Youʼre yellow rays and burning fire

Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

"Then you will want to avoid the Hollowed Grounds. This whole Spire business has gotten quite political quite quickly." Remi said amicably enough with a shrug.

Narrowing his eyes mischeviously (perhaps Ianto was already rubbing off on him), Remi stopped and crossed his arms. "Sorry, just to be clear, I have just told you there is a baby waiting for me back home, and you have now just kidnapped me?" He asked playfully with an exasperated rolling of his eyes. "Oh officially. Well I suppose I should expect no less, given our strictly professional relationship." The alchemist quipped with a slight shake of his head. Though for a moment he did pause.

While he believed all the things that Vai had told him about Ianto, he currently had no outside validation that this was the fox. But then ... how else would someone outside of the barrier know of Northaven?

Unless.

But before he could unravel that thought, Ianto turned. Remi's lips fell open seeing the small star shape. It was such a small thing really, just a messy bit of alchemy and yet—reaching out, Remi took it from the fox, a smile spreading stupidly across his face, deepening his dimples and crinkling the corners of his eyes. "I was just about to accuse you of being Ludo...that this might all be some elaborate trick to get me to die again. But.." Marvouling at the item in his hands, he shook his head, his eyes radiating a sort of fondness that he couldn't quite put to words.

"But this..." Turning it over in his hands, Remi bit his lip. "I want to say that not even Ludo could have dreamed this up, but with my memories of you, I suppose he could well have." The sunny quality of his smile faded. "But Aoife.." He mumbled with a bit of a sigh. "My life is worth so much more, now tethered to hers. How can I know?" He supposed that was quite a stupid thing to ask, but helplessly he asked it anyways, gazing up at the fox.

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Ianto

"Then I fully plan to avoid it for as long as I can," Ianto assured him, standing now on the small steps up to the wagon and waiting expectantly to see if the other man would step in so he could show him around. He grinned and waved off the whole kidnapping thing, shrugging his shoulders. "You said Aoife was Ronin's daughter, not that she was a baby," he pointed out. "Besides, you're free to leave whenever you wish. I'd not stop you doing anything." Ever.

He hadn't expected the star to get such a reaction - not from the man who no longer recalled making the trinkets for him. But that it did brought a warm smile to the fox's lips, and he sank down to sit on the steps of the wagon, watching Remi's expression as though it might soothe his frayed nerves.

Then the smile faded, the cheer bleeding out of him, and Ianto furrowed his brow at the talk, again, of Ludo. "A trick to get you to die...?" He shuddered a little at the mere idea, hearing Remi out and itching at his stubbled chin. "I suppose you can't know," he said, a little sadly, before rising to his feet. A wave of his hand and the wagon door shut again.

"But not knowing is too risky. I get that. C'mon - I'll take you back to the clearing, and you can fly back to the Hollowed Grounds. I'll not follow - you can go to Aoife and make sure she's okay."

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

Remi waved a pedantic finger. "True, but we have not been gone that long." He countered with a surprisingly easy smile. Something in him stirred then, at the promise of...freedom, perhaps? Perhaps it was because of how Sam had pushed, how it had been rushed and how Remi had to be the more knowledgeable and adult-y one, somehow. He couldn't truly fault the bookmaker for it, not really. But something in Remi sighed welcomingly at the notion that he could indeed leave.

"Yes. It has tried it a few times now." Remi answered, feeling a dark coil of disappointment tighten in his gut as Ianto stood, the door to the wagon closing. The feeling of finality was likely one that he was imposing upon himself, yet it lingered uncomfortably in the back of his skull.

For a moment Remi hesitated. Without Aoife, he would have risked it. Would have been the reckless boy Jigano had accused him of so many times. But Ronin's daughter was far too precious a thing to even consider risking, and so finally he nodded sadly in agreement. The words, you can follow, buzzed unsaid on his lips. He couldn't just bring this un-stranger back with him (could he?). And if he was a trick of Ludo, Remi didn't want him anywhere near Aoife.

But if he wasn't, then he did, in a way.

"It impersonated you before, you know." Remi said almost apologetically. "As a fox, just before LongNight. You came and said you had found a way out. I nearly followed you. I think I would have frozen to death, or perhaps it meant to just lead me to the barrier." Of course Remi hadn't been told how it felt to feel Ianto's hands in his again, or to feel his friend against him, because he hadn't told anyone those parts.

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Ianto

"Oh, I suppose you've tied me in a knot there." Ianto grinned and conceded, already hopping down from the wagon and hiding his disappointment behind a friendly nod for Remi to follow him. "Why?" he wondered aloud. "Why does it want to kill you? Is it because of the mask?" That sounded about right - at least it did until Remi said that Ludo had impersonated him. To do that he must have remembered Ianto at the time, so... that didn't make sense.

Wrinkling his nose, the fox shivered and shook his head. "I hope it never finds reason to do that again," he muttered, not expecting an answer but needing to state it nonetheless. The wagon disappeared behind them into the undergrowth and Ianto struck up his whistling tune once more.

In no time, twilight brightened to vibrant green again, and they were back in the clearing where they had met. "There, safe and sound and ready to fly," he said. "Though, might I have that star back, please?"

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

"That is twice today that I have had you in knots. And here I was lead to believe you were crafty." Remi interjected, trying to somehow lighten the mood.

"I am not sure, really. But no, this was before the mask." He replied, trotting a few steps to place himself at Ianto's side, easily keeping pace. Glancing towards Ianto, the alchemist nodded in agreement. "I do as well. Especially since...well, since I have found you again. Or you me." He added with a light shrug.

The journey back to the clearing seemed a great deal faster, and Remi wondered if the fox didn't have some subtle control over it. "Ah, yes of course." The alchemist said, a touch flustered as he fumbled for the star he'd inadvertently held onto. Handing it back with an odd slowness, Remi tried on a smile as his eyes rose to find Ianto's. He swallowed uneasily. He fidgeted.

Stalling. He was stalling.

"You do not fly, do you?" Remi asked, aiming for casual, but probably landing squarely in awkward and befuddled instead. Running a hand through his curls, he chewed his lips wondering if it was a stupid question, that the answer should be obviously yes or no, and even worse, that he should know.

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Ianto

"I am lullin' you into a false sense of security. Besides, this is a great shock to me, you know. We can't all be so blase about reconnectin' with our dear friends." Ianto smirked at Remi and gently elbowed him, as if to assure him that he was only joking. "I'd say it was a bit of both. We found each other," he murmured, pausing in the clearing under the dappled sunlight and accepting the star back from the alchemist.

Their fingers brushed, just for a moment, and Ianto gave a deep sigh and tucked the little trinket away. "Hm? No, I'm afraid I don't. I am still but a lowly fox, and I haven't been able to unlock any fancy raccoon-shifts, either." He shrugged his shoulders. Remi had known, and it did sting, but that was the reality they now lived in. "Do you... is..." He frowned, hating that he stumbled over the words. Do you still want to know me?

"Fly safe, okay?"

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

"Ahh yes. I am the one being blase. That bit about implying we would have sex in the trees was horribly coy on your part." He returned with a grin. Again he stiffened at the contact between them, but it faded much more quickly this time, his boyish smile spreading.

The touch of finger tips was so soft and swift that Remi's mind second guessed whether it had even happened, given that his gaze was focused solely on the impossible depths of Ianto's blue eyes. Blinking back a sudden swarm of dissatisfaction hearing that his new-old friend could not fly, Remi nodded. "I can be a lion as well." The alchemist added. Normally he'd not volunteer such information, given how dangerous the shift was and how it rather felt like bragging, but then, Remi was a foreigner to these sorts of moments. This need to evade an untimely end to a surprise encounter. But he was fumbling and it was becoming painfully obvious.

However as Ianto began to ask a question, Remi perked up, only to immediately be thrust back down on this emotional roller-coaster. It was too hard to hold Ianto's gaze for longer than a few seconds a time. It was too blue, too mischievous, too much of a reminder of yet another thing he had lost. Another man he had hurt.

"Right, yes." Remi agreed, forcing a crooked smile as he let his eyes drop to the ground, pulling in a breath. "I always do. I think at least."

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Ianto

Ianto grinned and opened his mouth to say something, before promptly closing it again and glancing away, purposely choosing not to disclose his thoughts on the matter. Besides, he didn't know how Remi would take it if Ianto had said there was nothing implying about what would have happened if the alchemist had remembered everything.

"A lion, too?" The fox arched an eyebrow at that, honestly impressed and not able or wanting to hide it. "You really have been busy in the time behind the barrier. Don't get too bored out here, okay? Once you get used to the Fae, it isn't nearly so iinterestin' as the Hollowed Grounds." But then he would think that.

Fiddling with a loose thread on his sleeve and pursing his lips, as if to prepare for the inevitable departure, Ianto nodded. "Good," he murmured. "I'll see you around then, I guess. I..." Grumbling to himself, Ianto finally banished all logical thought and stepped up closer to Remi. Providing he wasn't pushed away, the fox would draw the alchemist into a quick embrace - a hello and a goodbye, all at once.

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

"Well maybe you can come in and see for yourself? I will show you around and we can decide who has been living the more boring of lives since Northwind."

Without anything at all coming to mind to prolong the ending of the conversation, Remi was forced to nod, feeling a shiver go up his spine despite the warmth of the sunshine. Despite all of that however, as Ianto stepped towards him, Remi took a tentative step backwards, shoulders pulled taught and his eyes widening. Feathers appeared in his hair as the instinct to fly bloomed. Fear and cold adrenaline surged through his body. He thought of dreams, forgotten memories and being forgotten. Thought of Ronin's laugh and blood on sleeves and the way his heart quite literally felt like ground shards of glass etched into his very bones.

But then he took the step back, leaning forward and returning the embrace. The fox smelled of smoke and the woods. Something else too, something sweet. Likely it was the tea that Remi hadn't had the chance to sample earlier. The only other person he'd been this close to in recent days, Ronin aside, was Sam. But the bookmaker was unsure and lithe, where Ianto was bold and broad. It was so strange, his hands shrugging awkwardly around the fox, before the embrace came to its inevitable end.

"Yes." Remi croaked through lips suddenly terribly dry and cheeks terribly hot.

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Ianto

"Maybe," Ianto said with a quiet smile, though it didn't sound as though he was giving the thought much credence. As much as he wanted to - longed to - spend more time not just around Remi, but around those he had left behind in Northaven... he could not shrug off the suspicion that had soaked into him in his time in the woods. The Fae did not trust the barrier, and they knew it to be a sacred and necessary divide between the rest of Caido and a great evil within.

Now it was open, and he felt the rumblings of conflict beneath the earth that had yet to surface. But ultimately that could wait, because for all of Remi's nerves, for all of the feathers that sprouted in his hair and the way he grew taut like a wire, he did return Ianto's hug. The fox smiled despite himself, breathing the scent of the alchemist in deep and savouring it for however pitifully short a time it lasted.

"Maybe I can meet Aoife next time," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Though I don't blame you, if you don't want to bring her out here." Especially if Remi thought he was a death god in disguise.

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Яemi

you're every song that fills my mind

Jittery from the hug, Remi suddenly forgot what he was meant to do with his hands, his body. Wrapping his arms about himself in a way that closed off any further contact (which was not his intent, the defensive stance was just automatic), he nodded.

He wanted to believe that this was Ianto, even if he couldn't remember what the fox was to him. He wanted someone in his life who seemed this patient despite his memory loss, and Ianto was.

But of course, that is just how Ludo would make him. And a mysterious wagon? A walk into dusk and then back again?

"I will find a way to know..but..thank you for understanding." Remi said, shivering slightly again, his fingers moving up and down his own arms.

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Ianto

Remi seemed to close up, but Ianto's posture remained as open as ever, and he offered his friend a lopsided smile as if that might somehow put him at ease. "Of course," he said. "What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't understand? Sounds like the past few seasons have been rough on you, Remi. Take as long as you want."

And the past few seasons for Ianto did not bear thinking about, so he was much happier to focus on the alchemist. Even if that did mean he had to leave. With a nod and a roguish little bow, Ianto retreated back into the trees. "See you again soon, I hope." He called over his shoulder.

{END}

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