The world returned not softly, but spinning out of a dark vacancy. Elektra lay somewhere out in the stretch of endless water, she didn’t know where. The shallow water lapped her skin and for a long time there was no way to orient herself, trapped watching the radial blur of the stars that lived in the scar across the sky. She was pinned in the chaos of it, head throbbing and her stomach clenched until finally everything relented back to a gentler darkness of unconsciousness.
At least unlike the void of death, in this place it was still possible to dream. Not solely a dream, but one of few memories that still haunted her when sleep could hunt the Assassin down.
The dorm room was aesthetically unforgivable, not that he would notice. They lay together at the center of a dreadfully uneven futon mattress. Aside from the background noise of an old movie there was a contented silence, and the smell of now room-temperature pizza lingering from a cardboard box beside them. Her fingers raked through his hair and she was certain she liked him best like this, mussed with that smug afterglow smile that begged to be kissed off his face. Which she did, slowly, again and again. “Are you comfortable?” He nudged lighly, seeming to shift against her a little self-conscious. “I know it’s not the sort of night out you’re used to.”
She pulled herself up onto her forearms and he almost seemed to startle, as if worried he’d broken the magic by questioning it. “Matthew...” Wrapping an arm around him she perched her chin on his chest with an adoring smile he couldn’t appreciate. “... mon coeur, I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.” His head settled back onto the mattress with a tepid smile. “You’re sure?” He asked, a sort of hopefulness in his voice that felt crushing. Beautiful Matthew, she didn’t didn’t know what to do with that earnest touch of his. Her fingers pulled through his hair again and she kissed at the sweeping line of his collarbone. “Do I sound like I’m lying?” She shot back, waiting for him to do what came naturally to him, to reach inside her and under the skin and know her in the ways she doesn’t let anyone know her. “No.” He smiled, pulling her over him and finding no resistance. His eyes are a kind of hazel and she felt no shame in how much time she spent staring into them purely for her own benefit. Her head tilted and leaned in to pour her words across his neck. “Je veux être avec toi pour toujours.” Sealed with a gentle bite and a kiss.
“What’s it mean?” His smile stretched wide and prideful, but also just a little tentative at it’s corners. For a moment the usual playful lilt of her voice felt shaken and she replied almost secretively.
“... You’ll just have to figure it out.”