"Righteous Reunion."
----
Solus fell to his knees after his body rematerialized. Breathing heavily, he clutched his throat, the feeling of Slyre's cold hand wrapped around his neck lingered for a while longer. He swallowed hard, pushing his free hand onto the sand to help himself up. Getting on his feet, he took a look around. He was standing on a beach, looking directly at the ocean, and the horizon where the extent of his sight ended.
He turned around, to see a tower... No, a lighthouse made of bricks that seemed to pierce the clouds.
How has no one noticed this? He wondered. But that thought was broken by a voice, echoing from the top of the lighthouse. Solus listened to it for a few moments, before recognizing it. "Rina..." He said out loud, as if he was trying to convince himself what he was hearing was true.
As if in a weird lapse of panic, he scrambled forward towards the lighthouse, almost tripping over himself several times on the way to it. He passed what appeared to be a hole in the ground with a ladder leading deeper into it. Beside it, sat mining equipment, the usual, ranging from a pickaxes to a few buckets to move dirt out of the hole. There was also a cage with a canary in it, though it didn't seem to notice Solus' presence, or perhaps simply didn't care. He noted his strange find, and moved on. Eventually, by following the well lit path, he got to the foot of the lighthouse, and its entrance that awaited for him to open it.
Solus placed his hand on the handle with care, in case the door suddenly decided to blow up in his face. Nothing happened of course, but what surprised him was that the door was unlocked. It saved him some trouble at least, but that fact irked him.
He stepped inside.
Solus was greeted by a flight of spiral stairs, going all the way to the top. But as he looked up the gap of the stairs where he could see the light, he noticed that there were rooms on every floor.
He began his climb.
He ascended two steps at a time, and he stopped at every floor where a new opening into a room appeared, he peered inside of each despite hearing Rina's singing from all the way at the top. As he ascended he saw living rooms, kitchens, a multitude of bedrooms.
How many beds does this girl need? He asked himself as he continued. But what was the most curious thing was that every room was filled with pictures of her, portraits, smaller ones on desks, and others of her with other people, mostly humans, some demons, and a couple angels. She was smiling in all of them, as were they. The question of who took those pictures lingered in Solus' head. Perhaps there were others here that Slyre took away from the world, left them here until it was their hour.
The more he ascended the stranger the place felt. Every stone and hardwood floor was scrubbed clean to a T. You could cook off the ground here. The candles in the rooms he passed were arranged accordingly, well away from anything flammable. He knew that Rina liked to keep things clean, but this was a step up. Perhaps boredom finally got to her.
He could smell food too. Though he had no need for food anymore, it smelled something divine. He passed the kitchen where it originated from, and noticed freshly plucked vegetables, with the soil still clinging to them. From the looks of the amount of ingredients used, it was a meal for two.
The flood of thoughts and the overwhelming feelings that flowed through him helped pass the time as he climbed, until finally he reached the final floor, just underneath the constantly turning light. The singing was strongest here. He sighed, he only had two hours...
He placed his hand on the wooden door, and pushed gently, slowly opening it as to not disturb her.
And there she was, with her back to him and hands on the rail. Also behind her was a ladder that led to the lighthouse device, which powerfully swept through the night like a cleaver. With every rotation, she was briefly seen in darkness, then in the light; as if she was pulsing between the two realms of those elements. Her attire seemed simple enough: muddy black jeans with rips and tears here and there, along with a white, heavily stained blouse tucked in. Her feet were bare, but dirty. It seemed as though Rina had been working for a long time.
From the angle of his approach, the side of her left face hinted at maturity. Even her height had increased, nearly matching Solus. She was certainly no old bag of bones that Slyre hinted at, but indeed, she had grown, perhaps looking to be in her late 20s. But 200 years had gone by.
Odd.Her eyes remained closed, her mouth continued gesturing the lyrics of the strange, unknown song. Her voice trailed around the man, pulling at his heartstrings like a skilled musician. But other than that, she did not seem to notice that she had a visitor.
"That's beautiful..." Solus said, somewhat sadly as he looked upon the figure of Rina.
Her song immediately ended at the praise, but her eyes still remained shut. Her head lowering slightly, her brow rubbed up in frustration, as if she was unnerved by what he'd just said. Or perhaps she could hardly believe it---that he was
here. Her hands clenched the railing harder, bringing out the whiteness of her knuckles under starlight.
Suddenly, the rotating device above them hummed loudly, and then seemed to die down. Complete darkness engulfed them for a moment, until their vision adjusted for the ample amount of the stars and moon peeking behind the clouds.
"Ugh, that damn thing," Rina muttered with annoyance, shaking her head as she turned to climb the ladder and fix it for the 3rd time that day.
Solus watched her intently, even was unsure if she was real. Her expression at his remark, told him volumes, enough for him to speak up again. "Rina..."
She froze, her hands and right foot on the rungs of the ladder.
His voice again. She caved, having long learned to ignore fabrications of her memories and longing for him. Or so she thought. Sighing, she glanced over at his direction, his oh-so-familiar bodily outline illuminated by stellar light. She squinted at him, as though trying to discern if he was really there or not.
Could it be...?She swallowed, her entire body starting to react to the actual presence of someone there. His breathing tickled her ears, and her hairs stood up on ends. She looked down at the mud and sand he'd tracked up here. Even his scent caught her nostrils up into a flare. Hoping against hope, her lips parted in the darkness...
"Solus?" Rina asked, her voice trembling and nearly breaking.
"Yeah..." Solus replied. "Long time no see..." He suddenly felt something shake in his trench coat pocket, which he was sure was empty. He put his hand in there, his fingers feeling glass, and a wooden frame surrounding it. It had the shape of an hourglass. He pulled it out and looked at it, inspecting it in his hand, turning it from left and right, and up and down, but the sand, continued to moved into the empty portion of the hourglass.
Well, at least he gave me a timer... He put it back in his pocket, and looked back towards Rina, watching her.
She'd stepped forward away from the ladder, his words drawing her in, almost into a fascinated state of being. The green flames of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth bathed her face in an eerie illumination, but it only served to harden her hope that he was
literally there. Her eyes made out a small object in his hand.
Another hourglass? Between dealing with the absolute fact that Solus was actually standing before her and seeing that hourglass, Rina decided to touch first, ask questions later.
"12 years," Rina replied, nodding in agreement as she placed her hand tentatively on his chest.
She flinched, half expecting to pass right through it. A sob snared her throat, and she pulled away from him, covering her face with both hands. Her shoulders trembled as her body swayed dangerously in place, as though she might fall over the railing.
"Please... be real," she cried lowly.
That sob broke him. He flash stepped towards her, in a blink of an eye, his arms were wrapped around her, holding her tightly, as if she would disappear again. "I'm real, Rina... I'm real." His right hand reached for the back of her head, his fingers gently running through her hair. He wished he had the power to cry, but it was something he lacked. But has it really been only 12 years for her?
Suddenly engulfed into his strength and firmness of body, Rina nearly fainted. Her knees bent like wax as she clung to his torso feebly.
I'm real. The promise etched into her heart at the moment, giving her courage to look up at him. Her teeth bit her lips as her tear-streaked face once again met the green-flamed light. She lowered her head again, wiping her tears on his chest. Then, looking up again, she smiled that lopsided grin that she'd given him many times during the months of her training over 200 years ago.
"I promised myself I wouldn't cry since you can't, Solus," she explained breathlessly, and trying to stand on her own two feet.
That was a feat in and of itself since she had absolutely
no idea where the ground was. Or the sky. Or the lighthouse for that matter. Solus,
and only Solus, captivated her attention and enraptured her soul with sheer, almost painful bliss.
His fingers ran from her hair and caressed her tear soaked cheek. "I... I don't know what to say..." His brain froze, unable to process anything intelligible to say to her. "I lost hope..."
An involuntary
purr escaped her at his touch, shaking her down to her core and below. "I..." she mumbled through his words, quieting for a moment.
He lost hope. It was a thought that had crossed her mind some years back---that he'd have given up on her. Logic surfaced briefly, trying to concoct some excuse for him like all girlfriends do at times.
"Well, the Surface
is big; Can't imagine being able to search it all in such a short time," she offered, smiling up at him and caressing the right side of his doll-stitched mouth.
"The Surface...?" Solus asked rhetorically as his eyes began to roll back into his skull. "God damn it. What a fool I was. For 200 years I searched everywhere
but the Surface..."
Rina swallowed hard again, struggling to understand his words.
200 years...? Her head tilted as her eyes darted left and right, trying to figure out if he misspoke or something. But his anger quelled any courage of speaking up, and she looked away at the floor of the outside platform. Confusion and embarrassment stretched her face.
"Slyre you son of a whore... Hid her right under my nose..." He closed his eyes and sighed. After a few moments they opened again, observing Rina's confused expression. "...You said that it has been 12 years for you... While it has been two centuries for me... Are you sure it has been 12 years?" He asked Rina slowly.
She nodded slowly at first, but then sank her shoulders, shaking her head. "I- ... well, I tried to keep track of time, but... after a while, things started to not make sense. Like, the sun and moon, and the stars, too. Plus people I spoke to mentioned certain years and dates," she rambled, caught up in her bewildered state.
"But in the end, I decided that I just didn't look that much older. You know? I mean, look," she added, stepping back to let him examine her body at the height of its blossom .
"Do I look 200 years older to you, Solus?" she asked him, smirking with her hands on hips.
Solus broke into his usual, deep chuckle, amused by her sudden change of attitude to the Rina he remembered. "No, I'd say you look about... 28."
She beamed. "I've thought so, too," she nodded, but then a wayward thought struck her attention.
Slight panic skipped across her face and her teeth clenched. "Crap, the light," she mumbled, turning away to climb the ladder.
"Need to crank it to get it go--
waah!!" she explained before suddenly slipping in front of him and failing to grasp the ladder for support.
Solus quickly reacted, catching her by her hips and lifting her up. His hold was gentle, loving almost. He guided her body towards the ladder, giving her a more comfortable reach for the rickety thing that she needed to climb. "Are you ok?" His voice echoed right beside her left ear.
"Y-Yes!" Rina warbled, curling her toes. With her new-found balance, she grabbed the rungs again. Climbing up, she looked back at him, "Thanks. Just give me a moment," she smiled, letting her ascent's swagger draw his mind if he cared for it.
Sounds of furious cranking could be heard above, but indeed only a moment passed before the lighthouse resumed its guiding function. Rina then reappeared and zipped down the ladder, her grin testifying of delight to be back with Solus. Letting her hair down with a flourish, she led him back into the interior without so much as a beckon or word. Down the stairs and into the main kitchen, she donned an apron and took a couple pots off of the burners.
Another
man then strolled carefully into the room from a hallway beyond (and under the stairs). He seemed a little older than Rina and wore a freshly ironed suit, with polished shoes and combed hair. His movement suggested something was off, for he did not even look at Solus at first. Rina glanced at Solus wistfully, biting her lower lip to stymie her rising nervousness. Bringing a finger to her lips to beg his silence, to which Solus quietly nodded. She then trained her gaze on the other man with an air of honed professionalism: kind but detached.
"Finding your way, James?" she asked politely.
Solus remained silent, like asked.
"Oh, in more ways than one, thanks to you, dear. You've been nothing but a blessing to this lonely old man," he replied with a rasp, and gripped the chair before which a plate (his, presumably) had been set.
"You're welcome," she replied sweetly, and just to make sure that Solus understood, she mouthed to him:
He's blind. Solus' face lit up with acknowledgement in reply.
He sat down, easing into the chair comfortably. "The smell here is delicious, Miss Grim," James noted, his clean-shaven smile growing and his hands patting the table with hungry eagerness.
Miss Grim... Solus thought to himself, quite amused by it all.
Rina winced at the praise, but only because the
real Grim was here now. She tried very hard to not meet Solus's eyes, but her flushing face revealed the truth: she had been telling people that her last name was Grim. Whatever for, was a question Solus would have to ask her later.
"It is your last meal," Rina replied, hoping to steer the conversation to a close, "so I've made this one extra special."
She quickly poured the guest (perhaps?) a bowl of gumbo and then a glass of wine of some kind. She guided his hand to his spoon, patting it as she walked away from the table and gave Solus another (embarrassed) smile. She seemed eager to leave, but then she glanced back at James, and her brow furrowed. James seemed to be glaring at Solus, albeit his eyes' vacancy merely suggested a concern in the man's general direction. Solus, in turn glared back at him, completely ignoring Rina's nervous face.
It is your last meal... Solus had a hunch as to why this man was here. But he would ask Rina later.
"James?" Rina prompted.
"Quite. Oh yes, I'm sorry. But er... is someone else here, dear?" he asked curiously, tilting his head.
"No," she replied sharply, then sighing. "Well, just don't worry about it. Today is your day, James, and your hour will come at the knell. Please excuse me."
James nodded and dug into his food. Rina then took Solus by the hand into the hallway that James had exited. With haste, they passed by an opened bedroom, where the bed was messy and unmade. That bedroom only confirmed his hunch. It was a shame that Slyre put her in this position. Keeping old men company in more ways than one during final moments in life. Perhaps Slyre pitied them, pitied their lifelong loneliness. She was back in the pit it seemed, and now Solus knew what all those bedrooms were for. A job's a job, he guessed. Further on, and in private now, she perched on the edge of a black sofa in some kind of lounge. A stark white door, slightly ajar with a golden handle, could be seen across the way; nothing but darkness could be seen in the crack. Rina glanced up at Solus expectantly, slight worry in her searching eyes, perhaps at what he might be thinking about all this.
I hope I don't have another one today, not while Solus is here..."I'm due a break now actually, so there shouldn't be any other interruptions," she finally stated, her voice quivering with excitement; or was it fear?
"Miss Grim, huh...?" Solus asked her with a childish grin on his face as he took a seat beside her. Despite the many other questions he had, this one was the most important to him, she used his name after all.
She met his grin with relief, sighing gently through her nose. Nodding, she curled a stray lock behind her ear and gathered her thoughts. She scooted closer, too.
"Well, yes," she replied meekly with a nervous chuckle. "It was kind of awkward actually, I got called things and just, well, I mean--I needed an anchor, you know?"
She looked down shyly. "And your name is what kept me grounded the most."
Great. I had a whole speech prepared for him, and now I just... I... really should have written this down, actually. She opted to lean against the sofa, instead of him, as she waited for his response. Her fingers played with each other across her belly.
"Grounded..." Solus thought on the word, but couldn't really think of a reason why she used it. "So that old fellow... Is he some kind of..." Solus searched for a word that she would understand the meaning of, and yet it would not piss her off. "...
client?"
She glanced up, sensing his confusion. Her mind was already forming a way to explain as he spoke, but then a hard lump formed in her throat.
Client. After all this time... two hundred years for him (and twelve years for her?), he thought that she'd just buckle and go back to what she once knew as a mentally-warped child prostitute? She sat a little straighter, staring hard into his right knee before lightly shaking her head.
"No," she whispered, and then swallowed. "Not at all."
He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it, causing her tender shoulder to rise into his palm. "Ok." He nodded taking her word for it. But her reply said otherwise to him. He felt like an asshole just for asking it. "Sorry, I just... I shouldn't have said anything..." He let go of her shoulder and placed his now free hand on his knee, which her eyes followed as she nodded. An awkward moment loomed over them both as he thought about the next thing he was going to ask, hopefully one that wasn't so stupid. "You can tell me anything... you know that?"
Placing her hand on his hand, she leaned close and nodded. "I do, and it's okay. I mean, thinkin' about it, I'd probably wonder the same thing, too," she smiled, returning the same gentle squeeze.
She eased into a hug, wrapping her arms around his torso and rested her head on his chest. Her unbound hair splayed over him like a silken baby blanket. She closed her eyes for a moment, just merely resting as her breathing calmed down. "Was it hard? Without me..." she asked him.
"It was..." Solus replied, causing Rina to hug him tighter. "But that doesn't really matter now." He continued. "Knowing you're ok is enough for me to keep going..." He paused for a moment as he decided to change the subject. "So what exactly is the point of this lighthouse anyway? Apart from it being a lighthouse... One doesn't normally have so many rooms."
She blinked, sitting up a bit and leaning more into Solus. "Umm..." she mumbled, thinking of a way to put it simply. "From what I can understand, it... guides the
dead here."
She glanced up at Solus, her eyes filling with awed confusion. "And... they have problems," she continued, glancing away embarrassingly, "and I've basically just been comforting them. Helping them come to terms with their...
brokenness, I guess you can call it. But they don't remind me of ghosts or zombies, or anything like that, Solus. I wasn't told what to do, I just sort of knew..."
She sighed, really not liking her own explanation. "All I was told that if I leave the island or if the light goes out, I will surely die," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Oh, and as to the rooms, I dunno. They were all here already. I've only kept them cleaned."
Rina glanced up at Solus, wondering if he wanted more information. "He seemed very much alive to me..." The man said, remembering his senses kicking in as the old man entered the kitchen back there. "So what do you mean by
brokenness exactly?"
She sighed lightly through her nose, but the challenge of this was refreshing compared to her day-to-day routine. "Right. Well, let's see. It's like their body is alive... because I feed them, right? But inside, they... are dead. Broken willed. Their spirits were just out of there. And I... I guess I felt a sense of duty to just take care of them, talk to them. You know?
Comfort them. And..."
She glanced at the white door before them. "When the knell strikes, that door opens and they leave. That's all I know. An' don't even ask me where the knell is, I've tried to find it. No luck at all, really," she chuckled.
Retreating back into his protective arms, she fingered his stomach through his coat, making little figure eights and trailing creases to flatten them out.
I hope that satisfies him for now, because I really have no clue about this place. Long as I've been here, it's still a mystery."I see..." Solus said thoughtfully as he realized what she was talking about. "You mean Shattered Souls..." Remembering his broken self, and how he used such souls, as they seemed to be the only ones he had a chance to grasp when he practiced his necromancy. People who had suffered throughout their life, were left broken.
"I... guess?" she replied, somewhat confused, but then her body tensed up as some memories surfaced. "Though not ... not all of them made it..."
"What do you mean?" Solus asked curiously, his hand reaching for the back of her head.
She gave him a long look, the irises in her pupils swirling. Glancing away, almost closing her eyes. "Nothing dramatic. They just... stopped moving. Truly dead, I thought," she explained, her shoulders sinking. His caress gave her strength, so she continued. "I dug a grave. Well, catacombs, I think they're called? And... I buried them in there... that's all..."
"Hmm... A place where the dead go to die..." He said to himself in thought. Slyre's title crossed his mind.
The Terminus. He brought her here to comfort the dying in their final moments. Well it was his theory, a shit one at best. One worth considering, though. "How do they leave?"
Rina opened her mouth, but then a long, deep knell struck. The sound echoed throughout the room and actually seemed to be coming from behind the white door, which then opened completely. She clutched Solus, almost digging her nails into his coat. She didn't normally hang around when this happened, and in fact, this was the first time she really saw the door open. The space beyond the door was sheer, foreboding darkness, and suddenly a huge black chain (which seemed eerily familiar) zipped out of the door. It dashed through the air soundlessly and out of the room, and Rina's jaw dropped. A moment later, James came stumbling down, a smile on his face like he knew all along what was going on. His hands clasped with manacles, the dark chain gently guided him to the door, pulling him within.
The door slammed shut with finality behind him... but then opened again, leaving itself slightly ajar. Rina's forehead was ebbed with sweat beads as she stared ahead of them.
Chains, green and flaming, just as large as the black one that appeared from the door, quietly crept out of his sleeves, causing Rina to flinch back but then watch with interest. The familiarity of the black chain drawing them towards the door. They inquisitively poked and prodded the air, as if they were smelling it. Eventually they arrived at the door, creeping towards the crack that showed the darkness beyond.
Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. "Solus!" Rina gasped, seizing his arm. "Please don't..."
"It's ok..." He said as the molten links got closer to the darkness, green fire licking its way along, spewing heat into the room. Soon the 4 chains passed into the darkness, only to suddenly create a monstrous metal scream, quickly shooting back where they came from, into his arms. Fast enough to miss them if Rina blinked; however, the sound alone made her jump off of the sofa, with her back to the wall and arms spread out for balance.
"Why you gotta scare the crap out of me?" she hissed at him, though not truly upset.
Solus looked down at his hands, unsure of what the hell just happened. "They never done that before..." He took a mental note to look into it later.
She smirked, shaking her head. "Well let's get out of here, please. This is actually my least favorite room, I... c'mon," she fussed, taking him by the hand and jokingly dragging him out of the room.
Back in the kitchen, she pulled out a rocking chair and guided Solus into it. He could probably tell that she was used to bossing people around in the lighthouse. She then began putting dishes away and cleaning the dirty ones in a soapy basin. "So what have YOU been up to, Mister 200 years," she joked, still not sure of what to make of the discrepancy between their different perceptions of the time that had passed.
"Anything you wanna know about the outside world before I begin?" Solus asked.
For some reason, the question unsettled her. Perhaps because she had never been able to observe the outside world. Though she ran a lighthouse, she'd never even seen a ship pass by. She wasn't even sure where the mainland was that this lighthouse was supposed to guide ships to. Her hands in the hot water, she pondered a moment.
"Well, I guess I've gotta ask... has 200 years
really passed by out there?" she asked, before turning her head over her shoulder and gazing at him with almost sullen eyes.
"Yeah... It has. The old mansion you remember is an overgrown ruin now..." He answered. "The maps have changed... Angels and Demons live together in an uneasy peace, to my surprise... Madagascar is under the sea... The list goes on really. I only returned to the Surface a few days ago myself."
She nodded as she continued washing a plate. "Hmm. Then my uncle had long since passed away," Rina remarked curtly, as if she'd just added the minor crime of
jaywalking to a list containing genocide, rape, and murder.
"I was hunting Iotans for 120 years... And I never found him." Solus added. "Who knows, maybe he's still out there." Solus' flaming chains finally came back out again, though a little more timidly this time. "Iotan chains have a slight side effect of agelessness..."
"Do they?" she replied coldly, clearly bothered by something. Putting the plate in the dish drain, she went to work on a coffee cup. "What else have you been up to, Solus? I wish I could say my time here was exciting, but it was mostly just work and..."
She paused, glancing out the window, which almost nearly reflected a complete image of her. "Self-reflection," she added with a wry smirk.
"I was hunting the Iotans in an attempt to find you. I hoped that they had some answers, but they all turned out to be duds..." He added, the feeling of guilt slammed into him again. How was he so damn stupid to not even think of searching for her on the surface? "Before that I fought in the War. Don't know if you remember it. It was when He took you... It started just before then. Killed a five thousand year old ghost who had a sword made out of a demigod inside him. Then I worked with a Vampire for a while, trying to help him find his sister. That didn't really work out..." He paused, remembering that merely less than an hour and half ago, they were finally reunited.
"Then I began hunting the Iotans like I mentioned earlier, trying to find you. That led me to a place called The Subatomic Plane. But that also ended up being a dead end... Then I went to hell... Searching for a way to die..." He stopped there.
Rina listened to his fascinating tales quietly as she resumed her work. Some of the details were fleeting, but that was alright. She knew that she couldn't pretend to understand it all, though she sorely wished she could have been there with him. Then again, she wondered how things might have turned out if she had? Would it really had been for the better? She came to terms with her isolation a long time ago and she really enjoyed who she had become. But she never forgot Solus. Not once did she give up hope, though he clearly had given up on her. But she was not about to rub that in his face, because what if their positions had been switched?
A memory struck.
I once saved him from those Iotans before, didn't I? She pursed her lips thoughtfully as she put the last dish away. His last comment then drew her gaze to him.
He wanted to die... she sighed, nodding. She had wanted to die, too. But her experience with the broken ones here completely wiped out any sense of self, for she realized that there were people with bigger problems than her own.
"Come, let me show you around," she smiled sweetly, her eyes piercing his soul with love and affection.
Or so she hoped."Yeah, let's go." He replied with a weary smile.
For the next 10 or so minutes, Rina escorted him, their arms in lock, everywhere, starting at the top. She explained that
guests had different tastes in bedroom styles, and that they mostly just slept when they weren't eating or ruminating over their lives. Sometimes she had several at once, and had to keep some of them separated lest they fight and bicker. She showed Solus a library, filled with dusty tomes and scrolls. She told him that she had looked at each one, and only a few of them were in a language that she could understand. A few of them, however, were autobiographies, and seemed to talk about the previous caretaker of the lighthouse. It was how she came to have a better understanding of her purpose here.
Down on the ground outside she showed him a mining shaft that she had dug, having read a book on geology and mining that piqued her interest greatly. Several kinds of ores and rocks were under this island, and she had experimented with them all. Which then led them to her makeshift forge, though its smoke and flames were long gone. Several attempts to make guns were plastered on the wall, which she embarrassingly admitted was just for fun. Next, she showed him a garden, full of exotic vegetables and fruit that seemed to thrive on this island. She told Solus that someone had already made the garden, and she had merely needed to weed it before it would grow.
Lastly, she showed him
her bedroom, which was located at the base of the lighthouse. It was simple, but personal, with several drawings and paintings tacked to the walls. There was one of Thorpe, with a man standing before it, whom she said was supposed to be her uncle. Some of them were even of Solus and the Mustang, and the House of Grim. She shyly told him that she thought of him every single day and spent a few hours practicing her memories, she called it. In other words, reflecting what he had taught her and committing them to memory lest she forget.
She led him to her personal study in the corner, where she had practiced her magic over the years and honed her skills. The conversation shifted, then, to that of Slyre, and how not once did she see him here or hear from him. He'd merely dropped her off and reminded her that she would
surely die if she left the island or let the light go out.
"But don't think I didn't make a boat or two," she added, exhausted somewhat as she sat on her bed and beckoned Solus to a chair next to the night stand. The candles in her room burned slowly, and in the windows, one could see the powerful beam of light slicing through the darkness over the tireless ocean waves.
"They were certainly seaworthy, but I never found the courage to actually leave," she continued, crossing her legs. "Of course, once I realized that the...
guests were going to be a thing, I just focused on them... and their problems."
She nodded, complete with her story and feeling fairly satisfied. Her eyes glanced up at him under slightly battering eyelashes.
"Well..." Solus said as he pulled out the hourglass from his pocket, checking the time. He had one hour left. "Just because Slyre gave me an hourglass, doesn't mean I didn't come without a plan. Or several."
"That's my Solus," she replied coquettishly, tilting her head as though she wanted to hear more.
But then a thought came to mind, and worry stretched her face a bit thin. "Do you think you can beat him?" she asked carefully, clearly having a point to bring up once he'd answered.
"I don't intend to beat him, not fairly anyway. But if my first plan works out, that won't really matter anyway." He replied. "You see... He offered me two hours, for one hour of my own time, and a specific job. I don't know what the job entails just yet. But hopefully I can convince him for either more time, or your permanent return..."
Rina's eyes glassed over as he mentioned the words 'hours', though she merely blinked, nodded, and continued listening. She pulled her legs closer to her, laying on her side as she rested her head on her large, velvet red pillow.
"I see..." she whispered, then looked away. "Perhaps he wants you to kill someone. I've thought of why he took me... and I thought he was going to rip me to pieces..."
Her lips trembled, but she persisted strongly. "He certainly had the look to do so, but it seemed as though he realized something, and then took me to the lighthouse."
She glanced up at him. "The lighthouse wasn't our first stop. I think he took me to the Western... Realm? It was particularly hellish, but that was all he said," she added, nodding lightly, " 'Welcome to the Babysitter's home, the Western Realm.' but I've no idea what that all meant."
"Yeah..." He didn't really know what to say to that. "Do you have a vial?" He asked quite suddenly.
Smirking at the odd request, Rina rolled off of her bed and swaggered over to a closet. Opening it, one could see a few plants inside that were being allowed partial sunlight. The earthly smell of hanging, dried roots and herbs filtered into the rest of the room. In a tiny wooden box, she withdrew a clean vial. She handed it to him, her brow rising with curiosity.
Solus took it his hand and inspected it in the light. It seemed to be good enough. "Now I will need a clean syringe, and a wine cork."
"You're awfully specific, you know that?" she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her nose into his face.
"This is important, Rina." His tone was firm. There was always a time for intimacy, but it was not now.
Little did she know the truth of that fact. "So is this," she countered, kissing him squarely on the spot below his eyes and above his mouth. But then she
obeyed and retrieved the requested items from the same closet.
"Now alcohol and cotton. And before I forget, a tourniquet." He quickly stated as he inspected the syringe and tested the wine cork, seeing if it fit into the opening of the vile, and it did so perfectly.
"Um, 'kay," she replied, leaving the bedroom. Her footsteps could be heard zipping up the stone stairs, but before long, she returned with a flourish. "I've got this place memorized!" she giggled.
"Perfect..." Solus added, taking the items and placing them neatly beside him. "Now I need your arm." He said to her, his eyes piercing into hers.
She blanched.
He could have just told me he wanted to draw blood... Sighing lightly, she cocked her eyebrows and rolled her sleeve, offering her arm like it was a piece of meat. On her skin, very faint traces of glowing runes could be seen, along with her veins. She stared right back into those eyes of his, completely undaunted by his seriousness. If this had been 200 years ago at home with him, it would have been like a determined bunny trying to give a hardened wolf its meanest death-stare. But now she was something else, not even a wolf.
Perhaps a lioness.Solus noticed her return stare. She really had grown up, and not just physically. He gently took her hand, which she smirked at, and his rough palm slowly ran up her forearm, his thumb prodding the skin for veins. The runes on her skin were a curious sight, they only existed within before. He wrapped the tourniquet around her bicep, to push the blood down her arm.
Solus scooted a little closer to her as he placed the needle of the syringe on the vein he chose, not breaking the skin just yet. He looked up at her, straight at her lips, thought it was always difficult to tell what he was looking at. Suddenly his jagged lips collided with hers, drawing her into a deep kiss as the needle broke the skin, and pushed into the vein. His thumb pulled back on the plastic piston, her blood, which glowed slightly from the sigils on every cell, flowed into the syringe. Rina was certainly distracted by the man's considerable trickery, but she welcomed it greedily. After they parted, she hazily looked down at what he'd drawn and only felt a bit woozy for multiple reasons. She perched on the bed just in time.
"What happened?" she asked him, squinting at the syringe.
Solus placed the syringe into the vial and pushed down on the piston, ejecting the blood into the glass, and sealing the vial with the cork. "That should do the trick." He said as he pocketed the filled vial.
He looked at her woozy face, removing the tourniquet. A small dab of blood emerged from the prick, but it quickly ended there. "I drew some blood so I can track you with it. Hopefully I'll find you that way." What he didn't tell her was the purpose of the kiss. A small portion of the Black Tar that pumped through his body, entered hers, and it would be there for as long as she lived. He hoped, that it would eventually reach her spine, in doing so it establish some kind of connection between them. And as he would search for her, he would be following a 'hot and cold' trail. The 'hotter' it got, the closer he was to the parasite.
She stared at him, glancing at something over his shoulder before looking back and nodding. "Clever. I was hoping for something like that," she remarked with a smile.
The calendar on the back of her door had also drawn her sight, reminding her of her futility of trying to keep time here.
Time. She pressed forward, glancing at his pocket. "Wait, how much time is left?" she asked him.
Solus pulled out the hourglass, and stared at it intently. "I think we've got a good 45 minutes left," he said, relaxing more into his chair.
"Mm." Rina nodded, tilting her head in thought.
Something to do, he's already seen everything..."What do you suggest, Rina?" he asked her.
She pursed her lips. "Let's..." she began before the light-beam device lost power again, fading everything in the room to black.
"Fuck!" she cried.
------------
Light cracked into the window pane, which had been opened half-way to let fresher air inside. The candles had gone out. Breaths in sync relayed back and forth peacefully, dreamily. They held each other, lightly cuddling on their side under a thin bed sheet. Rina hadn't really slept, as she mostly just basked in the feeling of their coupling heat.
Solus wasn't sure where to start, especially after that. So he started with a gentle, "Hey..."
"Mmm, another go?" she asked lazily like a content little kitty.
Solus took a glance at the hourglass on the bedside table. There was very little time left. "We have 5 minutes left..." He said with a sigh.
"Time is a bittersweet thing, isn't it?" she asked, her strength growing to keep him closer.
"Yeah..." He replied, running a hand along her back, his fingers tracing her spine.
"I'm scared, ... Solus," she replied, lightly squirming against the tickling sensation.
"You're not the only one."
"I know..." she whispered and hugged him once before she let him go to dress himself.
Regrettably he knew he had to get up. It was an unfortunate necessity. Parting with Rina's warmth was like parting with his skin, and deep down it was painful. As he rose, she watched him admirably as he picked up his belongings and donned them. This wasn't Solus' fastest attempt at dressing though. The sadness of leaving her behind for a second time was killing him inside. Rina could actually feel the full weight of his heavy heart resting inside her own, dragging her inward to consider her own sadness. But for what it was all worth, the essence he'd left behind and their entire 2 hour visit would sustain her for many months to come.
She hoped that it would sustain him as well.
"Until the Next, my love," she whispered wantonly and held out her hand to take his, which, he, of course, took without hesitation. But that 'fare well' phrase sounded familiar, he just couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it. He thought nothing of it. "I'm not giving up this time. Now that I know where to look... This isn't goodbye."
She nodded and let him take his leave of the scene of their most righteous reunion.
I am so happy.Solus didn't dally, for if he stayed longer, the less he wanted to leave. So he quickly dashed out of her room, and out to the beach of the island. He looked straight up at the quickly fading stars.
Not much time. He thought as he pulled out his phone. Turning in the camera and quickly snapping a panoramic image from the horizon to 90 degrees above his head. And as he pocketed the phone, the hourglass in his clutched hand shattered, and the sand particles crawled up his arm. It enveloped him entirely in less than a moment and then shrunk him down rapidly.
The sand of the hourglass remained on the beach as Solus was returned to the House of Grim, only to find Layna's body gone, the blood cleaned up, and the "fake" bomb disposed of. At his feet, he would find a little white card, carefully placed on a piece of junk so that he would see it.
It read:
'To Whom This Should Concern,
24 hours from now, we shall meet.
The location is your choice.
The promise of certitude is mine.
Sincerely,
D'As Rina observed Solus's exodus off the island through her bedroom window, she pulled her bathrobe fully over her, fastening its belt. It was another day, but it would be unlike any other.
A large, white-gloved hand carefully placed itself on her shoulder. But she didn't even flinch, as though she'd sensed the stranger's presence beforehand.
"Well done," a rich, dutiful voice remarked.
She didn't reply, but her eyes fell to the floor with anticipation of their future.
------------
COLLAB POST: Synthorian, Mikael
