Lancir catches up with them just before they reach another building. He exchanges a look with Savil, tries to catch Vanyel's gaze but Vanyel is busy staring at the ground.

They go in. 

"...I don't know what's left to do," Lancir says. His voice is very slightly shaky. "But, er, I think you can go ahead." 

Lucy puts down the beakers and unstoppers them, takes a deep breath, and speaks. 

"Y'AI 'NG'NGAH,
YOG-SOTHOTH
H'EE—L'GEB
F'AI THRODOG
UAAAH"

Her voice takes on a booming, echoey quality not present in her normal speech, and no sooner has the final syllable left her lips than twin pillars of red and blue smoke emerge from the beakers. They quickly flow out entirely, leaving the beakers empty, onto the floor, where the blue one takes the shape of a horse and the red one the shape of a man. 

And in an instant the clouds of smoke are gone, replaced by living, breathing flesh. 

Tylendel's eyes fly open. Where am I? An instant ago there was a Gate, he had done it, Van was on the other side, but Gala was dead and he remembers turning back, he - remembers what he was going to do - NO - but now it's all gone, the cottage is gone and the Gate is gone and he seems to be naked and...Gala...and...Van...?

Vanyel sags to his knees. "Ashke..." He can't say any more than that one word. 

Tylendel scrambles up and runs to him, it doesn't matter where he is, it doesn't matter who stopped him or how, none of it makes sense but Van is there and so everything is all right. 

Lucy grins jubilantly and bounces. It's done, it's done, she's been waiting so long to get to it and it's done~

And for maybe thirty glorious seconds, Tylendel is holding him and Vanyel can feel his heart beating and it's...it's all right, everything is all right, it doesn't hurt, it hasn't not hurt for eight months but it's over and now he can finally rest. 

"...Van, ashke, where are we?" The confusion catches up, finally. Tylendel keeps a firm grip on Van's shoulders but looks around, his eyes landing on Savil, widening when he sees Lancir, then going to blank bemusement when he sees Lucy. "Van, I was - going to - I almost..." And now he's starting to look scared. "Gala died. I remember it. Van, I don't understand what's happening – where are we?" 

"Uh, hi, I'm Lucy. You were dead. I fixed it. I can do that."

"What? But, how..." Then Tylendel lets go of Vanyel and takes a step back and goes very still, the blood draining from his face and leaving his lips white. "I, I thought - I thought you stopped me. But I - no - I did it. Didn't I?"

He can't look at Vanyel. Can't bring himself to say it out loud. Or ask the most important question. How long has it been? 

"'Lendel?" Vanyel can't manage to stand, or move, all he knows is that Tylendel was here and now he's over there and he doesn't understand what's wrong. 

"Yeah, you, um, there's...a big crater...and has been for most of a year..."

"But..." Tylendel fumbles blindly for Gala's neck – there's something wrong, he can feel their bond but it's...crooked, he can't find his balance. "A year - that can't..."

It has to be wrong. It can't be a true thing about the world that he...was gone...and left Van for that long – and now he's angry and he isn't even sure why, except that this stranger is talking to him like it's fine that he was dead, that he left behind nothing but a crater, it's impossible anyway people don't come back from the dead– "You're LYING!" 

"I'm not. I'm sorry, I wish I was, but I'm not. --But I can fix it, like I fixed you and her--it's still not, not good, but. I'm sorry."

...He knows she isn't lying. Already knew it, really, he remembers deciding to call down the Final Strike, not actually doing it but he remembers the choice.  

He remembers raising a Gate even after Gala was gone – a pang of cold terror, but she's not gone, she's right here – but, gods, he remembers finishing the Gate even in the brief moment when she...wasn't. That happened. (And it wasn't brief at all, it was almost a year, it only seems short to him because he...wasn't either.) He remembers holding the spell because Van had to survive, had to be all right, and - and he remembers turning away because in the end, after all of it, however much he loved Vanyel it wasn't enough and - and he can't take that back, he can't apologize, apologies are only words and how much can words weigh against that–

"I'm sorry," he says anyway, empty, pointless. "Van, I - you shouldn't - why aren't you angry?" Van is looking up at him with that helpless awful look that says I love you, I need you, and he shouldn't, he shouldn't look at Tylendel like that ever again, because Tylendel left.

It isn't forgivable. It can't be forgivable, surely the world would stop holding together if something like that could be forgiven. 

He backs away as far as he can, bumping into a stone wall, it's only then that he really notices he's indoors at all. "Van, I'm a monster, I – you have to stop, you can't - don't just look at me - just STOP!" 

"You're not a monster, you made a bad impulsive decision when a hole had just been ripped in your brain. Everyone does that. --I mean, not everyone has a hole ripped in their brain, but lots of people do stupid impulsive things when they're hurting, and in the other case where someone had a hole ripped in their brain--" and then she stops because maybe telling Tylendel that Vanyel jumped in a river over his bad impulsive decision would not actually help.

"'Lendel, ashke..." Vanyel can barely speak, he should at least be able to say words, why is he failing at that too. "I'm–" it's probably false that he's not angry, "I love you?" It comes out as a question and that's stupid too, it's the one thing in the world he's sure of. "Can you - just - please...?" He holds out his arms, helplessly, can't you please just hold me, but he can't even ask for that much. 

"You fucked up. I fixed it. Is there damage still left to heal? Yes. Get to work healing it. Go snuggle your boyfriend." 

Tylendel, back pressed to the wall, shakes his head slowly. "I can't. I can't fix it, I just...break everything..." He turns away. "You shouldn't have brought me back. You should've saved it for someone worth it." 

"You idiot, do you know what a broken lifebond feels like? No? Neither do I. Vanyel does, and he's worth it, and whatever you may or may not be objectively worth, he wants you." 

Tylendel sags down against the wall, his eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry." 

Vanyel finally manages to remember how to move. To stand up, even, and cross the room. "'Lendel, please – I don't want to say that I forgive you - or that I'm not angry, but...I missed you so much. Can we just, please, not talk about it right now. All I care about is that you're here." 

"I–" Tylendel gives up on words, and just pulls Vanyel into his arm again, weeping. 

Oh good. 

...

Lucy hugs Savil. 

Savil is crying. She starts crying more when Lucy touches her. There's...kind of a lot of crying, going on.