{se} step up when you call

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

There is much to be said for the way they mirror one another, and how hard they are both trying to bridge the gap, purely out of love. She sees how hard he is trying. She knows how difficult it is for him to understand her decisions, and to put aside his own grudges when neither of them are known for that. That he is doing it for her is enough to earn her forgiveness, plain and simple, and she hopes he will feel the same in return.

His fingers intertwine with hers, and she takes that as confirmation of exactly that. A swell of emotion has her squeezing tight the moment their hands properly interlock, lending heart and vitriol to her immediate, instinctive response. "Never," she vows. "You could never lose me, Dei. Not even if I moved to the opposite side of the world, or into space, or fell through another portal." Gods permitting those extremes will never be realized, but perhaps it needs to be said anyway. Maybe she needs to say the words instead of assuming he understands the depths of her devotion, the same way she has had to learn to do with Sunjata. "I love you. You're my brother, and there is nothing you could do to chase me away or lose my love." He could lose her respect, her geniality, her support - but never her love. Even in the darkest imagined scenarios of how they could hurt one another and become different, unrecognizable people, he would never lose her love.

"I didn't stop visiting and stealing your food when Evie moved in, so don't expect anything to change just because I'm the one moving houses, okay?" Her eyes are watery and bright, and her lips tremble slightly as she tries for a smile, but she tries to lighten the mood in what little way she can with so much devastation weighing in on their shoulders that has nothing to do with the personal repairs they are trying to make.

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me