OKAY Maryse /Jocelyn and the first one on the stab wound thingy that Elle posted in discord
Jocelyn thrust her seraph blade up with a grunt, missing Valentine’s throat by mere inches. He grabbed her arm and held it high, his own blade hovering in the air, ready for the final blow. Jocelyn shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. She should have known this was how it would end. With the person she thought was the love of her life, ready to plunge his blade into her heart. The heart that should belong to him, but no longer did. She opened her eyes to see Luke running in her direction, too far away to stop the inevitable. She had accepted her death, for the greater good, for the safety of her children, for the survival of her people.
Then the pressure around her wrist disappeared and she felt herself fall to the ground. Her eyes shot open as she waited for the pain, but it never came. She pushed to her knees facing Luke as her hands searched her body for the seraph blade. She found nothing as she glanced up to see Luke, his feet frozen to the ground, panic and confusion on his face. Jocelyn turned with her blade in her hand, ready to fight the next battle behind her.
Instead, she saw Valentine on the ground, seraph blade nowhere to be seen and Maryse standing unsteadily on her feet before her. Maryse had a soft smile on her face, but Jocelyn knew something was wrong by the cloudiness in her eyes. She stood slowly as her eyes searched Maryse’s body.
Maryse’s hands were covered in blood, that was the first thing Jocelyn noticed. The second was the seraph blade protruding from her side. Jocelyn went to step forward, her hands out like she was approaching a predator and she yelled as Maryse pulled the blade from her skin. She flinched as she did it, dropping the blade to the ground, her hand shaking as she pushed her palm into the wound.
“Maryse…” Jocelyn whispered. She heard Luke and Robert yelling her name, but Maryse didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes connected with Jocelyn’s as her knees wobbled and she fell to the ground. Jocelyn surged forward and kneeled beside her just in time to catch her as she leaned to the side. “Why would you do that?” Jocelyn whispered as she pushed Maryse’s hair from her face. Maryse let out a weak laugh that was quickly followed by coughing. Jocelyn held her closer and grabbed for her stele, cursing to herself when it wasn’t in her holster.
“I didn’t follow Valentine because I believed in him,” Maryse started. Her voice was weak and her breath was coming out in harsh pants. Jocelyn held her closer as Luke appeared beside them, running his stele over the iratze. The rune flickered with every brush and Jocelyn could hear Luke cursing to himself. Maryse raised a trembling hand to Jocelyn’s face and rested it there, her thumb wiping at a tear Jocelyn didn’t realize had fallen. “I followed Valentine because I believe in you.” The last words erupted Maryse into a cough and Jocelyn pressed her hand tighter to the wound on her side.
“You’re not dying here, for me,” Jocelyn whispered as she pressed their foreheads together. Maryse’s arm fell to the ground and her skin paled even further. Jocelyn stroked at her face, wiping the blood and sweat that coated it. “You can’t die, Maryse,” Jocelyn pleaded.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to die, for the woman I love,” Maryse whispered and Jocelyn could see her eyes fading. She pushed her fingers through Maryse’s hair and held tight, propping her head up as blood dripped from her mouth.
“You can’t say something like that and then die on me, Maryse.” Maryse’s eyes closed and opened slowly, like every blink was painful and Jocelyn pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead to try and ease the pain. She heard a shout from Luke and her eyes darted to the iratze on Maryse’s side just in time to see it glow. Jocelyn sighed in relief as Maryse’s eyes cleared just a little.
“Jocelyn, I–” Maryse started. Jocelyn shook her head and placed a finger over Maryse’s lips.
“I need you to focus on healing so that I can tell you I love you, too, without the threat of death looming over us, okay?” Maryse let out a soft breath before her eyes shut and she went limp in Jocelyn’s arms. Jocelyn held her tightly as Luke rested a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“It’s over, Joc. It’s going to be okay,” Luke reassured as his other hand wiped the blood from Maryse’s pale cheek. Jocelyn glanced over at her husband lying dead in the grass, to Luke comforting her and Maryse with just a simple touch, and down to Maryse. She pressed a kiss to Maryse’s cheek and rested her forehead on her temple and finally accepted that everything was going to be okay.
