Why are you here and what did you do? she demanded. Okay I get why you are here, but-

“Stare, will you shut up and help me finish this, please?” his voice was odd, strained. Her brow furrowed low as she glared at him and saw the way his eyes were tightly closed, screwed up as if against a sudden wave of nausea. The emotions she was feeling from him through their mental bond was stress, strain and anxiety. But there was something more, something else ...

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and she was shoved into the full glory of his icey blue irises. “The potion Nevin left needs to be used. If it comes from you, that means revival after death.”

Death. Stare looked suddenly alarmed. Swinging her eyes around to Raevin she looked at the slowly breathing man who was simply lying still, his raw flesh savage for all to see. His hands were shaking, but aside from that he seemed to be aware of what was happening. The elf’s eyes moved from one to the other, then down to the vial of potion that sat on the table near his supported head. The kenku went still, eyes widening slightly.

“I trust in your magic, sir,” Raevin said, entirely honestly. “And that of the alchemist. I trust that it will work, but I would ask one thing.”

“Ask away,” Vitruvion nodded, his voice now more regulated, yet Stare could still feel the same strong emotions from him and see his hand beginning to shake. The last she had seen anything like that had been-

“That you be the one to kill me, sir. I will not have it any other way.”

“I see,” Vitruvion said quietly, observing Raevin with both eyes before he inclined his head. Raising a hand he settled it over Stare's shoulder before nudging her forwards. “I need to get past, my dear.”

It was more of a link of words, for he was already gently guiding her direction. Instead of fully going the way he intended, however, she moved to the side, and then forwards, heading over to where the vial was, and picking it up. Pausing, as Vitruvion made his surprisingly slow pace to catch up with her - it was obvious he had done something when he had touched Raevin's ankle, but she had been too far away to hear the whispers from the elf - she uncorked the potion, before staring from its crimson depths to Raevin.

“You sure about this, elf?” she asked.

He hardly looked at her, leaning back as he was on the cushions as he held out his hand. Shrugging, she passed it to him, before stepping back and watching him down the contents. Savoring every last drop, he relaxed fully back as Vitruvion did his final approach to his head. Elf and god eyes locked, both chests rising and falling in slow synchronisation.

“I expect it will not be too long,” Vitruvion said quietly. “Galatirion suggested that after the first time Stare suffered the hours between living and waking would go down.”

Raevin nodded once and went still. “Thank you, sir. For coming and … taking-”

Crack. The sound was ugly and brutal. Stare let out a loud gasp as she saw Vitruvion's hands move surprisingly fast, as if in a blur. From what she could discern they lifted Raevin's head on either side of the face, and with a practised, savage movement suddenly jerked the head to the side. Immediately, it broke the neck and gave instant, almost pain-free death.

For a moment Vitruvion hovered over the body, before he grunted and moved back. Twisting around he settled his eyes on Stare as she continued to blink with alarm with what he had just done.

“It was better it come unexpectedly,” he said quietly.

Swallowing, she nodded. It was not like she had never see him kill before. Very far from that - she had seen him end many lives - but never so swift and sudden. Never to a friend.
“Yeah …”

A sigh came from between the divine lips. Then a quiet groan. They were usually the sort of sounds that Stare would be quickly alert to but … she could not seem to look away from the limp form of Raevin. She was still staring as the other man in the room moved to come behind her. Without any hesitation a strong arm moved around her waist before it hoisted her up in the air.

“An’s balls, Vitruvion, what are you-”

And he was slumping back in the lone armchair of the room, taking her with him. A breath wooshed from her lungs as she was forced down, right onto his lap, with legs dangling awkwardly over the arm of the chair. Rolling her eyes she placed her hands on his arm that stuck around her, pushing at it as he let out a sigh and smiled.

“There,” he murmured softly. “I have you back.”

Twisting her head around she glared at his face. His eyes were heavy lidded and there was the familiar twist of a grin on his face. She clack’ed her tongue loudly before answering. “I've been gone two weeks, Vitruvion,” she growled. “You can deal with that length of time.”

“Yes two weeks of neither you nor Raevin,” he said quietly, “Zulon is, as you predicted, stepping up well, but gods, Mer …”

“You were the one who hired her,” Stare shrugged, giving a last push at the arm. It was not moving. Giving up, she sighed and dropped her eyes before leaning against his shoulder. He went quiet, and she took time to think about how he was acting, and just what it had seemed had happened to Raevin when he had touched him. Her eyes lingered on the dead elf’s body as she thought. Then, suddenly it came to her in a rush of remembrance.

Damn, Ansaldo's balls. The last time he had been like this was when she had grown her wings. Yes, he was just dimly shaking then, but there had been time between the pain she remembered and waking up. Lots of time. Like she had fallen unconscious with the pain, or it had simply gone away. Like -

“Balls,” she whispered, stilling.

So he could take pain for other people. The two people he would ever consider it for were the two currently in the room with him, but that meant little. He could actually take other people's pain and endure it himself. Hence the closed eyes, the stiff voice. She began to lean away from him to stare with disbelief at him - but he moved faster. He made his grip tighter on her, pulling her further towards him, before he relaxed with a sigh.

“Indeed,” he said softly. “I do actually care about you Stare.”

“Your pride is going to be the end of you some day,” she muttered as she forced herself to relax. It was obvious he was not going to let her go for a while. Probably to make up for the two weeks she had been away. And partly to say something now she had had her second sexual partner in her life.

“And your stubbornness, yours, dearest,” he replied quickly, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. “Good thing we will live for eternity.”