Iris stirred and let out a relaxed sigh in her sleep while using Arylos’s shoulder as a pillow. Arylos could do little but watch the sleeping girl and remain as her pillow as they sat on a bench in the palace foyer; unwilling to wake her up. Although, a part of him wishes she could at least not drool on his shirt while she slept.

“Did she really fall asleep after the party?” Bellona teased as she approached the duo.

Arylos quietly laughed under his breath. “She’s had a busy day, so can you really blame her?”

“You need to be careful there, big guy,” Bellona teased while crossing her arms. “You know she’s an adult, right? You’re her friend, not her father.”

“Someone needs to look after her,” Arylos responded while finally looking towards Bellona.

“You still blame yourself for Nageki, don’t you? Iris said as much,” Bellona wondered aloud.

Arylos slowly nodded while turning his gaze to the floor. “She said that I was the best thing to happen to her, but I can’t believe that.”

“Why not?” Bellona asked, trying to keep her voice quiet. “You’ve been there when she had no one else. You’ve been a friend, someone she can trust, someone that cares for her. She doesn’t have that anymore.”

“She doesn’t have that anymore because of me,” Arylos corrected while grinding his teeth.

“She doesn’t have that anymore because of Odin,” Bellona corrected the Titan while leaning against the wall next to him. “Sure, her waking you up brought Odin to her doorstep, but don’t forget it was Odin who thought that was a good idea. This is his fault, not yours; you saved her.”

“But I couldn’t save anyone else,” Arylos lamented.

Bellona rested a hand on Arylos’s shoulder, feeling his survivor’s guilt. “Then do her a favour and be there. Stop blaming yourself and thinking of this as the worst outcome; she obviously doesn’t think that and is just happy to have you.”

Arylos cracked a smile as he thought about it all for a moment. “Bellona, what do you think about the Titans?”

“Eh?” Bellona voiced, trying to follow what he was saying.

“My people, what are your thoughts?” Arylos clarified while looking back towards her. “What thoughts come to mind when you think of my people?”

Bellona tried to process his question for a moment before finally coming to an answer. “You’re confusing. Your people must have been powerful and yet you say they all died out. You talk about watching whole worlds being born and die within a fraction of your life and I can’t understand that there was once a civilization of people like you.”

“What do you mean by that?” Arylos asked, pondering her words.

Bellona took a breath as she tried to find her words. “I’ve seen you, I’ve seen you fight, and I’ve seen you at what I would think is your strongest. To know there was a whole world of people like you is concerning. Especially when you say you’re the last of them; it makes me wonder what was so powerful that it made the Titan race practically extinct when I’ve seen what you can do.”

Arylos thought about what she was saying, feeling as though he had been awoken from a dream with a different reality. He felt the truth of reality hit him; the truth that he doesn’t belong in this world.

And he laughed.

He couldn’t help but stifle a laughter, trying his hardest to not wake up Iris. It was true; he doesn’t belong in this world, but he found that he just didn’t care anymore. He covered his mouth and plugged his nose to silence himself as he choked on the realisation, all to Bellona’s surprise and confusion.

For once, the idea that he didn’t belong sounded stupid.

He got control of himself and waved off Bellona’s confusion. “I’m sorry, I just had the funniest thought come to me.”

“Did I say something stupid?” Bellona asked with concern.

“No, I thought something stupid,” Arylos answered with a wide smile as he looked back towards the sleeping Iris. “I think I get it now, I really think I do.”

“Get what?” Bellona asked, moving away from the wall.

“Everything,” Arylos responded with a chuckle. “I think I’m starting to understand life here, Bellona. Understanding humans, understanding life.”

Bellona raised an eyebrow, her confusion soaring to new heights. “And you didn’t before?”

Arylos sighed and ran his hand over a scar on his right hand; the scar from when Iris examined his broken knuckles after fighting Baldr the first time. “This is all still surreal to me, moments like these. Being able to enjoy moments like these leaves me speechless. I don’t deserve it, and yet I have the greatest gift I could ever receive.”

“What gift is that?” Bellona asked, softening her expression.

“Peace,” Arylos responded with an ever-widening smile. “As fleeting as it can be sometimes, it’s moments like these I cherish.”

Bellona blushed for a moment and covered her face as she let out a chuckle. “Now if only you’ll tell Iris that; you’ll make her day.”

“Are you thinking I’ve gone soft?” Arylos teased as he glanced at the Templarian warrior.

“A little,” Bellona answered between laughs. “The Arylos I knew wouldn’t care about any of this. You would have left Baldr to his own devices or killed him once you found out you could without a second thought.”

Arylos slowly leaned backwards and let out a sigh. “I guess giving me the chance to live out a fantasy I never knew I wanted can do that to me.”

“Just don’t let yourself get too soft,” Bellona teased as she made her way towards the front doors nearby. “If you want to keep this fantasy, you’ll have to fight for it.”

Arylos nodded as Bellona pulled open the door and went out into the night, closing the door behind her. He weighed her words carefully. He knew that if he wanted to keep things the way they are, he would still have to fight. Fate would not be kind to him and let him keep this life without any fighting on his part. And he knew that he would have to protect the one person who made this dream a reality.

As if summoned, Iris groaned and rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up. “Did I really fall asleep?” she asked in a drowsy voice.

“You did,” Arylos responded softly. “Everyone else is making their way home.”

“Even Baldr and Frygga?” Iris asked, starting to return to reality.

Arylos nodded as he cracked his neck, sore from holding himself in place for her. “Yes. They’re currently heading to Vanaheim for asylum and presumably my message has been given to Anoron by now. Bellona just left a moment ago.”

“So it’s just us then?” Iris asked as she stretched her arms

Arylos nodded and finally rose from the bench. “I figured you would want to get some sleep before we head home.”

“Thank you,” Iris responded in a cheery voice as she got up and stretched the rest of her body, feeling an ache from sleeping in an uncomfortable position. “What do you want to do once we get home?”

“I’m thinking a bath and a nap,” Arylos answered while heading towards the doors and opening one of them. “I call dibs on the bath first though.”

Iris felt a smirk come to her as she followed Arylos out into the cold spring night with two of the three moons overhead; the light of the red and white one casting a hypnotising array of colours across the city. She came up beside Arylos and the two enjoyed a peaceful walk through the nighttime streets.

“Answer honestly, should we be concerned about the creature you fought?” Iris asked, rubbing her arms together to brace against the cold.

“Do you really want my honest opinion?” Arylos answered, his expression becoming emotionless.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want it,” Iris answered with a hint of sarcasm.

“It’s not that we shouldn’t be worried, but I hope it’s not a concern right now,” Arylos answered while thinking heavily about his response.

“What do you mean by that?” Iris asked.

“These creatures build their force slowly,” Arylos explained, a part of him hating the explanation. “Their strength is that they will spend a long time building up their forces without ever being seen by anyone who could stop them. This makes them dangerous and hard to fight back against.”

“And you think they’ll start up a war now that they’re coming back?” Iris asked while blowing into her cold hands.

Arylos sighed and reached out an arm for Iris to wrap her own arms around. “That’s what I’m concerned about. I thought I had more time, but right now, I’m not worried. That war won’t be within your lifetime and so it’s not my concern.”

Iris wrapped herself tight around the Titan’s arm. “What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t want you to get involved,” Arylos answered, feeling comforted by her tight grip on him. “It’s not a fight you should get involved in and you are my weakness; a weakness they will seek to exploit. But I doubt they will return before you die, and so you will be spared the war with them.”

“But what about after I die?” Iris asked, holding onto him tighter as the thought weighed down her heart.

Arylos let out a sigh and pulled his arm away and wrapped it around Iris’s shoulders as they walked. “I honestly don’t know,” he whispered in a soft growl. “You are what grounds me to my life here and without you, I won’t have that anymore. So I honestly have not considered it; I don’t even know if I want to consider it.”

Iris felt her heart grow cold even in his warm embrace. “I’m sorry that I’m a burden,” she whispered.

Arylos stopped and turned to face Iris, holding her shoulders so he could look into her warm brown eyes. “You are not a burden for me. You give me freedom that I never had. If anything, this feeling just tells me that I care, and that’s more than I could have asked for.”

“But are you okay with that? Really?” Iris asked, feeling her chest churn.

Arylos nodded and held her tight. “I am, because this is the closest I’ve had to a dream. I don’t want to wake up, but no matter how much I would like not to, I will have to one day. I can only hope that you afford me the time I have to indulge in this dream.”

Iris sighed and returned his hug, feeling his warmth and a new warmth inside her. If this was how he felt, she wanted to share it with him.

“You can for as long as you want,” she whispered, feeling her heart flutter. “I’ll be here for you just like you have been for me.”