#featuring abyss herald my beloathed

[it-happened-one-fic]

Meet in the Middle Once More - Dainsleif

Author Notes: Happy Valentines Day! Alrighty, this is going to be a point of view fic. This one is Reader's point of view and it's partner will be from Dain's point of view. Someday I will write and post something that is just straight up fluff for Dain. Today is unfortunately not that day though. So this is angst with some hinted comfort that was written to "You & I" by PVRIS and reader is gender-neutral. I hope you enjoy.

Here's the link to the partner fic: Meet in the Middle Again (Dain's POV)

Type: Angst with implied comfort/romance implied/pining/gender-neutral reader/POV fic

Word Count: 833 words

I exhaled quietly, looking over at the familiar yet mysterious man who stood next to me. A song filtered through the air as we looked on from a distance at the brightly lit village. 

It seemed like they were having some sort of celebration, but all we could hear was the music that filled the dark night air. 

“Is something the matter?” I jolted at Dainsleif’s question, realizing that I’d been caught staring. He turned to look at me with those painfully bright blue eyes that never seemed to miss anything. Not even the smallest of details.

I’d been journeying with Dainsleif for quite some time and I’d learned that he was an incredibly secretive man. And his reasons for being so secretive remained largely unknown. 

At the very least I could tell that whatever burden it was that he was carrying, it was immense. The only thing I really knew was that he had a vendetta against the Abyss Order and that didn’t explain his strange otherworldly nature.

“I was just listening to the music. It sounds….”

“Familiar?” His single word caught me off guard. Because he was right. It did sound familiar. Familiar in a heartbreakingly nostalgic way even though I knew I had never heard the tune before.

But I did know what, or rather who, it reminded me of.

Those strings paired with that driving beat, strangely determined and powerful yet with an air of melancholy. It reminded me of him.

“Yes, I suppose it is familiar… But, I’ve never heard it before. I would’ve remembered it if I had.” My confident assertion was met with a raised eyebrow from the man and I smiled slightly at him. Perhaps my words seemed strange to him, but I knew for a fact that this song would haunt me for the rest of my life. Just like I knew he would.

Oh, it was true. We hadn’t been separated yet, but I could feel it coming just like you could sometimes feel the electricity in the air long before storm clouds appeared in the sky.

Ever since that last fight with that Abyss Herald…. Whatever it was it had said to Dainsleif when I’d been fighting to keep myself from falling off that frail, cracking ledge had shaken my companion.

I didn’t think I’d ever forget the force with which Dainsleif had shoved that abyssal creature away from him as it had cackled. 

Dainsleif had dove for me, catching hold of my wrist and hauling me up and away from the seemingly bottomless pit that yawned beneath me. But as soon as he did so, the Abyss Herald had spoken. 

Its words still haunted me to a degree, “You see Dainsleif? You will lose that one just as you lost your first companion and your land. It’s only a matter of time.”

After that, Dainsleif had begun to pull away and had become less open. The wall he’d built around himself was as thick as it was tall and I knew I couldn’t make it through no matter how hard I tried.

And maybe that was why I stood, silently reaching out for his hands with a smile. He met my gaze, confusion clearly on his face.

“I know you’re going to leave, probably sooner rather than later… But before that, let me make these memories as something to treasure and remember you by.” 

His face said everything. 

Surprise, that I knew what was coming. Withdrawal, to protect himself in the coming days. And regret, possibly that I was correct.

I still smiled though, reaching and taking his hands in mine and prompting him to stand, “Just, please, Dain. Meet me in the middle. I know I can’t hold you here, tied to me…. Because even though I don’t know why you have to leave, I understand that it’s necessary.”

 He slowly stood as I spoke, his warm grip tightening ever so slightly on my hands as his gaze held mine. Unflinching and determined, but with remorse in those eyes that seemed to hold all the stars that shone above us in the night sky.

What followed next would be a memory that would last me for a lifetime and possibly even follow me into the next world.

Our motions were smooth, without need for words as he slowly began to lead me through our first and final dance. Our feet matched the unwavering yet distant beat as he spun us through the grassy hills. Dancing alongside the flickering fireflies under the light of the moon and the stars.

It was odd how so much could be said without any words. Our gazes never left one another, and I could tell that neither of us knew exactly when we would be separated. But something also told me that I wasn’t the only one who hoped we’d meet again.

Because someday, when all the stars aligned, maybe, just maybe, we could meet in the middle once more. Just as we had tonight.