Reela begin to wake up.
She lets out a small yawn and rubs her tired eyes. "Is something wrong?" she asks sleepily.
Regan stares dumbfounded at Cree, almost not hearing Reela's question. "A... a dragon? I know this continent is... 'different' but... I think that's pushing it a bit much, don't you—"
He's stopped with a gasp as the building shakes and they hear another roar in the night. Before any of them can say anything, they hear a loud crack from the ceiling.
Regan's eyes dart up just in time to see that the ceiling is about to come down right where Cree is standing and he throws himself out of bed and grabs Cree, pulling him to the side the moment before the roof collapses in the corner of the room with flaming debris.
Reela gasps and curls in on herself, scooting away from the fire and wood with terror in her eyes.
Regan helps Cree steady himself and they both look up through the gap in the ceiling to see the black shadow soar overhead, cloaked with the night sky.
Regan stiffly nods. "Yep. That's a dragon alright," he cracks out and quickly turns his fearful gaze to Cree, who rushes over and grabs their bags, tossing Regan's to him.
Reela shakes her head. "...Drynthar," she says timidly. "I—It's the Drynthar..."
They both pull their backpacks on and Regan helps Reela off the bed and away from the fire the hole in the ceiling that now has snowflakes calmly falling through as if the world isn't diving head-first into a chaotic pile of shit.
After hurrying to get their things together, Regan and Cree nod to each other and Cree opens the door. "Reela, don't let go of Regan's hand no matter what, got it?" he states and glances back at the girl to see her shaky nod.
"O—Okay," she trembles.
Regan grabs her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze before hurrying to follow Cree out into the hallway. But they aren't able to get far as the ceiling crashes down again and blocks their path to the stairs with more burning debris.
"Fucking hell..." Cree growls and watches the Drynthar as it flies overhead again and can't resist flipping it off before turning back and motioning Regan and Reela back into the room.
Regan hurries Reela and shuts the door behind them as if that's going to do anything to protect them from this beast. "Ty, what do we do?" he asks and tries to sound as calm as possible for Reela's sake.
Not just for Reela, but as his fear and sense of danger rise, he can feel an unsettling... anger that grows in his heart. Some small part of him that tells him to try fighting the Drynthar, but he has enough common sense to easily determine that is just plain stupid. But the fact that it's there is what's concerning.
Cree rushes over to the window and tries to remove the shutters, but they're fixated in place. So he just punches his metal fist through the boards and they break apart, opening the window enough that they'd be able to fit through.
He looks down and sees that it's a two-story drop to a small snowbank. The thin layer of snow probably isn't going to break their fall, so he decides that he's going first.
"I'll jump down first so I can catch you two. From there, we run," he declares. Regan tries to protest but doesn't get a chance to as Cree hurdles through the window.
He lands in the snow and while it would've been worse had he landed on straight cobblestone, it still hurt like a bitch. His ankle has a small sharp pain when he steps with his left foot, but his adrenaline will cover it up enough to get them out of here.
He turns back and looks up at the window to see Regan helping Reela up and she's gripping his shirt tight and trying to get away from the window, shutting her eyes to not look down.
"Reela, you have to jump! I'll catch you!" Cree shouts and holds his arms out.
Reela whines and keeps her eyes shut and her arms around Regan. "Promise?" she calls back timidly.
Cree nods with a smile despite the fact that she can't see it. "I promise."
Reela takes a deep breath and nods, letting Regan help her over the lip of the window and facing her out towards Cree. She places her feet against the wall outside the inn and lets go of Regan, pushing herself away from the building as she falls.
Cree lunges out and catches her and she wraps her trembling arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He looks up and sees Regan preparing to climb out next.
He freezes as the Drynthar passes by overhead again and tilts its wing towards the inn as it dives for it. Cree gasps and holds out his free hand with the hope that Regan will jump before the beast can get closer, but he panics as he sees it coming towards him.
Regan falls back into the room just as the Drynthar flies by, crashing its wing through the upper half of the building and making it collapse in. They can no longer see through the window as it's been blocked by wooden boards from the roof.
"Regan!" Cree cries and feels the fear spike in his heart. He waits a moment with the hope that he'll get a response or some way of knowing that Regan is okay, but he gets nothing.
He shakes his head as he slowly backs away from the side of the building. He tries forcing himself to stay optimistic and have faith that Regan could survive the roof coming down on top of him, but negative thoughts start seeping into his mind and corrupting his mentality.
Reela lifts her head and goes to look back at the inn, but Cree sets her down and puts his hand on her cheek, forcing her to look at him and not turn around. If she sees the damage, she might feel the same fear that he is feeling. The dread.
"Reela... Stay with me, got it? We're... We're going to get out of here, I promise," his voice cracks as he fights the building lump in his throat. As he talks to her, he occasionally throws hopeful glances back to the blocked window to check if he's able to see Regan or some sign of movement, but there's nothing.
Reela shakes her head and tries again to look back, but he stops her. She turns her attention back to him. "B—But what about Regan? Where is he?" she asks.
Cree's face hardens and he tries to breathe normally, but as he exhales it comes out in weak shudders and he has to swallow back his tears.
"He's... He's going to meet up with us when he can... We... We just have to trust him, okay?" he now holds her face in both hands as he fights the way his body tells him to tremble and cry, but he can't. It's not safe here and Reela needs to be his top priority.
He doesn't give her a chance to speak before picking her up again and running away from the inn. He wants to turn back. He wants to go back into the inn and look for him, but the place is unstable and he can't put Reela in danger by going back inside. He has to trust Regan. He does trust him.
Probably more than anyone right now.
His goal is to make it to the docks. When they got off the boat, he thinks he remembers seeing a fenced-off canal tunnel that could be a safe place to hide from the Drynthar for a moment. Just somewhere to go to gather his thoughts and come up with a plan to get them out of this in one piece.
Maybe Reela would be able to stay hidden in the canal while he goes back to look for Regan. Now he's really wishing they hadn't left Romeow in Balmoral. If he was here, he would be a way of knowing if Regan is alive or...
He blocks those thoughts from his mind again. He has to be alive. After everything that's happened, he can't lose him like this.
He rounds a corner that leads to the stone stairs that will bring them to the docks. But as he gets closer, there's another roar and he sees fire rain down from the sky. He swiftly ducks around the side of a building and waits for the flames to stop before he can continue.
Once the fires cease and he watches the Drynthar take off and go start to attack some other building, he immediately turns and resumes his sprint. The further away they get, the tighter he can feel Reela's arms wrap around him.
They make it to the docks and he looks over to the left to see that he was right. At the end of the boardwalk is a tunnel canal that's covered by a fence, but it looks like people have snuck into it before judging by the dented gap in the corner that someone small could fit through.
He runs over to it and sets Reela down, holding it open and motioning her through. She shakily gets on her hands and knees and crawls through the small gap, safely making it to the other side.
Cree goes to follow right away, but he glances up in time to see that the dock house above the canal is starting to crumble as the Drynthar crashes through it. He dodges a falling stone, but as he does he moves in the path of another jagged stone that hits him on his shoulder. And of course it had to be his left shoulder and not his metal one.
He grunts and drops to one knee, holding his metal hand over his shoulder as he sees it start to bleed. The stone left a deep cut right over his collarbone and it might be slightly fractured. Once again, he's thankful for his adrenaline.
He uses his metal arm to push up on the corner of the fence and he's grateful when Reela does her best to hold it up from the other side. He crawls through with his wounded ankle and now arm, but he makes it in and Reela drops the corner before dropping to sit with her back against the stone wall and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and she rocks herself back and forth.
Cree sighs as he watches her. If he weren't the person she's counting on to get them out of here alive, he would be right there with her, crying and rocking and wishing for everything to be okay. Instead, he has to do his best to make sure it is.
First, he needs to get her further away from the entrance as the Drynthar would be able to see them easily from where they are. He looks around and sees that he can hardly see anything. It's too dark, but he can see some crates and stuff stacked on the other side that Reela could hide behind if the Drynthar looked inside.
He nudges her shoulder and she looks up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Come on... You need to hide so I can go back to look for him," he says and helps her up. He takes her hand and picks her up as he has to jump to the other side. Holding her is more painful now with his injured shoulder, but he doesn't mind the pain so long as she's safe.
He leaps across the ice-cold water between the parallel walkways of the canal and he lands with her beside the crates. As he sets her down, his shoulder bleeds more.
He sighs and kneels down as she goes back to curling in on herself and crying. He takes off the purple shawl that he doesn't know why he's kept it on since Arkala, but he uses it to soak up the blood on his shoulder.
Once he feels that he's stopped the bleeding enough, he drops the shawl to the stone walkway and turns to Reela. "Stay here and stay quiet. I'm going to go look for Regan, okay?" he says.
Reela grabs his arm with her trembling hands and tears stream down her face. "Please... I—I can't lose you, too... Please don't leave me..." she cries.
Cree gives her a tight hug with his good arm and sighs, gently rubbing her shoulder. "I would never leave you. I'm going to find Regan, then I'll come right back and we can all get out of here together. I need you to be strong, Reela. And I need you to trust me," he says and holds her shoulder as she leans back to look at him.
She shakily nods. "I—I trust you, Cree... Please just bring Regan back..." she sniffles and curls in on herself again, hiding behind the crates.
Cree nods as well and stands up unsteadily. "I..." he takes a deep breath. "I will. I won't be long," he says before turning back and rushing back out to the burning city.
He sprints through the streets, dodging fire and falling debris from buildings as they collapse. He ignores the carnage and the panic from everyone running past him and the Drynthar breathing fire through the sky. He ignores the pain in his shoulder and ankle as he focuses only on finding Regan.
He makes it to the market and instantly darts for the inn. But his heart freezes as he sees that the building has entirely collapsed and is now nothing but burning rubble and wood.
"No..." he slowly shakes his head. It gets harder to breathe. Now that he's not in front of Reela, he doesn't have to fight it when his body tells him to break down.
He drops to his knees without taking his blurred eyes off the destroyed building. It's no longer what he thinks he's supposed to feel. In this moment, he realizes exactly what it was he was feeling but was just too stubborn or too afraid to admit it. But he isn't afraid of it now.
He only regrets that this is what it took to make him realize the way he had been feeling for Regan.
It was love.
Maybe he had realized it sooner, but something in his mind or his heart told him it was wrong. It may have been the guilt for how he's treated Regan for so long or maybe it was just his general fear of associating that word with someone who he could lose.
And this is why.
He feels the ground shake as the Drynthar lands in the market behind him, but he doesn't get up at first. He hardly recognizes it, but then he remembers that if he dies, Reela will be left in this mess alone. But by the time he realizes this, the Drynthar has already prepared another breath of fire.
He turns his head back sees the orange glow radiate from the back of the beast's throat and he's left frozen in fear and from knowing that it's too late to run. He brings up his metal arm and prepares to try deflecting the fire with his magic shield, but he doubts it'll do him much good against this.
As the flames leave its maw, he turns his head away and shuts his eyes tight just as Reela had done when she was afraid of jumping out the window.
But he doesn't feel the fire hit him. He doesn't even feel the warmth fill the winter air around him. With a mixture of fear and curiosity, he slowly turns his gaze back to the Drynthar and momentarily questions if what he's seeing is real or not.
It's Regan. His clothes are slightly torn and charred and he has a few bleeding injuries, but he's standing strong. But what grabs Cree's immediate attention is the dark energy emitting off his skin and the sword in his hand. He doesn't even know where he got that.
He watches as Regan sprints at the Drynthar and the beast tries to fly away, but Regan gets to it in time to plunge the blade through its left eye. It's nowhere near enough to kill it, but he definitely pissed it off.
The Drynthar whips its tail around and it slams into Regan, sending him flying back and making him drop the sword. Cree was expecting him to hit a building or something, but Regan manages to land perfectly unscathed and run at the beast again without a pause for breath.
Even without the sword, he shows no fear to the massive beast. The darkness on his skin grows and he looks pale, almost like he's sick, but he's anything but weak.
The darkness spreads to his hands and he raises them, thrusting his arm towards the Drynthar and entangling it in a black web of cloudy tethers, cutting into the beast's armored flesh. Again, it's not enough. But now the monster seems to be almost afraid, if that's even possible for a beast of that size and strength.
Before Regan is given another chance to hurt it, the Drynthar beats its wings and takes to the sky once again and leaves Regan standing in the center of the market.
Once he's no longer afraid of the Drynthar, Cree pushes himself off the ground and sprints at Regan as joy fills his heart. As he gets closer, Regan snaps his attention towards him and the darkness grows again.
Cree tries to hug him when he's close enough, but he suddenly finds himself gripped by his throat and lifted off the ground, left struggling to breathe. He stares down into Regan's eyes and sees that they are blackened voids, also radiating with that same dark mist.
He stares at him in fear. A way he has never before felt with Regan in this manner. He's been afraid of him for a number of reasons throughout the years, but never out of fear of his own life. Whatever this is that's holding him isn't Regan.
But as Regan stares up at him, he seems to fight whatever is controlling him. The dark mist fades and his eyes gradually return to normal and as they do, his strength goes back to normal as well and he drops Cree before collapsing back and shaking with terror on his face.
Cree gasps for breath and coughs as he tries to calm himself down. He looks over to see that Regan is sitting on the ground and staring at his hands in utter horror, as if Cree wasn't the only one to have been scared by whatever that was. It scared Regan too.
At least that's some form of comforting to know that it wasn't just Regan deciding he'd had enough of Cree's bullshit and decided to threaten his life as Cree has his more times than he cares to count.
He gets up and rushes over to Regan, placing his hand on his back and the other on his shoulder. "Regan, are you okay? What the fuck just happened?" he shouts. He tries to maintain some semblance of composure, but there's no chance of that after what he just witnessed.
Regan shakes his head and starts hyperventilating. "I—I don't... know. I—I don't know... T—That wasn't... That wasn't me..." he can hardly speak with his trembling.
"What do you mean 'that wasn't you'? What was it then?" Cree questions.
Regan shakily brings a hand up to the side of his head and his eyes somehow widen more than they already were. "...The Dark..." he swallows back his tears and tries to calm himself down a bit. "A—After the ceiling came down on top of me, I... I—I heard a voice in my head... It told me to rest... Then I felt this... darkness. I felt wrong... vile. I—I could see through my eyes, but... I could not control my actions... I..." Tears flood his eyes and Cree grabs one of his hands, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles and wrapping his other arm around his back, pulling him close and holding him tight in the embrace.
"Hey... It's okay. You're still you. You're alive. Reela and I are alive and you protected me from that thing. You didn't do anything wrong, Regan... it's alright..." he whispers and tries to stifle his own fear, especially when he knows that they're still in the center of the burning town. They have to get out of here fast.
Regan shakes his head and his breathing gets heavier. "But... I—I..." he looks over at the sword he used to stab the Drynthar in the eye and he suddenly feels sick.
Cree leans back a bit and holds his shoulder. "What is it?" he asks.
Regan shakily looks at him again. "I—I took that sword from... a... a soldier..." he can hardly see past the tears and he looks down. His stomach twists in knots.
"How the hell did you steal a sword from a soldier?" Cree questions, but as the words leave his mouth, he trails his gaze downward. His hands are covered in blood.
Regan meets his eyes again and when he speaks, it's almost too quiet to hear.
"...I killed him..."
He shakes his head again and looks down as he chokes over his tears while trying to breathe. Cree stares at him and is left momentarily at a loss for words. He wants to say something he hopes will comfort him, but he knows that they need to get back to Reela and get the hell out of Whiteridge.
Safety over comfort, but he promises to himself that once they're safe, he'll be here for Regan.
He sighs and gently rubs his back. "...We need to get back to Reela. She's safely hidden, but we need to get out of here. I promise we'll talk once we're in the clear, okay?" he says and checks his eyes.
Regan allows himself to calm down a bit as he remembers Reela and he takes a deep breath. "...Okay..." he whispers. Cree stands and helps Regan up. Luckily his wounds don't seem any worse than his own.
Cree shows him a small smile. "Reela's by the docks. Let's hurry and get back to her. I'm... I'm sure she can make you feel a little better," he says and takes his hand.
Regan says nothing and merely nods. Cree sighs and glances at the sky, just in time to see that the Drynthar is headed straight for them.
"Shit... Run!" he shouts and starts sprinting towards the docks without letting go of Regan's hand.
They make it past the market and down the stone stairs that lead to the docks, but they're forced to stop as the Drynthar prepares to release another gout of fire at them. They won't be able to reach the canal in time before the flames catch them and there's nothing nearby that they can duck behind to wait it out.
Cree tries to think fast, but the only thing he can think of isn't really an ideal method of avoiding getting roasted alive. But he supposes it's better to live with a moment of suffering to get over it later than to die due to not wanting to put Regan and himself through agony.
He really hopes Regan will forgive him for what he's about to do.
Just as the fire leaves the beast's maw, Cree pulls Regan against him and throws them both off the dock and into the frigid water below. The irony that to avoid burning alive he went into the water that's so cold it feels like he's burning.
He doesn't let go of Regan even as he begins to panic due to both being in ice-cold water and still being unable to swim, but he keeps his grip tight and tries to remain calm as he waits for the fire to pass.
But he hadn't really thought about the fact that being completely submerged in water this cold, he's slowly starting to lose his vision and next his consciousness. He can't see how Regan is fairing against this, but he can only assume it's the same for him by the way he starts to go still.
Everything goes dark and the cold makes them numb to the world.
After what felt like a lifetime of slipping in and out of consciousness over an indeterminant amount of time, they think they hear a voice.
It's a woman's voice that neither of them recognize, but something in Regan's mind tells him he should.
"Before you find the way, you must remember where you started."
The darkness stays even as the cold is gone.