Awaken Anew (Orethain/Gavin)
(The start of something unfinished I've written a while back of Orethain and Gavin reuniting after Orethain's death. The white stag quest ended with Orethain unable to kill his friend Gavin, being taken as a captive of the court to be converted, but was tortured and killed by Lady Sariel's lackeys, unbeknownst to Gavin.)
[will add a cut on PC later]
The waters running down the secret passage and into the young sylvari's boots were cold, but not dramatically so.
Orethain had been colder.
So much colder.
He wasn't thinking of the Mists, which were chaotic, strangely dull, but more like a memory of life than the absence of it, really. They couldn't compare to the black abyss that divided them from the world of the living - a few moments of nothingness, meaninglessness and most of all, coldness, that had changed him forever.
They had helped him see.
"Halt! Who goes there? Aren't you-"
"It's the Valiant! That's-- It can't be..."
"I assure you, it can." Orethain's own voice sounded strange to him, lower and more gravelly than he remembered, almost a growl.
It carried his impatience with the fumbling Courtiers well enough. The intimidation in their eyes made him think he might get used to it.
Annoyingly, one of the two miserable ferns standing guard soon seemed to catch themselves. Their skin was a burnt orange colour that tasted like ash in his mind, wild brown leaves sprouted above a puzzled, barken face. Cloaked in Nightmare armour so soon, they were sure to be someone's favourite recruit.
"Thank the Nightmare for this chance. I'll make an example of you. Gavin will have no choice but to knight me!"
As the Courtier's hands flew to their weapons, Orethain drew his own sword in perfect tandem, ready to decide who would be proven an example of. He had been good at that even before he had died.
A wet smacking noise, and the Courtier tumbled, then fell, before even raising their scepter. The other guard squeaked. Shocked, Orethain watched as the golden sap began to ooze from the body's smashed in skull, a single blue eye floating slowly in the liquid then gaining speed as it went down the rivulet.
With the utmost dignity, a stout, grass coloured sylvari stepped over the corpse.
"Gavin," said Orethain, not even thinking.
Gavin didn't address him at first, instead scowling at the dead Courtier at his feet.
"Insolence might have brought you this far with Sariel, but I have suffered enough of it. You were as blind as her."
He spat on the remains, then turnt to the surviving recruit.
"And you."
The grey-ish sapling shrank under his scrutinizing gaze.
"I don't suppose it was the insight your friend here lacked that stopped you from attacking the Valiant, but consider your cowardice forgiven one last time. Leave us, before I change my mind."
Not wasting a second, the guard bolted - the two were alone.
"Finally," Gavin breathed, and even from down the waterfall, Orethain could sense his features loosening.
He ascended, one step, then two.
"Wait."
Orethain stopped.
"Tell me it is true first," said the Courtier, hope in his voice.
"Tell me my feelings don't betray me. Tell me you've come to join my Court at last."
Without hesitation, Orethain dropped to one knee, into the frigid water. He didn't care. He had been colder.
"I have, my liege. When I refused you, I didn't know what I know now. Death taught me so much, Gavin. The cold, the darkness - how can we truly live our lives when we deny their place in them?"
For a moment it was silent as Orethain felt green eyes resting on his cowering form. There was no bird to be heard, not even a cricket, only the sound of the water and his own breathing.
"You've indeed learned much, Valiant, and I'm in want of your company among these animals..."
Gavin spoke clearly, taking one step down the rivulet and closer to the kneeling revenant with each word.
Finally, Orethain could sense his feet inches from his own. A cold spike caressed his chin, edging him to face upward at the Courtier, whose features were now impenetrable.
"But you have hurt my feelings. Not only have you refused and insulted me, you have denied me a fight to the death, as well."
Orethain spoke calmly.
"I know. I've disappointed you twice, now, and I regret doing so."
He felt his teeth clench, and a frown overtake his forehead.
"Because your disappointment was nothing. I connected to the dream seconds before I died. The Pale Tree, Caithe, the Wardens, everyone who knew, all of them - all they thought about was how I had betrayed them. They thought I owed them your death."
He was nearly hissing, now.
"How can they preach their love for life and then look down on me for my mercy?"
Gavin picked up Orethain's hand and pulled him up into an embrace. It clinked their armor together and drove one of the spikes adorning Gavin's pauldrons into Orethain's shoulder, but that didn't matter to either of them. The pain felt good, more real than anything else these past weeks.
Orethain could hear Gavin smile.
"I must thank them, despite all, for bringing you back to Nightmare, and to me, where you belong. I'll be your friend once more, Orethain. Rest assured, I will be open with you. You have nothing to fear from me ever again, hypocrisy least of all things."
The revenant squeezed his friend one last time before Gavin pulled away, and set his hands on the other's shoulders.
"Come now, my friend. We have much to discuss."