>>Hael (Original Timeline)

The door clicked shut behind the redhead, the sound barely registering in the numbing cold. I didn't bother to move, my eyes fixed on the ceiling above. The cold air bit at my skin, the open window letting in the winter's chill. I welcomed it.

Bottles littered the floor, their contents as meaningless as the mess they created. I didn't care about the disorder or the suffocating stench of alcohol. It wasn't enough to distract me from the deeper void clawing at me from within. I only took them because consuming enough would bog my mind to a point that allowed me to sleep.

His footsteps broke the silence. Soft, hesitant.

Einar Wellington.

"Master Hael?" His voice barely pierced through. My eyes stayed on the ceiling.

He stepped closer, and I finally dragged my gaze from the ceiling to meet his, "Locking the door like you own the place... Are you looking for death?" My voice was flat, almost lifeless, though I could see him tense up in response.

He didn't flinch, though. Brave or foolish—I couldn't tell which.

"I want to help you," He said, his words both naive and irritating. Help? I felt the flicker of something like frustration, but it was too weak to matter.

Then he did the unthinkable. His hands touched mine, and I could feel the warmth of his magic, soft and intrusive.

!?!

My body reacted on instinct, sitting up as the magic seeped in, unwanted. "What are you doing?" My voice cracked, a tremor of fear running through it. It had been so long since I'd felt anything.

I could immediately tell his magic was invasive.

"I have a favor I need to ask of you, Hael." He was pushing, pulling me back to a place I didn't want to be. His magic was too gentle, too healing.

It made me sick.

"Stop," I commanded, though my voice wavered. I could feel my pulse quicken, my heart betraying me as he pushed more of his magic into me. My composure was slipping, and the fear rose.

He didn't stop. "The person you fell in love with—will you go back for her or not?" His hand moved to my face, cupping my cheek.

My eyes went wide in horror. It wasn't the magic that unnerved me this time, but the question. He wanted an answer I didn't want to give, but I was too drained to fight him, and he was doing something to evoke what I was feeling.

"I would." The words slipped out before I could stop them, and the weight of them hit me harder than I expected

Just as I did answer him, I felt myself break.

My hands began to tremble.

"Hael," There was something very gentle about him,, "Will you listen to a request of mine?"

"What?"

>>Einar

I was going to say it, but I think I'll put my request at the very end.

I focused more of my magic on him, letting it tug and open all the pores of his mind and heart.

It seemed to unnerve him but I had to let him know I wasn't an enemy but a friend.

"I know you're surprised. How can I do this to you when you're the strongest mage." I smiled gently, "My magic power just exceeds that of yours." Although my body is not strong enough to hold it, "But I mean no harm."

The one magic power I possess is to bring out the deepest, most suppressed emotions of a person. It tends to make people very vulnerable.

I did not want to force it on him. But I felt like he needed it. I observed him along with Enya and I have my own theories.

That he needed someone.

"I understand," I told him. And I wasn't lying. When I used this spell, it wasn't only him who was feeling this, I was feeling it with him.

And the amount of pain this man had in him was unbearable.

It brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't stop them as they streamed down my cheeks. I gently wrapped my arms around his head and pulled him in.

But at the moment I was all he had. He might not want this, but I knew I was the only one who could help him.

I felt him clutch my clothes,

Then I felt his body tremble. My magic was working.

"Stop..." He whispered, trying to regain control but I wasn't forcing anything. I was simply opening the emotions he was trying to further suppress.

But he had too much bottled up. It was affecting my mind too. His emotions were too strong, they could eat up a person and I could tell they had started consuming him.

"Let them out," I told him, "Turning away from them won't do you any good." I know that opening them like this is bad too. It was like opening the gate that was holding the entire sea in it but if he doesn't face the things inside of him, we won't get anywhere.

I pursed my lips, trying to compose myself but my tears wouldn't stop.

"I'm not going to ask you to turn back time or anything but I can feel a little bit of what you are feeling." I said, "I can tell you crave it." His body stiffened at my words, "The affection, the love, the normalcy that everyone else but you seem to have-"

"Stop," His hands didn't stop trembling, "Please..." Feeling everything at once must be breaking him, but he was strong. Way stronger than I was.

I wasn't even feeling what he was fully and I couldn't stop crying yet he was still holding it in.

"You wish to be with her, don't you?" I asked, "change things and be happy."

...

He didn't reply immediately but I also knew it would be impossible for him not to say anything. Not with my magic in him.

"I do!" He finally said, "I want to believe that she can be good!"

It seemed like deep down Hael was just a child. Neglected by everyone, he became the worst version of himself. But deep down, that child inside of him still wanted to be loved- in some way.

I tried to blink away the tears but the pain of this man wouldn't allow my heart to calm down.

"I know you want to take a chance again." I took a deep breath to try and steady my voice, "The only person who can heal you is her after all. The one who is dead now." I wiped my tears but they came and wet my cheeks again, "So," I sniffled as I created some distance between us, but I kept my hands on him, this time on his shoulders, "Why don't you?"

...

There was a pause

"Einar..." His voice trembled, "I am afraid."

"Why?" I asked softly, "What scares you?"

"I can't sleep. I have never had trouble sleeping. After all, sleeping was just something to do to rest and gain mana back..."

"Hmm," I listened back, placing my hands back on his cheeks

"It hurts-" He pointed at his chest, his eyes welling with unshed tears, "Everyday," His voice was so soft, it shook.

"It's strange. What is wrong with me? After everything I did to get a better life, Why do I still feel like I'm the one who lost?" His eyes were void, lost, "Why?"

He placed his hands on mine, "I can't,"

"What?"

"I can't do it,"

"What?" I looked at him.

He raised his head and looked at me, "I am beyond afraid,"

"You are afraid?" My heart beat was too high, "Of what?"

"I fear, that nothing will change," He shook his head, "I realized that the flaws were mine. I don't have the ability to understand things like normal people do." And finally, the tears he was so desperately trying to keep in, came out. Streaming down that lovely face of his.

"Hael," I wiped them with my fingers.

"I fear that by the time I understand, everything is already wrong. And it won't change even if I do go back."

"Hmmm," I could feel myself breaking, so what was he feeling? It must be so agonizing for him.

Like torture to the soul.

"I thought about it and I thought about it again and again and again. I didn't even get why my mind was falling apart while I was sitting at the best place I could be." He paused, gulped and let out a shaky breath, "Deep inside I have this fear that I might say something wrong and everything will go wrong."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because that is what happened all my life." His eyes did feel more alive but I could see the loneliness, the despair, the fears, and all the horrors.

It made me feel like I was going to break.

"I have opened your emotions. So you won't fail this time." I squeezed his face, "You feel it, don't you?" I asked him, "You can feel everything in you, can't you?"

His gray eyes softened, looking somewhat miserable, "Yes..."

"It wasn't your fault," I told him, then sniffled, "The world was just too cruel to you." I'm gonna come down with a fever with how I can't stop crying, "You said you want her, if any person is given the opportunity, they do it better. You can now understand everything you couldn't before, so I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"...." His gaze dropped

My words were most likely not enough to convince him. He had been through too much bad in his life, after all. I pulled him into a hug

"You'll be just fine," I poured some calming magic in him. Letting it take over all of his body and soon enough I felt his body relax.

***

"Why did you drink so much?" I asked as we both lay in bed side by side staring up.

"It bogged my mind enough to put me to sleep."

I gently caressed his hair, "This all must be too painful."

"..."

"I will not force you into anything Hael," I kept my voice low, "I want you to make the final decision yourself."

"I don't care about saving the world, or anyone else." He said, "But I do want her."

I chuckled, "Enya is the same. She only wants Ahin." I could tell he was thinking. I may have opened his emotions but he still needs time to process them.

So we both spent three days in his room and I helped him understand and process the stuff. It was merely three days, but we got so close.

It was because of Hael and the affinity he found in me that he let me in.

***

>>Einar (Present)

It was a pretty simple thing. Hael had no one to rely on. No one he could trust. No one who could help him with his burdens

I simply became that person for him.

I looked back at Saint Amber. He was in a very vulnerable state when he was with me and I don't think that's something I should tell anyone else.

It was Hael's private moment.

"We didn't do much. You know how he was with his emotions right? I used my magic to help him understand his feelings."

"Oh,"

"It overwhelmed him. So I stayed with him to help him sort things out." This was the only explanation I could offer.