A/N: Okay guys! This is the last chapter for part 1, and part 2 will be shortly on its way! Thanks for all the encouragement and for sticking with me through 24 chapters of shadowy goodness. Hopefully I'll see you around part 2!

Ulcaasi- Nooo I want to stay far away from ever breaking you. You are? C: It was you who really got me to write it, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me and keeping me going! Lots of love 3

xSilentWolf- RAISIN?! And here I was, thinking we were the best of friends. There will be more! But hopefully no more raisin cookies :/

Edit 7/27: Part two is up!

Zed stared at the far wall, only barely noticing that the tea in his hands was beginning to burn his fingers. He stared until the cup was cold and his vision was blurry, the lines in the wood all beginning to blur together. It wasn't easy not to think, but he was close, close to nothing. But nothing was… Empty.

Nearly empty.

There is a problem.

Zed blinked his eyes, clearing his vision and tapping a finger against the cup in his hand.

"Yes. Because you're here."

The shadow laughed, twisting from behind him and into the chair that was usually occupied by someone that was far better company.

Scathing.

He put the cup on the table between them, rubbing the part of the scar that ran across his eye.

"What is it?"

Syndra.

The shadow had his attention now; he let his hand drop away from his face, focusing on the twisting darkness that was so casually seated across from him.

"Go on."

Interested? In a mere plaything, no less.

Zed's fingers twitched, and he tried his best to keep his voice level.

"Enough."

The fortress.

He brought his fingers back to his face, rubbing a different section of the scar.

"That's hardly a problem."

I was referencing the people in the fortress.

Zed smiled wryly at the shadow, feeling the scar bunch beneath his fingertips.

"That isn't, either."

It is if it is Selvi.

Zed's smile froze on his face, his hand falling to his lap.

"Selvi… The patrol."

Interesting relationship.

His smile twisted into something more related to a grimace, and he waved a hand at the shadow, standing up.

"I'm not interested in their relationship."

The shadow moved in front of the only way out, and for once, Zed stopped to listen to what he had to say.

Sensitive. But not what you think. And you are short on time.

Zed threw his hands up in frustration; he'd stopped to listen to riddles, and he was not known for his patience.

"I don't have time for this."

But you have time for Syndra.

She was here; she was safe.

Syndra was safe.

Syndra rushed through the rain, pulling on Selvi's coat and ushering him into the foyer of her home. He stood just inside the doorway, not moving and dripping water all over the tile. Syndra reached a hand out to tug on a shoulder, but her hand shook and she pulled it back, wrapping her own coat around her arms.

"Selvi."

Her voice was a scared whisper that normally would have disgusted her, but now…

"Selvi, you can't be here."

He moved then, whipping around faster than she could follow, spraying her with frigid rain water.

"I had to be here, the woman told me. I made it! You're safe."

He breathed out the last words, sinking towards her and raising a gloved hand to her cheek. The leather she'd always disliked rubbed against her skin, and it took all her self-control not to flinch away.

"Selvi."

She carefully raised a hand, peeling the glove away from her face and returning it to his side. His face was still hidden behind his cowl, and she lifted her other hand to gently pull it back.

Selvi looked… Terrible. His skin was gaunt and sickly pale, paler than Zed's, and his eyes… They were puffy and bloodshot, constantly darting from one spot on Syndra's face to the next, never resting. She took a small step backwards, back to the door, trying to put a little distance between them. Selvi followed her, his eyes rapidly tracking every movement.

"Syndra, don't you understand? I've saved you. He can't hurt you anymore! Zed can't hurt you. Because I'm here."

Syndra's face twisted in disbelief.

"Selvi, what are you talking about? Zed didn't hurt me."

It wasn't exactly the truth, but he had never physically harmed her, and she had a feeling that's what Selvi's deluded mind had led him to believe. Selvi glared down at her, taking a step closer.

"Did he tell you that? Did he threaten you?"

The closeness was suffocating now; the front of his coat was soaking hers, and his breath was washing over her face. Syndra stepped back, until her back hit the door. She held up a hand, a small buffer between them, trying to think of what she could possibly do to get him to leave without hurting him.

"I am fine. He wouldn't threaten me."

Selvi held up his own hand, pressing it against Syndra's and threading his fingers through hers.

"But the shadow girl… she told me about Zed, about everything. She told me he wanted to hurt you… she told me he doesn't love you."

Syndra yanked her hand back, the words a slap in the face. This was not what she expected, to be blindsided by Selvi of all people. How could he know; about the fight, about what she and Zed had…

He didn't.

It must be so obvious, then, for someone as absent as Selvi to have picked up on something Syndra had never been able to see. And it wasn't until now, when the pain of her hand smacking into her chest turned into something much different that she realized she hadn't believed it before. The other week, when they had that fight… She'd been hoping that it was a lie, all of it, but now…

Selvi ignored her flinch, the misery on her face, the gaze that had dropped from his and to the floor. He lifted a hand to her face again, tilting her chin up. His thumb traced underneath one, wiping away rain or tears, she couldn't tell.

"Syndra."

The excited whisper was twisted, and when Syndra tried to lean her head away, the fingers underneath her chin clamped down, keeping it in place.

"Zed doesn't love you… But I do. I love you."

The shock… Syndra's mouth dropped open, which Selvi must have taken as an invitation, because he leaned close, closer than before, too close…

"Enough."

Syndra could have cried from relief; the voice was murderous, too angry, but gods how she missed it. Selvi released her chin, whipping his head around to the stairway across the room. There was no mistaking the shadow this time; there was nothing weighing down his shoulders, and the only thing across his face was the most terrifying glare she had ever seen.

"Zed."

Just a whisper - but full of relief. Zed's eyes slid away from Selvi and to Syndra's face, and if it was possible, the glare got worse. He waved a hand from Selvi to the opposite wall, and Syndra noticed for the first time the blades strapped to his arm, glinting in what little light there was.

"Away from her. Now."

Selvi turned fully around, keeping his back to Syndra and holding an arm across her, as if to protect her from Zed.

"You can't hurt her. Not anymore."

Selvi moved that arm into his coat, and although Syndra couldn't see it, she could hear the very distinct sound of metal sliding over metal, and when he let his hand fall back to his side his fingers were curled very expertly around the hilt of a long, wicked dagger.

Zed rolled his eyes.

"Leave. There is no outcome where you continue this and live."

Selvi tapped the blade against his leg, hanging his head before looking back up at Zed and then doing something Syndra never would have expected.

He cried.

"I know."

His voice was choked and uneven, and he moved the blade in his hand, pointing it towards Zed.

"I know. The shadow is everywhere, I just thought… I hoped… we would have more time."

Syndra briefly caught Zed's eye, relieved to see he appeared to be just as confused as she was. Selvi knew Zed would come? If he knew, and he was sick, why would he come at all, why would he even bother…

And then Zed's look was no longer confused.

He held up a hand, significantly less threatening than before.

"Selvi. Away. Now."

Selvi made a noise more easily associated with whimpering children, and lifted the dagger to chest height.

"I just needed more time with her."

And then this shadow student, one of Zed's best, he whipped around to face Syndra, his crazed eyes taking in every detail of her terrified face.

"I love you."

And then he lifted that dagger made to cut shadows and plunged it deep, deep into Syndra's coat, through cloth and skin until the metal was buried and lost, and Syndra was finally protected from the shadows she loved.