these shallow waters never met what I needed

REMI

On the subject of fading wounds, the alchemist doesn't comment. Perhaps not enough time has passed between the Remi of now and the wounds he's endured, but they don't feel healed. Aoife's loss is still raw. Safrin's betrayal of Vanya still raises the hackles on the back of his neck. Loren slitting his throat right in front of him. And ... whatever this would turn out to be.

He's warm. His heart beats, but it's the slow beat of a predator. It doesn't do to hunt while frenzied and chaotic, much as that is sometimes the alchemist's way. This is something far more measured, far more dangerous. This is the control and confidence of the demigod of death; and there is someone in Torchline who owes him a life-debt.

Staring down at Vai, the alchemist isn't entirely sure if she's telling him not to come back until he's calmed himself down, or if she merely means his murderous ways aren't welcome inside. Either way, his heart flinches slightly in his chest as darkness swims through the cockles of his heart, nesting and growing in his most vulnerable places.

"Do you need anything before I go?"

back when i was living for the hope of it all

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

There isn't any saving Remi, not when he's like this. And perhaps Vai isn't the right person for that job. Perhaps that person is back with Sunjata, for reasons that don't entirely make sense right now and offer more questions than answers. Worse still, Vai knows better than to press further when she might be inadvertently rubbing salt into wounds she doesn't know she's opening. So as Remi speaks so softly and quietly, she gives his shoulders a final squeeze and steps back to let him go.

"I only ever need you to look after yourself, and for you not to be a stranger," she tells him, sweetness in her voice and smile both, even scarred as it is now. "I love you, Remi. Whatever else might be happening in that head of yours, you're still loved. I hope you never doubt that or forget it."

and the sun
will rise

REMI

'None of this can kill me.' Remi says with a shrug. It isn't the sort of care Vai meant for him to take, but it's true nonetheless. Shaju can't kill him. Sunjata can't. And though his feelings toward Ronin are complicated and dark at the moment, no part of him fears losing the Star. They might drift apart in their beliefs, but always their gravity will hold them together.

'I love you too." And he really does, no matter how black that love might appear at times. "Rest, and heal yourself. I'll come back when it's finished." Whether alone, with the assailant in tow, or with Ronin, he didn't know. But Remi would come back one way or another.

Reaching for one of Vai's hands and pressing a soft kiss against the top of it, he gives her a last look, a last memorization of her blue eyes amidst the bruises, before letting himself back out into the night.

~FIN

back when i was living for the hope of it all

Code taken from Sky who is utter perfection