Through New Eyes

Artorias watched when Briar resisted his attempts to wake her, then fully woke once the realization of what he was saying sank into her groggy brain. He saw her turn to face him, staring up at him with shocked turquoise eyes shining with brightness. He saw her! An incredulous laugh escaped him while a huge grin split his lips, drinking in the sight of her as if he might lose his sight again at a moment's notice. He felt her paw on his cheek and leaned happily into her touch, unable to take his gaze away from hers for even a second. Briar confirmed that his eyes had gone back to normal too, and again Artorias laughed with near disbelief. The firefly entity... it had taken his sight only temporarily. It was teaching him a lesson.

"Perhaps you are looking at things all wrong..." Artorias understood now. He hadn't needed anything special to be able to protect his loved ones. He'd had what he needed all along. He'd had courage, heart, passion, devotion. He had the strength of spirit and body without anything to cripple or handicap him. He didn't need anything else besides to have the confidence in himself that he had all he needed. Artorias breathed a sigh of relief, whispering a silent prayer to whatever gods had been merciful enough to not take his sight permanently. He'd been given an incredible second chance, and now he had a new perspective to see his life and his world with.

Happy, relieved tears of his own began to well up in his amber eyes while he watched the overwhelming joy spread across Briar's face. He could only imagine the struggle and worry she'd gone through this past week having to care for him in such a state. He really owed his life to her more than he could ever say. But most importantly, she'd proven that no matter what happened to them, she was in this for life. His love for Briar had grown stronger through this tribulation, further resolving that she was his soul mate, that she was the one meant to be his queen.

Lifting a blue paw to caress her cheek in turn, Artorias leaned in to return her affectionate nuzzles, still too overwhelmed to really know how he should be reacting. "I am too. I... Gods, I was afraid." He brushed his snout through the fur on her cheek, holding her close to him in the warm bed. "I love you, Briar. What you did for me... How you cared for me... I'll never be able to say just how much I love you, or how much your love means to me."

"Artorias Carpathius"