the dying sun illuminates so much

[say]”I am not afraid of being burned,”[/say] Ronin muttered, and whilst it was true (and even more so for the man to whom he’d tied his heart) he knew also that there was no telling if Remi had not already been irreparably damaged. It wouldn’t make Ronin love him any less fiercely, but there was no denying that they were not the men who had fallen in love, not the men who had leapt over flames on their wedding day. But they were together all the same.

To receive affection above all things from his goddess after all that he had done was both a balm and a cutting into his soul - and he got the feeling that Safrin might well intend it that way. Nevertheless, a faint smile flickered across his face and he shrugged up at her bashfully. [say]”You’re welcome, then. In a way,”[/say] he quipped, though the names of former friends, of past lives, now, they all served to unearth fresh guilt. [say]”I have a lot to do, don’t I?”[/say]

[say]"Yes well. Just so long as you remember who to blame when you're blistered and burned."[/say] She cautioned. Despite the gentleness of her tone, wisdom would suggest she'd not be this kind if a repeat of Ronin's actions came to pass.

[say]"Careful Ronin."[/say] Safrin's voice was sing-song, but the melody was not an entirely worry-free one. Her love for her star was not a mortal love. She'd indeed see him burn for his indiscretions if it came to that. [say]"You do indeed. Best we get back."[/say]

The world around them would collide, a galactic symphony composed of cathedrals of starlight and shadow. Ronin would find himself on the beach where he had been with Remi precisely as he had been. For the alchemist only mere seconds would have passed since Ronin's disappeared with Safrin.

Careful, Ronin. Those words would echo in his mind long after Safrin had sent him back to Torchline, and he didn’t have to be told twice to know better next time, if he did find himself burned. He only had himself to blame, and his conduct was all down to him as well. It always had been, and Safrin had tried to tell him - over and over again. And just look at the mess he had made of himself.

Gasping and glancing around the beach as the blinding crack of galaxies became the soft and silken shores of the Ahi Coast, Ronin would look like a man who had seen ghosts or dreams; a man unsure whether what he was seeing was real. Of course, then he saw Remi, and his throat closed against any words he wanted to say.

He is still smouldering Ronin

[say]”Hey,”[/say] he managed breathlessly, leaning in suddenly to press his lips to the alchemist’s in a kiss far too gentle for their past few weeks on the beach.

Remi's first thought was, [say]"You're alive"[/say] followed quickly by, [say]"..that was fast."[/say] The pair had disappeared only moments before, leaving the alchemist hardly any time at all to panic or worry about what may or may not be happening wherever Safrin had taken them.

The kiss against his cheek felt...strange. He was used to the gruffness of routine that they'd fallen into. Kisses that were sloppy and hard, sex that was a race towards orgasm so that they might both pass out before their minds could sober and wander. The kiss awakened something the alchemist had been very much trying to bury; he had to resist the urge to wipe it from his cheek as Ronin pulled away.

[say]"Hey yourself."[/say]

Ronin ought to have expected as much - he had practically returned as a different man (or at least one with a lot more to lose and to do than the one who had left). It still didn’t stop the pang of sadness at Remi’s response, the former love and joy and affection in the alchemist utterly burnt out. Sitting up, somehow breathless from whatever it was Safrin had done to take them across planes, Ronin raked a hand through his hair.

Then he sent a bolt of starlight angrily down the beach, blasting the sand to glass. (Listen Starmom, he was trying, give it time). [say]”I consider myself warned,”[/say] he said roughly. [say]”I’ll be going to the Temple, probably tomorrow.”[/say]

Watching this expression of anger with impassive eyes, Remi turned back to Ronin with a brow raised. He didn't expect an explanation—things said between a man and his goddess were usually hard to put into words—which was good, since he apparently wasn't getting one.

[say]"Warned is better than dead."[/say] Remi agreed with an offhand smile that quickly fell away at the remainder of what his husband had to say. [say]"To...?"[/say] He trailed off, inviting Ronin to fill in the blank, though he thought he had a pretty good idea what the missing words were. To fix it. To put it right. Something about that soured and churned in Remi's gut. It felt like a species of betrayal. Despite Ronin's outburst just now, it seemed very much like the hunter was trying to set things right. Things that for Remi at least, were better left broken.

[say]"Is it?"[/say] Ronin asked honestly, his voice low and his eyes on the sea. Was warned better than dead in Remi's eyes, really? Or was he just waiting for an opportunity for the warnings to run out? At the leading question that followed, Ronin could only glance back at his husband flatly, tilting his head as if to ask if he really needed to explain. [say]"You know very well what,"[/say] he muttered, scrambling to his feet on the beach and frowning, finding the sun quite suddenly cold.

[say]"I'll only be a day at the most,"[/say] he said - for regardless of how traitorous that made him in Remi's eyes, it was not a call that he could refuse. Unless he really would prefer to be dead, anyway. Or worse, if the suggestion of Safrin's threats were to be believed.

The alchemist wouldn't answer that, and he did know what. That Ronin wouldn't say it was perhaps telling in itself, but the alchemist didn't comment.

Following Ronin upwards though with far more elegance, Remi regarded his partner solemnly for a moment. [say]"Unless it isn't."[/say] Things in the Grounds had a way of...snowballing, as they both well knew, though Remi tried to swallow down this fact. Something about it seemed indicative of things to come. Ronin going off to do The Right Thing, whilst Remi stayed in Torchline to...as it would turn out, make a grave. But shh, spoilers.


~FIN.