Icetales didn’t say anything for a while, his throat and nostrils burning and tears still falling from his eyes.
He leaned toward Celeste to take in the embrace, wrapping a couple of his tails around his friend. After some time, his shivering subsided and he steadied his breathing. Dark wisps became mere flickers, until even those were gone.
It was painful to remember that entire ordeal, but… it was good to have someone by his side. First it was Fifth, now it was Celeste.
That was… reassuring.
"But... If you've been through all that... Why would you subject yourself to it again? We didn't have any way to help you if anything went wrong, we didn't even know what was happening. I only found out when Bahamut sent Petram and I a photo of your lifeless, petrified body with his badge. If something went wrong... That would've been the last we'd ever seen of you."
Icetales growled and his tails flailed. “Right. Sir Bahamut. I have seen that… picture, when I returned…”
“That old defeatist bastard…” came the raspy whisper of the Shadow, apparently displeased about the emotions he was absorbing from his host.
“Petition to send that draconian geezer to a temporary trip to hell, punishment from Sir Diyem be damned!”
Icetales dismissed his darkest thoughts. It’s not like entertaining them would have helped anyone in any way.
“I cannot help but think that Sir Bahamut’s message did nothing more that foster scaremongering, and it appears thou did not inquire with Sir Diyem nor hear information from him about my actual well-being,” mused Icetales, his eyes narrowed. “Regardless, he guaranteed that as long as I was cautious and did not attack the Void Shadows, then I would have been… remarkably swell.”
He ran his paw on the frozen grass. “…I ought to have said something or leave a message, but I was already trying my darndest to repel my fears and doubts that I… believed that saying something would have convinced me to
not go through with that stunt. I was so close from just… panicking. I needed to focus and keep my mind and darkness in check, and distractions would have been… disastrous.”
"You were stuck for years in a place like that. It looks clear enough to me that that's still an open wound for you. They were okay, but now you've hurt yourself all over again. You shouldn't have forced yourself back to a place like that."
Icetales looked straight into Celeste’s eyes, unconvinced. “…I am afraid the situation was not quite rainbows and sunshine, Sir Celeste. While folks like Sir Cabot handled the situation well enough, I found out that other folks had a few… accidents.”
The Ninetales looked down. “And then, when Sir Diyem told me about the power of the Voidlands to twist and bend someone’s spirit,” he narrowed his eyes, “I saw
myself into my comrades. And I… I could not let them go through the madness I went through. If something happened to their psyche without me doing anything to try to help, I would have never forgiven myself.
“Indeed. I was stuck in Chaos in years. But I
survived. I learned a few survival tricks. And when I was rescued, I learned to have faith and believe in salvation.”
Icetales breathed out a cloud of mist, before showing a faint smile. “And this is pretty much what I wished to bring them: reassurance and comfort. I wanted to let them know that we would have saved them in some way. I wanted… to give them hope.”
In that moment, some golden embers appeared on the Ninetales’ body.
“Indeed. I suffered some pain. I went through plenty. I relived an entire part of my childhood in a few days. But seeing those smiles from our comrades, who had the knowledge that things were going to be all right,” his smile became a bit brighter, while some happy tears ran down his cheeks, “now
that made my sacrifice worth it.”
