Complete Private Western Brisshal Sun and Moon

[Fiora Di Angelo]

It didn't just disappoint but bother her all at once, but that was the price of lowering her guard and be surprised with a knife she didn't expect. Ronja's eyes gave her no respite, and so did the tone in her voice. Loud in opposition to the truth. But it wasn't just her words what filled her mind with worries, but the looks the landers were giving her for that moment.

She kept her cool, or as best as she could despite her chest feeling so warm out of a sudden, forcing her to push air out of her nostrils at that moment. But the pinkette kept her lips sealed, opting to worry for Ronja's safety over her opinions. This had to look natural, least the people they are escorting had the wrong idea.

Keeping her hands steady got harder the moment she left and the gossips begun to emerge from behind.

"I-is she okay?" The voice of a child made her ear flicker, turning back to scout over to the one kid whose mother pulled closer to her. With the deed done, all she could do was just stare back in silence.

"Everyone lost something or someone, including her." Fiora left it at that, carrying onwards with a tight squeeze over the hilt of her sheathed blade. She would work as their shield, while Ronja cleared a path for them.

---

Eventually their travels would come to a stop once the night fell and camping became their only option left, specially before they would reach the starbridge itself, haunted by birds of prey and reapers alike across it's full length. To do so in the darkness would only make it difficult for the both of them to keep these at bay, and so bonfires were lit around the evening and the group begun to cook what reserves they had for the trip. Just enough to feed everyone, at least until they reached the capital.

It was then that Fiora couldn't keep her thoughts to herself no longer. Now that there was a break and an opportunity to do so without startling or waking the ones asleep near the fires or on their bedrolls. She reached out for Ronja's wrist, on a firm grasp, but not a tender one like they both were used to, and her face didn't like this one bit, shown by the frown present on her while dragging her beloved away from the group over a small distance that could be considered private, only then letting go of her.

"Earlier today you talked too much. If you had something to say, you should have saved it for another time. I can't protect you all the time, Ronja. I wish I could." With her back turned, she spent that extra few seconds to recover herself from the sudden sorrow she got afflicted with, turning around only when her expression ironed out once again. "But let's make one thing clear, everyone who helped you was a hero- For five minutes." Her right hand gestured it. "And then they burned the one thing every Lander had left: Hope. They burned it away along with every single Traveler's reputation." Her hands bailed into fists, where her voice went cold, her gaze turned flammable in an instant.

"You think this was for your sake? You think they did anything for you with keeping her locked away? How great, not only they betrayed what little trust Landers had on us, not only did they fuck over newcomers who land on Falderen, and with anyone who chooses to play a magia." Her tone serious, beginning to pick up the momentum along her anger, a grotesque desire that pushed further against the calm demeanour her face showcased. "You really think this is for your sake when every single minute you spend in this game you could turn against me again? Is that what a friend would do? Leave you to suffer like this?! You think I-" She stopped as her voice grew too loud and fire turned into dots over her irises. Deep breaths helped her keep it down. That burning agony and the suffocation that turned her throat to ash.

"You know who chose to accept you? Players who have no attachment to this world, players who don't understand what you went through and can only fake sympathy over it, and the psychopaths at MIT who are ready to keep picking apart magias and you so eagerly work with them. Maybe you are the next in line to be turned into a pet project and you don't know it." She finally closed the distance between them, and her features softened all of a sudden as despair caught up to her. "But am I the one being unfair here for wanting the best for others? The best for us?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Being snatched by the wrist firmly made Ronja wince, but she didn't whimper or complain, following Fiora with as much fierce steps as she could, not holding back to keep a serious gaze on her face until they finally halted, far away enough from everyone.

When her wrist was released, she rubbed it softly, looking up to Fiora and allowing her to speak.

She allowed herself to grow the greatest patience she had evenr held to herself. To allow Fiora to word everything out, to speak her heart out, to say what she intended to say. Maybe it would come with a proper explanation of why she said it? Perhaps an apology for delivering false information by accident?

Ronja couldn't help but feel her heart parted when it turned out to be none of that. Instead, it was doubling down on specific issues, even if she did agree with certain aspects of her worries... But there were a handful of thing that she couldn't agree: With her methods, with how hateful she souded, with how ungrateful it felt, how unfair, and how she started speaking ill of those she loved.

"You telling the landers that 'those who spared Szofrit are as guilty as her for burning your homes down'. Are you crazy? Sparing Szofrit has nothing to do with the destruction that had happened, and you know it very well. You are adding fuel to the fire with a lie on top of it." She didn't hold back her words, putting it blunt and certain:

"You lied, Fiora. You are lying and throwing Val, Harper and Yugam under a bus, just because something didn't go as you wanted. Like a child throwing a tantrum." Ronja said, scolding.

"They would hate Ronja, and any magia regardless of what happened, because we destroyed everything. But you, once again, are putting all of the blame on them on things that wouldn't change." She rose her finger, only then clenching her fist and turning away when she started listening to Fiora talking ill of those who accepted her.

"And don't you dare to say that about Val and Harper, Fiora." Ronja frowned. "You also don't dare to speak ill about Ronja's colleagues. They helped Ronja in the way they could, doing whatever they could, and they are keeping Ronja safe as much as they can, considering everything."

Her expression, however, didn't soft at Fiora's question, with a scowl growing on Ronja as she shook her head, staring at her lover with an intense gaze. "And do you know what is the best for Ronja? Putting blame and speaking things that can escalate badly to people she care for? To show hostility to them?" Ronja breath became erratic, as she controlled her voice to not raise, and with her eyes' windshields sweeping them twice before they clicked and she resumed-

"Do you think this is the best to Ronja? To us? Val, Harper and Yugam didn't leave us at any moment, Fiora. They helped you to save Ronja, and they all went to save her and didn't leave until Ronja was safe. But you. You in the first opportunity, because they didn't do as you wish, is trying to throw them into the lions. This is disgusting." She said, without filtering it.

"Ronja wishes Szofrit was dead. She agrees on you at that, but it seems our agreement ends there. Because she wouldn't be ungrateful enough to raise a finger against who she cares for." Ronja averted her face, crossing her arms and trying to suppress more words that wanted to leave her throat and mouth, but she realized the more she spoke, the less kindly things left it.

Maybe they weren't so different after all.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"Is it a lie that they made their suffering be in vain? That all the lives lost, the families torn and homes burnt are all for nothing? They lost everything and only asked for one little thing." Her fingers, almost like pincers, just portrayed how minimal this effort had to be. "I want them to go and talk to every single person who lost their lives, not just the dead, and tell them exactly how the people who don't care about this world saved the one thing that ruined it alongside everything they cared for. Get inside their shoes Ronja, you think this is the results of fairness? Or what, you think this was the most logical outcome?" Yet the way her blood boiled didn't stop there, as her mind begun to track back what Ronja just said.

What names she mentioned, as things begun to piece themselves in the fog that were her thoughts right now. "So Luth and Yugam did this..." The calm before the storm in her voice did not do much to mitigate the smouldering embers in her eye. Eyes, as that dot of flame became a sole light in the middle of the empty socket on her left, fit for a replacement with how it almost stared down at Ronja.

"You are not safe, and they did nothing to protect you if Szofrit is still out there. We would all be dead if people didn't go to fight Szofrit and stop her, but that doesn't mean they did it for -you- or me. They did it to save their own skin, just like speaking of accountability is a means to save themselves and sleep well at night." The hate concentrated in a calm tone, akin to a sniper instead of a shotgun. "Do you think either of them would have saved her if Yugam had died? Or Luthien? You think they are being honest? Fair?" She wouldn't speak a lie to a lander, she wouldn't do so to Ronja either.

Just then she fell to her knees, hands reaching to hold onto her lover's shoulders. "Ronja, I know it's hard to accept it, but their actions have consequences, and they have to pay for them one day. They chose this, and so be it they will get what they are due." She sighed off, tightening her grasp just a little before finally letting go of it once her strength surrendered. "I did everything and sacrificed everything for you. But the Landers need justice. if not, then they will target every single Traveler out there more than they do already. I don't want to risk our world anymore, I can't live in fear like this." Weakness grasped on her throat and let words reach out through the pain, despite not being physical at all.

"Most importantly, I don't want to lose you again. I don't want you to do something you would regret if that happened, all because they weren't smart enough to pull the trigger on Szofrit."

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja's expressions hardened when Fiora averted what she had actually said to the landers. "Fiora, you didn't say that, you said they are as guilty of burning their houses down as Szofrit. You better start being honest about your words and not try gaslighting and misleading Ronja for something that happened a couple hours ago. Ronja. Isn't. Dumb." Her last words came through her teeth, sounding like a severe warning, one that showed she wasn't liking the direction Fiora was taking with her.

"Their houses would burn down in vain regardless. This isn't an exchange, Fiora. It is a disaster. You could kill the the double amount of 'Szofrits', compared to how many died and had their houses destroyed, and it would've still been in vain." Ronja corrected, not understanding where Fiora was coming from. "Killing one or another wouldn't make it be more or less in vain. Justice? Szofrit wasn't acting with full control of her mind, just like Ronja wasn't. Do you want to kill Ronja too, go ahead. She will help you." Her teeth gritted.

"If Ronja wants Szofrit dead, it isn't for justice. She isn't at full fault, just like... You said Ronja isn't. Ronja wants it because... She has no idea of what to do for her. Justice is killing what made her do it, but we don't even know where to start." Ronja lips pursed, and her expressions slowly deepened with a frown. "Ronja won't stop them from trying to save Szofrit. Just like Ronja won't stop you from trying to kill her. But if either of you touch a finger on each other, Ronja won't be standing for this."

She wasn't going to just watch her friends and her lover getting into a civil war for whatever reason.

"They aren't at a time they will listen to any reasoning, Fiora. They need time. And if they would spare her if one of them died? Probably not, who knows? Ronja can theorize a thousand things, but now Ronja at least know why you are being so stubborn about it." It wasn't hard to put pieces together. The true reason behind it wasn't justice, wasn't landers. It was something else and more personal.

Still, it felt off.

When Fiora kneelt and held her shoulders, Ronja's muscles softened. Even if she was mad at her, even if they were arguing, her hold still comforted her in a way or another.

"They didn't do anything wrong to receive consequences, Nico. The enemy is neutralized. Not in the way you or Ronja, or many others want. But it is neutralized." Ronja said, and when Fiora's hands released her shoulders, the magia grasped them, squeezing Fiora's hands as she kept her gaze locked.

"Nico. They are our friends." Ronja said. "If Ronja, or you, get in danger again. They are going to be the ones that will stand and go there save us. You couldn't save Ronja all by yourself. And if something happens to you, Ronja will need as much help as well. And that goes both ways." Her voice had softened at that point, with her anger slowly fading into something that hinted concern.

"Ronja wants to be with you, Nico. Happy. But obstacles will always exist... And if you think Ronja will cross her arms and watch from afar Val and Ari being hostilized if something happens, you are wrong. Ronja will go there to save them. Even at the risk of something happening to herself. Even if you aren't with her for that."

Ronja tugged Fiora's hand, pressing them against her chest, and tugging her lover closer.

"You are willing to hurt your friends, Nico. What is happening to you, love?" She asked, pursing her lips.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Of all the people Ronja was warning, it's her. It was visibly disgusting to see herself being opposed like this, time and time again, by the one she's trying her hardest for. But the comparisons she couldn't tolerate, the offer to 'assist' in termianting her lover neither.

"NO!" Her voice boomed. Two of them, infact, that blended like one, the echo granting an almost animalistic growl to her refusal. "Don't you dare to say that, and don't compare yourself to Szofrit, you know WELL ENOUGH that you are nowhere near as bad, as powerful nor as corrupted as she is. You don't even know what happened to her. For a reason she's locked up like she is and didn't just get slapped out of her 'mind control'." Inhale. Exhale. The loud sigh coming out of her mouth helped her get her mind straight.

"The world isn't two colors only, Ronja. Killing the bad guy won't solve anything, yes, but it would give people some semblance of peace. You want to go after the heart of a problem that has been present in Terrasphere for longer than we have, and still hasn't been solved." Her eye locked onto Ronja's, despite her tone having softened considerably by now. She could recall now the tales of Calamity Deep and what the flagbearer spoke of to her about Dissonance. Brief, but given it's impact in the world, nothing that anyone has managed to solve this far.

Her head shook in denial as Ronja pushed back against her once again, reassuring her of what they didn't know. Her strength faded with a squeeze from her hands, instinctively grasping onto her dearests's like this would be the last time she could hold onto them.

"You don't know them nowhere near as much as I do, Ronja. You haven't seen the ugly in a person before, but you are willing to die for people who won't do the same for you." She said, utterly defeated with knowing this is the path Ronja chose.

Her head rised to lock eyes once again, pulled close enough for Fiora to wrap her arms around her lover in a needy, unsteady embrace. "They let your suffering be for nothing, and now that that thing's not dead I live knowing you are exposed to danger every second I'm not playing the game. This place's tearing my head apart. I don't want another visit to the hospital, Ronja." She said, with her voice as if her throat was full of glass and couldn't piece itself together, her fingers tracing circles across the surface of the rune carved at the back of her hand, the only ones exposed with her gauntlets removed.

"I don't have control over my powers or my anger anymore. I keep seeing visions of my mother and this thing's filling my head with doubts... But It helped me save you when I needed it to." She squeezed a little harder, only to relax once again as her mind gave up on the intrusive thoughts. "Maybe it can be controlled. That's what I'm betting on, at least." She hoped that much, at least. Fiora shook her head off, leaning back to be face to face once again.

"I just want you to be happy. To give you back the opportunities that were taken from you in our world." Serious determination dropped her brows as she admitted this much out of the bottom of her heart. "But I need to take care of the problems that get in-between us, and burn down every obstacle that gets in our way. You understand?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Fiora's ferocious rejection to the idea was expected, but it didn't fail to make Ronja freeze onto place, even if she kept her expression resolute while looking at the pinkette's eyes.

"Ronja knows her case is different, but it isn't that different... And Ronja knows very well the world isn't two-coloured." Ronja nodded. "Which is why I tell you. Killing her wouldn't make Ronja be able to walk around towns freely right now." She said, pausing for a moment before elaborating further: "If they had killed Szofrit to keep peace with the landers, they would want our heads as well... And to avoid the same issue as they are having with Szofrit being there, they would hunt Ronja and others down as well."

Her gaze fell.

"There would be no locked down mother of the machines, but there would be two whole kingdoms against us, instead of one protecting us while another hostilize us." Her eyes shimmered, with tears forming slightly, lips pursing before her eyes clicked and the windshields wiped them dry once again. "It is really damned if you do, damned if you don't... Nico... It really isn't two-coloured."

In the end, even if Ronja herself wanted Szofrit dead. She wasn't even sure if that would be the best option... No one would be, actually. Perhaps, there was no right answer. Ronja was too uncertain at that point, seeing the horror right under behind their feet in Astorea... And the possibility of the people she cared for crumbling right before her eyes because of disagreements.

The desperate grasp on her hands, and the following words from Fiora only made Ronja's heart sink further. The complete lack of faith on those that were their friends, the sadness in her tone that was certainly not what Ronja wanted to hear. The denial, the unstable hug, that Ronja did her best to reciprocate it with a firm one, as if wishing to keep her beloved together, standing.

"Nico..." Her eyes locked on her lover's, and she gently caressed her cheeks.

"Ronja knows she won't lose the chance of having... Opportunities, as you say... In this place." Ronja said, giving her a caring, yet firm gaze.

"But she won't stand for it to happen at the cost of yours... Or our friends' well being." She said, firmly, taking one of her hands, and looking at the runes, with her thumb gently caressing her lover's hand as she closed her eyes.

"Where... Where did you get this, Nico? Since when you have such a thing? You are trusting on something that is eating you inside out more than you are trusting those next to you, Nico... If it even shows as your mother... It... Can't be..." Ronja said, squeezing her hand softly. Her tone wasn't a scolding one, but a saddened one, a worried once. Ronja's anger was long gone by now, being replaced by concern... Concern for the path her dear was taking. Concern for the self-harm she was inflicting.

"Ronja knows you will bring down the obstacles... And mind you, Ronja will help you with this as well." Ronja said, but then her lips pursed, and her head shook. "But if said obstacle needs to hurt you, or our friends... Ronja won't accept it. We will find a way to work around it."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"...Can't you see what she did to you? You can't think straight past this- This fucked up stockholm syndrome you got. You are sympathizing with the one who harmed you, just like you sympathize with the ones who saved her and the ones who contain her. She has to die, just like the rest of them." She declared, with the full intention of being the guillotine for them all. But now she had a better idea of what went through Ronja's mind. Why she believed what she did, and why exactly she couldn't be mad anymore at her for it. Purity like that of an angel was bestowed upon her dearest, the same she wished to shield and safekeep from the taint of a bitter world. It was a double-edged weapon. It blinded her.

Much like the tears temporarily did, Fiora's features softening with worry as the back of her hand gently stroke over her lover's cheek. "Ronja, a nation destroyed by it's enemies can be rebuilt. But one that falls from the inside..? There's no coming back for that." So she tried to explain, as slow as she could, what she's been missing. "To have all the landers against us implies losing the bulk of Astorea's citizenship. The city is in ruins, towns and villages across Astorea will focus on their own survival, and the people from Tertoria are -not- our allies, they are ripping the profits from the aftermath of this war." Such is the harsh reality of their world, with opportunists and con-artists always meddling in the lives of others.

"They stole the Landers from the only spark of hope we could have given them. This is their world, not ours, and yet they keep meddling on their lives like they own it." And her compassion begun to die out of her throat when reminded of such. Like a switch turned off whenever the topic reminded her of this unfairness, to what once could be 'their' people and no longer just 'Landers'.

...Why did she suddently feel so lonely, despite being on her arms?

She's not with me. She's against me...

Ronja didn't change her stance, no matter how hard she tried to persuade her. But... Stealing her freedom would be a line she could never cross, even if it's for her own good.

"Ah- " The touch over these runes ripped her out from her trance, but being wide awake came with questions. Questions she felt compelled to lie about as her lips trembled, and her hands squeezed a little tighter on Ronja's. "A long time. I didn't want you to worry. I had it under control, so I hid it from you." Her frown deepened, eye cast away- She couldn't see her face, not with how worried she was. It hurt plenty as it is. "You don't understand. It's not that I can't stop listening to it. I... I fear that I don't want to stop. How wrong can it be, if it helped me to save you?" Her lips pursed together. Somehow, she didn't need more than to listen to herself to realize that's wrong.

She's alone, isn't she..? How good could a path be if Ronja isn't there?

"I can't stop, love. Not when it's true that this world is against us, that MIT is a lie and you are close to becoming their next guinea pig. It's also only a matter of time until Szofrit wakes up and you end up turning against us again." Fiora met her gaze once again, with strength coming back to her through nefarious thoughts. Her hands couped Ronja's together, resting her forehead gently against hers, sighing off in defeat.

"But we have a dream and that's what matters. If that means I can't harm them... Then I won't. But they broke my trust. They hurt us and made made our goal even harder now. I won't forgive that." Stern despite how her anger begun to die off. Misery took over instead over a forlorn look on her face. Her lover turned a blind eye on every knife she buried in her back with her actions. But that smile would work as anaesthetics for that.

That's just love as she knew it.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"Ronja saw what she did. She isn't blind, nor has amnesia." Ronja responded, a bit of a blunt tone returning due to the insult. "Which is why she says, with all property, that Szofrit wasn't on complete control of her mind. Something was wrong, and this is why she can't blame her completely, even if she would rather that she was gone." Ronja said, with her face averting slightly as Fiora stroke her cheek, and her gaze unfocusing, realizing the path Fiora had chosen.

"Ronja doesn't know, Nico. The ones that helped Ronja and you with their own lives at risk don't deserve your trust." Ronja looked at her, with a stern gaze. "What deserves your trust are runes that fills you with hatred and ill feelings." She spoke.

"How wrong it could be?"

Ronja couldn't help, sometimes, to think there was some illogical feelings in her chest regarding the whole situation.

"Ronja knows that every step she is making right now has uncertainty. It didn't happened yet... It is very easy to be monday morning quarterback, and assume what happened is the only path for everything. So in the middle of uncertainty, she decides to at least keep her friends near her."

Her eyes locked on Nico's.

"What Ronja doesn't understand, is how certain you are of everything, Nico. Even when there is so much contradiction in your mindset."

Ronja's shoulders slumped, with her eyes trailing to nowhere in particular.

"If things ever go South, Ronja can only hope that these runes on your hand alone will actually be of any use. Because right now... It is only turning you into something Ronja doesn't know."

The magia then fell into silence, and the expressions of concern, of sadness, emptied into something more pensive, lost into a spiral of thoughts and uncertainty. Nothing seemed to make much sense anymore. The war had come, and she was 'saved'- And yet, suddenly she felt that nothing of that was worth it. The briefest hint of good closure to that chaos, being replaced by a bitterness she couldn't muster to taste any longer.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora couldn't accept it, not when Szofrit had only been a monster in her eyes. Her head shook, if only to deny it as much as she could. To deflect both reason and the bluntness on Ronja's voice.

"No. I carved these runes myself. They were meant to keep it sealed. And that they did..." She frowned, but kept her "You think I enjoy any of this? That hurting, and being bitter and angry all the time is fun?" She gritted her teeth, a hand reaching up to her temples as her headache only grew worse. "I did it to save you, and this is what you think of me..?" She couldn't believe it. If this wasn't real, then she needed to wake up. Now.

"I... I don't know. All I know is that the path ahead is difficult. Too difficult. And things only seem to pile on our shoulders like no tomorrow." Her voice cracked, and she fought too hard against her own tears, the only benefit of having one eye. "I'm trying, okay?! I don't know what else to do, I don't know how to deal with this, and whenever I try to work on one thing, two more come up. In the game out of the game..." She wanted to shout, but it felt in vain. She already did plenty of that before, and the silence in Ronja only worsened it.

As if she had lost it all.

"I can't be the strong one all the time, Ronja!" Nico yelled between her broken sobs, finally letting go of her hands and putting some distance between both of them. "I changed myself out of the game for our goals! I started to exercise, I changed my routines, I spent weeks trying to learn the basics of something I had no idea of before. And I could do all that because I wanted to make you happy. And that made me happy, because I could finally achieve something. Something under my control. All I needed was you to be there for me." And that much took effort, moreso than she's ever done for any piano class in the past; It took determination she didn't have, a drive she had lost, and a reason she had just found.

"But now you expect me to deal with things I don't understand, things that scare me, things that are fucking up with my head... When even just logging in to Terrasphere makes me feel so different to myself. I keep thinking stuff I don't wanna, and some of them I want to, but- But not like this, not if it means losing you and everyone I care."

Her glare lost all of it's power, turned into a pitiful tear, not so different to the ones she used to get after arguing with her mother.

"I want to fix things to how they were, t-to how it was before, when we were h-happy." She pressed her knees against her chest. Curling up on a ball was all she could do.

But there was no corner to press herself against to feel safer. It was all dark when she hid her head between her arms.

"But I don't know how-" Her tone reached the bottom of the barrel, between a wounded heart and a twisted stomach. "And I can't solv-solve it alone." Words couldn't come out from the uncontrollable, muffled sobbing.

The bottle broke, and hugging her legs was the only comfort she knew she could get.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja remained silent, listening to the yells, the anger, the venting... But the broken voice, and the cry snapped Ronja out of her quietness. Seeing the emotions flowing out of her lover's lips, sadness, frustration, despair, so many negative things, negative feelings, one after another, cracking Ronja's heart over and over, seeing the one she loved so much breaking in front of her eyes.

Her crossed stance loosened, and the magia crawled, her lips half parted, and her eyes tearing up, but soon being interrupted by the windshields, before she finished crawling and wrapped her arms around the pinkette, tightening the hold and swallowing her tears.

"You are mistaken, Nico... Ronja doesn't want you to deal with anything." Ronja said, resting her forehead on Nico's temple. "Especially by yourself. You don't need to be strong, WE need to be strong." She added, perhaps the part that most concerned her, more now that she heard everything

"She doesn't want you to change yourself, she doesn't want you to be bitter, to be angry, to become... Someone you are not." Ronja said, lowering her gaze, closing her eyes and nuzzling against her lover's cheek, caressing her back in a calming rhythm.

"Ronja doesn't want you to hurt anyone we care for, and that includes yourself." Ronja said, slowing down her caress to simply hold her, close and tight. "Ronja won't let you be alone, Nico. Our path is too difficult for Ronja to let you be by yourself... But you are taking unnecessary battles... Unnecessary costs and pain. Ronja..." She held back her tears, taking a moment to breath, because her dearest was in tears herself, and she needed to be someone to stay next to her right now. Calm, and collected.

"... Ronja doesn't want you to fight a kingdom, or a faction, or anything. Ronja doesn't want you to seek a revenge that not even Ronja wants..." Ronja said.

"The way to fix all of this, love... Is something else." She cupped her beloved's cheek with both of her hands, holding her face dearly, and locking her gaze on hers. "To make our place in this world... To spend every day together... Not only here... But out there too. We don't need to face the world, to fight against everything and everyone, if we worry too much about defeating something, we won't have time to create our own thing, our own dreams, our own happiness." Ronja said, with her finger tracing cautiously and gently on the wounded ear and the apple of her lover's cheek, near the wounded eye.

"Ronja will treat your pain... She promises, she will fix what is hurt... We will build our home, our workshop... And we will live, away from the danger. Only meddling with it when we want to adventure, when we want to... Ronja doesn't know... Have fun, explore, breath some dangerous air to feel more alive or anything." She chuckled faintly, sniffing a bit and breathing a sigh.

"Sorry for making... You go through all this, love... Ronja is sorry... But also... Ronja is here, she promises. She loves you... And surely doesn't want to lose you." Ronja said, letting out a sad sigh, looking down, and then focusing back at Nico.

"And if you feel... So different in here. To feel so much pain... Ronja is ready to never step in this game anymore." Ronja smiled, faintly. "She doesn't need this game anymore." She said.

"She has you, out there. That emptiness Ronja used to feel... She no longer feels. Not with you."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Spoiler: Mood?

Shame and guilt held her back from looking at Ronja, even if now she let her eye peek out. All she felt was cold, from an embrace that couldn't reach her. Not when the one thing protecting her worked against her here.

Her right hand spread out and closed into a fist, opening the UI, and her body lost the bulk of her plate armor, letting her arms spread in that split of a second to fill in the gaps that made her feel defenseless with a hug to the one person who mattered more than her own safety did.

Having gone for so long on her own made her forget how they are together in this, and the reminder left her speechless. But it wasn't the time to talk for her, but to listen. Teeth gritted, and what anger she had went straight to herself.

Sparked so easily by the smallest of things, and put off by the sweet comfort Ronja gave her.

"No." She let her hand rest over Ronja's, her focus returning back to her lover's gaze once more. "I can't let you drop the game like this. I-i don't think that's fair. Even if you say so, I know how much you blame yourself over what you did under her control." Nico shook off her head, nuzzling her cheek against her hand for just a little longer. "We need to amend that, don't we..? And we have to build our home here- Our workshop. Our dream is there." And she couldn't let all that go to waste, not when they just started. "I-I'm gonna need a new eye, though..." She mumbled between a faint smile. A little joke always helped her cope, despite how brief the feeling was.

"You are right, though." She sniffed a little as tears begun to flow once again down her cheek. "Y-you are always right... I'm just..- It's so intoxicating to have this much power in my hands. I wanted to do something about it, about all we have to deal with I mean. I didn't want you to suffer anymore." She said. Her face whinced; the result proved to be exactly the opposite of what she wanted.

"I'm glad I have you." She tilted herself from one side to the other, only for Nico to finally drop herself slowly so on her side against the grass, breaking the little silence that came with it as she glanced up to Ronja once again, now that she could think better- Just like when she slept better on a carpet. "I won't let you feel like that again. But I'll do it inside and out of this game... Or world. At this point I don't know what's real or not." It kept tricking her senses, despite knowing full well these were all NPCs out there, but the questions and doubts kept dropping on her mind.

What if Ronja ended UI-locked..? Could she truly see her like just another NPC?

"I was chasing thrills before, Ronja. And they don't compare to when we met in real life, so... I don't need to chase dangers to feel alive. But I want to enjoy this game with you, just like I'm enjoyning every day out of it." It would be too selfish of her to force Ronja out of her hobby. At least not yet, when they still have so much left to do. "We still have a dream to meet and many things to discover out there. Maybe we can benefit both worlds if we do so, and we can have fun too..." She stretched her calloused hand towards her lover, with a quiet smile resting over her lips, despite her face being burning red and the trails of her tears yet to have gone dry.

She couldn't let it get a grip of her, not when it hurt Ronja to see her like this.

"I'll do it -our- way. Nothing can go wrong if we do it together, right..?" She had hope in these words, repeated time and time again. But this time, it wouldn't be to help Ronja. But to allow Ronja to help her and shoulder the burden.

Together.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

The armor piece disappearing made Ronja blink in surprise, 'falling' onto her lover as the layer that separated them disappeared. An embrace closened their distance even further, and Ronja reciprocated it as much as she could, holding onto the pinkette as she took a deep breath.

Rejection on leaving this game made Ronja purse her lips. If they were meant to continue there, they couldn't continue like this. Yet, the following words brought a bit more of positivity, and while the joke didn't make her laugh, she trailed her eyes to the wounds on her beloved's face.

"Ronja isn't going to rest until she fixes the wounds she has done to you..." Ronja said, pursing her lips slightly, though her words were more of resolution than guilty, already being past the self-blame. She still believed she held responsibility, but long gone was the time she was going to excruciate herself for it... and surely she didn't wish the same for her beloved. "Ronja isn't always right, Nico. But... Ronja certainly knows it isn't right for you to suffer and to throw herself in this cycle of hatred and self-destruction... even if it is for Ronja... or anyone else." She said, peering down to see her lover allowing herself to lay on the ground, perhaps in an exhaustion that was not only physical, but emotional as well.

A faint smile crossed her lips at the small confusion Nico had, ruffling her hair and then taking her lover's hand, squeezing it softly as she laid down, resting on her and nodding.

"Together. Ronja won't accept anything less than that." She said, leaning closer and planting a small kiss on Nico's lips.

After it, Ronja laid on her side, facing her beloved and caressing her.

"Ronja needs to apologize those landers later... And talk to that boy too." She said. "If her mother will let me, that is." Ronja shrugged faintly.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Nico could see where that came from, but it was something she wouldn't fight against when Ronja became adamant against the guilt to finally take matters in her hands. "There are worse wounds than this. I do miss being able to look at you with both eyes, but If story repeats itself, I would take the hit again. It's a reminder that I didn't fail you." She said, rubbing her eye with one hand. "I know you would have done the same for me." Be that as it may, once she laid down Ronja gave light to the repetitive issue she's been facing. Fear took over her, hate followed, and it unraveled in today's outburst. "Losing you on that alley was the one thing I couldn't accept. At that moment, even taking a plane to you to snap the headset off your head sounded like a good idea." Maybe even better than what she did.

That smile on Ronja's lips was enough to get her out of that pool of self-deprecation, squeezing her lover's hand once she laid down next to her. "Together." She snickered as their lips met, letting go of her hand only to stretch her arm against the grass to work as a pillow for Ronja to her head on.

"Maybe if the both of us do it they will think differently. They don't seem too afraid of me, even if that would be the right thing to do." She said, using her free arm to gently push a few hair bangs off her lover's face, smiling lightly. "You... Are a sweetheart. That kid probably noticed it. We just need to give them more reasons for the others to see." Nico added, taking a deep breath and letting out what little stress still crawled on her bones. "I'm the one who has to look scary, even if pink hair and a bubbly magia clearly do me the opposite." Because who could be afraid of them when seen together..? Well, the answer was obvious, but they would work on changing that view once again. Not the whole world hates them. Hanrift didn't, at least.

Getting herself all cozy and close, Nico let her arm finally wrap around her dear's waist, pulling her close enough until body warmth could be shared one with the other. "Let's just rest for now. It's always better in the morning." And with that, she planted a short kiss back on Ronja's lips, her eye gently closing itself into a slumber, head tilted gently against Ronja's temples.

...

---

---

Time passed and the breeze turned colder with every hour. Most of the Landers had fallen asleep by now, with the only ones awake pondering over the whereabouts of the pair. Some more comfortable than others with that fact. Did they abandon them, or simply went to sleep elsewhere to not disturb them in the slightest? Eitherway, the quiet allowed them to sleep by the fires fed onto the campfire.

In the heart of the night, empty steps pressed through the grass and kneeled down next to the pair as a set of ethereal eyes shun upon them. Pensive, and mostly focused on the Magia than the pinkette, acknowledging the existence of the girl next to her by more than just name.

...

Fingertips gently caressed the air above both lovers, as warmth from the flames begun to wrap itself around the pair. An unconcious awakening of an Aura, one that made her turn her attention over to Fiora, then back to Ronja, moments before her form disappeared once again, turned into nothing but ashes after finding the confirmation it wanted.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot