They waited until dawn.
Kael leaned against the old obsidian pillar, arms crossed, his silver eye gleaming in the morning mist. Sylis crouched beside the broken altar, sharpening a blade that didn't need sharpening.
Neither spoke.
Until Aure walked through the veil of fog, hair wild, face still glowing faintly from the night before.
Kael was first to speak voice sharp, not angry, just too calm.
"So. You chose the ghost."
Aure blinked. "Kael....."
"No, no. Don't apologize." He smiled tightly. "We all watched that sky light up like a godsdamned soul-bond. I mean good for you."
Sylis didn't look up.
"Did he make you cry like that last time?"
Aure's breath caught.
He wanted to laugh. Or run. Or disappear.
But Kael stepped forward, pulling something from his jacket a carved stone. Cracked, glowing.
"You dropped this. The bond anchor. The one you made with us."
Aure stared.
It still pulsed. Meaning it wasn't broken.
Meaning their bond with Kael and Sylis was still alive.
"You didn't choose just Lian," Sylis murmured. "You chose all of us. When you took the vow back then. Before memory, before gods. So tell me…"
"What the fuck are we to you now?"
( Confrontation or Confession?)
Aure stepped between them, shoulders shaking not from fear. From feeling too much.
"I didn't forget you."
"Then why didn't you come to us?" Kael hissed.
"Because I loved you," Aure cried. "Both of you. And that love made me weaker when I needed to be strong. It scared me. It cost me."
Sylis stood.
"Then why run to Lian?"
"Because he was the one who broke first. He was also the one who broke most.And I needed to know if I could still put the pieces back."
Kael stepped closer.
"And now?"
Aure looked between them. Chest rising. Sigil glowing again.
"Now… I want to choose you all. If you'll still have me."
Kael didn't speak.
He just grabbed Aure by the collar, kissed him harder than fire, and pulled away with a grin.
"Don't think that makes this simple."
Sylis stepped behind, wrapped his arms around both of them, and rested his head on Aure's shoulder.
"We'll fight for you. With you. But not against each other. That was the vow."
And in the sky above, the bond sigil cracked
and remade itself again.
Three threads. One heart.