Avitas *looks at Helene eagerly*

Elias *raises eyebrows suggestively*

Laia *completely honoured*

Musa *trying to raise eyebrows higher than Elias*

Helene: I'm going to name it Empire.

*The four of them collectively reconsidering their purpose in life*

Helene Aquilla is my best friend.

Maxon and America *with a burning passion*: WE'RE NOT TOGETHER!!!

Also Maxon and America *in perfect sync*: Don't you want to be with me? I thought you loved me!

Sakura and Usui go on a date to make Sasuke and Misa jealous... it gets a little out of hand...

Neji, we love you <3

You too Kakashi...

A quick sketch of Hinata...

I felt bad for Itachi, in the end...

And of course...

Elias: Helene and I have been through too much together for me to see her bleeding die. I vow by blood and bone that I will keep her safe.

Avitas: Nah bro. You had your chance, now it’s my turn. I will protect Helene with my life. Emifal Firdaant.

The entire AEITA fandom: Harper, you’re our baby and we love you, but we’re the only ones who can actually protect Helene. Don’t worry girl, we’ll ask (*ahem*) beg Sabaa to keep you safe. 

Helene: I don’t need anyone to protect me.

Also Helene *gets all her hopes and dreams ripped out from under her*

All three of them:

10. You

9. Just

8. Can’t

7. Rank

6. Them

5. They’re

4. All

3. Fricking

2. Amazing

1. Helene Aquilla and Avitas Harper

Laia *acting her heart out and singing and dancing like there’s no tomorrow*

Elias *making suggestive comments and saying they were in the script*

Helene *too busy running away from her feelings to act out fake ones*

Masks: We feel nothing, we show nothing, we love nothing but the Empire.

Helene: Avitas came over to my place for the first time yesterday.

Laia: Really, what happened?

Helene *pulls out phone to show Laia*: Well, he texted me and said, “Lets start dating”.

Laia: Wait, weren’t the two of you already going out?

Helene: NO! Anyway, I corrected his bleeding idiotic grammatical error by replying, “LET’S start dating”. 

Laia: Oh no.

Helene: And then he got all weird and said, “You’ll really come with me on a date? You haven’t already changed your mind?” So I guess for some reason he thought I’d agreed to start dating him, and I didn’t want to bum him out so I told him, “Seriously ill come”.

Laia *laughing nervously*: How exactly did he end up at your house?

Helene: Well, about a minute after that, he showed up at my place with a bucketful of chicken noodle soup and trashy magazines that I’m sure you’d love. He told me to stay in bed and rest, so I just let him do my housework while I ate soup.

Laia: Uh, Helene, didn’t you find that kind of strange? Like there might have been some sort of miscommunication?

Helene *thinking deeply*:  

Helene *still thinking*:

“Avitas, where the bleeding hells are you?”

“I’m here, my love.”

Harper walked through the front door of their small home, taking in the sight of his wife completely butchering a loaf of bread in an attempt to slice it.

“Skies, Helene, what in the hells are you doing?”

She muttered something under her breath about bleeding overseas merchants and their idiotic ideas. The remark was followed by a stream of colorful curses. 

“You’d ought to be one of those bleeding merchants, seeing as you curse like a sailor.” Avitas approached her, deftly grabbing the knife from her hand and sweeping her into a kiss. “That should shut you up.”

Even though they had been married for a year, Helene still marveled at the passion of their kisses, the wonderful knowledge that she was his and he hers.

Though she certainly couldn’t tell him that, lest his head blow up to the size of a pregnant woman’s bleeding uterus.

“The whole Skies-forsaken city will be attending the Moon Festival tonight. Not to mention Ilyaas and Laia are coming to visit. And the bleeding merchants couldn’t do their bleeding job, and deliver the bleeding flour.”

“I hope the bleeding flour isn’t too red from the bleeding merchants bleeding on them all day.” Avitas chuckled. “I do hope I do not start bleeding too.”

“Honestly Avitas, you really are a-”

“Bleeding idiot? No need to say any more. I know you too well.”

“I was going to say “amazing”, but if you don’t want the complement, then fine.”

“I take “bleeding idiot” as a complement so long as it comes from you.” He had moved closer to her now, whispering the words into her ear. 

A shiver of delight ran through her. 

It was amazing how, of all the circumstances, of all the possible lives, she had been given this one. She could have been made a soldier from an empire far away, constantly fearing for her life. Or a slave, destined to never take a true breath of freedom. But the Skies had granted her a life with the man she loved, a peaceful life. One in which she could visit her family and friends as often or as little as she liked. And when all else failed her, she could simply sit at home and bake bread. 

She turned away from Avitas, stealing back her knife and continuing to slice the loaf that sat before her. Her demeanor had become calmer, resolute.

“Now bleeding get back to work with festival preparations. And if any of your thickheaded students think to help you, please, allow them to do so.”

“Whatever you say, sir.”

As he walked away, chuckling as he went, she threw her knife at him. He caught it effortlessly and flung it right back at her. Then, he left without a backward glance.

They had been training in combat for years now, under the insistence of the commander of the Empire’s reserve force. Dex’s soldiers were likely to never be used - it was not as if war would ever approach the Empire - but they were incredibly skilled and were undoubtedly ready to lay down their lives for their people.

As their training stretched on, Helene and Avitas had become so skilled in the art of combat that they were granted permission to assist new recruits. The two of them were natural fighters. 

“Probably would have made bleeding good soldiers too,” Dex constantly reminded them, in hopes that he could convince them to join his ranks. Harper had finally caved in, and consented to training soldiers, so long as he didn’t have to commit to any formalities. Helene still wanted nothing to do with it.

She was content with her simple life as a baker with a wonderful lover by her side.

That night, as the tribes began arriving and Scholars spilled through the streets, Helene headed to the Saif caravans in search of Ilyaas and Laia. 

She spotted them walking through the streets near the caravans, hand in hand. 

Skies, it had been so long ago that she had fallen for Ilyaas. He had been a beautiful tribal boy when she’d first met him; cheeky, kind, mysterious. But when she had met Avitas, she realized that what she had felt for Ilyaas was a shallow thing, nothing compared to the depth of emotions she carried for her future husband.

And when she looked upon Ilyaas now, with Laia, ever joyful, she could feel nothing less than happiness for them both.

“Laia!” Helene laughed, pushing her way through the dense crowds, “Ilyaas!”

“Helene, we’ve missed you!” Laia said when Helene appeared beside her. The two friends shared a warm embrace.

“Laia, my love. How rude of you to exclude me.” Ilyaas wrapped them both in a bear hug, knocking all three of them to the ground and meriting murmured and shrieked complaints alike from those around them. 

“Would anyone care to tell me what is going on?” Avitas looked down upon them in mock confusion, his green eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

“Brother, you must join us.” Elias rose and wrapped his arm around Avitas’s shoulders. “Hail, big brother. I have grown taller than you.”

Avitas shoved him back to the ground. “You are slow witted as ever, I see.”

Once Elias regained his footing, the brothers reached their hands out to their wives, in an attempt to appear even slightly chivalrous. Both Helene and Laia refused them, rising of their own account. 

“You knock us to the ground, and then expect us to accept your assistance. Really Ilyaas, you will never change. Laia, you must do a better job at controlling your man.”

“She controls me just fine, in be-”

Laia wacked him on the head. 

“Shall we make our rounds through the festival?” Laia’s inquiry resulted in an eager nod from Elias.

“Whatever you say Laia, love of my life, amazing in spirit and amazing in be-”

Laia wacked him again.

Helene took Laia’s arm in her own and began walking away from Ilyaas and Avitas. “They can be such bleeding idiots sometimes.”

“Yes,” Laia said, sighing, “And we love them all the more for it.”

They walked at a slow pace, giving their husbands a chance to catch up with them. Once they did, Laia decided to set out for mooncakes.

“Bleeding merchants, bleeding flour, no bleeding mooncakes.” Avitas offered.

Helene nodded in agreement, attempting to hide her smirk with a sour expression.

Laia pouted disappointedly. “Then what are we to do now?”

Ilyaas extended a hand to his wife, “Would you care to dance, Kehanni?”

Laia: Really, like what?

Helene: I glare at him, ignore him, and stare at him when he’s not looking.

There will be a Helvitas happy ending - it’s just a little... misleading

This fic contains an excerpt from one of my previous fics.

***

Helene Aquilla could rely on only one soul to push her through the aftermath of the war. She had no one left but two friends who valued each other far more than her, an infant who could barely walk, let alone console her, and him.

Musa of Adisa’s friendship was the only thing that held together the thin strands of willpower she had left. Not her will to serve the Empire; she had that in copious amounts, but her will to live. 

She spent much of her spare time with him, riding through the countryside, laughing in the moonlight, reminiscing over the lost. Musa never allowed her to forget those she had loved. He urged her instead to think of all that they had brought to the world, the fire that they had ignited within her that raged on still, alive and strong. His view of the world gave her hope, his friendship slowly remaking her. And yet, it never seemed to be quite enough. 

After dancing with him at the Moon Festival, she felt that it should be something more.

As the two of them strolled through the palace gardens weeks after the occasion, Helene stopped abruptly, meriting a questioning glance from the Beekeeper. 

“Do you ever regret loving her?”

Musa’s expression grew pained. “I will never regret loving her. I only regret not loving her enough.”

Helene placed a tentative hand on his shoulder, remembering their conversation from a year before; shortly after they had taken back Antium. You will regret it for all your years. She understood him now. Understood him so clearly it hurt. “I never want to make that mistake again.”

Musa turned to face her, grabbing her hand in his. His smile was more beautiful and true than any of the ones he’d offered her before. “What are you implying, Empress?” He stepped closer to her.

Their lips were suddenly just a hairsbreadth apart. She could feel his breath mingling with hers. 

“You are a bleeding idiot,” she said, closing that miniscule distance, and crossing an endless sea of emotions and doubts in the process.

***

Avitas Harper was dead. He knew it with utmost certainty and acceptance. No one could have survived such an injury as the one that had been inflicted upon him. No healer nor singer could have altered his fate. Yet he wasn’t in the Waiting Place, and he certainly wasn’t on the other side.

An odd figure lingered by his head, barely visible, as if it were a reflection of a reflection. Almost nothing at all. The figure disappeared a second later, and then reappeared, slightly more solid than before.

“I am Rehmat.”

Rehmat. The jinn queen who lived inside Laia. But what was she doing with him, in death?

“You are not dead, child. You are being given a choice.” Rehmat’s voice was as faint as her form. “In death, awaits your mother and father. Your lost comrades in arms. In life, awaits Helene Aquilla.”

Harper stared at Rehmat disbelievingly. “Why are you here? You should be with Laia. You should be aiding her in battle.”

“Most of my power lies with her. But a small fragment, activated a year ago when you defied the Nightbringer, lies within you still. I am a projection of that fragment.”

Rehmat immerses him in the memory:

“Set her down, Captain.” He enters Helene’s quarters, and the Nightbringer gestures to her bed. “And then leave.” He settles her onto the bed. He tries to do so carefully, but her grimace displays that he could not prevent an inevitable strain from falling upon her wound. The expression pains him deeply. He backs away. “I will not leave her,”  he says. He straightens and looks the Nightbringer in the face without flinching.

The moment seemed like so long ago, and yet he remembered it clearly. He could recall every detail of every moment he’d shared with Helene, good and bad. His choice between life and death, between Helene and whatever lay on the other side, had been made from the moment Rehmat proposed it.

“If what you say is true, then I can go back to her.” He felt like crying out in joy.

“Yes. But as I said, you carry only a fragment of my power. The withdrawal process from your current middle state will take time. Months. Up to a year. But if you wish to return to life, I will send you directly to Helene Aquilla.”

“Yes.” Avitas had never been so sure about anything ever before. Well, except for his love for Helene. “Please give her back to me. I wish for nothing more. I will wish for nothing more for the rest of my existence.”

“Humans have never been wantless creatures.” Rehmat chuckled darkly.

“Goodbye, Avitas Harper.”

***

Harper awoke suddenly to find himself standing in the palace gardens of Antium. 

Further down the garden path stood two figures - lovers - sharing an embrace. Musa, and a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Helene. The way her body curved, the color of her hair, the gentle clash of beauty and ferocity in her form, features he knew and loved with utmost clarity. But Helene would never fall for Musa’s shallow charms, his obviously fake smiles. 

Avitas had never thought of Musa as a bad person, but quite suddenly, the man’s very existence irritated him.

It was then that he realized that he was deluding himself. That it was, indeed, Helene who stood with Musa. 

Harper knew he should be nothing short of grateful that Helene had found love, that she was happy. But all he felt then was a heart-wrenching sorrow.

Had Helene moved on days after he had gone into the middle state, or had it been weeks? Months? He knew that she had loved him, that he loved her, but it was possible that her love had been born simply from the desperation of war, a need for companionship. He could clearly see that she was no longer burdened by that need.

If he interfered, and Helene did have lingering feelings for him, he would hurt both her and Musa. And if her love for him was naught, then he could only hurt himself. 

Harper turned away and began walking out of the garden.

Humans have never been wantless creatures.

Rehmat was right. For though he had been given another chance at life, though he had gotten to see the woman he loved, he still wanted more. 

***

Helene removed her lips from Musa’s at the sound of leaves rustling behind her. There had been no winds, not even the slightest of breezes.

She regarded Musa’s hurt expression for only a split second before turning and  bounding silently towards the intruder. He was a fool if he thought he’d be able to assassinate her that easily. 

It was only when she’d tackled him to the ground and held a knife to his throat that she realized that his back had been turned to her, that he had not seemed to have any intention to harm her at all.

It was but a moment later that she realized who he was. 

“Av- Avitas?”

“Helene.” He allowed himself a weak smile, his eyes, for once, revealing everything that he felt.

“No. Avitas Harper is dead.” She pressed her knife to his throat; he made no attempt to resist her. “What are you?”

“Emifal Firdaant, Shrike.”

No unholy fey creature could possibly know of the words they’d shared. She had whispered them to Harper and Harper alone. And he had whispered them back to her with his dying breath.

“But I saw you....” No. She didn’t care what she had seen. Avitas was here. Her Avitas. 

She kissed him. Kissed him with all of the pain she’d felt in losing him. Kissed him with the passion of all the kisses they should have shared in the past year. 

But he didn’t kiss her back. 

And when she followed his gaze to Musa, to the Beekeper’s pain at the thought of all that could have been had Harper not returned, she understood. 

“Musa...” She understood, and still, she could do nothing. 

The Beekeper walked away.

***

The next morning, a small scroll appeared in the palm of Helene’s hand. She saw but a glimmer of wings upon receiving it. 

Consider your favor to me fulfilled, as you have granted me a six month leave to Adisa to assist with rebuilding. Spend time with Avitas Harper. If I was given a second chance with Nikla, I would let nothing get in my way. I know you are a much better person than I, and would not be so eager as to do so. Therefore I am removing myself from your path. Best wishes.

***

Musa, 

I doubt I will ever be able to thank you enough for all you have done for me over the past year. Your hope, your kindness, and your irritating disposition are signs that the Skies have yet to completely condemn me. You deserve all the happiness in all the worlds, and we both know that it does not lie with me. You deserve much more than to be an unwilling Empress’s second choice. But our time together was much too short, and I desperately wish that we can remain friends. I will be damned by the ten bleeding hells if you run away forever without so much as a goodbye.

Empress Regent,

Helene Aquilla

***

Upon the completion of her letter, Helene began wandering the palace in search of Harper. 

She found him in the baths.

“Where is Musa? Why are you here?” His expression gave away nothing. But his eyes - they told a story all their own. They were laced with unending desire, and an equally deep abyss of sorrow.

Instead of giving him an explanation, she found herself pulling her hair free of its crown and stepping towards him ever so slowly. “You know why I’m here.” 

The words were an echo. The start to a conversation they’d had there before.

“But I need you to say it. Please.”  

“I’m here because it’s been a year since you’ve kissed me, since you’ve held me, since I’ve seen you at all. And when I saw the light fade from your eyes, I knew that I’d never love the same way again.”

“Helene.” He stepped closer, and whispered her name in her ear. He whispered it again and again, falling into sobs as he did, for he had thought that what they were starting would never be possible again. 

She replied with his name, a mere breath falling from her lips. Filled with sorrow and endless joy alike.