To Never Let Go

"So...you're going to marry her?"

Yuna and Itsuki sat across from each other. They had been given separate living spaces when they arrived at Evermere, but Itsuki had decided not to leave Yuna's side after the meeting. In the few hours that had passed since, she had been a completely different person. Her personality was gone, and her skin was pale. Her eyes appeared as if her soul had been wrenched out, and left nothing but a husk behind. 

This was not the Yuna he knew - this was not his Hope.

"There was a reason I asked for time to ponder the decision," itsuki noted. "It's...a lofty idea. I don't want to make such a commitment brashly."

"It seems like the most sound decision," Yuna replied, her voice like a drone. "It would definitely get the Directive's attention. Besides, you have feelings for her from before, don't you?"

"That alone is no reason to marry someone. Besides, she initially rejected me. It seems a bit abrupt of a change."

"She did note that she's been here for several years," Yuna reminded him. "Things change. Perhaps she realized that she made a mistake back then. Now, she has a chance to rectify it and take you back."

Itsuki wasn't initially sure why Yuna was convinced that the marriage was the correct call. It wasn't until Yuna's final words - 'take you back' - that his brain started to piece some ideas together. 

He did not like where it led. 

"Yuna..."

"Yes?"

"If you could, I would like you to be completely honest with me when I ask you this next question. Can you do that?"

Yuna seemed to stiffen up a bit. It wasn't much, but it was the most emotion she'd shown since the meeting. 

"I guess so?"

"I know that hearing about Brightmoor was horrific," he noted. "With Brightmoor gone, it's reasonable that you'd feel like you have nobody left...nobody besides me."

Itsuki learned forward before continuing. He was focused in and ready for Yuna's response. 

"If I marry Amane. If she 'takes' me back and you feel like you have no one left...what would your next course of action be?"

Yuna's tension became much more palpable once she heard the question. Itsukis may have asked it politely, but the implication of his question was clear. 

She felt horrified. She felt ashamed. That said, he had asked her for the sincerity. As much as she hated it, she couldn't lie to him. 

"I..." she stammered, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "I wouldn't have anything left...just the pain...a pain that I want to...be free from..."

Itsuki stood before Yuna could finish. He kept his eyes on her and moved gently, but with clear purpose. He moved to the couch she was on, sitting right next to her. She instinctively shuffled back a bit, but he didn't worry about that. 

He reached out to her, taking her by the shoulders, and pulled her into a tight hug. 

"Wh...what are you doing?" Yuna asked, her brain a bit scrambled. 

Itsuki waited a moment before speaking. He held onto Yuna tightly, but didn't want to hold her against her will. If she pulled back harshly, or seemed opposed to it, he wasn't going to hold her there. 

Some moments passed, Yuna did not pull away. She simply waited for an answer. 

"It happened many years ago," he began. "Back in my world. Someone arrived on our doorstep and told my little brother and I that our parents had been killed - shot in a random act of violence while they were out on their morning walk."

"I'm...so sorry..."

"I was a teenager, and my brother was really little," he continued. "It was hell. I wasn't prepared to do any of it. You'd think the hardest part was finding a way to provide for ourselves, but no. The hardest part was my little brother, Shin. He was all I had left, and he was my everything. He was just a child when they died...how was he supposed to express what he was feeling with words? All he could do was cry and scream..."

Yuna could feel Itsuki beginning to tremble a bit. He was getting himself worked up, but he continued nonetheless. 

"So we came up with this system. There didn't need to be words. There didn't need to be thoughts. There didn't need to be explanations. When his emotions were scrambled and his brain wouldn't think straight, there was one rule..."

Yuna could feel her own emotions welling up. The way Itsuki spoke about his bond with his brother, the way that he was explaining everything to her. Her heart was about to burst open.

"I would sit here, just like this, and keep him close. I didn't care if it took minutes or hours - but I would hold on until he knew that I would never let him go..."

With those words, the dam broke. 

Yuna squeezed Itsuki with every ounce of strength she had and broke down completely. She sobbed violently, her entire body shaking with a maelstrom of feelings.

It was everything, all at once. It wasn't just the recent news of Brightmoor, or the idea of Itsuki being married to Amane. It was years of grieving, suffering and abuse that had plagued her since she was a child. She had held it in for so long, and continued to do so even after Itsuki saved her. She didn't want to burden him with it, not amidst his own problems. 

But there was no more holding back. She had no more restraint on her emotions. She released every bottled-up feeling she had, to the one man who was everything she had left. 

***

It took over an hour, but Itsuki was true to his word. He did not let go, and his arms felt like the safest place in the entirety of the Fallen Lands. After a certain point, there weren't any tears or screams left. Yuna's voice had grown hoarse, and her eyes were swollen from the onslaught. 

"I'm tired..." she finally noted. 

"Why don't you take a quick nap, then?" Itsuki asked. "While you work on getting your energy back, I'll start pondering what happens next."

"But..." she hesitated. "I can help..."

"You will," Itsuki assured her. "But before that, there's something I have to iron out. A piece that I have to handle alone."

"Oh?"

"Yes ma'am," he chuckled, before his eyes gazed off towards the distance. "There's someone I need to talk to. I'm not entirely sure how to get in-touch with him, but he'd be a coward not to accept my invitation."

"Who?"

Istuki's eyes turned towards the chained tome he had left on the table. His eyes narrowed. 

"The Dragon of Wisdom, of course."