The siblings get closer.

Another bottle of wine down between the two siblings and you are both now sitting closer and closer to each other. Your legs are touching each other as you're almost side by side at the table. The two of you just continue to look at the map, making sure your battle plan is solid.

"I think...I think we're good." Claire's tongue pokes out of her lips, she still looks at the map, thinking hard.

You can't help but look at your sister, seeing her thinking hard, worrying about her Sunriders, her small little tongue poking out of her luscious lips. You just grin, looking at her face.

"Darien?" Claire interrupts your gaze "Whatcha thinking about?"

You just look at her. Grinning at her. You reach your hand up, gripping hers in yours "I know you need to go to war with your troops...but I don't want you to." you finally let out "I just got back to you. Just found you have searching for years. I don't want to lose you again."

"Darien..." Claire whispers

"No, I know you can't stay here. But you have no idea how long I searched for you. You were my hope. Everytime I ever had a bad day or my mind started to wander, you appeared in my thoughts, you kept me going, you brought me here." you squeeze her hand, still looking into her eyes "That day Rixx took you from me...it was the start of my journey. I couldn't stop until I found you again, no matter what."

Claire just sat there quietly, looking at you, enjoying your hands embracing.

"I've done this all..." you get choked up a bit "All for you. The thought of losing you again, after all these years...I can't live with it."

"You can come to Rathkin with us...we just don't have Tigers or Horses to spare, so you'll have to find another way..." She lets out

"I know...and I will come. But the thought of you going to battle before I get there scares me. I don't want to leave your side. I want to help you, protect you, care for you. I need you in my life Claire."

You can tell she's on the verge of shedding a tear, her eyes starting to fill with a bit of water.

"Oh..hey, I have something to show you. Something that also made me never lose faith." you finally remember, you let go of Claire's hand to bring both your hands down to reach the satchel you always carry on your hip, slowly pulling it from your waist and bringing it up to the table. You untie the knots around the satchel and start to finger through the contents, looking for your prized possession.

Claire just looks on with interest.

At last you find it, that heavy pressed flower still looking as beautiful as the day you first saw it, the last peaceful night with your sister. That Purple Tulip. That light in the darkness. That last strand of hope. You pull it out and hand it over to Claire, setting it in her hand.

She swallows hard, looking at the tulip, her body starts to slowly shiver a little bit as you see her eyes close and not long after a single tear drop runs down her cheek before dripping to the floor below. Her candle lite body now looking even more fragile and **** now. She sniffs quickly as another tear drop falls.

It was crazy. Ever since you got to the Syndicate and reunited with Claire she was nothing but a stone cold killing machine but now...now she was showing feeling. Seeing her start to tear up caused yourself to succumb with emotion, your eyes started to water slightly as you couldn't stop smiling at your sister as she was gazing into the flower.

"You remember?" you whisper out at her, trying your best to hold back any tears

Setting the Tulip down, Claire turns toward you, grabbing each of your hands, looking at you, her eyes a slight shade of pink as her cheeks had drops of tears rolling down them. She just slowly nods her head up and down, smiling at you through her tears.

"Always for you Claire..." you whisper to her as you smile back, releasing a single tear drop out of the corner of your eye "Always for you..."