I stared at Archer as he looked back at the door. His gaze almost pleading with me. Let me back in there, please. I sighed and brushed my hair from my face and looked directly into his eyes. Round, ember brown, glowing with flecks of perfect green.
"I'm not sure what—" He began. I set my gaze and he shut up. I walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders.
"Are you sure?" I asked him, my voice so soft and gentle I surprised myself. He blinked and looked away, staring at the ground. It wasn't dark enough for him to hide his blushing cheeks. The powdered splotches of obviousness.
"I don't know…" he mumbled, catching my gaze and I felt my soul shift. I'd never seen desperation like that. The innocent wants something out of this world. Of something that could literally destroy the earth.
Unwanted and dangerous power.
"Well, you have to make up your mind," I said sternly. "Because I cannot handle this any longer, you keep looking at him and I can see it…that radiance."
Archer pulled away and stared at me. "You love him too?" He asked. I frowned in confusion. How could I not, how could I not love the poor, outcast Prince? He seemed so much like me, lost and yearning for the simple aspects of life that were sitting contentedly on the horizon. Watching from a distance as you run after it. Never reaching the thing you wanted most.
"Of course," I said. "He is too broken for my love to heal, but yours…" I trailed off, my gaze wandering back to the door.
"Did you know that his grandmother was assigned to read his future for his lover? Before she died…" I said. Archer raised an eyebrow but didn't speak, he just shook his head and waited for me to speak.
"I remember his face when he realised that even he—the accursed and abandoned Tainted Prince—had a lover." I chuckled to myself. "He was so happy."
Archer smiled softly. "The moment he spoke the words my mother told my father every night—I knew…the moment he begged for me not to accept the Mist pushing and tugging for my body." He looked at me, his gaze was fiery.
"He told me he didn't want to drag me into it—he told me he wouldn't drag me into the hell he had suffered with his whole life."
I stared at him. He seemed so much younger as he talked, his head off in the memories that could never leave his mind. His lightly dashed freckles and pale cheeks seemed softer. His lips were suddenly more perfect, childish. His eyes… were dazed and glossy as he slowly yawned. I watched in utter amazement as he grinned at me, his complexion tightening once again.
"Amore et melle felle es fecundissimus." He said gently. I frowned, the tongue which he spoke was unfamiliar and alien. I'd never heard it spoken before now.
"I'm not sure if—"
"I am sure." He said, the curve of his cheek and jaw lined with gold as he stood in the door light. I grinned and loosened. All would be well.
"Protect him—be better than I ever could," I whispered as he walked back inside. He was like the mirror of Hiro, with the intent of saving. Hellbent on looking at another perspective. Containing what he thought others did not deserve.