A/N: Oren wakes up. Sophia is there. Things are shit.

  But is there perhaps a glimmer of hope in all this darkness?

  -x-X-x-

  As Oren wakes up, his eyes open and he stares up at the cave ceiling for a long moment before remembering what happened st. Immediately he tries to rise from his id out position, only to groan loudly when agony fres from his chest.

  "Oren! Lay back down. You're okay! I'm okay! We're safe!"

  Sophia is almost immediately at his side, forcing him to y back on the… bed? He blinks and takes in a bit more of his surroundings. They're not in the cave where he hid the armor and bde anymore. And he's not on the ground either. He's id out on a rge, rather comfortable bed with his chest covered in makeshift bandages seemingly prepared from torn garments.

  "What… what happened?"

  Sitting on the bed beside him, Sophia bites her lower lip.

  "I suppose the st parts would have been a bit of a blur for you. You moved in the way of the bde. You saved my life… again."

  Oren grunts, remembering that part.

  "Had to. Couldn't pull you out of the way in time, would have wrenched your arm off if I tried."

  That's his excuse anyways. Truth was, he definitely moved on pure reactionary instinct. Sophia seems to buy it though, slowly nodding. Looking into her worried eyes, he can see that she's been crying recently.

  "Well after that, my Uncle was too busy gloating in his perceived victory to stop me. I… the ring I took back in my refuge all those weeks ago. It was to teleport me back to the refuge if I needed it. I didn't tell you… in case I needed to use it to escape you."

  That gets another blink from Oren as he both processes her confession and forces himself to remember what she's talking about. After a moment he recalls the ring she's speaking of and how it was the only other piece of magical jewelry she took besides the neckce to disguise her divinity.

  Finally, Oren nods.

  "Smart. You couldn't trust me. You made the right call."

  Sophia looks almost stricken by that but after a moment she continues on.

  "Tyranos followed us, o-of course. He knew where that hideaway was and would have gotten us but I was able to retrieve the jewelry box and grab another ring to teleport us here to one of my other refuges."

  Huh. Looking around the cave, Oren can see that it is indeed different from the other one. Simir, but definitely different.

  "Seeing as he hasn't come after us in the days since, I'd say we're in the clear for now. Which is good because I'm not sure what would have happened to you if he'd stayed on our tail."

  Oren hums at that, before gncing down at his bandage-covered chest with a frown.

  "What DID happen to me? Did you heal me?"

  Letting out a little scoff, Sophia shakes her head.

  "No, I'm no healer. I don't even know if I did the bandages right. Honestly you probably would be dead right now if it wasn't for your unique constitution. Even then, I almost didn't act in time. Once I was sure we were safe from my uncle, I didn't know what to do next. You were bleeding everywhere, but I worried that removing the dagger would only kill you faster. In the end… I did it anyways, because it seemed like it was killing you either way."

  Oren winces, both at the phantom sensation of what it must have been like to have that dagger yanked from his body and on behalf of the goddess sitting with him. That must have been terrifying.

  "You fully passed out then, but I guess you don't really remember anything before that either. Still, fortunately it proved to be the right call… your body wouldn't let you die that easily. And once the Celestial Metal was removed, you started healing up all on your own."

  Huh. That was one aspect of being an Otherworlder that Oren honestly hadn't known about. His durability had outstripped most of the threats he was facing, so actual wounds had become few and far in between after a certain point. Still, nice to know he had regeneration in the event that he got stabbed by something that bypassed his durability, such as Celestial Metal.

  "… Unfortunately, wounds made by Celestial Metal aren't like normal wounds. Even if your constitution wouldn't let you die, you're still going to be healing for a while yet from the look of things…"

  Sophia trails off there, looking at his bandaged chest for a moment before looking away. An awkward silence falls between them before Oren finally breaks it.

  "I'm sorry I failed you, Goddess."

  Her head jerks back around, her eyes widening in incredulity.

  "What?! You didn't fail me! I failed you! All of this… everything that has happened is MY fault!"

  Frowning now, Oren narrows his eyes.

  "That's not true."

  Letting out a ugh that sounds half-exhausted and half-crazed, Sophia throws her hands up in the air.

  "How can it not be?! We led our greatest enemy to exactly what he wanted because of me. I couldn't even see through my Uncle's incredibly obvious lies. And why? Simple, really. All this time, all my life I've thought I was a Goddess of Wisdom and Equity. I thought I knew best that I was wise, that I was fair."

  Her tone becomes increasingly bitter as she looks down at her hands.

  "… Only to find out it was all a lie. My whole life has been nothing but a lie perpetuated by my father so he didn't have to add kinsyer to his list of titles. And in the end, that's why he died. That's why you were able to beat him. Because he'd weakened himself so much suppressing me."

  Smiling a smile that doesn't reach her watery eyes, Sophia sniffs.

  "There's a certain irony to it, isn't there? A Goddess of Misfortune and Folly bringing the God of Justice and Righteousness low. Perhaps even as a newborn, I influenced my father with my domain. If he'd just killed me like all the others, none of this would have ever happened. But he looked at me… and in his folly, he let me live."

  Oren might not be able to move much right now, but he'll be damned if he's going to let Sophia talk about herself like this without doing something. Reaching out, he grabs her hand in his own, squeezing down gently but firmly so she can't pull away. Not that she even tries… instead, Sophia freezes in pce, staring down at his hand in hers.

  "None of this was your fault, Sophia. Your father made the choice he made… and honestly, I'm gd he did. I'm gd you got to live. I'm even gd that I got stolen away from my world because despite everything else that's happened… I'm gd I got to meet you."

  He knows there's not much he can say to convince Sophia that all the ways in which she's putting herself down is wrong. In the end he doesn't even try. Instead, he speaks from the heart, letting her know that no matter what… she has someone who's happy to have met her in this fucked up universe.

  Sophia's eyes are wide for a long moment as she stares at him. Oren can only hope he's gotten through to-mmph!

  His own eyes widen as the goddess suddenly leans forward and kisses him soundly on the mouth. Her soft lips press into his for a long moment, longer than would necessarily be considered chaste or ptonic. Oren, for his part, doesn't pull away even if he probably should. He kisses her back as the moment drags on into eternity… until it finally doesn't.

  Sophia pulls away and looks at him for a moment before reddening and immediately fleeing the bed. Admittedly, the cave hideaway isn't very big so she can't exactly run from him… but she definitely refuses to meet his eyes for the rest of the day and Oren is too befuddled by what happened to push the issue. So instead they fall into silence. A painful, awkward silence…

  -x-X-x-

  A single day after he wakes up and Oren is finally well enough to move around and start eating again. He's gd because the realization that he was effectively hogging Sophia's bed and forcing the goddess to sleep in a damn chair had him chomping at the bit to get it back to her as soon as possible.

  Right now though, the two of them are both sitting in chairs however, eating a hearty soup in silence at the hideaway's dining table. Oren wants to say something, but he doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know how to progress things after everything that's happened.

  "… I forgive you, you know."

  Blinking, Oren looks up to see Sophia staring at him mulishly.

  "I already said it once, but sometimes I feel like you didn't hear me. I absolve you of your so-called crimes, Oren. Just in case you thought I was only doing it before to keep you on side. Well, there's nowhere for us to go now. It's over. So maybe now you'll believe I truly have no ulterior motives when I say I forgive you fully and unconditionally."

  Oren opens his mouth… and then closes it, not entirely sure how to respond. Sophia takes another spoonful of her soup, lowering her gaze after a moment.

  "Just… thought you ought to know."

  Letting out a shuddering breath, Oren leans back in his chair for a long moment. She's right that they've had this conversation before. She's wrong that Oren thought she had ulterior motives back then though. But maybe… maybe she is right that he didn't truly let himself accept her forgiveness. Because even now he's struggling with the idea.

  "… I suppose having a face and name to put to the mastermind behind all of this puts things into stark perspective, doesn't it?"

  Sophia looks up from her soup at that, seeming hesitantly hopeful now that Oren isn't immediately criticizing himself again. After a moment, she snorts derisively at his words.

  "That's an understatement. We've learned it all by now, haven't we? Even the things we maybe didn't want to know."

  Oren grimaces, thinking of Sophia's domains. He knows how much she's hurting because of that particur truth.

  "What if… what if Tyranos was lying? What if he didn't unravel your father's working, but instead imposed his own back there? Maybe you're not the Goddess of Misfortune and Folly after all…"

  But Sophia just shakes her head, letting out a low sigh.

  "No. He was telling the truth. The signs were there long before he showed up to trick and use us. I was such a fool… and I turned the people around me into fools as well, all the while pushing misfortune onto them as I thought I was 'equalizing' things. I may be an idiot, but I know my true domains now. That part wasn't fake."

  Damn. Oren had known it was a long shot… but he'd still held an ember of hope at least. Still, with Sophia confirming it, he refuses to just leave things at that.

  "It doesn't matter. You're still you. You're Sophia first and the Goddess of Misfortune and Folly second."

  Sophia freezes at that, staring at him with widened eyes for a moment before humming to herself quietly.

  "… Am I? The Sophia I always thought I was, the Sophia who lived for these past few hundred years… she was as much a lie as the domains. I can't just pretend like everything is fine, Oren. There's no going back to the way things were before."

  "Then don't go back. Look forward. Find the true Sophia amidst all of this… chaos. This isn't the end."

  Silence falls between them once more as Sophia mulls over his words. But finally… the light in her eyes seems to dim as she looks at him bnkly.

  "Isn't it?"

  Oren grimaces again, mostly because she's right in a way. It's over. Tyranos has won. He has the God Killer's armor and bde. Even without them, he'd proved that he was stronger than Oren by several magnitudes. It's hopeless.

  And yet… and yet, even if all feels lost, Oren can't help but think back to yesterday, to the feel of Sophia's lips on his own. Perhaps it's cliché, but he finds strength in that kiss, meeting Sophia's dead eyes evenly from across the table.

  "It doesn't have to be."

  Her eyes widen and she looks taken aback for a moment before blushing again and looking away. They don't exchange any more words that day… but Oren likes to believe the awkward tension in their shared silence has eased up, even if just a little bit.

  -x-X-x-

  A/N: Thirty-seven chapters in and the leads have finally kissed. Did I forget to mention this is probably the least smutty thing I've ever written?

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