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C'mon, Raidou... please let me know you're okay!
Yukari's heart slammed against her ribcage, jackrabbit-frantic, as she sprinted through the Harabah block of Tartarus, head swiveling to and fro as her ears strained for something, anything to guide her to her beloved's position. She had warned him against coming here alone, all but pleaded with him to wait until she and the rest of S.E.E.S. could accompany him--but he was so bound and determined to find a solution to the problem that Ryoji's arrival symbolized that he had chosen to go out on his own anyway. And when she reached out to him and got radio silence?
God damn it, where are you?!
No one had been able to stop the Lovers from going after him.
"Yukari-chan, I found him!" Fuuka's voice resonated in her mind, the Lovers nodding in spite of how there was no way her support could see her. "He's in the room ahead of you--on the right!"
"On it!" Black and dizzying rainbow movements seemed to almost become a blur as the Lovers followed Fuuka's guidance--and as she rounded the corner, what she saw both relieved and scared her all at once. Raidou was still standing... but he was obviously on his last legs, slumped forward and struggling to stay upright. Even though Pixie was doing all she could, the little faerie was unable to keep up with the damage that the swordsman was taking. The sight made Yukari's jaw set before she surged into action.
"Get back!" Garudyne carried with it a roar of command from the archer who was petite in comparison to most of that which surrounded her, but whose presence towered all the same in the moment. The Shadows--or were they demons? Honestly, Yukari didn't give enough of a damn to even attempt to make that distinction--were ripped to shreds beneath the gale force of her might, their dying howls and dissolving clouds of inky blackness sucked away to vanish into nothing. As Isis faded from view, the archer moved forward with all the speed she could muster--and as the last remaining beast leapt from where it had taken shelter from the storm in an attempt to catch her off-guard?
An arrow pieced it through the eye, the corpse dissolving before it even had the chance to hit the ground.
Sides heaving as she looked about to confirm that the coast was clear, Yukari brought her Evoker to bear. Diarahan washed over XIV in a refreshing breeze before he was all but slammed into by the archer that cast the spell, her arms encircling him to hold onto him tightly as if she needed that contact to ensure that he was in one piece. She felt his arms wrap around her in turn, the huffed-out little chuckle that sounded almost pleased at himself in response to her unspoken concern... and that?
Oh, that had her looking up at him with a scowl.
"If you worry me like that again, Rai, I swear to God--!" And just to incentivize him to maybe not worry her again like that, she surged upward, hands grasping his dress shirt to haul him down to meet her halfway. The kiss she claimed wasn't like the shy and tender ones they had shared before, gentle and careful... instead? This was the sort of kiss that set the blood in her veins afire with her love for him, desperate and damn near devouring in how it expressed just how scared she had been... and how she'd kill anything that stood in the way of her being able to hold him when the Dark Hour's exploration was over.
It was only when she withdrew that she realized that she needed to finish her sentence lest he somehow get it in his head that she'd kiss him like that every time he was reckless and got in over his head. A hard inhale tried to reintroduce the concept of breathing to them both. "...I'll never kiss you like that again."
They both knew it was a lie, but Raidou smiled and nodded in agreement nevertheless.
