feeling all the shades of indigo

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

From the Greatwood to Hak Etme and then back again.

Rather than startling Vai awake, this time he breathes himself into her dream first that she might have some context for what's about to happen. Vai's dreamscape will shiver with new colours as the alchemist appears. Sky-blues will grow cold with shaky yellows for a moment and the green of the grasses will find themselves tinged with uneasy purples. Winds will blow hot and rains will fall as snow for a few seconds as Remi's emotions get the best of him, infecting and invading the witch's slumber. Everything from the rocks to the birds to the wooden floorboards of this world will tense and subtly be tinged with Remi's panic. The need of an adultier-adult.

A boy, who needs his mother.

Vai— Like a vibration, the call will rumble throughout Vai's dreamworld.

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

In Vai's dreams, she is home.

Home in a way that isn't the same as being in the Greatwood. The woods and forests and cottage are the same, sure, but here there's a sense of serenity, of warmth that seems to evade her most days.

It's probably the children, honestly. Fuzzy though the memories may be, especially of Ashetta, the toddlers that run and laugh and play in these woods are Vai's own, through and through. The sunlight dapples through the trees and across their rosy cheeks; the flowers sway as they chase one another. Not that it lasts, unfortunately.

She turns as the colours sour, as the world she's made whispers to her in a voice that she knows very well indeed. "Remi?" she calls out, raising a hand to shade her eyes. "Where are you?"

and the sun
will rise

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

Her voice brings him to her, and suddenly the alchemist is kneeling in the long grasses before the witch, with his eyes squeezed shut and his broad shoulders rounded and tense "Gods Vai." Remi manages, before his teeth click together to hold back what would have been a sob mixed with a growl; the trees shiver in response and their shadows deepen. "I am so sorry, I am so—" Stupid. Wreckless. Selfish. Needy. Lost. Raising pale sea glass eyes made shiny with tears, Remi holds up a hand toward the witch.

"—I need you. It is Hotaru again. She..." Not unlike how the Valkyrie had done to him, Remi has to sift through what details are important just now, and which should be saved for later in the interest of time. "..Halo was attacked. She managed to get away but is injured. She thinks...she thinks she might be in labour now." Those words veil the Woods in frost for just a moment. "I do not know where else to go." He adds pleadingly, knowing full well he's not made up for the last time he brought precisely this problem to her door. "I do not know where Phoebe is, I cannot take her Stormbreak, and Ronin..." The air itself seems to whisper the words that the alchemist simply can't make himself say: and Ronin wants the baby dead.

Shivering as if on the verge of hypothermia, this is a state of vulnerability that few see from Remi. Likely, only Vai and Ronin have ever seen him like this. "I do not know what to do.."

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

Glancing around as if expecting Remi to appear in... well, in pretty much any state but the one he's in, Vai turns to catch him on his knees in the sweet grasses. The children's voices are gone now, leaving them alone in the woods, and before the witch can speak, Remi is already letting it all tumble out. Still, he does succeed in separating the important details, Vai frowning and moving to take his hand between both of hers. "Okay. Right..."

The dreamscape alters again, and the cogs turning in Vai's mind are practically visible here, in the tinges of green in the sky, the way the trees grow and the flowers bloom within seconds. "We'll sort this out," she tells him softly, kneeling in the grass and giving his hand a firm squeeze.

"I'm not a midwife, Remi. I know how this all works, but I've only got healing magic to help, okay? Can you get her to my cottage? Are you with her right now?"

and the sun
will rise

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

Though he has the power to snap all the bones in her fingers in two with ease, Vai holds his trembling hands with strength that makes the alchemist look and feel weak. We'll sort this out. Gods, but that was what he'd told Hotaru, and now here he was, begging that Vai might fix the mess he'd made.

"I am so sorry." He mumbles as grass seeds blossom and then drift down toward the soil. Nodding numbly, he looks back up to her. "She is in Hak Etme. I am—" Well, he was there, more or less, despite being nowhere.

"I can bring her to you like last time, I only wanted..." To try and do it right this time, seemed an absurd thing to say in the wake of what he was asking, and so Remi just lets the words die on his tongue as cold tidal waves of guilt and panic rise up from his gut and slosh against the back of his eyes.

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

"I know," Vai says softly, managing a smile and reaching out one of her hands to brush her fingers across his cheek. "And I appreciate the heads up this time, you have no idea." Letting out a long sigh, the light takes on a golden quality now, as if the sun has begun to set. The flowers calm, the trees sway softly. And when Vai smiles again, she seems a lot more calm. "Then bring her through," she tells him, leaning in to press a kiss to his forehead.

"And try to keep yourself together, okay? Babies don't just appear within a few minutes. If she only thinks she might be in labour, we probably have a lot of time." Another kiss, another squeeze to his hand. "Just get yourselves out of the desert. We might even have time to move her somewhere in the Sidhe Village, or the Sea of Branches. Somewhere with enough space..." Her mind is already ticking over the possibilities, Vai furrowing her brow before letting him go again.

"I'll be ready when you are."

and the sun
will rise

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

Squeezing his eyes shut again, Remi rises as the witch presses a kiss to his forehead, his arms encircling her and pulling her snugly toward him. "Thank you." He mumbles against her. "Mi sento così solo. Non so cosa fare o dove andare. E con Ronin... non lo biasimo, ma dio potrei davvero usarlo in questo moment." The words rush out before Remi can think of how meaningless they must sound to her. "So che è colpa mia. So di aver fatto questo..."

Pulling in a breath as his form begins to waver, indicating his departure, Remi pulls back. "Thank you Vai." The words are wet with tears and fear, even as Remi tries to smile through them. "I love you."

///

The dark of Vai's bedroom is nothing at all like the sunlight-filled woods he'd just seen her in. As his eyes open in the stillness, they are not filled with tears or wild panic as they had been with Vai. Here in the world of the awake, there wasn't time to breakdown no matter how long the witch thought they might have before the baby(ies) were born. "We're here.." He whispers to Vai and Hotaru both, not bothering to rush naked out of the bed as he had done last time.

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

maybe who we were then is shattered, but who we are in the end is what matters

The dream world had been preferable in many ways. As she wakes to Remi's whisper and the curious nature of bare skin against sheets, the cramps around her belly and lower back are brought to the forefront of her awareness. She'd spend the time alone doing the math, counting the weeks and repeating the number to herself. Early, but not too early. Just enough. She prays it will be enough.

Opening her eyes into the darkness and feeling the remnants of heat in her skin, Hotaru lets feline eyes overtake her own, finding the room much the same from the last time she'd seen it. Exhaling a slow, controlled breath to manage the pain of injuries and contractions both, Hotaru struggles up onto her elbows. "Where should I move? I can't imagine anything more rude than giving birth on someone else's bed," she manages the joke through the tight band around her chest. Apologies will surely come when she is delirious and in the middle of birth, Hotaru is sure of it. For Vai, for Remi, for Halo. Sparing them the words now is a kindness she can manage.

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

"If that is the rudest thing you can imagine, you ought to feel very lucky indeed." Vai's voice is sleepy and amused, and she shifts to climb out of bed with sluggish limbs even as she fights to get herself properly awake. "Stay put for now, okay? I didn't expect another visit, so I'm afraid you might need to live in blankets until I can get something sorted out for you."

As before, motes of fire ignite around the room to lend them enough light, and Vai digs in the chest at the end of her bed to toss a shirt and pants to Remi - they're his, given how often he visits and how emergencies like this do tend to happen. "Remi, could you get a damp towel and put on some sweet tea? If Hotaru has been in the desert then we'll want to make sure she's cooling down properly."

Crossing around to Hotaru's side of the bed, she pulls up a chair from the corner of the room and smiles down at her. "Can I take a look? I can get your injuries sorted, even if I can't stop labour."

and the sun
will rise

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

"What can I—" But she's already telling him the answer to his question. Looking over at Hotaru, Remi reaches out for one of her hands to give it a quick squeeze. "Anything you need, just let me know." He whispers before shuffling out of bed, only to turn and tuck the Valkyrie back in. Whether or not being wrapped in blankets is at all helpful, Remi has no idea, but it's all he can think to do in the moment to show her that she has his undivided attention.

Shuffling into his clothes, Remi goes first for the cloth, dragging in a basin from the bathroom as well so that the water wouldn't get all over the floor. Next he moves soundlessly into the kitchen, before dropping the kettle to the floor with a bright klang. "—sorry!—" He calls, trying to keep the butterflies that have taken up residence in his fingers and stomach under control.

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

maybe who we were then is shattered, but who we are in the end is what matters

"Only because it inconveniences someone as lovely as yourself," Hotaru laughs, a little breathless and strained but holding tight to her composure while she has it. It's going to be a long haul. Her eyes water a little as Vai and Remi move immediately, a tandem effort clearly crafted through years of love and closeness, all for her own sake. Her hand squeezes Remi's back, the lump in her throat refusing any words of reply, but there is nothing but gratitude at the forefront for him to feel when his skin touches her own.

In his absence there is only Vai, whose maternal aura both soothes and hurts as it had the first time they'd met. "Of course," and she bares her arms, scratched in scores with dark, hard blood over the blankets. At least her wings had taken most of the damage. Hearing Remi's faint apology, Ru gives a fond smile, ignoring how it wavers. "Hopeless, that man. He did the world a favor by preferring his own gender." One dainty hand reaches for Vai wherever it can land. "Though he's not the only one who would be hopeless without you. Thank you, Vai."

Vervain

even the darkest night
will end

Vai takes Hotaru's hand, her own already pulsing softly with light. The other moves to her arm, and she reaches deep within herself to the well of healing magic, letting it pour out and into the woman in her bed, soothing cuts and fading bruises, helping to lower her temperature and generally easing any aches and pains. She can't really do much for the contractions - and that's what they are, Vai realises straight away, though she'll get to that in a moment - because first there's another bomb to drop. One that she hadn't noticed before.

But Remi's apology rings out to her, Vai blinking open eyes that she hadn't realised were closed. She raises an eyebrow in Hotaru's direction. "Don't speak about my son that way," she says softly, and though the pulse of her fingers is sweet and gentle, there's no doubt that were it not for the current circumstances, she'd be a lot more sharp.

"You're welcome," she murmurs. "Now let's get you comfortable. You've got babies to meet."

and the sun
will rise

REMI

& now I'm all alone in the dark of night

He thinks of Ronin, asleep and alone in their bed, while he makes tea for a woman he's inadvertently gotten pregnant, possibly about to give birth in the bed of a woman both Lullaby and Huntsman both consider their mother. It's all hopelessly tangled without the repercussions of other decisions he's made muddying the waters: his ongoing discontent with Sunjata and Nate, the invasion of Halo, the upcoming war.

Staring at the tea leaves while the water boils, Remi grips the edge of Vai's countertop so hard that his fingers leave marks in the wood. Biting the inside of his cheek, the alchemist sweeps his fingers back and forth across the wood as if he might be able to erase this latest mistake by sheer will and friction alone. He can't of course, and for some reason this has his stomach sinking down toward his heels, fixing him in place.

Stirred only by the kettle whistling, Remi pours it over the leaves before setting another to boil. No doubt they'll need more than one pot before the night is through, but this he'll let cool in the night air that it might steep longer.

Appearing in the doorframe like some awkward and too-large butler, Remi holds both tea and glasses on a tray, hesitant to enter. 'What else can I bring?"

The moon is shining but I can't see the light

maybe who we were then is shattered, but who we are in the end is what matters

Hotaru drops her eyes - and her hand, no longer reaching - at Vai's words. "I meant it fondly," she whispers, the steel that normally creates the skeleton of her structure entirely absent. She could say more; that Remi has become someone to her she's afraid to name, if only because of his forced ties to her, that she trusts him in ways she only ever trusted Deimos before. That he is a good man, and one she is glad to know. But what would it matter? Vai's displeasure only reinforces that this woman is not her own mother, no matter how she longs for her own, long-dead and never present to see the newborn faces of her grandchildren. Once again she is merely an interloper, the offered kindness bought and paid on Remi's existence and not Hotaru's own merit. An outsider, regarded with narrowed eyes and suspicion, as if she had planned this somehow and was to blame for ruining the perfect sanctity of a relationship she'd never been privy to. It hurts. The bed is too large, too empty, and she is so very alone.

The Valkyrie is silent and withdrawn as Vai heals her, breathing slowly through the contractions as they come. For now they are sporadic, no real timing between them, which experience tells her means they aren't in the homestretch yet. Now there is little more to do than wait.

She blinks, however delayed, as the words that Vervain spoke register. "Babies? Two, then? I suspected, but..." well, she hadn't had a dedicated midwife of any sort, and only past doubles to rely upon. Remi enters at precisely that moment, and Hotaru folds her hands awkwardly in her lap - or what she can reach of it - and gives a wan smile to try and ease his nerves. "I don't need anything else myself." If Vervain has need, she allows the woman to speak for herself. "Now we wait. And do a lot of breathing." Words strangle halfway through as a contraction hits, and she breathes slowly out through her nose to weather it, hands twisting in the bedsheets.