Remi picked a night of gentle rain.

Though I'm not sure of the last time I felt anything like this, the surprise came to us as something good and refreshing.

Within a short radius of the city, Ally informed me that we could, in fact, bury Theron outside city limits so long as the grave was deep enough. I suppose this is in order to avoid the ashes and clothing from resurfacing.

He was originally cremated due to New Delhi's policy with disease control. It breaks poor Remi's heart every time she has to say the word ashes, but there is no arguing with a society so willing to take you in with nothing more than some trade-offs.

Still, feeling tiny droplets of water slipping down my arms in still humid heat is refreshing.

The young woman clings to a beautifully carved wooden box, whispering things too it on and off while we make out way beyond the city limits. Some are loving, others are mere explanations of what's going on in the world around us.

Gods be damned, it breaks my heart to watch.

After a few minutes, Dan falls back beside me and gives me a weird smirk.

"What?"

"Well," he begins, making his voice just loud enough for only me to hear. "We did tell Alice you were pregnant and I'm honestly just wondering how long it will take her to realize you're not... That or what kind of lie we're going to have to feed her about losing the baby."

"This is honestly what you're thinking about right now?" I ask, brow quirking up in surprise. "We're burying your friend and you're wondering about how Alice will react when there is no baby?"

Daniel frowns, the innocence and lack of pain washing out of his eyes again. Bleeding back in are the thoughts of pain and sadness he keeps warding off with childish or distracting behavior.

I'm hit with the guilt like a bullet. I force a low chuckle and shake my head. "I'll say something about a miscarriage, maybe even make a scene of it and go to the hospital."

His lips jerk upwards a little bit. "Oh? And how exactly are you going to fake a miscarriage?"

"Come now Daniel, you have to have some idea of the things I can do with my body given your... situation."

I'm not prepared for him to stop walking or the intense glare he cuts me down with. Daniel doesn't say anything, quickly glancing over to the girls. They've got their arms full with tools and the box. Neither so much as flinches, both continuing on mindlessly.

He slips back up to my side. "I thought you weren't going to say anything."

"That is the point of whispering, Dan."

Daniel rolls his eyes and keeps pushing forward, catching up with Meika and Remi. It bothers him. It bothers me that it bothers him. Yet there is nothing I can do but keep dragging up the truth he's so desperately hiding from.

I'm distracted by the chilling icy stare on my back. A familiar sensation, but nothing like I've experienced since escaping the dungeons in Mexico. A similar feeling to that of being eyed in war or marked on a combat field.

The same dangerous lurching in the heart of some stranger nearby, memorizing you like prey.

My stomach flips but I force my eyes forward, stalking up close to the group and nudging them all into a whispers-range. "Do any of you feel like we're being watched?"

"By the humans?" Meika asks, brows furrowing.

Daniel shakes his head at her. "No, I got a similar feeling at the gate. Someone has to be looking at us with a little more interest than is comfortable."

The Witch looks back over her shoulder, the only one of us brazen enough to do so. She makes it appear lustful as if missing the city already instead of scanning the vast space for death. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to miss the war veteran sparkling in her eyes though.

Without making so much as a sound, Meika distances herself from us again. She shoots us a look - particularly Daniel and I - silently ordering us to do the same.

"I sense the energy, but see no one," she explains, kicking at the ground a little bit. "Perhaps we bury the boy behind this mound, build a tombstone for him and be on our way."

Scanning the ground, I nod. "In case this gets dangerous, I think that's a good idea."

"Who would be watching us?" Remi askes, big eyes sparkling. "Everyone inside New Delhi is nothing but nice to us and more than considerate."

Daniel visibly tenses but refrains from saying anything.

I close my eyes and sigh. "Not everyone is as they seem, dear. If there is anything I've learned in my life, it's that."

"People will try to kill you for all sorts of reasons," Meika adds, beginning to work on the sigils for easy digging. "In not so distant times, it was for sport. Others because of quarrels, lovers, and lies. Even if the reason always changes, it isn't the safest to only think the best of people."

I nod, thinking about how Lindon and I ended up in this mess in the first place. Sometimes humans are afraid of what they do not know or understand. Perhaps it's the power that drives them or the urges to control. No matter the cost.

Everyone has a price, everyone can be bought.

Yet, out loud I could never acknowledge my willingness to trade any of their lives for Lindon.

Working on my own sigils, we manage to make a neat box in the ground. Seven feet deep and wet towards the bottom, I manage to swipe out the dust and sand trying to pour back in and lay out his clothing over the damp beachy floor.

Remi sets the makeshift urn on top and looks down with trembling boulder-sized tears in her eyes. "I wish he'd have just told me he loved me..." She murmurs almost inaudibly.

Unfortunately for her, she is surrounded by three supernatural beings and cannot whisper a cognitive sentence quiet enough for us not to hear.

However, no one has the balls to disturb her reality or ask any questions.

Daniel squats down and rests a hand over the dug up sand. It sticks to his fingers and makes a thin, faint mashing sound when he moves. Unable to see his face or eyes, I can only assume Daniel represses everything farther down.

He stands up with flushed cheeks but nothing stands inside though oceanic irises. Locking everything in a box only works for so long.

Meika signs a small sigil of protection over the land and nature. A parting gift and a goodbye for the Fae Witch who cared little to nothing about Theron.

Yet any acknowledgment from her deserved praise.

I kneel over the gaping hole and let my tears drop straight onto Theron's remains. The burning in my eyes and soul hurt of equal measure, stinging through my limbs that support me and aching in my joints.

"Ego paenitet, te amo Theron," I say. The soft language rolls off my tongue in easy, fluid strokes of Latin. "I should've protected you more thoroughly, but I am blessed to have met you."

Meika sets up faint candles in order to protect and light up the grave. Her hands work swiftly as the sun sets behind giant storm clouds over the horizon line.

The darkness and rain consume us.

Lit only by four candles and a torch Meika gently passes to Daniel, we're left alone with the real weight and pain of Theron's loss.

"We should go before the humans catch colds and risk the same fate," Meika says, loud enough for everyone to hear as a warning, but directed largely at me.

Daniel doesn't say anything, spaced out at the grave as Remi goes to smooth over all the leftover sand. My eyes catch signs. His hands curled into fists, his posture tight and condensed all at the same time.

I gesture the young girl up and take the torch from Daniel, placing her fingers around the handle carefully.

"You'll go back with Meika," I practically mouth.

Remi throws a worried glance back at Daniel, sensing the same energy as me. She wipes her cheeks and nods, gently squeezing my arm before slinking away.

Seemingly explaining my request to them, Remi gestures toward the nearly washed away trail we'd left on the way here. Meika whirls to face me, lips curving down in concern and mild panic.

I merely shake my head.

The two slowly stalk back the way we'd traveled once before and leave a small path behind for the two of us.

I watch the young immortal for some time, letting the Witch and Remi gain just enough distance for Daniel to feel safe.

"Can you see without the light?" I ask, curious as to the extent his powers reach, but also in concern for the lack of visibility.

Daniel barely shifts his head in a nod.

"You sent them away... Why?" He asks.

I take a deep breath and watch him protectively. Worried for his safety and the safety of everyone involved. Daniel's been losing control of his tongue ever since Theron's passing and there are only so many places to stow grief in the subconscious.

Crossing my arms, my weight shifts to the other side and inevitably closer to his arm. "I can tell when someone needs space."

"Then why didn't you leave as well?"

"Because I care about your safety... Believe it or not, we just buried someone I loved to some extent. I wouldn't want to see it happen again."

Daniel's hardened features soften and stretch into faint surprise. The words appear to hit him in both an eerie warning and a strange declaration.

His eyes flicker back and forth between me and the pile of rocks making up Theron's gravestone. "You know, for a long time, I didn't think God's loved anyone but themselves. Nor did I ever believe it possible for them to love strangers and other creatures besides themselves."

"What a horrible religious figure you would make," I tease playfully.

"Just listen..." he sighs. "You told me to tell you if I needed anything but ran off before I could... I just-I..."

Daniel struggles, his composure suffering immensely from all of the freedom. No one in sight. No mortals to chain him. Just us and the rain.

He closes his eyes and a streak of electric blue strikes down his cheek and onto the ground below.

A distinct aroma hits me, timeless essence bleeding into the air around us. The rain begins to vibrate in the air, rippling as some drops speed down faster and others freeze or reverse. The power consumes him, swiping out in one large wave that sends the water soaring away from us in all directions.

A few seconds of dry humidity greet us before we're soaking again.

Another intense drop of light runs down Daniel's cheek, melting into his jacket. The power coils up inside of him again.

"I'll never be able to put into words what I'm running from, I'll never find a way to tell any living soul what I've done. I've experienced the depths of hell and lost many of those around me... This grief isn't what's hard to bare-" Daniel says, lifting his head and looking up to the clouds. -"I can't escape a damn thing... But to know I've made any sort of impression on you seems to be a cruel joke."

"Cruel joke?" I wonder, stunned by the strange admission.

He meets my gaze this time, tears falling more freely in a unique burst of blue lights that fade all too fast in the darkness. "Love is a strong word, Iridian."

"I would know, seeing as I'm married to the God of it."

Daniel turns away from me, pushing a hand into his eyes and shoving hair back out of his face. "I just want you to know that I will never forgive myself."

"For what?"

He shakes his head, another lashing of his aura disrupting the downpour.

Daniel's breathing gets heavy, concerning me as he tries to self-sooth with rubbing at his hands and pants. Almost as if he's panicking and trying to wipe sins off the fabric of his being.

Just as he's about to move, I grab him by the jacket and yank him hard against my chest. I wrap my arms around his back slowly, feeling him relax. "You're a Fate, aren't you? I smell the quintessence of time on you... You're of a Fate bloodline."

Daniel doesn't answer me, which is confirmation enough.

Hugging me back, he rests his chin on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Iridian."

"Sorry for what, Daniel?"

He shakes his head again, shaking and convulsing slightly. "I'm so sorry..."

The burden of pain and guilt consumes his aura, nearly suffocating us both in a toxic whirlwind of destruction and fear.

The apology even feels personal. Not just a generalized admission of guilt.

I frown, but drop it, hugging the crying boy.

No matter what it is, I think I can forgive anything.

Just this once.

Thank you all for reading!

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