Midnite Tempest 10-6 (outside the pub)

With heavy steps, Raene walked up the winding road leading back to Liam's farmhouse, the silence of the rural night somehow intensifying the ongoing turmoil that crashed back in on her now that she was away from the warmth of the pub. She cursed herself a fool for trying to escape it now - this pain and loneliness. She deserved it in a way just as she'd deserved to see Rheinallt's face every night of her life in the quiet seconds before she finally drifted to sleep.

The rain had fallen steadily in a quiet blanket over the Italian countryside, and they'd spent most of the day on the covered porch of a charming little chateau nestled in the gently rolling hills, covered in perfect green vineyards that stretched out as far as the eye could see. He'd painted her there, half-naked amidst silken red sheets, stars falling from the heavens and reflected in her deep brown eyes.

Rheinallt's paintings were alive and vibrant, a reflection of a soul equally as vibrant, and he'd declared Raene his muse from the moment they'd met nearly a year before in England. Together, they'd found their way to Italy, and each painting was sought out in the countryside around them as they explored it; rich landscapes, ageless ruins, romantic depictions of the world through his eyes. She loved him instantly as though their souls were meant to be a perfect compliment to each other. When she was a storm of emotion, he was the calm within it. When he was dark and brooding, she was comfort and hope.

It was the rain that brought her around, pattering gently on her cheeks and eyelids, and she knew before she opened her eyes that her heart was breaking. She got to her feet shakily, searching frantically for the car. It was over twenty feet away, engulfed in flames, wrapped around the grill of a large semi. Onlookers stopped her from getting closer when she screamed his name and ran toward the wreckage. She knew it was too late. She knew.

She just didn't know how she'd survived. By the time rescue workers began questioning her, dark matter flowed from her eyes and hands in steadily increasing amounts, and they quickly decided that she must have been thrown clear on impact when they couldn't even find a scratch on her. It was the manifestation of her powers, they said. Traumatic events could trigger them, awakening them from their dormancy, they said. She cheated death. She survived the unsurvivable.

Alone.

Quickened footsteps from behind pulled her thoughts to the present as Oz caught up to her, calling her name, and she stopped without turning around to face him. Darkness-tinged tears spilled down her cheeks as she waited silently for him to speak.

"I've walked my Father's footsteps all of my life, because that is my destiny, to become what he was. But I've not had him to guide me as he did before. He told me of my mother, but he never explained how their souls came to be bound."

Raene took a deep breath, looking down at the ground before her feet. Her voice cracked when she spoke, and there was a vulnerability in it that she suddenly detested about herself. "Well, I don't know anything about your people, but I imagine it would be something beautiful to hear about."

"Yes, well. My people pass their knowledge on, in all things. But finding what my father found, completing myself as he did. It is a path of self-discovery."

"As all things truly are." She chuckled a little bitterly. "My turn to sound like a teacher."

"Yes, perhaps. I do not understand it fully, but the bond that my father described to me, the one shared by he and my mother... I see that bond between you and I."

She was silent again, unmoving.

"If you've ever wished to see me at my weakest, here I stand," he finished, waiting.

She shook her head. "I don't... I don't want to see you weak, Oz. I care about you. I know there's a bond growing between us. I don't have any promises that I can give. Every time I let myself fall in--- Things go so badly, and I'd rather have that bond than see it break."

"I don't need promises. All I need is honesty, and we have that already."

"Honesty." She turned to face him, her eyes black, shining with tears. "Honestly, I'm glad you're the one that came to get me. But... I'm rudderless right now. If I'd had a couple more drinks, I'd have been too stupid to walk away without complicating our friendship."

"No, I would've been able to see through what was honest, and what wasn't."

"I wanted to find comfort in our bond. I'm hurting."

"I understand. I am here. I'm not going anywhere. Not without you."

"I told you. I'll go home tomorrow with you."

"That's tomorrow, this is tonight."

"Tonight..." Raene nodded understanding, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. "Tonight, I want you to hold me."

Oz spoke no more, taking her into his arms, holding her close to him, letting her find the truth in his actions, the honesty in every moment that the two shared.