He needed her.

[18:24] It's with a quiet approach from behind that the man moved up next to the woman he married. The woman who'd made his life something much, much greater than he had ever envisioned. She, who changed him. She, who made him a better person in many ways. She, who made his weakness into a strength.

There isn't much hesitation to silently reach for her hand as he stops by her side. Hiding his true feelings was far too improper.

Love does not dissipate that easily.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[18:35] Anastasia stands atop the ridge of the mountain overlooking the sea to the north of Achyon, her skin's pallor still almost bone-white in color. Her chest and shoulders rose and fell with the labored breathing that came with the vice grip of ice around her heart.

It had worsened, almost imperceptibly so, but it had truly worsened. Perhaps all of this new stress and the rising emotions of the times.

To Bruno, her love ran deep, and also her frustrations.

As he came to take her hand, she glanced towards him before looking back towards the alighted waters. Her fingers briefly tightened around his hand before she pulled her hand away from him gently.

"You broke your promise to me, Bruno."
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[18:39] "I did not."

His answer was as swift, cold, and to the point as it could be. He always had been efficient and this was no different. There were many promises that had been spoken to her, though two were brighter than the rest: One where he promised not to intend to hurt anyone from the Empire and another where he promised not to lose himself.

Neither had been broken, in his broken mind.

"She struck first alongside Ryker. I had no other solution; it was me or them."

Marcel had been fed the same lie, after all. It may be possible Anastasia carried the same belief. Red eyes peered down to his abandoned Synthetic hand briefly before they turned to the horizon.

"I wish she had left my future be rather than remaining an obstacle to it."
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[18:49] "She was your sister Bruno. Our sister. Our Commander. How can you believe that you have still upheld your promise?" She asks, with equally as little hesitation.

The fact that he believed that? Honestly believed that? Proved to her without a shadow of a doubt that he was no longer the man she had married.

He had cracked. He had given too much of himself away, and it was her fault.

She should have been there for him instead of wasting her time with that ridiculous academy. She should have guided him better, should have told him to stop. Made him stop.
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[18:56] He drew a breath with trembling lips. The façade he had put up was slowly being chipped away, cracking. It's likely at that moment Anastasia would even notice his appearance. Clothes and hair disheveled, dirty strands of white hair falling before his expression as bloodshot eyes kept him awake at night through torment and torture. Scratch marks at his neck and jawline, neutrality breaking apart as he turned towards the woman who had long stolen his heart.

"Because it hurts! Because I had no other choice! My life was on the line. Everything we've worked for was on the line. Bending the knee and falling before the very family that poisoned her mind was going to lead to my death.

.. And I have too much left to accomplish."

He turned once more, cloak shifting with the wind that brushed against it as he stared off into the vast ocean, reminded of the Capital.

"I owe it to her to succeed. I won't stop. No matter what you say.

This... working with the masses, with chaotic, unhinged maniacs has always been for her.

For you.

For our New World."
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[19:08] Anastasia shook her head slowly from side to side. The cracks had long since been there, she had just been too blinded by her love for the man in front of her to see them until now.

"It should hurt Bruno. You have done something that you would never have done. Never. And I don't think there are any pieces left to pick up."

It wasn't until now, did she finally look over towards Bruno, to meet his gaze. Light brown eyes glisten with moisture. The heartache that was present, the hurt. She hid nothing from him, as always.

"Do you remember what we promised each other Bruno? The most important promise?"
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[19:18] Many, many promises had been spoken. Implications and rules laid out for the occultist he was, for the madwoman she was for even being capable of loving him. He couldn't look at her this way, not with the tears in her eyes; he would be crying if he did. His lips parted briefly, then came shut again. Strands of hair upon his cheek began sticking upon it more heavily as wetness he attempted to avoid ran down.

Many promises, yet only one stood as the most important.

"... A ring worhty of what you mean to me."

It may not have been the answer she expected or wanted, but his deranged mind latched onto that promise more than any other. It represented their love. It represented the promise that they would always remain together, that she would be the Queen to his King. That she would sit at his side as he sat above humanity.

A simple, mere ring.

Yet, to him it was much more.
To him, it showed his commitment.
To him, it showed that he would make her strength a weakness.
To him, it was a tangible proof that she meant as much as the lights in the sky did.

He finally turns, facing her despite the pain, the tears, the heartbreak.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[19:27] Anastasia could only shake her head, the tears within her eyes now forming fully and slowly sliding downwards, her breathing growing shaky as she raises a hand upwards to cover her mouth. Teeth bite down hard against themselves, and a quiet, wretched sob comes from her.

"We were supposed-"

She starts, only for her voice to catch, and her other hand to move upwards to pad against her eyes to wipe away the now flooding tears. Yet no matter how many times her pale white fingers rubbed, another would always be there, ready to slide down her cheek.

"To stay together forever..."

And yet he had died and left he here alone. He died right in front of her eyes, and she didn't even see it happening until it was already far too late.

The sobs came out, the wracking heart wrenching pain given vocalization.

This was her fault. She had let him die.
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[19:35] It was heartwrenching to watch the woman he loved most being broken apart right before his eyes, to see her tears flow, to watch her breath stop, stutter as she holds back the pain within.

And with the words that she spoke Bruno's equally messed-up state was left with but a single card left in his hand. His right hand— his real hand rose up. The very ring that had united them was still worn, brought before Anastasia to witness the shadow of the dancing lights, of the aurora borealis that reaffirmed their love.

He would not remove it.

"You're the only one who can ensure that we do." He says. A single step forward is taken and arms come to wrap around her form, pulling her closer in an embrace as cold as the northern nights. From her. From him. They long had lost their warmth, and yet...

... The cold had never bothered him.

"I... want you with me. I still do. I wantyou with our daughter, too. That ring..."

His voice breaks in the midst of whispers as he forces a tight squeeze. One could swear he never had been the man who was afraid of physical contact for that instance. His hands sunk into her almost... possessively. Greedily latching onto her form.

"I would sooner die than take that ring off."

To him, such a promise was tantamount to remaining together forever.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[19:53] Anastasia's ring was present as well, and yet the arcanium glove, The Winter's Herald, was curiously missing. His embrace was rejected, sobbing, trembling hands pushing him away. There was a long moment where her cries were the only noises that she made.

"And what do you owe me Bruno? I told you, my life, this world. It may as well all be empty without you. The real you, a part of it."

Anastasia reached towards him, his hand sought after within her own. If he allowed her to take it, she would guide his palm so that it rested against her chest, just above her heart.

"I want you to-" Her voice catches as a sob breaks its way out of her, and she forces it away to finish what she had started to say, forcefully. "-kill me. You owe me that much."

Did her final request of her husband come out of no where? Was it really that surprising? "And then, once I am finally with him again, you will be free to wear the crown that you deserve."
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[20:07] A hand is pulled, brought against the cold of her chest, of her heart while words that bring naught but nonsense to the man were spoken. He swallowed his feelings. Eyes flowing fully at this point. His head shook. His heart broke. His hands were gripping upon themselves, upon her, upon anything he could latch onto.

".. No. No."

Much like she had forced away his embrace, he forced away their proximity. He felt his psyche deteriorate more and more as madness settled in, as his mind broke apart completely.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, ANNA? WHY—

WHY CAN'T WE JUST BE HAPPY TOGETHER?"

Her words had shattered all and any sense of posture, of decency, of discretion. The man who was so well-kept and orderly was left before a demand that he would never accept. He couldn't. It was... not his duty, not his task.

Itnever was.
It couldn't be.

Just as he had pushed her away he reached out again, intent on grabbing onto her shirt and pull her closer before she could just... jump off. Before she could take herself away from him.

She wasn't allowed to be greedy.
She wasn't allowed to wait for him.

He needed her.
He nedded her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed her.
He needed.
Her.
He.
Her.

What good was a crown if it was empty?

"Y-You're not dying. You're not allowed to!"

His words were barely escaping him. His mind was in chaos.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[20:19] Anastasia was limp, she didn't do anything besides stand there in front of him, sobbing, wretching. Her world had lost all meaning the moment Bruno turned down the path that he did. She could not walk away from Achyon, and she could not walk away from Bruno, and yet both were inexorably moving away from each other at a break neck pace.

There was nothing she could do, utterly nothing.

She might have jumped off herself if he refused, but it had to be him that did it. She couldn't reach him any other way.

"Please. Do it." She says towards him, her voice hoarse and broken.

Bruno was gone.
He was gone, and it was her fault.
He was gone and she had let it happen.
He was gone and she didn't even know when she had lost him.

"Kill me..."

Anna's hands move upwards until they found the sides of his face, and his head was shifted until she could look him in the eyes. Directly, and from mere inches away.

She made him look into her eyes as she broke.

"Please.
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[20:25] It's a shaky breath that escaped him as he realized the extent of his own desires. The effects it had upon the only person who could truly understand him. The one who could accept him even as he was falling down a pit of despair and pain. His entire body was shaking. His hands gripped onto her tightly as he leaned in. His face burrowed itself into her chest, her cloak, her cold embrace.

"I don't want to... I... I don't want to, Anna. I just. I can't. I can't do this. I can't do this without you.

I can't face the world without you, so please—

please let me be greedy. For... one more year. For one more decade. For one more story. For one more trip. For one more adventure. For one more..."

He couldn't keep doing this. He saw it in her eyes, he felt it in her voice. She was broken. She couldn't go on. She would die the moment he turned his gaze away, no matter how much he begged, pleaded, or wanted.

Bruno pyr Aertas had finally realized the consequences of his actions.

".. for one more dance. Miss... van Winkle Aertas."

He leaned further into her, his hands moving off her cloak and up to her hand. Down to her waist. Tears were unstoppable.

He didn't want to take the first step.
He never had been good at taking the first step with her.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[20:40] Anastasia pleaded with him weakly, always the same five words, no matter what he said in response, all he would ever get from her are those same five words.

Do it.

Please.

Kill me.

She had wanted to see him, just one final time. And it had always been to ask him to do this for her. It was his last gift to her, one final moment in which she could pretend the man she had loved was still in there somewhere.

And so she danced with him, all the while, her forehead rested against his collarbone. The first step was taken, slowly, carefully, and each step afterwards was taken just as slowly. A slow motion waltz, in which she prolonged the last, final moments in which she could believe that he was still there with her.

Dancing through the night to the gentle sound of the song they had made together.
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[20:58] Each step was more difficult to make than the previous one. The looming knowledge that the moment this dance ended everything would be over was haunting him, it was breaking him. His heart was attempting to close up, to seal itself deep within and never see the light of day again.

Yet it couldn't.

He'd exposed his heart to the woman who led him in this macabre dance. He had given her everything he could. He had held back on his love for her for years in order for their relationship to be perfect. They had grown to know eachother, to love eachother, to move in with eachother, to marry eachother, to have kids with eachother.

To love. Dance. Sing. Eat. Cook. Craft. Rest. Think. Adventure. Explore. Laugh. Suffer.

Cry.

"You... are the only one.
You always were."

His words carried pain greater than any other, and yet his mind understood the reality. His heart ached and from this ache, from thispain, from this heartbreak came occult energies. More than ever before.

It's at his weakest that Bruno was at his strongest.

"If this is the cost of my path, then I can't afford to fail."

A sniffle was drawn from him as he felt this unsung melody come to an end. His entire body tensed up as the inevitable plagued his mind, whispering louder than any other of the voices he heard.

The occult forces that gathered around him began shifting, gathering at his fingertips. He released his grasp upon her hand, allowing the woman to lean fully into him, to give into the love that they shared, even to this day.

"Don't... wait for me. I'll take a while."

It's with this very moment that each and every single memory he shared with the woman began flooding his mind. Through tears and terror did he remember the day he made her his assistant, greedily so. The day he wounded her for his own gain. The day she called his name while burning up. The day he carried her away from that volcano. The day he proposed to her without a ring. The many adventures they went on. The moments they shared.

Each and every single one of them a treasure.
None of them had been given away.
No matter what.
No matter how much of himself he lost, he never dared to split with a piece of his heart.

"I never gave them away.

... our memories."

Of all the things he could say these would be the last words Anastasia pyr Aertas born Anastasia van Winkle would hear. The last reassurance that he remained loyal to her until the bitter end, that no matter how much he had died he never dared to give up on her. To give her up.

To give them up.

It's with a sudden shock of lightning applied directly upon her chest that he would kill her. Swift. Instant. A sharp, single moment of pain.

Bruno pyr Aertas had shown mercy.

.. perhaps far too late.
(Bruno pyr Aertas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[21:05] Anastasia smiled at the end's sweet release from the agony clutching her heart. As she felt his mana slowly building, she knew it was coming, and she welcomed it. Embraced it as easily as she was embracing him now.

"I love you Bruno pyr Aertas."

And then mercy came for her.
(Anastasia pyr Aertas)