#no questions asked i’m going to the secret gardens of elysium to be with my beloved

[wildsaltair]

stabbing and twisting a rusted metal pitchfork into my ribcage would be less painful than having to watch Maximus die

[pls-let-me-out]

Invisible String

Epilogue 

12th of February

From Will to: the Royal Asshole

landed. where r u? i’m lost

From the Royal Asshole

At the entrance. Where else would I be?

From Will to: the Royal Asshole

where I landed so you could help me find the way out

tbh it’s like u don’t care that I get lost easily

From the Royal Asshole

Turn around, idiot.

 Niccolò has grown even more beautiful during the time they’ve spent apart. Will’s breath is caught in his throat for a moment that feels like forever, and they just stand there, looking at one another, a secret challenge between them, to see who will break first and look away.

Niccolò is growing out his hair, which he told Will about, because he ‘wants to see how long they can get’. (“They are hair, doofus. They can reach your waist, if you let them. Honestly, are you just trying to piss me off?”)

The air is cold, and they both wear several layers of clothing. Niccolò is in New York for ‘very important business’, which means that Will has come all the way here from Austin to spend some time together. Seeing each other only on FaceTime is hard, but Will has to admit that it’s still good. It’s not nearly enough, but it’s something.

Will doesn’t know whether he has moved or Niccolò has, but next thing he knows they are crowding each other’s space, and then hugging so hard it should hurt. The soul-mark on Will’s shoulder throbs, but not in pain. Niccolò still has a faint smell of pomegranate, and Will knows, as he takes a deep breath, that he’s going to deny doing so for the rest of his life.

They finally separate, and Nico takes both his and Will’s luggage. Niccolò is staying in some fancy hotel, while Will is going to be with his siblings, in his old room. When he told them he’d be visiting, Austin just sighed. ‘Where am I going to put my wardrobe? It’s literally all on your bed, Will.’ Will ignored him.

“How is everything going?” Niccolò asks, as they exit the airport, and cold air comes hard and unforgiving.

Will shivers. “It’s going, I guess. My grandma is happy to have me there with her for a bit, and I think we needed it.” He tucks his scarf over his nose, sniffling in the cold. A car stops in front of them, too fancy to not attract any attention.

Will gives Niccolò a side-glance. “How fancy, Your Highness.”

Niccolò blushes, but it might be the cold. “Fuck off, will you?”

Will bites back a grin. “Maybe I will. Maybe I Fitz-will.”

Niccolò shakes his head, but a fond and tender smile breaks out on his face, and they climb inside the car. Warm air is far more welcome than that outside. Niccolò rubs his hands together, with a little pout on his face that makes him look even more beautiful.

“How is your grandmother doing?” he asks.

He often does, he’s nice like that. He always sounds interested in Will’s life, even when Will himself realizes how boring it should be, to someone who lives between throne rooms and ancient gardens. Will tells him of his grandmother’s friend, Alice, but he doesn’t say that she’s trying to set him up with his daughter. People don’t recognize him as Prince Niccolò’s soulmate, and the people of his grandmother’s neighborhood know him as Naomi and Apollo’s son.

Will asks him how things are going in Elysium. Niccolò talks about his father, who stubbed his toe in a wall the other day, and has shouted so hard that the guards rang the bell, thinking they were under attack at three in the morning. As he tells the story, Niccolò leans forward to laugh, and hits his forehead against the driver’s seat.

It’s easy to forget the way they said goodbye the day after Christmas. They have been texting almost non-stop ever since, and sometimes they called each other, even if hanging up hurts.

“So, this event of yours,” Will says. He clears his throat. “What time does it end?”

“Late.” Niccolò huffs, crossing his arms on the chest. It seems like they’ll be going to be stuck in traffic for quite some time, but he’s looking out of the window as though he’ll never be here again. “I don’t even want to go there.”

“Prince business and all that,” Will encounters. “You don’t have much choice, do you?”

“Not really, no.” He clears his throat, and it’s terrible how awkward things get when they both remember he’s prince at the same time. “Unless I renounce the crown, I guess.”

Oh. Yes, that. Will snorts, amusement clear in his face as he flashes Niccolò another side-eyed glance. “As if.”

“Yah, I could live like one of you peasants,” Nico grumbles, sinking a bit in his seat.

Will snickers. “You peasants? Say that in Texas, and you’ll get shot.”

“I really hope that’s not a threat, principino,” Niccolò says, his voice low, little more than a whisper, as smooth as a caress.

Will blushes a deep red, ignoring the shiver that runs down his back, he looks out the window. Yeah, the view is very interesting. He tries to keep his eyes there for the rest of the ride, but he doesn’t have half the necessary strenght, not when Niccolò is sitting right next to him.

When he turns, Nico is already looking at him.

 Kayla opens the door with a loud shriek, making Austin startle a bit. He pushes her aside, to step up and hug Will. He takes Will’s face in his hands, turning it left and right.

“What the hell? How do you have a tan?”

“I’ve been in Texas, you know, this past month or so,” Will says, words muffled by the way Austin is squishing his cheeks.

Austin hums. Kayla shrieks again, jumping back, and only then does Will realize that he hasn’t introduced Niccolò yet. He takes a step to the side, allowing everyone’s attention to shift.

“So, this is my–”

A dark aura falls upon the presents. A glittery, sparky Drew Tanaka steps in Will’s visual, wearing only a large flannel shirt he recognizes as his own, open to reveal a white, coffee stained t-shirt. Oh, yes, Kayla’s style has rubbed off on her.

“And who might that be?” She asks, managing to look intimidating. She throws her hair behind her shoulder, looking at Niccolò like he’s some kind of disease.

“As I was saying,” Will responds, grabbing Niccolò’s wrist to drag him forward, steadying him when he stumbles. “This is Niccolò, Prince of many things, and you might call him His Royal Highness on the days he’s particularly generous. On the other days, I suggest you don’t call him at all, because he can be a real bitch.”

Nico rolls his eyes, offering his siblings his hand. “Sorry about him, I’m sure you know better than me to never listen to him. It’s very nice to meet you, and just Nico is fine.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Kayla says, blushing to the tip of her ears as they shake hands.

“Well, are you going to offer us food or what?” Will says, interrupting Nico and Drew’s sudden staring contest. Their hands drop back to their hips. He drops his luggage in Niccolò’s hands. “Come, you can drop it by my bed.”

“I didn’t clean it!” Austin shouts after him. Will responds with a groan, louder when he realizes just how unclean Austin has left it.

“Who’s Drew to you?” Niccolò whispers when they are alone in the room.

Will blinks. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Niccolò quickly retreats. “Was just wondering. So, is the saxophone Austin’s?”

Said saxophone is at the corner of the room, on a pile of books, shiny even if it has been used for many years. Will remembers Niccolò’s question a few moments later.

“Oh, yeah. It’s a gift from our father.” He grimaces. “I always thought I’d buy him another one when I became a doctor. I don’t like the thought of it being our father’s gift.”

“His birthday is on a week though, right?”

“Yeah. Next Wednesday, I’m going back to Texas on Thursday.”

“Oh, someone’s getting wasted then.”

Will throws him a sock, but Niccolò dodges it with a grin.

“I used to dodge bullets, you loser,” he says. “Before even having breakfast.”

Will narrows his eyes. That’s kind of a game of Nico’s, saying crazy shit about the army, and most of the time Will can’t guess whether he’s joking or serious. Even now. It sounds incredible, but he’s got that serious expression on his face.

“That’s true,” Will says.

Niccolò laughs, a sound Will misses even before it’s over. “Yeah, every day they woke up the Prince of their nation at dawn, so that they could shoot him.”

Will bites his tongue. “I knew that wasn’t true.”

“You still got it wrong. How much are we at? Fifteen for you, seventy-three for me?”

Will pulls him down on his bed, falling on Austin’s papers and schoolbooks. He hopes they aren’t too important.

“Get the stick out of your ass,” Will says, whacking him with the first textbook he finds. Niccolò has the audacity of laughing.

Someone clears their throat, and Will turns, only realizing he’s straddling Niccolò’s lap when he notices how red Kayla’s cheeks are.

“We have some coffee.” She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, looking everywhere but at Will. “I also took out the good cookies.”

“Oh, dear, this is a great occasion then,” Will says, getting off Niccolò. He stumbles, but doesn’t fall. “By the way, do we still have that stain of mold under the window?”

Kayla nods. “It actually has a child now.”

Will pouts. “It’s a manifestation. It’s because it missed me.”

“Are you comparing yourself to a stain of mold?” Niccolò asks, elongating his step to avoid a shoe abandoned in the middle of the floor. “That’s very unflattering but also very realistic of you.”

Kayla bursts out laughing, as Will grabs another pillows from the sofa and keeps on hitting Niccolò. Once again, he only laughs harder, and soon enough Will is, too.

“How’s being a prince like?” Drew asks Nico, as soon as they sit on the sofa.

“I thought you’d know with the way you put yourself on a throne,” Austin responds. She sends him a saccharine smile.

From what Will’s heard, she and Kayla haven’t changed all that much since they’ve gotten together. They just look at each other like the other has hung up the moon in the sky herself, and sometimes they hold hands.

“It’s not very exciting,” Niccolò says with a shrug. “I guess it’s like being famous, I just wear a crown sometimes.”

“And the cool, black military dress,” Will adds. He doesn’t add that Niccolò is extremely hot in that, and the thought alone makes him blush.

“It’s called a uniform, Fitzwilliam,” Niccolò says, tilting his head to the side. “You ever heard the word?”

Will blows him a kiss. Niccolò diverts his eyes, and Will counts it as a win.

“I guess you have lots of beautiful women around,” Drew adds, bringing the cup to her mouth. She grimaces at the taste. “Who wouldn’t want to be with a prince, after all?”

“Are you trying to seduce him?” Austin blurts out with a frown.

Drew pinches him in the leg, hard. “I’m making conversation, dear.”

“Don’t make conversation about his bedroom’s activity,” Austin hisses.

“Don’t be so fucking rude,” she responds.

“Alright!” Kayla exclaims, a blush deep on her cheeks, her grip on the cup a little desperate. “Why don’t you tell us more about your interests? Your hobbies?”

“By the way, talking about interests,” Drew jumps in again, this time looking at Will like a predator seeing its prey. “Remember Sherman?”

“No!” He exclaims. “Sherman who? Sherman… I don’t know any Sherman. Mh, no. You got the wrong Will, sweetheart.” He takes a long sip of coffee, only to sputter half of it back in the cup. “Who the hell didn’t put sugar in my coffee?”

“Me, because I’m not your fucking barista, you fucking rude animal,” Drew responds.

Austin sighs, leaning back in the armchair. He rubs his temples. “What even is this conversation.”

“I wouldn’t have given your number to Sherman if I’d known you’d be so rude about everything,” Drew continues, holding the cup as if it were a glass of wine.

Will spits his sip of coffee right on the table. He coughs, and Austin hits his back. Niccolò sends him a confused glance, but the rest of his face is completely blank. Will is pretty used by now to picking up his moods, by the sound of his voice and the crease of his brow. Niccolò still hides pretty much most of his emotions, but there’s an instant when he can’t, and the crease of his eyebrows betrays him. Now he’s skipped it, somehow. A pang of pain shoots through Will’s heart.

She turns to Niccolò. “He’s a friend of Will’s family’s son. Didn’t your grandma really like him, Will?”

“She didn’t,” Austin answers for him.

“Oh, I think you’re wrong,” Drew says, waving her hand in dismissal.

Kayla puts her hand on Drew’s on the cup holder. “Let’s have a word alone, mh?”

When they return from Kayla’s bedroom, Drew doesn’t add a thing about Sherman. She and Niccolò politely ignore each other, until he has to leave for the gala, or whatever he is attending.

 Niccolò leaves around seven pm. Will hugs him on the doorstep, and if his breath hitches a little, no one has the heart to point it out. Afterwards, Will stays on the cramped sofa with his siblings and Drew, somehow everyone is on someone else’s lap. They watch Golden Girls, and Drew makes an Instagram Story. She’s careful not to take Will’s face in, he’s been trying not to appear too much on her social media. When he does, people remember that he’s Prince Niccolò’s soulmate, and somehow it ends up on gossip sites. He isn’t ready to be under the spotlights again.

Eventually, Austin and Kayla drift off to sleep, and Drew speaks softly to him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have butted in.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” He plays with Austin’s hair as he talks, avoiding Drew’s eyes, and everything he might see in them. “I never really told you what happened on our last day together, did I?”

“You haven’t told anyone, no.”

Will finally looks up, and Drew is already looking at him. “I don’t even know how to say it. We talked about… well, everything. He told me he couldn’t be with me, it wouldn’t be fair to either of us, we’d have to sneak around, hiding behind everyone’s back. He’d have to get married to a nice girl someday, anyway.”

“But he loved you.”

Tears burn in the back of Will’s eyes. “He said he knew he was already falling for me.”

“God. That’s awful.”

“Yeah.” He takes a deep breath, deep enough for his lungs to hurt. “We spent the night together.”

“You… like, sexually?”

He doesn’t respond. “And it was nice, the next day. Before we left the house. I thought that if I knew what it would be like to be with him, then eventually I’d be fine. I’d be satisfied with the night and half-day we’d had together.”

“But you aren’t.”

“I just want to go back there, to that day. Like, I wake up in the morning and I want to see him, what he’d be like with my grandma, if he’d be nice with her friends when they come over. You know the neighbor’s daughter? She has a son, now. He’s, like, four. He was learning to use his bike, and he fell, and then I saw his father going there, picking him up and everything. And I realized that I only once saw Niccolò with a kid, and it was in the middle of a packed road, but he was so nice with her, I mean he was talking in Italian, but she kept on giggling and everything.”

“You want kids with him?”

“I just realized that it has never been a possibility for us, and it hurt so fucking much I couldn’t breathe. I just–it’s so unfair. I wish he weren’t a prince and so famous, but then I realize that he is, and that’ a part of him.”

Drew looks down at her lap, playing with the hem of her shirt. “You always despised the thought of soulmates.”

“I know.”

“I was just saying. I was, I mean. I didn’t think you’d ever change your mind.”

“It was before getting to know him. He makes me all–he makes me feel like the world isn’t such a shitty place. And it shouldn’t even be possible, because he’s pessimistic and he pretty much says the world sucks. But he also wants to make it a better place.”

“Now I feel awful for how I treated him.”

Will laughs. “Yeah, the Sherman-thing was pretty shitty. By the way, I really don’t want his number.”

“I guessed.” She grimaces. “I haven’t actually given him yours.”

Will chuckles again.

 15th of July

Will rubs his eyes tiredly, still in his pajama, and almost jumps out of his skin when something attacks him.

“Happy birthday, Willie!” Jonathan screams.

Will smiles, taking Jonathan off the ground and throwing him in the air. A smile blooms on his face, so strong he almost forgets the pain in the back of his heart. Kayla, Austin, Valentina and Grace are standing next to his grandmother, with matching smiles on their faces. Will opens his arms, adjusting Jonathan on his hip, and they all come crushing against him.

“Drew, Mitchell and Piper are coming in the afternoon,” Valentina says. She’s fifteen, and she’s actually thinking of becoming a pediatrician. She lives in San Francisco with her mother, and spends a couple of weeks each summer with their family in Argentina. “Lacy couldn’t make it.”

“Thanks for being here,” Will says. “Y’all are looking good.”

Kayla giggles. “I almost forgot how Texan you get when you’re here.”

Will groans. “Gimme a break.”

Jonathan laughs, throwing his fists in the air. “Gimme!”

Will kisses the top of his head. He hears a shutter going off, and when he glances up he sees his grandmother with a camera in his hands. She has a huge grin on her face, and the flowery dress she wears only on special occasions.

“We’re opening the gifts when everyone comes here!” She says. “And now y’all go off to prepare the table, Willie and I got a talk to get through.”

Austin groans, which earns him a smack on the head by grandmother. She puts her hands on her hips, until only she and Will remain in the room. She stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, and hooks her arm in his.

“Come see the geese. They’ve returned in the pool this morning,” she says.

Will grimaces. “Disgusting.”

“Shut up, boy.”

Outside the temperature is far too hot, the sun shines far too bright, but they walk to the garden in the back. There are no geese in the pool. Will turns to his grandmother, but she shushes him, and sits on the wooden bench, under the shadow of the apple tree. He sits beside her.

“Has something happened?” he asks.

His grandmother eyes the too long curls on his forehead. Will can feel them sticking to his damp skin. He brushes them away, but a second later they fall back.

“Your father sent you a gift,” she says. She takes a letter from her pocket, and passes it to him. “Do you want to read it alone?”

“Later. I’ll read it later.”

“Alright.”

 Every year Will’s family flies to Austin for his birthday, and they stay at his grandmother’s house for the summer. They spend the morning together, then in the afternoon Drew’s family reaches them. It’s the first year since his brothers’ death that Piper comes.

Will is in the pool with her when he feels it, a tugging from his shoulder, his soul mark pulsing. He lets his empty glass fall from his grip, his fingers going limp.

Niccolò is standing next to his grandmother, shaking Jonathan’s hand with a shy smile as Valentina watches the scene unfold with her jaw gone slack.

“Fancy seeing you here, you gremlin!” Piper exclaims, shaking Will from his trance.

His grandmother has a hand on Niccolò’s shoulder, and he’s still holding Jonathan’s, but Will can see the way he turns softer around every edge when his eyes meet Will’s, comfort falling onto him.

Will doesn’t even realize he’s climbed out of the pool, until he is in Niccolò’s arms, and his clothes are getting wet.

“Ooops,” Will says when they let go, and Niccolò’s clothes stick to his body.

“Go, Will!” Drew shouts from where she’s sunbathing in the sun. “You still got your sneaky techniques to get the boys naked!”

Niccolò blushes a deep red, but Will just flips Drew off. His grandmother smacks him on the head, but it’s worth it.

“Is this how we welcome guests, children?” she asks.

Jonathan, the traitor, shakes his head, tugging her dress. “I shook his hand! You saw?”

Grandmother pats him on the head, a smile stretches on her wrinkled face. “Finally someone educated in this household.” She turns back to Niccolò. “Take everything you need. If you can’t find something, just ask Will. He’s missed you, you know?” She caresses Niccolò’s cheek, which has him blushing a deep shade of red, and leaves to go back inside.

“I really did miss you,” Will whispers softly. He intertwines his fingers to Niccolò’s, and tugs him towards the others. “You ever met Piper’s siblings?”

Niccolò shakes his head, but Will is blinded by the light in his eyes, and almost misses it.

 They spend the night together, but this time they only stargaze, laying on the old deckchairs near the pool. Niccolò teaches him about constellations, and Will has lived in LA, his best friend is Drew, so he already knows. He doesn’t say, and just listens. If the smile on Niccolò’s face is anything to go by, he already knows.

 19th of August

Nico spends the weekend in Livigno with Hazel. Every corner of the house is Will, and his smile, and his laughs.

“Do you miss him?” She asks, as they watch the TV in the living room.

Nico doesn’t find it in himself to answer. He looks back down, at the speech he is holding in three days in front of an audience filled with important people he doesn’t even know the names of. Taylor Swift’s Christmas Tree Farm blasts from TV, and Hazel along under her breath. Nico should have built a blanket fort with Will.

 23rd of September

In New York, Will tells Nico that he wants to teach in kindergarten, and every time he talks about it his eyes shine, in a way they never did when he talked about medicine.

They sit on a bench in New York, and Nico asks Will a question he’s had on the tip of his tongue for some months now.

“Will you get your mark covered up?”

Will blinks, as though the question is a sudden thunder, and maybe it is. Nico continues eating his hotdog. It’s too spicy for him, his tongue burns, and so do his eyes. His heart is thundering in his chest, and he isn’t sure why. (That’s a lie. He knows.)

“I never thought about it. Not since I’ve known you.”

Nico’s shoulders relax. He sends Will a side smile, but there’s still a lump in his throat.

 6th of November

Nico talks to his therapist. She asks him how he feels about Will, why they haven’t been talking much lately. It’s easy to trust her with the truth after all these years. When he was younger, he’s learnt that telling her half-assed truths doesn’t help him. He doesn’t go every single week to her studio anymore, but sometimes he needs help processing how he feels.

“Guilty,” he says, after thinking about it for a while. “He’s stuck with me, and he hasn’t done anything to deserve it. He deserves a soulmate that can be with him.”

His therapist, Juniper, tilts her head to the side. “If you had the possibility, would you like to be with him romantically?”

She’s one of the first people he’s told about his sexuality. Actually, she had been with him for quite some time when Cupid ‘exposed’ him for the first time. It was a moment of deep bonding for them, she told him it explained many things about his behavior. It also sucked and gave him trauma on too many levels to count, but Nico is trying to see the positive side.

“I don’t have the possibility. Day-dreaming about it won’t help me.” Nico’s tone is cold, far too cold in the regards of such a question. Heat comes to his cheeks. He scratches his neck, even that feels warm. “Sorry, I–I think I would like it.”

“Maybe it would help you feel less guilty if you talked about it with him. I shouldn’t say my personal opinion, but he sounds like a very sweet guy. Someone you can have a real dialogue with.”

 9th of November

Will crushes Niccolò in a hug as soon as he sees him. Then, before he can reciprocate, he throws him back and flicks him on the forehead.

“Is this the way to behave?” He turns on his heels, hands on his hips, and walks right back in the apartment. He talks again only after the door is shut behind Niccolò. “You fucking ghosted me!” He sits on the sofa, it creaks dangerously, but it holds on. “You can just tell me when I’m too much, or, I don’t know, if I…when I annoy you.”

Niccolò’s hand is on Will’s shoulder, and then he’s the one being crushed in a hug. He holds onto Niccolò’s shirt, inhaling his perfume. He ignores the tears in his eyes. Will finds himself caged on the couch by Niccolò’s knees on either side of him. Eventually, they find themselves with their foreheads against one another’s. They haven’t been so close since Christmas.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep on doing this,” Niccolò says, his words daggers in Will’s heart.

“I know. I know, it hurts me too.” Will sniffled. Niccolò’s hair are dark and soft, and he presses a kiss on his head. Niccolò is tall, but now he feels so small in his arms. “It hurt more when I didn’t have you anymore.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

 23rd of December

The door opens, and Will is there, in the middle of his grandmother’s house, with his siblings scattered around him. Lidia, Will’s grandmother, hugs Nico, thanking him for coming, and saying words he can’t pay attention to, because his gaze is on Will, who’s looking back at him, and his heart skips a million beats.

Nico has brought Jason, Leo and Piper with him. Drew is already here, with Kayla’s head on her lap, and Jonathan talking her ear off about the gift he’s asked. Jason deposits their gifts under the tree (Nico has asked Austin what to bring to each of them, he didn’t want to be unprepared).

 24th of December

Will finds Niccolò in the garden. The moon has been high in the sky for the past few hours, but the air is still warm. Will sits with him in the grass, linking their fingers.

“Can you believe it’s already a year?”

Niccolò smiles. “Next year we could fly to Livigno, if you wanted to. Bring everyone there. Do your siblings have passports?”

A smile grows on Will’s face, and he doesn’t even try to stop it. “Would you really do that?”

“If they are okay with having me for Christmas again.” He clears his throat, as he always does before starting a rant coming from his self-deprecation. “I’d leave you the house if you wanted to, without me. It’s not a problem, of course, we could–”

Will puts a hand on his mouth, stopping him. “But next year you should bring Hazel, too.”

Nico takes the hand off, holding on to his wrist even afterwards, although he’s also trying to maintain a frown on his face. “Would you like that?”

“We’ve been calling each other since Halloween.”

“Halloween?”

“Yeah. We saw each other, she was in New York with Annabeth and the others.” Will shakes Niccolò’s fingers off his wrist, to intertwine their fingers. “Didn’t she tell you?”

“Yeah, yeah, she did.” There’s a deep blush on Niccolò’s face, and he shouldn’t like it so much. “You also sent me a selfie with her.”

“She gets along a lot with Austin. A bit less with Drew, for some reason.”

“Some reason?”

Will lets his head fall on Niccolò’s shoulder, something he wouldn’t do normally, but it’s almost Christmas. He can have this on Christmas. “Drew can be a bit hard around the edges. As sharp as her eyeliner.”

“She hates me. Hated, whatever. Now she just looks at me strangely. Suspiciously.”

“We used to date. For a couple of years, but then–it was back when we lived in LA with my parents, we were neighbors. I really did think we’d last forever.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. After my brothers died, I moved here with my grandparents. I was shitty to Drew, I dealt really badly with grief. I talked with my parents only once since. You can ask me how my brothers died, if you want to.”

Niccolò hesitates, just a second, then his hand squeezes Will’s, and he talks. “How did they die?”

“Overdose, the both of them. Lee first. He was at a party with my father, but dad left him alone, and he overdid it. Michael a couple of months later. He and Lee were really close, and he–he did die of overdose, but he did it on purpose.”

“And your mom?”

“I’m her only child. We just don’t have a relationship. I don’t even hate her. I don’t know her enough for that.”

Will tries to smile. Nico wraps his arms around him, and Will hides his head in the crook of his neck.

 27th of June

They talk over the phone every day, and Will calls Nico every night before going to sleep.

“I miss you,” Will says, and his voice is husky, a bit raspy, but his tone is soft.

I miss you, too. These days, I miss you so much I forget I do, and think the longing in my chest has always been there. “I know. Drew told me you’ve been turning that friend of yours down.”

Nico can imagine the frown on Will’s face. “Drew should mind her own business.”

“Why do you turn him down?”

“I’m not interested in him.”

Hearing these words shouldn’t make Nico so happy. They’re trying to move on, the both of them. If Nico doesn’t, nothing changes. He will still marry some girl, maybe be friends with her, have a child together, and die as king. If Will doesn’t, he will be lonely for the rest of his life.

“It might help, though. I–I assume the reason you’re turning him down. Don’t wait for me, Will.”

Will sniffles, and Nico closes his eyes. He closes them so hard his head starts hurting. He almost doesn’t breathe, so Will can’t hear how broken it is. He is.

“You shouldn’t be stuck with me,” Nico says. His words are spoken quietly, so much it’s a wonder how Will hears him. “I’m sorry.”

Will’s sniffles become louder. “I’m not stuck with you. How can you say that, when you make me feel free?”

Nico shuts his eyes tighter. He opens them again. There’s a photo of him with Bianca on the wall in front of them, one of the few he keeps around. He and Bianca are sitting at their table in their house in Venice, with pencils scattered around, as they draw with passion. Nico can’t remember what he was drawing, in the photo he is covering his paper with his whole body, as he leans forward to watch Bianca’s drawing.

 29th of June

Niccolò is at the front door of Will’s apartment.

“I wanted to check in on you,” is all he offers as an explanation.

 17th of December

“Oh, we broke up,” is all Will offers as an explanation, when he and his family land in Milan, a car waiting for them to bring them to Livigno, and his boyfriend of a couple of months isn’t with them.

Niccolò nods with a tight smile, but worry is clear in his eyes. Does he feel like Will is some kind of burden? Is that what it is about? Will turns away, taking his grandmother’s luggage.

Reyna and Hazel are waiting for them at the house. Will has never met Reyna before, she has never been able to come with Niccolò when he visits. She warms up to him quicker than he thought she would, saying Niccolò has talked plenty about him, and it makes Will’s heart flutter in a way it shouldn’t. His soul-mark pulses every second they are in the same room, yet not touching or at least close. Will uses it as an excuse to hang off of Niccolò’s arm for the rest of the night.

“And there, Lidia,” Niccolò says as he and Will show him the house. “Is where Will punched my cousin Percy in the face, thinking he was a burglar.”

Will blushes. His grandmother’s laugh echoes through the house, and Niccolò looks smug and proud. For a moment or two, Will can’t breathe. He belongs here, and Niccolò belongs with him, too. His eyes sting, and he looks away.

 30th of June

Will visits Nico in Rome, in Italy. They travel by bike, and they are on a bridge over the Tevere, whose name Will can’t pronounce, but it’s close to San Pietro. It’s filled with people, and Will is looking at a little girl braiding her friend’s hair, one has red hair, the other is a brunette. When he looks forward again, Nico is some meters away, with the sun kissing his face so well, and his hair getting longer, almost enough to be kept in a ponytail. He smiles, and laughs at something a man says in Italian. He laughs, and over every other noise, it reaches Will.

He curses loudly, falling to the ground, but falling even harder for Niccolò, and now he knows.

He’s in love. Also, he has scraped his knees and a strange bruise with the shape of an almond appears on his cheek the next day.

He’s in love, and he’s been for a very long time, maybe even years.

 25th of December

“I keep thinking of our first Christmas together,” Niccolò says.

Hazel’s laugh reaches them from the living room. They are even more this year. Hazel, Reyna, Frank, Piper and her siblings, Jason, Leo, Percy and his family, Annabeth and Will’s family. Earlier, they even had a video-call with Apollo. He’s trying. They’re all trying.

Will still hasn’t decided what to reply, when Niccolò shakes his head and takes a step back.

“I can’t do this anymore,” he says. “I can’t stand it.”

Will’s eyes widen. His hands shake, the glass of water he had been filling falls in the sink, cracking. The house is filled with loud people, there are a million other sounds, but it’s as loud as a bomb in the kitchen. “What–what do you mean?”

He heard his father saying that to his mother, a long time ago, and the next day he moved out. They separated, asked for the divorce, and now they don’t talk anymore. Will can’t let that happen. He can’t.

He surges forward, and kisses Niccolò square on the mouth. They haven’t done anything like that in a very long time, since that first Christmas together three years ago, when they were barely more than children. Even now, they aren’t all that grown.

Nico relaxes against him. He kisses back. Through the years, Will has always thought that yes, maybe Nico could be interested in him that way, but that they would never be able to do something like this again. That if Will kissed him, Nico would tell him they couldn’t, and step back.

Nico doesn’t step back. They have to break apart somehow, sometime later, but they don’t look away. Nico’s eyes are so, so dark. Will is so, so in love.

“That I can’t do anymore,” he says. His voice is warm, all kinds of soft, and he leaves a trail of pecks on Will’s cheeks, probably one for every freckle. “This I want to do forever.”

 27th of December

It’s all over the news when Nico travels back with Will to America. It’s all over the news, that he’s decided to step away from the crown, and Hazel is now Crown Princess. They have talked about it, and it was her who convinced Nico that she was okay with it, it was something she wanted to do. She also said that she noticed Nico wasn’t happy, hadn’t been for a long time, and that his eyes always wondered to faraway places, even when they were together.

“If being with him makes you happy, and being here and having the crown on your head doesn’t, then I want you to do it.”

During the flight, Nico’s hand stays on Will’s, his thumb stroking with such tender movements over Will’s knuckles, it hurts a bit. They go back to Will’s apartment. Nico is going to look for one of his own, not too far, even though he still has his grandfather’s money if not the Crown’s, so he could buy a whole condo in Manhattan. He wants to be close to Will, close enough to never have to miss him again.

When they are in their pajamas, Austin and Kayla in their rooms, Nico presses a kiss to Will’s forehead, their sides flush together, their feet on the coffee table. There’s a show on the TV, and Nico should thank the director. If not for the plot, since he hasn’t followed it half-enough to know what it talks about, for the way the lights from the TV kisses Will’s face.

“I missed you, too,” Nico says softly. “All those years. I never said it, but I did, too.”

Will lets his head fall on Nico’s shoulder, and takes Nico’s hand to hold it on his lap. He looks up at Nico, through a thick layer of eyelashes, and he smiles. A little smile, because it may take a while for them to be completely okay, but they have all the time in the world now.

“I know,” is all he says.

[hq-cuties-pls]

Queen of Crows: Daichi x Reader

This is a commission I'm posting with the commissioner's go-ahead. Please enjoy this Mythology/Arranged Marriage AU

~Admin Emma

***

You’d always known you had a destined prince. Your parents told you all time time. As a girl, it had been a story. Something with which to play pretend, but it wasn’t real. You would take your pretend prince on adventures, saving him from monsters and solving puzzles and exploring the little patch of foggy woods near your apartment building. Your prince became something of an imaginary friend, but grounded child that you were, you knew it was make-believe. 

It was kid stuff… until you actually met him. 

On the day you turned 15, your apartment was paid a visit by Gods. They didn’t specifically say they were Gods, but you knew. Being in their presence was something akin to standing at the center of a storm. His father was a tall man, broad shouldered and strong. His features were hard and square, and his face was unnervingly, agelessly smooth despite the white shock through his dark hair. His mother, on the other hand, was the opposite. Soft where his father was hard, warm where he was cool, golden where he was pale. Her eyes shifted unnervingly between spring green, summer gold, earthen brown, and deep black… it was almost nauseating to watch. The aura surrounding them was unmistakable… you felt wrong for looking directly at them. Some ancient instinct wailed for you to drop to your knees, prostrate yourself before them… 

Then, you met Daichi. 

He looked about your age, with his father’s broad features and his mother’s warm coloring. He saw you and dipped into a formal bow, but he didn’t say anything. You didn’t know what to say, either. So you just bowed back… that seemed right. 

“My name is Daichi, future God of crows, carrion, and scavengers.” 

“Um… I’m ____. Please, take care of me.” 

“Lord Hades.” Your father’s sudden entrance broke the strange tension that passed between you. “Lady Persephone. So glad you could join us. Please, come in.” 

“Thank you for having us,” the man--Hades--said smoothly, escorting his wife by the arm. “I’m pleased we were able to arrange these things amicably. These negotiations used to be… quite barbaric.” 

You shivered… you didn’t know much about Greek mythology (reality… unless you were running the worst fever and this was the wildest fever dream) but the image of Andromeda chained to a rock certainly came to mind. It took so long to process what you were seeing that before you knew it, Hades and Persephone were seated across from your parents, tea was being served, and the only empty spot at the table was right next to Daichi. If you didn’t know, he’d look like any other boy from your class. Maybe one you wouldn’t even notice… he looked so normal. 

“Let us be frank,” Persephone said, folding her elegant brown hands in front of her. “We’ll spare you the unsavory details, but there is a prophecy. As we explained to your wife, ____-san, we firmly believe your daughter is key to circumventing said prophecy.” 

Despite the tumult of questions you suddenly had, there was an eerie--almost unnatural sense of calm. In short, your parents were negotiating your… your marriage. To Daichi. A future God. Figures you’d only read about in storybooks and class textbooks were having tea in your livingroom, negotiating the ins-and-outs of your eventual wedding. 

“We’ll wait until they’re 25, of course,” Persephone offered, petting her husband’s arm. “We’d like them to have a normal childhood, if at all possible.” 

“And we’ll make as many concessions to your...ah… faith?” Hades turned to his wife, as if to check his word choice. She nodded and he continued, “Yes, faith, as we can. However, in order for the union to be binding, it will have to be in the Underworld.” 

Surprisingly, Daichi was the one who interjected angrily, “You don’t have to talk about us like we aren’t in the room. I’m right here.” 

“Apologies, son,” Hades said, almost patronizing. He patted his son awkwardly on the head, and it looked like Daichi barely resisted the urge to swat at his father’s hand. Something about this amused you, drawing a small laugh out of your chest. 

“These negotiations are, unfortunately, necessary, my love.” Persephone smiled gently at you, even though she was talking to Daichi. “But you two can go spend some time together. Maybe get to know each other while we speak to ____’s parents?” 

“That might be wise,” your father said with his own easy smile. “____, maybe you should take Daichi-kun and make some more tea.” 

You shrugged, secretly grateful for an excuse to get out of the living room. Whether or not Daichi came with you, well… it’s not like you actively disliked him. You didn’t know him. Yet, it seemed that you didn’t have much of a choice, so you figured it wouldn’t exactly hurt to get to know him. 

Daichi followed you into the kitchen, where you busied yourself with making tea. He seemed interested in the various trappings of your small kitchen, but conversation was nonexistent. What did you even say to each other… 

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “About my parents, I mean. They’re… a lot.”

“I mean…” You laughed to yourself, thinking of Hades looking to his wife for help, Persephone’s gentle doting, and the loving way in which they held each other. Looked at one another… “They’re sweet. They’re nothing like I expected, given what I’ve… ah… what I’ve read.” 

Daichi chuckled to himself, looking less like a young God and more like a boy from your class. He was handsome when he smiled like that, and would probably be drowning in confessions if he went to your school; “Yeah, my aunt has it out for my dad. According to Dad, anyway. But… well. Can I tell you a secret?” 

You shrugged, measuring out tea leaves into your little kyusu teapot; “Sure. I mean, you’re going to be my husband someday, so I don’t see why not.” 

At that, Daichi’s eyes cast down to his socks...surprisingly normal for someone destined to be the God of Crows; “That’s… that’s just it, actually. I’ve… I’ve seen my mother and father for 15 years, and they’re… ridiculously in love. When Mom has to return to Olympus, Dad is… so sad, and he never smiles quite like when Mom comes back. I know that's like… gross, or whatever… but I’ve always admired it about them. It’s something I’ve always wanted. For someone to love me like Mom loves Dad.”

You opened and closed your mouth, utterly at a loss for words. Thankfully, he continued without further prompting on your part. 

“So that’s why… if you don’t want this, you don’t have to do it.”

You sputtered, nearly dropping your tea pot in shock; “B-but… the prophecy! And your parents--” 

“Hang the prophecy, and I’ll deal with my parents. Whatever they promised your family, I’ll deliver.” Daichi fixed you with a gaze filled with an honest intensity that made him look so much older than 15. “I want a partner who loves me. For me. Not one who stays out of obligation, or worse… worse if my parents purchased their affection. That’s… I can’t. It’s probably naive of me, but I can’t. So if you want out, just say the word, and I’ll get you out. I swear on the River Styx.” 

There was a distant rumble, and the sudden tense atmosphere told you that this wasn’t an idle promise. This had weight and meaning… 

“Well…” You shifted from foot to foot, unsure how to respond. “I’m… not sure. I don’t know you very well, and… can I… can I think about it? Maybe we could… I don’t know… go on a date, or something?” 

“A date?” 

Daichi tilted his head in askance, and it occured to you that he looked very cute like that. 

“Yeah. Like… I don’t know. A movie or a cafe or something. So we can talk. Then, we can decide.” 

Decide if we want to get married, went unsaid. You were teenagers, after all. How could you expect to decide on forever when you were barely in high school. Still, Daichi’s smile was surprisingly warm, and it was something you found yourself wanting to see. 

“I think I’d like that,” he said, extending his hand to you. “I’ll… arrange something fun. Well… my best friends can help me arrange something fun. I’m bad at this kind of stuff.” 

“I… look forward to it.” 

~~~

One date at a Starbucks turned to two. Which turned to three and four and countless more. Daichi took you places you could only dream of, secret places between dimensions only accessible by the gods. You couldn’t take him to lagoons with pools made of moonlight, or caves with real stars dotting the obsidian walls… but he seemed equally taken aback by the cherry blossoms in Tsutsujigaoka park or the Izumi Botanical gardens. He seemed to like places like that... close to nature. 

As you got older, you spent more time together, and you got to know the delightfully silly boy at Daichi’s core. You learned of his love for dogs, born from being raised around Cerberus (ultimate dog, if Daichi was to be believed) and the many dog spirits that passed through the Underworld on their way to Elysium. You learned of his competitive spirit, of his friendships with Asahi--a son of Apollo and a nymph--and Suga--a mysterious son of Hermes. He told you of Olympus and the Underworld, and of his dreams to someday live his life in the sun. Among mortals. Not above them, and not beneath them. 

He, in turn, got to know you. Your hopes and dreams and passions. He learned of your wit and your biting sense of humor, your compassion, your enthusiasm and general verve… you were alive. Bursting with life and light, according to him. As you grew closer and closer, he started looking at you like the sun rose and set in your eyes--a look that made foreign (but not unwelcome) tingles run from your head to your toes. 

And at the end of every encounter, when your visit was coming to an end, he would ask the same thing. 

“Will I see you again?” 

The implication was clear… you knew all you had to do was tell him ‘no’ and you’d never see him again. He’d separate himself from your life, and that would be that. At first, when you were a teenager developing feelings for a boy for the first time, you’d kept him around out of curiosity and the desire to see things through. But as you got older, as you and Daichi became closer… he was more than your fiance. You were more than just a pair of kids caught in an old-fashioned arrangement… somewhere along the way, Daichi had become one of your best friends. Somehow, despite your forcefully entwined fates, you’d come to care a great deal about Daichi.

The idea of saying goodbye permanently became absolutely abhorrent. So you always answered, “of course.”

It was always like that. It was your pattern. You’d see each other, have a good time, and part on those words alone. It became a comfortable routine, even as the wedding drew nearer. And the longer you drew it out, the harder it became to leave him entirely. In the years since you met Daichi, he had become so precious to you… 

Beyond that, he’d grown up so handsome. Almost ridiculously so. All signs of softness and roundness had disappeared with the last of his baby fat, leaving behind a ridiculously chiseled face. Staunchy masculine and sharp in every way, and yet his eyes remained so beautiful and warm. The way he’d look at you, you’d see his mother’s springtime sun shining through that beautiful, chocolatey brown. When he touched you, your whole body drew up tight, greedily wanting more than a chaste touch at the small of your back, or a gentle grasp of your hand as he gallantly kissed your knuckles. 

Daichi had grown to be too much for you in almost every way… and you loved him for it.

Finally, the wedding drew near. You’d taken him on a day trip to see Akiu Waterfall on the outskirts of Sendai, and it was getting late. Your small apartment had been filled to the brim with flowers from Persephone’s garden, and Hades himself had delivered the finest jewels of his domain. A wedding dress made of dusky organza and lace so delicate it may as well have been smoke and feathers hung, flawless and perfectly fitted, in your closet.  

“So,” Daichi said softly, helping you navigate a particularly tricky bit of slick rock. “In a few days, we have to make our decision.” 

You ignored how the summer-warm heat of his hand against your back made you shiver, how it sent awareness through all of your limbs just to be near him. More than his celestial presence, something about this man had started to do terrible things to you. And he was so close… 

“I think…” you swallowed to dislodge the lump that stuck in your throat. “I think it’s a little late for that. At this point, it’d be a huge hassle to cancel. Can you even get your deposits back?” 

“You’re so funny,” Daichi said dryly, pausing to stroke the sleek feathers of a raven attempting to capture his attention. Over the years, the black birds had become drawn to him. You were sure that rambunctious Yuu and little Shouyo were your favorites. You idly wondered who this handsome devil was. “I mean it, ____. Just say the word, and I’ll leave. You can wait until the day of if you have to…”

For some reason, his insistence on your ‘freedom’ stung. You swallowed again, but your throat remained stubbornly thick; “Is that what you want? For me to leave? Call this off and never see me again?” 

There was a long pause. Long enough you turned to look at him, taken aback at the almost sad expression on his face; “If… if it makes you happy, then yes.” 

The word change was so slight… from ‘if that’s what you want’ to ‘if it makes you happy…’ 

“First, answer something for me.” You grabbed a seat on a relatively dry patch of rock, focusing on the breathtakingly beautiful waterfall and not the man just a few paces away from you. “We’ve known each other for 10 years… that should be enough for honesty, yes?” 

“I’ve always been honest with you, ____.” 

“Except you haven’t.” You balled your hands into tight fists, refusing to look at him. You had to say your piece, and if you looked into those perfect eyes… you’d be a goner. “You’ve always left this decision to me, Daichi, and we’re… we’re friends, at least. And I deserve better than that! So be honest with me… what do you want?” 

For a second, it looked like he was just going to repeat his desire for your happiness. Tell you that he didn’t care about himself or what his future. But he didn’t. He gave a long, thoughtful pause, idly stroking the raven perched on his arm. The only sounds were the guttural purrs of pleasure from the bird and the sibilant rush of the waterfall. 

“I want…” he bit his lip, his answer almost too quiet to hear. “I want to get married on Saturday.” 

You sat, frozen, unsure how to react. You always pictured this moment, and in your fantasies you were always a smooth and composed fairy tale princess, worthy of the wife of a God. The reality proved much more… embarrassing than that, given your surprised little squeak. 

“You… you do?” 

“I do.” His word choice was not lost on you, and judging by the soft, sweetly sad smile he gave you, it wasn’t lost on him either. “____, I love you. I think I’ve loved you for a long time… maybe even since the beginning. But… everything was so complicated, and I didn’t want you to feel like you had to. Maybe it’s selfish, but I wanted you to love me… just for me. Not because I’m a God or because it was your duty or you were paying a debt… I wanted you to see me. And know me. And you did… you saw me every day, ____, and… and I can’t thank you enough.

“Which is why… it’s why I have to let you make this decision, because if it were up to me, I would have been yours years ago. But you… you never said anything, so… so I had to assume…” 

“That I waited this long?” 

Daichi rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck; “Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part. Or denial. I’d hoped… that you were waiting so long because… because you wanted me. But I was never sure. So--” 

You cut him off with a gentle touch to his lips that made him start so violently, the raven perched on his arm flew away with an indignant squawk. The only thing you could register was the soft give of Daichi’s lips against your fingertips… they were surprisingly plush, soft and smooth… Eye contact was intense. It burned… 

“Daichi.” You took a deep breath, in and out slowly… “I feel the same.” 

It was a small declaration, more confident than you felt. But it seemed to snap whatever thread that held Daichi together. His warm eyes filled with happy tears, and his breath shuddered with the force of his joy. 

“Really?” He reached out a tentative hand, placing those gentle, warm fingers against your cheek.

“Really.” You leaned into his touch, letting your own hand migrate to cradle his jaw. “I really, really do…” 

Somewhere along the way, you had come to deeply love this man before you. And, by some miracle, he loved you back. He loved you and it showed. It was obvious in the gentle way he pulled you to him, his gaze and touch so tender it made you feel as delicate as the flowers in your apartment. It was so clear in the way he gently--so gently--angled your jaw so he could press his lips to your forehead. The corner of your eye. Your cheek. Your jaw… and finally… finally, he brought you in for a slow and achingly tender kiss. 

It was nothing like you imagined from him. There was a thread of uncertainty and inexperience. He was gentle and methodical and almost shy… but underneath, there was a sense of rightness. Like this was where you were meant to be. Like Daichi was made to hold you in his arms. You fit so perfectly, and it was so, so warm… 

Never in your life had you felt so loved than in that moment. Affection filled your chest until you felt fit to burst, like your mere mortal vessel wasn’t built to contain the feelings you felt for Daichi. And his strong arms were there to hold you together, keep you from flying apart at the seams. And all the while, he trembled with the force of his own emotions. But he was happy… you were happy. You could hear it in the breathless, giddy cadence of his nervous laughter. You were loved, and in return you would protect Daichi from whatever ordained fate you’d been chosen to save him from. 

Because you loved him so, so much… 

By the end of the week, under the false sun in Persephone’s garden in the underworld, you became the Queen of Crows.

[sol-futura-est]

My father gave me stories of life on the Mephisto. On each deck, of which there were two hundred and twenty three, were a series of residential quarters, on the rear second mile of the ship, in what we all called the bulge of it, before you lead into the neck and later the head. In the bulge, there was artificial gravity, solariums, and an abundance of social areas, but you could not do so much as breathe without being heard. Finding quiet places to be intimate, to do something as small as share secrets, took planning and know how that made it near impossible. One story he had was about how one deck had a case of common cold, and essentially had two thousand infections in less than six hours before the quarantine was called. I couldn’t even infect ten people out here, unless our territory decided to have a harvest festival at the end of game season. Even then, not all of us would be there, and I might not even meet two thousand. It’s hard for me to fathom being able live within five miles of millions upon millions. Men could get stabbed in alleys, but for me, I don’t think I would ever see an alley for myself. Not for a long while at least.

    For the record, my mother and father are still alive. They live on Elysium, a normal sized rock with a prominent city where the liveship made planetfall, the Mephisto. On their capital district, you mostly find trading offices staffed by clerks of all kinds, but just like the Mephisto, you need mechanics to keep things running. That’s his job, but my mother is mostly content to meet my older brothers grandchildren and help around the neighborhood. Last I heard, she had taken up gardening, and had asked me how I do it out here. You’d be surprised how easy it is doing something man has done for over ten thousand years when you start. 

    However, even with my warm tea, the northern sun rising, I find a familiar face coming up the road from the south. This was my nearest neighbor, Jules. Her family was aboard the Capra, another liveship just like the Mephisto.

    “Early riser, I see. How’s the tea Cadmo?”

    “Those traders who came through gave me more than enough,” standing up, I walk over to my stone fence and seat myself next to her. “However, it’s still going to be great whenever we can grow our own.”

    “Tea plantations? You’re ambitious for sure. You’d think the Sikhs kept that to themselves.”

    “I met a few when I was a kid. I don’t even think they’d think twice about it. We’re all friends now, after all. We’ll trade more with ourselves before we get whatever psychoactives the Herastins like taking. Do you think they take it in their exosuit, or do they huff it?”

    “Oh come on, definitely in the suit itself. Bathe in the glow and the mind opens. I’m sure they’re more interesting up close.”

    Two or three times now, I would ask people if they met any of those outworlders, but everyone says no. Lieutenant Azul actually told me he only met one or two in fifty years of service, but it’s expected to go up. Maybe that was just a recruiting tactic.

    “Jules?”

    “Mister Banat.”

    “How’re your crops running?”

    “Same as always, enough to live off of and a little bit to sell. Just enough.”

    “I still can’t get over it all honestly.”

    “Get over what?’

    “I grew up a bit farther away, right? But when my older brother took me all the way out here and gave me this cabin it was like I was meant to be out here, you know? Something drew me here for more than just the sights.”

    “Are you gonna talk about going into the gate again, or is this something different?”

    Although I was still forever content to explore the wilds, you could never disseminate from me; every time I watched the sun rise in the north, within your sight, just a little to the left, was the gate. You saw it every day. How exactly was anyone, much less someone like me, going to ignore it?

    “How can you not be curious Jules?”

    “I like living, and I don’t want to see what lives down there just by myself.”

    “You could get ten of us and go down.”

    “We would be better asking the legion.”

    “No doubt, but then what? Are you gonna join?”

    “I’m not keen on nursing or clerk duties, you might get sent to fight the brigands too. We might not get what we want. I don’t think the corvids plan on going down there.”

    She was right, you know, even if it didn’t shut off my curiousity.

    “Trust me Jules, I won’t go there any time soon, but I’ll be curious.”

    “I hope so. Is there any tea inside?”

    “Yeah, the water is on my stove still boiling, just be careful with it.”

    I trusted her verbosely with my abode and her sentiment was shared. Out here, you know almost every face that comes up the road, you know the cars, you know the horses, and occasionally still, you know the flyers in the sky. 

    Back on Terra, I’m told at least, there was a plethora of life and a majesty in what could be done, how every landscape known to man was never far. Scorching desert, rainforest, and titanic stone mountains could exist within miles of one another. Out here though, it’s most of the same. Our bucks came from Terra, so did the things we farm. We made our new homes almost like imitations of the old than trying to make ourselves too much like the new places. We didn’t try to live in steel homes or prefabs, but found building our homes with our own hands cemented the idea that this was permanent. We were not passing ghosts without a home, but men and women and children who would wield daggers in our teeth for this land and end any who decided to try and take it. One thing our empire was, was militaristic. We had relied on the legion on Terra for nearly a millennium, and so forth, here we are. 

    Even if it might seem like it, we don’t actually get taught much about our life on Terra. We try to put our education into a scope so we can actually live new lives here, not have people obsessing over the past. There was enough to learn here that actually finding out about our ancestors three thousand years ago would be trivial, especially since we don’t sit above them anymore. 

    “How much did that bag of tea actually run you, Cadmo?”

    “Fifty denarii.”

    “Really? Not expensive at all.”

    “I think he had to get rid of it before he got offworld. Quotas or something by the trading company.”

    “So you haggled?”

    “He tried me for two hundred denarii, but I wasn’t gonna give him that much for tea, not when I could buy a tea sapling of my own for that much.”

    “Maybe you should’ve gone for it and made this place the empires tea capital, rather than the Khalistani world.”

    “I’d still have to ask them how to grow it and tend it, though. Not much tea out here.”

    Jules had a streak of pride for the empire. She saw it as order, discipline, and freedom therein. All of that was ultimately true too, but I was always more concerned with this place. Not just the gate, but the ocean, the hills, the mountains. There was an unconfounded beauty in it. When you went to the capital city, when you walked the avenue full of statues of the greats before us, it lost that beauty, even though it was essentially the same stone trimmed down. Something was separate when you saw fields of flowing grass without even one hint of mankind. Nature could conquer land without even lifting a finger, but for us, it was a thousand men at the oars just to move an inch. Our land was not just an endless stretching mystery our hearts resided on and in, but an artwork made by divine hands we could not comprehend. One who lives here, within that great machination, the air, the earth, the sky, does not question that machination. Whenever I saw the glimmering polished giant of the emperor at the head of the forum, I remembered still, both him and the statue were born of Terran stone. 

    Nevertheless, perhaps each nature and man makes his own artwork, for just like we make poison, at times, so does nature, but in the end we appropriate it each. Perhaps in some ways, that gate was a poison for us, a burning curiousity that infected our dreams.

    “When was the last time Lieutenant Azul stopped by your house?”

    “Azul? Probably last month. Why?”

    “I still think about the corvids. Just being able to see everything out there, all the pieces of nature. That’s why we’re out here, right?”

    “I’m trying to be a pioneer, but yeah, I can’t lie about the beauty of this place. Not many better places, there can’t be.”

    “It’d be a nice thing to confirm that.”

    “So join.”

    Something was stopping me, an apprehension I couldn’t quite place. Perhaps it was a fear of winding up mostly on a ship, fixing an engine that never seemed to stay fixed, manning cannonades to blast rock, or even the devilish endless monotony of navigating a starship, from wake to wink. 

    “Maybe when the time comes I will. Nothing but time.”

    Long lived youths, still, we remained.

    “When’s your next hunt, Banat? Today?”

    “Should be, yeah. So that means you have to plow some, and when I get back, I have to do the same.”

    “Don’t get hurt out there, will you?”

    “You know I don’t like to get hurt.”

    “Then I’ll see you in a few days

[rarestereocats]

It's been a year since Virhea's death and we've all been keeping ourselves busy in one way or another.  Xaren's been hard at work building his own monastery for his people outside of town,  Industria's become a plant-person and has had her Order members spying on all of us to keep us safe,  Elathera's been spending a lot of time with her family when she's not scouting out knowledge on the planes,  and I've had a baby and published the second volume of the "Beautiful Girl Squad" series.  We've all been keeping in touch over this time and are having our weekly meet-ups at a cafe for brunch and mimosas.  It's the most normal thing any of us have probably done in ages.

We catch each other up on everything that's been happening as we've all been gifted wishes from the gods over this year too.  Industria wished she could ferry the souls of the dead,  Elathera wanted to make sure nobody could ever take away her magic under any circumstances,  Xaren wished for his brothers resurrections,  and I wished for me and my family to have a lifespan on par with elves.  Lucky and Rikius also received wishes;  Lucky spending theirs to break the curse they put on Remy's soul and Rikius simply wanting the ability to sleep.  All in all,  it's been a pretty productive year for all of us.  After brunch,  we all decide to skip over to the monastery to meet Xaren's brothers,  who we've heard a lot about these past few years,  but haven't had the chance to see yet outside of Elysium.

With his brothers met and one of them currently half a bottle deep in some wine and attempting to steal more,  me and Industria talk about how Ilyana will be going on a pilgrimage of her own in a few weeks.  She suggests it might be a good idea for Sirqi to go along,  which leads to Xaren schooling her on all the wisdom she's learned lately.  Unfortunately,  it doesn't seem like my sister's learned all that much in terms of that,  but she tries her best and we love her for it anyways.  It's agreed she'll go with Ilyana then with Antony chaperoning the two of them,  so the rest of us hop over to Elathera's plane for surprises. She shows off how powerful her summoning's got and Industria shows us what her secret project is finally.  The seed from the Tree of Life has grown into a Colossus of Life,  as Industria has named it;  an 80 ft plant-being that's powered by Virhea's soul and is made to be a weapon of peace.

Yes,  a weapon of peace,  folks.  It can also turn into a wagon that's able to drive itself,  so Arnor is officially out of work,  but is probably elated that he doesn't have to put up with us anymore.  The Colossus and one of Elathera's gigantic,  beastial summons proceed to arm wrestle which is cool as fuck.  Xaren bids us farewell after as he has monastery duties to tend to and Industria drags me and Elathera along back to the lodge for something.  I'm a little worried because I should really be getting back to my baby (don't worry,  Antony was looking after him),  but I'm led back to my old room which is now occupied by a portal.  Industria subtly (and by that,  I mean not subtly at all) acts surprised and says I should check it out,  but Elathera says something that has me worrying that I'm about to step through a portal to Hell.

Instead,  I'm treated to the sight of our hotel suite in Sicily when I step inside.  The door to the balcony is open wide and as I step outside,  I'm treated to the island under a night sky and Rikius waiting on the beach for me.  I'm unable to figure out what's happening here,  so I go to excitedly ask him and it's then that he mentions that Industria crafted this demiplane just for the two of us.  He then pulls out a beautiful circlet that he had crafted with her help and asks me to marry him.  Of course I say yes because how could I ever say no to him?  We head back to excitedly tell the others before slipping back into our private plane for some alone time.  Next morning,  we decide to go traveling on a whim to scout out possible wedding destinations.  I mention we should go somewhere with a train,  so Elathera hooks us up with a teleport spell to the nearest train.

Spoiler alert!  This train isn't near us at all and is in a city 25,000 miles away from Caelsimil and in a city called Marrakesh.  It's a colorful desert city that not only has trains,  but working electricity,  which is something none of us know about and are stunned by.  We spend several minutes admiring a lightbulb that isn't made of magic before we ask for directions to the train station.  I'm beyond excited to finally get to ride a train and the ride itself takes us all around the city so we can admire it over dinner and drinks.  Then Elathera picks a destination to scout next,  taking us to the city of Lamaki so we can see the Great Falls at the center of our world.  Industria decides the best thing to do is to hurl herself into the falls,  where she's dragged down and then launched into space where she gets to see that our planet is shaped like a donut.

Elathera creates an illusionary double of herself to throw in there so she can use its senses as her own to get a look at space.  She's amazed by the sight of the cosmos before her illusionary eyes.  Before I can get a chance to throw myself into the seemingly endless waterfall next and give everyone ten heart attacks in one go,  she uses a memory sharing spell to show me and Rikius and our minds are blow.  Now we all wonder if there's other "material planes" out there to explore.  So of course,  what do we do?  Elathera puts contingencies on all of us so that if we start to die out in space,  we'll be teleported back to this exact spot and with that,  we teleport to a random place and hope for the best.  We first reach the planet of Triaxis,  which is currently going through the winter season.  Every building is covered in ice and there's a shitload of dragons flying around in the sky while the people don't seem too concerned.

We meet some of the Triaxians,  one telling us if we want more information on what's going on,  to go hit up the main hub city.  This is all annihilating our minds and we pick up Lucky first before we continue exploring.  We're treated to the sight of futuristic cities and technology we've never seen or heard of before.  It's hard to comprehend anything that's happening around us and upon seeing spaceships,  we of course wanna ride the giant space wagons.  But first,  we're dragged into interrogation by officers of the Intergalactic Space Force who want to know what we are and where we came from.  They seem like decent folk,  so we answer their questions honestly and are given space visas.  Elathera's given a disposable camera,  which she doesn't know what the fuck to do with,  but hey;  souvenirs!  We finally get to ride a spaceship and visit one more planet before we decide we should head home and make note to question Tacitus about this later.

Next possible wedding destination is Industria's choice,  so she picks the farmlands in southern Caelsimil that her mother grew up by.  It's very pretty and reminds me of home,  so we take some time to wander around and interact with the people. Elathera thinks I should have the wedding in Nirvana,  but as she tries to open a gate to it,  the gods promptly say "no" and don't let the spell pass.  So she suggests Heaven instead,  but Industria thinks that's a bit much and suggests somewhere in Teme-Rasadar.  I know the perfect spot in that case.  It's an elegant,  sprawling garden Rikius's sisters showed to me when I first visited them,  so we go there and it's a hit with everybody.  As we admire it and think over the wedding,  some of us spot a blur of movement and what was supposed to be a good day is ruined as we recognize the cultist robes that Virhea's people adorned.

The guy's taking off fast though,  but Elathera stops him long enough with an ice wall so I can hop on his back and try to subdue him.  It's pointless though and in a few short seconds,  I'm separated from the party by this cult yet again as he teleports the two of us out of there and into a stone hallway.  I have no idea where we are,  but I can rest easy knowing it probably won't be long before the others catch up with me.

[grimdarkandhandsome]

WORK PLACEMENT ON EXTREMIS A

    ... Doors inlaid with glowing lines, snaking thru symmetrical grooves ...

    ... Magno-locked safeboxes, cryptovaults, nested tombs ...

* * *

    Extremis was, admittedly, a pretty cool planet. I mean moon. It was one of Chancellor Chyraxias's creations, designed a few years before they decided to ban this sort of thing. Basically, Extremis was once a normal grey airless moon, but Chyraxias's studio seeded it with self-reproducing machines that tunnel. These machines - Pandoricans - ate regolith and starlight and dug deeper and deeper hives and corridors, until they had grown into a colony too extensive for anyone to exterminate. The machines grew hive soldiers that defended against aggressors, and gleaming alien vaults for unknown computations. But their ambitions never grew beyond Extremis's surface. It became like a garden of fighting. A place you could, if armed, go and just explore, or just kick ass until you got your issues out of your system. We (me, Lysa, and Peri) got an internship at an outpost there in our last year before graduating the Academy. Unfortunately, while beautifully crafted, Extremis was nowhere near as popular as the newer and flashier Beveled Plains on Elysium I. In fact, that winter, Extremis was so unpopular that we were the only humans stationed in that entire hemisphere of the moon. It definitely got a little lonely.

* * *

    I once got stuck in one of the cryptovaults for like an hour during haul duty. This would really have been fine, except someone had left a box of cyberpuppies in there too, and they really were asking for attention. The ones we were testing on Extremis A were totally useless in our robosynergy tests, but they were very curious about all things informational. At that time they were gravitating to language, but they didn't really have the attention span to talk properly. I thought I was alone (i was sitting against the wall, sighing) until I heard a shuffling sound from inside the crate. I had already powered up my flash pistol and fallen into a combat stance when the lid popped open and a metallic shape flopped clumsily over the edge. 

    <Minimizing fish!> it chirped, trying to get to its feet.

* * *

    One of those nights on Extremis A I was going up the lift to check on the solar collectors. The alarm light had actually been flashing for hours; I just hadn't really felt up to dealing with anything stressful that day. I spent most of it just staying in my bunk and playing this dumb little RPG I found. Anyway, eventually I got up and pulled on my voidsuit, and up on the surface I did that surprised-dog-head-swivel reaction because sitting on top of the hangar was Peri. It was very weird to see her there because, well, I thought of the surface as _my_ place. I knew this was an illusion, because presumably all three of us saw the surface as our own secret introvert refuge, but it was a hard viewpoint to shake. We only ever came out here for deliveries and to take out the trash, so I used to think of the hard bright stars as _my_ stars. 

    Now Peri was here looking up at them, her mind clearly in a whole different spiral arm. I guess it made sense that she'd spend time here. She always needed nature to regenerate herself mentally, and I guess these stars were the only nature around on Extremis. 

    I pretended to care about the solar collectors for an awkward few minutes, but it was just one of those not-quite-talking rituals we participated in at that age. I couldn't focus on the error messages to understand if it was worth doing anything about them anyway. Eventually I gave up and moon-bounced over toward her. 

    She hadn't moved. She was so quiet those days that it kindof intimidated me. It was hard to approach her, anyway. I mean, I _got_ it, I stared at the stars too. I didn't feel like she was in a world I couldn't access. But it was hard to bring up topics like pickup lasertag, you know, when she looked at you with that Ineffable Star Vampire expression on her face.

    I scaled the side of the hangar in the low gravity. Peri, despite what I just said a second ago, turned to look at me instantly and smiled. She said something that seemed cheerful, but we weren't on the same comms channel so I just saw her lips move behind her faceplate. I tapped a button in my wrist menu.

    "Sorry, what was that?"

    "You're getting pretty good at it," said Peri. 

    "Good at what?"

    "At the wallrunning."

    "Oh. I guess. You pick it up, you know."

* * *

    After a while I realized we were sitting staring at the sky without saying anything. I had been feeling antsy around Peri a lot recently, and it surprised me a little that we could still slip into a comfortable silence like we used to. 

    "Maybe you should try on a 2J harness."

    I lay down next to her with a sigh. A 2J harness was a piece of mobility gear with thrusters that let you get an extra burst of lift while in the air. People used them for dodging bombs and javelins and stuff.

    "I'm not a Light, P. I'm a Medium. I wear a strength exoskeleton."

    "Yes, but it's not like you have a lot of heavy armor. Energy shielding doesn't weigh anything."

    I rolled my eyes. "Perihelion Yamaguchi, you're doing your thing."

    She laughed. "Am I? What, am I forgetting something obvious?"

    "No. You're coming down from the clouds."

    She put her hand on my shoulder. "Okay. Sorry, I'll stop."

    She did, too. She lay down, breathing deeply, and adjusted the optics on her faceplate. Probably zooming in on the stars. Her legs made a 45° angle with mine.

    We drifted into silence again. It really was the most annoying thing. Whenever she came suddenly out of a deep reverie she always overdid the whole _physical reality_ premise. She knew her head was still half in the imaginary world, but she overcompensated and talked to us in a really dumbed down, condescending way. 

    Restless, feeling like I had nowhere to relax, I sat up again. 

    "Okay, I know I'm being a grouch. I guess I'm doing a thing too."

    "Hannah has a thing as well?" I could hear the smile over the commlink. "Hmm ... hunching her shoulders even tho she's among friends?"

    "Ha, well. Yeah, I don't have to be so sour. I'll try to warm up a bit."

    "Yay! Good Hannah."

    I kicked her boot. "So what are you daydreaming about?"

    "Day? Oh." She spotted the sun, small and white in the black sky. "Yeah, I guess it is daytime. Well, I was just talking to the planets I haven't been to."

    "Oh, the ones you _haven't_ been to this time."

    "Oh right, I told you about that! Yes, I'm very curious about the worlds I haven't seen."

    "Are they resentful at all? I mean, do they rebuff you as a foreigner?" It was easy to slip back into Peri-mode, even tho I had been grinding my teeth about her the night before.

    "Ha! No, not at all! I mean, they're a little ... stony. They're not like people. For example, I was talking to Vega VI."

    "Oh, I see, Vega VI."

    Vega VI was an ice planet most famous for low-end hyperskiing resorts.

    "Yeah. It's a methane-sea terrestrial, so it has a mind kindof like ... like an abominable snowperson."

    "Abominable snowpeople aren't real. They're from video games. Also, I don't know what their minds are like."

    "Okay well you know. They mostly meditate but are capable of great disapproval."

    "That's not _you know_. That is definitely not common knowledge."

    "Well, they're like that. And so is Vega VI. It's focusing on its capital city right now, but there are things it disapproves of, deep down."

    "And what is the capital of Vega VI?"

    "I don't know."

    "You didn't ask?"

    "The planet doesn't speak human language."

    "Oh. Well that makes sense, actually."

    "The things it disapproves of are, like, the negative spaces between its humans."

    "Like the humans are too distant from each other?"

    "No, the opposite! The humans are not physically distant _enough_ from each other! Vega kept asking me to brainstorm how to achieve this."

    "That, um. I don't ... what did you say back?"

    "Honestly, I dodged the question," said Peri conspiratorily. "Planets say pretty weird things."

    Peri had actually been tested for psychic sensitivity back before I met her, but it came back negative. Lysa thinks the test was wrong, but I don't see it that way. Peri just knows things that everyone can know. Sometimes her perspective made more sense than this dumb Normal Life thing I kept trying to do. It confused me a lot. How do people break out of obsessions? How do people find out what they want?