Then he moved, the tenuous tether, so frayed and holding by a thread, broke, and the sensation was both disembodied and free, as if all his burdens had been lifted from him.
He followed her path until he saw her beloved face turn toward him with a frown.
Than, what have you done?
I followed my heart like I did when you were alive.
Than knew every line and angle of Mei’s ethereal face, the shape of her lips, the tilt of her eyes, the heat of her skin.
Oh, Than. I had no choice but to leave you. Did you find my gifts?
Yes.His soul was in agony.They were beautiful and heartbreaking.They crushed me.All that time you drew me, painted me, and I never knew how you felt. I’m still not sure.
She closed her eyes, moving toward him, her hands shaped his face, and he sighed at her touch.I was never meant for you. I know that now, and I’m wandering in here trying to find him. Our story is unfinished, but you and me are over.
He nodded, the gravity of her words cutting hard and clean.I just need to know one thing.
What is it?
Was it real, true?
She pressed herself against him, her arms going around his neck, and he could feel her anguish and regret. To his profound sorrow, he saw how her soul was bound long before she came to the life where he lost her. This man, this love of hers, was her true destiny, and it all poured into him. Jealousy, or vengeance, or bitterness had no place here. Instead of breaking him…it bolstered him, wiping him clean as he waited for the answer he had to hear, the only one that mattered to him now.
Yes, it was real. I loved you with all my broken heart. Nothing can change that, and although it’s not our story now, it was then, and now it’s finished.She kissed him softly.You gave up your life to find me for this? Even knowing that I was made for another?
He nodded.Yes, and to tell you that I loved you from the moment I met you, and that will never change no matter the outcome. I can only regret that I didn’t have the courage to take the steps then.He cupped her face.I hope you find what you’re looking for, and I hope you’re happy.
Glistening tears slipped down her cheeks.Knowing what you know now, would you have still loved me?
His heart contracted, and his answer burst out of him in a wave of power, rippling across the Veil feeding the magic even as the magic fed him.Yes.
* * *
"He was tryingto negotiate for his life." A new voice cut through the tense silence, regret heavy. Lechuza turned to see a woman standing beside her, her form shimmering slightly as if she were woven from the Veil itself. She kept her eyes on Chaos as if too fascinated to look away. "I'm Thera. I find lost things here. We're kin."
A strange resonance passed between them, and Lechuza knew that she was speaking the truth. She looked back at Chaos, who watched the woman with a sudden, unnerving stillness.
"He has life," Lechuza said, though the words felt hollow even to her own ears.
Thera smiled, her eyes sweeping over Chaos. "He doesn't have life. Purpose is life. That's been taken from him." She sighed, a sound like dust settling on ruins. "He is impossibly handsome, though, and that face isn't artifice. It's woven fromstars and matter and the lifeblood of the cosmos." Then she shrugged. "Maybe it's just the way I see him?"
He smiled softly, his eyes going over the newcomer like he’d never seen her before.
Lechuza opened her mouth to argue, to defend the necessity of his imprisonment, but Thera spoke again. "I know why. But did you ever think about who he is, an artist, a dreamer, the lover of chain reactions? A being made of infinite potential wearing a thousand necessary faces. We put him into a prison, but he’s more than destruction. He’s creation undone.” Her voice softened. “Pure possibility, limitless, unfinished, hungry for meaning, but drowning in infinite options.” She lifted her chin as Chaos chuckled. “Seeing the origin doesn't erase the wound." That cut off the chuckle and his mouth tightened.
Lechuza sighed, the fight draining out of her. She knew that only too well. The knowledge of why didn't always heal the hurt of what was.
"He has to be bound," Lechuza stated, the conviction returning.
Thera nodded. "I know."
Then, in the space between breaths, Thera dissolved away, her form breaking apart into motes of light that rejoined the Veil. The next thing Lechuza knew, Thera was no longer standing beside them, but she was down there, close to Chaos.
The air around the Unraveler felt thick, heavy with the weight of enforced concepts. She had no idea what Thera was saying to him. She saw his expression shift, a flicker of something timeless and unreadable in his dark eyes.
I’ve lost him,Komodo said from far away. The whole team stiffened.He was there, and now…I’m sorry. He’s gone. He…he left, and the tether snapped. He is beyond my ability to track him.
“Why would he do that?” Easy said, unbearable pain laced through his words.
