catnipwrites

just watched narnia again and this happened. I guess the inspiration stuck. 💌

"You can’t change what happened, Seiya," Taiki began, his voice a low, steady hum meant to pierce through the panic. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "It would have been much worse if you hadn't—"

"You think I don’t know that?" Seiya snapped, spinning around. His eyes were dark with a turbulent, cobalt fire, his hands clenched so tightly into fists that his knuckles were stark white.

"I know you do," Taiki replied calmly, refusing to be shaken by the outburst. He maintained a grounded, unblinking focus. "Look, you’ve done well. She is alive, and she is safe."

"For now," Yaten suddenly deadpanned. He was leaning against the window frame, his white hair catching the soft glow of the dim lights. He didn't look back at them; his voice was cold, carrying the weight of a dying star. "This planet is doomed. Until yesterday, all we had to worry about was finding our missing Princess so we could have the power to revive Kinmoku. But now? Now we know Galaxia’s puppets are walking this Earth. And as far as I know—as far as we all know—no one is coming to save this place."

"Ah, there she goes," Seiya sighed, though his smirk only deepened, his cobalt eyes bright with an amused, grounded warmth. "It’s a miracle you haven’t rolled them at me until now. I thought you were finally succumbing to my natural charm."

"Oh, I did roll my eyes," Usagi shot back, a mischievous glint in her expression as she took another sip of her champagne. "Internally. At least eight times since you walked over here."

"Only eight?" Seiya countered, shifting his weight and closing the small gap between them, his presence suddenly feeling much more expansive and intimate. "I must be losing my touch. Usually, I hit double digits within the first five minutes of a conversation."

Hermione hesitated for a moment, weighing the therapeutic value of the question against the risk of invading his suddenly fragile privacy. "And your parents?" she inquired, keeping her tone light and conversational, "Were they supportive of this career path?"

Draco gave a small, cynical shake of his head, a wry smirk twisting his lips. "Supportive is an understatement," he replied, the irony palpable. He paused, watching the expectation in her eyes, before adding, "At least, they were, initially."

Hermione frowned, clearly perplexed by the past tense. She waited, letting the silence encourage him to elaborate. Draco, growing impatient with her careful, analytical approach, decided to eliminate the ambiguity. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes cold and direct. "They're dead, Granger," he stated flatly, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.