The healers finally stood, their pale hands trembling faintly from the strain of working on a human body. One of them—a tall woman with grey irises that shimmered like mercury—exhaled and said, "We've done all we can, Lady Eleanor. But human anatomy doesn't respond to our magic properly. His internal flow… it resists."

The other nodded, voice low. "Our methods were made for blood blessed by the moon. He has none. He may live… or he may not. The rest is up to fate."

Reva nodded stiffly, though her chest tightened at the word fate. "Thank you," she murmured, forcing steadiness into her voice. "You've done enough. I'll handle the rest."

They bowed, robes rustling, and quietly left the room. The heavy doors shut with a hollow echo, leaving her in silence with the faint crackle of moonlight bleeding through the glass.

She let out a slow breath and turned to look at him.

Xavier lay still, chest rising in shallow rhythm, faint traces of the healing glow fading across his skin. His wounds—deep slashes, burns, cuts—had closed, but his face looked pale, almost ghostly.

Reva sank onto the chair beside the bed. Her fingers hovered over his hand before she finally took it, pressing it to her chest. "Idiot…" she whispered. "Why would you come here?"

The weight of exhaustion crashed down before she could resist it. She didn't even realize when her eyes closed.

—

When she woke, the light was dim, crimson and quiet. Her back ached slightly, and her head spun for a moment as she tried to piece together what happened. Then it hit her like a knife—Xavier, the battle, the crash, the healers.

Her eyes shot to the bed. It was empty.

Reva's breath froze. "Xavier?"

She rose in a rush, her bare feet touching the cold marble floor. But before panic could consume her, she caught sight of him—silhouetted against the open balcony.

He stood shirtless, bandages half-wrapped around his torso, staring at the moon that still hung red in the sky. The light traced across his body, highlighting the scars newly healed. His hair stirred slightly in the mountain wind.

Reva's throat tightened. For a moment she just stared, caught between relief and disbelief. Then her body moved before her mind could stop it—she walked straight to him, grabbed his arm, and pressed herself against his chest.

Her composure shattered.

"You bastard," she breathed, voice cracking as tears welled up. "You absolute, reckless bastard…" She hit his chest weakly with her fist, again and again, between sobs. "Do you have any idea what you've done? How did you even find this place? Do you know what Father could have done to you? You could've died, Xavier!"

He didn't say anything at first. He just stood there, letting her pound her frustrations into him. Then, gently, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I had to come," he murmured, his chin brushing against her hair. "I saw your message. The picture. The moon."

Reva looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "That picture didn't have any data. I scrubbed everything—every coordinate, every trace. You couldn't have found it."

Xavier's lips curved faintly. "Angel found a way."

"Angel?"

He nodded, his gaze lifting briefly to the sky. "She cracked the image and matched the terrain with topographic data. I didn't ask her to, but… she did it anyway. Said it was for me. She even tuned my car to my specs. It was supposed to be a gift." He let out a low breath and smiled wryly. "Guess I kind of ruined her surprise."

Reva blinked at him through her tears, caught between disbelief and something warmer. "You came all this way because of that?"

He nodded once. "Because of you."

Silence hung between them. The wind from the cliff brushed past them, carrying the faint sound of the ocean below. The red moon cast their shadows long and thin over the balcony tiles.

Reva rested her forehead against his chest again. "You're insane," she whispered.

"Maybe," he said softly. "But I'm still alive."

For a while, neither spoke. Reva's tears soaked into his skin; Xavier's gaze stayed on the red moon, distant but thoughtful. He remembered the vision—that place with three suns and a glass world. Reva was beside him. Lyra too. All of them together.

And now, watching the woman clinging to him, her heartbeat echoing faintly against his ribs, he understood something strange—something beyond logic.

Maybe fate wasn't about surviving. Maybe it was about reaching the point where survival mattered.

He brushed her cheek gently with his thumb, and a small smile tugged at his lips.

'So you were there too… in the end. Still by my side.'

He didn't say it aloud, but the thought burned bright in his mind.

Whatever future that vision showed him, it wasn't just chaos or blood or war—it was proof that she was with him through all of it. Proof that they both had something left worth fighting for.

Xavier looked at Reva—really looked at her. The soft trembling of her shoulders, the tear marks on her cheeks, the way her eyes still burned with defiance even after everything she'd lost tonight. She was strong, proud, beautiful—and yet there was something fragile in the way she held herself now, like she'd been broken in places no one could see.

And somehow, that realization didn't make her seem weaker. It made her real.

He felt the words clawing their way up his throat.

'Seeing how relieved I am knowing that… I guess I know the answer to the question she had asked me. Do I love her?'

"I guess I do love you."

The words weren't dramatic or loud. But they hit like thunder—deep, absolute, echoing through the silent air as if the universe itself had been waiting to hear it.

Reva froze. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

Xavier's gaze didn't waver. "I was an idiot that night. You told me what you felt, and I just… walked away. I didn't even realize how much that hurt you—or how much I'd regret it later. I thought it was easier not to answer than to risk saying something I didn't understand yet."

He looked away for a second, exhaling through his nose. "But I understand now. Because when I woke up tonight, the first thing I felt was relief that I could still hear your voice. That I could still see you breathing. I didn't think about anything else."

He turned back to her, eyes steady, voice stronger.

"I just thought, thank god she's still here. And that's how I knew."

The silence between them deepened, but it wasn't empty. It was full—alive—with everything they'd both held back for too long.

Reva's tears welled again, but this time, they didn't fall from sorrow. They fell because she couldn't hold them back anymore. Her lips trembled as she stared at him, lost between joy and heartbreak.

Xavier stepped closer, close enough that the moonlight wrapped around them both like a single shadow. His hand rose slowly, brushing away a tear from her cheek. "You don't have to say anything. I just needed you to know before I ruin something else."

For a long, fragile moment, they just stood there—two souls who shouldn't have met, bound under the blood-red light of the same cursed moon.

Then, without a word, Reva reached up, grabbed his face, and kissed him.

The kind of kiss that held everything—her love, her fear, her gratitude, her goodbye.

And Xavier, for once, didn't overthink it. He kissed her back with everything he had—his pain, his guilt, his relief, his answer.

The red moon burned above them, casting their silhouettes into one.

When their lips parted, Reva's eyes were wet but calm. She traced his jaw with her thumb, memorizing him, committing every detail to memory.

'I can't keep you.' The thought burned in her chest. 'I can't stay. But at least now… I know he loves me back.'

She smiled faintly through her tears.

And Xavier, unaware of the price she'd already paid for his life, rested his forehead against hers, whispering quietly, "You should've been the reason I stayed, not the reason I almost lost everything."

The red moon glowed brighter, painting them in the color of endings and promises alike.

For one fleeting moment, they existed in perfect stillness—

two lovers standing beneath a dying sky,

bound by love that had already cost them both too much,

and destined to cost them even more.

That night, the two became one, but unlike the other times, it was different. It wasn't only for pleasure, but for love and happiness too, which, sadly, neither of them could comprehend completely.

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