#(eyri honey you fell in love with Keeping Secrets McElf i don't know what you expected)

[sezja]

Febuwhump Day 8: "Why Won't it Stop?" Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV Characters/Ship: Original Characters (Nerise Feuillelains & Eyrisunn Hyrtfyrsinn), background WoL/Urianger Triggers/Content warnings: n/a

Nerise coughs. Gleaming whiteness spatters the gilded flooring - aether, pure aether, seething with Light.

She curls in on herself, clawing at her stomach, her chest; she's changing, Eyri knows it - she's becoming a Lightwarden, just as Emet-Selch said.

They tricked us, he thinks, wildly, all his rational thought shattered; the Exarch had lied to them, keeping secrets about how dangerous this was. The godsdamned Ascian had lied to them, pretending to an alliance he had no intention of honoring. And Urianger-

Urianger had lied to them, lied to him, and that-

That will have to wait for later.

He runs to her, runs to Nerise, runs headlong into the danger. Didn't he promise he'd always guard her back? Didn't he promise he wouldn't let her get herself into trouble? One of the first things he'd promised her; her and her weird lizard. What is he going to tell Sohl Amh? He'd better pray there's no way back to the Source after this, or he'll find himself eaten by a heartbroken wyvern.

"Nerise," he says, gathering her convulsing body in his arms as if he might be able to hold her together by main force. "Nerise, fight it, lass; you've held it back this long-"

"Go-" The word emerges as a groan, cut off by a horrible, guttural scream. She gasps, clutching at his chest. Flecks of gleaming white aether on her lips; on his shirt when she coughs again, deep and retching. "Eyri - get out-"

Gods, why won't it stop? The Light keeps spilling out of her, bright and evil.

There's a light that shouldn't be there in the depths of her violet eyes, like a torch behind glass - glass that's threatening to shatter. The Light, clawing its way free, eager to shape her into an unrecognizable monstrosity, fed on the aether of every Lightwarden in Norvrandt. The sky roils overhead, the Light eager to greet a new master, now that Vauthry is vanquished. He thinks of every Lightwarden they've destroyed, every sin eater they've slain - once living creatures, all.

Once people, perhaps.

The others reach them at last, and Nerise's distress grows louder. She does not want them here; does not want them nearby when she-

When she-

"Ryne," Y'shtola says, uncharacteristically gentle. "Can you do anything for her?"

"I..." The girl's jaw sets, determined. That new steel in her spine is showing. "I will try."

Eyrisunn holds his breath, cradling Nerise like a child. A look of intense concentration crosses Ryne's young face as she extends her hands toward their agonized Warrior of Darkness. A hush settles over the Scions, broken only by the distant screeching of sin eaters left without a master. What the people at the foot of Mount Gulg must be thinking, watching the Light reclaim the sky, Eyri can't even imagine.

With small, hiccuping gasps, Nerise begins to relax.

She falls limp against him, quiet and still... but breathing.

Ryne lowers her hands, panting with the effort. "It... it won't stay contained forever-"

"Never mind." Thancred rests a gentle hand atop her head. "Well done, Ryne. For now, we need to get her somewhere safe."

"The Crystarium," Y'shtola says at once. "They will need to be told what has become of the Exarch, and the Crystarium has resources that may..." She trails off, looking at Nerise's still form.

Resources that may give us hope. Any hope. Anything at all.

Eyri nods, rising with Nerise still in his arms. "What will we tell everyone?"

"We'll think of something." Thancred stands. "It's a long way down the mountain. We'll have time to think." The others all set off, preparing to cut a path for Eyri and Nerise, if needed.

Urianger lingers. He's remained unusually silent through it all, his face ashen.

Eyri eyes him. "We'll talk," he says, as calmly as he can manage, in light of the circumstances. "When she's safe."

The man he thought he'd loved nods, not meeting his gaze.