Hihi! Could i request any headcannons with orter please? Maybe saving him or him saving you on a mission angst/comfort?? Thank you so much!!
reader is gn! reader
ᵒⁿᵉ⁻ˢⁱᵈᵉᵈ !!
being betrothed to orter at the ripe age of five wasn't on your to-do list, but it still happened. you didn't have much to complain about initially, since he was just an ordinary noble boy then. in fact, you'd go as far as to say you got along with him and even looked forward to calling him your husband in the future.
the future of being married to him was a happy one when you were younger.
but after his junior, alex, passed away during a mission, orter had grown cold, judging, and so different than the boy you've grown up with and spent your childhood with. his brother, wirth, wasn't exempt from his harshness either, as orter grew to further to be a strict, rule-abiding divine visionary.
you were proud of him, of course, but the pain you felt when he stopped acknowledging your existence overrode everything else you've felt for him. perhaps you loved him, but he never loved you the same. perhaps he never loved you at all. perhaps you were nothing but an annoying bride-to-be that his parents set him up with. and the longer orter kept up his walls against you, the more you couldn't help but think it was true.
now, it was rapidly approaching your wedding day. the day you dreamed and daydreamed of when you were a child didn't give you the same excitement nor happiness you thought it would then. the day was nothing if not nerve-wracking. you were going to be married to a divine visionary, and the coldest one among them all at that.
even the young visionary, rayne ames, treated you well. far better than orter, who didn't even give you a glance when you approached him with the intention to talk about your wedding plans. the looks of pity you received from his coworkers were a little more than salt on your already large wound.
ryoh grantz, the light cane, was kind enough to comfort you. he said that he'll try to talk to orter about how cruel his behavior was towards you when you've done nothing to deserve it. the only thing you did was love him, even if you didn't know at the time. you loved him, maybe a little too much, and that scared him away.
you were pitiful, honestly.
you had done nothing but everything to piss your husband-to-be off to the point he won't even look at you. your parents thought so too. orter's parents tried to get the two of you to talk, but orter never showed up, so they had no choice to chalk it up to you doing something wrong.
so now, you were going over your wedding plans on your own. sitting in the gazebo you and orter spent many summer days in, talking about your future together, and how you were going to run a lovely bakery together when you were grown. but here you were, grown and soon to be married with no plans on what to do in the future.
how hopeless you were.
the wind was your only company, a replacement for the husband you could've had.
the faint rustling of the leaves didn't bother you. in fact, the silence was suffocating, even when you were alone. it was better for some kind of noise to fill the silence you could've filled with mindless chatter with your husband. you could've had everything you dreamed of, yet you're left with nothing but a shattered heart.
you remember the times you, orter, and wirth spent your summer days running in the same field of flowers you were sitting in, taking shelter in the gazebo when the summer rain struck the area, and studying as a group. but that was when you were children. you were grown, and so have the two brothers.
wirth was more than happy to keep a good relationship with you and was often your source of comfort through his letters and visits to your home. you were eternally grateful for his company on those days, having no one else to spend your energy and time on. you'd walk along the flower field with him and listen to him fill the silence with rants of what his school life was like.
the same flower field that yielded so many flowers and memories at the same time.
but the flower field was all you could see before the world turned black before your eyes.
from a sunny, summer day to nothing but the dark abyssal setting of unconsciousness.
you're last thought was an image of the boy orter used to be. the boy you loved so much he no longer wanted anything to do with you, yet you had no idea why.
"desert cane, your presence is required to your parents' house immediately! there's been an emergency!"
the desert cane, orter madl, turned to face the worried-looking secretary with a poker face. he was just about to leave the bureau of magic for a mission, but if it was an emergency, then he had no choice but to leave his mission to someone else.
"fine. give my current mission to someone else. what do my parents need me for?"
"um... something happened to miss/monsieur y/n..."
orter remained silent, which only worried the afro-haired secretary even more than they already were.
it wasn't old news that there was an unknown tension between the desert cane and his fiancee, even though no one knew what the reason for it was. not even the fiancee themselves knew what they did wrong to make orter dislike them so much, and he wouldn't disclose any details to anyone. he even snapped at the light cane for pestering him to at least have better communication skills with his fiancee.
according to him, "better communication won't solve anything" and left it at that.
most pitifully, everyone had dumped the blame on the poor l/n, who was no doubt suffering on their own enough before then. it was so obvious they were grasping at the strings to at least gain orter's acknowledgement, yet the man was ruthless and never appeared to even act like they existed. witnessing the time the poor fiancee had broken down crying after one such encounter, nerey was left to console them.
it was so obvious they were innocent, yet people kept pointing fingers at them and making jabs at the desert cane's fiancee. if they were anyone else's fiancee, they probably wouldn't be in such a complex situation, let alone left to deal with the societal blame on their own.
nerey doubts that even a non-serious man like kaldo wouldn't go so far, so what was it that made orter act in such a way?
when orter arrived at his parent's manor, he didn't expect the array of servants working for his family in visible distress. maids were running about, butlers were tending to his fiancee's parents, who were sobbing and in hysterics, and his parents in the middle of it all, looking stressed beyond measure.
the moment he stepped through the doors, his parents were quick to swipe him away and lead him to a secluded area, away from the mayhem. much like him, his father was straight to the point, but the moment he heard the words coming from his father's mouth, he wished the old man wasn't.
"y/n is missing."
orter had a sneaking suspicion they finally ran away after he went great lengths to keep you at arm's length. that they finally realized they could do better than him. do better than settle for someone who could never learn to treat them like they deserved.
"the maid who was tending to them said there was a pool of blood... they've been kidnapped..."
his mother spoke up, reaching out a hand to stroke his head to comfort him.
orter snapped his head away from her.
how dare they act like they care? how dare they abandon their daughter/son-in-law and act like they cared for them more than anything? it wasn't fair, to him or to y/n. and orter despised his parents for blaming them for something he was deliberately doing. perhaps he should've backtracked and stopped his plans once he saw they were being blamed for his actions, but he didn't. and now he was paying the price for it.
"anything else?"
his parents shared a look before his father pulled out a piece of paper from his coat pocket.
"this was found at the scene."
"if you want your lover back alive, meet me at the entrance of the silver forest by midnight tonight."
orter stared at the note, wondering if he had ever considered y/n his lover. did he ever love them? he knew they loved him, perhaps a little too much, but he didn't mind it. but did he love them the same way? orter sighed and put the note in his pocket.
"i'll be leaving then."
"wait, now?! it could be dangerous!"
"you expect me to leave them to die?"
"i... no, but we thought they did something to you-."
"they never did anything to me. this is me paying the cost for my own stupidity."
his parents were left in the quiet hallway stunned, watching him leave the manor and head straight for the location written in the letter. the sun had yet to set, but knowing people will ill intent, it was better to get to the location as quick as possible. even a moment's hesitation could bring y/n to further harm.
orter understood this was him reaping what he sowed for the past four years, but he couldn't bring himself to let an innocent person die because of it. it wouldn't be fair for y/n, nor was it what alex would have done. actually, alex wouldn't have treated his fiancee so coldly either...
orter arrived at the promised location right at sundown, and even with a few hours left before the actual meeting time, he was met with an ambush of magic. no doubt to hinder him from reaching his destination, but the magicians were no match for the strength of the desert cane. he became a visionary with the sole intention of keeping them safe... yet he still failed.
if the fools who were mindlessly attacking him thought they could stop him from getting to them and bringing them back to where they were safe, they'd wrong.
by the time orter defeated the goons and arrived the forest entrance, the first thing he saw was y/n's defeated figure tied to a tree, bloodied and bruised as if they were treated like nothing but a punching bag. no one else was nearby, but given how no one else was in the area, orter was quick to rush to their side in an attempt to free them.
he had managed to get the ropes off of them before another attack was aimed at him, causing him to pull away and dodge. however, y/n fell forward, eliciting a pained squeak from them and waking them from unconsciousness. orter spared them one glance before turning to the enemy, knowing that if he were to go to them now, they would only get caught in the crossfire.
"y/n."
they looked at him like they didn't think he'd come to save them.
it should've been basic knowledge to any engaged couple that the other would come save them if they were in danger, yet y/n had so little expectations of him. their standards had fallen so far from its former place when they were younger, orter knew he had failed them then.
how foolish he must've been to push them away. if he had known they'd be kidnapped as a result, he would've kept them at his side at all times, cherished them, and protected them like he was supposed to.
but here they were, lying in a pool of their own blood.
the sight did not come from him protecting them.
the sight was only produced because he did the complete opposite, and orter had no else but himself to blame for it.
"go back to sleep. i promise we'll talk later."
he knew it must be uncomfortable on the ground, but they complied anyway, giving into the exhaustion and shut their eyes.
this way, orter could punish the perpetrator without any concerns that they would fear him for what he would do.
y/n did not wake up for the following week.
orter had taken his paperwork to their home and worked there, demanding requesting time off from any on-field work for a while. he didn't trust anyone to take good enough care of them, even when their parents came to check on them. orter saw how quick his in-laws turned against their own child for something out of their control, but he knew and hated the fact that he was the reason for it.
he should've known better. what was he thinking when he decided that keeping them at an arm's length would keep them safe? how had he not realized that they were the safest at his side the whole time, and only after they had go through too much suffering? as smart as orter was, this was by far the dumbest thing he had done in his life.
it was no use trying to deny it.
day and night orter changed their bandages and made sure they were recovering well. their injuries would leave scars, but it didn't matter to orter. they were just as beautiful as they were before they were attacked by a jealous and deranged man, who claimed that no one could have them if he couldn't.
he tried killing them and himself at the same time, only to fail, and was now awaiting his sentence in the prison beneath the bureau of magic. orter was displeased with the fact he couldn't assign an immediate execution on the man, but figured he could easily make the man wish he was dead later.
for now, orter focused on the role he should've been focusing for the past four years.
not even the death of his junior would be a sufficient excuse for how long they've waited for him to act his part as their fiance, especially with the blame they had to face for his attitude.
but through the ordeal, orter learned his spouse-to-be was resilient and stronger than he had given them credit for. he was quite proud that they were so headstrong, yet sad they had to keep themselves up on their own with no one to support them because he chose to distance himself from them without a warning.
y/n had done nothing wrong in their life. not to him, anyway. in orter's eyes, y/n could do no wrong, and that was a fact. they were too much of everything nice in the world, and it wouldn't be a lie to say they were too good for him too.
holding their hand and running his thumb over their knuckles, orter couldn't help but relish in the little affection he could give them.
"i must've been a fool... thinking you'd be safer away from me."
he muttered, watching their unconscious self resting from the bedside chair.
truth be told, orter never knew how to return y/n's affections. to him, showing love and affection was like allowing a criminal on death row to live: impossible and hard to imagine. it wasn't that he didn't love them. in fact, a simple word like love wasn't enough to measure how much he cared about them, how often he thought of them throughout his day, or how much he wished he could spoil them rotten with everything nice in the world.
orter loved them to the point he didn't know what to do with himself and foolishly thought that keeping them at arm's length would keep them safe from people trying to take advantage of his one weakness. if people had known orter was so weak to y/n, the desert cane was sure they would be in far more trouble than they would be otherwise.
the thought itself ended up as a miscalculation, seeing as his fiancee still ended up in a coma and heavily injured.
orter wondered if he had made it clear that y/n was his lover and not just his betrothed, people wouldn't dare to think badly of them. their parents wouldn't dare blame them for something they didn't do, and bygone criminals think to lay a finger on them.
who would mess with someone so closely related to a divine visionary anyway?
no one could think of having the guts of doing something to the fiancee of the merciless desert cane. alongside his cold-blooded reputation, orter came to the conclusion that it was far safer for y/n to be close to him as possible.
but the damage was done, and orter hadn't a clue if y/n would forgive him for his foolishness or not, but he was determined to give them a proper apology. one they deserved for the past four years, for their patience and longsuffering, and for having a little bit of faith and trust in him even when he was the cause of their pain.
sighing, he placed their hand back on the bed and stood up to leave the room, only to be held back by a faint grip on his sleeve. and if his heart didn't jump from its place in his chest to his throat then, orter didn't believe it would ever react that way.
his dear betrothed, laid on the bed with their eyes half-open and heavy from the long sleep they've been in, holding onto his sleeve with an expression orter could only describe as desperate.
"don't go..."
and who was orter to deny them? it was such a simple request for someone who caused them so much pain, that orter couldn't muster any resolve to think about the piles of paperwork waiting for him in the other room.
he sat on the edge of their bed, holding their hand in both of his hands, staring at them expectantly. perhaps they'd slap him, get angry with him, or show some kind of disappointment in his behavior for the past four years. he'd wasted so much of their time; it was only fair for them to seek revenge.
but instead, y/n held his hands tighter, tugging him closer to them until he was lying side to side with them on the single-sized bed, which should've been changed to a larger one a long time ago.
"... pretty..."
orter stared at them wordlessly, watching them stare at his features like they've never seen him before, and remained still when they let go of his hands to cup his face and rub their thumbs over his cheekbones.
"i deserve no compliment from you... you should be upset with me."
the man replied, though he made no move to stop them from admiring his features.
"you came to save me... that's enough for me."
"... it shouldn't be."
y/n smiled in response, moving their hands up to run their hand through his hair.
orter felt like he hadn't seen them smile in so long. the only expressions he's seen them have for the past while as a frown and a face of hurt. seeing a smile on their face felt like a breath of fresh air.
"i can see you regretting things already, and i didn't even say anything. i don't want to make you feel bad."
"i've made you feel a hundredfold worse. i deserve it."
y/n cupped his cheeks again, shaking his head side to side a little.
"having you here is enough, orter. you finally listened to me for once."
orter frowned, though he couldn't stop the rush of pride at the sound of his name rolling off their tongue. he leaned in closer to them, so close he could count the lashes on their eyelids.
"it's about time i do... no one likes a disobedient spouse."
"mmh, and you said i was going to be the stubborn one when we were little."
they grabbed his hand again, leaving one hand on his cheek.
"it was a miscalculation on my part."
"i know."
orter blinked once, twice before wrapping his arms around them and pulled them closer to him, disliking the feeling of them being too far with the small gap of space between them. if he could wrap himself in their warmth and scent for the rest of his life, orter would give anything for it to happen.
"you could've broken off the engagement if you were so hurt."
"i couldn't... i loved you too much. i thought i was scaring you away."
"you couldn't scare a fly even if you tried."
orter's arms tightened around them, one hand coming up to hold the back of their head to his chest. y/n wrapped their arms around his middle, snuggling into his embrace just as they did in his dreams. except they were... rather indecent in his dreams, compared to the nightwear they were wearing.
"do you think our parents would be upset if we kissed before the wedding?"
orter scoffed into their hair, nearly wanting to laugh.
"i'd like to imagine the look on their faces when they realize what happened between us."
y/n looked up at him from where they were tucked into his chest with a pout.
"i won't let them blame you for it. you were scared too."
"even after they blamed you for nothing?"
"... maybe we should elope instead..."
doing so would be much better than facing their parents and explaining everything that's happened. y/n's father might even demand breaking off the engagement for orter's immature behavior, and while it was well-deserved, orter didn't want to let them go.
they were the only genuine source of love he had in his life, not even his parents could compare to them. losing them would be just as devastating as losing all the magic in his body.
"that would be a bigger headache to explain, though."
grumbled the divine visionary, who stared down at them while they pushed their head back to his chest. he wondered if they found his embrace comforting as they made it seem.
"mh, i don't want to think about that right now. or ever, if possible. i'm too tired."
"then sleep. you're still injured."
"but i want to spend time with you."
"we will have more than enough time after we're married."
"but i want time with you now."
orter looked at them with a deadpan, causing them to break into a fit of laughter for the first time in ages. how lovely their laughter was, even if it was hoarse and dry to anyone else, it was the most loving sound orter heard in his life.
he dived his head down to quiet them with his lips, directing their face to his with the hand resting on the back of their head. his other arm wrapped around their waist, pulling them impossibly close to him and keeping them there.
it was a kiss he should've given them a long time ago, but he hopes that they would accept it as well as other... methods... he plans to use to earn their forgiveness.
to hell with waiting until marriage, orter thought, why wait a few more days when his beloved waited for him so well for four years?
y/n, on the other hand, enjoyed the breaking of orter's dam, flooding them with all the affection he kept in his heart. they figured he didn't need to know that they've forgiven him since the moment they've seen him come to their rescue, not that they had the heart to hold a grudge against him with all the love they had for him.
whatever ways he planned to use for their "forgiveness," y/n wanted to bask in it and be the center of his attention, even more so when they were officially bound by the long-lasting love they shared with him.