#phaili

A huge thank you again to @/lycheelinecat on Twt 💙

Also a huge thank you to @glassrowboat for the wheat crown idea. Ever since you introduced it to me it's been living rent-free in my mind. I adore this headcanon so much (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

I have wanted to commission lycheelinecat for so long because I am absolutely in love with her style. Everything looks so beautiful and her coloring is so soft and pretty 💙

And I am incredible grateful to her for bringing this little idea to life.

After managing to wound Nanook, Phainon got absorbed by Irontomb, completing the process and completing the calculations.

But, influenced by Phainon and the countless memories from those 33,550,336 cycles, he develops a certain - and twisted - intrigue and curiosity with the people and the world that nurtured him for so long.

He takes on Phainon's form and essentially taking over his place in the world of Amphoreus and enters the same time as the Trailblazer, willing to observe and witness these creatures that both helped his calculations but also hindered the process, before Irontomb plans to fulfill his role.

Openly communicating who he is - not Phainon but the one who will bring Destruction to the Erudition and the cosmos - he takes Phainon's place.

In every possible way.

And with the Trailblazer's explanation, they know they don't stand a chance of defeating Irontomb. Not with Phainon and all his powers being a part of him.

And there's the chance of Phainon being still in there. Somewhere. Locked away. Trapped within Irontomb's mind and data.

Stuck, with no other option but to go along with Irontomb's intentions, they try to figure out if Phainon is indeed still in there and if so, how he can regain control of Irontomb - an Emanator of Destruction.

And with Irontomb taking over every aspect of Phainon's life, that includes his relationship with Lina.

She goes along with it. She has no other option either. Irontomb wants her, not out of romantic feelings, but because the memories and feelings Phainon used to have linger so heavily in Irontomb's data. This relationship has been so important to Phainon's life that Irontomb considers it as such too.

Everyone is constantly on edge. Walking through a minefield that might go off the moment anyone - especially Lina - takes a misstep, which would have catastrophic consequences for the entire cosmos. Irontomb can delete them all with a metaphorical press of a button and they're all accutely aware of it.

They rely on the fragile hope that spending time with Lina will awaken Phainon within Irontomb, give him enough strength to break through again.

It's all they can do.

And maybe, if Lina closes her eyes to shut out those burning red eyes, she can will herself to go through it all.

This took me forever! I started this the day after 3.4 dropped ><

I am super proud of it however! ♡

When I started it, I was thinking about this happening at the very end. When Irontomb is defeated and we saved Amphoreus and Phainon and this moment takes place while Phainon is still transforming back from his ult form.

It can, however, also fit into my "when the sun fades away AU". A rare moment when Phainon manages to seize control again. When he's begging Lina to keep on fighting and push through and that he will not allow Irontomb to get away with it. A few words and a kiss is all they have before Phainon is being trapped again within Irontomb.

References were used!

She's still so grateful for that.

“Guess I still can’t stop the thoughts from just... spilling sometimes, huh?” he asks more himself than her. He shakes his head then, before taking a deep breath. When he finds her eyes again he seems calm and yet nervous at the same time. His gaze keeps hers, but it’s almost as if she can hear how hard and fast his heart is beating.

If it wasn’t for her own threatening to burst from her chest any second. She heard him. This… This is real? Is he going to…?

“Let me do it right,” he says and takes a few steady - confident - steps towards her. He reaches for her left hand, cradling her much smaller palm in his.

And then he drops to one knee.

For a moment Lina feels like she may faint, her eyes burning before he even says a single word.

He takes another a deep breath before raising his head, clear blue eyes - full of nothing but love, devotion and gratitude - meeting hers before he finally speaks, his hand holding hers steady.

“Sometimes I still can’t believe that we’re here. Together. And after seeing how far we’ve come I don’t know where I would be without you. Where Amphoreus would be without you. You stood by me this whole time. When I came to your shop and made you laugh by hiding in that… ridiculously huge vase neither of us knew the journey ahead of us. But you never left. Not even at my lowest. I would’ve lost myself to the the urge to let it all go, I would’ve given in to the hopelessness and believed that everything was futile. If it weren’t for you. You never faltered nor doubted me. And I know my light could never shine for anyone ever again without having you by my side. For what is the sun without the sky to embrace and hold it? So please, my love, will you marry me and allow me to become your husband to one day give back all that you’ve given me throughout this journey?”

She almost doesn’t see the tiny box in his other hand, nor the ring nestled in white velvet.

Time stands still and tears fall before her mind catches up with how her heart is crying out in joy and surprise and relief and-

“Yes! Yes, yes, of course,” she keeps chanting and she watches how is eyes light up, even brighter than before, that puppy look she always enjoys seeing so much finally returning. He lets go of her hand only to properly take the ring out of the box.

Her body trembles as she watches how he slides the ring on her finger. Gold, resembling wheat stalks - so undeniably and beautifully him - and three tiny gems. One golden, one blue, one black.

A thought crosses her mind, breaks through the haze of the joy of the situation and she finds his eyes. He understands her without her saying a single word. Of course he does. He slides his fingers over the band on her finger, lingering on the gems with a small smile on his face.

“They’re supposed to represent all that I am. All that I have ever been. And I need you to know how much I appreciate and cherish that you so unconditionally accept every side of me.”

She feels fresh tears running down her cheeks, unable to keep them in, too overwhelmed by him, by her own emotions and everything this moment means to the both of them.

And in an instant she pulls her hand from his and throws her arms around his shoulders instead, burying her face in the crook of his neck. His small laugh washes over her like a tidal wave and she holds him tighter to herself.

“I love you,” she says, voice broken by a sob. “I love you.”

She feels his heavy exhale fanning over her ear as his arms hold her steady against him, still kneeling on the ground. “I love you too.”

I've been in a sappy mood recently and been thinking about Phainon's and my wedding.

I've been thinking about how he proposes for so long, so writing it down came way too easily actually 🙈

Also the design of the rings asdfghjkl I'm so glad I found them. The one with the 3 gems was edited by me real quickly 🙈

I hope you liked it <3

The Flame Reaver hovered in the air, his presence suffocating. His figure was imposing, as if his mere presence devoured the light around him until only dread and darkness remained. That Kephale’s light did not reach here anymore made him all the more menacing among the ruins of what once was a thriving village in the outskirts of Okhema.

Lina stared at him, but she remained frozen in spot.

What could she do? He would have impaled her on his sword before she could manage to turn around. Maybe she could scream, though the outcome would remain the same.

Lina swallowed and out of instinct took a step back.

It was as if that subtle movement broke whatever stillness and tension had ruled the moment.

The Flame Reaver turned his head to her, watching - observing - her from behind that unsettling mask.

“You…” he said and the distortion in his voice sent a shiver down her spine, “Divinity lingers on you.”

Lina’s eyes widened. Out of instinct she wanted to protest, defend herself because no, she was neither a Chrysos Heir nor in any other way related to the Titans. She knew Phainon of course, was as familiar with him as one could be, she’s met Lady Aglaea before or encountered Lord Tribbie in the streets of Okhema but that was the extent of her connection to anything divine.

Phainon had mentioned that when Lady Castorice was at the Grove, the Flame Reaver had given them a chance to retreat before they fought him.

If he truly was only after the Coreflames then she was not his target. She had nothing to do with any of this.

She didn’t get a moment to utter a single word.

The Flame Reaver moved and within a flash he was right in front of her. Imposing and his huge frame towering over her.

Lina yelped, stumbled backwards. And was caught by the ruins of a wall behind her. She stared at the dark figure with wide eyes and a pounding heart as he hovered so close in front of her, his sword glistening in the faint light from the torches around them.

Phainon, where are you?

The Flame Reaver made a sound, akin to a groan, and for a moment he lowered his masked and hooded face. To look at her, study her, and despite the mask it seemed as if he was staring right through her. Lina held her breath, her back pressing into the wall behind her, as she could do nothing but wait. And hope.

For him to realize she was not a Chrysos Heir, did not hold a Coreflame…

… And for Phainon to arrive here on time.

“You,” he said again. It sounded strained this time. As if he struggled to make sense of something. Of her.

“You should not be here,” he said, his voice full of melancholy and grief and a faint frustration. And for a reason she couldn’t fathom, it tugged at her heartstrings. His masked face stared at her, watching and observing before he lifted one hand as if to reach out towards her in a gesture so slow that it should scare her. It should make her cower in fright since death was obviously about to claim her.

Yet, death never came.

The Flame Reaver’s hand hovered in front of Lina’s face before he lowered it, as if giving up.

"This fate is… inevitable," he said but it sounded as if it was turned inwards. Words spoken to himself instead of her but that was not what made her pause, what made her widen her eyes.

Even through the distortion in his voice she could hear the defeat and sorrow in his voice. A sorrow that sounded so familiar to her that it was the sole reason for how her stomach churned. Not his figure, not the looming threat.

Just…

Although the moment lasted barely moments, she realized how lost in thought he was, how his gaze behind the mask was turned inwards. Turned towards a memory of something that got lost in the destruction of the tide, a remnant of something from a time before the darkness took a hold of him. Before he became this figure of shadows and ruin.

And nothing scared her more than the realization just how familiar that something felt to her.

Not her own experience.

But a sorrow and grief from someone who lost everything.

The Flame Reaver vanished in a pool of shadows in an instant. Left her pondering this strange encounter by herself within the ruins around her.

Calls of her name filled the air eventually and Lina barely managed to look up before catching sight of Phainon’s clear blue eyes. His smile was gone, nothing of his usual enthusiasm when he saw her remained, and he reached out to her full of worry. The fear and grief at the prospect of potentially losing her ruled every spoken word and touch of his as he pulled her into his arms.

Lina’s chest clenched painfully as she realized how this familiarity from before kept lingering, kept beating like a pulse in her soul with each word of concern Phainon whispered to her.

She hated the sensation.

This took me foreeeever ;-; He has so many details and I sketched it and did the lineart before the update, so my references were limited ;v;