I Will Surround Your Heart With Lies

Rino blinks, looking down at their clothing to inspect it. Was it truly that bad? It had been a gift from the pixies, Feo Ul had gushed over how their sapling looked for what felt like days. "What? No I don't, they're all long robes not this." 

Tataru ignores them, still perusing her designs before her eyes light up, a sound of triumph as she grins with victory. "The Warrior of Light is not traversing the star looking like a dowdy spinster on my watch." 

"I thought I was a Halonic choir boy?" 

"Both statements can be true, now hold still while I measure you."

Rino does as they are told, posture poised and perfect as the lalafell collected the required measurements, offering assistance in moving the step ladder despite knowing she'd simply brush them off. "The king of the fairies gave me these clothes, they won't be happy about what you said." 

Tataru doesn't falter, letting out a near mocking laugh as she bounced down the step ladder and posed with abundant confidence. "Your Fairy king can meet me in the Wolves Den if they're that bothered." 

Rino laughs, folding their arms over their chest as Tataru busied herself with paperwork, counting her fingers for something before scribbling notes down. "I'd pay to see that." 

His patience is already frayed with worry, the arrival of Magnai insisting on following him around like a lost puppy was only thinning it more. "You nearly died in that battle, I'm not leaving you be." 

Freis twitches. Who was he to be concerned for him? He who had discarded him so easily after leading him on for months and now he was worried for him? This was a cruel joke, even for Magnai, and he had no desire to play along. 

"I don't need you to protect me." He spins on his heel, prodding the other in the chest to emphasise his point further. Their height difference has never been more apparent, neck at an almost painful angle to glare up at him. 

A gloved hand takes his, an affectionate gesture that leaves Freis floundering. "I know, I just want to." 

No. This is wrong. Freis pulls his hand away to little resistance, feeling both elated by the confession but even more wary. He had to be logical about this, whatever he still felt for him didn't matter when there's no chance of reciprocation. 

"I'm sure your N'haama will be most pleased with this dedication when you find her."  

Freis knows it's not him. Magnai craved a dainty wife who didn't argue and Freis would never be that. He's brash, argumentative, stubborn as a fool and combative. The way he'd ended their joke of a relationship, screaming that his position as Khaghan would be ripped away from him and how he would be there to watch every minute of it, was proof of that. 

"I already found him." 

Him. 

Magnai said him. 

Hope blooms where it shouldn't and he hates that it does, swallowing thickly to try and smother the feeling before it overwhelms him. Magnai was direct, he'd have told him if it was him, man seemed unafraid of rejection seeing how he faced it constantly so why, if it truly was Freis, would he be so reserved about it now.

"You should tell them, if you haven't already." It feels like he's fishing for answers but how can he be blamed, this would be the final nail in the coffin of moving on from the au ra. Whatever the answer, it would be a kindness compared to this limbo he's been trapped in for what feels like centuries. 

"I've tried, he's just incredibly stubborn and angry with me."

"What did you do to piss him off so much?" 

"I broke his heart." Freis opens his mouth to say something only for something to catch the other's attention, turning to find an all too familiar figure walking through the snow, axe in hand. "Isn't that…" 

"Raina!"

White unblemished patches from her venture to another star, softened back to skin but the colour and sensation of touch never returned. Stretch marks that decorated her skin, reaching across all his favourite places with purple tinged lightning, a show of her life and constant changes in state. They were beautiful. 

Freckles the only evidence of the sun ever touching her, sea wolf fair skin never catching the sun's fury only accepting its embrace with sprinklings of brown across every expanse of her form not covered by fur or hair. It's why he takes his time to kiss and mark her flesh with his own love, the sun can't be the only one to shower her with affection and worship. 

She's already so wound up, a little noise of distress and desperation as lips continued their slow descent. Praise and worship spill from his lips, mapping out every inch of her deliberately. He wants to memorise it all, how she responds to his hands and mouth, how sensitive she is to his touches, how she tastes whilst panting beneath his tongue, speaking his name like a prayer. 

Raina isn't one for screaming but then, neither is he, quiet regardless of the intensity. Hien prefers that, he thinks, adding to their status as Doma's worst kept secret, the privacy that came with it something that both craved when it came to romance. 

"The butterflies are wondrous, how could I be anywhere else?" Mismatched purple eyes meet his, a fondness on her face that still makes his heart skip a beat. "Sit and listen to Hades wax lyrical about his 'issues'? Hardly."

It's his turn to chuckle now, Hermes settling down in the wildflowers with his beloved, sitting as opposed to laying like she. "You came all the way here to avoid work? I find that hard to believe." 

She sprouts up like the flowers, sat beside him with faux annoyance at his statement. Her dramatics had unnerved him once, her ploys of mood swings putting him on edge until she giggled and smiled at him. Tisiphone was pure sunlight and he had no worthiness to bask in her light. 

"Do I need a reason to come and see my husband?" She huffs, arms folding and eyes rolling, turning her face away from him slightly. "You paint me guilty for loving you?" 

Hermes manoeuvres her face gently, Tisiphone's cheeks becoming rose with fluster as he tilts her chin up with his hand. "Only when you're aware of any surprises I have planned for you." 

She's hard to ignore like this, cheeks plump and pinkened, licking her lips nervously. "Okay… Maybe I am but Azem isn't the seat of patience, now is it?“

"I suppose not but just a little more patience and I'll tell you everything." 

He means everything. Metion was a passion project but also a gift, for Tisiphone who longed to traverse the stars and bear witness to the life beyond their star. A companion for her to travel with but also one to keep her safe, let her know where it's safe to travel and where it isn't.

So they could remain together even when she was travelling. Even when they were apart. 

"Oh fine, since its you. I'd wait forever if its for you." 

—-

Memories are a weakness, a scourge upon all his lives. Each rebirth since sundering has been plagued by memories of her, a desire to find her before the inevitable: she doesn't remember and in his grief he removes her from the equation. 

His hands are saturated with the blood of Azem and with each new wash of red, that shred of Hermes that still remains crumbles slightly more. 

It's at the royal gardens they reunite, a falter in his performance for the Eorzean Alliance as the chosen hero morphs into something more familiar. Black floods to red, purple eyes boring into him as there's a flicker of something like recognition before its replaced with rage. 

Does she remember him now? Does she feel wronged by all the times he'd murdered her in grief laden rage? That flicker of Hermes becomes an inferno, Fandaniel continuing his performance with one final step. 

The shard of Tisiphone doesn't flinch as they appear before him, lips curling into a sneer to oppose his own charmed smile. He knows it's probably the face he's wearing that she recognises but he can't help himself. 

He can never stop himself when it comes to her. 

The four of them had been travelling together for weeks now, Kiva hoping that the pair of elder elezen could come to an agreement or at least a tense relationship where they did not fight at every given moment. They feel foolish for having believed that now.

Alphinaud looks stressed, the teenager looking to the viera imploringly as Ysayle and Estinien argued once more and all Kiva can think is 'Zem was right, I should just eat their aether'.

What were they even arguing over now? They're half convinced one could state it was raining and the other would instantly jump to how they were wrong. It was tiresome.

"Kiva, they're not listening this time. I don't know what to do, I…"

They take a deep breath, prodding the campfire sharply. Alphinaud had grown on them, the crystal braves a harsh but needed wake up call but it had left him doubting himself. He was more than capable of handling his two elders but then it had been weeks now. Kid must be at his wits end.

"Leave it to me, I'll shut them up at least for the night."

It's been a while since they tapped into the void, hearing the cackling glee of Zem as they let it grow, taking a calm breath before turning in their seat, eyes aflame and mouth snarling. "Either make like the dead and shut up or you'll be joining them."

It works, both elezen stilling under the mix of several eyes piercing into them and their voice, deep and otherworldly as it rumbled out the threat. "Do we have an understanding?"

No words but nods, Kiva squinting at them both before turning back to the fire, focusing on calming down. They've not let the void in like this since the disaster that was the Steps of the Faith, less than willing to let Zem loose in such an aether rich area. They were here to negotiate peace, eating the offspring of Hraesvelgr seemed to contradict that purpose.

"Thank you." Alphinaud smiles, looking every bit his age and Kiva wonders how anyone had looked at him and not seen anything but a child. He never should have been involved in any of this, his youth shouldn't be spent in the Dravanian wilderness hoping to not die at the hands of dragons with no reason to trust them, a mistaken swing of a weapon or even from themselves, a casualty that should never have been.

Raina sits Hien down before Daffodil - the giant pet spriggan she'd had for years - talking with passion about the teeth, the gems they carry and the purpose for them. "Are you even listening?" She asks, frowning, catching the Lord of Doma looking at her instead of the subject matter. 

"You have my undivided attention." She frowns, squinting at him before continuing her lecture on spriggan anatomy, now more than aware he was looking at her more than Daffodil. 

The next one is better, more accurate, a gemstone held aloft in its wooden hands, large enough for her to need both hands to hold it. How long did this take him? Should he not be focusing his attention elsewhere? Hien didn't seem more tired than usual but also he'd never been busier since they'd returned from the Steppe. 

She still doesn't fully grasp why he's doing this, they were already friends, weren't they? The hyur was yet to provide gifts for the other Scions, so what made her so special? It wasn't the Warrior of Light thing, was it? 

Upon receiving more spriggans, ranging in sizes but never bigger than the second, she asks her brother. Freis had simply laughed at her in the teasing way he always did, clearly knowing more than her but never intending to share the joke with her, sighing contently as he remarked that she truly was an oblivious idiot. 

"I won't be oblivious if you tell me." 

"Oh but where's the fun in that." He laughs, coy smile on his lips, quickly stepping away as she reached to grab him. "Perhaps he just thinks of you as special." 

So it was the warrior of light thing after all, Raina sighing as she looked at the collection of critters Hien had made for her. Yugiri and Gotsetsu had praised this man so much and he was simply gifting her carvings of her favourite thing as some strange hero worship. 

She feels like she's wilting under the Ala Mhigan heat, the heavier aspects of her gear abandoned to the side as she kept to the shade waiting for the next order of attack to come through. 

Returning to Gyr Albania had given her time to think over the Hien situation more clearly. He was a handsome man, that much was obvious, dedicated to a fault, funny and enthusiastic. The effect he has on her is confusing, she's drawn to him but the weirdness with the gifts was strange and off putting. 

There's a sloshing noise, something cold pressing into her hair and it makes Raina blink, thoughts of Hien gone as she looked up to the intruder. It's Lyse, waterskin in hand looking a mix of amused and concern at whatever expression Raina was wearing. 

"You'll end up with frowning tan lines if you keep that up." Lyse laughs, Raina smoothing out her face before shrugging. She's sat in the shade, she's unlikely to burn here even with skin as fair as her. "What's up?" 

"Does Hien actually like me or do he just give me gifts as some weird form of hero worship warrior of light reason?" 

The look on Lyse's face is one of stunned silence. Was she expecting something more related to the current state of affairs? About the mission to drive the Garlean forces out of Gyr Albania and take back Ala Mhigo? 

"You're so oblivious it's painful sometimes." Lyse rests her forehead in her palm, frustration on her face before sighing and doing the breathing exercises she did to calm herself. Whatever Raina had failed to realise had been a point of frustration for the other, the viera waiting for context as Lyse seemed to internally fight with herself over something. 

She finds her answer soon enough, seeming to wait until Raina was drinking before speaking her conclusion. "He's been trying to court you, Raina." 

Hand shoots to her mouth to keep herself for spitting the water out, swallowing thickly as the words settled in. He was gifting her hand made carvings of her favourite thing as a show of affection. It wasn't weird hero worship. It was affection. 

She can feel her cheeks burn feeling flustered by both how wrong she had been and the gesture of it all collimating into one. She's a fool. An idiot. The definition of oblivious. 

No wonder her brother had looked so humoured everytime a new one was gifted, he'd known all along and was taking joy in watching her struggle to understand it. 

"You are so lucky that man is so determined because anyone else would have given up by now." 

Lyse is either oblivious or uncaring to Raina's inner turmoil, hands on her hips as she regarded the viera with minimal sympathy. She had to make him something back, do some form of gesture. He's spent months now doing this, never giving up despite her less than amazing responses. 

Oh gods, she had criticised the first one he made. 

She's absolutely mortified. 

"Star to Raina, you in there?" Lyse asks after time has stretched on in pure silence, leaning to the side slightly before jumping back as the viera turns to her and yells in panic. 

"I…I have to… FUCK!" 

—

It's not her best effort, a mixture of limited resources and working off of memory combining together to try and make the gift before Hien returned to the east. She hadn't had much time to think of something, having already done one gesture for the other that had yet to be revealed or noticed. 

The new weight on her ear was easy to get used to, tapping her foot nervously as she waited for her opportunity to present the gift gripped tightly in her hands. Curry buns shaped to look like namazu, three in total with a range of ridiculous expressions upon them. Happy, shocked and unconscious.  

Present him with food, tell him to have a safe journey, say goodbye. Three steps, she just had to do three steps and she could stop being nervous about all this. What reason does she even have to be nervous? She had no reason to doubt what Lyse had said to her about it, none at all. 

"Oh, Raina, I hope we'll be able to see you again in Doma soon. Hopefully under better circumstances." 

She jumps, fumbling with the box of food she'd made for him before catching it, smiling nervously. Smooth. "I would like that." Raina offers at first before clearing her throat, pushing the food forward. "I made you some food for the road, you mentioned curry buns once and I thought you might enjoy them."

It's like witnessing the sun, his grin near luminous as it reached his eyes, his enthusiasm near infectious as waxed poetic about the food. He forgot himself, it seems, no longer an alliance leader but a normal mam enthusiastic about the simple gift of food. 

The dragon was dead. The draconic invasion had been stopped. But how they'd achieved it was the catalyst to the disaster that was now laid out before them. 

They remember teeth sinking into hot flesh, a monstrous roar escaping their throat, the rip and tear of muscle and bones as blood and aether flooded their senses. It's still present, the blood, coating every inch of their mouth and skin, staining all it touched as it seeped from them onto chocobo feathers. 

There's a scream and they fall, tumbling into the cold embrace of snow, arms weak as Kiva pushed themselves up only to feel their stomach churn and empty. 

It was red. Everything was red. Blood splattered snow from both skin and stomach, the putrid smell of dragon mixing with acrid bile only serving to upset their stomach more. 

Where were they? The deep crimson shards of crystal behind them said somewhere south of Whitebrim, through the cave close to it, the sound of water soothing if not for the high pitched call of a distressed chocobo. 

Chamomile. Where was Chamomile? She's the only thing not red or white, a spot of seafoam in the snow, stumbling over to her owner in the deep snow.

Her beak is cold against their scales, gently nudging their face as she often did when concerned. "I'm okay, sweetheart, I'm okay." 

It's a lie. Anyone could tell, both stranger and friend, saturated in a dragon's demise and on the brink of breaking down in tears. They're thankful Zem is quiet, undoubtedly most pleased and satisfied with herself after being the cause of her host's grief and turmoil. Kiva doesn't believe they've the mental fortitude to resist or ignore her influence right now. 

They didn't even have it on the bridge. Kiva had crumpled with anxiety as soon as the shields had been broken, had given into her words of how they just had to let go and all would be well. I can keep them safe, you know I can. 

Keeping them safe wouldn't matter if all was denied with a brandishing of the title heresy. Perhaps it was correct, maybe they were a heretic afterall. Just not in the way Ishgard and her people believed. 

"We should go home, before anyone finds us." Kiva speaks softly to the giant bird, flinching as their hand stroked her break, a smear of blood left across it. "Are you injured from your fall?" 

Her response is a chirp, lowering herself into the snow for them and Kiva nearly cries. Would anyone treat them the same after this? Would the scions still have them? They don't want to be alone again, don't want to be left with naught but the voidsent for company. 

"I'm not injured, don't worry about me." Their smile is weak and wavering, pulling themselves lethargically into the saddle as the adrenaline wore off and defeated weariness set in. "To the Rising Stones, flower." 

The journey is long, made longer still by the paranoia seeping into their core. Would the Scions be concerned for them or would Kiva be turned away as the monster they were? Would Haurchefant ever greet them with that same warm, welcoming smile or would he simply put them to the sword?  

Revenant's Toll greets them with silence, the settlement falling into silence as they slowly make their way towards the aetheryte, towards the Rising Stones. The sound of chocobo talons on cobblestone echoes numbly in dipped, fearful ears that the sound of their name is deaf to them. 

Minfilia. It looks like Minfillia at least. Her soft voice and comfort as they stumble from chocobo still sodden with blood, skin sticky and stiff from where it had congealed and partially frozen. 

Her embrace burns - too forgiving, too warm - taking both the viera and chocobo into the Rising Stones by hand before letting them falter. It's with desperation that they cling, tightly and painfully, her clothes undoubtedly as stained now as theirs, an inhuman wail of grief, anxiety and anguish spilling forth from bloodied lips. 

They must look pathetic to all that had stayed behind, the saviour of Eorzea reduced to a sobbing, terrified mess, clinging like a child to their mother on the floor of the Rising Stones. 

It's not even the warrior of light who calls him out on it, both au ra and viera looking at Rielle, their ward, as she sat opposite them both seemingly observing them. He almost missed when she was quieter and less likely to point these things out. 

" I'm not star-" 

"You can ask abou-" 

They both pause, both staring at one another with surprise before Rino at least laughs a little, giving him that all too familiar reserved smile. "You can ask about it." 

He reaches for their face, gloved hand brushing against the light scales that decorated their cheeks. They used to be black, just like his, Rino having once commented that they hadn't always been that way. A throwaway remark that perhaps the other hadn't expected him to remember. 

"She's not here anymore, is she?" 

Any other time Rino would have laughed and say Rielle was right there, ignore the questions relating to the void parasite in its entirety. Whatever had happened between Gyr Albania and now, had certainly opened Rino up to being more open about it all. 

"No… Not anymore." They sound almost sad, leaning into Sidurgu's touch, catching the auri man off guard. Affection between them was never this public, never this open, both too shy about it to dare. 

"I feel emptier." Rino continues with a sigh but he can tell they're conflicted about it, doubting the feeling of that emotion in its entirety. "Zem was with me for over 13 years, everything is just silent now." 

"Is that not a good thing? You…" 

Compliments are still difficult, especially ones like this. It's too forward to state they now look as they always did to him, beautiful and content, finally relaxed and less akin to carrying the weighted fate of not just this star on their shoulders. As ironic as that statement seemed to be. 

"It is!" Rino suddenly exclaims, hands up in front of their chest in mock surrender and jolting away from him before curling in on themselves. As if to be louder than a murmur was a crime in this otherwise busy inn. "It is, it's just a change I'm not yet accustomed to." 

Sid frowns as Rino stares at their hands, noting the bow on their back as opposed to the usual tome at their hip and he inwardly swears at his lack of observation. The change was more than just a loss of a voidsent, could Rino even still summon as they did before, the constant presence of the bow seemed to state otherwise. 

"Y'shtola got me in contact with her sister, they're both looking into what I lost and what can be recovered." 

The answer is unknown then, at least for now, silence stretching between them but it's not stilted now at least, comfortable as it had always been. "I have to make my way to Gridania in a few days." 

That makes Sidurgu pause. The last time they had ventured south to the Shroud it had gone badly, the viera in a constant state of discomfort until they've crossed the border once more and the other had let out a heavy sigh and complained of elementals. 

"Do you want-" 

"We're going with you." 

Rielle cuts him off, smiling in that coy way she does when she's up to something - the one he can read clearly and then one Rino has always fallen for. "I would love to hear more about where you've been whilst he was worrying." 

She turns more and more into Fray with each day, Sidurgu folding his arms and sighing as Rino and Rielle talked. 

He avoided looking at her for too long, his attempts at flirting simultaneously more convoluted and obscure to decipher. It's only as Tataru winks with a grin, hand patting Raina's leg with a statement of take your time does Raina begin to grasp the picture. 

It's how they find themselves like this, Raina leaning against his desk as Leofard knelt before her, having dropped to his knees the moment they were alone. 

"You said I shouldn't wear it 'so obviously with more regal attire'." Raina recites his words, the sky pirate having been a flustered mess of no composure ever since finding his bandana around her thigh. "Should I have stopped wearing it all together?" 

He leans back, opening his mouth to argue a point he probably didn't believe in before catching sight of her, averting his eyes quickly and coughing into his hand as he mumbled. "No, I just wasn't expecting it on your thigh." 

She laughs, taking hold of his chin and pulling him upwards, kissing him at first sweetly before something all the more desperate kicked in. 

Gods, it had been a while hadn't it, not since post the fight at Ghimlyt, when he'd climbed in through the window, struggled for words for a moment before effortlessly slipping back into his usual terrible flirting. 

There's a clattering sound of something falling off the desk as he pushes her back onto it, height difference equalising considerably as his hands gripped her thighs tightly.

"I've been thinking about this since you turned up in this dress." Leofard states breathlessly, Raina wondering if this had been her intention all along in the back of her mind. Neo Ishgardian it had been described, she just thought it filled the brief of being classy and her own personal one of being easy to move in, winding up Leofard hadn't been an intentional bonus. 

His lips trail down her neck whilst his hands slipped further up her thighs, biting back a whine as the mix of kisses and sucking came to an end. "Patience, gorgeous." 

She knew what he was doing, frowning as he pulled her bloomers down and off, dropping to his knees between her thighs looking up to her as he kissed the side of her knee. 

"At least take these off first." Raina's finger squeezes its way under the bridge of the goggles, tugging them up and off in one swoop, biting back a laugh at the clear marks in his skin from wearing them so much. 

"Darling, please, don't expose a man then laugh." Leofard gasped dramatically, laughing himself until he finally notices what she's done. As careful as her ears allowed, Leofard's goggles now sat like a mock crown atop her head. "You're too much." 

"And you're repeating yourself - Ah!" 

He bites her thigh, hard enough to bruise and undoubtedly would, his preference for the left one - the one sporting his bandana - most obvious as he made his way up her thighs. 

Pale thighs hook over his shoulders, linking by the ankle, gold meeting brown before kissing between her thighs. It's like no time has passed between the last time they were like this, Raina supposes it hasn't been for him, the years in the first had been weeks for him and the end of days had progressed surprisingly quickly. 

He remembers all her sweet spots, what she likes, tongue teasing her clit as the sky pirate moved almost painfully slowly. Leofard was taking his sweet time with this and it's annoying how she knows she can't last that long. 

Raina's hand grips his hair, gloved hand tangling in dark hair, the pressure and pace of his tongue increasing whilst hands gripped thick thighs in a weak effort to keep them apart. 

"W-wait, Leo, I'm -!!!" 

She comes undone from just his tongue on her clit, thighs clenching around his head and shoulders before the viera eventually relaxes, cheeks as red as the ruby dress she wore. 

He doesn't say anything, doesn't tease her, a prideful gleam in his eye that she doesn't have the heart to crush by stating what's been months for him has been years for her. She pulls him up and forward again, this time by the jacket, tasting herself on his lips as the desperation from before gave way to just passion. 

"Please, Leo…" She whispers as the kiss breaks, leaning their foreheads together as she panted. "I… I need…" 

He brings her hand to his lips, kissing her bent fingers just above the knuckles. "Anything for you, gorgeous." 

Leofard strips himself, leaving naught but his undershirt and own matching bandana, hands catching Raina's as she went to undress herself, shaking his head. "I want to savour you in this dress for as long as possible." 

She lets him lift her thighs to his waist, hooking them around like she'd done to his shoulders just moments before, gentle as he pressed his cock against her entrance before pushing in. 

Raina whimpers, gods it had been too long, clinging to him as he started to move his hips. Thighs tighten around him, face buried into his neck as nails dug into his back beneath the shirt, his pace nowhere near brutal and yet she felt overwhelmed. 

"Good girl, you're being so good for me darling." He whispers into her hair, leaning her backwards until her back was flat against the desk, tracing kisses down her neck once again as she loosened her grip on him. 

His hands find their home, one in hers whilst the other supports him by her waist, not before pulling the tie barely holding her chest together undone. Breasts spill out from fabric easily, Raina half convinced they'd have done that anyway without his assistance. 

Leofard's pace is near brutal now, Raina rocking her hips up to meet his thrusts to the sounds of his praise and admiration. She wasn't vocal, never had been beyond quiet moans and gasps, but the other more than made up for it in compliments alone. 

"P-please…" 

"Soon beautiful, just hold out a little longer for me." 

She does, orgasming to his whispered praise, aching for him to return when he pulls out to finish himself off. Raina had to get better, had to at least last longer than this, sitting up and wincing at the mess of the desk and on the floor that they'd caused. 

Redressing is easy at first, a brief amount of cleaning herself up before slipping her underwear back on, frowning at the state of her top before sighing. "A little help when you can." 

He practically runs over to her, a bounce in his step, looking all too eager to help with whatever was troubling her and she can't help but feel a fondness over it. "Holding or tieing?" 

Leofard seems confused at first frowning before clocking on, looking down to her chest before looking away, cheeks flushing. He's the only man he knows who can do what they just did and then become flustered over something as simply as fastening up a dress. 

"Tieing." 

Raina holds the bodice up and together as his fingers deftly retie the fastening, looking away and scratching the back of his neck. Like staring at her for too long would just lead them to the same outcome as before: fucking half naked on his desk. 

"Tataru is probably waiting for you…" 

"Yeah," She sighed, opening her mouth to speak before closing it again. The end of days had been eye opening, had changed a thought she'd held about herself for tok long. She was allowed to be a little selfish, if she wanted. 

She'd earnt as much. 

"Don't… Don't be a stranger." Raina begins, fiddling with the cuff of her glove, snorting at the irony of it all. Not intimidated enough by Zenos to trll him to fuck off and die already but too nervous to invite her… Friend? Partner? Sky pirate she had feelings for but didn't know how to express it to the tropical island Tataru had entrusted to her. 

"I won't be." 

"There's an island I spend some time on, tropical, kind of remote. I'm still developing it but it's pleasant enough, plenty of space too." 

His hand closes around hers, once again bringing it up to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "I'd love to, Darling." 

It's only later, of course, as they prepare to leave Ishgard for Old Sharlyan does Tataru finally speaks on a topic she'd been wanting to for a while, mischievous glint in her eye. 

What would Hien say if he saw this? His wife slowly becoming an angelic looking monster of stone and metal, would he shudder away or would he, with that affectionate smile on his lips, regard her as beautiful still?

Compare her to kintsugi, marvel at it like he had done countless times with her other imperfections. A smile plays on her lips as she can hear him say she looks more like a tree, state the shards are her bark and the gold tree sap. 

Raina's heart clenches, squeezing her knees to her chest tighter, forehead resting upon knees as she bid herself to look away from the view of the Crystarium and Lakeland the pendants afforded her. 

She was going to make it home, wasn't she? Vanquish the evil and return home to her family. That’s how it had worked before, that’s how she’d faced ascians, primals and whatever else fate had decided to throw at her. 

But this seemed permanent, more inconclusive. None of that had changed her, not in this way, left either mental or physical scars that had slowly healed with time or at least become bearable. It had never done both, at least not to this extent, she’d never felt this terrified of her own fate. Not like this.

Unfurling, she leans back against the window frame, holding her arm up to marvel in horror at the growing marble of her left arm with its veins of gold rippling through it. “I don’t think we’re making it out of this one, Ardbert.” 

The ghost in her kitchen doesn’t respond, doesn’t even look at her, looking as humbled and depressed as she felt as he leant against the table brimming with abandoned food and well wishes of those she had brought the night back to. 

“I’m sorry.”

Don’t be, she wants to say. You haven’t lied to me, you haven’t caused he to be stuck in this night's forsaken land, it’s not your fault I’m becoming a monster the more I kill them. It’s not your fault that I’m slowly rotting from the inside out. 

What can she blame him for in the grand scheme of things? His role in all this was small compared to everything else, the only soul who had been completely honest with her in recent days which was ironic considering how they first met. 

Avoiding Magnai had been easy at first. His bitter rivalry with Sadu wasn't hard to miss, a constant noise in Camp Broken Glass that drowned out the near constant hum of ceruleum production and usage that was inescapable in the desolate snowscape. 

But nothing good ever lasted forever for him and Menphina seemed to take sick pleasure in his misfortune. 

Freis at first attempts to ignore the sudden presence beside him, the familiar smell of the steppe, the warmth that radiated off him like he was indeed descended from the sun. The fact part of him is still longing to show the former Khaghan even a slither of the affection he still regrettably held for him. 

"What?!" Anywhere else he'd have shouted but not here, a low hiss that was barely heard by any bar himself and the auri man before him. It was bad enough the entirety of the Steppe had bore witness to the explosive end to their fallacy of a romance, he didn't need the rest of Eorzea privy to it. 

Magnai doesn't move, doesn't even flinch. Freis is giving him the purest form of his vitriol and, still Magnai just stares at him like he's seeing him for the first time all over again. "Your hair… Is this normal?" 

Freis frowns before sighing heavily, blowing strands of silvery white hair from his mismatched eyes. He'd avoided Magnai so ardently the winter between their split and his sisters arrival that it was unsurprising he wouldn't know of this. 

"During winter, or when the temperature dips below a certain level, my sister and I grow winter coats." He explains simply, hoping it was enough to quench the other's curiosity of why orange and browns shed away to white and greys. "It's warmer, better for camouflage."

"Can I touch it?" 

It's asked after a moment, Freis untrusting of his voice to not shake as he nodded, thankful for at least the request as opposed to the other simply touching him.

He's thankful Magnai doesn't comment on the hair tie, the yellow cloth the Oronir had given him some years ago, bracing himself for the inevitable touch of his hand. 

Magnai is gentle, glove resting on the table beside their food as tanned fingers played with it. He's missed this, he's loath to admit, memories still fond of when he'd do this on lazy summer nights, when it was too humid for any other form of intimacy. 

Freis forgets himself, relaxing into the touch, ears dipping with relaxation as he let out a pleased hum. The memory of them has never felt so near, like it had never truly left. 

"It's like moonlight." 

Despite the affection laced words it hits like ice water, the illusion gone as the viera reacts instinctively, hand grabbing the others large wrist and yanking it away from his hair. 

He can't do this again. He cant listen to this man spin poetry about the moon whilst thinking of anyone bar him. 

Freis isn't his moon. He never was and never will be. 

"Don't…" He hates how pathetic he sounds, the anger from early melted away by gentle touches and even words that felt like knives did nothing to stoke it back to life. 

The silence between them stretches on, Freis confused whilst Magnai seemed apologetic almost, never once pulling his wrist away as he opened his mouth as if to speak only to close it again. It wasn't often he was speechless, that much Freis remembers. 

"Don't do this to me." Freis breaks the silence when Magnai doesn't, standing from his seat in the busy canteen and slowly letting go of his wrist. Like he wanted Magnai to take his hand and pull him back down, to give him hope where it didn't lay. "Don't lie to me again." 

He's not angry, just defeated, crestfallen and still very much in love with the giant au ra that broke his heart. Keep your face schooled, he tells himself, leaving the makeshift canteen and stepping out into the frozen Garlemald winds, taking deep breaths that came out shakey each time. 

He'd never have to endure Magnai Oronir again after this, he'd be free to move on from the affection he still held for a man who could never love him. 

Even now, Raina looks small, twitching restlessly in their sleep. Patchy ears shed fur of white and gold, once long deep brown hair cropped short to remove the pallid hue that had bleached it. What horrors had they experienced in that land?

Hien's hand reaches out for them as they whimper, curling in on themselves as if to hide, only to hesitate.

The scar on their ribs, a gift from the Garlean Prince himself, was another reminder of what had occurred. Skin felt as cold and stiff as marble, blemished white with veins of gold, like the kintsugi his mother was always fond of. It was beautiful, yet his wife viewed it with horror.

He cups their face, Raina waking with a jolt, panting with fear and a horror in their eyes Hien doesn't believe he's seen since Tsukiyomi.

"I'm here, it's just us." He whispers, smiling softly despite the sheer force of the grip they place on his hand. It will bruise. "You're home, my love, you're home with me."

Their grip eases, dark eyes softening with grief as they looked to the hand that cradled their face, turning to press a kiss to his rough palm.

"Might I know your nightmare?"

It's a request, as always, voice soft and inviting, not wish to push their boundaries. Married they may be, but that was still no excuse to upset them further.

"I was a monster." They whisper after prolonged silence, Hien ready to accept their need forsecrecy once more. "I... I drowned a world in light and massacred this one all to..."

They pause, swallowing thickly before looking back to his face. "All to get back to you."

He doesn't understand, not fully, most words lost on him without full context, rubbing their cheek bone soothingly as Raina broke down into tears once more.

"It's flattering, you know, to hear I am worthy of destroying worlds for." He half jokes in a whisper, chuckling himself as a sob laced laugh escapes from Raina, followed by a light push.

"Hien, it wasn't a-"

He graces him with fond looks, warm and inviting, expressive eyes brimming with a soft affection that ignited an inferno within him. The morning after smiles, the sleepy mumbles of good morning in either English or German, a promise of breakfast in a gentle kiss that brings back the murmur in its entirety.

Roach believed all he wanted from his voice was desperation and begging, pleased little gasps and whimpers for more or harder. Wanted to be able to hear the effect his words and hands had on him. Hear him be vocal enough for the both of them.

But then he finds himself drawn to the excited lilt in his voice when talking about vultures. Like a moth to the flame he's enraptured, a foreign feeling blooming in his chest as König enthusiastically talks of both Fuschl and Ötzi.

He wonders if König has ever spoken about him with that tone, an unknown warmth blooming in his cheeks at the warmth.

Eyes focus on the CCTV screens, gripping the warm mug resting between his hands a little tighter. There was no time to pay attention to the mess König was making him, scanning the aviaries with fledglings before movement on another screen catches his attention.

Its König and Gaz, Roach watching with interest as they talked, smile tugging at his lips at how expressively König spoke with his hands.

The smile turns to laughter, vocal and loud, filling the air of the staffroom with genuine mirth as the Austrian lays down flat on the ground, phone out to photograph Ötzi.

He can hear the compliments König paid his laugh the last time he'd used it, when the giant of a man explained how he'd learnt German Sign at first before his sister had pointed out that Roach would know British instead. Cute. Joyful. König had descended into rapidly spoken German that, if his meagre attempts at translation were to be believed, was akin to the whimsical nature of bumble bees.

Maybe Simon was right, Roach biting his lower lip with worry as he continued to watch König and Gaz, Gaz now having joined the other on the floor. Maybe this was the affliction of affection, the radiating warmth of König's light having drawn him in and now Roach was terrified he was but Icarus in the midst of reaching for the sun.

What if it doesn't work out? What if he simply leads König along, a promise of romance he can't fulfil and the feeling of being trapped in a one sided agreement with the fear of hurting him.

Simon had laughed at him when he'd explained this in rambled sign, trying to conceptualise his confusion as his hands moved almost too sporadically to form words. "It's called having a crush, ya pillock"

Was that it? Grubs first crush and its on a giant walking embodiment of social anxiety. It's funny, really, laughing again only this time his phantom one.

A hand claps on his shoulder, Roach jumping and turning in his seat to find Price, surprisingly ferretless. He looks amused, the concerned tilt of his eyebrows not hiding the fact he's clearly laughing at a joke Roach isn't yet privy to.

"Ferret for your thoughts?" Prince inquires, giving Roach space to think over his response, the click of the kettle beginning the timer to articulation in Roach's mind.

Does he tell Price? Ask for help from the one man who both had life experience and was least likely to mock him. It was sound in theory but the hesitation lingered of being open with his feelings and embracing the theory that he's been wrong in his thoughts of himself all along.

His self imposed time goes off with the rumbling of boiling water, the sound of it pouring into chipped, stained mugs and the slide of another cup of tea across the counter beside him.

Roach turns to Price, watching his boss take over flicking through the CCTV, not taking his attention away as he reprimanded the ferret in his sleeve for trying to drink his tea.

What's the worst that could happen? Price hadn't harshly reprimanded neither Soap nor Simon for their blatant flirting and that had long since become a worldwide problem. Roach refuses to believe his confusion over how König makes him feel is as bad as that.

Like a child, he gently takes hold of Price's sleeve, careful to not be too rough with the fleece in case either Deadshot or Daiquiri were in there. "What is it, son?"

Taking a moment to breathe, Roach carefully signs out his question, a nervous energy tingling in his fingers.