@flamesfated memed:
"hold my hand??"
❯❯❭─( meme )──➤ ⋙ { hurt / comfort sentence starters.}
Almyra's sun is blinding. After 6 years, Claude can't say he's used to it anymore -- but he can say he'd missed it. He feels himself coming alive the more he gets closer to longer days and shorter nights, the warmer air. Almyra is a vast and fertile country, spanning many fields, deserts, plains -- and with every hour they get closer to the capital, his home, Claude evidently gets more light hearted, more relaxed, as he points out some of the scenery, the local fauna, parts of the land that made Almyra what it was. The last time he'd been on this road, he'd been alone and 16. Now he's 23 and leading a battalion, a troop of soldiers next to him.
Even after 8 years, he still can't say he's used to it, when he's laying on his bed and the sunlight hits his eyelids because he hadn't drawn the curtains tight enough in their room. His mind fools himself, sometimes. Mistakes the sunlight squeezing through the gap in the curtains for cold dawn forcing itself through the flaps of a tent -- he sometimes wonders if he's still back in Fodlan, trekking through muddy paths and identifying bodies before a warmth at his side reminds him that he isn't.
And even after that -- he still can't. Because sunlight takes on a different meaning. Claude's never been a kind person, not in his mind. he tries to be, but he knows he has his limits. He'd never been friendly to the person he holds the hands of, now, had dragged her to Almyra more out of necessity; because when she had been hell bent on destroying her own life for her ambition, there was no way Claude could have left her in Fodlan. He needs Fodlan to stay intact, stay safe -- for his own ambitions, for his dreams, for the future he wants created.
Or so he had said.
Or so he had tried to convince himself of when he'd faced her, and yet he couldn't bring himself to bring down the blade on her neck, let the arrow fly through her heart.
It'd been hard, for both of them, to come to where they are now. Both their hearts had been closed to each other, smiles fake and false. But they were here, after years and years -- And now Claude holds her hand instantly when she asks.
Sunlight had taken on a different meaning, in the person next to him. both of them were not perfect, had their own flaws, but Claude doesn't mind the details that made them human. Pure sunlight was unapproachable, after all. Claude prefers it this way, where he can see all of her, and she -- Edelgard -- can see all of him.
And he's still not used to it.
The crowd outside waits with bated breath for their new queen. The elegant and simple crown in her hair glints gold against white.
Squeezing her hand, once. "You have me by your side, El." You always will.
When he meets her eyes, it's a real smile he gives. Full of genuine fondness, excitement, and just a little bit of teasing --
"Ready when you are."
