Chiro followed along slowly, but eventually caught up halfway up the stairs. Such wide stairs. They were marble, but draped with soft moss and dead vines that were laden with shriveled flowers and buds and blooming with oddly colored fungi. The stairs were chipped but still so sturdy under his bare feet, he was amazed at the way it had all held up. He paused at one of the ornate ivory-gold doors, and pushed. It opened under protest, creaking as it did, but a cool breeze and warm light fell upon their skin without the help of Chiro's orb. The colorful lighting unit was already aglow. Its colors filled the top of the stunningly white dome, though it was cracked and aged, casting almost natural rainbow patterns as the bare underside of the orb allowed its pale light to fall upon the rest of the district. It was the smallest, of course, but the tallest. On the left and the right, housing units circled a sunken amphitheater that was shadowed by a large, dead basin once full of life and nature. "On the left and right, those that inhabited the cloud district lived in their own homes. You can count them all without losing track..." Chiro stepped forward, setting the orb into a small alcove on a stand.

"Where did you live?" Though the city was beautiful, his eyes and mind were with Chiro. Soft steps tool him to the other man's side. Even if he did count the buildings, played at being interested in them, he only wondered about them for Chiro's sake. He thought of the man as one of his patients... One of the people he was drawn to help no matter what it cost him. It was alright if he hurt, so long as others were eased and their pain healed.

"I wonder what your talents are. Would you tell me? I'll tell you mine." He paused. Some ... didn't like him once he exposed his talents to them, while others demanded his aid, or made suggestions. "I can feel the emotions of others, and I use those talents to try and help them... And I want to help you." Short acquaintance, to be sure, but Malachy was bold when he had to be, and this was one of those times.

Chiro, free of his burden, had nothing to occupy his hands as he was spoken to. Maybe that was why Malachy was tiptoeing around him so carefully. Choosing his words before he spoke them. Shutting himself up before he could spill a question or comment, perhaps about their surroundings. He clasped his hands. "I... don't know... I don't need help." He began to stutter, and snapped his mouth shut, bringing his hand up to his pointed ear and twining his little finger around the chain hanging from it. "I... I'm f-fine." He sighed, and stepped around to the top of the staircase. The small house on the left, nestled between two others, and a dead tree, was his own.

"My powers... revolve around the full spectrum." Chiro's voice was low, almost a whisper, but in the silence it could be heard in a resounding manner. "I... control them all. Like very few did. I control both life and death. Destruction and renewal. They're the basis of what light and dark are built upon. And between them, the four main elements. Few had such power... But they all died too. They weren't strong enough to battle... what they didn't know." He shook his head, sending his dark hair into his eyes. He didn't push it back, though. He didn't want to see what was before him.

The younger fae sent Chiro a pointed look, but said nothing. Perhaps the wood skinned fae thought he needed no help, but such a weighty boulder of emotions pushed him down ... And Malachy simply couldn't get away from it all. Even if he did leave Chiro alone, he was fairly certain the other fae's emotions would still resound within his heart. They clung to him like delicate spiderwebs made of diamond. Unbreakable, and heart-breathtakingly beautiful, utterly inescapable.

Still silent, Malachy moved to stand near the other man, his eyes catching upon the curtain of dark hair baring Chiro's features from view. He followed the gaze unseen to a small house. Had that been his? He didn't know. All Malachy could feel was a sense of loss, and not his own. Gently, he let his fingers catch dark locks and swept them away behind a delicately pointed ear. "There was probably nothing you could have done, either.*

Chiro twitched a little. The soft fingers were warm. Not like the sun, or a flat stone in the afternoon---it had its own energy to it, generated within the being. A life, instead of something unfeeling. But he wasn't used to it. His own hands felt cool, if anything else. He shook his head again, looking up to the rainbow-patterned dome above them. "I... could have done something." He breathed. "Searched for a way to make them better. But I fled like a coward. Left them to their fate. To die. I wear their... final breaths like a heavy cloak, but it doesn't help me stay warm. It's like... a ghost." He went down the stairs, leaving Malachy behind and pressing on to the doorway he'd eyed.

It was still open. He had never closed it fully the last time he had come to the cloud district. He only wanted to gather his clothing before moving down to one of the more bare, general rooms he had decided to call home. Pushing the door in, he glanced around, feeling pressure behind his eyes threaten to make tears fall. A small fireplace, free of ashes. A bed covered in dusty earth, brown-gray now instead of yellow and white, silk eaten away by moths whose dried, dead bodies littered the stone floor. The rug that had laid on the marble floor was nearly eaten away, and the table and chairs had completely fallen apart. Nearby was a door that led to an experimentation room. He, like the rest of those that called the cloud district their home, had always looked for new ways to imbue their powers with potions and plain water. To create cures, to create poisons, to help and hinder both. He hadn't done that in so long.

Pushing that door open, Chiro found the small lab in disrepair. Bottles were broken and their contents had long, long ago dried up. Vines had wormed their way into the room through cracks in the gold and ivory walls, choking the area, then dying when they couldn't find light or water. Chiro's breathing was ragged, but he didn't notice. Small, shallow breaths followed him to a sitting position on the dirty floor. Once again he felt like the only one in the world, even if the feeling was unjustified.

Malachy had to sigh, and take a moment to breathe under the cloak of heavy emotions he wore. In that little time, a crushing loneliness swept through him. Hastily, the lightly clad fae slipped into the home he could assume was Chiro's own. He didn't care to look at anything, as curiosity would have pushed him to before. In the lab, with it's broken glasses and remains of hope, of cures and good, he found the other fae, sitting alone at the center of it all. It was like a graveyard, with dreams strewn about brokenly.

He settled down beside the other man, and leaned a shoulder against him carefully. "You aren't alone. Not unless you let yourself be." There were always others out there. Animals, people, spirits .. They could always keep one from feeling lonely, if one allowed them to. Malachy breathed in sharply, and let the emotions he felt slip softly nearer his own as he exhaled. But it didn't seem like Chiro wanted to let anyone else near.

The presence of the rather feminine fae wasn't as reassuring as he thought it might be any other time. Chiro had been found during a hard time. He didn't shy away from Malachy this time, however---he didn't have anywhere else to go. Instead, he looked at the bright, shining fae. He had to feel Chiro's covered sadness. It had to be painful for another to take on. He breathed in carefully, clearing his throat and sitting a little more comfortably. "My kind, once, lived peacefully with the earth." He said. "There were standards and rules. We focused on our strongest abilities, but soon it was realized that some of us harbored the ability to control more than one element. Some of us controlled them all. So... we started separating ourselves from those that could only handle one or two. We built our cities into the mountain we lived at the base of, and started feeding our energies. Most of those that lived outside the city controlled powers related closely to earth, and little more. They... grew tired of the suppression the rest of their peers began forcing onto them."

Chiro paused, picking at a crack in the marble floor. "They felt we were losing touch with our origins. Our beginnings. We... began to fight. Small scuffles turned into wars. It sliced us down the middle in terrible ways. I hated it... I... hurt others. Until I realized they were right. I forgot where I came from. I wanted to be closer to them but they wouldn't take me. So I moved from the cloud district to one of the city's entrances. It was as close as I could get... Then... something happened. An explosion created by those in the cloud district. It was a warning shot made by a strong mix of light and dark magic, volatile and dangerous. The result was the awakening of an underground chamber of spores that began infecting us... I was one of the few that managed to escape infection, but with death came... desolation. They started to realize how stupid the fighting was. But then insanity hit. I... was so afraid... then I did get sick. It terrified me... I didn't want to die. So I ran---Or, I flew... And I never looked back."

His voice broke, and Chiro leaned forward, clasping his hands over his eyes. "And I came back today. After thousands of years. So long... So many... spirits... memories... I'm the only one... In some chambers I found the remains of the fae looking for a cure. The insanity made them kill each other... then themselves." He shuddered, recalling the bones. The scraps of clothing. The dark areas where blood had been spilled and dried long ago.

Malachy tilted his head and listened carefully to the other man's sad tale. Though the world all around them was entirely desolate, it didn't even come close to the feeling of sadness he caught from Chiro. He felt rather helpless, all his skill and years of practice seemingly not up for the task of helping the older fae heal.

Wing fluttering quickly in distress, Malachy had to force himself to stay still and near Chiro's side. More then that, he needed to make himself reach out to wrap a comforting arm around Chiro's shoulders. He knew that saying anything wouldn't help, not then. Offering comfort and letting the other fae know someone else was there was the only thing that might help, to Malachy's way of thinking.

He let his body relax, rather than tense up. The feeling of a hug was almost alien to him, or at the very least, incredibly unusual. Normally it was his own arms around his shoulders, wrapped in a tight embrace that refused to let anyone else near, should they be interested in staying around for more than a few minutes at a time. The fae's warmth was something similar to comforting, lending him a bit of assurance---something he needed, desperately, but couldn't feel comfortable having. His hand busied itself with spinning the air into a small orb, lighting it ablaze then turning it to steam with the help of a small internal fire. The movement was effortless, almost without thought.

"Many wonder about my wings when they see me." He muttered after a time, glancing at Malachy and shifting a little so he could see him a bit easier. "I know it's on your mind too. It's why you refuse to fly. I know you're... too kind to do something I no longer can. But it's... fine. It's just a part of me now, that I've come to accept. You shouldn't take your beautiful wings for granted and not use them when you easily could..." His hand reached back, lightly dusting over the tip of the colorful wing folded carefully. It was so much thinner than his. So much more delicate. And it looked like a large flower's petal, so bright and gentle. How could it lift the fae?

He smiled a little as at least some of the sad feeling he'd been harboring within him for the other fae eased. Good, at least his presence was helping a bit. Malachy's attention was drawn from within to without as Chiro began twirling the elements together in a fascinating display of skill. The feminine fae had to force down a gasp of awe as he watched it disappear, turn into steam, before his eyes.

Malachy's pink hued eyes widened as his wings were touched. He shivered and blushed. "T-thank you ... Ah .. Do you mind if I ask what happened to your wings?" Wasn't there a way to heal them? It was amazing what one could do, once one knew how, or once one had the drive. "I'll fly sometime ... for you. If you want." He wasn't the best, but he could still try and put on a show.

Chiro managed a small and hopefully reassuring smile and nod, something to ease Malachy's obvious worry. Worry, at that, about a complete stranger. How odd it was, feeling that he knew someone cared about him, and all that was really known was the others' name. Though Malachy's reaction to his light touch was odd, Chiro closed his hand and clasped his other around it. "I wouldn't mind seeing that." He admitted. Seeing another fae fly might bring back better memories. When he wasn't among those that had lost touch with their roots and had ultimately destroyed his entirely civilization.

"And... regarding my wings..." He moved away a bit, giving them room as they lifted from their cloak-like position to a raised one. "They used to be twice as large as I am tall. Unlike most, they have tiny hollow bones in them that control their position, and make the base stronger. They would be hard to control, so young fae would have to begin strengthening them at a very early age. And despite being thick and tough, they... rip and tear easily. A very specific restoration magic is needed to keep them intact, but because I'm the only one left, I can't get to them... When our civilization was strong, we would live in pairs. We were... very social. Maybe more than the average fae today... We needed and relied on one peer, someone we... connected with at a very young age and... whose bonds would grow stronger with each passing day. And we relied on that other fae to use their magic to mend and strengthen our wings." He shifted his wings slightly, grimacing as he did so. Around the bone, they were rather painful, but otherwise it was simply a sad sight to look upon. Even the pattern once creating ornate symbols were faded.

So that was what had gone wrong with his wings. There was a chance then, that Chiro could fly again. He wanted to see that happen. Maybe it would make the other fae smile, truly and wonderfully so. And then, though it took a little while, the realization hit that Chiro had lost someone very dear to him, along with his family and everyone and everything he had ever known. No wonder he had exiled himself so thoroughly within a civilization dead.

"Could I perhaps try to help?" Asking of the other fae's loss seemed far too soon a thing. Malachy knew he needed to thread lightly. Already, it seemed like he was making a little progress at least. Chiro didn't hesitate as much as he spoke, and spoke far more freely then only a couple hours ago. The thought had him smiling a bit, despite the seriousness of what they discussed.

Chiro bit his lip, standing on shaking legs then folding his wings back. "I... don't think..." He sighed, stepping forward to the countertop scattered with old bottles, broken and intact alike, where water and finished mixtures had dried up so long ago. One he picked up and uncorked, turning it over and finding not much more than a black, scentless sludge slide out and onto the dirty counter. He couldn't remember what was in the bottle when he left. Why had it all stayed the same...?

"Don't you have your own life to live?" He asked after a moment, feeling his throat begin to close, but a quick gulp cleared it up. "Your friends should be missing you by now... your family, maybe. They might be worried if they believe this place is haunted..." Haunted by memories. He had never a true spirit of a fallen kin, a friend or family member, or his companion. But he could almost hear them whisper when he strolled by a doorway that was seemingly empty. The bones of those that had remained to look for a cure had spoken to him the loudest. He hadn't had the will to touch one of those bones. He could barely stay in their presence before he sealed the door. He had to leave the city. It was too horrible. Too... alive.

With a soft sigh, he stood and brushed dirt from his less then pristine clothing. "I can easily let them know through the roots of plants, that which ties them all together, what has happened. They know that when I am taken by a call that I tend to disappear." And this call was stronger then any he'd ever come across before. There was no turning his back upon Chiro. Malachy found himself cringing at the thought.

"Why is it you think I wouldn't be able to help with your wings? Surely there's something even I can do ..." His voice sounded pained at the thought that he was helpless in the face of a divide impossible to cross. They were two different kinds of fae, each with their own inherent abilities. It was silly to think he could do anything, really. Lower his eyes, he planted his gaze firmly upon the ground.

Chiro stared at Malachy in a dazed manner, then shook himself a bit. "No..." He didn't know why he said it---it was an immediate reaction. He pushed himself to move toward the fae and raise a hand, lift his gaze to meet Chiro's. "You see..." He raised his other hand and opened it, palm-up. "You see the white pattern... It's faded now, but it's there. It's my light and restoration magic. Few of my kind had light magic, but we all possessed restoration. For our wings, we used a specific kind of restoration... But I understand I can't fly. I don't... hate that. I may be slower now because of it but that's okay..."

He offered a small smile to reassure Malachy in a way, bringing a hand up to his face. For once his restoration magic came through and left what he knew would be a lightly tingling streak down the younger fae's cheek. "My wings aren't able to stretch certain directions. It's why I can't reach them. And that's just... it's just how it is..." He could revive almost anything, except the dead city. The city's useless husks of trees and the black, dry flowers. Those were beyond help, he was sure. He backed away and went around to the main room, where he and his companion used to live.

"He wouldn't come with me. Said they brought it upon themselves." Chiro muttered. It was mostly to himself, though. "H-he was... brainwashed by our leaders... So many were. It wasn't like him... they weren't his words. T-then he got s-s-sick..." His eyes were freely streaming tears. The words had always been in his head, but saying them aloud felt more painful. "Then he changed his mind. He... became what I knew... he was... Then he got scared. He was so afraid to die... I..." He had stopped there in his mind many times. Going beyond that point was nearly impossible. Being in the city with such a thought on his mind was impossible.

The younger fae trembled at the touch, and the thought that he could do nothing at all to help, when he so wanted to. Malachy closed his eyes once he had seen the faded mark. Another soft touch left his cheek tingling pleasantly, and had him wondering what the other fae had been like before everything had fallen around his ears. Such sadness ... always so sad ...

Only more so now. Chiro's softly spoken words still reached Malachy's pointed ears, mostly because the slight fae had followed the other fae. "You ... what?" He had to ask. It seemed like Chiro needed to speak of what had happened in the past. Sometimes ... in the past, that had been the only way people had been able to heal.

Chiro sniffed deeply, falling into a crouch and sliding his fingers through his hair. Suddenly Malachy wanted to know things. This change was strange, and somewhat unwelcome, but Chiro felt entirely obligated to answer the fae's questions. But it seemed like the stars hadn't exactly aligned in his favor. He was in his old home. In the presence of innumerable ghosts of the past. With someone that had, once, thought the place was truly haunted by spirits. He sighed, steadying his voice. "I... held him as he died... And while he died, he... begged me to save him. I... couldn't. I said I'd keep him safe from everything this world could use to hurt him but I lied... And I couldn't... just let him return to the earth... I... I sealed him in a protective case. At the base of the peak of the mountain. He's still there but I... I haven't... been brave enough to go back... I don't think I could revive him..."

The thought of revival had plagued him for plenty of centuries. So many that he had often practiced on dead trees. As long as they weren't hollow husks, they could be revived. As long as they had some... semblance of life... they could be revived. The thought of being able to purge the illness from the body of the only remaining fae of his kind was too tempting not to entertain, but too terrifying to go through with. What if he failed? What if he brought him back but lost him again because the illness was, perhaps, still alive in his body? Chiro had to find a cure first. First.

Malachy moved to crouch down beside the other fae. He found a stick and drew random curls and swirls upon the ground. "Is there anything stopping you from doing so? I mean ... " Perhaps he was pushing too far. Though he knew how the other fae felt, it was still chancy. Malachy could make mistakes. It was also very hard to judge how any person might reaction to the same type of question, or prodding. Matters so delicate as those they spoke about, the younger fae hadn't really had much experience with them. He was just come to true adulthood, had barely lived and begun to work his way through the life of a near immortal fae.

How ironic that he was trying to help ease someone else's pains, things he couldn't truly understand though he felt the results. "I've perhaps ... gone too far with my questions .." Another long line, then a swirl added onto it. A few dots here and there as his gaze remained once more upon the floor.

Chiro sighed and shook his head. "It's not your fault." He muttered. It's mine... Mostly mine. I... should find a cure..." He was a few thousand years too late, but if those spores still existed, he would have to find something to battle the infection that began when one breathed them in. What if it could get out into the air and infect those that managed to get a breath of them? They wouldn't even know it until it was too late... He shook his head. "We... should get out of here..." He muttered. "I can't... stand being here... There's a door up at the top." He stood, pulling the younger fae with him and stepping toward the door. "See there..." He pointed up to where once there was a patch of beautiful foliage and a large tree once stood. "The doors there lead onto a large balcony that go back down the mountain..."

They had to get out. If not for himself, then for Malachy. He had some kind of light in his eye, something that described a desire to stay. Stay where...? Chiro had no idea, but he had to get out unless the place enthralled him. And Chiro couldn't stay. It had too much weighing on him. If Malachy wanted answers, he had to let him go out.

Malachy glanced up to where the other fae pointed and nodded. He wanted to stay below ground, but knew it would only cause Chiro more hurt then anyone had a right to bear. So he let himself be guided out, even went so far as to tug a bit at the other fae until they stood upon the intricate stone balcony. Here foliage wrapped around the entire surface, vines creeping over the hard stone floor. The feel of a light breeze brushing up against his skin had the pink eyed fae snapping his wings open. He wanted to fly!

A sneeze made his eyes water, and had Malachy rubbing his nose with a frown. It was nothing, just the change of air quality. "Where should we go now?" His eyes sought the same kinds of flowers that lived in the meadow city of his kind. There were none there, but lower down the mountain he was sure there were some. Then it would be just a matter of whispering a few words to explain his sudden departure from the city.

Chiro glancd around at the sudden noise. It was startling but otherwise, quiet so far up. Birds flitted by the balcony and some had nested in the thicker branches, but otherwise they were alone. He almost envied them, if he could just find the will to do that anymore. At the question Malachy offered, Chiro stepped forward to the chipped stone wall of the balcony and leaned against it. "You... can go any time... I think I should stay for a while and... gather some things... bottles and... other things... I should start working on what I used to be able to do..." He glanced around to the fae. In the sun, he shone so brightly. Outside that gloom cut by fire and orbs imitating the sun, his skin seemed to shine with a golden hue. His hair was tipped with a lighter tone, perhaps a red. His eyes were pale, and they resembled a flower. It was so different now, with the natural light.

"Maybe... I'll stay here for a time..." He couldn't see the peak of the mountain since the balcony overlooked the land that his kind used to inhabit, the trees with their failing homes. "You're free to come back any time... I mean, I... maybe I'll come back with you sometime... soon..." He picked at the living vines, beautiful and green. Alive.

"Can't I help you?" He didn't want to leave, not yet. Chiro needed his help! Shaking his head, he ran to the balcony and leaped onto the railing gracefully. With his feet hanging over nothing, he settled down upon the stone and peered down at the other man. "There's no need for me to come back, if I never leave." Leaving was such a terrible thing. Though Malachy knew there was reason for the other fae to want him gone, he could feel the sadness in the other man's heart and wanted not to part.

Broken homes lay in the trees. They were reminder enough of all that Chiro had lost. If he were left alone again, there was no telling what the fae would do. He had seemed so alone from the very beginning...

Chiro tilted his head. He couldn't believe what was being said. If he never left? Never? That didn't seem right. "Malachy..." Chiro shook hair into his eyes, then blew it back. "I can't... let you do that... You have duties... you have family and friends in your home that... You can't leave... permanently... It..." He shook his head. To make others lose someone they loved... To separate friends and family... It seemed familiar but at the same time, alien. "I'll come with you instead." He sighed. It would feel horrible to actually depart his cemetery city and go to the one made of crystal and giant flowers. But he wanted to see it. He wanted to see how other societies had expanded and grew, how they rose, how they saw the largest city now that it was in ruin.

"J-just... stay there... I'll be right back, okay...?" He rushed past Malachy and into the cloud district, down the dozens of stairs so quickly he nearly fell several times, and into what used to be his home. He gathered up an old silk blanket and began filling it. Bottles that his kind created. They were necessary for the type of magic they had to stand up to and contain, sometimes for centuries. Some of the shattered bottles were too thin to stand up to so long unattended and desolate. He raided not only his own home, but that of four others, and counted them all. Four dozen in total, and they all worked well to hold what he wanted them to. As he slung the bag over his back carefully, protecting it with his wings as they folded over the bag, Chiro began back to the door to the balcony, reassuring himself as well as he could. So many people... Soon he would be stared at by them all.

Chiro would leave? But then he would be turning his back upon the only home he'd ever known, and the only other fae of his race, the chance of saving him. His wings fell across his back to lay there, gently brushing against cloth and skin. So he waited, though he didn't know what to think, or to say. He could still feel the other man's emotions brushing up against his own and nestling there with them. Chiro was within his mind, entangled there in a way that confused Malachy, just a tad.

When the other fae returned, he remained still as stone save for a small sneeeze. "I thought you wanted to stay here?" There as fear and apprehension now... What could he do to ease such thoughts? "No matter what eyes are upon you, or what they say, I promise to stay near." For the other man was leaving his haven for his sake, somehow.

Chiro bit on his lip a bit, rearranging the bag to make sure nothing would shatter if he stepped too roughly. "You... misunderstand. I don't want to stay here..." He looked back behind him, to the door to the cloud district. "I hate it here. I can feel too much. Too much of what was left behind the moment the last fae died. I just wanted to get out. Go back to where I lived before." It hurt to live so far away, but not quite as much as staying in the place he had fled so long ago. After preserving his old companion, his wings had started tattering around the edges, and it had started hurting then. Now it wasn't painful, only very rarely.

"I trust you." He told Malachy after a moment. "I trust you won't leave me behind... Even if I don't deserve that." After all, he had left his own people behind. His own companion. He left them all behind because he was afraid of the same fate. He was afraid of falling with his own. Letting the past remain where it was supposed to be: In the past. He nodded. "Should we be off, then? I... suppose we have a bit of a walk ahead of us..." Because he couldn't fly. How he had tried to preserve his wings, but time had simply been his enemy. And those random tree branches grasping the edges and tearing a little with each passing day, even when they were folded protectively across his back.