Faulty Solution

Icarus remained inside the confinement of his bathroom, his thoughts racing as he tried to process everything that had just happened. He was already cleaned up, but the calmness of the bathroom and the cold water made thinking a lot easier. He soon realized he was stressing himself out. Instead of worrying himself with these unnecessary thoughts, it was best to just hear from the horse's mouth.

"Why did you help me?" Icarus inquired, his low voice echoing in the confined space. He was still wet, but that didn't matter at the moment. It would only take a snap of his finger to get himself back in the perfect condition.

Isabelle turned to meet his gaze, her once bright eyes stained with exhaustion. She had only healed him for a few minutes, but it took more energy than she had anticipated. One wrong step and she could pass out from lack of strength. Weakly she replied, "I knew you wouldn't die, and you would have found a way to punish me for standing idly by."

Icarus arched an eyebrow, she wasn't wrong, but he knew this wasn't all. "Is that the only reason?" he pressed, a hint of skepticism in his tone.

Isabelle hesitated, her eyes flickering with suppressed emotions and exhaustion. "What other reason could there be?" she replied, a defensive edge to her words.

Icarus studied her, he could sense a hidden truth, an unspoken motive that shone in the depths of her eyes. Despite the animosity that lingered between them, he chose not to pry further. He could tell she was exhausted, it was obvious in her eyes. She had used up a ton of her strength to save him, and he was unsure of how to repay her.

His demeanor softened, and so did the atmosphere in the room. Isabelle's soft eyes traveled to meet his, but he turned away. In a low, almost imperceptible whisper, he uttered words he never expected to say to her. "Thank you.."

The sincerity in his voice left Isabelle momentarily stunned. She desperately wanted to see the look on his face, but he had taken precautions beforehand. A weak smile spread across her face before Icarus finally turned to face her.

"You should get some rest. I'll be back soon.." Icarus said before leaving the room. He had just figured something out, something that might keep him alive even without the need of Avalon. It still had something to do with the princess, in fact she was the keystone in all of the plans in his head.

He knew where to find his friend at this time of the day. As long as he wasn't on some special mission, Julian always busied himself at the library.

As he moved through the library's labyrinthine aisles, a determined gleam sparkled in his eyes. This discovery might be the best thing to have ever happened to him in over a decade, and he found it hard to conceal the excitement within himself.

Finally spotting his friend, Icarus couldn't shake the intuition that something was up with the man before him. The hushed atmosphere of the library seemed to mirror the quiet suspicion within him, but he shook it off.

Julian's sudden act of concealing a book only intensified the sense that secrets were being guarded, but Icarus was too excited to worry himself about a simple book.

Approaching Julian with a subtle smile, Icarus spoke with an urgency beyond the ordinary. "Julian,we need to talk."

Julian, caught off guard by the gravity in Icarus's tone, met his gaze with a mix of surprise and anticipation. Icarus was rarely this energetic after one of his spasms. He would always curse at himself for agreeing to the deal, but this time he seemed happy about something, and it piqued Julian's curiosity.

Icarus pulled his friend aside, away from the listening ears of the maids and guards around. And when he was certain that they were out of the bystanders earshot, he broke the news. "I've found a way to remain alive without Avalon.."

Julian's eyes widened in shock, and his brows arched with immense curiosity. "How? When?!" He asked, his voice rising beyond what Icarus considered a whisper.

"Calm yourself down, you're drawing attention to us." Icarus cautioned. Instead of words, he conveyed the next words telepathically. "It's the princess. Her magic has been influenced by Avalon's power. If I can siphon little of her energy daily, I'll remain fine as long as she's alive."

The plan seemed fine at first, but there were many situations that might make it a bad idea. Pure energy was bad to their kind, exposure to too much of it could bring serious harm to the inhabitants of the dark realm. Aside from that, this solution was not a permanent one. The pure realmers have once broken through the boundaries to rescue their princess. There was no guarantee they wouldn't try again, and there was no telling what would happen the next time they do so. If the princess is reclaimed, Icarus would be back to square one.

"You cannot do that." Julian cautioned firmly. "Do you not understand that her powers are dangerous to our kind? Siphoning her energy might heal you temporarily, but there's a chance you'd lose your own power."

Icarus's once bright smile fell, he hadn't really thought about the drawbacks of that plan. Julian was definitely right, he could lose his powers, or worse die because of that action.

"What happens if she escapes? We need a permanent solution, let me just—"

"Don't you dare say those words Julian!" Icarus warned, his words firm and cold. His authoritative aura spread across the room and pushed Julian into submission. The only time he ever got rough with Julian was whenever they were discussing this topic. His friend had begun cooking up some twisted ideas in his head. And while Julian's ideas might be able to save him, Icarus didn't want to lose another important person, especially not Julian.

"I understand, forgive me for going too far."

"It's fine, just don't do anything stupid, I beg you."

Julian nodded to Icarus's words before excusing himself. As he walked away, Icarus's attention was finally pulled towards the book Julian had hidden earlier. He rushed over to take a look at what it was all about, but it was gone when he reached the shelf. He clenched his fists tightly, annoyed that he had been outplayed. It was probably an illusion, Julian had taken advantage of his weakening psychology to make him think he had returned the book while in reality he never for once let go of it. The illusion had likely begun the moment he entered the library. Julian was smart and had taken precautions to avoid being caught off guard.

Icarus made to pursue his friend, but stopped after a step forward. On second thoughts, he'd just let the man do what he wanted. Julian was smart, and Icarus wanted to trust that his friend was smart enough to recognise danger when he saw it.