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It had been hell on earth. A literal hell on earth, and Castor had become his sanctuary, a place of reflection, of memories. Memories of the past, where he and his wife had been so in love, so in tune with each other, that even when death had come for them they had remained together. Reborn, Castor had become a place of remembrance, a place for them. Almost the world he'd promised her, almost that dream turned reality. But it had become just a place to reflect on his mistakes in this life. How he had fallen so short of his dreams, of his ideals, of his love and his faith in his own self. Elzo had let his bullheaded pride stop him from seeing the woman he loved and the suffering she felt in her heart. His stubborn will refused to bend when she had begged. And then, in his brash ego, he'd rejected her, chasing her away, tearing them apart.

Earth had then, become his own version of hell. And Elzo Xanis knew just why it felt that way.

He had ******** up.

Royally.

Weeks he had fought to figure out where he had gone wrong, what he had done and how to make it right again. When he thought he had it down it turned out to just be another way he'd dug himself into another grave. His mind still not grasping the full spectrum of just what had driven him and Daphne apart.

Then it hit him, as he sat eyes locked onto the heavens, as he had laid in the field of flowers planted over 2000 years ago. And when it hit him, he had almost cried when the realization came onto him in full force. She had wanted his support, she had wanted to do what he had done for her. She wanted to be able to depend on him.

And he failed her and on top of that, he'd rejected her.

Misery didn't even begin to express what he felt. Torn, broken apart, and lost, Elzo had to face what he had unknowingly run from, what he had ruined in his blind pride. It had taken him so long, but now after his literal hell on earth, he was determined to make it a paradise again. He had chased Daphne for a year hadn't he? He chased her still. At the cafe he'd let her go in a moment of foolishness. Now, he was back; Standing in the apartment, curtains closed, room dark, he waited for her. Some might have called it a trap.

Elzo called it love.

Elzo felt like a dagger had been stuck into his chest at the sight of her. She didn't look like the woman he loved, she didn't look like the Daphne he had vowed eternal love with. She looked like a ghost, worn and thin. A pale mimic of the love he had lost just weeks before. But no matter her appearance, her eyes always were the same. Those brown eyes that no weariness could hide from him. Her muffled voice when she had returned made him worry, but her appearance- it had his concern upfront. "You look tired."

Almost immediately, he wanted to hit himself. Not what she would want to hear, his chiding, his thoughts. No, she wanted- Oh ******** he almost had no idea what she wanted right then and there. This had gone so much better hours ago in his head. "Sorry I- Look no." He took a deep breath. He had to calm himself. He was hear to tell her he was wrong wasn't he? "I'm not here for my stuff Daphne. I'm here because-" Because he was a ******** up? Because he was the worst possible husband? Because he'd failed her in the most epic of ways?

"I'm here for you."

That didn't sound cliche, not at all. Still he moved to her, offering to take her bag and coat. "I..wanted to talk. About what happened. About-" Nearby something moved in the shadows, Elzo didn't seem to notice it and if he did, he was ignoring it. "I want to talk about us Daphne. About what I did, or rather, didn't do. For you."

Elzo had no idea he'd won points. If he did, it probably would have gone to his head and ruined everything right then and there. While he had his plans, most of them ended up tossed out the window where Daphne was concerned. She had that effect on him. "If I was a youma, I wouldn't be able to tell you that I when I first met you, you were shy as s**t and at the time were dating the miniature clone of my gym teacher. I also wouldn't know you put daisies into colored water when you were younger so they would be the color of your hair. I also wouldn't about the portrait of you hanging on my study wall on Castor. The one of you naked. I also wouldn't know your ability to give the most thoughtful gifts, often handmade. No, pretty sure I'm not a youma."

He gave a weak smile. "I also wouldn't know that you look ready to fall over and can probably use something to eat. If you let me I can fix us something." He blinked forgetting for a moment that he didn't live there anymore. That he didn't live with her anymore. "Or...we can sit, talk. I- well frankly Daphne I want to talk. It's why I had the balls to come here. Why I went and-" A tiny sound came from her. A mewling from a balled up bundle of fur and fluff. A kitten, from the looks of it, a tiny gray Persian, or something. Point was Elzo had seen it and taken Daphne's advice to heart.

He'd gotten a cat. ".........."

He blushed. "I got a cat."

Her smile would never stop melting his heart and ruining his resolve. Elzo had a dozen weaknesses, but none were so obvious as her, none were so painful, as her. Her blush, her smile, that was enough to lighten his mood and calm his frayed nerves. He laugh, even small and her touch, was a comfort he didn't want to take for granted, not in the slightest.

"Yeah, the little guy just..well. Saw an add for them from a breeder one night and- wait you weren't serious?" He paused. Sometimes, information really did fly over his head. Looking at the kitten he sighed, falling back into a seat. Well, she seemed to like it. The kitten also seemed to be liking her, purring and mewling softly as it was denied the crystal, (Something that made Elzo smile at, that she would, even angry and upset with him, would wear the marker of his love), the kitten moved on to playing with the ribbon around it's neck, undoing the bow.

"In any case, he's sticking around. Little guy likes you and you know me, I do love a good p***y."

Oh s**t.
Oh s**t.
OH s**t.

NOT GOOD WORD CHOICE. ABORT ABORT ABORT. Elzo's mouth slammed shut as his mind caught the mistake as it happened. "s**t, sorry god I'm ******** it up everywhere. s**t-" He was trying, he really was, but he always fumbled, and it was classic he'd fumble at the worst times, with her, when he absolutely shouldn't. "Do over. Daphne. I wanted to talk to you about the negaverse." His face was red as he tried to stay on task. "I wanted to talk about what I said before, on them being...not worth it. That I shouldn't try."

The rest lingered, and he only looked up from his hands, hoping not to see her ready to mind ******** him with her attack.

He probably would have deserved it.

Awkward of not, the air was stifling for Elzo. He wanted to win her back and had just an inkling on how to do it. By talking on thing he kind of sucked at but hey, better to try then wallow in misery and loneliness for eternity. When she did joke back at him it took another level of stress away. "I- well pretty much. A paid a pretty penny for that p***y and he better be worth it." Well that didn't come out terrible. "....Man, I walked right into that gay joke didn't I?"

Falling back into the chair, he hand a hand down his face. Jokes back or not this was a matter of their relationship. One he needed to talk to her about. "Okay, I'm going to serious this s**t up. Point is Daphne, I was a total douche. You came to me, asking me for support, for help, to try and save them like I saved you." Them was the negaverse, they were those for a long time he'd considered too far gone to save. "And I didn't give a s**t. I didn't care, I didn't listen. I just..I ignored you. I ignored your hopes and ideals and dreams and ******** it."

Standing he went to the window, opening it to try and catch sight of the stars, but only saw clouds. "I failed you, as a husband, a prince, and as some one who love you. You should be able to depend on me, for whatever you do. And I just..shut you out. Like that. I just refused to see anything past my own black and while bullshit. You want to save them then we'll save them. You want to show them then ******** we will show them. I'm a damn hypocrite for what I did. I saved you then refused to even consider others. I-"

He looked at her, wishing he could take it all back. "I want to be able to make your dreams come true."

Watching her get up and feeling her embrace him, a pained look was exposed. He hurt her, and he'd hurt them. In hurting the one he loved he'd almost lost that which mattered most to the prince of hail, to the senshi who'd awoke and had spoken of finding a princess and changing the world for everyone in it. He had wanted to change it for her, for him, but she was right, what was changing just her life? While she was his love, how many others had the ones they loved trapped in that same darkness? Didn't they too deserve to be saved? Didn't everyone deserve that happy ending? That world of dreams turned reality?

Daphne, Lina, had been right. He'd saved her, and it was his duty to save others if he could. It was his job to try, to help. His selfishness was not something he could excuse. His pride he couldn't excuse. And his stubborn will? Nope, all hm. He was a man full of flaws, and Daphne was the one who had shown him they existed. She had dragged them into the light and forced him to face them and just what he was.

He was a prince, and while he had saved his princess, it was his job to save others. Loved or not, they were human, they were worth something to someone. As browns and blues melted, Elzo went to his knee, head bowed to the woman in front of him. "Lina, you are my Knight Consort, the one I have taken as my wife. As Castor I will be your sword, I will be your shield, I will be whatever is required of me." He lifting her hand to his lips, eyes looking at her with nothing but love. "I will be your Prince. My strength is your strength."

A soft unbidden call, and his crystal sat cupped in his hand. Taking her's he placed it over the soul of his world. "You are strong Daphne. It's because of you that I am able to fight. I love you. And I will be there for you.' The crystal melted away as Elzo smiled. "For eternity."

He knew it would be hard, but he would try everything for her. For that dream world. For them. For the ones he had previously so foolishly, been ready to abandon, when they could even then, been calling out to be saved.

Elzo had never been the most brilliant. He'd never been the best at anything. But for a long time, he'd been the one to always hope. Hope for the better tomorrow. Hope for Serenity, for good, for their dream world. Hope for that Silver Millennium that had not come to be. Castor had hope, and from his hope came his determination and strength. Then one day-
"I remembered." Somewhere he'd lost his hope. He had what he wanted. He had her, safe, free of the darkness. What more did he need. "I remembered what I used to think about the negaverse and people in it. The way some of them would laugh, smile, talk, act. It was...it was human and I thought it was worth something. Then I just stopped. When she turned into that youma- I guess I just gave up, I gave up on her. I stopped thinking and just started doing. When I saw some of them I didn't see the human, I didn't think about them aside from the fact they took energy, they took lives. Willingly. I just-" He sighed.
"I had you, the one I could save. The one who I was strong enough to save. Nothing else mattered. Then I lost you and I didn't know why."

He moved to embrace her, hoping to hold her again. "I want to help you. I want to be with you again."

Stone cold gut punch was a feeling Elzo had known before, and it was one he felt again as Daphne turned him away. Not fully, not yet. But it was still something wasn't it? Her touch, however brief, was still a touch. Holding her and feeling her lean into him for that second gave him back a small bit of his ideal bliss, however misguided or blind it may be or might have been.

Like a cat, he rubbed his face into her palm, the loss of it drawing a small sound from the back of his throat. "Do we have time Daphne? Sometimes I wonder just how much time we have. 2000 years to be reborn...it's a long a** wait. Plus we'd have to find each other all over again." He smiled at her, understanding in his own way why things couldn't return to the way they had been. They both had time apart, but it wasn't time yet for them to return. They still had much to do on their own. They still had loose ends.
They still needed to understand.

She wanted time, and Elzo looked into Daphne's eyes and knew his answer. "2000 years to be reborn, over 6 months to have sex, and now even longer to get over this?" A small kiss to her forehead. "You underestimate my willpower if you think asking for time is so hard. No, when I couldn't see you is when I hurt, when I couldn't touch you was when I burned, and when I thought I lost you was when I mourned. But if I know that this will make you happy? That time will help us?" Elzo's lips went her own in a soft kiss. "I am willing to wait and give you time, after all-"

Fingers ran over the necklace he'd given her. "I promised you eternity didn't I?"