a kiss where they’re both covered in blood
//au; idunn is on the brink of degeneration. features heavy themes, notably body horror
"I'm... Sorry..."
Sorry for the horrors she made him endure. Sorry for the sacrifices she imposed upon his body--for the blood staining his hands, his arms. Blood that she drew, in her fit of draconic rage. She never meant to send her claws flying for his chest. She merely wanted to protect him from that oncoming threat of bandits... Why she lost control--why now--she'll never be able to understand.
But she doesn't need to. Knowing won't matter. It won't scrape any of the gore off his or her body. It won't return the blood to his gaping wounds. It won't undo the tragic loss of Fogado's limbs--how they were punctured in the attack.
It isn't some kind of magic remedy, spooling back the thread her hands unraveled.
Tears stain Idunn's face, and a look of terror fills her unlike eyes. Holding his hand in hers, she notices something she had neglected to pay attention to: scales mar her human form. She reverted back to her manakete shape so hastily--after being snapped to her senses--that some of the Demon Dragon wasn't sealed properly away. It clings to her like a cocklebur, only its thorns sink deep into her skin. It's on the back of her hand, and it crawls up her arm, and it pulls away at the flesh on her cheek. She wants to wail and scream, and shake and tear and rip the chitin from her body, knowing what it has done to poor Fogado. "I'm sorry..." She is muttering again, in haunting refrain, and more tears follow. They don't stop--Idunn does not allow them to. As long as blood flows from his gashes, so too shall this stream of sorrow pour from her eyes.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!"
With each repetition, she sinks deeper into despair. Ordinarily, saying something more than once helps cement it into Idunn's mind. Those words, 'I'm sorry', and the weight they carry--she must never forget. Using her powers in reckless abandon has a toll, and the unlucky soul she met at its gate today, was the prince.
But he moves still, twitching in her trembling grasp. She freezes, and he is allowed to glide across her body freely. With all the grace of a figure skater his lips find her face. They press--gently--and they slather a splotch of blood on a spot of clear skin. Her icy visage is dyed a deep shade of red. Does he forgive her, or is he saying goodbye?
Maybe a bit of both?
"Please..." her voice stammers again, already broken into a sobbing mess, "Don't go... I don't want to be alone!!" Not again. Not like before.
Wrapping her arms around his neck and back the dragon pulls her human close. She hugs him against her chest, feeling the beat of his heart slowly recede. It's getting dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer. A candle without any more wax to burn, a bucket pulled from a well that's been dried up. There is only passion to keep it pulsing, and borrowed time. Idunn leaves him one kiss to return his favor--knowing what they are and what they mean to humanity--then another to express sorrow, another for gratitude, another for sympathy, another for hope, another to plead...
And each time she does, she utters that somber phrase,
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."






