the time has stopped

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

The sun is gone, leaving only the hush of stars sweeping across the darkened horizon. The torches burn low, their flames flickering in the breeze, casting long shadows across the sand. Conversation has died out. Mom—and everyone else—has returned to Mort’s halls.

Theea’s helping tidy up the last of it, hands busy. I have no excuse not to go speak to them.

But I stay still.

I watch the pair of them slip quietly down the beach, their figures growing smaller with each step. My body refuses to move, anchored in place as I close my eyes and let the sound of the waves wash over me. Gods, I want to turn around. I want to glance back and see Mom smiling at me, nodding with that quiet encouragement she always gave. But she’s gone—too far now to reach.

I already wept. Not like before, not the way grief used to drag me under. This one wraps gently around my throat, soft and slow, like an old ache I’ve finally learned to carry.

But now I have her face again, vivid and whole. Her smile is etched behind my eyes, her scent still clinging faintly to my clothes. Her voice—clear and teasing—is still in my ear, urging: just go say hi.

I breathe in deep. Then again. And then, before I can let myself hesitate longer, I shift—my form shrinking in a moment to a hovering sapphire hummingbird. The air hums around me as I dart after them, wings a blur. When I’m close enough, I shift mid-air, and land softly in the sand, boots hitting with a dull thud, knees bent to catch the weight of it.

I think my heart’s still a hummingbird’s—for how fast it’s beating.

“H…Happy anniversary,” I manage, voice unsteady as I straighten. “Ten years is…” I draw in a trembling breath. “It’s been a really long time.”

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi’s fingers thread tightly with Ronin’s as they leave behind the last golden curls of torchlight, the sound of the tide carrying just enough to hush the world around them. The sand is cool beneath their feet, the horizon stitched with stars, and with each step away from the party, the ache in Remi’s chest—sated by laughter, by old friends, by the ghosts that drifted through—gives way to something altogether hungrier.

His thumb draws slow, lazy circles along Ronin’s palm, his voice dropping low as they wander up the strand. "You know," he murmurs in the travelling tongue, letting the words curl around them like silk, "I’ve spent all night thinking about just how slowly you peeled me out of my suit the night we got married." There’s a wicked gleam in his eye, his grin a challenge half-swallowed by affection. "Ten years later and I'll finally have my revenge. Maybe before that I'll drag you into the sea, or—better—strip you bare and—"

The rest is lost to the hush and rush of the ocean. Remi pauses, head tilting as a sound pricks through the salt-heavy air—a voice, uncertain and achingly familiar, reaching for them through the dark. He stops dead, every muscle taut with disbelief. For a heartbeat he’s a man made of nerves and memory, the world shrinking down to the sound of Ashe’s trembling greeting. There’s a question caught in the bond—shock, sharp and bright, tumbling into hope before he can stop it.

For a moment he simply stares, searching the shape of her—alive, impossibly so—his breath snagging in his chest. Then his face breaks open in wonder, his hand tightening around Ronin’s as if anchoring himself in the real. "You came," Remi breathes, the words ragged with joy and the ghost of all those years she wasn’t here.

And before the world can right itself, he’s moving—reaching for Ashe, gathering her up in his arms and pulling her close, not just to himself but to Ronin too. His embrace is fierce and unguarded, full of all the things he’s carried for a decade and never said, all the loss and love that binds them. She was the reason Ronin had come back from the dead, after all. "Gods, Ashe. You’re really here," he says, voice thick with wonder and relief.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

"I think you'll find," Ronin says quietly, his own voice musical and playful in the darkness against the hush of the tide, "that it was my outfit that caused you the most problems on our wedding night. That armour I wore? With all the buckles?" Laughing at the reminder, he nevertheless steps inevitably closer to his husband. Were it not for a very timely interruption, in fact, odds are good that the Taliesins would have never made it to their houseboat before passion took over.

Luckily for them, they have Ashetta. They've always had her, whether or not she's believed it across the scope of all these years.

Her voice is instantly recognisable, Ronin's hand flinching in Remi's grip to hold it tight in return, and the Knight turns sharply enough that he's sure he's pulled a muscle in his neck - not that he'll care about it for some time. "What time do you call this?" he demands before he can help himself, the humour spilling out through a voice made tight with emotion, and as Remi reaches out for her, Ronin isn't far behind.

Between them she's liable to be squashed and held tightly enough to steal her breath, but sorry Ashe, that's something you'll just have to deal with for the here and now. "You're a sight for sore eyes, you little shit," he says roughly, the words threaded with laughter.

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

“You came.” Remi's voice is such a balm I don't know how to breathe. I manage a quick smile, but I have to bite my lip to keep it from trembling, nodding because I don’t trust my voice.

And then, in the next heartbeat, Remi is pulling me in—and then Ronin—and I’m swept into the middle of them, all heat and arms and hearts pounding too close.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, you little shit.” Ronin. Ronin. 

The laugh that bursts out of me is choked halfway into a sob. I cling to them as hard as I can, crushed in their embrace, their grip so fierce it knocks the breath right out of me—and I love it. I never want them to let go. Gods, when was the last time I held them like this? I can’t even remember. I squeeze my eyes shut and press my head into them both, trying to steady my breathing through the tears I’ve got no hope of stopping.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, the words cracking at the edges. I always shake when emotions get too big to hold in my body, and right now I’m trembling all over—but I don’t care. Not here. Not with them. “What you must think of me—”

My fingers twitch into fists, curling into their shirts like I could anchor myself there. My brothers. My best friends. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get this again. I’d been so certain the bridges had burned behind me, that the waters below had risen too high, too fast, too violent to ever cross again. That leaving the way I did had scattered their love for me like ash in the wind.

“I missed you both so fucking much,” I finally breathe, the truth of it raw in my chest.

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi’s laughter vibrates through the knot of them, bright and unrestrained, chasing away the ghosts of silence that had lingered all these years. Ronin’s insult lands like a stone skipped over glass—pure nostalgia—and it pulls a grin out of Remi, helpless and wide, as if nothing at all has changed between the three of them except the world.

He feels Ashe’s trembling the moment she’s pressed against him—feels her heartbeat, wild and frantic, echoing in his own chest through the pulse of his magic. The brush of her skin against his lets it all in: the tidal wave of relief, the pain of lost years, the sharp edges of guilt that she can’t hide. Remi breathes it in, lets it fill him until it blurs with everything he’s already carrying, and then—soft as a lullaby—he lets the warmth and joy he feels for her flow back through that same contact. It’s uncomplicated, boundless, stubbornly forgiving. For once, there’s no hurt in it. Just the truth: they’re together, and that’s all that matters.

Her apology makes him shake his head, curls brushing her hair as he presses a kiss to the crown of it. "Don’t," he whispers, voice roughened with emotion but steady. "I dragged Ronin off to a mountain and didn’t speak to anyone for nearly a year. I’d still be up there, probably, if I’d had to do it alone the way you did. Whatever you think we’d believe of you, Ashe—you’re here. That’s enough for us."

His grip tightens, just a bit possessive, as if the three of them can shield themselves from the whole world by force of will alone. He laughs again, grinning into her hair, and tips his chin so his voice can wrap around them both. "Gods, I’ve missed you too. And you’re back not a moment too soon. Do you know how many years it’s been since someone called Ronin crab-kicker?" He grins, glancing at the Knight with all the familiar affection and mischief of a younger, less-burdened man. "The lack of humbling has absolutely gone to his head. He’s become unbearable."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

Grinning like an idiot and feeling Remi's joy bounce against his own and back out like echoes off a cave wall, Ronin can do little more than hold them both for a while. A laugh breaks out of him to hear the Bastion explain their own self-imposed exile, and he gives them both a squeeze strong enough to nearly lift them from the ground entirely. "The only thing I think of you is how tiny you still are," he rumbles. "So easy to toss around and bully. I've missed that more than anything."

With another laugh, this one more animated, he releases them enough to straighten up, to wipe the emotion from his cheeks and to lean in and helplessly kiss Remi's temple. "It's true," he agrees with a bob of his head. "I demand participation trophies for things I've never attended. Remi has to applaud whenever I walk through a door. Also I just implied I'd stand a chance at bullying you of all people, so who even knows how far I've fallen."

Sighing at his own apparent pride, the humour soon melts back into something warm and golden and enduring. "Gods, it's good to see you Ashe."

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

Their laughter is a balm I didn’t know I was bleeding for, and when I laugh too—really laugh—it cracks something open in me that had long since gone quiet. It feels like sunlight pouring through old shutters, dust motes dancing in the warmth of it. I was so afraid. So. Afraid. But now the memories rush in like light after a decade of winter. I haven’t felt this kind of warmth since before Kalt vanished from my world like smoke.

All I can feel is love—love in the truest, fiercest sense. Love like a tide that won’t recede. Acceptance, forgiveness, grace: they settle in my bones like heat after frostbite. It’s Remi. I know it’s him. I can feel him in the marrow of it, and I drink it in like someone who’s been wandering a desert. Years—years—of silence and sorrow and solitude unravel at once, and I don’t know how to carry them anymore. I’m crying—trying not to, but I am. My body trembles, but less now, like a storm that’s finally begun to pass. My heart still races, but breathing feels… possible. Like a door cracked open in a sealed room.

I breathe them in. The way they smell, the weight of them—real and present. A tether I didn’t know I still had.

Don’t, Remi says to my apology, and it breaks something else loose. Like forgiveness isn’t even necessary. Like there was never anything to forgive. I didn’t know they’d disappeared too—but I don’t blame them. How could I? They’d lost so much, maybe more than I ever did.

“I’m here,” I repeat, the words rising with a calm certainty I didn’t expect. “For good. I didn’t realize you’d both gone away too.”

And then I laugh again—sharp and bright, ringing like a bell over water—at crab-kicker. It’s what I told Theea to call him. I remember declaring we’d serve crab legs at my wedding, just to assert dominance. That was right after he spun me into death and we’d both spilled over into the sea. Gods. That memory had gathered dust in a place I hadn’t touched in years.

I pinch Ronin lightly, hiding my face against his chest with a breathless laugh. “Clearly has gone to your head! I’m still me.” And when he straightens, I do too, wiping the tears from my cheeks as I look up at him. “I know you’re the White Knight and all,” I say, lips twitching into something fond and exasperated, “but… you kick crabs. Innocent crabs. All the way down the beach.”

I glance between them again, and my eyes sting with the weight of it—of them. “I was away too long,” I breathe. “It’s really amazing to see you.” To be seen, I don't add. Just hearing my name is something I didn't know I needed.

I nudge at the sand with my boot, watching the grains shift. A few stray, nervous sparks leap and skitter across my shoulders like startled fireflies. “I’ve tried to keep up with your exploits. Told Theea all your stories. Word travels fast. But I still missed…” My voice trails off as I shake my head. “Everything.”

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi’s grin broadens, one eyebrow lifting as Ronin—mercifully—offers not even a token protest against the accusation of unchecked ego. It’s a rare treat to be so thoroughly agreed with, and Remi basks in it for a moment, squeezing Ronin’s hand as he turns his attention back to Ashe.

At her admission—her quiet certainty that she’s here for good, her glance at the world that’s slipped by—Remi’s expression softens, the mischievous tilt of his smile gentling to something deeply understanding. "Sometimes you have to go away," he murmurs, voice low and sure, as if stating a truth they all know in their bones. "Sometimes it’s the only way you find your way back." His thumb traces a slow, reassuring arc against her hand, a silent promise that coming home, at least to them, is never something she'd never have to earn, or ask permission or seek forgiveness for.

The mention of Theea draws a visible lightness into Remi’s posture, his head lifting in clear delight. "We met her, you know," he says, eyes dancing. "She’s incredible, Ashe. Clever, and sharp, and kind. You did good."

As Ashe’s voice trails off, the ache of lost years curling at the edge of her words, Remi shakes his head, nose wrinkling in playful protest. "Oh, you haven’t missed everything." He gestures back toward the beach, where the last golden embers of the party flicker in the distance, and the hush of the waves promises more. "Despite all the ghosts tonight, neither of us are dead yet. There’s plenty more of ‘everything’ left—and you don’t have to hear about it second-hand anymore. You’re here." He squeezes her fingers softly, before his grin returns, impish and bright. "Besides, someone needs to keep Ronin in check. I’ve grown too charmed by him over the years, I think."

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

For good, Ashe says, and Ronin is smiling helplessly all over again. "It's a good thing you didn't decide to turn up earlier, when the lantern was lit," he says with a boyish chuckle. "Else I might have thought you had come through with the parade of ghosts, and I'm afraid my reaction wouldn't have been nearly as measured." Because yes, this counts as measured.

Curling an arm around her shoulders as she nestles agains this chest, the Knight can't help but let out a theatric groan as he's reminded, endlessly, about his crimes against crabs. "I would like to remind you both that it was attached to my toe at the time," he says haughtily. (Was it? He doesn't remember any more, but now it's a hill he's going to die on).

Settling once more as conversation turns to Theea, Ronin grins across at Remi and nods his agreement. "Really good," he agrees. "She's going to end up being better than all of us, I think. I can't wait to see it happen."

He turns his head to nuzzle obnoxiously against Remi's curls at the implication that he needs keeping in check, punctuating it with a kiss before straightening up, all too proud to be a menace. "Yes, now you get to be here firsthand for all of the embarrassing shit I'm sure the stories end up leaving out."

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

Remi’s touch is so heartbreakingly comforting it nearly undoes me. It seeps into the cracks I’ve long forgotten how to seal, soft and steady like sunrise through the shutters of a long-abandoned home. I don’t feel like I deserve it—not yet. Maybe someday I’ll find that kind of forgiveness for myself, but for now, I can only believe in theirs. It’s in the way Remi looks at me, in the subtle grace of his magic as it hums warmly beneath his skin. It’s in Ronin’s laugh, in his ridiculous grin—still somehow boyish and disarming after everything the world’s thrown at him.

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever find my way back,” I murmur to Remi, my voice like wind brushing ash. Then I huff a soft, rueful laugh. “I still don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

I feel bare, like an open wound—but safe with them in a way I forgot I could be. Their presence wraps around me like firelight in a cold forest, chasing away the shadows I’d grown too used to. I wonder if anyone else even remembers me… and quietly, selfishly, I hope it’s only them. It would be easier that way. Quieter. More sacred.

I laugh under my breath, nodding toward Ronin with a smirk tugging at the edge of my lips. “I may have acted like a ghost, but I’m too spiteful to die just yet,” I say, gaze flicking between them. “I wanted to wait until it was just the living left. Give you all the time with them that was offered.” I draw in a deep breath, one that catches when it reaches my throat, and my eyes sting again. “But I got to see Vai.”

There’s something holy in the way we’re standing here, like no time has passed at all. Ronin’s arm rests heavy and solid over my shoulders. Remi’s hand is curled into mine, his thumb a steady rhythm against my skin. I want to press my face into both of them, soak them in until I stop feeling like I might disappear again.

“It was crawling on your foot,” I say to Ronin, my voice lilting with dry amusement. “And I’m pretty sure you screamed.” Lifetimes ago.

Theea. Her name glows in my chest like a lantern lit from within. Everything in me swells with pride, with love I’ll never have enough words for. “She’s really a marvel, isn’t she? She wants to change the world.” I shake my head, glancing back toward the flickering remnants of the party behind us. The music is fading, the waves curling softly like breath against the sand. “But she had the audacity to get taller than me, the little shit.”

When I turn back to them, I swear my cheeks hurt from how much I’m smiling. I squeeze Remi’s hand in return, my heart impossibly full.

“Well, what’s the most embarrassing thing I’ve missed then?” My arm slides behind Ronin’s back, and I jab my fingers into his ribs with a wicked little grin. “And why do I have a feeling it’s about you?”

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

Remi’s laugh rumbles low in his chest, the sound softened by the steady hush of the tide. He tips his head toward Ashe as if sharing a secret, eyes sweeping the emptying beach in mock caution before leaning in. "I’m fairly certain," he says in a stage whisper, "that none of us know what we’re doing." His grin tugs crooked at one corner, mischief warm in his gaze, though the glint fades almost immediately at her next words. Vai.

The name knocks something loose in him, boyish affection spilling over like a tide that doesn’t bother to pull back. Vai might be Ashe’s in a way that can never be altered, but she’s been just as much a mother to him—stubborn, steady, and always ready to pull him in close no matter how far he’d drifted. His fingers tighten gently around Ashe’s, his thumb resuming that slow, grounding sweep against her skin. "You’ll see her again," he murmurs, and there’s no room for doubt in the way he says it. "Bringing this many ghosts out at once was big, even for me. But..." He wrinkles his nose, a little sheepish but without apology. "I bring Vai back at least once a year."

Theea’s name brings a brighter light to his features, and he exhales through a smile that’s almost paternal in its pride. "One day we’ll trade war stories about parenting," he says, the roll of his eyes affectionate rather than weary. "We’ll see which one of us has the longer list of creative disasters."

Her question about embarrassing moments drags his attention back to Ronin, and the corners of his mouth curl mischievously. "There’s very little that could top nearly dying after falling down a few stairs," he says, as if the story is a precious family heirloom that he’ll never quite stop polishing. His eyes glint as he looks up at Ronin, brows arched in open invitation. "But I’m sure you'll manage to think of something," he murmurs, grinning at the Knight.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

RONIN

the white knight

light is easy to love.

Able to do little more than smile between the two of them as they talk - about fated returns, about faking it 'til they make it, about Vai - it's no surprise that Ronin is quite literally glowing with a warm and radiant light by the time the conversation spins back towards Theea and his own (long, long) list of embarrassments.

"I think I can already claim the most dramatic and creative parenting mistake, but that's definitely a story for another time," he says with a wince. You know, if turning into a dragon for the first time and causing untold destruction to Hak Etme counts as a creative mistake.

Instead, with another dramatic grumble as the stairs are inevitably brought up, Ronin sneaks his free arm around his husband to squeeze him close, as if that might prevent him from spilling further secrets. "Wasn't that the time I got concussed and you proposed to me?" he wants to know. "Because if that's not the definition of loving me at my worst, I don't know what is."

show me your darkness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ashe

i find myself here alone on this dusty road
waiting for a sign to point me home

When Remi says he brings Vai back once a year, the rest of my thoughts scatter like ash on the wind.

I blink at him—like maybe I didn’t hear right, like my ears are playing tricks. But they’re not. It sinks in slowly, then all at once, a warmth flaring through me so bright it’s almost painful. Not the end. Not the last time. The hope that rises in me is wild and golden and blinding. My voice catches on the inhale before I can speak, before I can even process the enormity of it.

“That’s—Remi, that’s amazing—all of this has already been amazing,” I manage, my voice as breathless as my heart feels. “Gods, I can’t believe sometimes how much your power has grown. I still remember the alchemist from the Settlement, shy and sweet, helping me tinker with my janky little pinky.” I hold up my hand as if he could see it again, like we’re still in that grove, the three of us. “You were always brilliant. Just didn’t know it yet.”

I could cry again, but the tears feel different this time. Not grief. Just too much light in a place that’s been cold for a very long time.

When he mentions war stories, I let out a huff, a smirk tugging at my mouth. “Oh, I think isolating my kid in the mountains might count as a pretty dramatic parenting mistake.” I roll my eyes, but there’s no real bite in it. “We’ll call it… survival-based stupidity.”

Then Ronin mentions some incredible disaster of a story and my eyebrows shoot up like I’ve been personally challenged. “You definitely have to tell me that sometime. You can’t just say that and not explain. If anyone remembers anything about me, it’s that I’m nosy as fuck.” I poke a finger lightly into his ribs. “Especially when it comes to the juicy shit.”

And then Remi has the audacity to drop that story.

I stare at them both, laughter spilling out of me in an incredulous rush. “I need the entire story. I shouldn’t even be surprised. Ronin I swear you are the most accident-prone person I’ve ever met. No—danger-prone." I purse my lips a little, thinking back on our colorful lives. "But then again… I guess we all are.”

I lean in a little closer to both of them, as if I could absorb more of this ridiculous, golden comfort by proximity alone. The fire of it flickers low and warm in my chest, steadying me in a way I hadn’t thought possible when I first stepped onto the sand. Not just welcome. Wanted.

Home, maybe. At last.

i'll close my eyes and put my feet to the ground
'cause when i'm lost, i don't want to be found

the bastion

i don't want the world to see me,
because I don't think they'd understand

The tips of Remi’s ears heat before he can think to try and stop it, and the dimples in his cheeks deepen as if Ashe’s praise has caught him somewhere unguarded. He ducks his head a fraction, curls brushing his brow, but there’s no disguising the way his mouth curves; boyish, self-conscious, and a little pleased all at once.

And as much as he’s missed her—gods, how he’s missed her, they both have—the part of him that’s been strung tight since the first glass was poured at the party only pulls tighter now. Ashe saying sometime is a mercy, because he’s not sure he could manage a coherent story with his pulse still thrumming toward something far less conversational.

He swallows, slow, and turns a sly look toward Ronin, the corner of his mouth ticking up. "I hope you can forgive me," he murmurs, clearing his throat and giving Ashe an affectionate nudge with his shoulder. "Gods know I’ve missed you. But this is our ten-year anniversary, and.." His voice trails into something half-apology, half-confession, the gleam in his eyes making it plain that his thoughts have been nowhere near polite conversation for hours. "I’d be lying if I said I was able to think about much beyond tearing my husband out of this suit."

His grin flashes, boyish and unrepentant, and he gives a little shrug that’s all mischief wrapped in charm. "So, if you won't hate us for it, can we postpone the embarrassing stories for another night? One where I can think a touch more clearly." Not that he wasn't thinking clearly necessarily, it's just that all he could imagine was the back of Ronin's thighs hitting their bed as he removed the Knight's oh so handsome outfit. The look he throws Ronin after that is anything but innocent, and his fingers curl a little tighter into his husband’s hand, as if to make plain exactly how the rest of the night is going to go.

when everything's meant to be broken,
i just want you to know who I am

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!