EVIE
He folds her closer, and she pressed her chilled nose to the warmth of his throat, where she can feel his pulse against the slope of her forehead. She shouldn’t need the extra reminder, but she does, and she doesn’t care why.
As such her words are pressed halfway into his collarbone, but Evie knows his keen ears will hear her, even as she obligingly speaks a little louder. “The first line of Shields on the ramparts. A few civilians in the Citadel, to the dragons. The remaining Shields had no losses, and Hotaru and Sah kept the casuals to a minimum in the city.” Lucky, so goddamn lucky, and she knows it. But she can’t stop seeing the spray of blood on the walls, from the stone and snow where she’d been engaging the Queen. There every time she blinks.
As he sets her on her feet, Evie gently touches his cheek. “Preparations have been underway since the moment the fighting stopped. We have a little time.” Not nearly as much as she would prefer, but enough for now. And as his hand drops away from the knob she catches it in her own, eyes stinging fresh for the first time since it all went to hell - not for herself, or for those lost, but for him. For Deimos, and the way his head turns immediately towards Hotaru’s home, for the grief she can see double on his face at the news. The news she had delivered.
His apologies are heartbreakingly unnecessary, and Evie turns the knob he’d abandoned to draw him over the threshold and into the warmth and privacy of his home. “He wasn’t even here as I understand. There was nothing you could do, my love,” she whispers, and closes the door gently behind them. “We were well prepared. The things we fought were not native to Halo, things we never could have predicted. We - all of us - we needed you to be in the Draig, exactly as you were.” The only comfort she can really give him, but oh how she tries to make it count. “You don’t need to say what happened up there yet. Let’s get you cleaned and changed, okay?” Glancing down at her own clothes - medical scrubs thrown hastily over ichor-stained battle garments, hair similarly half-washed of the Banshee’s blood - she smiles humorlessly. “Maybe myself, too.”
As such her words are pressed halfway into his collarbone, but Evie knows his keen ears will hear her, even as she obligingly speaks a little louder. “The first line of Shields on the ramparts. A few civilians in the Citadel, to the dragons. The remaining Shields had no losses, and Hotaru and Sah kept the casuals to a minimum in the city.” Lucky, so goddamn lucky, and she knows it. But she can’t stop seeing the spray of blood on the walls, from the stone and snow where she’d been engaging the Queen. There every time she blinks.
As he sets her on her feet, Evie gently touches his cheek. “Preparations have been underway since the moment the fighting stopped. We have a little time.” Not nearly as much as she would prefer, but enough for now. And as his hand drops away from the knob she catches it in her own, eyes stinging fresh for the first time since it all went to hell - not for herself, or for those lost, but for him. For Deimos, and the way his head turns immediately towards Hotaru’s home, for the grief she can see double on his face at the news. The news she had delivered.
His apologies are heartbreakingly unnecessary, and Evie turns the knob he’d abandoned to draw him over the threshold and into the warmth and privacy of his home. “He wasn’t even here as I understand. There was nothing you could do, my love,” she whispers, and closes the door gently behind them. “We were well prepared. The things we fought were not native to Halo, things we never could have predicted. We - all of us - we needed you to be in the Draig, exactly as you were.” The only comfort she can really give him, but oh how she tries to make it count. “You don’t need to say what happened up there yet. Let’s get you cleaned and changed, okay?” Glancing down at her own clothes - medical scrubs thrown hastily over ichor-stained battle garments, hair similarly half-washed of the Banshee’s blood - she smiles humorlessly. “Maybe myself, too.”
Don't look up, just let them think
There's no place else you'd rather be
There's no place else you'd rather be
