Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
”Remi—” Ronin barely manages to get his husband’s name out before he’s smashing his face up on the headboard and lunging for the pale reptile coiled around the rafters. ”Hey, stop it.” He’s already trying to prowl around after hawk and dragon, though Sugar of course doesn’t move a muscle as her favourite thing in the world comes at her with murder in his eyes.
No, she merely opens her jaws and blasts Remi with a very intense dose of ice, intending to freeze him and send him thumping back to the ground. Of course if that does happen, Ronin will do his best to catch the Lullaby as he falls. ”That is enough,” he scolds Sugar.
It absolutely does hit him, blasting him head-on. Beak open and talons extended, the force of her blast knocks him clean from the air sending him flitting to the ground like a chicken whose only just realized that it can't actually fly.
Whether or not the huntsman catches him will depend entirely on how dexterously Ronin can navigate all the stuff that Remi had earlier knocked about in their room. Regardless of whether it's hands that catch him or the floor, the Lullaby will awkwardly shift back into his body, though with none of his normal grace or speed. Shivering unstoppably now and unable to feel his fingers, Remi turns a bright and reverent gaze towards the dragon. "Do it again." He pleads with shocking clarity. "Do it again." Though his body is reacting to the sudden drop in temperature with spasms and a loss of muscle control, Remi's mind is slowly snapping into focus. There are probably safer ways to break a fever than with dragon's breath, but hell if this isn't a Remi-and-Ronin-type solution to a fucking t.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The result is something of a half-and-half; Ronin manages to scramble and catch the Lullaby, only for him to end up shifting basically on top of him. The huntsman ends up slumped against the wall with Remi in his lap, his husband’s back snug against his chest, and he’s panting as he gazes up at Sugar. The dragon, for her part, is weaving her serpentine head at them, tasting the air with a forked tongue and letting out a chitter that might just be a laugh that it serves Remi right.
”Do it— what?” Ronin manages, frowning and rubbing at the alchemist’s arms to try and still his shivers. ”You can’t be serious.”
But Sugar is practically more for Remi than Ronin at this point, and she responds to the command by unfurling from the rafters and swooping down to him, winding herself about his shoulders to press her cold body against the back of his neck, her nose in perfect trajectory to breathe frost and freezing air across his brow.
Ronin feels like a squishy chair at this point, for all the mental focus Remi's mind is affording him. The Lullaby only has eyes for the dragon, hovering like some sort of holy relic that might freeze away his ailment. Shakily he reaches a hand out as if wanting to make sure she isn't an illusion. As she nears he tries to shy away, but Ronin's arms around him, the huntsman an inferno against him as death flies towards him on wide and white wings that promise salvation.
The touch of her makes him cry out, and hastily he heaves the air back in as if he might take the sound back. Panting, his head collapses against her body as frost coats his eyelashes. Too much of this and his skin will burn with the cold, but he hardly cares. "I'm so sorry." He whispers to Sugar first, but the nudge of his shoulders backward against Ronin suggests that the Lullaby hasn't actually forgotten his partner.
"Ronin I think I'm losing my mind." He mutters through shaky and numb lips, his voice soft, clear, and unmistakably shattered with the knowledge of what he was becoming.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
She knows better than to keep up the barrage of freezing cold against his skin for too long, and Ronin’s mental nudge reminds her besides, so she eases off for a moment no nudge at his cheek with her nose, huffing out a cool breath that tells him not to be so silly. Ronin, though, to hear his husband speak so, nearly collapses against the wall, tilting his head back and closing tired lids over stinging eyes.
”I wish you’d be courteous enough to let me lose mine with you,” he whispers, fingers drifting over his husband’s upper arms, the Star leaning forward again to bury his nose in curls stiff with frost. ”We just need to find a way to break the fever for good. I just...need a little more time, that’s all. I’m sorry. I miss you.”
Remi tries to laugh at that, but his chest is too tight and his teeth have started to chatter. His breathing is coming in hard and shallow pants that he seems helpless to slow or deepen. "Would that I could." He manages, his accent and the chill of his tongue making the words sound slurred.
Remi tries not to flinch away from the contact, but even Ronin's exhales against his skin feel like fire. But he'd nearly jumped into a volcano for Finn; leaning against a bonfire wasn't even something he'd question. "Don't you dare." Remi corrects. "Don't be sorry." If he was capable of tears just now, he'd have cried for the impossible weight his husband had to bear. It isn't an imagined weight either; Remi can feel the current of Ronin's willpower begin to run towards the dregs of what he was capable of.
"Gods I miss you too." Unable to turn to face the man behind me, so heavy were his limbs, Remi merely tries to relax his stiff muscles. "What's happening to me? What..what is this?"
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
When Ronin leans away again to give his husband a little more space, his own tears have frozen on his cheeks thanks to the cold afforded by Sugar’s presence. And whilst it would be a lie to say that the huntsman wasn’t worried about the long-lasting effects of freezing Remi to cool down his mind, he was selfishly enjoying the shreds of his husband that he could get. ”I don’t know.” He admits it through a whisper that has a surge of frustration and guilt crackling through him.
”Ascended can get it too, though. It’s not... like anything anyone has ever seen. I’m going to get answers for us, though. You just hang in there as best you can, okay? I’ll keep you cool, though probably not to this extent. Sugar can help, though.” The reptiles chirps her agreement. ”I love you. You’ll come back from this, I promise.”
That was not something Remi knew yet. "Wait this...this isn't just me?" He feels frozen in an entirely different way as his sluggish mind tries to connect the dots of what he's being told. His eyes swim across the room as if it will somehow help him understand. "How..how bad is it? How..many..?" Then, only now naively realizing something he should have much earlier on, the Lullaby tries to sit up and away from Ronin, to move away from him as much as possible. "You..sh-sh-sh-ouldn't be n--near me." He manages through chattering teeth. "Y-y-ou could get it t-t-oo."
Pulling in a few ragged breaths as his temperature threatens to climb again, Remi shakes his head. "T-he...the..b-blight?" His lips are shaking more now as they start to thaw, his muscles coming alive again as they quiver as if trying to break the ice that feels formed all around him.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”No, it’s... it hit at random, it feels. You, Amalia, Jata, Nate...” Ronin rubs at his forehead. ”Vai and Felix are alright, though. So is half of Torchline. I haven’t reached out further yet to find out who else might be sick.” He sighs, feeling the weight on his shoulders grow all that more heavy, but as Remi tries to shoot away from him, he finds himself reaching out for his husband.
”No, no... Remi, if I was going to get it I’d have it by now. It’s been days. I’m fine, I promise,” he says, clasping his husband’s hands if he’ll let him. ”I can’t hurt you by keeping you so cold,” he whispers. ”But... I might need to knock you out. You are... a force to be reckoned with, put it that way.”
The B word has him shivering, the Star shaking his head a little. ”It’s not the same. The fever is the only symptom that’s the same. But I’m doing all the digging I can. I’ll have answers, the next time we talk properly. I promise.”
"Days..." Remi repeats, clearly bewildered. The gears of his thoughts are turning very slowly, and so it's with great reluctance that he lets his hand be taken. Although the magic comes on slowly as if made sluggish by Sugar's cold, eventually Remi does feel the exhaustion of his partner; his frustration and despair as well.
Slipping his eyes shut, his brows lowered with grief and contrition both, the Lullaby can do little else other than nod. "If it c-c-comes to it, R-rronin..." Frustrated with how inarticulate he's being, Remi huffs and lets his teeth click together, chattering away as they're wont to do. If it comes to it...you can't let me hurt anyone. Whatever you have to do..
Swallowing hard and shaking his head, Remi does his best to turn in Ronin's arms, though his body is still achy with cold. Don't make me those sorts of promises. I know what it's like, to be on your end of it. Don't... But he doesn't know what to say—what to think—and so he just shakes his head sadly.
If I fall asleep...this magic of yours...can you keep me there? It was your light that woke me up, and brought me back...if I...if I just stay, then I can't hurt anyone.. Like being put into a coma. It would be a maddening experience, but at least Remi wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Sugar takes her leave of Remi’s shoulders to glide onto the bed, chilling it for him ready for the inevitable return. It hurts him to do it, knowing how much his touch might affect his partner, but he helps Remi as best he can to turn in his arms, brushing a little melting ice from his curls. ”I’ll make you any promise I like,” he says through a sad laugh, giving his hands a squeeze.
The Lullaby’s suggestion is horrific, Ronin swallowing hard and glaring at his lap, though the other man will feel the cogs ticking away in his mind, sorting through possibility and likelihood, choosing between the lesser of two evils. ”I think I can,” he admits. ”But if I do, I’m not so sure I’ll get you back.” Not left in his nightmares indefinitely. But then again, if Remi hurts someone whilst he’s delirious, isn’t he as good as lost anyway?
Ronin hisses out a curse and nods. ”Every time I sleep, I’ll take you out of it,” he vows. ”Every single time. We’ll dream together, to make sure you get some real rest. Deal?”
You're the— He's going to say the worst, because it's Ronin, and if this isn't the time to joke around, then when is? Only he doesn't. Instead, he leans unsteadily forward, his ice-cold lips pressing against the Star's, unable to do more than pucker slowly. I love you more than anything. He thinks weakly, pulling back with a mental sigh that he can't even kiss his husband properly in this state.
You will. Remi replies, his confidence a shocking contrast to the emotional pitfalls of just a moment ago. You always find me. I'll never stop looking for you. Through whatever madness, he'd always turn his eyes up to find his Star. And if there came a day when he stopped looking? When it all went black? Well, that was a day he'd never come back from anyway.
Giving Ronin a half-frozen and broken stare, the Lullaby is forced to nod. With shaky hands, he presses on the wall to help himself stand. Collapsing slightly he leans heavily against Ronin with a miserable sigh. Shrinking into a ball of pale feathers, the hawk clings as carefully as he can to the huntsman's chest, not wanting to slash his partner to ribbons.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
”Yeah, I am,” Ronin whispers his agreement, though his words are partially mumbled into Remi’s icy kiss, a hand fussing through curls made damp by melting frost. ”I love you too. I’ve got you,” he promises, hoping Remi will feel its truth in Ronin’s emotions as well as his words. And if only he could feel it all back; Ronin can only smile at the confidence in his partner, though he lets it bolster and strengthen him, feeding on it to keep himself going.
”That’s right,” he whispers. ”You just keep an eye out for me.” He helps Remi to his feet as best he can, leaning in to take his weight only to find a pale bundle of feathers in his arms instead. ”I brought you ice cream and everything,” he says softly, attempting light-heartedness. ”Sugar ate it, though.” Carefully smoothing his fingers across ruffled feathers, he carries Remi back across to bed, sinking down onto it with him and sighing heavily.
It might seem hopeless, but one thing has been achieved, at least - the thread of determination in Ronin has been renewed, and he lets that calm and hope radiate though the Attuned bond as best he can.
Oh is that what I did to deserve a bowl on my head? He wonders vaguely, only partially able to recal the events which had lead up to him chasing Sugar around the room. What Remi feels makes him infinitely glad that Ronin can't feel his emotions in quite the same way the Lullaby now can.
Because as they make it back to the bed and Remi shifts back into himself, all he can think is that this might be the last time he's able to properly look Ronin in the eye. If all doesn't go well, if darkness does come for him, if a cure can't be found...this may well be it. He tries for a sunny smile, for the boyish ease with which he used to gaze adoringly at Ronin, but all he can manage is a sheen of tears that prickle painfully over his eyes. "...lo'v..yo.u.." He whispers, wanting the man of his literal dreams to hear the words. So very much.
Swallowing and still aiming for optimism, Remi lays down on the near-frozen sheets. He gives Sugar a tight-lipped smile for her efforts (but only because his lips won't allow him to form the gesture he wants), before turning his head stiffly back toward the huntsman.
Time for bed. He whispers silently, mapping out the constellations in Ronin's eyes as if it's the last thing he'll ever do.
And, it might be, if he can't hold onto those stars long enough to guide him home.
But there's a light up in the attic and i swear it's calling me
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
