Chapter 82: Chapter 82

His hand dropped to his side, his strength left his body, and his heart squeezed painfully at the thought, his shoulders for the very first time in so long slacked, and he dropped he lowered his face until his forehead touched hers, not holding back, he cried loudly, mourned, and wept, not noticing the strange warmth that approached him from behind and then a wave of light, as large as the horizon, washed over him, the light swallowed him for few seconds before it passed, spreading everywhere, in all directions.

Henry raised his head, dumbfounded, not understanding what was the strange life nor how it did strangely filled him with life and warmth, his sliced wrist didn’t hurt anymore, not that he cared about his wrists, for his attention was on the girl in his arms, whose skin was slowly restoring it color and warmth while the ice that covered her melted away, and he felt the wetness on his face again, only that this time, they were the tears of relief and happiness.

"Rima, my love, can you hear me? Open your eyes!" Henry pleaded in almost a whisper, afraid that his loud voice might shatter her, even when he knew she was healing, she was coming back to him, her breaths were coming back, faint and short but steady, her heartbeats were coming back, and he couldn’t help but hug her, carefully, afraid to hurt her, he knew it wasn’t his blood, not solely at least, but the light wave, and he had an idea of what was.

The creation energy, the life energy, not only it healed his wound but saved his beloved, he didn’t understand how as the creation energy was always beyond his understanding, never the less, he was grateful, watching her face while caressing it gently, knowing that even though she was still unconscious, maybe tired or drained, she was alive, she was still there, with him.

"This is so sweet I’m about to throw up!" Henry's eyes snapped back at the intruder who was standing a few feet behind him, meeting the red eyes of the shadows lord leaning on a hollowed tank, in his human form, bare like the day he was born, a half-smile half smirk gracing his handsome face, one which Henry decided to consider friendly.

"Like what you see?!" Henry open his mouth in disgust before scoffing at the bloody demon, feeling stupid to think that he would ever be friendly.

"Put some clothes on, arsehole!" Henry looked away from the naked lord who stood there shamelessly as if he didn't care about a thing in the world.

"Why?! Does it bother you?! " Eren asked with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk "Don't tell me you are really into me?! I'm afraid you will be disappointed since I don't really have such interest in males, Oh, or maybe you are afraid your lady here would wake up and be charmed away by me?! I never thought you were the jealous type! " Eren kept on teasing and smirking at Henry who gave him a dry look before looking back at the girl in his arms, ignoring the rude lord who, once eyes weren’t on him, smiled warmly at the couple, Eren would never say it out loud, but he was very happy to see them both alive, Rima did look tired and unconscious but he was able to hear her breathing and heartbeats and they both sounded fine.

Once the ordeal in the castle was settled, Eren flew towards the forest, his entire being urging him to assure that the two love turtles were okay, he kept on smiling while looking at them, feeling happy for them, and feeling hopeful for himself that he will be able to obtain his girl's forgiveness and love one day...

"Man, wipe that face up would you, The others would be here soon, You don't want them to see you weeping now, Do you?! It is enough what they say, that you run away from the battle, Now you also want them to think you are a crying big baby?! Pathetic!!" Eren teased Henry some more but didn't really mean any of the things he said, He had to admit it to himself that he admired the human King much more, he was a capable leader and a reliable alley, and...in a way, a friend.

"Do you think I am ashamed of it?!" hearing the question, Eren tilted his head, his eyes asking the human king to proceed, for he felt that he needed to hear what the human king had to say. "Being able to love, to show and express that love, is not a weakness, And even if it was, it is okay, I’m only human, after all, I'm still not ashamed of it, Nor do I really care about anyone's opinion, this is something no one has the right to have an opinion about about, because we are all weak crying big babies when we fall in love." Henry said confidently, his hand placed in his chest right where his heart was, emphasizing his words, not knowing where all of that came from, maybe it was the relief of having Rima safe and sound in his arms after nearly losing her, it opened his eyes to what really mattered to him, and it was definitely not the opinions others had about him.

"Seriously, stop it, my stomach can't take it anymore" Eren said in a small smile that didn't reach his ears, his thoughts taking him somewhere else, to a pair of pure eyes, shaking his head, he focused back on the two.

"How about a lift to the ship?!  She could use a warm bed and a blanket" he offered the couple while shape-shifting into his new demonic form, Henry wanted to decline but ended up accepting, Rima did need proper rest, not that he didn't, he was exhausted as well but he needed to understand what happened back in the castle.

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After what could be considered as the most uncomfortable and awkward ride they ever experienced, Eren, Henry, and an unconscious Rima reached the mastership, it was slightly damaged from the ascendants’ attack, but still looked good enough to sail and take them back home.

After tucking Rima in his own bed and taking a quick bath and then changing his clothes, Henry left the room heading to the back of the ship where a fully dressed Eren stood, the tips of his jet black hair wet, indicating he too have had a bath, he was looking at the rest of the army mounting on the ships, and once he felt the approaching presence, he turned towards the human king with a smirk, ready to taunt him a bit more.

It was something Eren never had before, such kind of bond with another man who was almost his age, one where he could simply lay back and relax and say stupid jokes and he didn’t deny that he liked the feeling of having a friend, one which he liked to play the role of the annoying little brother with.

"Would it kill you to whip that off your face?! " Henry sighed, not at all annoyed as he too came to appreciate the shadows’ lord and his annoying company.

"No, would it kill you if I kept it?! "

"After all we've been through, I doubt anything can kill me!" Henry said coming to stand next to him, leaning over the railings, strangely enough, the two had developed some kind of familiarity with each other, making him smile at the irony, of how wary he used to be from him.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened back there?! " Henry asked, he had a vague guess but still needed confirmation, however, he almost choked in his breath when he heard the shadows’ lord playful ‘no’.

Something was strange about him, as if he was filled with a new light, a new life, maybe because he was filled with hope, and was, at last, going to see his woman.

Receiving the sharp glare, Eren turned towards Henry with lazy eyes, enjoying how annoyed the human king was, and deciding to taunt him a bit more, this time loud enough for the crew to here “Look who finally remembered that we were in a battle, after running away from it!” seeing the vein pop in Henry’s forehead, Eren decided that he had enough, and instantly dropped the playful smirk to be replaced by his usual serious mask.

"We broke the shrine" Eren said, looking at the horizon

"Oh, Did you? Impressive!" Henry rolled his eyes, rethinking that maybe he didn't admire the shadows’ lord that much after all...

"Shocking isn't it?!" Eren replied, his smirk coming back involuntarily for a second.

Henry stared at Eren’s face for a few seconds, reading the answers he wanted in his worried eyes, his serious expression, his silence and reluctance.

"We... Didn't really win, Did we?!" Henry asked slowly and worriedly, feeling his heart drop when he heard Eren’s tired sigh.

"No, we didn't ‘REALLY’ win."