My sweetest friend

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find Remi flew. He flew high into the dark night, though even his hawk-eyes hardly helped the light was so poor out here. Perhaps that would help, if he could see the soft glow of red that would mark Isla. Perhaps it would just get him killed all the faster, it hardly mattered. Call it shock, call it the recklessness and every other word Jigano had ever accused him of. Remi didn't care. He couldn't take the thought that Isla was gone. Not after everything. Not after his feelings coming back, not after Celosia dying, of Zero dying ... Vanya, and the arrival of Aoife. Not with what had happened with Sam and how his lack of trust in the alchemist had broken something fundamental inside of him. How the bookmaker had gone, and now Isla was dead and something dark wanted very badly to connect those two things. And so he flew. And flew. And flew.

Darkness, thick and enveloping. Heavy against the beat of wings, heavy against the pulse of blood. Under the cover of it, things wriggled and squirmed, feasted and slaughtered. But one thing simply stood. Through the icy winds and blizzard-fall, she stood with her hand against the flank of a luxere, which nosed at the snow and snuffled for anything to eat beneath it. The glow of its magnificent antlers cast a halo around the two, keeping the shadows at bay. Isla stood by and she waited. Quietly, she scritched at the back of the Luxere's ear, laughing softly as it shook its head, tickled by her touch. LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find The crispness of the air made it harder to fly, but onwards he flew. Often he lost altitude, but that didn't matter. Nothing could matter ever again, if he couldn't bring Isla home. The body count was too high, but this was not a body he'd leave to the elements. This was Isla. Isla who he had indescribable (though platonic, shut up Sam) feelings for. Isla who he had saved, and who had saved him in return. Remi thought he'd have trouble finding Isla, but he didn't. The glow of the luxere's light made her silhouette obvious in the darkness, or at least as obvious as his broken-mind needed. Without tact or grace Remi dropped from the skin, wings pinned to his sides, only unfurling at the last second so that he could stumble awkwardly into the snow. Rather than the normally elegant landings he was so versed in, Remi hit the ground too hard, collapsing to his knees, tearing through his trousers and bloodying the skin of his legs. But even as he landed in a heap before the luxere and the woman, Remi was laughing. Laughing because Isla was okay. "I knew...I knew it could not be.." He tried through nearly hysterical boughts of laughter, his cheeks hurting with the smile that spread as wide as it ever had across his face.

"Careful, Remi," she chided as he landed in a heap before her in the snow, Isla frowning and releasing the Luxere so she could step forward and lean down beside him. He had shredded his knees and then some, and she let out a chastising little sigh and touched gentle fingertips to the fabric of his trousers. "You really must be more careful." Straightening up before him, she held out both hands so she could help him get to his feet, a curious smile spreading across her face at his contagious grin and his laughter. "What is so funny?" she asked. "Come on. This one stayed behind when the herd moved on. Hopefully it should get us home." LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find "I know, I know." He said with a boyish laugh, reaching out his hands and happily allowing her to help him to his feet. "It is just..." Remi shook his head. Sam said you died! It sounded so strange now. Of course she hadn't died. Sam had seen...a long night trick. An illusion. Remi didn't know, and right now, with the shock of the news still ruining his mental processes, Remi didn't want to know. She was here. It was alright. It was all alright. Remi looked at the luxere with a smile, nodding. There were faster ways of getting them back home, a quick bite and then they could just fly, but with Sam's worries probably not fully quelled, this seemed an inopportune time. "There is no one I would rather stroll through this horrifying night with, anyways." The alchemist said with a grin, giving the luxere a nod as if to say lead on.

"You always say that, and yet you never grow any more careful," she pointed out with a fanged grin, giving his hands a warm squeeze before letting him go to move back to the Luxere, patting its flank gently. "I think it has had enough of a rest now. We ought to be able to move on," she murmured. The gentle creature needed very little coaxing, its hooves crunching through the crust of snow, warmth radiating off it as they began to stroll. Isla scoffed. "It is quite awful," she agreed, frowning at the ground. They walked like that for a while, into the deep dark through which the Ascended could see quite wonderfully; Remi would likely not even notice that they were going further out into the Outskirts, rather than back towards the Sanctuary. "I lost my stone," she murmured apologetically to him. "That's why I didn't press it to tell you I was out here. It must have fallen in the snow when I..." She shook her head, clearing her throat. "Remi, may I ask something of you?" LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find Remi shot his friend a crooked smile and shrugged. Maybe all the things Jigano had said of him really were true. Maybe he had become an entirely different person and somehow had missed it. And if he had, was that so bad? "Alright." Remi agreed with another half-shrug. He knew that the luxere gathered to protect, and though its light was comforting, Isla could see perfectly well in this darkness anyhow. Far too turned around because of his botched landing and euphoria of seeing Isla alive and well, he noticed nothing amiss with the direction they were heading. "Ah!" Remi said with an understanding nod, shooting her a playfully disapproving look. "It's like you don't even appreciate the things I do for you." He chuckled with a grin. "Mm?" He hummed. "Of course. You know you do not need to ask."

Isla would have liked to tell Remi that the luxere was less because of the light and more because it kept away all of the spooky monsters, but regrettably it would remain unspoken between them. She laughed softly at his disapproving look, though she gave him a gentle nudge as if to tell him to behave. "Not true. I appreciate everything you ever did for me," she murmured, before drawing to a slow stop in the darkness. In the cold. "This time it feels like I need to ask," she said to him softly, her pebble-blues on a lonely patch of ground a short distance away, where a broken body lay beneath a fine layer of snow. Something near to it pulsed softly green. "Remi, will you help to take me home, please?" LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find "I suppose I need to make you deeper pockets then." Remi chuckled back with a cheeky grin. Shivering slightly, Remi glanced around.  His pale stare eventually landed upon the medic, a look of soft confusion in his eyes. Where they going to look for her lost beacon? It hardly mattered. He could make her another, or they could wait until LongNight was over and retrace her steps if it was that important. The tone of her voice stilled Remi, and he silently followed the direction of her gaze. It was dark—far too dark for him to see properly—but the glow of green was unmistakable. Take her...? Remi's gaze snapped towards her. For a moment he expected to see rags, but all he saw was snow falling on her golden hair, cheeks that showed no sign of cold. "Isla.."  He whispered, voice uncertain, the look of his eyes full of a heartbreak that had been building since Sam first stumbled into the Temple. The dam he'd built had been quick and efficient, finding Isla out here only cementing it further. She was fine. She had to be fine, because Remi's heart couldn't take the loss of anyone else. It couldn't... She couldn't be... His hands trembled at his sides as he parted from the medic, stumbling through the snow towards the green beacon. Green. Green meant everything was okay. Green meant... Collapsing at the side of a body brutally torn and partially digested, a cold and broken sob cracked through Remi's lips. Trembling fingers feathered over her skin, trailing but not touching. Seeing being not believing. "No..." He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as the dam yielded to the overwhelming evidence before him. "No—" Ianto "No—" Loren "No—" Celosia "No—" Vanya "No—" Sam "No—" Isla He couldn't. It was too much. Isla, who was an integral part of the fabric of his future, Isla whose easy charm and wit always could coax him out of any mood, Isla who had taught him so much already but who still had so much left to teach. Isla, Isla, Isla... Not bothering to breathe, Remi reached down and cradled her ruined corpse against his chest, caring very little about what fluids or internal organs were now pressed against his coat. Softly he whispered words into her frozen hair, lips moving despite the waterfall of tears pouring down his face. He held her to him, softly at first but then he began to cling as if he might squeeze the life back into her. Then, suddenly, he paused. Cold. Horrified. Broken. "Ludo..." He whispered softly, turning his head slightly over his shoulder, hardly able to even look at the form behind him. All he wanted was to go to her, to hug her one more time and hear her soft laugh and see the quiet amusement in her pebble-blue stare.

She waited, quietly and calmly beside the luxere as Remi stumbled through the snow towards the healer's corpse. One of her hands remained on the warm flank of the deer, which had started to nervously paw the ground at the obvious signs of Remi's distress. Still Ludo wore Isla's face, even as the facade came crumbling down around them, and it even had the decency to look solemn when the alchemist finally turned to glance over his shoulder. "You would never have found her otherwise. And if you had, you would have never gotten back alive without the Luxere. I do not intend to mock, Remi. Not tonight." One would not be blamed for thinking LongNight to be Ludo's, but it was not so. It did not approve of such a tactless end for those it watched. LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find Remi closed his eyes hearing the words leave his friend's lips. In that moment he couldn't tell if it was a kindness, or a cruelty that Ludo still wore her. To know that Sam had been right all along, that she really was gone, made seeing her face all the worse. But at least he could still see her face whilst the god wore it. Wrapping his arms ever tighter around the medic, Remi slumped down, shifting slightly to look at Isla's feet. He couldn't bring himself to look up into her eyes, worried he'd see rags wrapped around her neck somehow. Snuffling pathetically, Remi nodded, trying to swallow down phlegm and anguish. "Thank you." He mumbled, biting the inside of his cheek to keep his lips from quivering. It didn't help though. Nothing helped. "Do they...is she with you now?" He whispered, voice carrying easily through the deadly silence that spilled out long between them.

There were a number of things Ludo could have said, but none seemed to fit right now. It had checked, at least, that the worm that had devoured the medic had moved on before it went to wait for Remi. There was no danger from Isla's corpse now, at least. "Yes," it said in her voice. "She may be Ascended, but they have not taken that from us yet. She is with all the others who lost their souls in this place. Waiting." Scritching the Luxere behind the ear again, Ludo gazed out into the night. "If you create a sled, we might attach it to the deer. Then you would be able to take her back with you." LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough

REMI wish that we could go back in time, i'd be the one you thought you'd find Remi felt his heart lurch, and in turn his entire body began to tense. The muscles of his stomach shook as bile rose in the back of his throat. But this place was already desecrated enough. He'd not add his sick to it, however cleansing it might feel. Clutching at Isla, he stroked the slick ascended-blood bits of it, dry sobs fluttering through him painfully. "And...is there no way to bring her back? If she is...if she is just.." The light was green. Green meant everything was alright. 'Please." Remi begged, turning to face the god in the body of his friend. His fingers coiled around the lifeless body in his arms as he stared at the not-quite living one before him. Even in the dark Remi's pale eyes shone with hope. "Please. All my memories, all my...anything. Please." The light was green. There had to be a chance.

Bring her back? The not-Isla smirked at that, her gaze flickering to the ruined snow around them, flecked with black and bile and the shining blood that wasn't that all Ascendeds seemed to have. To surrender a soul taken... and for all of those memories? Every single one? It was tempted. But then the alchemist would be so boring. "Anything?" it echoed. "I am not able to put her back into that body. It is ruined. And you can keep your memories - I prefer them inside you." But perhaps there was something... "I can make a new vessel for her. But it will cost you. Not yet, but one day... And whatever the cost... I will not be refused." LUDO she's still here if you believe it hard enough