Blurriness… Runaan blinked for a moment, the darkness retreating from his vision. Darkness. He shot up, panting heavily. Runaan blinked a few times, trying to discern where he was. It was a room. Not a coin. Not a coin… He let out a sigh of relief, and let his eyes adapt to the light.

He looked around the room for a second, barely trusting that it was real. Maybe what had happened before was a dream, even though the only thing he'd had in the coin was nightmares. Maybe -

His heart stopped beating for a second as he caught sight of the elf in the chair beside him, who was currently looking out the window and hadn't noticed him awake yet. Ethari. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. Ethari was still there.

"Thari'?" He rasped, his voice still crackly from misuse. Ethari's head turned, and Runaan felt himself smile. Familiar brown eyes bore into his own, lit up with joy, and pain. He was seeing the love of his life for the first time in who knew how long.

"Runaan," Ethari whispered, putting his hand on the side of Runaan's face, as if checking that he was actually awake, with him.

They embraced. Not a simple embrace, but a long one, an emotional one. One that Runaan had yearned for ever since his capture. He was in his husband's arms.

Runaan could feel a few tears leak from Ethari's eyes, while purposely holding back his own. Assassins had been trained to hide their emotions.

"Uh, hi," Both Runaan and Ethari turned there heads to see. A human?! Runaan lunged to his feet, nearly blacking out, but forming some sort of a fighting stance.

"Relax, Runaan, It's alright," Ethari reassured him, helping a shaking Runaan sit on the bed. Ethari hands lingered on him, still getting over the initial shock of having touched Runaan for the first time in a while.

"It's a human! How is that alright?!" Runaan exclaimed, panting heavily. Ethari sighed,

"I'll...Well…" He stammered, trying to figure out how to go about the subject, the human didn't look quite concerned. Almost as if he'd expected Runaan to lunge at him. They were interrupted by the opening of a door, which signaled Rayla entering. The young female sat right next to him on the bed, Ethari looking at her fondly, along with the...Human? He'd have to strangle him later.

"Runaan! You're awake! Callum, why didn't you fetch me?" Rayla inquired, turning to the brown-haired human, Callum, apparently.

"Sorry Ray', just got caught up in the whole 'trying to kill me' moment," Callum replied, a grin on his face, however, and his words holding no malice. Runaan was still on guard. Any human was bad news. He was also wary of the...Familiarness between his daughter and Callum, it was concerning, to say the slightest.

"Oh, Runaan!" Rayla scolded, her hands on her hips, but her face amused.

"Whatever's going on, if you don't mind answering," Runaan replied, Ethari fingering through Runaan's long white hair, which was scruffy and unkempt, probably a mix of being unconscious, and being inside of a coin.

Rayla startled at that, blushing for whatever reason.

"Oh, right...Ethari?" She offered, giving Runaan a nervous glance. Ethari quickly dove in, saving him from the talons of confusion, only to drop him into a lake of it.

"So, the Dragon Prince is alive." He began. Runaan scoffed. That was impossible! The humans had killed it. Which reminded him of one unwelcome being in the room. He narrowed his eyes at the brown-haired boy, who gave him an uncertain smile in return. The room was mainly empty, except the bed, which had a nightstand beside it as well. There were no windows, which was fine with him. Runaan had always been one for simplicity, and Ethari for practicality. They worked well together, in that way.

"That's...How?!" Runaan asked, feeling Ethari's hand gently slip into his.

"We rescued him!" Said Callum a-matter-a-factly. That was even more misleading.

"From where or what, he's dead?" Runaan pointed out. Rayla bit her lip,

"I think we better start at the beginning, after the fight…" She murmured. Runaan's heart clenched at the mention of it. The time when he'd attacked his own daughter...Or almost-daughter, whatever.

Callum cut in,

"After the fight, Ezran -" Runaan promptly did the same to him,

"The prince lived!?" He sputtered. Had all of their hard work and sacrifice been for nothing?

"Uh, yes." Callum continued, looking a little bit offended at the statement.

"Ezran and I went off with Rayla - don't interject please - she agreed to go with us because we had found the egg, hidden within the castle, and we knew the only way to stop the war was to deliver it back to the Dragon Queen." Callum finished. Runaan frowned,

"The humans had the egg the entire time," He muttered, mystified.

"Yeah, so anyway, we go off on this epic journey to Xadia, while the forces of Xadia and the humans are preparing for war -" Runaan came in once more.

"Wait, what about Rayla's hand?" Rayla was supposed to lose her hand, since the mission went awry for the most part, leaving the heir still alive. How did he still have his arm?

"Oh, that was Zym," Rayla came in. Runaan frowned,

"Who's Zym?"

"The Dragon Prince!" Callum answered, "Azymondias!"

"He bit the bindings off," Rayla explained, flexing her hand. Callum gave an agreeing nod, Ethari looking amused as everything was explained.

"Anyways! So, we eventually did end up in Xadia, but not before the egg hatched! Once we hit Xadia, Ezran was called away for his duties as king, and it was just Rayla and me! We got past the weird stone-sinking thingy, and the dragon!" Callum informed proudly. Runaan sighed, the border fortifications must not be strong enough if a human could get through them.

"So, we went up to the Storm Spire, after a few… Detours, and reunited the prince with the queen, but, the queen was very sick, and we weren't sure if she was going to wake up." Rayla said. Runaan frowned, if anything were to happen to the Dragon Queen... Well, he did suppose they apparently had the prince now, but still.

"Uh-huh! And then, Viren, an evil dude, came in with an army and tried to kill us!" Callum jumped in. Runaan gave Rayla a shocked look, Rayla just smiling in return.

"Yep, and we somehow defeated them with the remains of the Katolis Army, Aanya and her army, and, oh, a few dragons." Rayla continued. Callum grinned,

"Yeah, and now we're trying to make peace between elves and humans… Emphasize on trying. Elves can be pretty stubborn, and so can some people. We're making some headway, though." Callum finished, Runaan honestly still more confused than anything. He turned to Ethari,

"And you're… Okay with this?" He questioned. Ethari nodded, swinging Runaan's hand, which he was still holding.

"Wellllll, we'll leave you two to it!" Callum slipped out of the room, Rayla smiling, and following after him, both of them speaking in hushed voices as they departed.

Runaan focused all of his energy on Ethari, tightening his grip on Ethari's hand. What if it was all just a dream… What if he would wake up back in the coin?! Was this just another trick? Ethari, his Ethari, was right in front of him though…

Ethari stroked his hand across Runaan's face, tears returning to his eyes now that Rayla and Callum had left the room.

"I thought you were dead…" Ethari whispered, hugging him tightly.

"I'm not… I never was, I suppose," Runaan murmured back, relishing the physical contact he got from Ethari. One of the things he had missed the most.

"Where are we now?" Runaan asked.

"Storm Spire… Rayla's leader of the Dragon Guard," Ethari said proudly, "And Callum's a member. I'm usually in Silver Grove, but I do come up here frequently… It gets lonely after a while."

Runaan felt himself break right there. What he had put his husband through… Everything that had happened… He wasn't able to truly cry inside of the coin, and rarely did so anyhow, but a few tears made the trek down his face. Ethari smiled,

"I always did say that you needed to let your emotions show more," He teased, Runaan snorting, and wiping away the tears.

"Don't get used to it." Ethari gave him a long glance over, before sighing,

"It's going to take… Quite a bit of time, for you to return to the same condition you were before… You're so skinny, Runaan… And your arm, the one that came out of the binding, is most likely going to be quite weak for a while." Ethari murmured. Runaan was aware of how bad he probably looked. However much time he had spent in the coin definitely not doing favors on his muscular build, among other things. He thankfully seemed to be in alright shape. Just a bit… Beat up. And he could see his ribs. But that was a small matter.

"Are we… Going back to Silvergrove soon?" Runaan inquired, Ethari nodding,

"Mhm, Rayla and Callum are coming with us, actually, since they both managed to snag a little bit of free time," Ethari replied, Runaan frowning. Great, he'd have to see the human again.

"Callum's not that bad," Ethari said, as if reading his mind, which Runaan sometimes suspected he did, because the dark-skinned Moonshadow Elf always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"I've even grown to like him," Ethari admitted, "And Rayla certainly does." Runaan laughed,

"Yes, because we all know that Rayla has wonderful judgment." Ethari rolled his eyes,

"She's matured quite a bit, Ru, you'd be surprised." He answered.

Runaan gave a grumbling sound,

"I don't get how anyone would be able to trust a human…"

Ethari sighed,

"It's a different world now, Runaan. Things have changed, but you're freed, and that's all that matters to me." Runaan leaned forward, kissing Ethari. They both held it for a few seconds, before Ethari stood up,

"You should get some rest." He said, turning to leave.

"Ethari?" Runaan murmured, Ethari turning around,

"Please stay." Ethari smiled,

"Of course," and settled into the chair he'd been in previously. Runaan stared at the stone ceiling, pondering everything he had just been told.

It's a different world now, Runaan. Things have changed, but you're freed, and that's all that matters to me.

Ethari was right, it did seem like a different world. Was that for better, or for worse? Runaan supposed it didn't matter at the moment, instead favoring a single word. Freed. He was freed.

Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the delay! I got really caught up in my "Hamilton" stories, and had some pretty tough writer's block. At that point, I had almost forgotten this existed. Shout-out to Lily Lilou for reminding me :D! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! The next chapter will hopefully be out soon. Thank you, and please review!