love was burning red

for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

"Come on." The words were softly said, though the man who said them was not as cowed as the tone might otherwise suggest. Whether he was being strong for Ronin or whether Caido had simply desensitized him to this sort of brutal (but necessary) violence was unclear. Either way, as Roana's body was finally dealt with, it was with a steady hand that Remi squeezed his husband's shoulder.

"Let's wash up. Upstairs." Amalia was dealing with the children and with Roana's spirit taken and body wrapped up, there was little the pair of them could do down here. Especially with the way eyes already seemed to be flickering towards Ronin accompanied by hushed whispers. But right now Remi judged his husband needed warm water, not looks of guilt and well-meant sympathy.

the wounds are open and bleeding out

The looks were the easiest to brush off, though perhaps that wasn’t such a surprise. From Storm Guard Captain to guildmaster to would-be fallen star to king, Ronin was getting regrettably used to living his most vulnerable moments with an audience. That didn’t mean Remi’s suggestion wasn’t a relief, however, and Ronin nodded gratefully and padded upstairs in his husband’s wake. With Roana’s body now safe and secure, there seemed little left to do other than deal with the aftermath.

Heading straight for a washroom, Ronin glanced briefly up at Sugar coiled around one of the rafters and sighed. ”Last LongNight she was left here alone,” he said. With Vanya. ”I suppose even this must be better, in comparison.”

Pulling his bloody shirt over his head, Ronin started to fill a basin with water - he should shower really, but there was precedent for showering after he’d killed someone and damn if he didn’t want to break that forming habit. ”What the fuck were those kids doing out alone, Remi?”

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FALLEN STAR

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

To that statement the alchemist gave no reply. Last LongNight found Remi in strikingly different circumstances as well, and though this year was much, much darker than the last, he'd not trade it. But it wasn't better just by comparison; it was better because he and Ronin were together, even with the blood of Roana drying on Ronin's skin.

The rushing water was a welcome sound, drowning out the chatter from downstairs and making the washroom somehow seem more secluded than it actually was. Pressing the door shut Remi turned back towards his husband as he bent over the basin. Wrapping his arms around Ronin and fluttering softly kisses up his spine before leaning his cheek against Ronin's upper back, the alchemist shook his head weightily. "Not every parent cares where their children are." He replied simply. His certainly hadn't.

Releasing the guildmaster, Remi leaned against the wall beside the basin, reaching out to softly stroke his thumb against Ronin's jaw where a fleck of blood remained. How did this become our lives? He wanted to ask, but instead he said, "Soon we will go somewhere where there are no LongNight monsters."

the wounds are open and bleeding out

Ronin felt numb but for the places where Remi touched him, and his eyes slipped shut at the soft, warm lips that trailed kisses up his back. He managed to stop the water before the basin overflowed - barely - and soaked a clean cloth in the warm water so he could clean them both up. ”Mm. Every parent is accountable for that decision, though,” he muttered, as if promising retribution when the sun returned. Whether that would actually come to fruition was anyone’s guess, given that the parents of the three children might well be dead too.

Leaning his cheek into Remi’s hand, Ronin rinsed the cloth and straightened up so he could try and wipe the drying blood from his face and neck. ”Yes, we will,” he agreed wholeheartedly. ”I don’t think I can take another LongNight in the Hollowed Grounds. I’ll go mad.”

Glancing across to his husband, Ronin seemed visibly troubled. ”What Roana said... about me, about her boys...” He frowned, not knowing how to phrase what he needed to say.

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FALLEN STAR

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

"Let Wessex and her militia sort it." Remi said a touch dismissively, if only to reinforce in them both, that the world's problems were not their own. They'd shouldered the burdens of the many for far too long, and the cracks in both of them were beginning to show.

"Never again." The alchemist agreed, the chords of his heart straining to see his husband so, but finding himself hopelessly in love with the man despite the weariness and the blood. "Until then.." So saying Remi's smile grew crooked with anticipation as his new fledgling magic transformed the room they were in. Instead of the four walls of the washroom, instead the seashore from Northaven expanded out around them. The salty air and warm ocean breezes swirled softly around them, as did heat from a sun that did not exist in this world. They might be stuck here in this time and this place (for now), but perhaps it needn't always feel that way.

What Roana said.. For a moment the illusion flickered, Remi thinking Ronin was referring to her proclamation of love. He had no right to be upset about it, not with everything he'd done and said with Loren, but his stomach clenched just the same. Needlessly, as it would turn out, given her boys were the elephant in the room. Taking the cloth from Ronin to affectionately wash behind his ears and other places not easily reached, Remi exhaled a breath he'd been holding. "Phoebe is their next of kin...I would have thought they would go with her. Unless...?" Offering Ronin an honest look, one of fear and selfishness and reluctance, he nonetheless shrugged. Ronin was a man of his word afterall, and Remi would always stand by him.

the wounds are open and bleeding out

Technically Ronin thought he counted as a member of that militia, but Remi’s message was clear enough - not their circus, not their monkeys. It was a sentiment he was more than happy to hold onto in present circumstances. A faint smile tugged at his lips, Ronin trying to picture life next Deepfrost, away from all of this, when all at once the world around them completely slipped away. The hunter’s breath caught in his throat, the golden shoreline and the glittering water all too familiar to him. He felt his eyes start to prickle uncomfortably, the scent of sea and sand, the warm breeze on his face, the feeling of home Northaven digging its claws in deep.

Turning to face the phantom ocean, he found himself seeking out a ship - it was only natural, after all - and his stomach made an uncomfortable flop as he realised it was entirely made-up. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he gave his husband a grateful smile as he took over with the cloth, relishing the change of scenery more than he could say. ”Phoebe is their next of kin,” he confirmed with a nod. ”I know what Roana said, and I stand by what I said in return. Her boys will continue her story, and I’ll make sure they know who their mother was. But they don’t know me - I can’t fill Brahm’s shoes for them. I won’t.”

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FALLEN STAR

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

The Siren's Call was not there; Remi hadn't the emotional attachment to it that Ronin had of course. The illusion was only as detailed as the alchemist's mind made it, leaving the lapping of the waves and the texture of the beach rendered in striking detail, while the hazy ocean and horizon line were imperfect representations of the real thing. An imposed reality though it might be, the alchemist was suddenly very inclined to lock the door and spend the rest of the evening locked away in their tiny slice of their home-that-was-not.

Assuming Brahm was Roana's husband—she'd spoken about him once Remi thought, but the details had been lost in the haze that were the weeks after Ronin had died—he nodded. "I...had thought Roana was locked up in the Temple." There weren't many secrets between he and Ronin, none that he knew of in fact, so there was no distrust in Remi's confounded frown. "..how is it she was here?"

the wounds are open and bleeding out

Locking themselves away in the illusion sounded just fine to Ronin,l; he hadn’t even questioned the new magic this time. Remi’s skills continued to grow in leaps and bounds bordering on the godlike, and no sooner had Ronin made a mental note of one new magic or Attuned shift, another one appeared.

Leaning a hand against the washbasin, he sighed and gave his husband a sad smile. ”I saw her here,” he confessed. ”At first I thought I was seeing things, so I ignored it. It wouldn’t surprise me to imagine people where there aren’t any. Then when I realised it must be Roana, I felt it would cause more trouble to draw attention to her. No one reported her missing, did they? The first time I’d seen her approach anyone was when she ran outside...”

And look how that had ended. ”I don’t have any idea how she got here, though.”

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

"Oh." Remi said, returning the sad smile with one of his own. He...deserved this, he supposed. Ronin keeping things to himself, making his own judgements. Especially after all the alchemist had put the guildmaster through of late, there was absolutely no room for argument on this. Still, he couldn't help but feel something shift darkly in the back of his mind. A space between them he didn't want to acknowledge.

"No, no one did." Remi confirmed mildly, sighing softly in agreement. How it had turned out indeed. "I....will use the shells to tell Phoebe what has happened.  She deserves to know. As for the boys..." Trailing off and giving his husband an uncertain shrug, Remi leaned against the wall (making it appear as though he was leaning against nothing at all, given the illusion) and closed his eyes. "I suppose there are a few days to think on that."

the wounds are open and bleeding out

No mind reader was Ronin, and his partner’s oh, while saying so much by saying so little, went completely over his head. Clean now of blood and needing only a change of clothes, he glanced across at Remi and tried not to look too hard at how he leaned upon nothing. ”Alright,” he said, unashamedly happy to let his husband handle that news given that it had already happened.

As for the boys, Ronin shrugged as well. ”They need to know,” he said simply. He assumed that was what Remi was referring to, anyway. He’d already made it clear that he wasn’t stepping into their father’s shoes, he hoped, so there was little to think about in that regard.

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FALLEN STAR

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

The alchemist's lips twitched in a half smile he wanted to feel, but didn't. It left him feeling hollow and cold, not at all warmed by his illusory sun or the man before him, and oh, how that made it all the worse. However as soon as the inclining to hide inside himself and withdraw began to rear its ugly head, the alchemist stepped forward, arms out stretched to pull his husband against him.

The alchemist desperately needed a hug, selfish as it was given that it was Ronin who'd swung the blade, that it was Ronin who had to repeatedly watch Remi disappear into the darkness, that it was Ronin who had to deal with the growing pains of his husband's inexperience when it came to relationships.

the wounds are open and bleeding out

The hug, whilst unexpected, definitely wasn’t something Ronin was about to turn down. The hunter wound his arms around his husband, holding Remi close and pressing his lips to his curls in a gentle kiss. ”Everything will be okay,” he told him, absolutely not knowing that for sure and not caring, either. He stroked warm hands down the length of Remi’s back, relishing the warmth of him, the realness of him in that moment.

”You’ve got me and I’ve got you. No matter what happens, remember that. Okay? The sun will rise again, and we can start something new together. No more kings, no more death, no more politics. Just you, me and Aoife, making the most of Flowebirth.” Drawing back and clasping Remi’s shoulders, Ronin offered the alchemist a lopsided smile. ”If we can both stay out of trouble long enough.”

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FALLEN STAR

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for 1000 nights i've been a restless soul

It probably wouldn't, but in their bathroom that had turned into a seascape, it was all too easy to let himself believe the words that his husband said were true. Or would be true, one day. Sighing against him, fingers running along the well-known lines of Ronin's back, the alchemist simply let himself melt there for a moment, focused only on the puffs of breath leaving his husband's lips and mingling against the collar of his shirt, and the way Remi could feel the guildmaster's heartbeat in two places.

"I am still up for trouble." Remi said with an equally roguish grin as Ronin pulled away, the alchemist's hands falling down to his husband's lower back. He wanted to let himself idle in this feeling of mischievous joy, but quickly he felt it fade taking the smile on his lips with it.

"I do not know who I am anymore, Ronin." He admitted softly.

the wounds are open and bleeding out

Remi spoke and Ronin understood, in a way that he really couldn’t describe, exactly what the alchemist meant. He gave the other man’s shoulders a squeeze, before his hands drifted up to cup Remi’s face, his thumb grazing across his cheek. “And that is okay. And perfectly understandable,” he said softly, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his husband’s forehead.

“You are Remi Taliesin. You have been through more shit in the last few months alone than most get through in their lives. And however long it takes, we will find out who you are now. I promise I’ll love you all the same.” Ronin smiled, his arms slipping around the alchemist again. ”I speak to Safrin a lot, about when I feel like that...”

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FALLEN STAR

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