RP:Tear Me to Pieces, Skin to Bone

Part of the Time Heals All Wounds Arc

Synopsis: The entity is getting stronger, and by that, it is working harder to take over Linken's body. Penelope and Linken are no longer able to talk much about the entity itself because it listens. The two go on a picnic and conversations re-hash the past with old Linken's journal. He still loved the girl, but she is resistant. Then... Aeric. Linken's son appears in the forest with the two as the entity tries to overtake Linken's body again. The past tears at Penelope and she is left in a swirl of guilt and bottled emotions... Aeric says it best, she is almost heartless. Anyway, besides that, Linken's body becomes inflamed as they reach the temple of Arkhen as the entity tries to fight it's way to control the elf, but instead, Aeric and Penelope help the elf to the statue of Arkhen where it relieves the burning pain and shovels the darkness back in. Is Arkhen the key? Or was it luck? Find out next time! If there is one... (Linken, you alive, bro?)

Halifax Roots

How long had it been since the two just had a simple picnic? Simple, however, had been an understatement. Whatever was haunting Linken had been listening to them closely, especially Linken. The timing was during the day, so how bad could the picnic go? Besides, they were just acting, right? So technically, the only pressure that relied was the entity tied to the elf. Personal life did not have to be as detailed and she did not have to reconnect with the man—only for the act. The healer had come in mid-day when the shop was bustling. The freckled woman looked a little tired under the eyes, but overall, she remained with pep in her step as she wore simple garb a black corduroy baker boy hat, some black jeans, a white top, and a long checkered dress coat. The woman is behind the counter packing food into a basket while Ruari takes the front counter. “I don’t know why you two have to go on a picnic,” he mutters, but then quickly gives a friendly, charming smile to a lady trying to buy essential oils. “Because. I –have- to. I can’t explain until we are alone, so please, Ruari. Just trust me. I’m just trying to get everything… moving forward. The closer we are to solving this, the closer we can move on with our lives. I’m sure the old him wouldn’t be thrilled about it either,” the herbalist has her back turned to him as she loads supplies. Ruari on the other hand is only rolling his eyes before moving on beyond the counter to organize some goods on the shelves.

Floorboards begin to creak above the shop as Linken approaches the stairs, hands raised to his neck to finish threading his collar as he trotted down them into plain view of those in the shop. The elf spared no expense in selecting an appropriately elegant wardrobe for today's activity, adorned in what could only be described as a very-comfortable-looking silk shirt, with long, breathable sleeves cuffed just below the elbow by his gloves, and tucked into a pair of flattering brown leather pants. His hair was tied back loosely in a half-knot tucked behind his ears, and his polished elven-leather boots carried him with an eager smile, heels clopping against the wood as he came down and the rest of the way in. "Afternoon, miss Penny. Beautiful, as always." A sincere smile tugged at the corner of his lips, approaching the counter near the two and leaning onto it with his forearms crossed by the picnic basket. "You ready for today? I have high expectations." The jestful smirk accompanying his words would flicker and dim a bit, notes of concern filling his stare as he took in closer examination of her tired features. "...Now that I mention it, are you sure you're up for this? You look exhausted. I wouldn't be offended if you wished to postpone this 'til a later date." Linken seemed genuinely concerned over Penelope's well being, despite the urgent nature of the trip he's planned. "You sure you're ready?" Could he possibly be trying to warn her of what lies ahead?

Penelope finds her gaze rested upon the man coming down the stairs. Each day he seemed to be growing more confident again. His old personality creeping back in spurts. As he compliments her simple beauty, she looks puzzled and at a loss for words at the pep in his step. Ruari then cuts in in the distance. “Penny, how’s Lionel?” The dark haired man was trying to be a bother, but the comment is dismissed with a side eye from the woman. She knew Linken would haunt her as he reminded her of what he used to be. Although old Linken had been through plenty of darkness, he still always had the kindness deep within. Sensitive. All she did anymore was compare the new Linken to the old. The situation was odd. Instead of appreciating the comment, she glazes over his words. Although as innocent as those words were, she kept up the fickle barrier around him. She, then, is about to say something, but he scrutinizes her and leaves her with parted lips in explanation. “It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before. After all, I am a med student,” she says carefully with a smile. The physician, however, stands tall with a genuine smile, of course. “I am more than ready, Linken. Trust me,” and with that statement, she closes the basket lid. The girl slides the basket off the counter before moving forth. “Now, can you keep up?” The woman says with mirrored banter. She tips her hat before pivoting and expecting him to follow. “Do you have a place in mind? Because if not, I always have places up my sleeve,” the Ardelian says slowly in contemplation. In the background, Ruari is sweeping, “Don’t have too much fun,” he says with full sarcasm as the two go out the door.

Linken had grown rather irritated with constant slander, insults and stares of disapproval that constantly spewed from Ruari when in his presence coughing up a muted chuckle before slowly turning his head to face the other elf, narrow gaze locked on him as if peering through his soul like a window with his tongue pressed in his cheek. "I'm not's sure who Lionel is," he quipped as he slid around the counter, slowly closing the distance between the two of them until they stood shoulder to shoulder, Linken leaning inward with one hand pressed flat upon the table top as he gazed through Ruiri quizzically. "But, if you're so intrigued by this person, you shouldn't use Penelope here to shield your interests. If you want to talk to him, just ~go for it.~ Love can blossom in the most unexpected places, and I'm sure there's..." He pauses, eyes scanning Ruari up and down before his brow tightens and his smile partially diminishes, "...something that he find in you to appreciate. Maybe. But, you never know until you try, pal!" The elf lifts his steel hand and places it upon his left shoulder, leaning ever closer to meet his gaze with narrow eyes and a wry smile. "Just a tip. Go get 'em, tiger." With that, the elf delivered a probably-a-tad-too-strong of a friendly smack to Ruari's back, more than likely than not to knock him off balance at the least as he turned to join Penelope by the door with lofted brows and a bright, eager smile. "We'd best get on with it! Daylight is burning, after all. Shall we then?"

Ruari has the biggest grin on his face as Linken reacts which was probably not the best for the situation. Ruari does not learn, and nothing is too strong for him—especially when it came to the girl he was lifelong friends with. “I’ll assure you. You’ll learn who he is,” the dark, scruffy man looks the man before him up and down with his grey lazy eyes. He is about as tall as Linken and shares no sense of fear from the man before him. As the metallic-armed elf roasts the half elf, the grin never fades. “Honestly, if I had the option, why not? Penelope’s lucky, I’d say. Especially to save herself from a—“ he was cut off when Penelope loudly interrupts. “Ruari Erickson, I’ve had enough,” her voice is shrilling. Linken then approaches her and there is nothing but a narrowed stare. “You have enough?” Clearly, they both had. “I guess we shall,” she harshly pushes the door open. “Stop stooping to his level. Especially because that thing can leak out,” she says sternly. “Now, let’s go,” the woman would then start heading deeper in the forest. “I know a little nook close to home.”

Linken huffed as Penelope barreled through the door, following suite with his reply before lifting his hands over his shoulders to send a flock of birds Ruari's way as he replied with a sigh. "You're right. I wouldn't want to develop knees as weak as his personality. Seriously, is he that awful to everyone, or just me? You know what- never mind." The arrogant elf treats him like an open book, but Ruari doesn't know the first thing about what his intentions are. At least, he told himself, that after today, he'd never have to worry about putting up with him again, as weak of a positive outlook as that is. His response is a quick, but soft "No," when Penelope suggests a location for their picnic, continuing on his way down the path and hoping she would follow. "I already have a place in mind."

Penelope rolled her eyes as he followed. Both of them had become weak in that scenario, and when she is about to answer his question, her mouth closes abruptly and nods instead. She follows him through his direction. “You know, I know he is an ass,” she admits, but there was a big ‘but’ hanging there, “Though, he is protective. Honestly, you two used to get along. He used to love you, but… well, I was the one to turn him against that after… well,” after her brother died. “I know you are good at heart, but he is scared. Scared that you’ll hurt me. It’s a defense mechanism. I’m not scared of you, though. Since I re-met you, I never have been.” Beat. “And well, there is… Lionel who I –have- been talking to since… us. It’s fresh,” she confesses. “And it’s surprising to Ruari that I am seeing someone who isn’t… you.” The woman looks forward with an expressionless gaze to hide what she was truly thinking. What was she thinking? “I think Ruari is scared of you. Although his mouth his big, he is… terrified,” she walks with him while looking at the man for his reaction. After all, they did have to be more open with each other.

Natural Crossroads

Penelope in view, one hand leaving his pocket to scratch at his chin while the other cupped his elbow. "What exactly -is- the reason that you left me for? Well, the other me?" His hand parts from his chin, balling into a fist by his face and extending a digit in count of every point that he makes. "If I'm recalling correctly, every time you've mentioned our past together, you've told me that you had actually been with -and- left me several times, as well as swore up and down that you were the one at fault, and that you were no good for me... You were 'toxic', right? And yet, while you play it up like I'm the victim in the situation, everyone around us, you included, seem to hold some level of disdain for me, albeit some more than others. So, if you're still up for being so open, I'd really like to understand what exactly it was that -you- did, and why everyone seems to hate -me- for it. And, if that's not the case, just tell me the damn truth..." Linken lets his gaze linger on her for a moment longer before wiping his mouth, turning back to face the road as he awaited some sort of explanation, all the while hoping none of this conversation would escalate the situation before they reached their objective.

Penelope walked slowly with one hand in her pocket while holding the basket in the other. “I don’t think they don’t love you anymore, I think that time has changed for you. Completely. I don’t know what your life was like for a three year span. I left you four years ago. You could have people searching for you right now. I don’t know what you have been up to…” She trails in response. “I say the old you, since you’re in these lands in the first place. The current you is rather lost, so I consider you new myself,” she tries to play light of the situation, but her smile is feigning. The thought of him losing himself makes her uneasy and a part of her is sad for him. He was so lost with no one except her. The one who abandoned him. The silence is overbearing between them. He speaks, and she begins to grow nervous while has asks his questions, however, he deserves to know. “Well… you were very in love with me… and, I was in love with you,” she starts very slowly. “I was young. You met me when I was a baker. My brother was very ill, and he was comfortable enough for me to work at the bakery in Cenril,” she begins. The woman came to a conclusion that she might as well tell the truth to the full story. “Either way, you were interested in me, we fell in love, but… my brother was sick and I didn’t realize. He didn’t know right from wrong. He thought you were after me. And things got escalated and you had to… kill him, but it was because he… almost hurt me,” she tries to be nonchalant but her eyes move to her wrist where her octogram rests underneath her sleeve. “I resented you, but I learned to forgive, but I knew I was also a part of the death…” That was the first time she admitted it and she looked unsteady. “I’m unclean. We both did stuff that was not agreeable, and it wasn’t just Pakellin. Even after that, I loved you, but I grew sick of myself. I grew sick that I still loved you,” that was the first part of acceptance. “I felt dirty. I needed to repent. Forgive my wrongs,” she finally looks at him again with those doe eyes. “So I left. And then I ran into you again… but you were so ordinary about it all. Like things went back to normal. We never talked about it. So I left you –again-.” Pause. “I left you twice total.”

Linken laughs sarcastically at the way she describes him, coming to a dead halt and pivoting on his heal to face her, a look of disbelief plastered across his features. "Can you blame him? After everything he's done- I've done, the only thing in this world that I want right now is some gods-be-damned normalcy! And by the way," he remarks sharply with a cracking voice, his emotions once again beginning to get the upper hand and he moves in closer and meets her face to face, making sure that Penelope can clearly read every line, see every drop of sweat and feel every emotion in his eyes. "I happen to know every vivid detail of what happened to your brother, believe me." Linken winces and turns away, tightly shutting his eyes and squeezing the tears from his vision before raising a hand to his mouth to shield a cough before turning back to face her, as difficult as it was becoming. "I'm not sure if I told you, but I was forced to relive it all. Dammit, it put me there, and it made me do it. I watched as I pulled out my knife, and I watched it leave my hand, and no matter how hard I struggled I couldn't stop it! That freaking thing, it- It put me there, and it made me do it, so don't you try to sit here and tell me who was guilty and who wasn't because I killed him too, dammit! I...I killed him too....okay?...And you can blame me, him, or yourself as much as you want, but at some point you're gonna have to admit that the moment your brother pulled out that knife, -everybody- lost. The moment your Linken showed up, he was doomed. No decision he could have made that night would have been a good one, nor would it have changed the outcome. One of you three were going to die that night, that is a fact, but the two of them were trying to protect you. What happened was unavoidable. But where I think you are absolutely wrong is in assuming that my better half would be so passive about what he had to do to save you. Now, I can't speak for what he felt when he took your brother's life...but dammit, I know what -I- felt."

Tears were flowing freely from Linken's face at this point, his hands constantly touching his face as he continually wiped his cheeks and nose dry during his testimony. "And I know that if I loved you as much as I'm pretty sure he does, and I was forced to do -that- to you, with my -own two hands-? It would ~haunt~ me for the rest of my years. If he didn't already have a knife pushed into your neck, I would have let him kill me. And you -seriously- think he'd just, what, brush it off and forget what happened? It would torture me every single day, and I'm pretty sure it did him. I know he visited your brother's grave more than you ever did." The elf leans in even close than before, their noses barely touching as he stares her down, his eyes filled with self-repulsion. "See, I've been listening to the way you talk about who I was, what I accomplished, how 'brave', heroic and strong' I was, but have you ever -once- stopped and asked yourself...What if he isn't? What if Linken was never as strong as you thought he was? What if he has always just been a boy, the same as me, with an unfathomable burden dumped on his life, who was forced to kill the only family of the -one- woman he loved more than anything?? Who brought meaning to his life, more than just mindlessly existing, watching everything die? Can you imagine what he must have felt, every time he looked at you? The remorse? The guilt? What if this whole time he was forcing himself to remain silent and strong, out of fear that letting his emotions flow would spark some sort of violent spontaneous outburst, that resulted in you getting hurt? Hasn't that possibility become apparent? Do you have any idea what it could have felt like, having to control your emotions every day, for what? A millennia?? He had to have been emotionally broken! So, Penelope, no, I don't blame him for trying to act normal when he had to wake up every morning and face his demons whenever he looked at you. I've been doing it every day since. And you say you never talked about what happened, but ask yourself this: Did you ever actually -try- to talk to him? To see how -he- felt? The hope of having a happy, -normal- life with you was probably the only thing that was keeping him together! You've said to me before that I never needed you before the way you always needed me until now, but how do you actually know that -I- haven't been the one that's always needed ~you?~..."

Penelope stares at him with a grim gaze as he comes face to face with her. The woman does not bat an eye as he confronts her about the situation that he had remembered. The memory flooded back to him? Was the entity picking and choosing? Really, the entity did not matter anymore in the moment. The healer, instead, listened to him speak. “You think that I did not think that we –all- lost that night? We lost once I said that was ready for –anything-. Did your little entity remind you of that part? The part where I said that if it resorted to dangerous outcomes, we would move forward the best we can?” The woman keeps her chin up while she speaks to him. In opposition, she does not shed a tear. Not for Linken. Not for the lost twin. Perhaps, the once innocent, freckled girl had grown a thickened shell that was too strong for anyone to be let in. The man before her is pouring out his heart and anger. “I knew he was haunted because I was the one who set us up for failure. Past Linken told me multiple times about others he had to kill for justice. For ‘heroism’. But this wasn’t heroism. For either of us." Her voice is cold, yet even and steady. The conversation had been building up for years, and finally, the two were able to hash out some of it. She lets him continue and she still does not move an inch from the face that is so close to her. No trembling. No shaking. Who was this human anymore? Even with others around her, she was almost programmed to say the right things and perform the right actions for others around her. Though, truly, how deep was she anymore? Even the people who tried to slink into her life, she sugar-coated. The woman always turned the conversation around on the other to refrain from realness. Only a façade.

The moment comes when the man has the audacity to prove to her that he had visited the twin’s grave more than she ever did, and at that moment, everything else becomes white noise. An oblivion of endless words that went through her ear and out the other. Her expression appears distant as her gaze is finally taken off of him and is now looking past him. Her hand twitches slightly and her lips sort of quiver, but not in a sad way. More of suppressing anger. True anger. Stay in tune. Stay in tune. Her hardened gaze stares straight at him like piercing daggers. “You say that he wanted such a –normal- life, but you yet to realize that he, literally, did wake up with his demons. I made it a point to move on, so he could move on like he always had before me. Which is twisted and selfish, but do you really think that I was the only love he ever had? He had plenty of women before I came into the picture.” She inches even closer in the space between the two if it was possible. Her words were like slow and quiet venom. “And I wasn’t any different. Another one of those ‘epic’ love stories that became tainted, so there was no reason to ever talk to him about it when I had no idea what was ever going through his mind after that night. You were so bottled, so because of that, I was left alone. Both of us were left alone and maybe that was just a communication issue, but really it’s obviously more than that,” she then leans back and takes a few steps back. “And I’m not saying that I didn’t hurt him because he made that –very- clear the day we met again after the first time I left. I remember every drop of hate he spewed in my face before I was ready to come back to him.” The woman then looks off in the distance at a nearby bird that flies by. “And so what that I didn’t visit Kellin’s grave as much as he did? It’s not a competition, and how dare you even think it would be. How you would even try to prove that it was. People grieve in different ways and I was supposed to overcome the grief because it was so heavy that if I didn’t, Linken would have lost me in other ways. Losing a twin is like losing half of you. You feel the void. It’s dark and nothing but… somber. At least with Kellin and I. I was ready to succumb.” She then exhales, “We both had demons from that night. Like you said, everyone lost. Linken reminded me—you reminded me of the half of me that lost. Which has… been mended. I’ve had to keep moving along with life. I thought Linken—I mean, you could fill that space in me. I’ve yet to figure that out. But the least I can do for you is prove that you still have a small part of me that is willing to help you find yourself again. So please. I ask you not tear at this conversation anymore. Pakellin is dead,” she admits aloud, finally after those years that had passed with bottled mourning. The air is silent in that moment. The sounds of chirping and rustling through the trees stop. “Now, let our past go. Let me help you find your future… without that—thing.” With that, she dropped the conversation and she continues to walk away from him through the path.

Linken's mouth hung agape, a disbelieving smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he shook his head in disapproval of her words. She couldn't believe what she was actually saying, could she? Did she really not know? "It must have taken a lot of work to convince yourself you were doing him any favors. Can you honestly tell me you think that's what he -wanted?- Don't, stop, I need you to stop..." The elf widens his stance, buckling himself firmly in place and bringing himself down to eye level with the woman, determined to decipher through her gaze if her words reflected how she really felt. "...I need you to stop, and listen to what you're saying, because I have a feeling you've run this excuse off yourself so many times, that the meaning of what you're saying is lost on you. You just said that he had plenty of women in his life before you, and that you moved on so that he could, 'like he always had before.' And you're going to stand here, and try to convince me that is the kind of life he -wanted?- An endless cycle of pouring your heart and spilling your blood for others, only to have them all walk out on you, leaving you broken and empty-handed time and time again? And you thought -contributing- to that hurt was in his best interest?? Good lord, would the man have put himself through everything he had for you if he wasn't holding on to some kind of hope, or vision of a future with you?" Linken forces a laugh, not out of finding humor, but a deep irony in this situation, turning his gaze away with a shaking head and burying his face in his hand. "...You honestly have no clue, do you?..." The fingers shielding his eyes part, a single cerulean optic peeking through the crack as he observed her reactions carefully. "He never got over you. Somehow you've managed to convince yourself you were helping him move on, when in fact you actually secured that he never would. I't starting to show that you never kept up with him, because if you did, you'd know that there hasn't been another woman in his life since you. This poor bastard, whose body I'm stuck in, has done nothing but dream about you, write about you, and pine over you for -years-. So go ahead, argue that there are other women out there, better for him, or worse, more beautiful, more ~special~..." The elf lets slips his hand from his face, unable to shed his look of disappointment as he shakes his head. "But it does not chance the fact that, in spite of all these other women, these 'offerings', or 'tally marks', the way you make them seem..." Linken stepped closer, a single finger extended and raised aloof to ever-so-gently tap her on the forehead. "...for some reason, something drew him to you. A simple, sweet, innocent little baker. And no matter where life took the two of you, that pull never waned. Regardless of what you -think- you may know about him, whatever it was he really, truly wanted, he saw it in -you.- And I don't know about you, but if I were as old as you say he is, as weathered, experienced, and had half as much time to reflect on myself as he...If I decided I needed someone in my life that badly, I'd be a damn fool to second guess myself. Since you left him the last time, however, that cursed freak has had only one goal on his mind..." The elf wouldn't get the chance to tell her, though, turning and scoffing as he watched Penelope walk away from him, biting his lip in frustration as he shoved his hands into his satchel and began burrowing. "And by the way...My 'little entity' as you call it didn't say anything to me about this. Linken did." As his hand whipped out from the bag, it held, extended in the air before him, a leather bound book: Linken's journal. "I may have lost most of my memories, but I still know how to damn read. I think you'd be surprised at just how -much- your name turns up in this thing."

Penelope had enough of the constant proving of whatever her past history was. The present was now. She had enough of the bickering with the almost stranger. As much as the memory-swiped elf told her Linken’s feelings, she was a brick wall. A tall one, and it was almost impossible to jump over. The disbelieving laughs from the elf have her back into the emotionless state outwardly, but internally, she was not sure how to process the words he tossed her way, but she listens enough until she turns away from him. “I didn’t say those women were –special-, and I’m sorry I broke his heart when I left. But wouldn’t you think that that person who just gets up and goes is a little… horrible? Maybe he still has to figure it out,” she walks and talks for a moment until he pulls out the journal in his hands. She pauses—again—and pivots around to look at him and then the journal. “Where did you—“ she cuts off and shakes her head. “I’m not the innocent baker anymore. And no matter where life took us, he doesn’t know me. He never did after everything. I didn’t even know myself at the time,” and perhaps she still did not. “Maybe once upon a time, but not anymore,” moss eyes stare him up and down. “He has little baker fantasies. Probably dreams of a happy life with a woman who wanted children once upon a time ago. Someone to come home to and make him... happy. You know where life led –me-? Wanting a simple life. No children, and just trying to heal people and mend them the best I can.” In that moment, Lionel slowly crosses her mind, but she quickly shakes the man away. For right now, everything was already too complicated in the conversation they were in. “Glad you can read, though, but I don’t think that Linken actually knew who he was writing about.” The girl keeps a cautious distance from the haunting stare of the elf before her. “Can we leave it alone?”

Linken hides his disappointment beneath a feign smirk, arms falling to his side as he opens his satchel once again. "I know you didn't say that; you didn't have to. Given the way you've talked about yourself around me, I'd reckon anyone who could manage half a conversation with you could glean exactly how insecure you are. If you'd so swiftly and without hesitation lump yourself into a category with the rest of the women that have been taking pieces of my future self's soul, then it's obvious you don't think very highly of yourself." As he stuffed the journal back into his satchel, he'd begin to pick up his stride once again, accelerating to a pace just quick enough to catch up with Penelope, and potentially pass her, talking all the while. "And, if it counts for anything, -I- never said I didn't think you were horrible for what you did. But I am not -him-, and this isn't about what I think anymore." As he approached her side, he'd slow his pace for a few moments, giving himself ample time to lock eyes with the woman and properly convey the emotion in his words; He was not just spouting aggression, but actually trying to get through to her. "You can tell yourself whatever vision you think he had in his mind of you that you want, whatever helps you justify your decisions. But if -my- opinion matters to you, which I really don't care if it does 'cause you're gonna' hear it anyways, then I think you're wrong. If he's as old as you say, he's probably been everything. -Done- everything. I can tell you from experience he's been a farmer, then a carpenter. But odds are he's been a baker before you, as well. And a healer. And a hunter, a fisher, a warrior, a brick layer, a tailor, a bard, a jester, a smith, a butler and a turd farmer. So, whatever it was he saw in you that caught his eye, I highly doubt it had anything to do with your profession. I honestly doubt what you chose to do with your life had any sort of reflection on what he saw in you." Linken narrowed his gaze, once more picking up speed as he began to outpace Penelope; honestly, she didn't even know where to go! As he'd pass her, though, he'd offer one last remark, turning his gaze forward to focus on the road as he lead them to their destination. "...No, you know what I think he saw? I think he saw a soul. A soul that was beyond beautiful to him A soul whose hurt he could feel, who he felt was deserving of all the happiness in the world, and was willing to do anything and sacrifice everything to give that to her. And he failed....Eh, well, at least we can agree on one thing: I don't think he knew the girl he was writing about, either. How could he possibly know her, if she'd keep running away before he ever got the chance to?"

Penelope sort of sneers at the thought of him telling her she was insecure. Maybe only slightly, yet in the end, it was truly a matter of what she wanted in life. Maybe that was the true insecurity. “Gods you keep talking about it, anyway. I don’t think it’s a matter of insecurity. I think it’s a matter of not wanting to be wrapped up in whatever life I left behind. I’m moved on. I’m healing my wounds. I needed time, and really, I still do.” She slows herself down to let him lead the way. She is fine taking the stroll behind, since there was a destination he had in mind. Why was she even continuing this picnic, anyway? “You’re stubborn as hell,” the new Linken had rubbed her nerves, but perhaps the past just got her worked up. As he mentions the old elf finding a soul within her, she comes to a slow pace behind him in hesitation. “He didn’t fail.” The woman blinked for a moment in a gentle echo behind him. “It was just not his job to give me happiness. That’s my own job, and I didn’t realize that back then,” she looks at him with a puzzled gaze of the realization she admitted to herself. “Perhaps the girl who ran away needed to figure herself out before sharing a life with another—if that was her choice. I’m still unsure about that choice. Sharing a life,” she begins to keep up, but she stays her small distance behind him. “And I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong,” she says this confidently, but sincere all-the-same. Her snarky attitude was turning back to silken conversation. Herself.

Linken was not keen on continuing this conversation, knowing their destination would soon be upon them and the intense amount of focus it would require of him to pass through, and yet they still had a short ways to go, and so the elf decided to humor her for now. "Perhaps he didn't." The elf slowed his pace, turning about to face the girl who had fallen behind while continuing to move at a backpedal. "And yet, how is he supposed to know? You knew him better than I, you tell me how the guy handles guilt and failure." Not very good, to say the least. When her pace would increase again, the elf would sigh and turn about to face the road again, tightly shutting his eyes and drawing a deep breath. It was almost time. "Would you mind throwing me an apple out of that basket?...I don't think my stomach can wait 'til we get there..." Should Penelope comply and search for the apple, she would find a note labeled 'READ ME' tucked beneath the fruit, with the following contents therein: "Act normal. When I turn off the road, follow me. Keep pace. This will be hard for me, I'll need your help. Keep hold of me, move fast, and stop for nothing until we get there. If I fall behind or turn, run. Throw the apple to me if you understand." Linken continued with their conversation as normal, marching ever forward with his back turned to her, one hand wafting in the air near his head, ready to catch. "Of course it's not his job. It's not his job to do any of the things he's done. But just because providing you with happiness isn't his profession, doesn't mean he didn't want to see you happy. I'm sure he'd be content knowing you found happiness, wherever you came across it....Then again," the elf quipped in a puzzled tone as he scratched his chin, "Perhaps he did know...It would explain why he never went after you when you left...I know that when guilt, or pain is created, it cannot exist in air. It lives through people, and it is contagious. Perhaps he chose to stay behind and suffer for both of you, so you didn't have to?" Linken shrugs. "Who knows. I'm just speculating at this point. When it comes to sharing a life with someone, though..." He weakly smiles, reaching up to slide his fingers through his hair and scratch his scalp. "...I don't think I'll be very much help with that. Not exactly a field I'm very experienced in, to be honest, but I will say this; In the end, we all have to face death alone, or...so I'm told. It's embrace is cold, empty and lonely. You'll feel it when it comes for you, so why subject yourself to cold loneliness for the life that you have? For all you know, you'll never have another chance to feel that sort of warmth again. A life that never ends, though?..." A final rest for the weary he'll never obtain. An afterlife he'll never enter, loved one's he'll never see again. A cold, dead world, completely devoid of life, save the one pitiful soul too unfortunate to die with the rest. Linken shudders, "...Well...that must be a...pretty lonely life."

Penelope ignores the next responses. Instead, she is doing as he asks and reaching in the basket instead. She sorts through the fruit and finds a piece of parchment with giant words scratched across it. Her moss eyes slowly look to the man and then unfold the paper within the basket. Her eyes sort of squint and her unpainted lips begin to pucker at his request. Odd request—would she respect it? The woman then takes the apple in her head while crumpling the paper. She then tosses the man the apple on cue. The girl grows weary of the talk about the man that was the elf once before. She does not chime in until the very end. “Lonely for him I always thought for him. I’ve always been not a fan of his—your curse. You need, well, he needs rest for once. That was one thing I always wanted for him. Also, he had to know I’d die eventually too. Death doesn’t scare me, however, but I’m sure it would’ve scared him if he were still in my life.” Beat. “No one wants to be alone, but you just need to find your own warmth. For me, it’s Yerrel and Ruari… Linken Linken would remember him. Ruari worked at the bakery with me—“ she cuts off and she is not pretending to squint at the elf’s shirt. “Your sleeve is filthy. You ever wash your clothes? Sven,” she grasps to the arm of his shirt as she pretends to pry off dirt and dust. She understood the hint.

Linken's focus breaks long enough for him to slowly turn his head with a knotted brow, giving Penelope one of those really long, 'did she really just say that?' looks, before blurting out a genuine laugh, shaking his head as he turned away. "Oh, it sucks for -you-, doesn't it? That's reeeeal funny. Like being frustrated about a star falling on your neighbor's shack." A star? He must mean a meteor. Then again, perhaps astrology was after his time? There's no real way to tell exactly how old he is. But, in regards to the rest of Penelope's discussion, her words did not have the same effect on the elf as the previous. "It's all he wanted, too." His tone grew a tad somber, trying his best to keep his head straight as he cast a glance down to his satchel, Linken's journal therein. The things he'd read in there... If she only knew. "I think you ~were~ his rest." He was quick, to the point. What he read of himself was hard, and he didn't want to dwell on it any longer than he had to, but she had the right to know. "He knew well enough one day you'd die. Everyone he's ever met has died, and he's watched it all... He couldn't bear the thought of having to suffer another funeral, especially yours, in particular." He sighs, closing his eyes. "That's why he spent the last few years looking for-oomf!" His confession was interrupted as Penelope grabs tightly on his arm, huffing and puffing with embarrassment as she pretends to pry dirt and grime from his sleeve. "Jeez, I don't even know what clothes I actually -have-! I just -found- this thing, give me a break!...Sheesh..." He sighs. "Anyways, what I'm saying is, I believe your words to be true; finding your own warmth. However, there will come a day that you'll never require such warmth again. A day that will never come for him- well... Me. And if that warmth kept getting snuffed out, constantly leaving you alone, in the dark... Having to start over, rebuild it, again, and again... Well, eventually, I think I'd get tired of it. I'd want a way out-huh?" Linken stops and backpedals half a step, his eyes darting off to the side as he peered mesmerisingly into the void between the trees. It was time. He could hear it, calling to him; they were close enough. "I, uh," he mumbles as his ears fold down, a nauseous expression overtaking his pale face as his indisposed hand clenches his stomach. "...I'm not feeling to good, honestly. I haven't eaten in at least a day... We're still a ways down from the spot I picked, but I think we should find a spot nearby so I can sit down..." Without warning, and barely enough time for her to give a syllable in response, his steel hand firmly clamped around her arm ad whipped her off the beaten path as he darted straight through the woods, trying his best to steer her clear of any foliage or debris that could trip her; This mad attempt at going back would already be hard enough on him, they could not afford any more delays. After all, he knew he'd stop for her, no matter what. Gods be willing, they'd both make it there in time, and in one piece. Despite the danger, however, a very hungry part of him could not help but hope that she'd at least hold onto the picnic basket.

Penelope remains quiet at his metaphor and instead of feeding in, she continues on. The woman was done bouncing back and forth with the—stranger. The woman does not chime in, instead, she now listens, but that was short-lived, for they had other matters to speak on, and what was in the past was in her past. Well, that was what she wanted to believe, but unfortunately, the man still was in her future in some odd way. The woman then tilts her head at the man. “I’d want a way out too,” she admits. Eternity sounded brutal, but the thought is quickly gone due to his back step and she studies his sick facial expression. The world was a whirlwind and the clamp of his metallic grasp is pulling her tightly out of the path. He is running with her for a while, grasp tugging at her warm flesh and she is trying to keep up. The note had told her to follow, so without resistance, she abides his rules and the picnic basket trails behind her. A few things may have fell out—a couple apples and a few cloth napkins--but the food buried deep remained. What the hell was going on?

Linken ran as fast as he possibly could with Penelope in tow, banking around any tree or obstacle in their direct path while trying his best to make sure he did not injure her. The elf did not speak a word, but he visibly became more tense with each passing moment; he knew it would happen soon, and it churned his stomach to think of what he had to put her through, but he had no one else to rely on. Or trust. That, and he almost didnt make it on his own the first time. From what he's seen so far, and been told, Penelope was very good at taking care of- "Ahghghghgyaaaah!" Linken trips and goes stiff as a board mid-sprint, convulsing from the shock of the intense pain coursing through his body. He'd hit the ground flat and roll onto his side, his muscles tensing and flexing uncontrollably as he cried out in a mixture of pain and laughter. "AAAaaahhhahahahaa!! Oh! There it is! I knew it! Aaahhh, dammit, this is -horrible-, bloody HORRIBLE!" Linken rolls over onto his hands and knees, still trembling from the constant assault on his sensory and nervous system, then takes three deep breaths and scrambles to his feet, muttering, "I'm okay, I'm okay, we can't stop! Let's go!" as he snatches Penelope's arm again and breaks out into a frantic sprint, emitting a constant groan of severe discomfort as the affliction affects his balance, causing him to wobble and drift as he tries to keep in a straight line. The closer they get to his goal, however, the more that pain seems to intensify, until it reaches a point where he breaks down into tears and screams as loud as the small pocket of air in his lungs allows. The elf pushes his body's pain tolerance beyond it's levels, but there comes a point where he can push no more, abruptly tripping on a rock and accepting the fall completely as he lands flat on his face. Nearly seizing from pain, his skin sweating and beet red, Linken barely can muster the strength to push his face up out of the dirt to speak. "....I...Don't think I'm g-gonna make it...Oh, god it -huuuurts-....Ju-just go, I shouldn't have- gyggh! Should'na brought you here..."

A few twigs scratch against the human’s skin as they run through a few thickets in the forest. The clutch of the man’s grasp begins to make her forearm sore due to the metal that presses against her skin. Otherwise, she was stable, and her breath was even enough to keep up with him until he trips and his tumble forces the woman to her knees down with him. Her hair falls on her cold damp face. A strand sticks to a faint thorn scratch that rests on the side of her cheek. “Linken, Li—“ she pulls away from him and begins to feel for vitals in his stomach range, for he did talk about the nausea that he encompassed. However, she barely catches her breath as she is pulled along again in the thickets. The girl leaps over trunks and rustles through leaves. The sway of his balance is noticed, and eventually she crinkles her face and tries to get an even enough pace to tuck her head underneath the arm that was dragging her behind him. The physician looks weary as they move through the forest. The pain is visible on his face. “Come on,” she was lost on what was happening. The pain looked unbearable, and well, she reflected on his story when he had come across Krice. He was in pain. Was this the same pain? The same region? Then, he trips, and she topples forward with him into the dirt. The woman struggles beneath him for a moment before she gets on her knees and begins to pull him. “You know for a damn fact that I can’t leave you. You got us into this mess, you get us out! Get up,” she would begin to keep pulling on him—maybe almost even dragging him against the forest ground. “We made it this far, you are not giving up now!” Perhaps she was meaning their life. When was the closing chapter? Would they ever reach that point? “Here… let me—“ she pulls back and leaves him on the ground momentarily before trying to search through the green herbal pouch that Emilia had passed down to her. The magic of the pouch would automatically stock what she needed in a given moment as long as the shipment was there. There was a jar of yellow waxy petals. The woman unscrews the jar, pulls out a few leaves, and shoves them forward. “Chew,” she would force. It was highly unlikely these would work, but if they did and medication was what he needed, the petals were a pain reliever and perhaps it would make it bearable for just a little longer.

Linken lay on his hands and knees as penelope rummaged through her medicinal pouch, breathing long and heavy as he tried to get a handle on the pain. He was not worried about making it there himself; he'd crawled on his hands and knees for more than a day to reach his destination, and if he could endure this sort of agony for that long once, he'd do it again, as little as he wanted to. With her here, however, it was a different story: Another person meant someone else capable of being hurt. Eyes locked on the dirt beneath him, he quickly lifted a hand to reach out for whatever Penelope had offered for the pain, snatching it from her possession and stuffing it in his face. The contents did not matter to him; He'd eat troll dung if somebody told him it would ease his pain right now. After a minute of chewing, he could almost feel the effect of the numbing agent; it may very well have been a placebo effect, but it did not matter, nor did they have the time to ponder such things. The elf grinded his teeth and winced, rocking himself back and forth to build up momentum before lurching himself back up to his feet with a pained growl and falling onto Penelope's shoulders for support, using all the strength he had left just to lift his feet high enough not to drag them behind as they pushed on. The pair managed to push on further than one would expect in this kind of physical state, to be fair, but only for a reasonable distance, before the agony grew so intense that the elf could go on no more, his blood vessels fit to burst as he screamed himself coarse. His legs finally buckled, bringing limp flat to the ground as if he were already a corpse, before suddenly breaking out into a fit, twisting, contorting and kicking as his eyes bulged to the point of nearly popping out of his skull. The elf flailed and tossed himself from side to side, his bulging veins growing more apparent as their contents turned darker and darker, and Linken looked up to Penelope from the ground with terror and guilt in his eyes, a single, thick black tear dripping and running down his cheek, diluting in the stains left by tears prior. "...I'm...sorry." he gritted through his bare teeth, "...Can't...hold it back...anymore...."

Penelope nods along as the man accepts the herbs and latches himself back onto her. “Good, good,” she then grunts. “Let’s go,” she says with a fierceness at the unknown mission they were reaching. Wherever the man would try to move, she would help him hobble along with her support. They gain momentum. Go, go, go. The girl keeps staring forward and then… “No,” and at the moment his eyes begin to turn into the black abyss. She is facing what she did the first day he returned back into her life. “No…” she breathes out in a very faint whisper. The tear trickles down and she drops to her knees again. “It’s okay, Linken, it’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll be okay,” she tries to comfort the man as he disappears within his own body and she is left facing the eyes of the empty soul. She knew the elf was worried for her; she had a thick sense for these types of emotions. At this point, she stands up and hovers over the being that is taking over. “Why the hell are you doing this? Why him?”

Linken knew he was teetering on the edge of the abyss. If only they'd managed to get a little closer... Barely hanging on to his will, the elf lifted a trembling hand, reaching out to Penelope for help, hoping in some way she'd save him from his fate, as his eyes began to pool with tainted darkness... when a rush of wind swept in from behind on rustling leaves, and riding on them a hooded figure, sprinting at unmatched speeds towards them from only a short distance behind. at about fifteen meters away, the figure slowed it's momentum by dropping low to the ground and breaking into a slide, kicking up a trail of dust and debris in the path behind him. "FATHER!!" Aeric dug his fingers into the dirt as he slid past Linken, scrambling to change direction as he latched on to his father's side and threw his arm over his shoulders. "Father, hang in there! Don't let go! You can do this! I've watched you do it a thousand times! We can make it, just hold on!" The half-elf goes to lift Linken but pauses and buckles, his head snapping back to glare at Penelope, his hood falling back to reveal a crown of messy, medium-length locks of bright gold. "What the hell are you just standing there for!? HELP ME!!"

Penelope was only one person, and she knew there was nothing she could do. The woman was reaching for a hidden hilt before the yelp for the father. Her hand stops in place over her hilt and she looks into the direction of the child—that was not so much of a child anymore. “…Aeric?” The boy had grown. Very much so. ‘What the hell are you just standing there for!?’ her eyes are wide as she stares at the boy she used to watch grow with his father. Moss eyes blink before she shakes her head to snap herself back into reality. The woman kneels down again and does as she was told. Linken’s children always had a hold over her, even though they were not her own. Not that she wanted any… right? “Here, I’ll grab one side, you grab the other,” the Ardelian commands. “What the hell are you doing out here? You know damn well you shouldn’t be here,” she says sternly, but she does not resist the assistance of the boy not letting his father fall into the darkness like she almost did. Perhaps she was truly twisted.

Linken's vision had grown dark around it's edges, the dim view through his tunnel vision of dirt and leaves dragged beneath his feet the only tether holding his consciousness to this reality.He could not speak, move, or even hear at this point, for it took all the combined strength left in his body not to slip over and succumb to his worst nightmare. The boy who carried him, meanwhile, casts a wide-eyed glare at Penelope and her questioning, his involvement the last thing he believed should be questioned, especially over hers. "What the hell am -I- doing here?? I -live- here!! -You- explain why the hell you two were standing just outside our house arguing and yelling about god knows what!? You were both standing out in the open in broad daylight, they could probably hear you from Kelay!" Aeric adjusts his father by sliding him further up his shoulder, the slight shift in weight easing his stride as they continued on their venture to drag the elf to his destination in the woods. "I watched you two shouting from the balcony, that's why I'm here! How could you expect me NOT to come see what's going on? And apparently, what I'm -doing- here is what you -should- have been doing! What the hell were you doing just standing there doe-eyed while he's crying and reaching out to you for help!?" Aeric was obviously furious; after everything his father has done for Penelope, in spite of what she did, how could she just stand there and passively watch him suffer while he cried and reached out to her for help? And yet, that wasn't the only thing he saw...However, his father's safety was his priority, so he would wait to question him until after they reached someplace safe.

Penelope grunted as she helped the boy lift the man that was falling into the abyss. Her stare is forward, for she could barely look the younger teen in the eyes at this point. She had left the man to suffer, but what else was she to do. “I know you don’t approve what happened between your father and I,” she starts. Her voice is so much more collected that the teen is here, but she groans slightly as she moves the dead-weight man along with the boy through the forest, but a part of her is actually shuddering at his words. “Don’t take it out on me. I’m trying the best I can. I don’t need you out here yelling at me either. It doesn’t help his state of mind,” the witty woman says this sternly, but with a sense of cool, however, internally she is on fire. “I gave up, you caught me,” she says this slowly. “But I didn’t ask for this… and I’m sorry that you feel the way you’re feeling. And if you need to know why we were fighting, you can ask your father when if he wakes up. You can ask him anything he freakin’ wants because at this point, I don’t think –I- can even help him like he says I can… like –it- says I can.” She trudges through the forest still. Then again, she is still helping, but only because of the boy’s bidding. Linken did little more than emit a low, pain-stricken tone as he was dragged through the woods, his son growing more and more agitated with the woman's constant deflection. "The best you can? It didn't look like you were trying at all! It's not his state of mind I'm worried about right now, it's yours!" Aeric cast a brief, concerned glance to the concealed blade he spotted her reaching for earlier, his gut twisting into a heavily discomforting knot as he considered what he could have almost bore witness to, had he not reached his father's side sooner. "Heh." Penelope's confession stung him deep, and he found himself thinking that he should have known better. Not only because of her actions, nor because of her leaving, but what he saw his father go through after she left. "...You didn't deserve him..." he exclaimed with a boiling smile, his fuming gaze unblinking and locked on the path ahead. "You're heartless. How could you so easily abandon someone who'd nearly died for you time and time again?? We gave you damn near everything we had!! Do you have any idea what he went through after you left? It -changed- him. You can't possibly imagine what I've watched him go through these last few years, I -knew- I should have stopped you the moment you told me something was wrong... Does none of this bother you? Gods, this makes me sick to my stomach..." He finally turns to look at her, the cold gaze of judgement he casts strong enough to pierce a stone wall and reduce it to rubble. "Are you even capable of feeling at all?!" His anger seems to show no bounds when he hears mention of -it- slipping through her lips, his pace slowing and causing her jerk back into one spot as he took a moment to focus a tad bit more energy on his yelling. "Are you telling me -IT- is behind this!? Why the hell would you keep that from me!? Something THAT urgent happens to my father, and you decide to keep it from -me-?? Lexi, I undersand, but ME?? And you've, what, just been ~parading~ him around for WEEKS!?" Aeric emits a long, frustrated groan, adjusting his father's weight once more and picking up his pace once more, shaking his head and glaring with disappointment at Penelope every opportunity he had. "Gods, you are on a -freaking- roll, lady..." He refused to call her by her name at this point. He couldn't bring himself to do it; this was not the Penelope he once knew, once cherished as a role model in his life. The real Penelope would never have considered leaving his father's side if he were hurt. This had to be an impostor.

The two are still trudging through the forest, but eventually, the teen and the woman reach a temple—an unfamiliar one she has never entered. A temple she never considered entering. As he points out her state of mind, she quirks a brow. “What? Because I was going to defend myself if that… thing tried anything out of ordinary? I’m not a knight in shining armor,” she almost scoffs herself at the boys thoughts. Perhaps he was like his father, and she shakes her head as she takes her momentarily break. ‘You’re heartless’, and at this point in Penelope’s life, maybe she was. Thick as stone and trying her best to get through each day in routine before something made her feel more alive and woken. “Sometimes, Aeric, love is not enough, and the road gets tough… I’ll never know why. I will never know what you witnessed, or understand it, but you need to remember that there was two people in that relationship. Two people with two different views on the relationship and life.” There was a long lingering silence between them as she finally peers the boy face to face. ‘Are you even capable of feeling at all?’. There was silent stare at the boy before her with no answer before he talks of –it-. “I was trying to protect you!” She sort of shifts Linken’s weight on herself. “I wasn’t going to kill him out of spite. That’s sick. You have no idea what this thing is capable of. I’m not –parading- him. I’m not a monster, Aeric. And, I’m sorry that you think that. But I was the one that found him. I’m the one he remembers, so what am I supposed to do?” The woman then stares at him hard. Aeric was reaching the end of her nerves, and for once she drops Linken to let the weight fall on Aeric instead. “I’m a freaking roll?” Beat. “Then you do it. Do you want to? Do you want a dark entity living in your doors? Something that will throw you into your –worst- shadows? I’ve been doing all I could to get him through this –damned forest-. So get over it. We have to get him where he needs to be or whatever we need to do,” the woman looks furious, but keeps a low stern tone at this point. The woman then slips in to grab Linken again and drag him into the temple where the energy is forcing them to go. She just had a gut feeling.

Linken's arm slipped from Aeric's shoulder and fell limp at his side, his weight momentarily dropped solely on the woman as the two left the boy behind them, staring blankly with a locked expression of bewilderment and awe that quickly melted into morbid anger. "...What do you mean, you're the one he 'remembers'?" The next moment of silence Aeric spent expecting an answer dragged on for an eternity to him, his hands clenching into trembling fists as his patience wore itself too thin. "HEY! I'm talking to you!!" he growled, each foot planting firmly on the round before the other as he stomped his way on a warpath to catch up to the two, getting in Penelope's face and sneering as he picked up his fathers arm and took up his weight once more. "Are you telling me my father lost his MEMORY!? And you kept that from us!? You kept HIM from us!? How do you know we couldn't have helped him!? Who the hell gave YOU the right to inject yourself back into our lives and start making all these decisions for us that have NOTHING to do with you!? You walked -out- on us!! You forfeit the right to have any say about this family the moment we gave you our hearts and you crushed them!!" Aeric was in tears at this point, the true hurt he felt at Penelope's departure beginning to leak through the guise of rage he bore. "I'm starting to think you really -can't- feel anything," spoke the boy in a low, hurt tone, turning his head towards the temple as his gaze fell to the road. "There's no way you'd do something to make another person feel like -this- if you had any idea what those emotions felt like. Gods, I'm lost on the irony. You frolic around presenting yourself as a healer, but you havent got the first clue how to actually help- Agh!!" The sudden, unexpected release of his fathers full weight onto his shoulder was crippling, causing the boys legs to buckle as him and Linken fall to their knees. How could she do such a thing? At a time like this? Now was not the time to go dropping hurt people while looking for aid just to make a point. What the hell happened to her?

Aeric's fingers dug into the dirt, a line of spit trailing from his mouth and connecting to the path as he gritted his teeth bare, unable to even tur to look at her. "...Just another perfect example of what I was saying," he growled under his breath, "I've never met another person as selfish as you...Your pettiness truly knows no bounds. If this is how you treat people in need, I don't know how you don't live each day in shame..." Aeric has had enough of her. Crawling over to Linken, he placed a hand on his shoulder and sat him upright, whispering. "Don't worry Dad, I've got you. We're almost there, lets go. Hold on-" before bracing his knees, hoisting the elf completely over his shoulders, hellbent on carrying him to the Temple himself. His legs trembled under his father's weight, seeming as though he was about to collapse, but after a few moments he grew steady, his shaky support lifting him higher and higher off the ground until he stood almost completely upright, his father in tow, and slowly placed one unsteady foot in front of the other. "This hnnngh..." He pauses, adjusting Linken's weight, "This 'dark thing' you're talking about is my -Father-. And dammit, he's done more for -both- of us than you ever have..." He knew. Aeric knew full well about his father's curse, and yet he marched on, unfazed, carrying the afflicted who suffers a leprosy of the soul, unafraid of the contagion and it's symptoms. The boy was truly strong. Not near as strong as his father, but by the gods, he was strong for his age, both physically and emotionally. And yet, isn't that what love is? Strength. The strength he needed to see his father's safety through when he had hardly enough to give. The strength Linken used to hold himself to this world as the weight of unknown horrors pulled him toward the abyss. A strength that Aeric's father longed to share with Penelope, once upon a time. A strength he believed she'd never understand. As the woman approached to offer her support again, he growled under his breath, pivoting to the side and nearly losing his balance in an attempt to steer away from her foul touch without ever so much as glancing in her direction. "...Whatever the world did to you, after you left... I -hate- it..."

Arkhen's Forgotten Temple

Penelope felt as if her head was about to explode from the boy who was tearing at her and Linken is on her deadweight. She drags the man across the dirt, and she does not look back. She does not answer Aeric right away and now, the two are switching as Aeric’s body buckles underneath his father. In the moment, she is cringing with the mistake of dropping the father on the older teenager and she is reaching to help again, but he is trying to keep her away from the two. Perhaps the madness of the past was coming back to drive her insane. Show the colors she never thought she would have. ‘Whatever the world did to you, after you left… I –hate- it’. A hand slowly moves to her unkempt hair to scrunch it in frustration. Today is not the day. Not today. Do not break today, Penelope. Today is not the day. The silence was overbearing between them before she finally parts her unpainted lips, “I found him… hurt. He was being chased.” Pause. “This is how this all started. Look, Aeric. You need to –listen- to me. Please…” Her voice sort of gives in to a soft defeated tone. She sounded exhausted as she spoke in her silken Ardelian accent. “He almost died, and Yerrel and I saved him. When he woke up, he didn’t remember his life… he only remembered the life before Lithrydel. The only thing he remembered about Lithrydel was my face, but not the significance of it. Or the past significance of it. The thing inside him told me that I had to tell him everything about our history. His history.” She tries to attempt to help again to take the weight off of Aeric before they both move to the temple. “When you father woke up from the… entity, I told him about you and Lexi. Linken did not remember you, but we both agreed to keep you both out of it for your own safety. Until we could get this sorted.” The girl sort of slows to catch her breath and her eyes close tightly to hold back the thick pressure that was in her chest. Today is not the day. Moss eyes open and they stare at twisted vines ahead. “But I don’t think I can do this… Selfish is what I’ll have to be and always have been… I don’t think I can do anything else to help your father. I have no motive for him. No hint of anything to restore his memory. Every moment he’s around is unpredictability on when the entity will come back.” Beat. “I hate myself too, Aeric. I hate that I can’t help your father after everything he has ever done for you and me. I hate that I kept you in the dark,” she looks the boy up and down before looking forward to the statue of Arkhen that sits within the old ancient walls. “You were always so strong. Just like him.” She breathes out. “I hope you find a better way. Find a clue—anything.” And as they are within the temple, the woman slips her body out from beneath Linken gently before striding the opposite direction to disappear out the temple. Krice was right, perhaps this was a problem she should not mess with.

Linken , just as Penelope had turned her back to leave, suddenly sprung to life, his eyes darting open and gaping mouth emitting a ghastly shriek the moment they passed the barrier of vines and set foot upon Arkhen's sacred ground. Aeric, beforehand, was in the midst of scolding Penelope for her decisive exit, turning back to shout just before his father erupt into a fit of otherworldy pain. "So, what, you're just going to leave again?? You can't keep walking away from everything! Run enough and you'll eventually hit a dead end! Then you'll have no choice but to turn around and face everything at once- Oh, my god! DAD!!" As the boy screamed he was forced to let go of Linken due to the intense heat radiating from his father, who buckled to all four as his skin turned red and sizzled and steam rose from his body. "AAAAAAGGGHH!!!" The elf jerked and scrambled with tenfold the energy he lacked before, scratching and clawing at the cold stone as he desperately tried to pull himself toward the statue at the center. "God! What's happening to you, Dad!? Dad!! Hold on- OWowow!!" Aeric placed his hands on his father to attempt to lift him, only to get met with a sensation akin to placing your hand upon a stove. "Oh my -gods-, he's burning up!! HELP ME!!" he screamed, turning to look back at Penelope for some sort of assistance, and yet he knew he had no time. "Uuuuggghh, we've got this, Dad..." Taking a deep breath, and without hesitation, he knelt down and bear hugged his dad around the waist, screaming at the heat's intensity in equal volume as his father as he hoisted him up to his feet and began running with him. Aeric closed his eyes and charged forth, his clothes singing and flesh beginning to burn as he struggled to bury the pain in the back of his mind, the way Linken showed him too. As they reached the Statue of Arkhen, Aeric's tunic and sleeves spontaneously erupted in flames, provoking a wide-eyed shout in response. "AAAAHHH!! OH MY GOD!! I'M ON FIRE!!!" The half-elf tossed his father towards the base of the effigy before falling off to the side, hitting the ground with a thud and a panicked yelp before rolling about back and forth, smothering the flames from his body as he wrapped himself up in his cloak.

Linken hit the ground already in motion, scrambling across the floor on his hands before tripping and sliding across the stone 'til he struck the base. Desperately, he snaked his way up Arkhen's feet to his knees, his tears sizzling and evaporating the moment the left his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the godly figure and begged for it to end. Sure enough, the visually distorting waves of heat that radiated from the elf would dissipate, his skin cooling and changing back to it's normal, pale shade as the steam finally dissipates, leaving the others able to make out Linken's sweating face. "Oh, gods...Gods, that was -terrible-..." The screaming had stopped. Only the cries of a stubborn elf who just experienced Hell remain. "...Gods, I had no ide- Wow, that...that was -SO- much worse than the last time..." As he opens his eyes, still collecting himself from the ordeal he just experienced, something he heard whilst in the throes of perdition stuck with him; He was mostly unconscious during everything, but not completely. His gaze, fixed on some unknown point in the void, slowly began to creep around until the focus of his vision became the boy, who had now managed to get himself back to his feet, dusting the soot and char from his now ruined tunic, Linken's brow narrowing before very quickly asking, "...Did I hear you call me your dad back there?" Linken's gaze was unblinking, carefully examining and absorbing every detail from head to toe of the young man that stood before him, before turning his socially awkward hues to Penelope, looking to her for some sort of help or advice as to what to say or do; He was at a loss, even for an introduction. "Uuuuuhhhhh..." He just stared, wide eyed and mouth open, emitting some long, droning sound before shaking his stupefied expression and scratching his head. "OH! I, uh, I'm, I'm your, I'm ~your~, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm...I'm a..." It's as if he forgot that -he's- the one suffering from memory loss.

Penelope could not grow enough courage to look back even if the teen was screaming at her. Screaming solved nothing. She could not fight with raw emotion. The shrilling, however, is what made her stop in her tracks. Her heart thumped at the curdling scream of agony. Without a blink, she moves to assist the boy who attempts to carry his father. The boy screams for help, and the woman, again, gives in and abides. The woman touches the man’s skin and it singes her fingers, though, she knows that Aeric is determined, so she, too, grabs onto Linken to help tug him. “Sh—“ she pulls away and one of her hands is beginning to show raw red skin that would eventually begin to bubble. Her moss eyes look up and the boy is on fire, and instead of Linken, she lunges for Aeric to help pat him down underneath his cloak to cool out the flames. Her gaze then shifts to Linken who is holding onto the statue of Arkhen and his skin begins to shift back into the pale skin he always had prior to the hot flesh. One hand clenches her burnt one and she keeps it close to her chest as she watches carefully. Arkhen. The God of Light. To the darkness. Was this a hint? “Thank the Gods…” She closes her eyes and she presses her hand closer to herself before relaxing her shoulders as she bites back the tears of stinging pain from the burn wound. Eyes open and Linken stares at Penelope in awkwardness as if she was fed the answers on how she should help him communicate with Aeric—for, she was the last person to be on Aeric’s good side right now. “He’s your son, Linken. This is Aeric. The boy you took in with his sister Lexi… You don’t have to remember him now… Just talk to him. He needs answers on why you were gone—without me here,” she urges on softly. The basket that she had tolled through the forest was dropped outside the temple, but she holds up a finger while the two interact to fetch the basket of whatever food was left. “I believe you’ll be needing this. You need to eat,” she places the basket down in front of Linken. “I suggest you two enjoy the picnic instead. I—I think I need to go,” her eyebrows furrow in thought. “Li—“ hesitant pause, “Linken you know where to find me,” and with this she did not say another word. Instead, she was pivoting out, hand clutched, on a mission to—well, she did not know where. All she knew is that she could not breathe with Aeric’s presence anymore. It was time to move on.