Alchemised

by SenLinYu

Perhaps her violent captor could be her means to that end.

She pressed her face into the warmth of the hand, wanting to cry.

“Ferron always comes for me,” she whispered.

He tilted her face up towards his, and his expression grew horrified. He touched her cheek and held her face as he drew several deep breaths.

“How do I fix it?”

“Oh, Marino.” His thumb trailed along her neck, following the scar below her jaw. “If I’d known what pain you’d cause me, I never would have taken you.”

:(((

“But at this point I suppose I deserve to burn. I wonder if you’ll burn, too.”

“You don’t want me to train you?” His voice had turned slippery and dangerous.

Awweeeee..im delusonal

Her fingers where she’d touched him were wet with blood. “You’re hurt.”

She retrieved her satchel without a word, gingerly hooking an arm through the strap. She couldn’t get it up to her shoulder. Broken glass tinkled inside. She’d added an emergency kit after last week, thinking that if Ferron was ever hurt again, she would come prepared.

Dont make me cry

And he’d thought she’d known. The thought gutted her. That he’d thought she knew and had abandoned him to this.

Helena held one last stone. She hesitated. If she knocked the tower down while building it, it would be for naught. She almost put the stone back. She placed it. Don’t make me responsible for Kaine Ferron’s death. The stack wobbled, threatening collapse. Then it settled.

“Don’t die, Marino. I might miss you.”

“Stay,” he said softly, and his head dipped so close she felt his breath in her hair. “You know, there’s something about you, Marino, that inspires the most terrible decisions from me. I’ll know better, but then I’ll still…” His voice trailed off as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear, finger running along her jaw.

He stilled, eyes instantly opening, and reached towards her. “Don’t go.”

Babyy

The coldness she associated with him had become a distant memory; his skin was warm, and his breath where it touched her cheek was warm. Drunk and feeling his heartbeat beneath her fingers, she couldn’t remember when she’d stopped being afraid of him.

“I must admit,” he said in a low voice as though making a confession, “if anyone had told me you’d become so lovely, I would never have come near you. I was rather blindsided when I saw you again.”

“You’re like a rose in a graveyard,” he said, and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. “I wonder what you could have turned into without the war.”

THE Line

“Gods, Marino, don’t cry,” he said hastily.

He tilted his head. “Will you take your hair down? I want to see it.”

OH MYYYYYY

He leaned forward, lacing his fingers into her hair along her temple, running his fingers through it. His expression curious. She shivered at the sensation, at the nearness of him.

She ran a hand along his jaw, and when her palm grazed his cheek, he pressed his face into it, eyes fluttering shut, a breath escaping him, as if he were starved of touch.

She hadn’t realised how much she’d wanted to be touched. That she was starved of it, too.

“You made me feel like the parts of me that aren’t useful still deserve to exist. Like I’m not just all the things I can do.”

There was a long silence. Finally Ivy spoke up. “Can vivimancy get rid of memories? Make someone forget something so they’d never remember it?”

A smirk twisted his mouth as he looked at her. “There are far worse fates than dying, Marino.” She nodded. “I know. But that one you don’t come back from.”

“Eyes are awful. I mean, hopefully if you ever lost one, it would just grow back, but if not…” She exhaled.

OMG

“I have—something for you,” he finally said, as if having a tooth extracted. He pulled out something rolled up in an oilcloth and held it towards her. Inside lay a set of beautiful daggers, sheathed in mesh holsters. Helena felt her resonance respond before she even touched them.

SWEET BABYYYY

After a pause she looked at him again. “Thank you. I don’t even know what to say. They’re beautiful.” He avoided meeting her eyes. “It’s nothing.” He cleared his throat. “I’m glad you like them, though,

“I must say, Marino, you’ve ended up being quite expensive.”

“What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” She looked down quickly. His gaze was like a brand on the top of her head. “I just came because I was—worried about you.”

“I came because I wanted to see you.” She realised only as she said it that it was the truth. That was why she’d come. His throat dipped. “Why?” Her chest tightened. “I’m afraid that someday I’ll come, and you—you won’t be here.”

He went still, his eyes darting across her face. His expression wavered, something she couldn’t decipher flickering in his eyes. He gave a low laugh. “Is this goodbye, then, Marino?” The question jolted through her, and she reached out, grabbing hold of him. “No! No.”

“You always have to come back,” she said. “All right? Don’t die. Promise—” Her voice failed.

He gave a hollow laugh and stepped closer so that his chin grazed the top of her head. His sigh was almost despairing. “All right…” he said, “but only because you asked.”

AWEEEEEEE I CANTTTTTT

She’d thought for so long that she could do anything. For the war. For Luc. That she had it within her to pay any price. Now she’d found her limit.

Kaine.

“Just like that,” he said, panting. “Just push in. It’s right there.” She looked up sharply. He was watching her, making no move to stop her. Waiting. Her smile fell, and she stared at him in horror. That bitterness in his eyes—she finally understood it. He had been waiting for her betrayal.

But his eyes… She could tell— He was hers. The realisation broke her heart.

Im gonna cry

You outmanoeuvred me. Or maybe I’m just too tired and grieving to keep pushing you away. You won.” He met her eyes for a moment, his expression bitter and derisive. “Well done.”

She drew closer to him. He looked so utterly broken, as if he were about to collapse into himself. She placed a tentative hand on his arm, half expecting him to fling her across the room, but his shoulders trembled and he dropped his head onto her shoulder.

She pulled him into her arms; he gripped her close and sobbed. “I can’t—I can’t—” he kept saying over and over. Helena didn’t know what to do. She ran her fingers through his hair and just held him. “I can’t—I can’t do this again—” he finally gasped out. “I can’t care for someone again. I can’t take it.”

She blindly found his face, pressing her hand against his cheek, felt tears slide along h...

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Kaine.” She said it again and again. She was apol...

For the first time, Kaine Ferron was fully human to her. She’d slipped through his walls and peeled away the defensive layers of malice and cruelty, and found that there...

“Is this not enough for you? Is there something else you want, too?”

HES HAD ENOUGH

When he reached Helena, his eyes were burning with rage behind his mask, glowing bright as molten silver. “You idiot,” he said, and dragged her up out of the water, crushing her hard against his chest.

“Tell me you can last long enough for me to get a doctor.” His voice was shaking.

Poor babyyy

When he finished, he massaged her hand again, in the same way he had with the first.

He blocked the door, his eyes gone cold. “Remind Crowther that if the Eternal Flame wants my continued assistance, they will keep you alive.”

“She’s dead,” he said. “You are not. My loyalty was to those least responsible for her suffering, but if the Eternal Flame has decided that you are an affordable casualty, I will not be noble or understanding. I can exact dual revenge. I will make them pay if they get you killed.”