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lilas · 2 days ago

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Halcyon’s End

—chapter 1: before the fall

Rating: Teen Characters: Ryne & Gaia, Cyella, Pixies Pairing: Ryne x Gaia Chapter Words: 1,750 Summary: After making a deal with a pixie, Ryne anxiously waits for news about the Source and her friends and family. But when the news finally catches up with her, it brings far more than she expected. Notes: Exploring the question of "what if the Final Days came to the First?". Endwalker MSQ spoilers. Background Wolcred. Chapters: one • two • three • four Read on AO3

A faint light pulses in the corner of her eye, distant and spluttering, like a lantern that is about to burn out.

Ryne turns, craning her neck so fast she swears she heard it crack. Inhaling a sharp breath, she winces and claps a hand across the sore spot, rubbing gently. She casts an eye out across the Quadrivium in search of the light, only to find it has faded now that she is looking for it in earnest. Just like it has the past two times.

Almost as if it wants her to know it is there, but does not want her to find it.

Almost as if it is playing hide and seek.

Almost.

“…Ryne? What’s happening?”

Ryne blinks, her long hair tangling about her hand as she whips back around. “Hm? What?”

Gaia sighs and digs her elbows into the table, resting her chin in the cup of her hand. She fixes her with one of those exasperated stares of hers, pointedly ignoring her bowl of half-finished ice cream melting in the sun. “You didn’t hear me, did you,” she says.

Ryne laughs nervously and tucks her hair behind her ears. “I’m fine, Gaia,” she replies, using the moment as an excuse to massage the sore spot on her neck. Wicked white, she really did something to it, didn’t she? “There’s no need to worry. I promise.”

Her dark brows draw together. “I didn’t ask if you were fine, I asked what is happening.”

“Nothing is happening!”

“Really? You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

Gaia’s gaze passes from Ryne’s ears to her hand on her neck and back again. “Tucking your hair behind your ears when you’re nervous,” she says pointedly. Despite the scowl, her dark eyes are sparkling. “The way Aureia does when she’s nervous.”

“I don’t—she doesn’t—” She blows a raspberry. “Aureia doesn’t get nervous, have you seen her—”

Gaia reaches across the table, enclosing her hand in hers. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong or not?”

Ryne sighs, her shoulders slumping. Around them, the usual chatter rises in steady harmony. It is market day and a number of temporary stalls have popped up across the square, stretching from the steps to the Wandering Stairs to the entrance to the aetheryte plaza. Some vendors have even opened shop on the upper level walkways, enjoying the colourful view of the Musica Universalis below. The stalls sport everything from treats from the Crystarium’s home bakers to tailored clothing from Eulmore and carved jewellery from Fanow. A true celebration of the bonds the people of Norvrandt have built, and how far they have come since their world almost ended a second time.

It’s her favourite day of the moon.

Gaia squeezes her hand.

“I don’t know what it is,” Ryne begins slowly. “I’ve seen something. Just out of reach. But whenever I turn to take a better look it disappears, as if it was never there. Like my mind is playing tricks on me.”

“Tricks, eh? Are you sure it isn’t a pixie?”

“I—well…” She laughs and tugs on the ribbon in her hair. “I suppose it could be, but it doesn’t feel right. It feels different somehow.”

“You’ve been saying that a lot.” Gaia pauses, sucking on her lower lip as she considers her next words. “Don’t you think this has something to do with what Aureia said when she last passed through? About the—”

“The Final Days?” The term has become something of a taboo between them, to be whispered if it must be mentioned at all. It is too soon since Norvrandt suffered its last calamity, and with this moment’s pause they have been gifted, the restoration of the Empty, all the good that has come from rebuilding… To speak of another, a trial even greater than the one they have already suffered, is like a curse, ushering it into existence. Especially after the other night where she alone saw the sky aflame and the stars come crashing down. “I… I don’t know. Regardless of what is happening on her world, all is well here on the First. And even if it wasn’t… we’re fine, aren’t we? Gaia?”

But Gaia does not answer. She is looking away now, her hand still loosely wrapped in Ryne’s, even as she tilts back in her chair and stares absently across the Quadrivium, lost in thought. She draws her brows together and purses her lips, the dark colour smudging at the corner of her mouth. It’s a new one. She’s been fond of purple this week.

“You saw the world burn, Ryne,” she says after a moment. “Anyone would be spooked after that. And left with more questions than there are answers. It makes sense that you’re unsettled, knowing what it meant.”

Ryne fiddles with the end of her ribbon, twisting and untwisting. “I just… I need to know what’s happening on the Source. I know I can’t, I know there’s no way. Not without Aureia. But I can feel it like a pit in my stomach, this worry inside me growing stronger day by day. That something is going to happen, and it’s going to happen soon. And the agony of waiting for this inconceivable doom while my friends fight it on another world, to be unable to act until it comes…” She lets out a long, shaking breath. What she doesn’t say is that the anxiety started long before Aureia’s visit, before the news that the Final Days had come again. “I’m overthinking, I know. I just wish… I knew what was happening.”

Gaia turns back to her, eyebrow raised. “There’s really no way to send a message?”

“I… well.” She presses her knuckles to her mouth, shrinking a little beneath Gaia’s inquisitive gaze. “There is. And I did. But I haven’t heard back yet—”

“Wait—how?”

“Fae magic.”

“Fae magic. You’re not serious.”

She nods, a cautious smile hidden by her hand. “I asked for Feo Ul’s help a few weeks before Aureia arrived and they… didn’t agree, to put it mildly. I’m not their sapling, after all. So, I called on another—”

“That’s what you were doing in Il Mheg? I thought you were collecting Urianger’s old horticulture books!”

“I was! And I did! But I also talked to a few others in Lyhe Mheg—”

“The dream realm? You went to the dream realm?”

“Yes, I did.” Ryne frowns. “You’re coming off a little strong. You don’t approve.”

Gaia lets out an exasperated sigh. “I only think that messing around with pixie magic isn’t the best idea,” she grumbles, folding her arms tight across her chest. “Especially if the Faerie King themself has told you no. Please tell me you at least got what you wanted?”

“I made a friend. Eo Marn. They agreed to transfer my message for me, but they haven’t come back yet.” Ryne leans forward in her seat, hands gripping either side, one leg bouncing up and down. It helps, somehow—the repetitive motion soothing away the feeling gnawing away in her stomach. “And then Aureia passed through, and now I’m wondering if this was all a big risk for nothing… but I don’t think it changes anything.”

“Did she know? About the messenger?”

“No. And I doubt she was on the lookout for fae magic.” She pauses. “I hope Eo Marn won’t be too much longer. What if something happened to them?”

“And what if something didn’t? From what you’ve told me, there’s no way to know how much or how little time has passed on the other side. What’s hours or days to them could be several weeks for us.”

“I know that.” She swallows hard. She’s no expert, but the time dilation between the Source and its shards is a topic that never quite leaves her mind. The First drifts, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but never in sync. Though she does not feel the effects herself, it is something Aureia has remarked on once—when she returned during their quest to restore the Empty, not long after their friends said goodbye for good. She looked older than the last time she saw her, she said. Timed moved on for Ryne while it stood still for Aureia and Thancred. “Believe me, I know. And I’m trying to be patient, I am, it’s just… I don’t think I’m very good at waiting when their lives are in danger.”

Gaia’s expression softens. “Have you seen it again? The sky burning?”

Ryne shakes her head. “No. It was only one time. You?”

“I haven’t.” She pauses. Idle fingers pick up her spoon, tapping it absent-mindedly against the rim of her bowl. Clink, clink, clink. “I could… I could awaken the memory, I think. If I wanted to. So you wouldn’t have to remember it alone.”

A flush warms Ryne’s cheeks. “Gaia…”

“But I…” Clink, clink, clink. “I don’t think I can. Or I don’t think I want to. I am me, not the person who witnessed it. If I am to see the Final Days again, I will do so with new eyes and on my terms, not lost remembrances branded on my soul.” She looks up, meeting Ryne’s gaze. “Is that all right? Does it make sense?”

Ryne reaches across the table and nudges the half-finished bowl out of the way, taking both of Gaia’s hands in hers. “Of course it is. Thank you.”

Gaia smiles gratefully. “Maybe we should ask Cyella what she thinks.”

Ryne looks over Gaia’s shoulder, her gaze sweeping up the steps to the Wandering Stairs. The tavern is busy today, packed with both regular patrons and couples and friends out to enjoy the afternoon together. Cyella moves expertly between them, her tray piled high with drinks. Some she greets with a familiar smile and a nod, others she exchanges a few short pleasantries with before moving on. Most do not know her history, and she would like to keep it that way. But for those who do know, it’s impossible not to see—the grace and precision of a trained warrior, who moves with confidence through her environment.

A warrior from another shard.

A light winks in Ryne’s peripheral vision. Brighter now, as if it is growing desperate. She spins around in her seat, searching for it—

And finds nothing.

Something caresses her mind, like a child’s weeping laugh on the breeze, trailing off into distant nothingness.

“All right,” Ryne says at last, rising to her feet. “Let’s go talk to Cyella.”

next chapter (tbd) ->

#finally got a chance to read all four chapters of this and it is so good!#loved seeing the exploration of ryne’s character with thancred and aur gone!#ffxiv #ffxiv fic #shadowbringers spoilers #endwalker spoilers

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