DEIMOS
ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood
spit out the blood
Missed and missed; and perhaps she was the only one to do so. He could feel the walls crumbling, concaving, and even if Hotaru didn’t mind the spectacle, the monolith did. This was his fortress. This was his keep. He’d taken so long to perfect the art of pretense, of all those bestial machinations, of all those imperial, indifferent cliffs, and to have them rampaged and brought down so easily, all over again, scratched and gnawed. Not here, not before the world dispersed and it was theirs again.
But she was airs of home and realms of shared expanses, heads bowed before toppling towers and scathing fathoms, of kingdoms like this one but not the same, never, and he held her tightly, tucked away in the folds of his arms and in the hints of his sorrow. “Me too,” he whispered in between rounds of heartbeats and relief; glad she was whole and well and safe and sound. Glad that she was here. Glad, that even amidst the rounds of normalcy, of trying to painstakingly put his life back together again, there were those achingly familiar embraces where everything and nothing needed to be said.
They still were – but maybe only because of time.
The monolith shifted, snorted, as temples pressed and embraces were shared, shook only slightly with the hints of mirth. The questions began, and he reached out a hand to pull her out of the training grounds, waving off a round of soldiers, waiting to hear the glide of steel again. “We can talk elsewhere,” and then he extended his way down the hall, into the open parlor, with the might and glow of the hearth, where Zuriel knelt before the fireplace, lifting her head in recognition.
Something parted in his heart, and he could feel the calamity, the distortion, already peeling away. The Sword fought desperately to keep it together, and merely released her to grab hold of two chairs, crowd the unicorn by the flames. Then maybe he could begin. Or she could. It didn’t really matter anymore. “I was here during LongNight.” Safe; tucked away behind portals, but restless and unwinding, yearning to be conniving and unrelenting. “The temporary Warden.” He choked down a sneer, then let it pierce off, away into the midst, piercing eyes lingering on her; a brief examination and scrutiny. “What about you?”
But she was airs of home and realms of shared expanses, heads bowed before toppling towers and scathing fathoms, of kingdoms like this one but not the same, never, and he held her tightly, tucked away in the folds of his arms and in the hints of his sorrow. “Me too,” he whispered in between rounds of heartbeats and relief; glad she was whole and well and safe and sound. Glad that she was here. Glad, that even amidst the rounds of normalcy, of trying to painstakingly put his life back together again, there were those achingly familiar embraces where everything and nothing needed to be said.
They still were – but maybe only because of time.
The monolith shifted, snorted, as temples pressed and embraces were shared, shook only slightly with the hints of mirth. The questions began, and he reached out a hand to pull her out of the training grounds, waving off a round of soldiers, waiting to hear the glide of steel again. “We can talk elsewhere,” and then he extended his way down the hall, into the open parlor, with the might and glow of the hearth, where Zuriel knelt before the fireplace, lifting her head in recognition.
Something parted in his heart, and he could feel the calamity, the distortion, already peeling away. The Sword fought desperately to keep it together, and merely released her to grab hold of two chairs, crowd the unicorn by the flames. Then maybe he could begin. Or she could. It didn’t really matter anymore. “I was here during LongNight.” Safe; tucked away behind portals, but restless and unwinding, yearning to be conniving and unrelenting. “The temporary Warden.” He choked down a sneer, then let it pierce off, away into the midst, piercing eyes lingering on her; a brief examination and scrutiny. “What about you?”
watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same
then let your soul do the same
