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[doctorstrangebatch]

But I can lose again and again and again and again forever, and that makes you my prisoner.

[terramage]

“It is but your family has done ten times better than what my aunt would’ve expected.” When her aunt had found out that Lucas was a witch, she had done her best to try and scare Natalie away from him by putting ideas in her head such as images that his family would rather have her sent to another dimension than to be with Lucas or other more descriptive plots that she had done her best to dismiss. At the end of the day she had placed her bets on knowing what kind of man Lucas was, even when she had lost on various occasions as he had with her they still managed to end up together. “It is. But being your wife makes it all worth it,” She commented as she bumped her shoulders with hers, she had managed to be doing her best lowering her walls down, “A city is a fine compromise. I think I can live with that. It’s going to be fine. It’ll work out and we will never have to hear about my aunt again,” she stated in a tone where she was trying to ensure herself that this was the right thing to do, after all she had no other option. “There is no other alternative, right?”

“Timing,” Lucas dismissed, “let’s not give their bad behavior more of a pass than it’s earned.” His father wanted to see him married before he died and preferably with some kind of heir on the way. But he’d parlayed that into some kind of good will. Well, that and his own abilities as a witch. He was still the best suited to lead the coven, no matter who he was married to. “You’re kind to say that. But I don’t want you suffering because you’re married to me.” He was going to have to intervene more after they got back from this. “You’ve managed to find alternatives every time you two have met so far, if you wanted another alternative you could find one.” The last few times he’d intervened and that was why she was still alive, and why he wanted to be a city away and not back behind the walls. “You don’t have to kill her if you don’t want to. I could have her locked up for a very very long time.”

[terramage]

“Nothing to apologize for. At least your folks don’t try to kill me actively,” Like her aunt did. She couldn’t say anything about her parents for they were werewolves that had ran away when they had gotten bitten, so she didn’t really say much about them. It was best to leave some demons alone and that was exactly what she had done regarding her family members. “Well I am not giving up my birthright as a hunter, it’s who I am,” Even if she didn’t agree with all the codes that it came with, this was who she was. It was a curse that perhaps only Clark could truly understand, it was embedded in her DNA. “Ah but see you being here is the perfect distance, Then I know you and Clark are safe and those are the only people that matter – I mean there is Kevin but I’ll kill you if you ever tell that asshole that.” She wondered what he was up to, it had been a while since she had last seen him. “How about a state away? Or even a city?”

“You know that’s a disturbingly low bar,” Lucas remarked. It was. His parents had been cool and they could do better, but they had done better than actively trying to murder her. Maybe they would have back when he had first lost his sight, but Lucas hadn’t been willing to risk that. Now it was an old wound and, well, he was still not willing to risk it. Which was why he had put a ring on Nat’s finger. “Of course not,” Lucas dismissed, “you’re a hunter whose married a witch and lives in a coven full of them,” he said, “I think it’s pretty awkward on all sides of the equation.” Natalie being a hunter had never been an issue for him. It was who she was, he had no choice but to accept all of her or none of her. When he’d first fallen for her he had been young and stupid and just gone for it. “As much as I value being here and safe, I’m going to be closer than that.” He knew Nat and her aunts history, or he knew what she had told him, and letting her get into trouble was not something he planned on just allowing. “A city,” he said, “I’ll compromise on a city away.” 

[terramage]

“Not really given much of a choice here,” Her aunt had gone after Lucas and when she realized Natalie would crack against hunters if she kept doing it she went after Nat herself, and to her aunt’s surprise she didn’t die. The only time that her aunt had been able to draw her out had been when she had gotten word that Cammy was hurt and now Clark was a potential causality in all this mess, as if the man did not enough demons to deal with. Ironically, Natalie had thought she would have the same fate as Clark – to have the worst luck in love; they had both fallen for supernaturals and had the remarkable sense of self destructive behaviors. “I just – It’s complicated, I am used to people not liking me. I am comfortable in that. I just don’t know how to be around people that don’t like me and I actually want them to like me,” She wasn’t trying to be difficult, friendships – hell any relationship in her life were mostly done because the other half fought their way in – after Thea failed her and then Clark had his moments she wasn’t looking for another hurt. “Define a comfortable distance and we can talk about it.” she said meeting him half way as she looked over at him, “It has to be just her and I, you know that.”

“Sorry about that.” Lucas said, “I get what you’re saying.” Lucas had been somewhat ostracized by his family but he hadn’t been outright rejected. They didn’t fully have a choice in the matter, not once he’d proven he was still more powerful than the rest of them “They’ll like you eventually,” Lucas said, “if you were just a person they’d probably like you already, the hunter thing will take more time.” Short of bringing back an equally powerful witch as his bride, Lucas knew his family would dislike the person in various shades of hate. Every other supernatural creature was considered below them in his family’s eyes. Just bringing back a hunter was probably only rivaled by bringing back a werewolf. He’d somehow wound up bringing back both, so maybe he was asking too much of his family to begin with. “It’s an adjustment for everyone,” he said, clearing his throat, “how far is comfortable for you?” he asked her, “and don’t say me being here. Reasonable distance.” 

[terramage]

“See? My plan is flawless and I should go alone,” Natalie pointed as she moved the army man in the map of her scheme as she looked over at Lucas. This was perhaps the first time that she felt completely behind the plan that she had come up with. Her aunt was prepare to kill Clark’s sister and she knew that Clark wouldn’t hesitate to kill her aunt but that would be more blood on his hand, blood that was not his. If anyone had the do this it was Natalie herself. Lucas wasn’t fond of the idea nor did he really want to let her go but she knew she had to do this without him and without magic, she had to show her aunt she could beat her at her own game with no aid from anyone. “You know that I can do this. Maybe you can use this time to talk to Matt. Get work done in the coven, i doubt they are very happy with me stealing you all this time. Think about how productive you will be with me gone?”

“Well, not really,” Lucas quipped, though the metallic components of the army men let him have a sense of where they were on the plan she had laid out. “I know you can do this, but you’ve been so adamant about not killing this woman you can’t blame me for having some concerns.” Killing family was not exactly something one did lightly. Lucas could explain it away with the fact that though he and Natalie were married, her aunt wasn’t family to him. “You know the coven needs to get used to you being around, and you need to get used to them. This is still strange for all of us.” The coven hadn’t been thrilled when they had learned that Nat was the human girl Lucas had loved all those years ago and they hadn’t been thrilled when the full story came out. Lucas had never told anyone about her or about what had happened. He’d protected her. He didn’t regret it but he hadn’t exactly planned on the two parts of his life coming together like this. “Can I spy on you from a comfortable distance?”

[oldschoolteenflicks]

[terramage]

Lucas & Natalie

“Maybe it’s time to talk to him,” Lucas said finally, “or approach him, or something.” He had sworn that he was going to let Natalie do this her way. And it wasn’t hat he didn’t enjoy witnessing her put her considerable skills to use, it was just that Clark did Ireland like Lucas had when he was backpacking on school holiday. It made him feel old, sitting inside the dive bar feeling the misery and longing radiating off Natalie. Like he had been when he had been there a lifetime ago. Longing for a different thing, but longing and miserable none the less. “this isn’t good for either of you. We can distract your aunt--with minimal magical use that will be completely harmless. And you two can talk instead of pining over him and him getting suspicious. He's got a lot more knives on him than he usually does.” @grootrps

[terramage]

“Damn, always wanted to be a Hufflepuff,” she snapped without hesistation “I feel like I am just being a detective. Not stalking him just you know joining big brother in making sure he doesn’t go and fuck his entire life up,” though knowing Clark he was doing a bang up job doing that, but she wanted to believe that if she had been able to find happiness that he would be able to do it as well. Natalie didn’t know another person that deserved happiness as much as he did. What had been missing from their wedding had been the fact that Clark had not been there, that was something that she had actually felt had been lacking but at the end of the ceremony she ended up marrying the man that she could not live without; literally – so it wasn’t that bad of a deal. A slight smirk appeared onto her face as these details ran through her head. “Be honest with me – do you think that my aunt will just drop dead and then I can finally let Clark know that I am not dead?” She had thought about sending him a morse code or something but she knew her aunt was watching Clark with hawk eyes and anything that she did would be interfered and would just put Lucas in a tricky position. “I am just asking for research,” she quickly added, it was a heavy topic; one that she knew would affect their marriage till the day her aunt actually did die. To a degree Natalie was honored to be someone’s top wanted person – dead or alive, made her feel like she was a criminal on a run. Though she was at the opposite side in law enforcement she could not deny the pride that she had in having fucked and pissed her aunt to such a degree. Hell the only way she would’ve topped it was if she had fell for a vampire and turned – though to be fair she would’ve never forgiven herself for doing such a thing. Even if her biological parents had gone down a similar route. “Tell you what – if you tell me I get to have you for three days all to myself – no coven business and nonsense – then I will allow you to take me on to magical train and we can finally have sex in every room of whatever establishment we’re at. I did purchase some lingerie.”

“Hat takes your choice into consideration,” he reminded her. Children’s books were always easy to read when you were starting out and Lucas had now learned how to read twice. “I mean, she will one day,” Lucas said hopefully, “I can feel the look you’re giving me I swear I will have nothing to do with it on the day that happens.” He wouldn’t put Natalie in that position and obviously his interest would be in making sure Natalie was alright but fuck if he wouldn’t be happy when her aunt died. That hag was a monster as far as he was concerned. “You could go low tech? Or super high tech. Get that aggravating little guy whose always hanging around to hack him. Your aunt barely knows how to turn the tracking on for her own phone.” Lucas shrugged and walked over, “or we could go there and you could at least see him from afar.” They did their best to put their marriage first, but neither of them wanted to neglect their duties. His coven, her police force. They were the kind of people who gave themselves whole heartedly to a task and the best way to make them work was to find the balance in all of it. “I mean I’d take your nonsense over Coven nonsense,” Lucas said, “any day of the week. But I think I can tell them I have some more important things to take care of,” he told her, “use their old fashioned ways against them.” All of them liked to talk about their wives ruling them and complain about having to go home. Lucas didn’t know why any of them got married. Or maybe he had just gotten stupid lucky and managed to marry the person who he wanted to be around. “Did you?” Lucas smiled. It was a stupid thing but somehow Natalie always managed to get stuff that he didn’t need to see to appreciate. “So I'm guessing we’re going to be having some trouble with our phones?” he said hopefully. That was always how they got you. Stupid 24/7 connectivity. “We could go to Japan and take that fancy train they have there.” 

[radcolbert-blog]

“We weren’t ourselves when we fell in love, and when we became ourselves – surprise! – we were poison. We complete each other in the nastiest, ugliest possible way.”

[terramage]

His dry humor always managed to tug her lips into a smile, even after long days like today where she questioned every decision she had ever taken that resulted in her sharing a car with an idiot as big as Jameson. “Well, that sounds like fun. Perhaps we can even do the whole Hogwarts thing and you can finally tell me which house I would belong to – I mean it sucks to be you because you decided to marry a muggle,” she concluded as innocence managed to take over her entire facial expressions as her head tilted to the left. Natalie wanted to see Clark but she knew it would only put him in danger with her aunt and though she knew Lucas would offer his protection she knew how Clark would feel about that. Natalie had accepted it because when she was finally pushed to make a choice, she knew her heart would always lead her back to Lucas. Natalie refused to let her aunt take that away from her, “I know where he is. I – I,” she trialed as she blew air into her cheeks, her eyelids shutting before a nervous laugh fell from her lips, “I kind of has been stalking him. He’s not well. Thea died and they had a kid – and he thinks I’m dead – I was just thinking maybe I can – “ What she meant to say was that if things were so bad maybe it would force her to come out to Clark, “I guess I just want to make sure he’s ok.”

Lucas chuckled. Magic had always been on the periphery of everyone’s literature since before Merlin. But Harry Potter had brought it into popularity. It wasn’t a part of his insular world but the wider one often had him amazed how many times he had been asked if he went to Hogwarts. “I mean, the hat takes your choice into consideration. I think you’re a Gryffindor. Having no magic just makes you even braver for marrying me. And you were already the bravest person I ever met.” Bravest and most reckless, though she hadn’t been the later for a while. Maybe that was more something they brought out in each other. Lucas had never truly liked Clark, but he’d also never truly hated him. Rejection by the witches had opened him to whole new scores of people. Hunters were just a part of it. More importantly, Clark had never tried to hurt Natalie. “I’m not going to judge you for stalking him. If you could go to him easily I know you would,” he said, running his fingers up her hand. Natalie’s hunter friends, at best, didn’t trust him. More often than not they outright rejected him. Even Natalie didn’t like him using magic on her. It seemed like the least he could do was respect that for as much as he could. Life or death situations with Natalie, he didn’t have good track record on the whole no magic thing. “So we go to Ireland. I’m guessing magic’s out, but you have money and connections at your disposal too. Does that help?” Natalie was always reluctant to go for the other things that came with being his wife. Lucas had to respect that aspect of her but he didn't stop reminding her that it was at her disposal. They were married and one day he wanted her to feel comfortable in the life they had. “Getting to Ireland is easy but is there somewhere you want to go for real afterwards? Spend a few days away from the coven?” 

[terramage]

“Well when people threaten me I can kick their ass and say it was all under the name of the badge,” she responded swiftly without thinking twice. The brunette had managed to actually realize her love for being a law enforcement individual with Lucas; she was not having to spend her time divided between the supernatural and the muggle world persey. That was one of the pros to this but at the same time, she had an itch that kept demanding her attention about how she was not being herself. “I was thinking more along the lines that I want to go and see Clark and he’s over there. Not see him but rather just hover and make sure that he is doing alright,” She mentioned as she knew that she really would not be able to see Clark and explain everything to him; perhaps the only person aside of Lucas that she had wanted at their wedding would’ve been him but Natalie had learned at an early age that she didn’t get everything she wanted and that life still went on. “I was going to go alone because I figure you got things to do but if you could spare a couple of days we could make a small trip of it. I am sure that Jamison can handle being on the job for three days without killing anyone.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more jealous of another person,” Lucas sighed, “I threaten someone and suddenly we’re back in the ancient days of sacrifices and coven wars.” Even when people hadn’t been sure if he could be magical or not they had still believed him. He’d demanded it. Threatening had never been his style. “You could always see him,” Lucas tried. He didn't mind Clark, actually he didn’t mind most of her hunter friends. Probably more for her sake than theirs. but when your own kind treated you warily for so long it was hard to not question their beliefs. Shifters, hunters, humans--all of them had offered a level of acceptance ehe had to fight for from his own kind. “We’re married. Besides, for you I can spare all the time in the world,” he pointed out. Saying he was going away with his wife was possibly the most legitimate excuse he had in his playbook. It was pretty much the only thing the coven wouldn't outright object to. “Ireland’s a big country, is there somewhere specific Clark is?” 

[terramage]

Having to give up her hunter ways in order for Lucas’s coven to somewhat tolerate her had been hard; then to give up completely some of her freedoms still rubbed her in the wrong way but she kept reminding herself that it was a small price to pay in order to be beside him. “What has you up? You’re usually passed out when I am coming back from the graveyard shifts,” Most of the times she was fine but there had been two or three times when she had found herself in a  rough situation, mostly because Jamison was still a hot-headed police officer that felt like he had to prove something to the world and Natalie would have to come in the middle and take some blows off him. “Ah but I doubt it. The leader of a coven can never have boring days,” she sarcastically sung before placing the book on the coffee table beside her. “It is amazing and it keeps me up even when I am with Jamison so it does the trick. Besides Matt said that it does a lot of other healthy shit apparently getting my dose of Red Bulls didn’t sit well with him.” her words were followed with a dramatic eye roll as she looked over at him, “So question of the day; still in love with me?” She jestered before leaning back on the chair as her legs were brought underneath her, “Our one year anniversary is coming up. Think we can fly to Ireland?” 

“Don’t remind me,” he said. Lucas had always known he would be head of his coven one day. He’d being egotistical about it, then he had to fight for it--but some part of him had always felt entitled to it. He just wished he was the same young man with the ability to see--far too much of the time. He’d thought his age would be the thing against him. “besides you’re a cop, think those days aren’t boring either. At least people don’t openly threaten me--most of the time.” The small issue of his more entitled family members trying to take over the world was ongoing. And infuriating. None of them were good enough to try to take over the world successfully anyway, but Lucas couldn’t have that kind of rebellion. “We’re still together,” he said. Which was another surprise, but certainly of the better kind. “think it’s safe to say I do.” His blindness and his wife were two things that got brought up often enough, but he had learned to ignore it. They were things he couldn’t change and one of them he didn’t want to. “do you want to go to Ireland for our anniversary?” he asked. 

[terramage]

The entire fortress element was not her style; Natalie enjoy her freedom and she hated the rules that came with Lucas’s family but she loved him enough to stay and not complain. Instead, she took her frustration in the job and perhaps borderline abusing her partner but to be fair they had partner her up with an idiot that had been screwing his partner three times already and they figured Natalie would scare him enough to not fuck up again. So Natalie just made him fetch her breakfast and lunch orders. As she skimmed the pages she didn’t believe anyone would be up at this hours; after all Sage and Matt tended to keep their dinner or evening plans low or Matt would do some grumble here and there. Nothing that a hunter that had been traveling with a huge crowd of individuals that did not get alone could handle. “I didn’t think that you would up; thought you had early matters to attend to?” She asked as she folded the ear of the page and closed her book, her finger trapped in the middle, just in case the conversation was short and he was to return to bed, “Yeah go ahead. Though I got to warn you nothing excited happened today. You know the usual domestic calls – and Jamison being a complete idiot and spilling my Matcha tea all over the car – but I am guessing that is where the taxpayer money go towards.”

Finding the balance between both of their lifestyles was hard. Lucas tried to be as mindful of the sacrifices she was making as possible. Moving from her world into the cloisters he’d grown up in was an adjustment for anyone. Not to mention she was now surrounded by witches. The witch-hunter thing had never been an issue for the pair of them, but their families definitely couldn’t seem to figure out how it worked. “Not anymore,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He didn’t feel the need to meet with people if all they wanted to talk about was his wife or the fact that his eyes didn’t work. He had to space out the amount of asshole he could stomach in one day. “Maybe my day was terribly boring too,” he said sitting down on the couch, “it was, if you don’t count the middle bits.” He hated getting into arguments about things he was uncomfortable with. “I don’t know how you can drink that stuff,” he said. Lucas had gone to England for schooling after being blind, he liked his teas strong and black. Matcha had never caught his tastebuds, even though it was now a staple in their kitchen. “it doesn’t even seem like tea to me.”

[terramage]

At the end of the Lucas had made her take a choice her tango dance with her aunt or them. It had not taken long for her to decide what she wanted but at the same time, she knew that her aunt would never give up looking for her. In some twisted way, Natalie was her queen when it came to her chess game. Living with Lucas had its cons such as always having people in the house such as Matt and Sage roaming around and always trying to have conversations after the entire ordeal with her aunt Natalie just was not able to do to the social thing. It was probably she had been partner up with a guy that just couldn’t shut the fuck up about his late night fucks and his buddies. So when Natalie got to come home and everyone was passed out it actually made her nights. She would pick up the same book that she had read a million of times Atlas Shrugged and just skim through the pages with her fingers as sat near the fireplace. Being the wife of Lucas Astor was taking time to get adjusted to.

After getting Natalie, again, Lucas had honestly been ready to throw in the towel. He loved her and God knew he was twisted enough to continue to gamble with everything for her, but at some point even he had to say enough was enough. He wasn’t doing it anymore. When he had finally snapped and told her he was truly done, the last thing he’d been expecting was for her to agree. They hadn’t ever really excelled at working together when it came to their families. And it was still awkward a lot of the time, but they were getting somewhere. Lucas had never truly liked the cloistered fortress he grew up in, but it was easy to modify. He could navigate it seamlessly using his magic, he imagined he could do it without his magic too. And his cousin had modernized the wifi which meant it wasn’t nearly as stifling as it used to be. He expected to find his wife holed up in one of the few rooms she liked, curled up and enjoying the fire. It was usually that or training. “I figured I would find you in here. Can I join you?” 

[fyeahthemagicians]

Everything I’ve ever wanted, I’ve got. Magic is real, and it can fix anything except what I need. I loved a girl. My entire life I’ve dreamed of Fillory, that I would be like Martin Chatwin, I’d find a way to stay here forever. Send me home.

[terramage]

Natalie sat up as she brought her knees up to her chest, her arms wrapping around them as the honey burnt hair strands fell framing her face as she looked at Lucas. The time had come; she had to choose between the man that she was in love with or the aunt whose saving grace was sharing the same DNA as her. Logically it was a simple choice and Natalie was tired of both of them running away from each other under the name of protecting each other. “But there is one.” She protested, this was her last fight and lord knew that Natalie Mercer was cashing in all her chips with her following words. “You help me save her.” She shared as she met his gaze and before he could protest she continued her plan, “You can erase me from her mind, you can alter the mind. Make everyone forget I ever existed. We erase my existence from the books — from her, Clark, Thea, and everyone else. Make everyone believe that the night my parents disappeared so did I. That I died with them.” This meant she didn’t have to kill her aunt, it wasn’t something she liked. Lord knew that giving up Clark was going to be the hardest thing that she ever would have to do. He was the only real family member that she had ever had but if she spared him from the memory wipe then he would be in danger, and his sister had already paid an unforgiving price because of that. “The only family that I need is you, and I am tired of running away from this. But please don’t make me kill my aunt because I don’t think I can come back from that and if you do it or have any part — it will destroy us. So I am begging you to not put us at risk — I know we’re far from perfect but think about how far we’ve come. My life without you isn’t a life. Hating you has been the most exhausting thing I have ever had to do and that was only because my pride had been crushed when you left but if you cross this line you will force me to do it for the rest of my life. I get it. I know you want to protect me just like I want to protect you but killing her — would kill us — and she would end up winning. I can’t give her that. Don’t make me give you up to her. Please.” Natalie Mercer was not one to put her raw emotions like she was. Even on their wedding day, her vows had been simple and direct. It seemed the only place she was vulnerable with Lucas was in the bed when she allowed him to actually take full complete control. Her hazel eyes searched for answers in his hues as the wedding band dangled inside her shirt against her chest. “I married you. I know it has taken me a long time to realize that there was never a choice between you and my aunt because it has always been you from the start. I didn’t hesitate or stop when you told me that you were a witch. I didn’t hide you from my aunt, and I have never not chosen you. You’re my life — my husband, and the man whose face I want to spend the rest of my life punching — joke….I love you, Lucas Astor, so before you do something stupid — please think about that.”

“Erase your--” he could barely get the words out around the anger that was firing in his gut, “you want me to erase you. From Clark. And from Thea. And do the same thing to your aunt that got us into this position in the first place all over again.” Could he do it? Yes. Could he do it without hurting them badly? Probably not. The only thing that had saved whatever shred of his soul was left after he blinded himself was that he had done it for the right reasons. That he had only hurt himself in the process. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not going into anyone’s head and erasing you--especially not someone like Clark!” He’d never been particularly enamored with Clark, but the man had been far more decent to him than he had any right to be. “I want to help you. I’ve always wanted that. But if you’re willing to trade the people who care about you for her then you have chosen her.” Lucas had never taken ultimatums very well. Even when they made perfect sense. If someone said no, he immediately wanted to do the opposite. Natalie saying that they were done if he hurt her aunt made him want to kill the woman all the more. Consequences be damned. And underneath that was the notion that the blood of three people’s minds would be on his hands. But somehow that was alright. It made his eyes throb, in a silent reminder of the magical consequences he had already paid for their love story. Natalie wore her scars inside. His were written on his skin. “If I have to alter three people’s heads for us to be together--what kind of life is that?” He shook his head. This was too much for anything, let alone for a relationship that had been through what theirs had. He didn’t envy her having to make a choice like that, but he had made the same one. It was one of the choices he was fine with. “I want to help you, but I can’t do it at the cost of innocent people. Especially not to protect your aunt. That’s not going to happen.” All the power in the world couldn’t fix this, not so long as her aunt was held over everything else. That wasn’t a choice he could make for her either. “The only person I’ll never be able to protect you from is you,” he said, “but i won’t use my magic to hurt people and trading Clark for your aunt should never even be an option.” Exhaustion was pulling at him. They were going around in circles. It always ended with their families versus one or both of them. And they both made different choices regarding it. “if it is, she has already won. Either way, I can’t help you like this.” 

[terramage]

They were far away from the small diner and she was positive that her aunt was just a couple of miles behind them, which all meant that the thing that she had been trying to outrun was right around the corner. Natalie Mercer was going to have to choose between her aunt or Lucas, and she knew that both individuals would claim that was not the case but it was. Her aunt was not going to accept her marriage to Lucas and her marriage couldn’t take any more hits right now. A chuckle fell from the brunette’s lips as she looks up at the naked sky, “Ah because I thought you were an idiot. A smooth-talking idiot — but an idiot nonetheless.” She shared before looking over at him, the moonlight managed to perfectly highlight his best features, “Then it just happened you know? Before I knew it, you were my entire life. I wanted to spend every moment with you but tried to play it off because of every other female that was around and god your ego. And you were never a secret to be kept — I was sure about you — I wanted you, us — a life — in my version no one got hurt. Makes you think.”

“Yeah, that instinct was pretty spot on,” he said, “except the smooth-talking part. That’s just the accent.” He was an idiot. And a self destructive one at that. Maybe the suicidal tendencies had never gone away and just taken on new forms. This was life ruining for both of them, that much was clear. But Lucas had never been a coward. And he wasn’t the type to make the decision to remove someone from their life for another. “I think your judgement’s clouded,” he said, “there’s no version of life where people don’t get hurt, we both know that. But that’s not what’s happening here.” She was distraught, even if she was doing her best to hide it. “I only ever wanted to keep you safe.” That was the driving force behind what made him do the spell. The desire to keep her safe. Which was exactly why no-one could heal his stupid eyes, because at it’s core it was a protection spell. For all the protection it had granted her. “It’s your life. God knows we’ve done enough to each other that I would understand you leaving me. But I’m not going to just stand by and let your aunt continue torturing you.” He should have done something about it a long time ago. His parents were more progressive than a lot of his family. Actually there was a good chunk of his family that was genuinely insane. But Lucas wouldn’t let them continue to hurt people anymore than he would continue to let Natalie be tortured by her aunt.