Written May 23rd 2022 10:59 PM

This was it. They had healed up, rested for as long as they could, and pumped spell after spell into each other. There was no more to be done, no ways left to delay the inevitable. Every fight, every mission since the moment they met a year and a half ago in Caltown of all places had lead to this. Grazz’t was waiting for them at the top of the tower, and win or lose, this is was their destiny.

None of them said much as they packed away their potions and spell components. There wasn’t much to be said, anyway — they all knew the stakes. They all knew there was a chance not all of them would be coming back from this fight. Ailith tried to keep those thoughts at bay; there was no point in dwelling on things that might not come to pass. All she could do was make sure her hits landed and keep an eye on Feyra; she’d be damned if she let another wannabe god get their hands on her.

As one, The First and Last took a deep breath and headed towards the stairs that would lead them right to Grazz’t and whatever came next. As Ailith moved to follow her friends, a familiar grip on her wrist stopped her. She turned to Feyra, unsurprised by the frown on the redhead’s face. Ailith wanted to kiss the creases from Feyra’s forehead and reassure her that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t lie, not to Feyra.

She didn’t get the chance to anything before Feyra had Ailith’s face cupped in her hands. Feyra didn’t say anything, just stroked her thumbs across Ailith’s cheekbones as her eyes flitted over Ailith’s face. Ailith knew what Feyra was doing, she had done it countless times herself; Feyra was committing Ailith to memory. Every freckle, scar, wrinkle, just in case this was the last time she saw it this close. This alive. Ailith felt tears well up and saw Feyra’s eyes fill as well as she pulled Ailith into a kiss.

It was a bruising kiss, one that said “I love you, I’m scared, please don’t leave me.” It lasted a few seconds, but Ailith would have happily lived in the eternity of it. They pulled apart, resting their foreheads together. “I love you,” Feyra breathed into the space between them.

“In this life and beyond,” Ailith murmured, closing her eyes against fresh tears that threatened to spill over. The sound of fading footsteps on the stairs broke them out of their moment, and they spared one last lingering look at each other before heading after their friends to the end.