#deuillum

[obsclair]

you know, you worry me.

lune carries on as she is meant to, as she must, but every new step forward is downtrodden and laboured — it is as if she doesn't want to leave this grove, this final place of rest and the only time where she might say her peace loud enough for gustave to hear.

it is the weight of the unsaid that keeps her hear, counting the steps from a makeshift grave like she can calculate her precise distance from heaven.

all this turmoil, and for what ? for here to stand lamely at the very edge of it, hands tucked behind her back, silently observing the last monument to a great friend that deserved better ?

" hmmm ? " a clear gaze turns to look down at maelle, silent but determined in her approach at lune's side. she studies the younger expeditioner curiously. " worried about me ? why ? "

lune doesn't wait for a response, fearing what may be observed. " i'm fine. we have to keep moving. "

[vereh]

🌺 send this to ten muns you think are wonderful 🌺

but if you think I'M wonderful. and i think YOU'RE wonderful. THEN WHO'S DRIVING TH-

[demainvient]

" it's nice to see you again . "

the words are muffled, pressed into the fabric of their chest and gustave tries very very hard not to complain about the vice grip maelle has on them. hides the way it feels hard to breathe when her fingers dig into the bone of their spine and her arms hold them tight like they will evaporate should she let go. gustave doesn't complain, no, no, absolutely not, and if anything their fingers skirt her shoulder, a firm grip, flesh thumb rubbing circles into it. holding her here, safe in a way they hadn't had confirmation of until now.

"only nice? this hug says otherwise." they murmur, just teasing, head tilted down, uncaring if the others see the display of affection as they press the very lightest of kisses to her crown. she's safe. they're both safe. it's a step up from hours ago, but worry still digs into their chest.

there, a slight shift back, to fully look her over and study her. "you're not hurt are you?"

[demainvient]

" i think i feel ... happy . i actually feel happy . "

it stings, they can't help it, they can't help the ugly ball in their chest that blooms like petals. they're touchy, right now, perhaps, recently reunited with their expedition merely to be replaced by a taller, better, more suitable leader who knows more and is more confident than they've ever been.

( expect standing there facing off the white-haired man. except that. for maelle, they'd do anything, and they know it's entirely unfair to put such feelings upon her. she thought them dead — why? why did verso keep them being alive a secret? — but it still stings in their chest like an ache. )

good, i'm happy for you. they bite back, knowing it will only come out bitter. knowing their tongue is leaking acid and that is not what she needs. ( not what sophie would want them to do. they promised to take care of her and so they will. of course they will. )

"i'm worried about you, maelle." they settle on, the words carefully plucked, arm around their middle as if somehow it will soothe that ache that feels nothing like their still-healing injury. their eyes flicker towards verso, the man currently leading them all. it shouldn't sting how close he and maelle have gotten, gustave knows it shouldn't.

gustave knows they should be happy for her, but worry boils and bubbles in their stomach like bad soup. they can't help it. it's their job.

"your happiness is important but ——" a breath of air, halting their feet, reaching their arm out to catch her shoulder to stop her as well. "—— i'm worried, i..." i don't trust him. you were quick to latch onto him. they swallow it, shaking their head. her happiness is important.

( more than theirs. they'll just have to be here when she crashes and burns, when verso betrays them because gustave doesn't trust him. )

"nevermind, forget it, i'm just being silly. overprotective big sibling, you know?" they laugh, chuckle it off and nudge her gently.

[leperte]

maelle & aimè : they were the youngest of the expedition, though she far younger than he. however this allowed them to share some kind of unspoken bond, a proximity that gave birth to an ease he had not expected to find in gustave's younger sister. as if she, in a way, was his own too—  though he knows he'll never be to her what the other man was, he knows at least better than most, the loss she bares now.

" ... drink. " he comes baring a flask of water, kneeling beside her and esquie where they had secluded themselves away from the others and their newest and strangest addition yet. verso. " you need to stay hydrated, believe me. " he hadn't, and he'd paid the price the day of the expedition. a throbbing headache that only worsened into a splitting one, after the confrontation and endless death on the beach.

@deuillum liked for a starter from aimé fontaine of ex. 33, from the starter call linked here ...

[krohft]

There was peace in the quiet , Lara thought . Some sort of tranquility that she wasn’t sure they would have afforded themselves if things had gone any other way ; if , by some miracle , Gustave had survived . She hadn’t known him as well as any of the others , of course , but there was something about wasteful deaths that genuinely plagued her . Never mind the fact that he’d helped her when she’d first landed on the continent — a kindness without which she might not have survived .

❝ When my mentor died , we built a pyre for him , ❞ Lara said into the quiet , gently folding the golden patch in her lap . Taken off his uniform before they’d left — a reminder for Maelle , she’d thought , in case she wanted it . ❝ I stayed until the fire burned out , and it still didn’t quite … feel real . ❞

A sacrifice ; his own words coming to haunt them . She’d been incapacitated , and he’d chosen to twist into the path of the axe . It had been so fast , and he’d been gone before her brain had fully understood what had happened . ❝ Time doesn’t heal grief , but we grow around it . We find ways to remember the good , rather than the sacrifice . ❞ // @deuillum !!

[demainvient]

you promised!

her voice hits his ears shrill and high-pitched, she's crying, he knows she's is because he knows the sound of it, now. the shape of it and the way it creases her face. you promised. he did promise, didn't he? if he sees the white-haired man, he'd run. but —

they're so close. she's so close. if he can just hold him off while they escape. somehow, some way. it rings in his ears, her voice, even above the humming whine in his ears and plip plop of rain against mud as he falls again and again. pulling himself up by the grooves of his fingers, whatever last shreds of himself he can muster even as fucking terrified as he is.

but he can't do it, now. he can't get up. his limbs won't work, his arm is gone, and he can't —

( if i see a strand of white hair i'm running. but that before, that was before she was trapped and her life was at risk and he promised sophie and emma he'd look after her. that's his job, to look after her. )

i'm sorry, he tries to say, but there's blood in his throat and he chokes it up and spits it into the mud as he lays there. are those the last words he'll hear from her? a reminder of his broken promises? he knows she hates liars. he hopes she doesn't hate him.

he didn't mean to lie.

forgive me. he tries to say, because of course he wants forgiveness. who wouldn't? he craves it, to know he didn't fail her in his last minutes. in his last moments. maelle, maelle i'm...

he thinks about his apprentices, he hopes they'll read his journal. how he hopes they'll continue on in his legacy and his father's. he hopes his sister isn't mad he failed to protect maelle. it's his last thoughts before he lets the darkness overtake him, the exhaustion, the weight.

everything fades to black.

[shad0wbringer]

@deuillum's ♡ | currently accepting.

she notices the other's absence; her eyes softens as her voice seems to be a whisper than any other sound could ever imagine. " hey maelle " sciel paused for few seconds; her eyes look down as if she wanted to touch her; comfort her if she could. " i'm here. "