He'd abandoned her.

It wasn't the most gentlemanly thing to do. In fact, it was cowardice - pure, sheer, utter cowardice that had him dropping off the senshi like a parent tossing a child out of their car once arriving at the schoolhouse. He couldn't bear to see her face, not when the inevitable goodbye was on the tip of her tongue. He couldn't bear to hear it, he couldn't bear looking at her. That deep down inside, if he avoided the word itself, maybe - just maybe - she would come to change her mind and things could be restored as they once were.

Perhaps.

Then again, falling in and out of love wasn't as easy as that, now was it?

Sigh.

His waters had been neglected. He'd noted it when he'd brought her to the shores, when she'd crawled into his lap like a broken lover, begging for attention, for love that he couldn't give. Dreams were at stake, dreamers at risk for welcoming in nightmares without their Guardian there to watch them. Chaos had left Elysion alone and he supposed he could be grateful for that - he'd already allowed enough strife into his heart as it was, Cosmos only knew if he'd have been able to defend himself against True Evil from entering his waters once again.

Staring off into the sea, his hand rose to collect the charm that rubbed against his collarbone. The waters had grown choppy, the roar of the ocean calling for him to come and calm it, to assuage the dreams of the dreamers.

How could he calm the world of dreams when he had yet found a way to calm himself?

She was probably crying. He could already imagine her, crumpled by the fountain with her face in her hands. Perhaps there would be someone there to comfort her in days to come - someone who could give her the love she deserved.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

It didn't matter that he wished he could be the one to hold her, to remind her that bad times only made the good times even sweeter - he was a dream now, a memory doomed to fade as time dragged on. Dreamers were meant to dream and not experience, perhaps he was wrong to interfere in the first place.

Closing his eyes, he found himself in his room as fingers continued to cling to to the charm around his neck. There was a moment of relief as it remained with his transition, as if he were scared it would disappear along with his pelisse and tunic.

He was hardly half the man he pretended to be. A simple man with simple desires, burdened with the task of guarding dreams of others - a task thrust upon him and not a birthright honor. Maybe it had been tasked upon the wrong individual. Maybe he wasn't strong enough, after all.

Thoughts drifted as his phone suddenly pinged, dragging his thoughts from the depths of his depression. He had half a mind to ignore it and continue contemplating his purpose and how he'd screwed things up to reach the point they had - but texts were few and far between, so perhaps...

Aurora.

His heart thumped in his chest, an involuntary reaction to seeing her name light up the phone's screen. Can you come over I was all it said, but it was all he needed to see.

On my way came the quick response in return.

There was no hesitating, no second guessing. He went wherever his heart requested of him, even if it took him to the ends of the Earth to please her.