CHAPTER 232(Sunken Ship)

Please read the author's notes.

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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

As the elevator doors open Freya is greeted by the regal red carpet of her penthouse. A short hallway with six guards, three on each side. Each of these men were fully armed and armored, jet black metal from their toes to the helmets they wore. All level four, at a glace she could see a mix of confidence, fear, and excitement flowing through them. No doubt caused by the shattered soul waiting for her inside, and the sight of his weakened state.

Freya shakes her head and sighs, understanding that they wouldn't be needed any longer, especially not with Ottar behind her. "You're all dismissed for the night, go to your quarters on the lower floors," she says while walking past them.

As much as they hate the idea of leaving her with an enemy adventurer, they saw how Yang struggled to even walk past them earlier. With Ottar here their goddess would be safe, even from the Dungeon Emperor.

Freya opens the door to her penthouse before stopping in the doorway. Considering the best approach for a moment she then turns to Ottar, "you're dismissed as well Ottar."

The hulking man only gives a polite nod, knowing exactly how 'determined' his goddess can be on matters concerning Odr.

As the adventurers leave her floor she enters her penthouse. White tile floors, perfectly clean surfaces, ornate statues and landscape paintings. The most lavish living quarters in the world, decorated to capture the beauty of everything aside from the goddess who lives here.

Walking past all the gold trimming Freya doesn't bother announcing herself, she knows exactly where he'd be even without being able to see his soul. The same place he always finds to relax whenever they'd spend the rare night in her bed instead of his.

Taking a minor detour to the kitchen she grabs a bottle of fine white wine from her recently restocked supply, but no glasses.

Steadying herself she goes to her observation room, a library area that normally has one regal chair facing a wall of glass with small latches to open it, just in case she wanted to give someone a quick trip to Babel Plaza below. Behind the chair is a bookshelf consuming the entire wall, all the romance novels she's read that she couldn't even stomach after a taste of the real thing. And two Grimoires that she would be handing out after her victory as parting gifts.

Now she stops, seeing Yang sitting on one chair while her usual seat is unoccupied, "can I get you a drink perhaps?" she asks, trying her best to remain cold and distant.

"I'm fine," he replies, not even turning to look back at her. As she approaches her seat beside him she notices his clothes. His blue Zinogre coat was on, but beneath it his chest was bare, wrapped in bandages, the pain of stretching to pull on a shirt simply wasn't worth it. His metal hand lay dead on his lap while his other was resting on the armrest as he stared out the window.

Just above his ankles she could see white bandages peeking out from under his long blue pants, still badly hurt. All illuminated by the full moon shining through the glass, small orange dots scattered across the city below, surely some of which are surrounded by people speculation and betting on the War Game.

"I figured I'd be drinking alone tonight, again," Freya says as she takes her usual seat. Two feet between their chairs. She glances over at him, not seeing any reaction, but she would have been a fool not to know he was angry, hurt, betrayed. "I would usually sit in your lap, but, considering the mood..."

"Good choice," Yang says coldly, with no emotion in his voice.

If he were honest, at a glance over at her part of him wanted that closeness to return. As if none of this had ever happened, before her declaration and threats. Those couple feet between them hurt, as if she were worlds away, a pain he'd soon have to endure forever, a pain that was small compared to the guilt and anguish he felt every day away from his home.

"So," Freya says awkwardly, not sure how to begin this discussion. "How have you---"

"Call off the war," Yang demands.

Freya's words die in her throat, dropping the cool facade and openly glaring at him, she's never had to hide her real feelings from him after all. "No, you're not leaving me."

Yang turns to her and frowns. "What'll it take?"

"You," she says flatly.

"Freya," he pleas. "You know I can't do that."

"Then you know I'll never stop," Freya pops open her bottle of wine and takes a small sip. Yang doesn't like that one bit but keeps his complaints to himself. "What we have is real, it's true, and I won't let anything get in the way of that, even your misguided feelings."

"Misguided?" he narrows his eyes at her.

"You heard me, you should stay here, with me, we can start our own family, we will be happy," she pleas.

"You think I haven't considered that?" he almost growls out, frustration bubbling to the surface. "I just...I can't let go of them, I can't."

"Then you don't love me enough, but you'll learn."

"As a prisoner?"

"You won't be a prisoner," Freya says. "You'll have all the comforts you have right now, just without a Falna."

"A big cage is still a cage."

Freya sighs. "What will it take for you to surrender?"

"I won't, but I recommend you do."

"Tch," Freya rolls her eyes. "You can barely walk, Hephaestus doesn't have many dedicated fighters outside of your team and Loki isn't willing to get involved, your best bet was to get Riveria to side with you, but...I pushed her too far it seemed, she wants nothing to do with either of us, so you'll lose."

Yang is saddened to hear about Riveria, but he remains focused on the task at hand. "This doesn't have to become a fight, are you really willing to sacrifice your relationship with Loki and Hephaestus?"

"They'll get over it, after a few thousand years, hopefully," she mutters.

"It's not worth it," Yang says.

"Yes, it is," she growls out, gritting her teeth at the statement. "What we have will always be worth it."

"Does your familia even know you're betting them on this?"

"Who cares about that, they will do as they're told, or die," she says, taking a small sip of her wine and resting the bottle down beside the leg of her chair.

Yang sits back and stares out at the horizon, he considers everything that led them here and just sighs, amazed that it came to this, but not entirely surprised, he knew who he was dealing with. But he couldn't let go until the very end.

"We discussed this before, remember?" he asked. "When we first got back together, that one day we'd have to go our separate ways."

"I remember," Freya says.

"Did you ever intend to honor that agreement?"

"No," she doesn't even hesitate to admit it. "Did you ever believe I would?"

"No, not even for a second, I'm just as guilty as you are, likely even more so, but I'm not willing to hurt innocent people to get what I want, even if that means I never see home again...but you brought the fight to me, so you're fair game."

"I know," Freya says. "That's why you'll lose. I can reach depths of depravity you don't even know exist. I've been openly in love with you since our very first night together, and you can't even admit you love me, even now, we're both selfish beings trying to get the best of both sides in this. But I'm honest about it, you're not."

Yang considers her words, none of what she said is true, and he's always known it. "If I say it... if I admit it to myself, it becomes so real. And it'll hurt so much more when I'm without you..."

Freya slumps down in her chair and closes her eyes, "you really are a selfish man, you would have made a fine god," she admits.

They spend a few minutes in oddly comfortable silence.

Freya looks over to Yang and instead of the normally invincible person she sees, that the common people believe him to be. She just sees a tired man, not even twenty years old and already having dealt with more danger than entire armies put together, just wanting to go home.

"A peaceful resolution," Freya mutters, catching his attention.

"What?" Yang asked, not sure if he heard her quite correctly.

Wordlessly Freya gets up and walks over to the side of the wall of glass. With ease, she unlocks one section of the massive pane and gently pulls it inward. A door-sized section was now open, cold wind invading the room and causing her hair to dance wildly but with a strange elegance and grace all at once.

The powerful and cold wind shocks Yang awake. With Nergigate's effect on his body, healing, magic, and resistance drastically cut, he could genuinely feel this cold. Something he hadn't felt from natural elements in almost two years.

As quickly as the realization washed over him he was jolted out of his seat, seeing Freya standing uncomfortably close to the edge, only a few inches away from it.

"Freya, what are you doing?" he doesn't make any moves but reaches out to her, seeing the crazed look in her eyes. "Step away from the window, now."

"No."

"No?"

"This is the peaceful solution," Freya says. "I return to heaven, you go home, and when you die I will be awaiting your soul at the altar where they are cleansed and sent back to lower worlds. I will guide you back here, and we will be together for all of your lifetimes, as it was meant to be."

"But, you'd have to---"

"I'm a goddess," she says. "I'll be fine. I'll see you in the next life, Odr..."

Not a moment later Freya leans back and is on a quick trip to Babel Plaza.

Accepting her own decision she doesn't make peace with anything at all, simply accepting the end of this painful conflict and beginning the next step in her life with Yang, forever.

But she wasn't the only one who couldn't accept this.

Yang instinctually bolts forward, before his mind could make sense of what he was seeing his body acted. Not wanting to see her get hurt, even if she would simply return to heaven. He would never let her get hurt, especially not like this. Ignoring the pain, like red hot nails being hammered into his torso and legs he reaches out and grabs her, slower than any adventurers and most ordinary citizens, but barely fast enough to grab her by the arm and yank her back.

Sending them both tumbling toward the floor.

Suddenly being torn away from the window she finds herself splayed out on the floor of her observation room. Opening her eyes to see a panting and already sweating Yang on the floor beside her, desperately trying to catch his breath, bandages being soaked red from the wounds he had just reopened.

"W-what?" Freya tries to make sense of what just happened. "Why? That was your way out of this, and all you had to do, was nothing..."

Yang stares up and the ceiling as if it would give him an explanation, "I, don't know, I just couldn't let you do it."

They both lay in silence for a moment, and Freya is the first to catch her breath, "you, are a moron," she says.

"Yeah," Yang agrees. "Of all the people in this world, I had to fall in love with you, I'm an idiot."

Freya sits up abruptly at his words, staring down at him as he still winces in pain on the floor, "y-you, you said it."

"You deserve to at least know," Yang says. "It's the least I could do..."

Freya's mind shuts down for a few minutes as she just stares down at him, a sudden vigor resurges in her once more, the very thought of wasting another second, of having to wait an entire lifetime in heaven for his soul, it all seemed so vile now.

Now that she knows for a fact that her Odr does love her, even after everything she's done.

"Too strong to stop your adventure but too weak to do whatever it takes, to let me get hurt," she mutters quietly. "You really are perfect, and you lost your only chance," she says in a cold tone, once again tunnel-visioned on having her way.

"Freya?"

"No more talking," she says while leaning down to look into his eyes. "WE, love each other, so we will be together for all of your lifetimes, including this one. I refuse to waste any more time, goodnight Odr," she gives him a passionate kiss. One he's resistant to at first, but in his current state he literally didn't have the strength to refuse, eventually giving in as she forces herself onto him.

Rising to her feet she give him one cold glance before walking around him toward the exit, "I'll call Thalie to get you, my beloved..."

As she exits the room Yang is stuck staring up at the ceiling again, not able to even muster the energy to move and wracked with pain all across his body.

"Good job Yang," he mutters in annoyance with himself, "perfect peace talks..."

END CHAPTER---

Yang & Freya in a room together just writes itself. The chapter title really says it all...