she takes him in. her other selves had all chosen differently, in such dramatic and tragic ways, and yet with each happiness she'd glimpsed, she had always felt a pull. a thread connects the two of them here - her flesh to his, all the leftover bits of her soul straining against her ribs. 

somehow, in all their fire, they have been made malleable - righteous violence, promises of bloodlust, all tempered by a love and affection that had skirted them for most of their lives. 

she smirks at the non-complaint and flicks his chest, gesturing with her other hand to the picnic blanket she set out, cheese and crackers included. no wine, though. she hadn't wanted to presume there'd be anything to celebrate.

"the grass makes for a comfier picnic," she promises.

she tucks her legs under her and draws the binder in her lap, tilting her head to the side to look up at him. 

"come here. i won't bite." she smiles. "unless you want me to."

KING WAYLAND

☉

"i sort of have," she says. not here, not this time. every once in a while with eva under her arms, sometimes with roy and alex and fernando, just shy of their teens, but the more she thinks, the more she realizes this life has been void of this pleasantry. and following that, as he settles down beside her, she thinks it right that they share another first. 

another new beginning.

her nose wrinkles, but she leans against him, turns her head, and gently bites his shoulder, lingering long enough to smile up at him and leave a kiss like a folded love letter behind.

"i never said that. it'd be more sanitary than where we first hooked up, at the very least." she icks at the thought. she wouldn't change that moment, really, but a dinghy bathroom in a shitty dive bar is not the most romantic backdrop for their first union. 

"but no, i wanted to give you this. and talk to you. we don't even have to make a decision today. i want to do it right." she inhales. exhales. "this is what i wanted to show you before i was taken."

bones shattering, viscera raining, sweet poison, and silver strings in her arms, a will dwindling and dying and a manifested destiny that could threaten everything.

she winces, reaches to brush her knuckles along his knee just to remind herself that she's here, he's here, they're fine. feeling anchored, she shifts the binder into his lap. 

"it's a case for you. to switch with no jail time. you'll - you can even keep delta, but that part's a bit complicated. possible, but complicated." her cheeks smatter rosy and she moves on quickly. "nothing's been done yet. no one knows. this is...it's there if you want it. and i know what it means for you. i know it's a near impossible ask, but i want to give you the choice, because you deserve a choice.

"you deserve your life back, king."

KING WAYLAND

☉

and as is the case with king wayland, he skirts around the good to get to the heart of the bad. the bars, the chains, the walls, all the messy parts of this transition that might make him say, with finality, no. 

and then, what would they do?

anger rushes to his face and she assuages it with alarm, taking a hand to grip the side of his jaw, but her own cheeks are red-hot right now and her hand is shaking. a nervous laugh skitters out of her; she can't look away, but the weight of it makes her look down at his lips instead. 

tongue-tied, her mouth opens and then closes. and then she regains her composure, bites her lip, and says, "if she was in a stable, two-parent household, the case would be open and shut. you - we - would keep her."

and in case it doesn't click, she rasps out, "marriage, king. i'd marry you."

KING WAYLAND

☉

surprise is difficult to parse, especially when she's so used to seeing thinly veiled anxieties, frustration, even the occasional tenderness. they hang there, suspended, and she feels a fool watching the words die in the back of his throat. humiliation washes over her in waves; he manages something, but it's a non-answer.

"don't worry, love," she mumbles, trying to smile as though there aren't needles in her heart. she knows she's splitting apart, that so very often they are completely wrong for each other, but in that same beating of her blood, her hand stops shaking. her thumb strokes the corner of his mouth.

"i didn't come with a ring." that was never the intention. the profession of her devotion had come a long time ago, over countless years, whether he remembers them or not, whether he can still grasp them after reading her journal or not. they'd never needed something as vapid as a couple of rings and a certificate to solidify what she knows is true - he is hers.

"i don't want to tell you what to do, but... i think you could be happier this way." the binder remains unopened between them, a love letter filled with all of his worst fears for the chance - not a promise; she couldn't even fool herself that it would ever be a promise - at something more.

"still, out of all the lives i've lived at this point, with this one, well, i think i'd choose you every time."

the words are so clumsy. none of it feels like it's coming out right. lyune lifts his head and looks upward, toward the horizon. she feels a pressure mount behind her temples.

"say something."

KING WAYLAND

☉

yer pretty good with yer hands, sweetheart, he'd drawled*, palm pressed to his nose to stop the bleeding, watching freya's girlfriend out of the corner of his eye. 

i killed you, you know. in my dimension. horned goddess*, pixels on a screen, a piece of her as a gleaming black scale freya carried on her chest for months and months, unknowing that the secret she thinks she still carries in her heart is not a secret at all. 

her brow furrows, heart skipping, mouth parting to draw in soft breaths and not give away her fluttering nerves. she's caught off guard by his mouth on hers; a small sound escapes her. 

"i know," she says, drawing back. "but things are going to get darker and i - i want you there. by my side. on the same side."

no more running away. no more beseeching the favors of the gods. no more denying that her strength comes from him, from the blood in her own veins, from the lives entwined with hers. 

"and i'm afraid. i'm afraid of what will happen if we don't do something now."

KING WAYLAND

☉

"the world is falling apart," she whispers. her fingers stray to the binder, grasping it around its edges, and she pushes it gingerly aside. this way she can turn her hips, unfold her legs just enough to slide into his lap. she drapes her arms over his shoulders and presses her forehead to his, gold eyes wide. 

"and i told you, i'm unraveling." she tries to steel herself. memories fluctuate. hardricrelgr. stars in her hands, calling to the heavens, a beckoning bell for the summons. rituals cast in the light of dragon fire. 

"i asked you to tell me who i am, so i could remember, but that dream i had - " she says and the back of her mouth tastes acrid all too suddenly. lyune rumbles a low growl of warning in the back of his throat. "something's coming."

her cheek turns, gaze drifting. a ripple in the fire. aches in her bones.

KING WAYLAND

☉