#DIDN'T FINISH IT THAT TIME EITHER WE'RE NOW THREE MONTHS POST CAMPAIGN. AND I'M STILL GONNA FINISH IT FUCK YOU

[bekahdoesnerdshit]

“Hey, Ace?”

“Yeah Cog?” 

Despite having been the one to break the silence, Cog is quiet for several moments. She picks at a loose thread dangling from hem of her shorts, weighs her words carefully, leans over to rest her head on Ace’s shoulder. “I’m gonna fix it,” she promises softly. “Your magic. I don’t know how, not yet, but... I’m gonna make this right. As soon as I’m strong enough.” Her hands curl into fists in her lap, and she turns to look up at him. “I’m close, I can feel it. I just- I need a little more time. But I promise, Ace. I’ll fix this.”

“I don’t know what ‘strong enough’ looks like yet,” she doesn’t say. “I don’t know if that means borrowing more power from Azrael, or waiting until I’m strong enough on my own. I don’t know if it means figuring out how to reverse what they did to you myself, or storming New Alexandria and forcing the Headmaster to fix it. I’d do any of that for you, you know. In a heartbeat. Please, don’t be too stubborn to let me do this for you.”

Ace’s expression is unreadable for several seconds longer than Cog is comfortable with, but when she opens her mouth to stumble her way through an apology or explanation he reaches up to rest a hand on the back of her head, pulls her in tight against his chest, and wraps his other arm around her in a hug so tight she can barely breathe. “...nah. Nah, kid. Don’t waste all that time worrying about me,” he says, resting his chin on top of her head. But his voice is soft, and he’s not letting her pull away, and Cog knows this man almost as well as she knows herself. She knows what that means. “You got a world to save. Don’t add more to your plate on my account,” he says, as though he isn’t her world. As though she wouldn’t leave the Wasteland to fend for itself if he asked her to stay here with him. 

Hidden against Ace’s shirt, Cog’s expression crumples. Even as she’s wrapping her arms around his middle she’s shaking her head well before he finishes speaking. “No. No, I- Let me call it selfish. If you feel like you can’t say yes for yourself, let me call it selfish. I want to be able to talk to you whenever I want, I want to know that I can heal you if you get hurt. I want you to be able to travel with us, so that I can show you everything wonderful about the world you let me see. Ace, I-- I’ve built my magic up so much around being able to use it to help, to protect, and you- I can’t protect you right now. I can’t touch you. If something were to happen, I--” Her voice breaks, and Ace pulls her closer. 

“...that bleeding heart of yours,” he murmurs after a second, shaking his head but leaning down to press a kiss to Cog’s hair. “You gotta be careful that you don’t bleed yourself dry, kid. You’re more than just what you can give people, you know? You matter ‘cause you’re you. Not because you’re chock full of magic.”

Cog doesn’t have an answer for that. She squeezes him tighter instead, and feels Ace return the gesture in kind.

They sit like that for a long time, quiet, together, taking comfort in one another. When Ace finally lets go enough for Cog to sit up and look at him, they’ve both largely regained their composure. “...There’s no point trying to talk you out of this, is there?” Ace asks. When Cog holds his gaze and resolutely shakes her head, he can’t help but smile. “I’ve been a terrible influence. Look at you, you’ve gotten as stubborn as I am, and almost as bad about picking fights without knowing if you’ll win them.”

Cog laughs with him while he says it, but as Ace stands and reaches down to pull her up too there’s a determination in her eyes that says, while Ace may be teasing, she most certainly is not. “I know I’ll win this one.” She says, resolute. “It’s just rewriting a fundamental law of magic. How hard could it be, anyway?”

The deep, belly laugh that earns her has Cog beaming. And, despite the circumstances that brought them here, the world feels just a little bit brighter as she loops her arm through her brother’s. And, despite the odds they’re facing now seeming insurmountable, Cog knows without a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing in this world they can’t face together.