‘ i’d choose you ; in a hundred different lifetimes , in a hundred worlds , in any version of reality , i’d find you and i’d choose you’
. Her words wash over him like a salve he doesn’t feel quite worthy of, like forgiveness wrapped in silken threads and he knows, he knows he doesn’t deserve it. Yet there she stands, eyes piercing through him like they have since the very first moment they met, since the day she stole his heart and soul. His breath catches and he doesn’t understand how she can render him speechless, how she can make the entire world stop like this. The way her gaze isn’t scornful even though it should be, but he allows himself to be seen in it. To feel the magnetic pull of her presence, how he wants to go to her, wrap her in his arms and protect her. But protect her from what? Fi has never needed his protection, not really and he’d be a fool to think she did. She’d needed his aid at times, needed support of course but help, he nearly laughs at the thought. Fi is a force to be reckoned with and those that mistake her small stature and brilliant smile as weak are as good as dead. Maybe she’ll be his death one day—what a beautiful thought that is.
Still, her words echo around him, envelope him and he takes a step forward, and then another. Closing the distance between them until they’re nearly intimately close, how long has it been? How long since he’s last felt her touch, let her scent linger on his skin, felt the silken strands of her hair slide through his fingers. His tongue traces the backs of his teeth, unable to bring himself to speak yet, afraid it’ll shatter this moment into a million tiny pieces. But he needs to do something, he knows he can't just stand her even if that's all he wants. All he needs, just to stand here in her presence, to be allowed to look upon her again. Gabriel’s fingers are gentle as he raises his hand, letting them brush over her jaw, trailing up to her ear where he tucks stray strands behind it before returning to Fi’s chin. He can feel the way his pulse spikes, the way his body seems to jar itself in and out of reality. He’s not even sure if this is real, perhaps it’s just a memory, a long forgotten one having resurfaced after all this time. Or maybe it’s a dream, one he’s conjured after seeing a familiar smile, after hearing a familiar laugh. Not quite Fi’s but so close that he had to stop himself from turning around and searching for her in the crowd.
He can’t be bothered now, not as he inhales slowly, filling his lungs with her scent, with courage as his lips part. “I know,” Gabriel says and it feels so simple, so flat and yet he says it as he watches a million lifetimes flash before him. A million shared moments, a million shared dreams and beliefs and that tenderness he reserves for her is there in hazel eyes, sharp lines softening. Trickster persona left behind on the floor, he’s not an angel right now, not anything but a man in front of her stripped bare by her words. “You always have, every time, you've always found me. Every time, you always chose me even though you shouldn’t have, even though you deserved so much better. You still chose me,” fingers curl around her chin affectionately as Gabriel leans in, lowering himself slightly until his lips are nearly brushing her own, breath mingling together. “And I will always choose you Fi, in every life, in every moment, with every breath I take, it has always been and will always be, you.” His lips press against her own in a too tender kiss that tastes of longing and regret. Of sorrow and hope as he winds his arm around her waist, feeling the way she fits so perfectly in the crook of it as he allows himself to pull her in against his chest, burying his face into her hair for the first time in years. @learnedlucidity