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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

There was a man carrying what was clearly Onigoshi. He moved like he shambling, a zombie barely able to move, his body faltering under the weight of being bound to a demon. The force of the break and enter had caused the younger version of Isen to take cover behind the couch. The man began to walk inside, though he wasn't holding the sword as if it were a weapon but rather like it was something to be revered.

"Go away." He yelled. "You've got the wrong house. We don't want any trouble."

The voice did not listen. It only moved in the direction of the sound.

For Isen, tugging at Adelaide's side, it was reliving the worst moment of his life. He watched a version of him throw themselves at the intruder when they came near the staircase, desperately trying to pull their body away from the steps. Despite the way they barely seemed to be able to move, they were strong, infused by the strength and enhancements that Isen came to master. He was tossed aside, colliding with the nearby wall. He grasped out for the coat tails of the man, tugging on it. The intruder seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning and, with a single forceful blow, connecting his fist against Isen's jaw, sending the memory across the room. This had drawn the attention of whomever it was, however, luring them from the staircase and back towards their fallen prey where they unsheathed the razor sharp edge of the katana in their hands and forced it through the fallen male's sternum.

Isen reached out for the sword, slicing his palms against it's blade as he tried to stop it from puncturing his chest, in vain. Removing the weapon, the figure walked towards the staircase before altering course into a different room, sweeping the bottom floor to make sure there wasn't anyone else inside. After all, the intruder had to have expected for their parents to be home, two young children like that shouldn't have been alone at night and yet, they were. There was no one coming to help them.

The real Isen turned his head. He didn't want to see this anymore. In doing so, however, he directed his attention inadvertently towards Adelaide where, behind her, his sister was beginning to move down the stairs in a panic to check on her older brother after having been startled awake by the noise. Isen reached his free hand out, clutching at the vision of Meribell, trying with all he could to stop her from going as if it would have changed the outcome but she phased through his trembling touch, down into the living room.

Seeing him bleeding out, she came towards his side, her favorite stuffed animal hanging loosely from her hand. She began to cry, her young, innocent eyes flooding her cheeks as she called out his name. By the time she was at his side, the injured Isen tried to speak to warn her but he could barely open his mouth. "B-Bell, Bell, you need to..." He choked out, his voice sputtering from the blood pooling in his lungs.

The intruder carrying the sword began to walk back inside, finding the brother and sister as she clutched his blood-stained shirt, trying to tug him up to his feet, trying with every ounce of strength in her tiny body to get him to the door, away from danger. He was dead weight, however, and forced to watch as the shadow moved to her back, laying his hand upon her shoulder and pulling her away forcefully until she toppled onto the ground, crying out in pain.

The real Isen was practically hiding behind Adelaide at this point. The terror of that moment all too real, gripping him. He tried to pull her away as well, to avert her eyes. He didn't want to see this. He didn't want her to see it either.
 
This was what Ignas had forced Isen to go through? It was horrific, and they hadn't even reached the climax yet. Adelaide found herself unable to look away from it, watching the zombified man Ignas had clearly possessed move through the house and hurt Isen. It didn't matter that it was just a memory, that it wasn't even the Isen that she knew now, it was still Isen and he was being hurt.

She watched the way that he threw himself at the intruder, so much smaller than the man she knew now. The way that he was thrown aside like he was weightless, the way that his desperation was etched so clearly into his young face as he clutched and grabbed at the man's clothing. The hand that struck him and sent him reeling back, only for the intruder to decide that it wasn't enough, that they were going to take the blade they'd entered with and force it through his chest.

"No!" Her cry fell on deaf ears, for memories couldn't hear her voice, and she couldn't change the past. "No, no, no, no." She was so small, so innocent, just barely hanging onto her animal as she rushed down the stairs in a panic to check on her brother. The horror, and fear on her tear streaked face tugged at Adelaide's heart, an emotion she so strongly identified with after losing her own family and friends.

"It's okay." She hated the way that Isen was hiding behind her, but not because it annoyed her. It made her chest tighten and her heart skip to see him looking so defenseless, so broken as he tried to hide from it, to pull her away and save her from the night she was watching. "Don't watch." She wriggled around and wrapped her arms around him tightly, turning them so that she could see past him but his eyes were on the wall opposite of the traumatizing scene.

"Don't look at it. I'm here, it'll all go away and you'll be okay."
 
He would have appreciated what Adelaide had done for him had he not been so terrified by the realization of what he was witnessing. Even as his gaze was switched towards the wall, he could still hear. He could feel it. He could see the memory flickering in his own head as it had been for her. He didn't need to be watching to know what happened next, he had been trying to wipe it from his mind for years.

"Pathetic. Is this really the one?" The man asked. The voice that answered was not human, it was Ignas, proudly proclaiming that they had found who they were looking for.

"He is, without a doubt. He is the only one strong enough to withstand it."

The man began to talk back to the demon who was insistent that Isen was the one he needed. "Place it in his hand."

The figure knelt down and rested the handle of Onigoshi into Isen's hand. Meribell, bless her heart, tugged at the man's leg, trying to pull him from her brother in a heart wrenching final attempt to throw herself over his body. She was repelled, pulled away with a thud to the hard ground again, wincing in pain as her small body bounced against the floor board and became separated from her precious stuffed, teddy bear.

The dying Isen's hand twitched as the anger inside of his body over rided his senses. Energy flared from the blade of the sword, wrapping around the wound in his torso until it sealed shut and Isen, his eyes black and purple from the infusion of energy, stood, brandishing Onigoshi and delivering it's pointed end into the chest of the weakened man who had harmed his sister. Payback.

He checked the wound in his chest, noting that it had healed. Removing the sword, he looked at the bloodshed he had caused and then, upon his sister, injured and still crying, her eyes filled with terror as she saw the man before her was no longer the kind-hearted brother she had tried to save.

"Finally. I never liked him anyways."

"No..."

He knew what came next

"Ah, you're back. It's about time. We've got a lot to discuss but first...the brat. Please..."

"No!" Isen screamed, his voice nothing but background noise to the display Adelaide was witnessing. In his mind, he could still feel the resistance he put up as he tried to fight against the demon's control. He could feel the back and forth and then the loss of his humanity that came with striking her down upon Ignas' command.

"Would you shut her up for me?"

And then, the memory of what once was Isen, lost the battle against the demon in his head and did the unthinkable. The real Isen shut his eyes and held on to Adelaide tightly, he didn't want her to see what he had done but that was exactly what was about to happen.

He raised Onigoshi high and brought it's edge down into the child's shoulder, serrating where it met the tiny groove of her neck and Meribell, wrought with pain and terror, watched her brother's emotionless face as he did it to her.
 
How did she make it stop? This was her magic at work, weaving the spell and playing out the horrible scene before them. It wasn't like she hadn't known what Isen had done, what Ignas had forced him to do when he'd gotten the sword into his hand and brought him back from the brink of death. Knowing and seeing it were entirely different and she felt her stomach churning, her arms wrapped tightly around Isen as she braced herself and set to the task of making sure he couldn't watch, while simultaneously trying to figure out how how to make it all stop.

"It's okay, I'm here." Her hands clutched at his back as he screamed, her eyes fixated on the sight of him in the memory approaching Meribell and raising the sword high above his head. It was the moment she'd known was coming since the vision had started, but nothing prepared her for the look of terror on the child's face as the weapon sank into her flesh and greedily fed on her blood.

"Outside. We have to go outside." Why hadn't she thought about that before? Her thoughts were so scattered that she could barely think straight, her magic writhing and screaming in its restraints as the ring burned hot against her finger. "Outside." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the vision of the front door they'd walked through just earlier that evening.

"It's okay. I know, it's okay." She focused on speaking in a soothing tone to him as her boots crunched in the snow outside the house, her arms still wrapped around him as she held him tightly and rocked in place. "It's over, I'm sorry. It's all over, Isen. Just you and me."
 
She hadn't gotten to see what came next. The realization on Isen's face as he discovered what he had done, as he cradled his sister's dying body in his arms and watched as the life drained from her eyes; eyes that looked upon him with absolute terror and fear. That was her final memory of him before she died. Her brother, her protector, the one person who had alway been there for watching as she died by his hand. How could he have lived with that? It was no surprise that he tried to claim his own life, again and again, until that too had becoming something that broke him. Ignas wouldn't let go and neither could he.

Reappearing in the snow, Isen was practically shaking from the stress of remembrance. He felt her touch, he heard her voice, but none of it was registering, none of it was helping. Just when he had started to try to move on, to find a reason to keep living, he was reminded by an excruciatingly accurate reenactment of the moment that broke him. It wasn't fair.

Because fate hadn't yet had it's fill of torturing him, the scene around them changed from fields and forest to another memory. Not long after Isen had left his sister's body behind, Ignas had forced him to attack the village that had raised him. Friends, some whom were close enough to be family, as well as children and strangers alike all felt the edge of his cursed blade until there was nothing left. Buildings burnt to the ground, charring the wreckage he had left behind, his own home engulfed in the fire that destroyed what was left of everything he had ever held dear.

Cruelty in it's finest.

Isen had long since accepted Ignas' role in what had happened. Though he always blamed himself, he knew deep down, beneath all of his regret, that the root cause of it all was the demon in the sword and he thought if he could just get rid of it, he could find peace. Over their time together, as Isen's spirit crumbled, he had relied upon Ignas more and more, he had almost forgotten through all of the bickering and the occasional time he helped them, that the voice inside his head that gave him his strength was the very same that had stolen from him the life he had wanted to live. If the DSTF were Adelaide's reason for revenge, surely Ignas had to be his.

As his home, and the buildings around it, burned with a bright flame that broke through the night, the figure of Isen stood at the edge of the city. He had his sword extended, it's blade dripping with blood. It took one last, emotionless look back at the village, at his home where his sister's body had been claimed by the destructive fire, then bolted into the forest, leaving it behind. And with it, the visions fade, the memory ending and returning them back to the empty country side outside of Adelaide's rebuilt home. Alone, again.

Finally, Isen looked back at Adelaide, a devastated, downtrodden look tainting his normally stoic features. For a moment, he thought he saw her looking at him the way Meribell had, with distaste and fear, with shame for what he had done, but it was an after shock of the spell wearing off. He didn't know if what he had saw in her face was as real as everything else that had happened but it made him recoil from her, backing up towards the edge of the forest.

She must have thought he was a monster. He would have agreed with her.
 
"What the fuck?" She'd taken them outside of the house, focused her magic on the teleporting and on trying to stay strong to support Isen, so why was she still seeing things? "Stop thinking about it. Just think about me, think about the life we can have when this is all over." None of her words seemed to affect him enough to make the images disappear, to take the painful memory from him as she held onto him so tightly so thought her arms would go numb.

I know that place.

Past all of the horror and pain of watching him slaughter an entire city under Ignas' control, there was the familiarity to the scene. She had been there before, been to that city when she'd first started her quest to find him. It had been rebuilt since the fires and carnage, but she distinctly remembered going to the town that had begun the source of the reaper myth, and now she knew exactly where she needed to go when everything was over.

"Isen..." Her face fell when he backed away from her, pulling out of her arms and looking as if he might flee at any moment. How had such a heartfelt gift turned into such a terrifying night? She never could have expected to go from showing her own happy memories to experiencing his worst nightmare, and there was barely a moment of pause before she bridged the distance between them.

"Don't run." She didn't run so much as leapt on him, scaling up the front of his body and wrapping her legs firmly around his waist. Her arms went around his neck as she latched onto him, unwilling to let him run from her in the face of his trauma and pain. "It's okay, don't run. I'm here." She shook her head and then pressed her forehead to his, taking a deep breath before she sighed.

"I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. Don't shut me out."
 
Stepping backwards, closer towards the treeline, Isen was intent on running. He would lose himself somewhere in the forest, stay away from her for the night, give them both time to process and try to face what had just been shown to them.

"I..." He opened his mouth to speak but what could he even say? I'm about to run away? I'm a monster? It didn't matter, he had hesitated for too long. With his speed, he could have easily made it through the trees before she could catch him but that slight moment of hesitancy gave her the opportunity to latch on to him, refusing to let him go. "Let go of me..."

For once, he was glad she was too stubborn to listen to him, even if his brain was screaming for him to push her away and to run from his problems the way he always had.

"Why? Why won't you let me go?" He couldn't understand it. He knew she cared for him but how could she still, after seeing what he had done to the person he was closest, decide she wanted to stay? He was worried about her getting herself killed but the biggest threat to her safety, in his eyes, had been at her side the whole time and she refused to see it.

"I'm a monster, Adelaide. I am everything they say that I am...you saw it. You saw what I did. You knew what I was from the start. That's why you wanted me, right? I was a reaper, your reaper. That's all I'm good for, after all, isn't it? I hurt the people who care about me. I kill, and I'm not even good at that because I couldn't get end my own suffering no matter how hard I tried. She was a child, Adelaide. A god damn child. And I was too...weak to stop it from happening...how am I supposed to let go of that?"
 
"No, I'm not letting go." She didn't care that it had started snowing since their arrival, and that it was cold, she simply sapped at his heat and held him tighter as he protested. "I'm not letting go because I'm not scared of you, and you just told me we were going to have a life after all of this. I know it hurts." She let him rant as she clung to him, twisted and wrapped around him with her hands locked together securely behind his neck.

"You're not a monster." She shook her head. "You're not just a reaper. Just a reaper wouldn't have tried to make me dinner when I found out about my grandmother, or held me when I had nightmares. Just a reaper wouldn't be determined to keep me safe from danger even at the cost of their own life, immortality be damned, and just a reaper wouldn't have gone to all the effort of creating this for me with Samara. I'm sorry the spell got out and hurt you, I'm sorry. You have to let go of it though, Isen. If not for you, then for Meribell. Even if she died like that, it's been years! She knows by now what the truth of the matter was, she knows you would never hurt her and that you deserve to be happy. We were supposed to let go of our grief and look to the future." She pulled her head back to look at him fully, her eyes searching his for something other than the pain he was displaying.

"And I'm going to make sure that Ignas pays for what he did, that everyone in the DSTF pays for what they stole from all of us. If I have to pull him from the sword myself and tear his ridiculously egotistical head from his shoulders, then I will. You're not my reaper, you're my best friend."
 
He was her best friend?

He had his suspicions before but this confirmed it; she was crazy. There were so many warning signs, indications that this would be a mistake and yet, she still clung to him, she reasoned with him, she brought up the things he had done for her in the name of trying to move on and become a better person. She said he wasn't just a reaper, he wasn't just a killer, but he certainly felt like that right now. Her eyes stared straight through him, searching for something that he wasn't in a position to return; warmth, intimacy. He only felt grief, pain, something he couldn't let go no matter how hard she told him that he needed to. He wanted to. He wanted to believe her but he just couldn't.

"I was just using you." He admitted, speaking what she had already known but he had never really addressed. Maybe it thought it would push her away, spare her the trouble of sticking with him, of dealing with the mess he had made of his life. "When you first came to me. I was using you. I wasn't trying to save the world, I didn't care about stopping the DSTF, all I wanted to do was get rid of this burden and make things right by ending my life. Somewhere along the way, you became more than a means to an end...and I guess I saw you as my redemption. If I could help you save so many innocent people, if I could convince myself that what we were doing was right, maybe I could justify what I had done."

He had told himself that he hadn't regretted anything that led them to find each other in the way that they did when he revealed her gift to her but this was making him doubt himself, doubt his decision. He was afraid to tell her he had chosen to live because he knew something like this would happen, like something would sneak into his brain and twist his thoughts around, changing what he thought was right.

Ironically, it was a spell designed to do good that ultimately undid all of the progress he thought he was making.

But then there was Meribell. What would she think of him now? She wouldn't want him to hold on to these feelings, to continue suffering.

He still wanted to run. He wanted to let go and disappear. He'd come back, of course, he'd see it through and he'd take every bit of anguish he had out on the DSTF and the Van Dynes but after that...he wasn't sure what was to become of him and Ignas and at this moment, he didn't really care. Whether he lived or died wouldn't change anything in the long run. His sister would still be dead, all of the people caught in his path would remain dead. There were hundreds of families torn apart by his actions. They didn't fear the DSTF, they feared the return of the Reaper who had ruined their lives.

"I can't let go. It's too much. It's just....it's too much."

His eyes remained on hers, his arms slowly starting to respond and curl around her in response. There was a disconnect in Isen, a separation between heart and mind, a war with which he was trapped in the middle of wanting to run and wanting to hold on to her as if what remained of his life depended on it.
 
"We were both using each other, so what?" She had known for some time he was just using her as a means to an end. Up until they'd arrived at her childhood home and he'd said otherwise, she was under the impression that when everything was said and done, he still wanted to die, still wanted her to kill him. "I never thought that we would get along or become friends, and I sure as hell didn't expect to care this much. I've never been able to open up to anyone about my past before without putting them in more danger, without ruining their lives or destroying my own. I was able to tell you everything," This really was turning out to be a disaster.

"Snap out of it, Isen. I know it's hard, I know it hurts. I know how painful it is to relive the memory of losing someone you loved, of being the very reason they're gone, but you need to snap out of it. Come back to me." She needed a way to snap him out of this before things spiraled too far out of control, before he wrenched her off and fled or Ignas came back to taunt them over anything of his choosing.

"If you're mine, then come back to me." She felt the way his arms were curling around her waist, supporting her weight where she'd jumped and wrapped around him. She could feel the confliction in his expression and the way that his eyes softened just slightly as she held his gaze without pause. "I'll be your home, Isen. Wherever we go, I'll be your home, no matter what you think you are."

Her movements were clumsy and out of practice, her fingers clasping at the back of his coat where she'd locked her hands around his neck. A brief shift of her body to shimmy up an inch and she had closed the gap, holding onto him for dear life as her lips brushed over his so lightly she almost wondered if she'd missed at first. Just a light caress, the warmth of his lips against hers before she drew back to look at him with a torn expression.

"Stay."
 
"If you're mine, then come back to me."

What exactly did she mean by that? He was hers?

She had called him her best friend but had she meant something else beyond that?

"I'll be your home."

That was what he had called her. It was only natural that she would use it against him eventually. It wasn't like he had lied. The place they had seen wasn't his home anymore. He didn't really have one. She was the only place he felt comfortable, safe. Up until she had seen what he had done, he thought he could be himself around her as well, that he could be who he was and that she would see him for what he was trying to become, not what he used to be. She knew what Ignas had done, she still didn't fault him for it, even though she had watched him cleave his sister down and murder innocent people simply because a voice in his head told him it was what he needed to do.

Isen froze when she started to move. She was practically climbing up over him, finding herself in a better position to do the last thing he had expected; her lips found his. It was brief, too brief, like she wasn't sure it was the right move to make but she was moving on instinct after reading the situation. If she had intended it to be the one thing that would have shaken him from the hold he had fallen under, she was right. He had felt her lips on his. He had felt how soft and warm they were, how much care there was in the short press of her kiss.

"Stay."

Where else would he go? She said it herself, she was his home.

The weight in his heart remained heavy but he didn't feel as if he was holding it on his own. His mind was racing, clouded with too many thoughts and feelings, but all of them had paused when she found the courage she needed to close that gap.

And it was about time.

Rather than reply to her with words that would have been jumbled and as clumsy as the first kiss they had shared, he followed a different kind of instinct, not one brought on by the embrace of a demon but instead, one controlled by the beating of his heart. His head tilted and his lips found hers once more, initiating a longer, firmer connection between the two. Reveling in that intimacy for as long as she would allow, the final acceptance they both needed to fully admit their feelings had stumbled to the forefront.

Isen wasn't thinking of the memories he hated, he was thinking of the new one they had just made.
 
There were a million ways things could go. He could drop her on her backside in the snow out of shock or tear her off of him in disgust. He could do nothing at all, or question her why she'd done something like that then of all times. She braced herself for the potential drop even as she felt the weight of his hands on her body holding her up, and she dared to meet his eyes again as he tilted his head but said nothing. Was he angry with her?

No, the warmth that descended on her was anything but anger, gentle and firm at the same time as her eyes fluttered closed and her fingers curled into the collar of his coat. There was no pressure or intent to take things further than the embrace or the kiss that they shared, just a comforting hold and warmth that broke through the cold and warmed her through and through.

"Uh..." Adelaide found herself at a loss for words when she drew back to breath, having forgotten for a moment that she very much needed it even if he didn't. Her cheeks were flushed as she forced herself to meet his eyes, trying to grasp for a semblance of logic or function. "I... Actually have a gift for you, too. Back at the shop."
 
After they had parted, drawing back in the breath that they had stolen from one another with their first, proper kiss, he was at a loss for words as well. Isen wasn't expecting any of this to happen but he wasn't upset about it. Instead, it felt as though it had happened at the perfect time, when he needed it most. She had pulled him from his head and his tangled thoughts and back into a reality where he had a real chance at having something good in his life with her. He could dwell on the past all that he wanted but in the end, all it was doing was ruining his ability to live in the present, stealing him from her.

He still hadn't forgiven himself. What he had done, and what he had just relived, would remained burnt into the deepest parts of his mind and soul. But to move forward wouldn't be so bad...if it was with her. He just had to make sure he didn't change his mind anymore, that he was able to keep those dark thoughts away. That was where she would come in, he was certain, but first, he needed to get her through the next couple of days alive and well or all of this change, good and bad, would have been for nothing anyways.

"...you do?" He asked, shaking his head. He was still holding her aloft in his arms, her weight easily supported by his strength as he continued to look at her, a warmth in the way his eyes lingered upon hers, drawing in their color. Had they always been so brilliant or was it the soft light of the moon, and the after glow of what had finally happened, that gave them a new found luster? "You didn't need to get me anything."

But what could it have been?

The last time Isen had been given a present was before he had been bound to Ignas, from his sister. Everything else he had been given had been done so out of necessity, or taken by force. He was beginning to understand why Samara was so insistent that he get something for Adelaide, he would have felt truly awful if he hadn't made an effort after knowing she had done so for him. She would have understood, given his lack of social graces, but it wouldn't have changed how he felt inside and he had already done enough loathing for a life time tonight.

"I think the key can take us here at any time, so we can go back, if you'd like?"

And face the response he was expecting from Samara after having rushed off to track Adelaide down in the middle of the night. If she kept blushing like that, they wouldn't be able to hide it at all! And maybe he didn't want to.
 
"I know I didn't have to, but neither did you, you could have ignored all of Samara's hounding." Probably. The woman was a bit hard to ignore when she set her mind to something, but if he'd really wanted to he would have found a way.

"Yeah, we can go back now." It was getting late anyway, between the walking around after storming off, and the time spend touring the home. She was going to need all the rest she could get before their big day, and that unfortunately meant dealing with the others upon their return. At least she had already shut Ignas up, and she had no intention of reversing the spell until the morning.

"Time to see which nosy bastards are still up." By the time they returned and she jumped down from where she was wrapped around Isen, Isabella had clearly left for the night, and Ember was wandering around the shop eyeballing Priscilla like her next meal. Some things never changed, apparently, and Adelaide was quick to rummage around behind the counter in the back room to retrieve the bag with Isen's gift in it.

"Hurry, hurry, into the other room before anyone sees us!"
 
Having been taken back to Samara's shop, Isen was glad to be back in some place a little more familiar after the night they had. Adelaide's rebuilt house would become their home, eventually, but it would be a while for him to be comfortable there, especially with the memories he had relived while he was there. They had spent a lot of time at Samara's place since they returned to Cresthaven, so he wasn't nearly as uneasy there, even if the place was a little crowded by this point with all of the guests that seemed to come and go while they plotted their plan for tomorrow.

Adelaide rummaged around behind the counter in search of something then quickly tried to call Isen to safety before Samara could find them because, in all honesty, Takami likely didn't care and Isabella was gone. It was only Samara they would need to answer to and she would be extremely interested in hearing what had gone down between them after they had left the diner.

Isen didn't really want to face that, so he followed Adelaide's lead only to find the door to the back room shut tight. He tried to jar it loose with his strength but it wasn't locked by traditional means. Of course, it was magic. "Mind lending a hand?" He asked Adelaide since this was her specialty. However, Samara had already appeared in the room behind them, as if she had been there the whole time, giggling. Had she been cloaked, just messing with them?

"Aren't you two in a rush. Eager to be all alone, hm?" She teased, playful as ever, grinning from ear to ear. "Spill. You two seem way too cheery. Even Mr. Tall, Dark and Broody is smiling. Time to come clean!"
 
"Seriously, Samara? Making us work for it?" She groaned and rolled her eyes, already approaching the door before she caught the sound of Samara's giggling. "Fuck, you scared me!" She jumped and whirled around, a hand flying to her chest as she huffed and then groaned even louder.

"Samara, it's late. He took me to the house you two fixed up, that's all." Was Isen still smiling? It only took a moment to look and see that he was before she quickly turned back to Samara, crossing her arms over her chest and giving the witch a slightly annoyed look. "Come on, let us in so we can go to bed. We all have a long day tomorrow." Could she tell something had happened, or was she just teasing them like she always did? At least the room wasn't brightly lit like it was during the day, but there was enough light they could easily see each other as Ember came up and rubbed against Adelaide's leg.

"You were gone for some time, mistress. You look much happier now." Did she? "I think the witch is right, what happened?"

"Not you too, cat! Samara, just let us go to bed."
 
"Hm..." She mused, shaking her finger back and forth, refusing to let the door open. She laughed at Adelaide's response to her familiar, knowing that Ember was in on it as well. "You're glowing. Don't try to lie to us." Samara swooned, looking to Ember for helping in pressing the subject and getting an answer out of Adelaide.

Isen groaned. "This can wait until tomorrow. She's tired." He defended her, against their teasing. He meant well but his protectiveness was only making the teasing worse!

"Soooo protective. It happened, didn't it?"

"...what happened?"

"It!"

"It?"

"It!"

"If by it, you mean your stupid spell backfired then yeah, it definitely happened." Isen was straight and to the point about it. He didn't have the time nor the patience for any of her games right now after the hellish night he had just been through.

"My spell? What do you mean? The place seemed fine to me..." She trailed off, looking towards Adelaide. Her face lit up as she put together the pieces. "Oh! That spell. Finally, I gave that to her ages ago. Did you bare your hearts for each other? All your deepest, darkest secrets out in the open! And yet you're still here together, your bond ever stronger. You are welcome!"

Isen stopped where he was standing, his face changing to frustration. There was nothing good about what had happened to him in that house, aside from the end result, of course. "She had to see a part of me that haunts me every single day. What am I thanking you for? You knew what was going to happen, right? That's what you do, you know things?"

She nodded her head. She didn't seem to be taking this very seriously and that only frustrated Isen more!

"I do know things. And I also knew that you would never be able to open up your heart to her if it was so full of pain. That weight you're carrying around would crush anybody, Isen, human or not. Both of you, actually. You've been through so much hurt, so much so that I bet neither of you felt like you were deserving of each other's care and concern, right?"

Isen's face softened, slightly. She wasn't wrong.

"You know what happened to her. Now, she knows what happened to you. You've both accepted each other, right or wrong, good and bad. Only after you've let go of the past can you truly begin to embrace the future. You're ready now."

Ready wasn't quite the word Isen would use to describe it, but maybe Samara had good intentions. It seemed that, in most cases, she did, even if her methods were...off putting, to say the least.

"So! Who wants to tell me all the steamy details?"
 
"I am not!" Was she? Adelaide glared down at Ember and then back at Samara, more than a little embarrassed at being called out by two people at once, even if Samara couldn't understand the cat. Small blessings, apparently.

"Isen, don't say it like that!" When the two of them said it like that, it started to sound far more sexual in nature and made her face turn even redder. She just wasn't going to get a break tonight, was she? It was late, they were both emotionally exhausted, and even if she was far happier than she had been early, she just wanted to get in the bed and then give Isen his gift so they could call it a night.

"I didn't even do it on purpose!" She protested quickly, nearly dropping the bag as she uncrossed her arms to wave them frantically. "I was just showing him around and telling him about stuff I remembered and then it kinda... Happened." She was going to die of embarrassment at this point, what was wrong with her? She wasn't a child anymore, or even a teenager!

"That's not the point!" She stomped her foot slightly, nearly at the point of being ready to yell at the witch just to get her to let them through. "They're not steamy! You're acting like we did it on the bed at my old house. It wasn't anything like that, just a little ki--It was nothing serious!"
 
"Did what?" Isen asked, raising a brow in Adelaide's direction as she fired back towards Samara, who couldn't contain her laughter at this point.

"Adorable. Wouldn't you agree, kitty cat?" Samara asked, smirking uncontrollably. "Just a little...what, now?" She continued, having already figured out what she was saying but wanting to force Adelaide to say it out loud to embarrass her some more. "Hm, maybe it wasn't steamy yet. But the night is young. Just make sure you get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, love birds."

"...can we go now?" Isen asked, having had enough of this torture, especially seeing how frustrated Adelaide was getting. It was kind of cute, seeing her so flustered. Had he just called her cute?

Samara sighed, snapping her fingers, lowering the spell on the door. "Fiiine. Ruin my fun. Just don't have too much fun of your own in there, you two. Thin walls, you know?"

The witch laughed again, walking past the both of them, shooting a wink in Adelaide's direction as one last attempt at flustering her. Isen could hear Samara laughing still as she walked out of the room and down the hallway, finally granting them some privacy.

"I could stab her, you know." Isen grumbled, not entirely serious, leading Adelaide through the door that had been spelled. "No? Just a little one. She makes me mad."
 
"Just kill me." Adelaide muttered under her breath as Samara continued to tease her, and Ember sauntered over to rub against the witch's leg in confirmation before wandering back to her mistress. Even her own familiar was turning on her!

"It's not going to get steamy!" She continued to protest to the witch, sighing as the spell was lowered and slinking toward the door with her head lowered. "We're not--I give up!" She turned away from the winking witch who was departing, eager to follow Isen into the spare bedroom they'd been occupying the last few days.

"No stabbing. But I wouldn't mind finding a spell that worked on her like it did on Ignas, if only for when she feels the need to torment me. The woman is a merciless matchmaker." Yet somehow it had worked, a fact that didn't escape the mage's notice as she set the bag on the bed and shed her coat. The boots were next to go before she went over to where her clothes were, pausing and looking at Isen before making a face.

"Turn around so I can change, please." Once he was turned away she went to work changing into her pajamas, although she did pull on the one remaining shirt of his from their original part of the journey before climbing back onto the bed and sitting with her legs crossed.

"Okay, you can look now. Come open your gift." She pointed to the bag before dropping her hands to her lap, looking much more nervous instead of embarrassed now. "I wasn't really sure what to do, but you told me your birthday and hers, so... You don't seem like a necklace person and it would just get in the way, so I figured this would.. Uh, yeah, just go ahead and open it. I hope you like it."
 
"Don't you find it strange?" He asked Adelaide, as they stepped inside. "She seems so interested in what is going on between us, in playing matchmaker, yet she doesn't seem to have anybody special in her life." Samara was beautiful, she had all sorts of magic at her disposal and, before, she was even able to see the future and yet she was alone. No significant other, no apparent friends before Adelaide came into her life.

Isen turned, when she requested he do so, granting her privacy to change. He had made things awkward enough by barging on her while she was trying to change before, he made sure to be careful not to turn prematurely and cause a similar thing to happen. When he finally moved to face her again, he found that she had chosen the shirt she still had that had belonged to him. She had done this before, it wasn't anything new but it felt different this time. A good different.

Lifting the bag into his hands, he glanced down at it. He couldn't see inside yet but from what she explained, it was some sort of jewelry, perhaps? And it was regarding their birthdays? Now, he was curious.

He was a little over eager when he opened the bag, nearly ripping it as he did, causing the content to spill out into his palm. A ring? He made sure to take it between his fingers, raising it upwards to get a better look at it.
 
He had a good point about Samara, but her nerves were so frayed at her worry over whether or not he would like his gift that she didn't really care. When he moved to the bed and took the bag she looked up at him anxiously, linking her fingers together and twisting them in her lap as the ring spilled out and into his own.

"I had to ask to remember what stones went with what months, but one is for your birthday, and for the other's is for Meribell's." Once she had gotten Samara to help her manipulate the stones into the black band, it had taken some time to figure out how she wanted them set. Spacing them too far apart just looked too strange, and having them vertically placed just didn't seem to fit. In the end, she had settled for having them side by side with just a bit of space between them, the diamond bright against the deep black of the ring and the amethyst a perfect blend with the dark band.

"I mean, if you're not really a ring person either, that's fine." She rubbed her own ring self-consciously and smiled at him, watching to see his reaction as she explained the meaning behind the ring. "I thought you should have some sort of way to remember her that you can always have nearby."
 
Isen didn't know how to accept a gift like this. How could he?

She had taken the time to piece this together, not just to create the ring but also to plan it out, gather information and the necessary stones to make it with. It was thoughtful, more than anything else. It was kind of ironic that her gift was meant to help him remember his sister after the crisis they had gone through over Meribell's memory just an hour before, but it almost seemed fitting now that this is where they would find themselves now that it was all said and done.

He held the ring aloft, rotating it, watching the way the stones glimmered even in the dim light of the room. He still hadn't said anything in response to her, even as she explained it, but he didn't look displeased. In fact, it was the opposite. His face clearly displayed what his words couldn't and he tucked the band of the ring around his finger, sliding it until it snugly fit against his skin with both stones facing upwards so that he could see them any time he looked down towards his hand. Isen opted to wear it on his left side, not his right, as that was the one that typically held his blade and he didn't want to risk the gift, which had become precious to him already, becoming damaged in a fight.

Still, no words were coming to him. Action would need to do instead.

He lowered his hand, took a bold step forward and then, he kissed her. It was fast, sudden, a little clumsy but endearing all the same. His lips firmly sealed to hers, saying all that he needed them to, for a moment or two before he pulled away again, leveling their faces off so their eyes could open and reconnect with one another post his sudden show of affection.

"It's perfect. I..." He shook his head. "Thank you. Really. I will take good care of it."
 
He still wasn't anything, and the longer that he looked at it silently the more anxious she found herself growing. Even when she'd had friends before they had been slaughtered, she hadn't done anything this intricate or time consuming, she hadn't used her magic to craft something she knew was sentimental to someone she cared about. The uncertainty of how he felt about it was going to drive her insane, and when he finally showed some form of expression she was able to sigh in relief.

"...I'm glad you like it." She looked at him shyly when he pulled back, her cheeks a brilliant red in the dimly lit room. She hadn't expected him to kiss her in response, but she couldn't say that it was entirely unwelcome either, and she patted the bed after a moment and tossed the bag on the ground.

"Come lay down, it's late." She wriggled her way under the sheets and got settled in, tucking her braid out of the way and waiting patiently for him to join her. She'd noticed after a moment that the ring had gone on a very specific finger that she hadn't intended it for, but who was she to interrupt his happiness to correct it and explain the meaning of wearing a ring on that finger? She could deal with that tomorrow before Samara noticed, use her magic to tweak it a little and all would be well.

"I know today was rough, but I'm glad it happened."
 
Isen knew what he had done had been very spontaneous and there was a chance it might have upset her but that didn't appear to be the case and he was glad for that as he had sort of acted on impulse. He had put it on the wrong finger but he didn't really know the difference and she hadn't called him on it, so he let his hand fall back down to his side as though nothing were wrong and came towards the bed when she asked him to.

Taking up his now-usual place at her side, he leaned his back against the head board, turning slightly to look at her, his shoulder pressing into hers as they made contact. He allowed her to share in his warmth while he was happy simply to feel her at his side, something that had become a constant now as well. He still hadn't told her he could feel her touch, he didn't know how it happened but he was glad that it did.

She was glad it had happened? He wasn't sure he'd say he was glad. After what he went through, the pain it had brought up, it clearly had an effect on him. His sudden affectionate demeanor, the way he seemed to be relying on her for comfort right now, was a product of that. In the morning, he may be back to normal, he didn't know, but while he wasn't glad about the remembrance or having upset her at the diner, he was happy that things had ended the way they had.

He was happy?

That was a new one.

"You should get some sleep now. It was as difficult for you as it was for me."
 
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