Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
It's a little sad that this has become their mantra, the three of them. I will always come home. That they have little control over what takes them away in the first place is enough to keep her up at night these days. These snatches of peace, of unity, seem to dwindle with each new wave of war and drama that overtakes Caido. It makes her hold on all the tighter as he cradles her in his arms. When will one of them be taken away again? Will she ever be strong enough to stop it? Even his promise does nothing to comfort her in this moment, and she feels ridiculous for taking him for granted when he is here in her arms, already envisioning when she will lose him next. Their promises mean nothing, not with how their allegiances pull them to different sides, with how Caido preys upon those with power and magic to their names.
She knows with how he holds her that he's offering to let her fall apart. The selfishness of her own actions bites into her organs, aching all throughout her body, until the tears refuse to keep coming. Hotaru holds him tighter, gritting her teeth through the waves that threaten to take her under until the calm returns once more. This is not a burden she will put on his shoulders. She can keep holding on a little longer. She will. Until she's alone, because it seems everyone she loves is going through their own personal hell, and Hotaru won't be the one to add to it.
"It's finally over," she whispers instead, once she has gotten the trembling firmly back beneath her ironclad control. Withdrawing, her eyes scan over his scarred face, crumpling a little to see it. Her own unblemished features feel stark and accusatory in comparison to him and Nate. Always coming out unharmed, never the one to suffer. It's not fair. "I love you." Needs to say it now, when she'd been so close to never being able to say it in person again. "And you promised we'd be family after all this settled." Something stirs in her mind at that, a seed of an idea that has slyly planted roots unnoticed, but she bites her cheek - still raw, still so ready to bleed with the cut of her teeth with how frequently she has started doing it to temper her emotions - and doesn't let that suggestion come to fruition. "That's all we need to focus on now." The healing in the aftermath.
She knows with how he holds her that he's offering to let her fall apart. The selfishness of her own actions bites into her organs, aching all throughout her body, until the tears refuse to keep coming. Hotaru holds him tighter, gritting her teeth through the waves that threaten to take her under until the calm returns once more. This is not a burden she will put on his shoulders. She can keep holding on a little longer. She will. Until she's alone, because it seems everyone she loves is going through their own personal hell, and Hotaru won't be the one to add to it.
"It's finally over," she whispers instead, once she has gotten the trembling firmly back beneath her ironclad control. Withdrawing, her eyes scan over his scarred face, crumpling a little to see it. Her own unblemished features feel stark and accusatory in comparison to him and Nate. Always coming out unharmed, never the one to suffer. It's not fair. "I love you." Needs to say it now, when she'd been so close to never being able to say it in person again. "And you promised we'd be family after all this settled." Something stirs in her mind at that, a seed of an idea that has slyly planted roots unnoticed, but she bites her cheek - still raw, still so ready to bleed with the cut of her teeth with how frequently she has started doing it to temper her emotions - and doesn't let that suggestion come to fruition. "That's all we need to focus on now." The healing in the aftermath.
HOTARU
