Deimos
suns for bones and constellations for eyes
He heard the mutter, but only arched his brow in response, pretending not to have gained knowledge of it, glancing up the lane instead. Besides, somewhere in the back of his mind he’d always wondered if he could’ve done more – with the Ascended, with the war – but eventually there’d been no choice at all. Kiada didn’t seem to begrudge him of the notions anyway; because they’d all walked narrow lanes and roads marred with thorns and pitfalls, hoping it’d been the right decision. In the end, she’d survived, and he’d take it.The Evergreen and Sword complemented one another well when the onslaught of emotions intermingled and dispersed; for while Deimos chose to muck about or avoid them, Evie declared hers with determination and intent. It caused a slight grin, subtle admiration in his gaze, as she persisted. She’d tread lightly, then rose above the waters of the challenges and trauma her own lineage had inflicted, marred, and scarred, to understand the follies, and have no desire to repeat them. And perhaps he enjoyed the bit of daring in her, to outlast the strife, and never linger in its midst again. “You would be enough,” he added; the ways of her heart and mind, her actions and attempts, another genuine smile persisting along his features, before dragging the sled along again.
But no sooner had he started than he ceased altogether; hand enclosed by hers as the melancholic void threatened. They were all haunted by death in some way, shape, or form; some inevitably caused by their own decisions, some because they weren’t enough, and it bit and tore at him still. Maybe it always would, in cycles and waves, when the blood seeped into dreams and turned them into lethal bombardments. He took half a moment to simply remove his soul out of the ruts and gloom, before gloved fingers moved over hers. “We are stronger now,” a reminder – that even when the horrors of LongNight existed in fragments and memories, they’d all grown vastly since those hellhole reaching evenings.
Though he couldn’t help the rising blush to his cheeks once more at the images cut out by the Evergreen, snorting and shifting, trying to rid himself of some league of embarrassment or emotion. “We will see,” was all he could manage – with a steady wink to follow before his gaze flickered back up to her features.
