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It was a relief that she wasn't going to go after Albite, if just because he didn't want to see her suffer or die for it. He wasn't sure of his feelings on Albite. Fulgurite was definitely afraid of him; he was considerably more terrifying than his chaotic fellows really noticed. By the same token, though?

What did he say to him now that he was proven right other than running away with his tail between his legs?

At least he had done nothing to Cryolite, which had been one of Albite's dominant concerns...

"I suppose not, but how many Negaverse people actually talk about it with their families? I haven't found any evidence, but they could just be assigned to a different division, or I just don't recognize their names like this--"

He was gesturing to himself to explain his agent garb or whatever this was when she too was backing away, and asking about the two of them, and it knotted his stomach as much as it knotted and broke his heart. This was a mess. There was a lot he was insecure in. He knew he was facing the loss of his civilian life, the loss of most of those close, the loss of most everything he knew...

"Didn't bring you up because I wasn't worried about you." And that was the truth. "I just," he swallowed thickly, "just wanted to know if you intended for that s**t to happen, which is why I asked that at the onset. Know I won't lose you in the process of purifying. Might forget you, but we've bridged that before." Even if he just remembered her as Alexa and they really had to backtrack...

Or he ended up losing everything altogether like she had.

"For us, it's good this happened in the order it did. Cryolite and I wouldn't have had an unintentional heart to heart after the blight if I had left sooner, but I can't be convinced our meetings would have gone the way they did if I had left sooner either. Would you have tried to flirt with me to convince me to Purify?" Fulgurite laughed. "Wouldn't have been a point. And I don't want to break that now."

Laughing around tears made him feel like he was in a romance novel.

"Especially not if that was all an accident. Makes sense that you warned others. Honestly, it starts with me even saying something in the first place. Just need time to process it."

The energy was a lot more than he was feeling toward anything right now, but it was nice to see her happy, at least. One of them could be ecstatic about one part of this situation; he was mostly just glad he had something reliably stable while the rest of his world was literally falling to pieces all around him.

"You think so?" asked Fulgurite, cheeks feeling a bit warmer than they had before. The blush wasn't terribly obvious with how blotchy his cheeks were due to the tears that just wouldn't quite stop--there were too many uncertainties, too many things that he was likely going to lose, too many things he needed to seal up and clean up and prevent from falling to pieces--but he found himself covering it anyway with an additional, "Are you sure though? You had just tried flirting with me to try and convince me to purify. You got someone else you would try it on?"

Gismodine came to mind, but he was pretty sure that guy had ended up deep in Ashanite's team--

Not important. Fulgurite may not even remember any of them anymore, even as much as the kiss on his lips relaxed him. Together. If he could focus on that, this felt just a bit easier -- he had someone who was willing to stick with him and help him through it -- and even help free Cryolite, from the sound of it.

Was taking him away from his chosen stability really freeing?

Fulgurite buried it with a half-smile.

"Together 'til the bitter end."