Amaya fell like a leaf in a languid pacing. As if time was an essence only made for her. Lach had seen every moment. The moment, shock spread on her features. The moment, red expanded on her white dress like a blooming rose in winter. The moment, the snowflakes posed on her hair, glowing and crystalline like flowers. The moment the fear in her gaze met his before her body fell on the snow.

Zakrus's horse neighed before disappearing in the smoky fighting crowd, cowardly taking the Commander with them.

Time hurried again as the clashes of swords and groans spurred from the battlefield. Lach took back the motion of his limbs. The brokenness, the bruises, the cuts, and the weariness of his body were only a past souvenir.

"Amaya!" He threw his sword. It shone silver against the white crystal and crouched beside the shivering body. Something dragged down to the lower pit of his stomach as crimson spread like spilled wine on her dress. "It's all right. I will take care of you," he juggled with each word as he pressed a hand to the wound, and Amaya winced. Panic tightened his throat. "Don't- don't worry, it will be fine." Whether the words were meant for Amaya or him, he didn't know. Probably both. Amaya hissed, her eyebrows twisting with pain.

Lach's lips tightened as the pool of blood gushed, his hand unable to stop the flow. "You will be fine," he rasped through the growing ball in his throat. His palm was uncomfortably wet and sticky, but he would not let go. He pressed tighter. Perhaps if he did, then it would stop, stop the flow, stop her pain, stop his sickening worry eating him alive.

Amaya's breath hitched, the pain contorting her features, so he released. "It's all right- you will be fine. I am here. I am here," he said, with hurried breaths as rapid fingers worked the hooks of his armors, unclasping. The silver arms found the snow before the breastplate in a cacophony of clank.

She coughed, and Lach tried to keep the shiver rippling through her body away in the warm embrace of his arms. Her chest heaved, and when she coughed again, blood colored her lips red. Fear pumped in his veins like the tick of a clock.

Time was running out.

He glanced around. "Help!" But his pitiful plea was lost in the chaos of the battlefield, spreading thin between the sword clashes, grunts, painful moans, and last breaths.

"Lach..." Her voice was like the fading light of a candle, struggling to keep its last flame alive.

"Help!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but nobody seemed to hear, to see his desperation and the sun fading inside his trembling hands.

"Lach." And this time, he gazed down, meeting the last flicker of her light in her eyes. He tilted his head, melting into the rich brown he loved so much. Her lips curved through the pain, and the knot in Lach's heart kept tightening. Even as it faded like the rest of her, he was still struck by the sun rays of her smile, however dim it was.

Even today, it was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

His eyes burned, and his heart dragged on the ground for everything he wanted to say. "It was you." Her eyes struggled to hold his. "It was you all along." A tear traveled on Lach's bruised cheek. "That girl who was like the sun."

Her smile spread. "I know. I know. I am glad you realized it."

Lach's eyes shut, letting the flow of his own pain roll down his skin. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I knew you would recognize me, like I recognized you," A trembling hand found his cheek, and Lach leaned into the softness. "I wanted you to see me."

"I saw you." Lach placed a bloody palm against hers. "I am sorry."

"It was meant to be. It was written. "She said through a breathless, strained voice.

Lach shook his head. "It doesn't have to be like that." He didn't know how to talk through his trembling lips.

"We saved Ornuv," she said, lips curving softly. "They didn't get the favor."

Lach's chest heaved. The wide-eyed realization churned his stomach at her words. "It's not done yet. You will make it before nightfall. Please," he begged, eyes red-rimmed and wet. "We can still do it. The sun will shine again. You will shine again."

Amaya struggled to talk. "It was you. My knight. The one for me." Her lashes wetted.

He tightened the grip on her hand, his mouth to the hollow of her palm. "Don't leave me," he whispered, eyes blurring. "Don't leave me in this world without you. Again," He was sure the sun would never shine again, for her brightness would never pour on Ornuv. On him. "You are my sun."

Tears escaped Amaya's eyes as she smiled. "My sun."

Her eyes fluttered as if wanting to close forever, and Lach knew even if the sun would rise again tomorrow, his world would leave under his own shadow.

A last breath before her body sunk, her hand sliding from Lach's grip.

"Amaya?" He shook her body, but it stayed limp inside his arms. "No, no, no..." He chanted as his head lowered on her chest. His shoulders tremored as he wept. His tears engraved in her the fabric covering her chest. "I am so sorry," he choked out, cradling her as if she would disappear.

"Amaya?" A breathless voice rose, and Lach's wet and red-rimmed eyes lifted to a disheveled and blood-soaked Ezri. The Prince's eyes widened in realization.

"She is gone," Lach choked out.

Ezri's knees sunk in the snow. "No..."

Lach kept on cradling the body, his tears feeding her skin. Bursting noises surged like the end of the world, but he wouldn't let go of her. He wouldn't leave her cold and alone.

Black smoke soared into the sky.

Erzi looked to the side. The smoke morphed into a monstrous form, with pounding steps, making the earth tremble. "He is coming back," Lach looked over his shoulder and frowned, rage twirling the blood in his veins. Amaya was gone. He had no reason to come back for her anymore. Unless...

A sharp, prickling pain struck the side of his thigh. He clenched his jaw before he removed the pendant hiding inside the pants of his armor. He hissed at the burning sensation through his palm as a gold brightness glowed in a circlet around the sun. His mouth opened slightly. He glanced at Amaya. Dark points rose in the sky before landing in an explosion, splashing the snow all around them. Shattered stones. "We can't stay here!" Ezri yelled from under his arms.

"This can't be..." Lach trailed off in a murmur, still observing Amaya's inert face before he stared at the sky. The sun hadn't faded behind the horizon yet. It sat on its line as if waiting. Hope illuminated his eyes, and he stretched his neck to Ezri. Maybe it wasn't too late. "Cover us." he raised to his feet, securing Amaya's limp limbs in his arms, her dress flowing over his arm.

"What are you doing?" Ezri asked with bewilderment, twisting his eyebrows.

"I need to get her to the top before the sun is gone." He stared firmly at Ezri. "This is the only way to get her back!"

Ezri looked at Amaya's limp body, her head hung and her limbs spreading like a lifeless doll. "How? She is..."

"She is fighting!" Lach screamed through the shattering stones hitting the ground. "We need her to get to the top before the sun is gone!" A flash of silver under the explosion of snow stirred his gaze. "My sword. Put my sword back!" He grabbed the sword and sheathed it inside Lach's scabbard. "Thank you. We can still save her."

Ezri stared at him, his eyes filled with clear disbelief, but a little twinkle of hope still jolted through. "Soldiers! Cover them!" He screamed to the remnants of his troops as a shadow loomed over them. Lach found the eyes like rubies, and his eyes fell into a slit before whirling around and sprinting away. "Attack!" Ezri screamed as he and the soldiers charged, the point of their swords like silver flashes.

Lach's breath left a trail of white smoke behind him as he conducted through the maze of bodies scattering around the garden, Amaya's head secured inside the hollow of his shoulder. "We are going to make it."

He found a door to the castle and a spiral of stairs giving to the top. His armor pounded into the stones as he reached the third floor. A snarl held him, and his eyes drew to the side. A red-eyed soldier splashed with blood like paint scattered on a canvas stared at Lach.

Inert legs spread on the floor from behind a wall. Lach swallowed difficulty. He arranged his grip on Amaya, and the soldier stepped towards him with his teeth baring red and a hundred demons possessing his twitching eyes. Lach wouldn't be able to fight like this.

The soldier's steps stopped, and he snarled before charging like a boulder at Lach.

Lach gasped as he turned his back, shielding the body in his arms. He waited for the impact, but a flash of blond hair blurred past him before a groan rose and the gut-wrenching sound of tearing fresh rose.

His eyes widened at the person retracting the axe from the soldier's guts. "Bett?"

They flashed a crooked smile before their features sobered at the sight of Amaya, "Go!"

Lach raced through the remaining stairs, trusting Bett to hold the others back. He arrived at the top of the castle tower, one of the four connecting the gigantic walls of thick stones and history.

The sun was setting past the horizon in a low, dooming orange light. Strands stuck to his forehead, and his breath rasped as he laid Amaya down delicately on the stones, and his gaze flickered at the sun as he murmured a plea.

"It's too late," a voice rose behind, and Lach turned to see Virwan in his human form. "She is dead," he said sneakily as he stepped closer. "The Favor is mine."

Lach drew his sword in a swish. "Not while I am still here."

Virwan chuckled, his voice becoming eerie as black smoke spurred from him and swallowed him. Lach gripped his sword tightly. The haze of smoke held him captive of the sight around him. Virwan's voice echoed in every pulsating streak of ashes. Murmuring behind his ears, then blowing ashes on Lach's face. He coughed. It was as if he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Lach blinked the burn of his eyes away, whirling around at every whispering word. "You won't be able to save her, stableboy." The voice stopped to rise again in front of him. "You are not a knight!" Virwan's features morphed from the smoke. Lach groaned as he charged, striking nothing and stumbling into the black nothingness, but his feet grounded quickly. "Goodbye," A flutter in his ear and Lach's feet left the ground as he rose before he was dropped down. He let out a wrenching groan before gathering himself again to his feet despite the ache and the blurriness.

The smoke spread away like opening curtains during a play, and Virwan's black form stood before Amaya. Her body elevated into the air, and Lach roared as he charged towards Virwan again but was propelled away by a smoky streak, like a punch. He groaned, hitting the stony floor again, his bones scattering and blood spilling from the top of his head. He was as good and boneless as a rag doll. He hissed his pain through clenched, blooded teeth.

He rose on wobbly feet, using his sword as a support like a staff. He couldn't do it. He wasn't a fighter. Just a stableman. To beat Virwan, he would need the strength of a hundred men, and he was barely half of himself now. The sun was halfway through the horizon, its scarlet hues like flames settling behind their last hope.

Lach closed his eyes tightly as he felt the crumbling inside his body like an unstoppable avalanche. He dropped to his knees, breath ragged. The only thing keeping him from collapsing completely was her.

He was useless. As he always had been. The realization punched the little air he had in his drained lungs.

His head pounded, the hit finally catching up. His eyes tightened before they opened slowly to the carved sun on his father's sword.

He couldn't give up. Like his father hadn't.

Rage ravaged him like a tornado. "Virwan!" he called. He difficulty rose on his feet. Virwan's red eyes flickered at him in a challenge.

"Amaya is not the Favor anymore. It's in there!" Lach rose the pendant as it radiated like the sole star in the depth of the night sky.

The man's eyes narrowed, a smirk twitching his thin-spread lips. "You won't fool me! I know Amaya is the Favor."

"She is dead!" Lach spat like an accusation as he stepped slowly backward. "The Sun is not gone yet! It is still Solstice." He leaned through a space between the crenelations. "The Favor is still here, and it's in there." Lach outstretched his hand. The pendant hung to the void.

Virwan froze. "Don't." Lach opened his palm and released the pendant. "No!" Virwan shrieked as he morphed into a thick streak and rushed toward Lach. A smoky hand caught the pendant, and he snickered as he placed the pendant around his thick human neck. He inhaled deeply as a wave of force splashed on him, his eyes turning a glowy and vivid red. "You lost."

"No, you lost." Virwan and Lach jerked their faces. Lach's eyes widened. Amaya stood, her body still elevated in the air. Every piece of her clothes and body emanated with a golden light. Her eyes were closed, and when they opened, they fired at Virwan. The man bared his teeth, and the earth trembled as a wind blew them.

When Lach watched closely, he realized she was the only one not touched by its slappy touch.

Amaya raised her hand. "You are done, Virwan."

Virwan snickered before deforming into smoke and launching toward Amaya. She raised her hand, and an explosion occurred as darkness hit the light. Virwan kept pushing through the light, and Amaya raised her other palm. She grunted, pushing the light out until it consumed all the smoke.

Virwan shrieked as the fire sent him ablaze, his red eyes twitching in his agony. Amaya's eyebrows creased as more light spurred out of her hands, red, angry, scorching.

Lach squinted his gaze, but he could see through the blinding light of Virwan's human body setting through the smoke. He raised his sword and, with a rageful yell, sank into Virwan's stomach. Another shrieked, so acute and awful it seemed to be coming from the depth of hell.

Virwan's body squirmed as smoke traveled to the sky.

"Go to hell! Lach retracted his sword, and Virwan's body dissolved into ashes. The pendant clanked to the stones among the dark dust.

Amaya's eyes fluttered shut before her body fell. Lach grabbed the pendant and caught her body before it could hit the stones."Amaya. Wake up." He touched her cheek, but she was unresponsive. His hands trembled as he placed the pendant around her neck, raising her head delicately. "Amaya, we have won. Please, wake up." Lach's eyes became blurry. Please."

Ezri and Bett arrived at the top of the tower, breathless. "The soldiers. They stop-" Erzi started, but his words died at the sight of Lach rocking Amaya's body.

A sullen shadow veiled Bett's face.

"We have won. Amaya. You did this..." Lach sighed into her neck. "You saved us."

A glow and Lach watched Amaya's pendant flicker. A warmth radiated through her body, and the sky's darkness spread away like the day was fighting to take over. The clouds dissipated as the sun rose from the horizon.

Brighter than it had been in years.

They all watched, mouths agape, as its sunrays blinded and showered them with warmth.

Lach squinted his eyes at the sky and then looked down as Amaya's eyes shifted under her eyelids. He caught his breath.

She fluttered her eyes, and it was as if he had taken his first breath after being held underwater for too long. "Lach?" Lach's chest grew so large he couldn't contain the flood of emotion anymore. He caught her lips, giving her everything: his pain, his relief, his adoration, his soul.

He detached and saw the surprised gaze of the Princess. He looked away. "I am sor-"

Amaya caught his neckline and crushed their lips together.

"Hell, yes!" Bett cheered, and Ezri sighed a soft smile.

They enlaced tightly as if to never let go again.