It was quiet... so quiet. Memories of a busy tavern full of movement and the voices of both patrons and children fill his thoughts. He couldn't help but let his mind wander to days and evenings spent here in the company of his charge, as well as those she was closest to. The dragon stretched out in the rafters above heaves a great sigh, one clawed limb dangling lazily off the side of the wood beam.
What is to happen...? his thought flows through the tavern.
Am I to remember every bit of past, even if no one else does? What a lonely, sobering idea. As if incredibly weary, the dragon's body slowly comes to rise, giving a partial stretch of its limbs. He needed air. He needed to quiet his own unease at whatever his future held.
With a gentleness unexpected from such a creature, Erebus slides his dragon form off the rafter, dropping down towards the floor. As he falls, the dragon body wisps away into the air as shadow, allowing feet to land lightly upon the tavern's stone floor, human body once more taken. For a few heartbeats he simply stands there, a solitary figure in the middle of the tavern. Head lifting, his jaw tightens and silent steps turn his direction towards the front door to exit. His hands find their way to his jacket pockets as he walks down the path. There wasn't a particular direction picked but he ends up winding his way towards the graves that Lanya had created what felt like so long ago. The pace at which he walked had slowed down a bit once he realized where he was heading. Unsure of whether he wished to see them. Still, he walks with his gaze solidly held upon the site.
Soon enough, he notices a sole dark figure waiting there, though he cannot make out detail. But the more he nears the more detailed the shadow becomes. It is a female, standing still as death next to Nightshade's stone likeness, head locked in Erebus' direction, arms hanging down by her sides. A pang of pain goes through the companion's chest as he comes upon her. The dark hair tinged with a deep purple luminescence hangs straight and smooth down her back, despite the periodic breeze moving through the valley. Her eyes are just what he'd remembered, the color of the ocean in the middle of a storm, though they seemed more blue... and almost seraphic. An elegant flowing black gown adorned with sparkling starlike gems hugs her form and a black feathered mask covers the upper half of her face. Her feet however are bare, something which makes Erebus smile faintly. Embedded in the middle of her chest where it would have hung on a chain before, is the red pendant that made up half the bond between the two beings. "Good evening Vesper..." he greets. Resisting the urge to reach out and touch her, for fear she would vanish immediately, instead, the guardian's arm extends, awaiting the figure to place a hand on top of his own. She does, slowly, steadily. Once more Erebus feels that stab in his chest when he realizes he cannot feel the weight of her touch.
But still, he guides her with him on his walk, her form gliding along silently next to his. He talks to her, speaking of their own past and how they came to be bound together when she was still merely a baby. To her sister, Spirit, and the care the sisters' mother had invested in them for the few years they'd been left alone. There had been a dark time after that which left Night trapped in the realm with demonic clan, but then came the foray into the worlds beyond that of her demon home once they broke away from her father's hold. The feeling of freedom that had permeated everything, despite her father's reluctance to leave them alone. There had been a handful of lovers, friends, and homes, come and gone. But then the Black Dragon.
At this point Erebus stalls his gait, stopping for a moment to contemplate. The shade next to him turns her head to look at him, her movements smooth, waiting. "We have never had such a home," Erebus says, glancing down at the woman by his side. "We have never had such friends and family. It should not have ended as it did. For that, I am sorry Vesper." The male's bright red orbs lift to the clear night sky above, the stars lit brightly, shining as the gems on the female's dress did. "I am hopeful it will be made right someday..." A peaceful expression comes to the male's face as his eyes close. The female next to him turns her gaze skyward following the companion's gesture, but still, not a word spoken. "There are so many stories yet to be written..." he murmurs gently. Head leveling down with a sigh, Erebus is surprised to find that the shade would have altered their direction, now facing the lake. An eyebrow raises curiously at her simple gestured desire, and he obliges without hesitation, guiding them towards the still water shimmering with moonlight.
"It is beautiful tonight..." he says faintly, gazing out over the waters with moon and stars hanging clear in the sky above. Something dawns on him, as his face portrays realization at what she desired, especially dressed as she was. A warm smile comes across the companion's face and he extends his arm while he takes a step back, his hand sliding forward to the woman's to clasp it gently while he circles around in front of her. Quite a pair they made, he would think, out on the wet sand beach, dressed as if they were expected at a court ball. But, what a picture, the forested lands beyond the lake their backdrop, with a blue starry night above, and the waters below dancing with moonlight.
The companion makes a deep bow over the charge's extended hand, placing a kiss upon the back of it, looking up with a charming smile. Rising, he steps close to her again, position taken up between them to dance. Gradually he begins to guide her into the waltz, the movements this time creating a gentle stir of her hair and clothes, sweeping along around them. As he stares down into her even gaze, stepping gracefully over the sand, his voice whispers, "We have no music my dear." He was unsure if she could even produce a response, but soon his question is answered as
a single song he had never heard before begins to flow through his thoughts, Nightshade's own vocals singing for him. It takes several more moments for him to realize that he could hear it all around him as well, not just within his mind, and it takes his breath away. Nothing on her face had changed, the deadpan features unmoved, not a word left her lips as they remained closed, but the song echoed around them.
As if it were as natural as moving across solid ground, Eebus alters their waltz in direction and, neither of them hindered by physical bodies now, takes the shade attached to him out into the surf of the lake water, dancing across the top of the water, barely disturbing the surface below them. Out... and out.. and out further until they are spinning and swirling in the middle of the lake, two dark figures but specs from the shore alit by the evening's heaven's. The woman's dress and hair waved and followed in an ethereal nature as if in another world while she wheeled around at Erebus's leading hand. The shining gems trailing along her dress to the very end of the fabric seemed to leave a sparkling trail around them, drifting outwards across the lake, lighting the surrounding area even further. While they had danced a handful of times at the Tavern and many times in the past, there had never been anything like this, and for the two of them the rest of the world would seem to melt away.
Soon enough though the dark waltz would have to come to an end and the song begins to close, the demoness' voice fading off. Erebus uses the last few instrumental bars to pull the shade close to himself with the most devoted expression, and an indebted, "Thank you..." breathes out from his lips. He twirls them apart once more, her hand still held in his as he dips down to kneel on a single knee. Head bowed, he gives the back of her hand another final kiss, everything gone quiet. By the time his head lifts, the female shade in front of him is serenely deteriorating into nothingness beginning from the tips of her hair and the dress floating around her. He could only remain rooted in place as the process began to quicken much too rapidly for him. The lingering sparks of light dancing on the lake water directly under her swirl up to mix with the shadow dematerializing in front of him until the last bit of her hand vanishes from his hold, leaving him in solitude once more.
The lake around him was still covered by glittering light hovering a few inches above its surface, and Erebus finally rises from his kneeling position, the lights ebbing and flowing from his movements. For awhile he remains in the middle of the lake, a single figure staring out at nothing until he can at last bring himself to move. His human form darts off making sweeping circles just above the water, stirring up the bright glimmers of light before he shifts, the black dragon form that had been chosen for him during their bonding ceremony emerging. Wings beat heavily a few times as he widens his circling path, then at last lifts himself skyward, climbing up and up into the night sky.
The dragon would spend most of the night in the air over the wide expanse of the tavern's grounds. Especially over the lake, as it appeared the little dancing lights would remain for now, floating along with the water's path and the currents made by the life just below the surface, as well as the air above the surface. All seemed to move in perfect harmony, extending out across the water in every direction from the point the two had finished their waltz. Eventually the entirety of the lake was covered, the bobbing lights even reaching the shores. Erebus watched from above, silently wondering how long the lights would remain. Soon it was just a passing thought as he let his mind drift while flying... wearing himself down throughout the evening. It would not be until just dawn's light that the dragon glides tiredly back towards the tavern, taking a rather graceless landing upon the building's roof where he would curl up to rest.
All the while, another figure observed from her room's window, a wistful smile upon her face...
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