the break of day

we live in a world someone else imagined

When dawn breaks, it's a sad and listless thing. The light feels muted through the smoke in the air, and there's a silence around the Tower that Ronin doesn't think will ever lessen, even if things ever return to normal here. Between he, Lena and Tobi they've managed to clear a pathway to walk through, they've found as many bodies as they can (and then some, and there's still more to go), and they've set up a base at Judgement's Needle.

(And now you know roughly how I plan to run the PQ, eyooooo).

Ronin has since checked on Mateo, answering the frantic questions from his son as best he can and staying with the boy until the calming tea he's brewed for him takes effect. Then the Huntsman leaves him so the youngest Taliesin can snatch what little sleep he can. He's outside now, pacing. Picking his way through rubble, again and again, searching for... he has no idea what, actually.

Answers? There are none.

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

The letter had fallen from his hands, and then, the alchemist had fallen as well. Not because Remi had passed out from shock, but because he'd violently thrust himself into unconsciousness in the meagre hope that someone he could reach in Stormbreak would be asleep. They weren't, of course. Not with all that had happened. And so it was on pale blonde wings instead of the whisper of a dream that Remi made his way to Stormbreak.

Headed directly towards ground zero—where the fuck else would Ronin be?—it's there that he spies the Huntsman standing sentinel amidst piles of still-burning debris and smoking rubble. The air was heavy with the scent of death, but not even his divine obligations nor primal instincts could pull him off the path he was on that led directly toward his husband.

"What happened here...?" The words are just sounds meant to reach Ronin before his hands could, but quickly the alchemist stretches out his arms to gather the Huntsman to him where he could feel out the colour of his husband's emotions for himself.

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

He hiccups in a shivery breath at the sound of Remi's voice, half turning before the Lullaby is suddenly there. Ronin folds into his arms without even the strength to hug him back, numbly shaking his head and considering an apology, for a second, for covering him in smoke and ash and blood. Remi smells of the breeze before dawn and the woods at Leafchange, and for a moment his emotions are little more than stuttering relief to have him there.

"Edrei attacked the Tower as a dragon. I didn't know it was her at first, I..." The relief turns stony and numb, but Remi will be able to feel the things he's holding back. Hurt, anger, confusion, exhaustion, fear. All of it, as chaotic and messy as the scene around them. "I killed her. Amun was there too, I think - he left. Wessex and Nate stayed. It was just me." He doesn't know about Abraham, of course.

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

Remi doesn't say anything so simple as You're okay, or It's over. Ronin wasn't, and it wasn't. Instead, the alchemist holds the Huntsman in his arms with a tightness that would likely hurt anyone else. "I love you." He whispers, breathing through his mouth that the scent of charred flesh and violence might not rouse that which he'd prefer to keep dormant.

"Edrei...?" Remi murmurs, before shaking his head apologetically that Ronin might continue. Listening and trying not to let his initial reactions dance distractingly across his face, the alchemist nods when Ronin finishes. "Why? Why so much, why now?" All Remi could think was that this was about Ghilio or maybe even something to do with Noah and Halo.

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

"I love you too," Ronin whispers, his voice muffled by the collar of Remi's shirt, his head nestled against the crook of his neck. His embrace does hurt a little, and the Huntsman likes it that way. It helps to keep him feeling alive, given how his mind wants to completely flee and distance himself from it all.

He shakes his head helplessly in response to Remi's question, gazing at the rubble beneath their feet without seeing it. "They wanted to take the Tower down," he mumbles. "I couldn't stop them, not forever. So many people are dead. Sera, we found her body in the rubble." The words keep coming, as if Ronin can't form a coherent story. He's just giving information as it pops into his head, which might explain why he suddenly pulls back with a fae look in his eyes.

"I got Nate, though."

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

"The..Tower.." It doesn't make sense, but then with Edy, Nate, and Wessex that probably didn't mean much. Combing his fingers through Ronin's hair despite how it clumped together, Remi pulls the other man all the more tightly against him. "The knowtbook...Wessex would have known I was gone and that Noah was in Halo.." Remi reasons, hating himself that the first thought that popped into his mind at the mention of Sera's name was the time she and Ronin had slept together instead of the cleverness of her mind.

Biting back the rest of his stupidly narrow-minded thoughts, Remi stills drastically as Ronin's eyes grow wild and blue. Exhaling with excitement and disbelief, the alchemist raises his eyebrows, not wanting to jump to conclusions. "Got him...how?"

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

"They definitely chose their timing well," Ronin mutters through a hoarse voice, shamelessly leaning into the familiar touch of his husband's hands. "They said that Gideon killed Sam. Last night... or, well. The night before last now." Revenge, he imagines, is the reason behind it. But he still doesn't understand... any of this. The civilians buried beneath the rubble, the children left motherless, the parents left childless.

But spinning on a dime is the flavour of the morning, and it's with a sudden and lopsided smile that Ronin holds up a hand covered with fresh pink scar tissue. "I don't think he can die, but he's as close as he'll ever be to it. I wanted to give you his eye as a gift, but I was... it exploded. Sorry." Does Ronin need to sit down? Probably, yes.

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

'What does that have to do with the Tower? Or..." He's about to say or Edrei? when he realizes that it doesn't matter. Snorting bitterly, he burries his nose into Ronin's hair, clenching and unclenching his jaw as if to punctuate his thoughts.

Looking down at Ronin's hand, just as pink as a newborn baby, Remi hisses in breath. Reaching out for it he lets his lips whisper across the burned surface, wanting to press a kiss there but knowing the agony it would cause. "I suppose you have not looked in the mirror, lately." He remarks with inappropriate amusement. The lines from Wessex's eyes were sure to leave very interesting scars there should the Huntsman allow them to remain, and had Remi known what Superheros were, he'd undoubtedly have called Ronin one.

"That is alright. There is only one pair of blue eyes that I care about." Remi replies with a soft shrug. 'Where is he now? Did he explode too?"

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

"I don't know," Ronin whispers, and it's unlikely that he ever will. The longer he stands here with Remi, the more the world shrinks around him to nothing more than the alchemist, and he has to strangle the strangest urge to pull Remi into a deep and desperate kiss. He knows better than to bandage trauma with sex now, but gods if it isn't tempting all the same.

Blinking (and it hurts, now that the attention has been drawn to his face), Ronin shakes his head. "I imagine I probably need about three showers," he mumbles. As for Nate? "No, he was buried in the rubble. I found him and put him in the Trinity Temple," he explains. "I checked on Mateo too. He's okay, he's sleeping."

And he'll probably keep telling Remi these pieces of information indefinitely unless he's stopped. About the temporary clinic they're setting up, about Tobi finding bodies, about the whirlwind of fire around the Tower, about Safrin's boon, and on and on and on.

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

"Mmmmm. I would say we could bathe in the ocean if I did not think the salt would hurt. Maybe the hotsprings...?" Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to suggest flying across the sea and leaving Stormbreak as it was, but Ronin had done everything he could. Hadn't he earned a reprieve, if only to get clean? "The Temple?" Remi scowls. 'Seems an awfully holy place for someone with so few morals." He huffs.

The mention of their son has the alchemist swallowing guiltily. "I figured if he was not okay you would have told me first." But then, unable to lie, Remi shrugs and swallows. You will always be who I think of first. He adds wordlessly, pressing his lips against Ronin's forehead.

Looking up into the sky where a pink dawn was breaking over the city, Remi shakes his head. "And I was just sitting at home, making desserts with Oria and Sugar." He murmurs, a touch resentfully, a touch in awe. 'We really need to get that magic we talked about. Or do something. Had I been here..." Peering into Ronin's eyes, Remi leans forward to sweep his lips softly across the Huntsman's. "...you would not have had to do this alone."

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

"Maybe just a bath, next to a cozy fire somewhere," Ronin suggests with a weary smile. He'd be able to make the trip, he thinks, to get to the Climb, but he has no idea what state he'd be in by the time they arrived. Besides, the thought of leaving Stormbreak fills him with a sudden and lurching sense of panic; indeed, if pressed, the idea of even leaving the Tower is a source of anxiety at present.

Leaning into the kiss pressed to his forehead (because that's one of the places that doesn't hurt, he thinks), Ronin closes his eyes and scoffs. "I like to think the Temple is filled with Gideon's spite. It'll be an uncomfortable stay," he mumbles. And then, for Remi's ears only, whispered through the bond, I wish you had been here. I thought I was going to die.

He lifts his head enough to kiss Remi back, his arms slipping around him to hold him close. "You're here now," he says quietly. "Thank the gods for you, you're here now."

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

'Just a bath, then.' Remi agrees, and if there's any wickedness in his voice (the flare of emotions that had accompanied Ronin's consideration of masking his injuries with sex hadn't gone unnoticed, after all), Remi tries to hide it with a smile.

Tensing as the words I was going to die echo through his thoughts, Remi has to carefully keep his fingers still lest he grips his husband too tightly. "I guess this is where we are now." He observes in a stony voice. "Midnight attacks, unfair odds, dead civilians." No small part of him wants to seek immediate revenge on the ascended, though really it's just Wessex and Amun. There's a quip on his tongue about how surprising it was that it hadn't been him who had started the war early, but he swallows it down in lieu of kissing the Huntsman.

"Do you trust them to take watch?" Nodding his head towards where dragoons and medical personnel were lingering around the ruined Tower, Remi raises a brow. "I can always project myself here so that you do not have to think about it?"

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

we live in a world someone else imagined

"Just a bath," Ronin agrees, his smile audible even in his whispered words, and he breathes in the sweet scent of the woods on his husband as if it might help to transport him away from the here and now. It can't take away from reality, though, however much he'd like it to. "I guess it is," he says in a low voice. "There must be something we can do to prevent anything like this happening again, though..."

That is a thought for later, he supposes. There are a lot of thoughts for later, all of which melt away in lieu of kissing Remi. He wishes he'd never have to stop kissing Remi, for today and every other day. "Mm... it's not that I don't trust them. It's that I'm worried they'll be hurt if I'm not here," he admits, but even demigods have their limits, and the Lullaby is someone he absolutely does trust. "Would you? Just for a little while. It's been a very long night."

the dark star

REMI

the alchemist

What good are hands
if there's nothing that they hold

"Like taking out Wessex?" Remi suggests with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. In the back of his mind he was penning words and demands of Isla, before mentalling scratching them out again. Stormbreak might not be his land to defend, but certainly any attack on his husband was one that everyone should expect him to take personally.

'Of course.' So saying a second Remi shimmers to life and though it doesn't possess all the abilities of Ronin's duplicate, it will do as a sentinel while the pair wash the day from Ronin's skin if not his mind. 'Come on then.' Wrapping an arm around Ronin's waist and letting the Huntsman dictate their pace, it's back to their apartment and what is no longer his alchemy shop, but Mateo's botanical studio.

"Four against one...and you still managed to take half of them down." The alchemist murmurs with no small amount of awe in his voice. "I take it Wessex did her...thing?" Her thing of course being the splashback upgrade that in effect prevented anyone from targeting her.

And what good are hearts
if you bury them all alone?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!