old habits die screaming

REMI

“In Halo—” Remi begins, voice clipped and careful. He isn’t fool enough to loosen his hold despite the sudden lull in Hotaru’s resistance; even as she stills, the Bastion keeps himself coiled tight, expecting her to writhe free the moment he so much as blinks. "Hotaru, I'm no—" Snapping down on the words, for whatever good it does, the Bastion forces the tide of his own emotions onto the Valkyrie, hoping it will stun her if nothing else, for the few seconds he needs to get airborne. Her weight is absolutely nothing to him, but gods if she isn't wiley and clever enough to find some way to wriggle free if he isn't careful. So it is that she'll feel in all the places his skin touches hers, the stubborn confidence he feels that she will be healed, the unwavering devotion to their daughter, and the knowledge that even if she hates him at the end of this, that he'd do it all again. Theirs might not be the most conventional family, but gods if they aren't family just the same.

The salt-laced wind greets his wings as he spreads them wide, already scanning the darkening sky knowing that he'll be able to find his way north and west once he can rise above it all. He lifts off of the houseboat with a strength that requires no second thought, hands and arms, tentacles and heart all fixed on the task at hand. I have never once wanted to kill you, Ru, and I certainly do not now, he thinks to her, his accent roughened by the strain of climbing higher while keeping her bound against his chest.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

HOTARU

She's in a long black coat tonight
Waiting for me in the downpour outside

Stunned is a weak word. It's all she can do to breathe as the Bastion's emotions swell against hers, taking advantage of every gap and weakness caused by her confusion to rip past the shrill alarms in her own head. The mention of Halo only makes confuses her further. Remi is skipping between topics that have zero correlation, but his heart - his heart isn't lying, and she doesn't know what that means. 

Gods fuck her sideways though, because she trusts him. It's why she'd called him to the boat in the first place. Claws recede into blunt human formations, but the pressure of electricity in the air never dims. An empty threat of bodily harm given their power difference, but Hotaru doesn't need to defeat him - only escape. 

You attacked me over our daughter's sleeping body, you are taking me somewhere against my will, and speaking in tongues about Sunjata, Halo, and insisting I'm injured - but you expect me to believe you're of sound mind?! Thunder rolls faintly overhead. Will her magic even recognize him as an enemy if she calls it down upon them both? She thrusts her own emotions back into his face; betrayal, inadequacy, and fear and love so intertwined they beat as one. Tell me what this is then. Tell me now, she snarls, lightning faintly lighting up the night overhead. She'll take them both down into the ocean if she has to. This is the last measure of her trust in him that she can afford - at least until she realizes exactly what it is he's planning. 

Those who don't know they're sick would never presume to be candidates for a cure.

singing "Baby come home" in a melody of tears
While the rhythm of the rain keeps time

REMI

Remi feels the charge in the air the way a musician might feel the hum of a string—thrumming deep in his bones, muscles already aching for the hard, bracing release that only comes from exertion to the brink. He knows, with a certainty that doesn’t require proof, that this electricity belongs to Hotaru. The specifics of her abilities might remain a mystery, but the crackling energy biting at the sky speaks for itself.

He glances at her, voice lancing the open air in his mind, I did not attack you, I grabbed you. I was worried, correctly I think, that you were going to try and run. As for taking her somewhere she doesn't want to go? Well...yes. He’s absolutely doing that. Sorry not sorry.

Infected, he clarifies. High above the water, he spots Torchline winking in the distance and banks toward it, aiming for the quickest route through the archipelago and on to Halo. Whatever the Family has done to you was what they did to Sunjata but we managed to cure him of it. That is why we are going to Halo.

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today

HOTARU

She's in a long black coat tonight
Waiting for me in the downpour outside

The tsk of her voice is mental only, but it's utterly damning and dismissive of his explanation. Grabbing, manhandling, attacking - they are one and the same in her eyes. It's easier to feel like the persecutor, the judge behind the stand, instead of acknowledging the raw terror that slowly closes up beneath the swift knitting of her own hands which distract and avert attention away from its existence. It simply never did.

Tension rises anew, venom licking her teeth. Frey would never mislead me, and they had no worries about Sunjata, she snarls. Wait - you cured - ? Hotaru jerks in Remi's grasp, a blinding strobe of lightning overhead so swift the thunderclap comes a moment behind it as her teeth seek his shoulder already coated in venom. LET ME GO! It's a roar that comes muffled behind her striking teeth, overshadowing the mounting horror of what he might have done to her beloved. What he might soon do to her, utterly against her will. The flight to Halo is long and arduous; Hotaru intends to fight every minute of the journey to preserve this gift in her veins. A security blanket that will someday keep her entire family safe if only she can slip Remi's grasp.

singing "Baby come home" in a melody of tears
While the rhythm of the rain keeps time

REMI

A snarl vibrates in Remi’s throat, deep and low, as Hotaru’s teeth graze skin gone numb from both her venom and his determination. Lightning ripples across the sky, thunder chasing it in booming echoes, and he tightens his grasp all the more. Her roars crash against his senses, her magic crackling in the air with enough force to make his bones shudder. But he does not let go.

He tucks his chin against her temple, voice dipping low, resonant with quiet conviction. This won’t break you, he vows, in that crackling mental space they share, each syllable laced with apology and devotion. I promise you that in the end, you'll see. It’s too fragile to be reassurance and too bold to be mere hope, but it’s all he can offer her as he forces wings and will to push them higher.

Claws rake his arms, venom slicks his skin, and lightning hammers his eardrums. He endures it all. Where her magic sears, where her fury scrapes, he sets his jaw and persists. Battered though he may be, no force on land or sky will sway him from his course.

At last the horizon slides into a haze of lavender, dawn streaking its purple promise across the sky. Far below, the sea glints like a shard of blade. Torches flicker on the outskirts of Torchline, marking the boundary of a world left behind as he veers ever westward. Ahead lies Halo, its distant peaks still wreathed in ice and snow, waiting for them with whatever promise of healing he insists it holds.

Remi’s wings labour through the gale and lightning, each powerful downbeat a testament to his resolve—and the battered shell of trust that binds him and Hotaru to one another despite it all. The sky itself glows with the furious silver of her anguish, and against that backlit fury, the line of dawn gleams defiantly. They fly through a world poised between darkness and daybreak, unyielding until the very last.

~FIN

Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today