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cryhardanddanceharder · 4 years ago

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Happy holidays Abby @moonlightandromache I’m your andromaquynh secret santa and this next one shot is my gift for you. I tried mixing what i know you like, soulmate and mermaid combo. I hope you like it ♥

Also, thank you @lilolilyr for being my beta in this and helping me with my english ☺ And thank you @thirst-teenth for organizing this!

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An ocean between our love (it won’t keep us apart)

All mermaids, mermen and tritons are immortal and have a soulmate.

Yes, mer folks are not just a myth, they are real. Quynh knows this because she is a mermaid.

Since she was little she had been hearing stories about soulmates. How you would feel your soulmate’s injuries like they were your own and how you would dream of each other.

She started dreaming of her soulmate when she was fourteen years old.

But, the thing about her soulmate it’s that she’s different. She is a human, a mortal. Because of this, many of the other mers often made fun of her. How would it be possible for a human and a mermaid to be together?

“How does it feel to know your soulmate?” She asks her friends.

“It’s the best thing that can happen to you” Nicky tells her honestly.

“There’s no one who could understand you or love you more, you just connect” Joe says, looking at Nicky with heart eyes.

“Look at us” Nicky says proudly. “We came for families who hated each other, and still our love prevailed” He explains.

She doesn’t need the explanation though, she had heard the story too many times. They are lucky, they’ve been together since forever. Just like Nile, Dizzy and Jay.

All her friends had met their soulmate already and that kinda hurts. She knows it’s probably impossible for her to ever meet her own soulmate. She likes dreaming about her, but feeling her injuries not so much, because it worries her. Her soulmate is a warrior, so she always has something in her body that it’s hurting. And she could use a lot of words to describe her, like beautiful, brave and kind. And also loyal, smart and strong.

“You know there’s the story of this merman who had a human soulmate just like you?” Nile asks her, bringing her attention back to the present.

“Yes, I think I heard about him, but I thought it was just a legend” She answers thoughtfully.

“Well Jay knows him, I can take you to meet him so you can talk and share your feelings” Nile suggests.

“That would be great” She accepts.

No one had ever told her that Booker’s story was real. So, she’s excited that she is going to meet him. Maybe he could tell her how to find her soulmate. Her family never helped her with that topic, not since she told them that her soulmate is a human. It’s like most mers think that she must be cursed or something similar, because isn’t a mermaid like them.

Booker it’s bitter and he is drunk. But he let’s her speak and he tells her stories about Lykon, his soulmate.

“So you never met him?” She asks, feeling heartbroken.

“No, he died many years ago” Booker answers sadly.

“But, you only have one soulmate in your life” She expresses her agony.

“I know” He nods.

“How do you keep living without it?” She asks, her voice breaking.

“I’m not sure I do” He says, using his cup to toast for him.

After that conversation, Quynh is left feeling entirely wrecked. How is she supposed to live her immortal life knowing her soulmate is going to die someday?

She tries to hang on to the dreams of her soulmate, to pay attention to where she is so she can look for her. But she’s always on land and there’s never a beach near her.

And then, the day she has been fearing comes. Her soulmate dies. She’s been betrayed by her own people and they killed her with spears in battle.

“Are you okay?” Joe asks her, very worried because she has been in agony, shouting and sobbing for long minutes.

“My soulmate, she died” She answers with tears in her eyes, unable to say anything else.

She starts feeling the heartbreak of reality hit her as the worst pain she ever felt in her life.

She’s devastated and suddenly breaks down crying in full force.

Joe hugs her and holds her in his arms until she falls asleep.

But, something she hasn’t been expecting happens. Her soulmate comes back to life. Her injuries are gone and there’s no more pain. At first she thinks she might be imagining it, but then she dreams about her again. And she is alright, she is alive and she is as strong as ever.

After that, Quynh dares to hope again. If her soulmate is immortal, then maybe they can finally meet someday. And now the injuries are temporary. She only feels pain for a short time. Still, feeling her die is the most painful thing she has ever felt... and her soulmate dies a lot of times.

Quynh starts traveling all the oceans, trying to find her. Joe, Nicky, Nile, Dizzy, Jay and Booker decide to go with her, to help her in her search.

But years and years keep passing by, and they still never find her soulmate.

All she learns in her search is that her soulmate's name is Andromache and she is the best human warrior that has ever existed. Even mer folks start telling stories about her at some point, because they like telling human stories. All the stories about Andromache are about her battles, about how she’s special because of her immortality, how she’s always fighting for what she thinks it’s right and trying to help people.

She wonders if her soulmate dreams of her too, if she ever thinks of her and if she ever tries looking for her.

But hundreds of years keep passing and they never meet each other. All Quynh feels is emptiness and loneliness. Yes, her soulmate is alive and is immortal, but she’s still human and they don’t have any chance of being together. And that hurts.

She starts feeling that her family is right. To have a human soulmate it’s a curse.

So, she decides to give up. She stops the search.

And then, suddenly, another unexpected thing happens that changes everything once again. Her soulmate is drowning. And not just for once, it’s constantly. Quynh is in permanent agony for her. Feeling her dying all the time is exhausting. How is it possible? And then, she dreams of her again and she finally understands. Andromache is trapped in an iron coffin at the bottom of the ocean. How the hell did that happen?

“Quynh, we heard the stories about Andromache” Nicky informs her.

“What stories?” She requests to know.

“The new ones” Nicky answers.

“How can there be new stories when she’s constantly drowning?” She asks, confused.

“Because they are about that” Joe replies. “Apparently she was in England, saving women from witch hunts. Finally the people from church trapped her and sentenced her to die, so they hanged her.” He explains calmly.

“Because she couldn’t die, they took it as proof of her being a witch” Nicky intervenes, feeling that it’s an important fact.

“Yes” Joe agrees with him. “So, they locked her in an iron coffin and threw her to the sea” He ends the tale.

“I need to find her. She’s drowning and suffering constantly, I can’t take it” She expresses her feelings, she always feels safe doing so with them.

“We should start with the North Sea, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; those are the ones that surround England” Nicky suggests.

So, that’s what they do. They travel those seas, looking for her.

It takes them almost one hundred years, but they finally do. They find the iron coffin in a part of the Norway Sea and all she can feel is relief. They prey open the coffin and, finally, Andromache is free and right in front of Quynh.

When she comes alive she looks scared and ready to fight. She starts hitting them until she drowns again.

Quynh grabs her and takes her to the superface. In the time it takes her to get her to superface, Andromache drowns three more times. But those times she doesn’t fight her. It is as she recognises Quynh, her presence helping her to relax even when she dies again.

“Hey” She greets her, once their faces are above the ocean and the other has revived.

“You’re the mermaid of my dreams” Andromache says, looking at her with an astonished expression.

“I am” She agrees. “My name is Quynh” She introduces herself.

“I thought mermaids were a myth” Andromache says, still staring at her, like she can’t believe she’s real.

“I thought immortal humans were a myth, too” She bites back and Andromache laughs. Damm, her laugh sounds so beautiful.

“Touche” Andromache accepts. “I’m Andromache the Scythian” She finally introduces herself.

“I know” Quynh nods with a knowing smile.

Andromache suddenly starts coughing and spitting salt water from her mouth, and that scares her. Quyn realises in that moment that she should have tried giving her mouth to mouth breathing like she heard in some tales about humans, instead of letting her die.

“I should have given you mouth-to-mouth breathing” She says, thinking out loud.

“What?” Andromache asks, confused.

“While I brought you to the superface, I should have given you mouth-to-mouth instead of letting you drown” She explains, in an apologizing way.

“Don’t worry about it” Andromache dismisses it, like it is not a big deal. “Don’t feel bad, it was just what? Three more deaths? You did save after all” She expresses her opinion.

It seems like her humor is a little dark and Quynh finds it endearing.

Andromache coughs again. She probably needs clean water and food after spending so many years without having anything.

“Come on, you must be exhausted, I’ll take you to shore” She proposes.

So Andromache climbs on her back and Quynh starts to swims. Quynh does it carefully, making sure to never dive deep so Andromache can keep breathing. It’s a hard and tiring task, it takes her a long time of the day, but the effort it’s worth it if it means her soulmate is safe. She takes her to the nearest desert beach. She leaves her on the shore, and then gets ready to go back to the depth of the ocean.

“Wait, please wait” Andromache calls her, when she realizes the other is starting to move away.

“What?” Quynh asks.

“Can I see you again?” Andromache requests.

“Why?” She asks, surprised about the request.

“Well, we dream about each other. I think that must mean something” Andromache tries to explain her point of view. “Don’t you want to figure it out?” She asks.

“Are you sure you want to see me again? Aren’t you scared of mermaids? l thought humans tell stories about us hypnotizing people with our singing and drowning them” She says, a little unsure about the situation.

“That’s sirens, not mermaids” Andromache corrects her. “What about you? Aren’t you scared of me? I’m the eternal warrior. There was a time I even was worshiped as god, you know?” She questions, in some kind of teasing way.

“No, I’m not scared” She denies.

“Then prove it” Andromache challenges her.

“Fine, we can try” She accepts.

So they try…

Andromache builds herself a house on the beach. They see each other on every sunrise and every sunset. The rest of the day they continue with their normal lives.

Quynh hadn’t thought it was possible to love Andromache more than she already did… But she starts realising she was very wrong. Spending time with Andromache is the best thing that has ever happened to her and she starts falling deeply in love with her, certain that she would love her even if they hadn’t been soulmates. She loves her with every fiber of her being, in every possible way.

Every moment they spend together is magical.

Like when Andromache teached her arching.

“What is this?” She asks, looking at the objects the other is holding in her hands with wonder. She knows them, she has seen humans using them before, but she doesn’t remember their names.

“Bows and arrows, I'm going to teach you archery” Andromache answers her.

“You are?” She asks, surprised.

“Well you said you didn’t find sword fighting that much fun, so i thought maybe you would like to try something new�� Andromache explains her idea.

“How am I supposed to do this when I can’t stand up like you?” She requests to know, still unsure about the idea.

“You do it sitting down” Andromache says with confidence.

Andromache spends all morning teaching her, until she can hit a target. She has to admit it was really fun. And some days, after practicing a lot, she learns to love it.

Another magical but unexpected moment, it’s when Andromache asks her to cut her hair.

“Are you sure?” Quynh asks, picking up the scissors nervously.

“I am” Andromache nods.

“Why do you want to cut it?” She needs to know, because she doesn’t want to do something the other may regret later.

“I’m tired of it, it’s so heavy and impractical. I want a change” Andromache expresses the reason for her choice.

“Fine” She finally agrees. “But if you don’t like it, I won't take complains” She warns.

Quynh cuts her hair in the way the other has requests. When she finishes she’s astounded by how the hairstyle looks on the other. She’s so breathtakingly beautiful. She encourages herself and plays with it a little.

Another wonderful moment is their first kiss.

“I have a gift for you” Andromache tells her, with a smile on her face.

“What? Why?” Quynh asks, confused.

“Because you said that today it’s your birthday” Andromache reminds her.

“Ohhh…” She has forgotten humans have the habit of giving each other presents for birthdays, when for mer folks the habit was the other way around.

“Close your eyes” Andromache requests. “Do you trust me?” She asks, after they spend a long minute staring at each other.

“Yes” She nods.

“Then close your eyes” She repeats.

Quynh closes her eyes and waits for her present. Suddenly she can feel Andromache very near, invading her personal space. She takes a moment caressing her shoulders, her neck and her cheeks. And then, she is kissing her.

Kissing Andromache is incredibly magnificent. It’s as if their lips were made just to be kissed by each other. It’s like they already know their moves, their tastes and what they like. It’s like breathing air for the first time.

Another splendid moment is when she calls her “Andy” for the first time.

“What?” She asks a little annoyed, the other has been staring at her for like a whole minute and never continues the conversation they were having.

“You called me Andy” Andromache finally says.

“Ohh, it’s just a nickname, like in a affectionate way” She tries to explain. “If you don’t like it…”

“No” Andromache interrupts her very quickly. “I like it, you can call me Andy wherever you want” She assures.

So she starts calling her Andy after that.

And so time goes by. And before they know they have spent decade after decade doing this, being together and apart in this way.

But, of course one day it has to come to an end. She should have known, she should have been ready… After all, how could it be possible for a human and a mermaid to be together forever?

“Have you ever heard of a goddess called Atargatis?” Andromache asks her.

“Her name seems familiar, but I don’t think so” Quynh denies.

“Well, legends say she was the first mermaid. She’s a goddess of love and female fertility. They said that there’s an oasis in the middle of Sham desert where there is a temple for her and whoever is brave enough to sacrifice themselves in the search of it, the goddess would grant them a wish” Andromache relates her the story.

“I thought you didn’t believe in gods or goddesses” She says, surprised about the type of conversation.

“Well maybe it’s time I do, so we can be together” Andromache tells her.

“What do you mean?” She asks, confused.

“I can go there, I can sacrifice myself in the search because I’m immortal, I can wish for us to have a way to be really together” Andromache explains to her what she has been planning.

“I don’t think that’s smart, for you to go there alone” She expresses her disapproval. “What if you got hurt, or the goddess wants to remove your immortality as payment or is just not real?” She asks, not wanting to get excited about what it could mean.

“But what if it’s real? Don’t you think we are worth trying it?” Andromache questions her.

“I don’t know” She says sadly. “Don’t you think we are already good as we are?” She asks, fearing the negative possibility.

“We are good” Andromache assures her. “But we could be better, we could be together forever, every time of the day, with nothing keeping us apart” She insists.

“I…” She doesn’t know what to say. The idea of not seeing Andromache for the time it takes her to do the quest hurts too much. “Andy don’t go” She asks.

“I have to. You may not believe our love is strong enough to survive this, but i do.” Andromache argues, very stubbornly. “Once I finish the quest, I’ll come back here.” She promises her.

Andromache gives her a kiss and then she’s gone.

Quynh is scared she won’t ever see her again and doesn’t know what to do without her. But at sunrise, Andromache is there, at the beach, once again.

“I thought you had left” Quynh tells her.

“I packed my things, but I wanted to say goodbye first” Andromache explains to her.

“Do you really have to go?” She asks, sadly.

“I do, this may be our only chance” Andromache answers. “I need you to trust me” She requests.

“I do trust you” She assures her. “But, I don’t want to be apart from you” She expresses what troubles her.

“I don’t want to be apart from you either, that’s why I have to do this” Andromache insists, believing her decision is the best option they have. “I’m gonna be back as quick as I can” She promises her.

Andromache gives her a long kiss goodbye. One that tastes like salt because of their tears. Is bittersweet and leaves her wanting more, but she lets her go.

All Quynh can do is wait. She waits and goes to their beach on every sunrise and every sunset, waiting for Andromache to come back.

While she waits she realises she’s scared. She fears Andy would find a mortal who would love her in all the ways she can’t. She fears Andy would die a lot of times and would suffer alone. She fears Andy could lose her immortality.

Another thought creeping into her mind is that Andy might not really accept her the way she is and will try to take away her mermaid form... she knows that Andy might want to join her in the sea instead, and she doesn’t believe that her love would change her without asking her first, but she can’t silence the thoughts entirely.

She dreams of her and with every dream her fears turn off a little. Andy is really strong and she is trying to do this for them.

She dies five times in the desert. But like she sayed, it doesn’t totally matter. Not when she comes back to life again every time.

It takes a year… And then, finally, Andy is back, at sunset time. She jumps directly into the sea and greets her with a passionate kiss.

“Hey” Andromache says quietly, pressing soft kisses to her neck.

“Hey” Quynh says back.

“I love you Quynh” Andromache confesses, looking right to her eyes.

Andy loves her and knowing it makes her the happiest she’s ever been in her long life.

“I love you too Andy” She says, exploding with happiness and love. “I’m glad you are back” She admits, feeling relieved to be in the arms of the other woman again.

“Did you ever doubt I would?” Andromache asks, kinda teasing her.

“Maybe a little” She answers honestly. “So? How did the quest go?” She finally asks the important topic.

“Well, I found the oasis, and the goddess conceived my wish” Andromache answers her, looking her intensely in her eyes. “You know why?” She asks.

“Because you gave your life founding the oasis” She answers, remembering the tale Andy had told her before going on the quest.

“Yes” Andromache nods. “And because apparently we are soulmates” She adds, looking at her intensely as she was trying to read her.

“Ah, that...” She trails off.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Andromache asks curiously, without judging her.

“Because I didn’t want you to feel obligated to love me just because we’re soulmates” She answers genuinely, thinking it sounds a little silly now that she’s saying it out loud.

“It would be impossible for me not to love you” Andromache tells her with so much confidence, that she believes her in every part of herself.

“So… how does the wish work?” She asks, bringing the conversation to that topic because she doesn’t want to get emotional.

Andromache looks at her with a tender smile, and then removes the pendant she’s wearing around her neck and gives it to her.

“What does it mean?” She asks confused, checking the pendant.

“It’s a magic amulet, it’s made from cintamani and it grants a wish to whoever wears it” Andromache explains to her.

“What the wish would be?” She requests to know, still a little unsure.

“Well, I think it obvious, for the one of us who is wearing it at the moment to have legs on land and mermaid form on sea” Andromache tells her with confidence.

“You don’t want me to stop being a mermaid?” She asks, really surprised.

“No, of courte not, I love everything about you” Andromache assures her. “I just want the chance for us to be together” She adds, caressing her cheeks.

Quynh kisses her. She hasn't thought it would be possible for her to love this woman more, but every time she thinks that, she is quickly proven wrong. It feels like everything Andromache does, it just makes her love her more and more.

She feels so happy. She doesn’t know how to contain all those feelings in her body, so she just shows them. She kisses and caresses every part of Andromache’s body.

When she feels satisfied, she puts the pendant around her neck. Then she grabs Andromache’s hand, so they can get out of the water.

The first time she feels her legs is very strange, and she would have fallen if it wasn't for Andromache’s grip on her.

Andromache teaches her to walk, takes her to all her favorite places and shows her everything about the mortal human world. Then they travel around the world together, meeting new places and sharing their love.

In return, Quynh shows her all the magical places and fantastic treasures the ocean hides in its depths. She teaches her to swim in her mermaid form and do different pirouettes. Also she introduces her to her friends and family.

Andromache has been right. To be together this way is even more wonderful. Thanks to the amulet Quynh can have human form at land and Andromache can have mermaid form at sea. This way they can share both of their worlds and always be together.

So, yes. Maybe it is hard for someone like her, a mermaid, to have a human soulmate. But it is not impossible. They had found their way to be together and now they will be for all their eternal lives.

You can read it in ao3 too: here

#AndromaquynhSecretSanta #andromaquynh secret santa #andromaquynh #andy x quynh #immortal wives #tog one shot #the old guard #soulmate au #mermaid au #long post #my writing #tog fanfic

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themoonwheniamlost · 4 years ago

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Knees of Green

My gift for @hesnotmy!!! I hope you enjoy this, I put the fic under the cut and on AO3 Here. I went a bit to the left with your prompt I hope you don’t mind!

Thank you so much to @thirst-teenth for putting this whole thing together! We’ve gotten so much good content, and I’m so happy to have been a part of it.

Thank you also to my Beta/Bestie/Lungs @jesuisnilunnilautre .

Happy New Year All, ilysm, Have some lesbians.

It’s been two weeks since Andromache had gotten separated from them in the battle, and while Quynh had all faith in her wife, it was starting to worry her. The boys were trying to be helpful, but if Nicolo says one more … encouraging thing about “Distance makes the heart grow fonder,” or “Two halves of one whole heart can never truly be parted,” Quynh is going to throw a rock at his head.

Fall harvest was imminent. It was silly to feel alone in a house full of love, but she did. Roma had work to do in the next town over, and Quynh could work to keep their home safe here. She dons a simple skirt and Andromache’s cape, Quynh grabbed her handled basket and left the cabin. She set out, looking into the distance, following a path that she knew like the lines on Andromaches’ palms.

With quick feet and a wanting heart, she soon found herself in the hibiscus grove. It was easy to think of her wife there. The grove was a gift that had grown steadily through the years to hold decades’ worth of memories. Stories of love and dirt and patience, keep them fresh for the harvest of each day, ripe enough to taste at any recall.

As she steps between the trees she feels her heart swell like the first time she set foot here, when Andromache, smiling and covered in soil, had pulled her into a clearing full of freshly turned earth and dragged her by the hand through the unworn paths, pointing to each sectioned area and explaining what would go where. Few things could stop Andromache when she had things to say, and this was no exception. It went on for some time, Roma’s face bright and a bit flushed, outlining how the Hibiscus plants would ring the trees here, the pepper and tomato plants here, and perhaps a fig tree in the back —

Quynh felt like she was chasing a bee around the grove, heavy with promise, a garden pollinated by faith and trust. She smiled and reached out with the hand not clasped in Roma’s. “Cưng, how did you get dirt in your hair?” Her beloved stopped to let her free the garden from her head, pulling her fingers softly through the strands until she was satisfied.

She looked up to Andromache’s face again, tongue light with the intent to tease her wife, and was caught instead by a gaze she knew too well. They drifted close to each other, chests rising in synch, the air between them tightened. It was easy to tilt her head just so, to gather her wife’s hair in her hands, to close her eyes as Andromache placed their lips together. The soft and easy press of familiarity settled them on the newly turned earth, and when they rose they had both had gathered a garden in their hair.

Now, Quynh sat in their garden alone, not even counting the stars, she already knew their names, but what did they matter now? Apart from Andromache the sky was a vast sea of empty eyes. The only person who had pulled the stars down for her was Roma, a warrior strong enough to shine in peace as she did in war. Apart from Adromach she often felt like half of a blade, a hilt with no extension. Deciding that there was no use sitting about, she could sigh just as well tending to the garden as she could yearning on the bench, she gathered her skirts and her trowel.

She knelt down to tend to the peppers first. It would take longer working alone, but it needed to be done. It would fill the hours if nothing else.

While two weeks was nothing to an immortal, time somehow had a way of warping, a way of making the seconds into hours, the days into minutes. Andromache had tracked down the bandits they had been following. Dispatching them was easily done, finding their leader, gathering their movements, and locations. It was easy but time-consuming, luring them into dark corners and allowing the village to breathe without fear of their holdings. Finally, she was done, it was time for her to get back to her family.

Andromache felt the distance with each step she took through the market towards the edge of town. While she had missed them all, the need for her wife hung from her shoulders like a wool cloak. Roma sees flashes of Quynh in every person she passes. Flashes of her clever hands, her dark and sparkling eyes, the curve of her hip against a fruit stall, her laughter on the wind.

After walking through fields and farms for hours she came upon the town square. She spends an eternity dodging through stalls and around the edge of the village. Andromache ran the final distance to their house. As she came upon the door to their cottage, Yusuf is leaning in the entryway, holding out a hand for her pack. “She took her basket out an hour ago.” His face is bright and laughing the way it always is when they reunite, whether they be apart for years or for hours.

She hears Nicolo yelling from the kitchen, “Hurry back you two so we can have supper at a reasonable hour, yes?”

“I make no promises!”

She needs no direction; she knows the path to the grove the way she knows the line of Quynh’s thighs. Andromache enters the grove to see Quynh tending to the new growth. She sets her labrys just out of reach and leans against the bench, breathing the air of home, of the same place as her wife.

Watching a woman could steal your breath. And it’s a different kind of magic to see her hands working the soil rather than a weapon. So often they were fighting or running, or fighting and running. This was a quiet joy, a small reprieve in the setting sun, the stillness of the grove.

She tries to commit the moment to memory. She stands taking in the lines of Quynh’s back, the way her hips hold her weight, the working song she hums so often, her hands folding strawberries into the basket. When she moves silently to kneel by the, their eyes catch and hold. Quynh reaches up to fold a spade into her hand, gentle like butterfly wings and azalea buds and places the basket between them.

Years of knowing how to make their movements easy, build a steady rhythm between them. What leaves to trim, what’s ready to harvest, what should be left on the vine. Steady as heartbeats, timing is everything.

It was a practiced thing too, the way that they made their movements slower as they finished collecting the rosemary, the distance between them shrinking as each woman breathed in the other. Their hands brushing in the basket between them.

They set their tools aside and reach for each other. Cheek to cheek, arms around waists, hand pressing fingers spread wide and digging into cloth. Lips, pink and open, pressed tight to taste, small nips and laughter. Closer still, pulling off blouses and kissing the skin warm. On the ground pressed together, Andromache cups her favorite breast to her mouth and notices the dirt on her hands. She leans back, “We can’t work like this.”

“What?” Quynh's lips parted as she made herself arch into those hands.

Wordlessly, Andromache links their hands together and pulled them between their eyes.

Quynh sits forward, pushing Roma to the side; she blinks slowly, laughs “Race you!” and shoves off the ground to rush through the pomelo trees. Laughing, Andromache throws her head back, “Unfair!” then dashes after her.

Later, when they’re lounging on the shore with Quynh’s head on Andromache’s belly, tracing mindless shapes on her wife’s thigh, Quynh says, “I know that I shouldn’t worry when you aren’t nearby. It just that sometimes I can’t stop it.” She pauses, and Roma strokes her hair once, twice, as she tilts her head back. “I know it’s just a matter of time until we’re together again. Because it’s just you and me.”

Andromache lifts both of their heads so that they can see eye to eye. “Until the end, Solnyshka.”

They walk back to the grove, fingers entwined, hands swinging lightly between them. As they dress, Andromache chuckles and asks, “How much do you want to bet those two will have something to say about our green knees making them wait for dinner?”

“I’m married to you Andromache. I know better than to take a sucker’s bet.”

#andromaquynh secret santa #andromaquynh #tog fic #Moon writes #word count 1k #also let me know if you hate it and I'll write you something else #andromache the scythian #quynh #Quynh of the World #the inherent homoeroticism of citrus #immortal wives

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booleman · 3 years ago

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hey. worked all day (kinda). couldn't finish it. gonna post it on the eighth instead. sorry.

#andromaquynh secret santa

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lilolilyr · 3 years ago

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Ahhhhh Andromaquynh & Floreleine crossover, I am in Love!!!!! Thank you so much Dani omg! This is literally the dream ♡♡♡

Immortals and Librarians - Andy/Quynh + Madeline/Florence

This is my story for @lilolilyr for Andromaquynh Secret Santa 2021!

I really hope you like it lilo! 💕💕💕

and big thanks to @andramaquynhs and @ongreenergrasses for organizing this event!!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020), Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Florence/Madeleine (Gunpowder Milkshake) Characters: Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Quynh | Noriko, Madeleine (Gunpowder Milkshake), Florence (Gunpowder Milkshake) Additional Tags: Crossover, Alternate Universe, Post-Canon, i guess?, First Meetings, Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Librarians, just fluff, and madeline might be a vampire?? as a treat, AndromaquynhSecretSanta Summary:

During a visit to Berlin, Andy decides to introduce Quynh to a couple of old friends at a very special library.

or, Andy and Quynh meet Madeline and Florence and it’s cute.

Keep reading

#sarah-fiers #andromaquynh secret santa #AndromaquynhSecretSanta2021 #andromaquynhsecretsanta #lilo gets gifts #tagged #gift exchange 2022 #gift exchange 2021 #daniwouldnever #andromaquynh #floreleine #tog #gm #crossover #tag later #jan'21 #04.01.21 #aqsecretsanta21

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astrabear · 3 years ago

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Am I secretly hoping that my recipient for the Andromaquynh Secret Santa will be an author that I really like and they’ll be so impressed by my gift and go read all my other stuff and think “wow, she’s such a good writer” and it’ll be a whole “notice me, senpai” thing?

No, but only because by posting it on Tumblr I have made it not a secret anymore.

#Andromaquynh Secret Santa #life of a writer #the eternal search for validation

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lilolilyr · 3 years ago

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Heat of the Moment

1k, rated M, will have an E-rated part 2 but can be read as a stand-alone for now!

Summary:

Andromache and Quỳnh haven't sparred since they have been reunited - Andy didn't want to hurt Quỳnh any more after all the pain she has been through, and Quỳnh was afraid to injure the mortal Andromache.

Now, however, Andy's immortality is back and Quỳnh finally managed to talk her into having a practice fight!

This is my AQ Secret Santa gift for @boutiquetraveltravelboutique, I hope you'll like it <3

#andromaquynhsecretsanta #gift exchange 2021 #gift exchange 2022 #andromaquynh secret santa #gift fic #prompt fic #ao3 link #lilo writes #lilo writes fanfic #andromaquynh #tog #the old guard #tag later #andromaquynhsecretsanta2021

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even-after-a-millennia · 2 years ago

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Found: The Goddess of Lost and Forgotten Things

At the end of January, I was asked to be a pinch hitter for Andromaquynh Secret Santa 2021 for @beepbeepsan. Unfortunately, between a new job and pretty bad writing burnout, it took wayyyyyy longer than expected to finish this fic. So welcome to my Secret Santa/Pride Month extravaganza, I guess? Beep, I'm so sorry it's so late. I hope you like it and you have a great Pride month!

You can read the fic on my ao3 here or under the cut below.

Summary: When Quynh's computer crashes and all her research is lost, she desperately reaches out to the universe. She didn't expect an exhausted, foul-mouthed goddess to appear out of nowhere and land on her couch.

Rated T | 4.7k | Andromaquynh

In Quynh’s defense, she didn’t mean to summon an ancient goddess into her studio apartment. But it was two in the morning, her paper was due by nine a.m., and her computer’s screen had just gone black.

“No, no no no no, no!” she chanted, checking the power cord, hitting the power button, and then smacking random keys trying to get it to come back to life. “FUCK!”

She threw it down on the couch beside her and pushed the palm of her hands into her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying. But her nose was starting to go and tears were starting to form and really, was a Master’s degree worth all this fucking stress?

“If there is some fucking person out there who is the deity of forgotten or lost things who could help me out, I would really fucking appreciate it,” she said, her voice breaking as lights danced behind her eyelids.

Then she realized it wasn’t her eyes doing that. The lights of her apartment were fluttering, and she had a moment of worry she was about to lose power when suddenly, a woman plopped onto her couch beside her.

“What the fuck?!” Quynh shouted, leaping to her feet and throwing the closest textbook she could find at her.

“Ow, fuck!” the woman shouted.

“How did you get in here?” Quynh demanded, hefting another book, ready to throw it. Then she remembered that it was a rental and lowered it slightly. Best to use it as a last resort.

“You summoned me. Why’d you do that?” the woman groaned, dropping her head in her hands.

“My computer died,” Quynh said. “And it’s not like I asked for you specifically!” She realized that the computer in question was halfway under the woman’s body. “Shit, you’re crushing it!”

The woman lifted her head and pulled the computer out from under her. Waving it around, she asked, “This thing is what you lost?”

“My paper on it, yeah. All my research. I’ve had that computer since undergrad, if everything I’ve written on there is gone, there’s no way I’m going to be able to graduate. I don’t have backups anywhere,” Quynh said, her eyes starting to well with tears as she realized all she had lost when that screen had gone dark.

The woman sighed. Then she waved her hand over the computer and Quynh watched with wide eyes as it came back to life.

“There. It’s back. Now leave me the hell alone,” the woman said, getting up.

She walked to the door and Quynh realized she was leaving.

“Wait!” she yelped, not ready to let her go. “Who are you?”

The woman looked back. Her hair was short, but still almost covered her eyes. It was only now that Quynh noticed just how tired the woman looked. Her eyes were older than her face let on.

“Andromache the Scythian,” the woman replied. “But you can just call me Andy.”

Quynh nodded, not really sure how to respond. “I’m Quynh,” she finally settled on.

Andy looked at her a moment then nodded back. “Goodbye, Quynh.”

She was out the door before Quynh could really think why there was such a note of finality in her tone.

Then she was alone in her apartment, where she was pretty sure some kind of magic being just popped into, just to fix her paper because Quynh had asked her to.

Her paper!

“Shit!”

She got back to work, reasoning that she would think about the woman, Andy, more later.

____________________________________

“So I’m pretty sure I summoned someone last night,” Quynh said to Nile as they ate lunch.

Nile stopped mid-chew to raise an eyebrow at her. “Are you going to leave me hanging for the details?”

“My computer died,” and at this, Nile gave a wince of sympathy, “and I just asked for someone who helps with lost or forgotten things to help and suddenly there was a woman in my apartment. She fixed my computer and then left.”

“When was this?” Nile asked.

“Like, two a.m.?”

“And you’re sure it wasn’t a dream?”

Quynh considered. “Well, I had to go relock my door for the night, and I don’t think that a dream would have been able to unlock it in the first place.”

“That’s so weird… Did you get a name?” Nile asked.

“Andromache the Scythian, she said.”

Nile immediately had her phone in her hands and was searching for anything on the woman. Being. Goddess? Even though they had been face to face, Quynh wasn’t really sure what to call her.

“There’s nothing on her online,” Nile said. “No history, no mentions in ancient stories, no mythology, nothing.”

“That is so weird…” Quynh said. “The person in charge of lost and forgotten things, lost to history herself. She didn’t even want to be called upon, I don’t think.”

“What do you mean?”

“She seemed mad when she showed up and said to leave her alone.”

Nile’s brow furrowed. “I wonder why.”

Quynh got an idea. “I’ll ask her!”

“She wanted to be left alone, remember?”

Quynh flapped a hand at her. It was a gesture she had picked up from Nile herself, and she liked to use it whenever she could.

“She seemed… tired. I think she needs something to do, someone to help, even if she doesn’t realize it herself,” Quynh said.

Nile shrugged. “Alright. But if it goes badly, just know that I will say I told you so.”

_______________________________________

Quynh was going to summon Andy later that night, but then she had to do her responses for her classes’ discussion posts and start doing research for the next big paper coming up, so she didn’t even have a chance to do more than fleetingly think about the mysterious woman who had showed up in her apartment until the weekend. Even then, it was past ten o’clock on Saturday night and she was putting down her computer for the first time in hours when she remembered her idea.

“Um, hi, Andromache? I’m a little lost at the moment, I was wondering if you could help me?” she asked her ceiling.

The lights flickered again, then there was a plop onto the couch.

And there she was.

She was wearing the same clothes as last time, a long trench coat over pants and a faded t-shirt, her short hair brushed off her face this time.

“What.”

“Hi,” Quynh said, smiling at her.

Andy softened slightly. If Quynh hadn’t been looking for it, she would have missed it, but a couple of the crinkles around her eyes disappeared and her eyebrows were slightly less frowny than before.

“Hello. Now, what have you lost?”

“Ah, but I didn’t say that I had lost something, did I? I said I was lost,” Quynh said. “And I’m lost because, unless this is all a hallucination, which I doubt because I can feel the couch bending around your weight, how is it that a woman can appear in my room then give me a very specific name, and yet I cannot find any information about her at all?”

Andy sighed. “Some things are best left forgotten, Quynh.”

Quynh raised an eyebrow. “And you think you should be?”

She shrugged. “Only way for me to have peace.”

Quynh cocked her head. “Peace? How so?”

“In between summonings, I don’t really… exist. I can just sink into the nothingness of time and just be. I was hoping this time, I wouldn’t come back.”

Quynh sat there, taking that in.

“Well, that’s horrifying,” she concluded.

Andy blinks at her. “What?”

“You want to stop existing, Andy. That’s not healthy, and you deserved a better existence than that.”

“I don’t really have a choice about not existing, Quynh. It’s just what happens between summons.” And Andy looked so tired as she said it, that Quynh made up her mind on the spot.

“Alright. I evoke you, Andromache the Scythian, to help me get through grad school. Because I am always lost and forget things a lot. Ever since my girlfriend broke up with me last month, I could really use a friendly face around. You’re stuck with me.”

“To what end?” Andy asked.

Quynh shrugged. “Until I graduate, I guess. I’m in my last semester, so just under three months. That okay?”

Andy looked her over and Quynh tried not to squirm under her very probing gaze.

“What’s in it for me?” Andy asked.

It was Quynh’s turn to analyze the woman — well, goddess — in front of her.

“Think of it as one last hurrah before you sink into nothingness,” Quynh said. She didn’t think it was a good idea to lie to a goddess, but here she was.

Luckily, Andy didn’t call her on it.

“Deal,” Andy said, holding out a hand.

Quynh took a deep breath and shook it.

I’m going to somehow keep you alive, Andy.

_______________________________________

Having a goddess who helps with lost and forgotten things around was doing wonders for Quynh’s grades. She got begrudging reminders when assignments were due, help finding her notes when her pile of papers got too high, and another person in her small apartment, filling up the emptiness that had been there before.

They quickly fell into a pattern, with Quynh going to class and leaving Andy in the mornings, going to the library between classes, then coming back and doing homework in the evenings. Her evenings were suddenly full of conversation and even some reluctant laughter.

Andy filled the time slowly going through Quynh’s bookshelves. She didn’t seem picky about what she was reading at first, going from fiction to an old textbook and back again. It wasn’t until about a month into staying with Quynh that Andy held up a sapphic romance and asked, “You have any more like this?”

Quynh did. And when she ran out, she went and got more one by one, trying to sneak them into her collection so that Andy wouldn’t know that she was buying them for her.

The semester was going by quicker than Quynh could have anticipated and midterms nearly destroyed her.

She woke up the day after handing in her last paper to Andy nudging her with her foot.

“Wha?” she asked, disoriented.

“Wake up, you gotta eat. I can tell you forgot to have any real meals yesterday,” Andy said.

Quynh blinked blurrily up at Andy and realized that she was carrying a tray of food. She pushed herself up on her pillows and pushed her hair out of her face.

“Here,” Andy said, holding out the tray.

Quynh took it and saw a stack of toast, a pile of fresh fruits, and a whole package of bacon on it.

“Holy shit, I can’t eat all of this. Sit and help me with it,” Quynh said, scooting over on the bed.

Andy eyed the space, then shrugged and sat down. She popped a whole piece of bacon in her mouth and started chewing.

Quynh had to stop herself from laughing. Throughout her time living with Andy, she had noticed that she was gruff and kind of grumpy, but that at least part of it was a front. Quynh saw through it constantly, like the time Andy had peeled her off the sofa when Quynh had drunk a little too much wine on a night out with Nile. She had laughed at Quynh under her breath, but Quynh had heard it anyway. She held onto that sound as she drifted off to sleep.

The awareness of her roommate had existed since the first time that she had flopped down onto Quynh's couch, but instead of becoming more used to it with time, Quynh had only become more aware of her. She felt every inch of space between her hip and Andy’s, and was keenly conscious of how small her pajama shorts were.

“Thanks for this,” she said, grabbing a piece of toast. She didn’t even care about crumbs. She needed to do laundry anyway.

Andy hummed, the only acknowledgment of her deed.

“How much of a break do you get until your classes start up again?” Andy asked.

“Just over week. Just enough time for me to get used to a completely different sleep schedule before class comes back to fuck it up,” Quynh said with a grin.

Andy huffed out a laugh, looking down at the bedspread. “Do you need me during that time?”

Quynh looked at her incredulously. “I mean, duh. What, you have something else to do?”

Grinning ruefully, Andy replied, “It’s kinda the point that I don’t, Quynh.”

“Right.”

They crunched bacon and toast in silence for a while.

“How were you forgotten?” Quynh asked. She knew she was throwing the question out there unexpectedly, but it had been on her mind for so long that it made perfect sense to say it.

Andy sighed. “I’ve been around for a long, long time, Quynh. Most things in museums are younger than me. There isn’t a record of me because the history of me and my people were wiped from existence. The civilizations that came later destroyed them. There’s a blank spot in history. And that’s where I live.”

“Not anymore, though,” Quynh said. “I’ll always remember you and I’ll make sure other people do too.”

Andy laughed and it wasn’t a happy sound. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Quynh. You are not the first person to inadvertently summon me throughout the millennia. But I still go back to that limbo once they are done with me, no matter what.”

It was Quynh's turn to hum.

“Maybe I just need to dig deeper…” she mused.

Andy looked at her and shoved another huge bite of bacon into her mouth.

“I don’t know how successful you’ll be, but I’ve seen the research spirals you’ve gone down, so I’m just going to say good luck.”

Quynh smirked. “I won’t need it, but thanks.”

Her hair fell into her face as she leaned down for another strawberry. She didn’t think anything of it until she felt fingers running through it, pushing it back behind her ear.

She froze, then looked up at Andy. She was sure that she probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, but her heart was suddenly pounding and she couldn’t make herself look away.

Andy didn’t look unaffected either. Her eyes drifted from where her fingers were curled at the back of Quynh’s neck, up to her chin, before they settled on her lips.

Quynh felt herself leaning forwards, her lips parting slightly as Andy’s face became closer.

Then her phone chimed loudly and they jumped apart.

Clearing her throat, Quynh snatched it up. “It’s Nile. Said she got home safe in Chicago.”

Andy nodded, getting up. “Good. I’m going to go shower.”

Quynh wanted more to ask if she could join almost as much as she wanted to be done with grad school. But she bit her tongue and simply nodded as Andy left the room.

Then she flopped back into her pillows and stared at the ceiling until Andy’s shower was over and she could have her lonely turn.

___________________________________

Quynh thought she was keeping her pining for her reluctant roommate pretty well under wraps until she ran into her ex-girlfriend three weeks before graduation. Sure, she was making herself have headaches with how much she was researching Andy’s history and yeah, she mentally cataloged every touch, deliberate and accidental, that they shared. She thought about their almost kiss more than she slept. Despite all that, she thought she had it handled. But then Andy had to go and ruin all of that.

She stopped by the small bakery three roads down from her apartment on the way back home because no matter how much Andy tried to hide it, she had the biggest sweet tooth imaginable. Quynh had to get them the chocolate croissants because they were usually out when Quynh came in and she could not pass up this opportunity. Also, her finals were fast approaching and Quynh would take every chance for comfort food that she could get.

As she walked out the door, she ran into someone.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t-” she cut off when she saw it was Alexis.

They had met through one of their classes and hit it off. Or Quynh had thought they had until five months into dating, Alexis had dumped her abruptly because a “better prospect” had come up.

Nile had supplied her with so many croissants after that. Only a month later, Andy had appeared in her apartment and Quynh had realized that she hadn’t ever felt anything like she did for Andy. Looking at Alexis now, Quynh was surprised to find that she didn’t feel any leftover emotions for her. Well, except anger.

Alexis didn’t look uncomfortable at seeing Quynh, though. “Oh hey, I was wondering when I would run into you on campus. How’ve you been?”

Quynh let out a semi-hysterical laugh. Apart from being told she was a lesser opportunity and accidentally summoning and then falling for an ancient goddess, not too bad.

“Busy,” she settled on.

“Same. Hey, you wanna get dinner sometime? We could catch up,” Alexis said, her inflection hinting at more than catching up.

Quynh let out another laugh, a lower, uglier one this time.

“No thanks.”

Alexis’ face furrowed in a frown. “Wow, okay. I thought we could be mature about everything that happened.”

Quynh smiled, but it probably looked more like a snarl.

“Sorry,” she said, using her words very deliberately, “I lost the ability to give a fuck.”

She saw someone very familiar manifest behind Alexis and pushed past her to get to Andy.

“Hey,” Quynh said, lifting the brown bag in greeting. “I got you a chocolate croissant.”

Andy hummed, looking from Quynh to Alexis and back again. She came even closer to Quynh and raised a hand, running her fingertips alongside her jawline. Quynh shivered at the touch, unable to take her eyes off of Andy as she leaned in and murmured, “Thanks, Quynh,” before brushing a kiss against Quynh’s lips.

Quynh knew that it was supposed to be a kiss in gratitude, or maybe meant to throw Alexis off. She didn’t really care the minute that she felt Andy’s lips against her own.

The fingers of her free hand plunged into the short hairs at the base of Andy’s neck and pulled her closer, angling her own head so their noses weren’t brushing anymore. She felt Andy pause and pulled back long enough to breathe Andy’s name, making her melt into Quynh. Andy’s hand came to Quynh’s hips, pulling her closer until everything from their hips to their chests were touching. Quynh hummed in pleasure at the feel of Andy against her and pulled back before she got too deep into the moment.

She glanced behind her and saw that Alexis had gone into the shop.

Looking back at Andy, she asked, “Can I teleport with you?”

It took a second for the question to register, then Andy’s eyes cleared and she nodded.

“Awesome,” Quynh said. “Take me home.”

She blinked and missed the moment of transition, only to find herself in her living room.

“Oh, that’s cool. I’m gonna have you do that on days that I’m running late to class from now on,” Quynh said.

Andy laughed, her breath hot on Quynh’s cheek.

“Whenever you need,” she agreed.

Quynh set the croissants down on her secondhand coffee table and pulled Andy close once more.

“I don’t want this to be misconstrued so I’m going to tell you this,” she said, the blatant look of want on Andy’s face making it easier to get the words out, “I really like you, Andy. This isn’t just something I want to do once and get out of our systems. You’re not a one-time thing for me.”

Leaning down, Andy pressed her forehead against Quynh’s. “There was only darkness for a long time for me, Quynh. And then I heard your voice pulling me into the light. I hated that you brought me back, because I didn’t want to be here. But you had me stay. And with every morning that you ran late for class and every night that you were stressed with work, I started to feel alive again. You make me want to be alive again, Quynh. With you.”

Quynh felt tears well in her eyes and leaned forward to peck Andy’s lips softly. “That was always the goal,” she admitted. “I just didn’t think it would be like this.”

Andy smiled and nodded. She leaned down and kissed just below Quynh’s ear, making her shiver, before she murmured, “I’m so glad you found me, Quynh.”

“Always,” Quynh whispered before she pulled Andy’s face up and connected their lips once more. The tenderness of the moment slowly faded as the passion between them grew.

Quynh pulled back after a few minutes to ask, “Bed?”

Andy nodded and Quynh let out an “Oof,” as they suddenly landed on Quynh’s bed.

“That’s going to take some getting used to,” she muttered as Andy kissed her jawline.

Their lips met again and again, hands pushing clothes off, panting intermingling with laughter as a piece of clothing got stuck.

Finally, they were both naked and Quynh took a long moment to just take in all of Andy.

Then she looked her in the eye and said, “You know, I’ve never been able to find my g-spot.”

She grinned. “Wanna help me?”

Andy smirked. “Best use of my powers ever.”

___________________________________

As useful as Andy had been so far this semester, she was just as distracting in the last weeks working up to graduation. They finally had to put a rule in place that they couldn’t touch each other until Quynh got another page written in her final paper, one paper at a time, until they were all done.

It was a great motivator.

Quynh dove into finding out as much as she could about forgotten deities and wrote page after page of what she could find, proposals for future study, ideas for archeological digs that could reveal more.

It helped when the person who lived that history was in her apartment, but she had to find sources that backed up what Andy told. Which was infinitely harder, dammit.

“Hey, Andy, do you know anything about two deities called Yusuf and Nicolò? They keep cropping up in my searches,” she asked her.

“Oh, yeah. They’re the gods of enduring love. We’ve met over the centuries,” Andy said.

“Huh. Thanks!”

The last two weeks were a blur of writing and research and not-sleeping. Finally, finally, she handed in her last paper online.

“The prof wants a paper copy too, so I’m going to print one at the library, drop it off, and then maybe we could cuddle together for a while?” she asked hopefully.

Andy smiled. Her smile had changed a lot in the last few weeks. It wasn’t forced. Wasn’t small. It lit up her eyes and her whole face.

“That sounds good,” she said.

“Okay, see you soon. Love you,” Quynh said, leaning in and giving her a kiss goodbye before she went to grab her keys.

She was two feet away from the door when she realized what she had said and froze. She was almost scared to turn around and see what Andy’s face was doing.

Then she heard, quietly, “Love you too.”

She let out a shaky breath, then rushed back and kissed Andy one more time.

“We can talk about this while we cuddle,” she murmured when she pulled away. “But this professor is a hardass and I need to get him this paper by five.”

Andy huffed a laugh and nodded. “Sounds good.”

Quynh was in a daze all the way to the library, the whole time she printed her paper, even as she handed it over to the professor and left his office.

It wasn’t until she got to her apartment and found it empty that she snapped back to reality. At first, she thought that Andy had just stepped out to get groceries or something. Maybe something to celebrate Quynh’s last assignment. But when she called Andy’s phone, the prerecorded message said that the number was unable to be reached.

“I evoke you, Andromache the Scythian, to help me get through grad school.”

No, there had to be a mistake. Andy wouldn’t leave her, not if she had a choice.

“To what end?”

But what if Andy hadn’t had a choice?

“Until I graduate, I guess. I’m in my last semester, so just under three months. That okay?”

Suddenly, Quynh couldn’t breathe.

What if the void had pulled her back, now that their contract was finished? What if it finally did what she had wished initially and had her cease to exist?

“Andy! Andromache the Scythian, I need you!” Quynh shouted to her empty apartment. It echoed, highlighting the wrongness of being the only person there.

The lights flickered, but Andy didn’t appear.

“Please, Andy, I need you,” she continued, quieter now. “I know you wanted to be forgotten, I know the ache you felt to sink into nothingness. But didn’t that change? You said you loved me. I’m going to be exceptionally selfish and beg you to come back to me. I’m lost without you, Andy. Please,” Quynh begged.

The lights flickered. Then went out.

Quynh let out a sob. She hadn’t even realized that she had been crying until she realized it was hard to breathe with how hard her chest was heaving.

“Andy, please,” she cried in the silence.

Nothing.

Then there was a knock at the door. Quynh wiped her face, trying to get herself under control. It was probably one of her neighbors coming to check on her, or angry at her shouting.

She pushed herself off the couch and felt her way toward the door.

Opening it, she wiped the last of her tears away as she said, “I’m sorry for the noise, I’m-”

Then she froze.

She knew that outline, that body. She had caressed almost every inch of it, worshiped it like the goddess it belonged to deserved.

“Andy?” she asked, her voice cracking.

“Quynh,” she said, her own voice full of emotion in the shadows of the hallway. “Sorry that it took a while. I used the last of my power to get here.”

“The last-?” Quynh broke off, her mind scattering with possibilities. “Is this our last goodbye?” she asked, reaching out to Andy, terrified she would disappear before her, finally dissolve into time and space like she had wished.

The lights came back on just as her hands made contact. And there she was, in her faded band t-shirt and torn gray jeans, combat boots and leather bracelets in place. The circles under her eyes were still dark, but her shoulders were lighter somehow.

“Hopefully, but not in the way you’re thinking,” Andy said. “Can I come in?”

“Of course!” Quynh said, pulling her into her apartment. She couldn’t take her hand off of Andy. If she did, Andy might disappear.

“Hey,” Andy said gently, reaching up and caressing Quynh’s cheek. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”

“I was scared,” Quynh admitted. “I thought the void had taken you back.”

“It tried,” Andy said and Quynh’s hand squeezed even tighter, trying to get her to stay. “I ended up reaching out to some friends. You remember talking about Yusuf and Nicolò?”

Quynh nodded.

“Well, they’re still around too. Pulled me out and helped me with my request.”

“Which was?” Quynh asked hesitantly.

Andy leaned forward and kissed Quynh, quick and gentle. “I want the life I have with you to be my last. I gave them my powers. Should ensure their power for a couple more millennia. I’m human now, Quynh.”

Quynh’s free hand covered her mouth. She was crying again, unable to speak. In moments that she could scarcely allow herself to have, with as much studying she was doing, she had wondered what would happen after their arrangement. After Quynh was gone, long down the road.

She had never imagined this.

“I love you,” she finally choked out. “I want forever with you, I can’t believe we get it-” She threw herself at Andy and together, they tumbled backward on the couch.

“I’m not lost anymore, Quynh,” Andy said into her hair.

Quynh pushed herself up so she could look her in the eyes. “No, you’re not,” she said with a grin. “I found you.”

#andromaquynh #quynh #andromache the scythian #andy #fanfic #my fic #andromaquynh secret santa 2021 #i don't even want to tag it that #it's so late #but it's DONE

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