before you went and let me down

Koa

I'm the king, and you're the queen
and we will stumble through heaven

After the circus ends without fanfare, Koa allows himself a second to relax, tension sliding from his shoulders as he silently celebrates the lack of any major disaster. Only a second, though, because as soon as one danger eases another rises up.

This one takes the form of his sister, arms crossed and eyes briefly unreadable as she stares him down, giving him a look that would make many men feel very small indeed. Not Koa, though; Koa knows Noe too well, knows her like he knows himself. He waits her out with fraternal patience, the same way he had so many times before. And when she finally accepts the invitation for ice cream and slots her arm into the crook of his, Koa releases a breath so relieved it surprises him, because he hadn't truly realized until that moment just fucking hurt he'd been if she had told him no.

They fall into comfortably familiar step, the stone city a playground they mastered many years ago. It feels achingly comfortable and right; it feels like being home. It's enough to make Koa briefly forget how fucked everything is, until Noe mentions Jude. Immediately the taste of fond nostalgia sours to pain and anger; a scowl flickers over his features, and his grip on her arm tightens imperceptibly. "No," he answers quickly, sending a sharp glance her way. "I mean - Yeah, I did see him." He doesn't want to go into it, because it feels like something they'll fight about, and Koa is not particularly inclined to forgive the singer right now.

"But I already had plans to come back when I got his letter." Again he looks at Noe, expression softening into something anxious, Jude's cruel accusations buzzing in his brain. "I'm really sorry I left the way I did, No. I never meant to make you feel abandoned, or like I didn't have your back. You know I love you no matter what, right?"

Even if her new best friend is literally, literally, nightmare fuel.

If there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
I know you wanna go to heaven, but you're human tonight

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