"Please," Cal said gently. "We'll be fine here, won't we? We can... we can conjure our own spirits here. Maybe we can make new lives. And it'll always be nighttime, so we can play by the fires of our tail, and stuff. We'll go out and fly and then come back to rest. Nobody else will matter. It'll just be us..."
"Do you think that would be better than being with everyone else?" Owen asked. "Your siblings? Your friends? Everyone you got to know on Cibus?"
"But you'll be gone..."
"Maybe," Owen said, "but you'll get tired of me eventually. Life is all about meeting new people and making new friends. People change and grow apart. Some stay. Some go. But you can't stay in one spot when the whole world changes around you."
"I don't want to change," Cal said. "I just want things to be like they are now. When we can have fights together and battle like we've been together forever. If we stay here... it'll
be forever, won't it?"
"Do you think that's what'll happen?" He brought a claw over her head, rubbing between her horns, and pulled her close again.
"I... I don't know. But I know that if we leave... it definitely won't. And I'll... be alone."
"You'll just go without me. You won't be alone with everyone else. And you're too strong, Cal. You won't need me when this is over."
"Just because I don't need you doesn't mean I don't
want you!" Cal snapped. "I know I'll be fine! I know it'll be okay! I j-just... why can't you just cry with me for once?! What's happened to you?! I..."
"I changed," Owen said, frowning. "But... I am sad, too. I am, I just..." He sighed. "I've said goodbye to a lot of people before, and I didn't know it when it happened. I've lived a long time where my old lives were... taken from me. And the people I knew, I never had a chance to say goodbye to them. When I saw them again... they changed. I changed. The ones I knew, the ones in my head that I had of them, were... gone.
"But you, Cal..." Owen shook his head, smiling. "I get to say goodbye to you. I've had all this time to be ready for it. To make sure that I can get my best days with you when I can. So when we go... there won't be any regrets. I... I want that. Cal, I want to say goodbye to you on my terms for once. Not someone else's."
"Goodbye... on your terms." Cal mumbled that to herself. "...Everyone else you've known... They were taken from you. Or you were taken from them. How is this any different? You still..."
"It's the same," Owen agreed, "in all ways but one. This time... I chose to come here, knowing I'd have to leave. It was to save Cibus. I didn't intend... for you to be born here. And I still have to go... and I don't think you can follow me. But... you have a life here. You have siblings you can't say goodbye to yet. But me... I want you to be ready for me. Then, it'll be on our terms. Does that make sense?"
"Not at all," Cal said, slouching against him. But Owen knew she was lying. Still, something was bothering her. Something further. The red embers in her eyes flickered with gold, but were still largely corrupted with Eien's energy. "...It's still... not my choice. This isn't my choice..."
"What isn't?" Owen asked.
"Goodbye. If we leave here... that's the beginning, right? The beginning of... you really going away. Saying goodbye. Once we save Eien... once we fight Soda... that's it."
"It will be."
"And I don't have a choice. You're gonna... drag me out of here. A-and I... I guess I'm okay with that. I do have to help. S-save the world. I'm... I'm being selfish. I just hate how... how powerless I am about it. I never had any control, huh?"
Owen studied her. Everything was so quiet here. Peaceful. He did like it, even if he knew it was all an illusion, and there were still so many fights going on in the storm. He wondered how everyone else's struggles were going. But right now... Cal was what mattered. Cal, more than anyone, was his duty to care for right now. In this pocket of the world... she was the only one that he had to tend to.
So, Owen stood up, and Cal tensed, squeezing her fists tight. "Go on," she said. "D... do it. I... I'm ready. Just... take me away. Even if I k-kick and scream and call you all sorts of things, I'll... I'll understand once we get back to the others. I'll get it. I... just get it over with."
Her red embers, flecked with gold, shrank. Like she was closing her eyes. She dipped her head, only occasionally glancing upward at the countless spheres of raw power that loomed over Owen, all ready to rain down on her in a cataclysmic, decisive blaze. She whimpered, but nodded, understanding what had to be done. She was ready to go.
"Okay," Owen said, and he pointed his claw forward. "I'm sorry, Cal."
Cal said nothing.
She waited. And waited. And waited for the attacks to land. When none did, she opened her eyes and saw that all of the spheres had disappeared from Owen's shoulders. There was a great light that cast her see-through shadow in a sharper image. Too startled for words, she spun around to stare at it. All of the attacks. All at once.
All under Cal's command.
Owen used... Shining Bestow on Cal.
Cal received Owen's stored attacks, and healed to full.
"It's your choice to make," Owen said, and then lowered his head, eyes closed.
