Right Here || Viper/Biani
** Welcome to a look at the life these two had pre-betrayal. There’s more to their story that I’d like to share and talk about, but for now you get a small 1.2k word look into it.
I have not edited it too much so it’s probably messy and the wording may sound off in some spots (curse of 3am inspiration writing happening) **
|| [AO3] ||
Another test, another failed result. He could see the energy just drain from her, knowing she was tired of not getting any good data to use. Yet she never spoke to the krewe in an irritated tone. They would all just reset and she'd go again through the tests, thats where he would have to draw the lines sometimes. Viper could see the strain of her powers again, and before she reset the test areas he was moving to stop her for the day.
"That's enough for today, doll, " Viper spoke as he hugged her from behind, kissing the top of her head. "Let's stop for today. Tomorrow we can take the field testers out with us and do live tests while you actively use your magic."
The moment his arms were around her waist, she relaxed. He always knew when she was hitting her limits, since to her own view that line was blurred from her use of her magic. "You do always pick up when I'm near my limit, don't you?"
"Someone has too, and you know the krewe won't argue against you despite better judgment."
The pair worked to clean up the stations and sent the krewe home, before heading off together. Viper pulled her close while they walked, kissing her hair occasionally while they headed home.
Of course once they got home, her walls came down which let Viper see how truly worn down she was and he knew the reasons for it. He tried to get her to go at a slightly slower pace, given their research point. She was leaning on him heavily, and he moved towards their room so he could let her crash. Viper knew she wasn't tired, but those walls she'd put up in front of the krewe for them to not worry had to come down at some point. This wasn't frequent, her low points but after a week of no progress it had to be draining her.
Sitting her on the bed, Viper started up their routine, letting her get comfortable before sitting in front of her. Cupping her cheeks with his hands, he pressed his forehead to her own. She smiled at his gesture, grateful he was so concerned about her magic use and its effects on her. Biani knew how she used her magic was dangerous, but it wasn't any easy fix to just stop how she uses it. The blond knew she was cutting her life span shorter with the usage, and Viper was the only one to truly know how much she wanted to slow that effect.
She didn't notice when her eyes started watering, only when he wiped her cheeks and had taken her glasses off did she realize. Leaning into his hands, she let his fingers wipe under her eyes. Biani moved her own hands to place over Viper's, opening her eyes once he pulled back from leaning their foreheads together.
"I won't let you go through all this alone, Biani. You know that, I'd go to the ends of the world and back if it meant getting the information we need to keep you from fading from my life."
The blond shifted out of his grasp enough to bury her face against his neck and wrap her arms around him. He kept her steady, he was her solid ground and a light of hope for their research. They started this together, when he had caught on to exactly how much she'd been using her dark magic. More than average to the point it was her crutch and a weakness, which is what lead to the points they were at today. While they hadn't found a way to stop the drain on her life, they were close to slowing it down to give the illusion that she wasn't slowly taking away her own life.
Viper moved so that his back was against the side of the bed, holding her in his arms. Handing her back her glasses, while taking out her ponytail clip. Setting it down, he started running a hand through her hair, alchemy knew he could sit and do this for hours. She looked so different when it wasn't up, but unless it was just them she always had the ponytail up.
"Viper, I'm scared. I'm afraid of what will happen if our research fails."
"I know doll. Honestly, I am too. I'm so scared to lose you that I'll do everything you want to try while we find a counter to the damage done." His grip tightened around her waist, his other hand stopping on the back of her head.
Viper hated telling anyone if he was ever scared, out of a strong hatred of being scared and feeling out of control. That hatred scaled when it came to losing Biani, he knew he'd be a lost cause without her. They fit perfectly, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try his hardest to help her research. When she shifted in his arms, it pulled him from his thoughts. Biani had moved to look at him, pink eyes watching his red ones as he had lost himself to his mind and the words that plagued him there. His hand still running through her hair, she hummed at him before he would look down to meet her eyes.
Her walls were fully coming down as she let him see how scared she really was of what they were trying to slow. She was just as scared of dying as he was for the risk of losing her. Bumping his forehead to her's, "I'll be right here, doll, you know I won't leave you to fight this battle alone. We can't go without a few breaks though, it'll run us and the krewe ragged. Then we'll be up a creek with out a paddle, as the saying goes."
Scarred hands moved to smooth down the fur of his mantle, Biani simply nodded quietly at his words. "I can not argue with that, you know my limits as well as I. You're better at stopping me when I need to rest than I am. Perhaps that's also a factor into the strain."
"It could be. Save the thinking for tomorrow, Biani." Viper spoke quietly as he kissed her temple a couple of times. He knew she'd fuss that he was still in all his heavy armor, but he'd simply change after she'd doze off. The look she was starting to give him caused him to laugh slightly as he stood up with her in his arms. Oh how he debated just tossing her onto the mattress out of amusement, that would be saved for another night.
"Don't fuss, doll, I'll change before you fall asleep tonight." Setting her down and letting her get comfortable while he went to change and bring her something to help her sleep.
She waited for him, sleep clear in her face as he came back into the room. While she disliked having to rely on medicine as a way to keep her sleep in a better state, Biani knew it was for a good reason. Nightmares of death were common, death of her beloved warrior though were rare and highly vivid in detail. Only once did she recite to him what had happened in the dream, and it kept her on edge for a week before she'd settle back to their routine. Still she took the medicine and held her arms out to him after he'd moved away to set the glass down.
Laying down on his side, she instantly moved to curl up against his chest, his arms slowly wrapping back around her. He watched her slowly fall into another sleep cycle, hoping it wouldn't torment her tonight. One last kiss to the top of her head before he fell asleep soon after her.