Several months had passed since Videl had left his home region of Frost Gale, only to return on rare occasion. Since that time, he had managed to traverse across all of Charon, encountering several individuals along the way, and finally making his way all the way down to the land of Moonglade. The reason that he had been traveling? Well it was simple. After the "fight" that he had had with his one and only friend, the two had gone their separate ways. This had left Videl in a ball of pain and anxiety, unsure of what to do with himself. After several weeks of that, he had settled on returning to his initial goal when he had set out from home. To find out the truth behind his glacial magic.

Of course he had gone on to learn several life changing things in this time. For one, it was said that the gods had been killed off by another, quite some time ago. Rather than just a rumor that a random adventurer had brought to his tribe though, these were statements that were backed up by others. In the mind of the young T'saya, this was something that he had had to accept the likelihood of. On top of all of that, he had come to learn that most of those he had interacted with, for some reason or another, had all been villainous to some degree. Some were creatures of the night. Others were certified killers. And then there were those that had claimed to be good but had spoken of killing gods. Or a single god in particular. A dragon god known as Vulcadreaus.

With everything that he had come to learn, and the experiences that he had undergone, Videl had effectively grown as a person. Perhaps not in the best of ways.. but he had grown nonetheless! Despite all of this growth however, there were still answers to be found. Answers on the matter of what had occurred within him the moment of his conception. Hoping to ascertain these answers, Videl had eventually found himself where he was now. Deep in the woods of the Eclipse Jungle and searching for the Lantern Light Wood.

As he had made his way through the Eclipse Jungle, he would find himself riding atop of his Frigid Steed, Lumi. This kind of weather wasn't exactly her forte but she had willingly pushed through it, doing what she had to to ensure that her rider remained a semblance of happy. As his only companion throughout these past few months, Lumi had been there at Videl's lowest of lows. The nights that he had spent crying and muttering in his sleep about the events that had unfolded upon last seeing Sylvari. Through all of the fights that he had put himself through despite the fact that he was no challenge against certain individuals or creatures. Through it all.

"Just a little longer, girl. Once we track down these Ribbinynh than we should be fine. I know that I've been pushing you hard these past couple of months.. but it'll all pan out in the future. I promise you.. And once we get there, I'll be sure to offer you all of the pets and brushings."

Sylvari had seen better days. After a string of painful goodbyes to dear friends, she had thrown herself with reckless abandon into her work, favoring long treks to remote places and slaying hellish monsters. Perhaps it was a sense of atonement for her sins and foibles in dealing with others that caused her to take such extreme action. Perhaps it was simply that mortal peril was an excellent distractant from the tyranny of the unoccupied mind. Whatever the case, the justiciar was so downtrodden, so beaten down by the unearthly gauntlet of trials she had subjected herself to as to be nigh unrecognizable from the well-maintained symbol of justice she strove to represent before.

Her face was drawn and gaunt, as she had subsisted on magical monsters and wellsprings of wild magic rather than having a steady supply of fresh blood. The darkened plate she wore, before immaculately maintained and oiled daily, now bore dirt, deep grooves from vicious claws, and nearly half of its original mass from the beating it had taken. The defiant and lively crimson of her eyes had faded to a dull burgundy, and her beautiful platinum blonde hair was so mixed with dirt, plant matter, and even less savory pollutants as to be a wholly different color, resembling a dull brown. She was covered in the greenish blood of her most recent kill and smelled as foul as she felt.

Her most recent impossible excursion had been killing a fire-breathing, nine-headed hydra. Fearing for her noble steed's welfare, Sylvari had sent Mercy off in the fight, and hadn't yet relocated her. Sylvari sported several severe burns all over her body from head to toe from the creature's terrifying elemental attack. She faced death several times and managed to make it out alive under nothing short of miraculous fortune. She could have used the last reserves of her magical strength to sap the energy from an undead servant, but her physical pain served to dull the emotional deadness she felt inside. Besides, such an action would only inflame her dark thirst more.

Needless to say, when Sylvari stumbled through the underbrush to see a familiar icy mage, she was struck dumb, feelings of embarrassment, guilt, longing, and fear coursing through her in equal measure. As the pair locked eyes, Sylvari knew she no longer had the option to slink away quietly but could only manage to croak out a single word.

"Videl."

Hoping that Lumi and himself could arrive at their predetermined location sooner rather than later, Videl had continued to push his frigid steed onward. The journey had been long and arduous but they were getting closer to what he had sought. This much he could feel within his very core. The answers to his questions would soon be granted to him. The thing that he had sought the most was night... And that was when he had stumbled upon a familiar face. Or voice to be more accurate.

As a figure had pushed through the brush of the jungle and onto the path that he had been making his way down, Lumi would stop dead in her tracks. A familiar scent had lingered from the figure, despite them having been caked with layers upon layers of earth and grime. A scent that only the frigid steed had been able to pick up on as Videl had cautiously turned his gaze towards the random figure.

From the outward appearance alone, Videl had no idea who the woman before him had been. Sylvari's appearance had been jarringly different from what the T'saya had grown accustomed to and as such, he hadn't been able to place the figure before him. Or so he had thought. Shortly after the pairs eyes had locked, the woman would speak but a single word. His name. No matter how much he had wanted to forget this voice, the likelihood of him ever doing so was zilch to none.

"Sylvari.."

The moment that her name had slipped forth from his lips, Videl would find himself taken back to that day. To the previous encounter that the pair had had, in which Sylvari had stated that she was going to leave. The day that Videl had decided to take his leave first, hoping to allow for her to go off on this mission of hers as she had desired. The day that Videl had lost the most precious thing in the world to him and had cordoned off his heart.

Thinking back on the day that he had dubbed his worst, Videl would find that his chest had begun to wrack with pain once again. An action that had occurred each time he had thought back to that moment. This time however, when compared to the others, the T'saya would find himself nigh hyperventilating. It would take all the energy that the man could muster to withhold this action; his heart beating at a rapid pacing.

The longer that the pair had stared at one another in silence, the more intense the pacing of his heart had become. As the two had stood idle and kept a firm gaze upon one another, he would finally begin to take in her features. Her gaunt skin. The lack of mass when it had come to her armor. The discoloration of.. well, everything. And the worst of it all? The burn scars that had amassed all across her visible skin. The sight of Sylvari on her own was enough to mess with his emotions but to see her so damaged, so broken.. It was enough to thaw the mans long frozen heart.

To see his beloved companion in such a state of disarray, without Mercy or Noe by her side, had broken him all over again. He could only blame himself for what she had gone through. If he would have been there for her from the beginning than things wouldn't have turned out this way. Or so he would continue to tell himself; the thought running through his mind about as quickly as the pacing of his heart. "..what happened to you?"

Those were the only words that would come forth before Videl dismounted Lumi and attempted to draw himself closer to the vampiress. He had hoped to hug her, to get her to heal herself, and to ask her all of the questions that had been running through his mind. To make up for everything that his own action had led to. And yet, knowing that she had likely been unhappy to see him given the circumstances, he would stop himself several feet away from her. A look of hesitation evident in his eyes as he had forced himself to stop in place. A look of worry hidden within their as well.

It was there again: that pit in her stomach, that lack in her heart. Feelings came flooding back to Sylvari's mind: feelings she had locked away with unconscious but very particular care by working herself to near true death. Of her great failure, of the price of justice.

As Videl stepped forward, reaching out in concern, Sylvari unconsciously stepped backwards, holding up a hand in a feeble attempt to stop the passage of time. She didn't trust herself to speak. She had never been so broken down in his presence. In fact, not since her feral flight right after her exile had the justiciar ever been so low. It had been weeks since she had spoken more than two words to anyone, and it was since their last conversation that she had truly had her heart open.

She couldn't begin to describe the feelings that plagued her, that drove her to madness. Her brain only processed the physical pain, the burns that coated her, reminding her that she was still alive, more or less. The lump in her throat may well have been a physical barrier for how effectively it limited her ability to speak. So, in lieu of explaining in full, or saying nothing at all, she stated the obvious.

"Hydra."

As Sylvari had thrown up a hand to keep him away, Videl had found himself glad that he had stopped just short of her. That wasn't to say that he hadn't been upset by the notion. Much like he had thought, Sylvari hadn't wanted to see him. His mere presence was enough for her to effectively shoo him away. This hurt more than seeing her had. And yet there was little that he could do about that. At this point, his choices were to either leave her be and continue on his way or to try and push through her defenses, so as to ensure that she is okay. Although it was a dangerous decision, Videl had leaned towards the latter.

"..a hydra, huh?" Tilting his head off to the side, Videl had continued to take in the form of the vampiress. He had been searching for any glimpse of their previous companion within the woman that had stood before him. Anything that would denote to the fact that she had still remained. At the moment, there was very little that he could see in that regard. Even to the point that Mercy and Noe had been missing from view.

"I.. I won't approach if you truly don't want me to. But please take care of yourself.. Our companions wouldn't care to see you like this." He had to hold himself back from throwing out the obvious. That he hadn't wanted to see her in such a state of disrepair either. There was only so much that he could say at the moment while trying to combat the feelings that resided within himself. "There's a village nearby in which you can get cleaned up, if you are willing to join me. Seeing as Mercy isn't here, I'm sure that Lumi would be willing to accommodate you."

Unbeknownst to the T'saya at this moment, Lumi had been glaring an icy gaze towards Sylvari. The steed was smart enough to understand the feelings that Videl had displayed throughout all this time and had been more than aware of just who had caused such feelings to come up in the first place. Feeling that her rider wouldn't be too thrilled with her if she had acted on her own though, all Lumi could do was glare. Glare and exhale a frosty misty through her flared nostrils.

"Perhaps once we get there, if you're willing to tag along, we can talk about things.." A fleeting display of emotion would occur within Videl's eyes as he had continued to keep his own gaze upon the vampiress before him. "It's clear that a lot has changed in the time that we've been apart.." From the looks of things, a degree of change that could only be said to be unhealthy.

"No," came Sylvari's quick, almost panicked reply. She was filthy, a fact only becoming more apparent the longer she lingered in Videl's presence. Through her weeks of hellish gauntlets that she put herself through, she never neglected to take care of Mercy, a tangible reminder everyday of her dear friend. Though Mercy was away at current, staining her sister with the foul blood that covered the justiciar was a thought akin to blaspheming in a church.

"I-will walk. To the village. Done out here anyways." Sylvari frowned, lamenting the flowing elegant speech she had labored so hard under Romarii's careful instruction to cultivate having fallen away so profoundly in such a short time in the wilds. She spoke falteringly and uncertainly, afraid to say the wrong thing. Perhaps it was better to say nothing at all.

She began walking to the far side of the path, pressing her body close to the trees to give the frosty steed ample room without having to be in proximity to her. There were a million things to say, but she dared not give them voice, fearing her own inadequacies and the dark thirst within her that flared, even now, at the prospect of a fresh, arcane-laden drink mere feet away. Sylvari didn't even have the presence of mind to notice the drool that came in dual rivers from the corners of her lips.

The edge's of Videl's eyebrows would find themselves upturning as his eyes had slightly widened at Sylvari's immediate response. A look of disappointment had overtaken the man for a ghost of a moment at her sudden denial of his offer. All that he had wanted to offer her was assistance but even that, in it's most basic of forms, had been turned away as quickly as it had been thrown out there. "O-oh.. Well if that is your decision." Yet again, like all those months ago, Videl would attempt to accept the decision that was made by the vampiress.

It wouldn't take long for the pair to depart from their location, heading off in the direction that Videl had believed the village to be. The silence that had remained between the two had been far louder than anything that Videl was comfortable with. Although he may be the only one speaking, he had attempted to continue on a semblance of a conversation. To Videl, a lacking conversation between the two had been far better than no conversation. "Just so you know, we'll be heading off in the direction of the Ribbinynh peoples. Not sure if you've heard of them.. I came here searching for answers and well.." Falling silent for a moment, the T'saya would turn his gaze back towards Sylvari, a soft smile spreading across his cheeks. "While I've found one of the things that I've been looking for, there are many more questions to be answered."

The two would continue down this trail for quite some time, Lumi being sure to leave a trail of frosted hoofprints in her wake as they had done so. Something that she wouldn't do all that often but an action that she had taken to draw in the attention of Mercy if they had remained in the area. "I know that this isn't the best place or time for this, Syl, but there are a few things that I'd really like to talk about if that's okay." Having said this, Videl would manage to catch a glimpse of Sylvari's face from atop his steed. This was how he had been able to note the trail of drool that had begun to drip down from the vampiress' maw. Something that he had considered to be dangerous, considering her heritage, but also something that he had willingly chosen to ignore. If she had decided to act on her base instincts.. Well he would just have to find some way to knock some sense into her. Either that or die trying.

As Sylvari trudged alongside the steed and rider, her eyes glazed over, and her mind wandered. She was vaguely aware of Videl speaking to her, but she wasn't able to make sense of the words. Sylvari had developed a nasty habit of tuning out others in her trials, and thus, though she did want to hear what Videl had to say, she was never able to switch to active listening in time to derive meaning from his statements. Several times, she considered asking him to repeat himself but figured that confirmation of her not listening would be more painful than a presumption of her being too tired to hear: an assessment not that far off the truth.

People tell themselves what they want to hear. If V can think the better of me in this sorry state, gods be praised.

Finally, Sylvari happened to be focusing her senses right as her companion was about to speak. Upon hearing that the pair needed to talk, likely about unpleasant topics of the past and not about her next drink, unfortunately, Sylvari's neutral countenance turned sour. She didn't want to think about the past. She had very specifically run away from it, drowning herself in the duty that tore her away in the first place. She supposed she owed him some answers however, so Sylvari squared her jaw, fixed Videl with the most lucid glance she could muster and croaked out a single word.

"Ask."

Several questions had begun to run throughout the mans mindscape as he had contemplated what the best things to ask would be. Things along the lines of what she had been up to. Why she was pushing herself to such an extent that she had looked the way that she had. And even if she had regretted the way that things had ended. Rather than any of those queries, Videl would proceed to ask her two entirely separate questions. The first having been asked out of both curiosity and to soften the blow of the second.

"Where are Mercy and Noe? That is more or less the first question that comes to mind. And the second being.." The pitch of his voice would begin to die out as he fell into a moment of silence, his gaze remaining firmly settled upon his former companion. The woman that he had hoped to fix things with, now that the two had physically found themselves beside one another again. "If there's any way that you can forgive me for the way that things transpired.."

If one had asked Videl for his opinion on that situation, he was certain to tell them that he had blamed himself for everything that had occurred that day. If he had improved in several areas in the time that the two were still together, things would likely have gone differently for the pair. They would likely have stuck together. And Videl wouldn't have been forced to adapt at a later date.. Especially not in the ways that he had.

"I understand if you aren't willing to accept my faults and if you resent me for departing that day. Rather than enjoy the last couple of days that we had together, or trying to convince you to stay, I ran. And that was cowardly of me. Something that I never should have done.. and yet I still desire to know your answer to this question of mine."

"I sent Mercy off, to spare her the hydra's fire. Noe is..." Sylvari paused, uncertain and ashamed of how she could explain why her undead dragonling was not with her. During the fight with the beast, Noe had bravely charged into battle, only to be smashed apart, his scattered fragments littered throughout the clearing. Noe was not like Sylvari's other servants; he was a part of her, a symbiotic bond that drew from the darkness within her and lent her strength. As such, she was able to summon him up again without any consequence. The sad, selfish truth of the matter was that Sylvari simply hadn't resummoned the little creature to endure the misery of solitude without feeling obligated to maintain some small level of cheer for his sake. "Noe is resting."

The second question was similarly difficult to answer. Her heart should have been singing to know that her friend didn't hate her, but Sylvari felt only a wringing in her gut to know that Videl agonized over their parting as much as she had. He had dealt with the pain arguably better, but still. Sylvari remained quiet for so long that it might have reasonably been interpreted that she refused to answer the question before she finally mumbled, just over a whisper.

"No forgiveness is required where no blame is assigned. The fault of departure was a necessity of my oath."

The T'saya would find himself softly nodding at the initial response that Sylvari had granted him. To know that Mercy and Noe had more or less been alright.. It was reassuring. Even if there was a bit of doubt in that regard, considering the state that Sylvari had been in and how she had yet to call Mercy back to her. As for the second response that she had given him? It was something that Videl had barely heard from atop his steed, the distance between the pair of them making it difficult to hear her as she had mumbled. From what he could just about make out though, his forgiveness was something that she apparently hadn't sought.

"I see.. Well I am glad to know that the others are doing well on their own ends. It concerns me that you've allowed yourself to get to this point but.. We can try and figure all of this out once we get you taken care of." Continuing on on their trek, something within Videl had started to resolve itself. If the two couldn't figure things out in the time that they had been beside one another, than he was going to have to push her to acknowledge what had occurred and to face the reality of what is to come. He had denied his feelings in the past, and even more recently upon encountering her once more. This wasn't something that he would continue to do after a point. They just hadn't reached that point as of yet. "Hopefully we won't have to travel all that much longer.." 

Unbeknownst to the man himself, as the trio had made their way towards the village, Videl had found himself slowly drifting in the direction of the vampiress. Where his mind had in turmoil, some of these thoughts only moving as fast as molasses, his subconscious had already made its decision. And that decision had involved making up for the past. As such, before he had even known it, Videl would find himself walking side by side with Sylvari. Unless she had pulled away from him, or the pair had bumped sides, he was unlikely to note that this was even happening.

"A lot has changed since I last saw you, you know..? I've grown in strength. To the point in which I can fend for myself more often than not. In the cases that I cannot, I've had Lumi there to stand alongside me. And I've undergone some rather dire situations.." Hoping to rekindle something between the two of them, Videl would speak out on his experiences thus far. Things that he hadn't even put thought into. Things that he should have put thought into. "One such situation has forced a resentment for myself within myself, even. After having taken a life.. It's  something that I've had to try and learn to live with."

Sylvari realized that Videl was unconsciously moving closer to her as they walked. She wanted to maintain distance to avoid staining him with her repulsive scent, but she was already on the very edge of the roadway, hemmed in by her friend and the tree line. 

She remained tight-lipped when Videl mentioned her deteriorated condition, ashamed, not that she was in such a state, but that she wasn't able to clean herself before seeing him to prevent unnecessary worry. When he mentioned his own travails, however, Sylvari extended a tentative hand to rest on Videl's upper arm. Her heart broke that he had such difficulty, even if it resulted in growth. It was a sad reality of the world that hardship brought the most progress: experience was a cruel but effective mistress.

"Do not lament what is passed. If you defended yourself or struck down evil, it is not a thing to be ashamed of. If not... well, worrying does not change anything. Trust me." Sylvari paused, feeling her cut and dry words a bit too harsh and lacking in sympathy. "All the same, I am sorry such a thing was necessary. Would that I could take all the blood in the world onto already stained hands."

While the words that Sylvari had offered unto him had previously been the kind of thing that he would have appreciated, this go around it had only served to annoy the man. Even in the state that she was currently in, where her very flesh had been torn asunder from a harrowing combat encounter, Sylvari had opted to speak about taking on all of the blood that had to be shed. As though it was her responsibility. As though her oath had superseded natural law.

Feeling that irritation rise within his chest, Videl would work to actively suppress it. Through gritted teeth, he would raise up a single hand of his own and rest it upon the one that she had offered him. Slipping his fingers through her own, he would actively attempt to peel the woman's hand off of him before taking it within the hand that he had just attempted to peel hers away with. "Stop..! Damn it Sylvari!" Despite his best efforts to actively withhold his annoyance, that irritation had managed to boil over.

"Why do you keep on doing this?" Through the annoyance that had overtaken him, Videl would speak in a firm and steady tone. One that he had hoped would get his point across. "Why is it that you feel as though you have to take on every burden that the world has to offer? Hydra's, Poachers, Monsters, and Villains. I don't give a damn how grand this oath of yours is, Syl. You deserve to live a life of your own free will. You're entitled to breaks every now and then and you sure as hell shouldn't be pushing yourself to the point in which you look like this."

As he had continued on, his gaze would remain fervently interlocked within her own. If her veil had remained intact enough to disrupt his gaze, he would stare directly through it and towards where he had believed her eyes to be located. "Aren't you upset about the way that things ended? Isn't there any reaction to be had at the fact that we've finally found one another after all of this? Get mad! Hit me! Tell me off for leaving! Or is that against this oath of yours as well?!" His heart continuing to thaw and his emotions slipping forth the longer that the two had been around one another, Videl's annoyance had started to reach its peak. "What's so gods damned important about this oath of yours anyways?! The way that I see it, it's done nothing but cause you trouble! Fuck your oath!"

The previously pale, glazed-over eyes that Sylvari had sported to this point blazed with new life, revealing a glimmer of their previous fiery spark. She felt affront at how disparagingly Videl talked about the ideal that she had dedicated her life to. She wanted to lash out, to hit him or tell him off for so carelessly insulting her way of living, but her rational and compassionate side won out. Sylvari merely sighed and pulled Videl into a tight hug, preventing him from becoming even more enraged.

"Shh, peace Videl. I know my mission must seem strange and awful to one from the outside, but I have taken it willingly. Much is required of me, yes, but I bear it gladly for the sake of those who do not and need not suffer because of me. To answer your question, yes, our parting was painful, one of the hardest sacrifices I've needed to make, but I would do it again, a thousand times. My selfish desires to keep you near pale in comparison to keep you safe, you and every other innocent."

As Sylvari whispered softly, she moved her hand in comforting circles on Videl's back, like a mother attending to an upset child.

The moment in which Sylvari had pulled Videl in to her embrace, the latter's emotional turmoil would reach its zenith. A sense of confliction had begun to overtake the man. On one hand, he had been highly agitated with Sylvari's actions and how even now, she was doing the one thing that he had been upset with her about. On the other hand, he had longed to be by her side for so long, and to remain within the embrace that she had currently held him. His senses had been shouting at him to pull away from her but his heart had won out in the end, causing him to seemingly tense up as he had been stuck between either pulling away from her warmth or leaning further in.

Rather than hearing the words that Sylvari had spoken aloud, Videl could only hear the rhythmic thumping of his heart within his ears. His brain had felt as though it were in a vice that was closing in around itself, squeezing ever bit of energy from out of him. The empty void that had been left behind after her departure had left pang after pang within his chest, each instance prompting the man to tense up even further. And the worst of it all? Rather than soothing him or proactively taking up the appropriate defenses for him, in this moment, Videl's warring mana had remained silent. As though it had found its peace.

"..please stop. I can't keep feeling this way. The pain that I feel whenever you leave is far greater than any other. The thought of losing you again makes me want to hurl.. Either stay with me by your side or fuck off entirely. I can't keep allowing for this oath of yours to dictate everything."

Once the words that he had previously contained had finally seen the light of day, Videl would give in on his fighting and just lean in on Sylvari. His neck had been exposed to her in just the way that was needed for her to feed, if she were intending on doing so, and his heartbeat could likely be felt against her own skin. Rather than the biting cold that had usually accompanied being beside him, a serene ocean of coolness would take its place. In every which way, in this moment, Videl had been willingly giving himself over to the vampiress. "I'd rather run the risk of danger for each moment of the rest of my life than allow for things to continue between us like this.. I couldn't care less about the innocents of the world right now, Syl. You were innocent at some point as well.."