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two eyes catch sight of basira as she steps out of the shadow of the alleyway, vulnerable and exposed.
she thought she’d been careful enough. she thought she’d seen all the possibilities. she was wrong.
daisy stands there in the middle of the empty road, feet planted but trembling from the effort of restraining herself since her eyes locked on basira. any moment, she will lunge and strike. she is too far gone not to.
her shape is still much the same as it always was, but that does nothing to mask the fact that the force now animating her is something completely wild and inhuman. the veneer of hunter’s grace that always tempered her human gait is now the entirety of her motion. her human hands hang at her side like claws, and they are. she stands there in her torn and dirty blouse with her ragged skirt trailing tatters, her back carelessly bowed like a four-legged creature rearing. the tendons of her neck tense as she holds basira's every move perfectly within her sights. her bared human’s teeth are more terrifying than a wolf’s, and despite their comparative dullness, her patron’s blessing means they will do the deadly job with far more efficiency and relish.
the muscles of basira’s arm tense, but even her light handgun is too heavy to lift. they both know she never was going to be able to keep her promise.
daisy’s keen eyes read the halfhearted twitch of her arm loud and clear. “please,” she rasps. her voice cracks from that blood-deep rumble into a breathy pleading whine. “at least run.”
it’s the smart thing to do, and by god, she tries to make herself do it. but basira’s legs refuse to carry her away somewhere safer. she just can’t. so she stops keeping herself from doing the only thing she can bear to do.
basira breaks just an instant before daisy does, and the shock of basira running directly toward her freezes her almost-lunging limbs into true stillness. the thud of boots against cobbles echoes deafeningly between the buildings lining the deserted street. though basira’s heart quails, she does not hesitate as she closes the distance between them with arms outstretched, gun forgotten in the road behind her.
“no,” daisy whispers, horrified – and it is just a whisper. “no – what - ?” as basira draws near, daisy’s face goes ashen as if all the blood has drained out of it. she sways on her feet, clawed hands becoming feeble fingers and knees going soft. basira gets there just in time to catch her in her arms as she falls.
the limp body in basira’s arms is just a woman.
basira kneels to the ground and turns the narrow shoulders so she can cradle the head and torso in her own shaking hands. the familiar eyes looking into hers are trailing clean tear tracks down filthy cheeks.
“why?” daisy, her daisy, whispers. “why didn’t you run?”
basira blinks and finds her own vision blurred with water. “because i’m selfish,” she says in a flat voice. “i knew it would break your heart to hurt me. but it would have broken mine to run away from you. i couldn’t let the last thing i ever did be leaving you. i’m sorry.”
“basira...” daisy lifts one weak hand to stroke her thumb across basira’s cheek. her grimy fingers leave dirt on her skin and her headscarf like a blessing. she has hardly ever touched basira, let alone so tenderly. far too soon, her hand falls away as if she lacks the strength to lift it.
basira sniffs hard and blinks. “what’s happening to you?”
“i don’t...” daisy says softly, eyelids falling. then, her eyes go wide again.
“what?” basira pushes back the strands of hair stuck to daisy’s forehead with sweat.
“you didn’t run,” daisy breathes. “can’t chase something that doesn’t run. can’t fight something that doesn’t fight back. can’t stalk something that doesn’t freeze in fear.”
“that doesn’t make sense.” basira can’t seem to stop stroking the tangled hair framing daisy’s face. “if all you needed to do to foil the Hunt was not act like prey, people would be doing it all the time.”
“but it was you, basira,” daisy says, and the way her mouth shapes her name makes basira shudder with emotion. “it’s always been you. didn’t you ever wonder? why i never kissed you. why i never even held your hand?”
basira bends closer to hear her every word. “yes.”
“i wanted you more than anything. the only other wanting that strong i’ve known was the Hunt. i knew i’d hurt you. i didn’t think there was any other way it could end.”
“oh, daisy.” maybe basira’s heart is breaking now. maybe she would have been better off if she’d run. “that’s why, even after the Buried...”
“if i ever did – anything – if i ever even started to reach out, to move toward you – what if it took over? basira, i still don’t know if i could stop.”
basira cups daisy’s face with both hands and leans just a little closer. their noses almost touch. “what if i didn’t want you to?”
daisy just blinks more tears into the rivers running over basira’s fingers and draws in shaky breaths.
“daisy..." she says, uttering her name like a prayer. "i didn’t know. and i’m sorry, for how i was, after you came back, the way i... i was so scared i didn’t know you anymore. i was scared that the choice you were making was going to take you away from me. i told you, i’m selfish. and i thought you were giving up your strength. but you were actually being stronger than you’ve ever been, weren’t you? letting yourself be soft. wasting away refusing the Hunt. i always thought i loved your strength and yet i couldn’t see it right in front of me." her voice is wavering now. "daisy, darling, i’m so sorry. i’m sorry i had to learn to love that part of you, too. but i do, now. i won't try and keep you from it anymore.”
daisy is shaking in her arms now, still so listless but trembling uncontrollably from her core outward. “basira, don’t, what if i –”
“daisy.” her voice, though thick, now resounds with certainty. “you cannot Hunt me. i will not run. i will not fight. i will not freeze. god, i tried, i fucking tried so hard earlier, but i can’t. i’ll always run to you. i’m yours.”
basira closes her eyes with a sigh and bends her forehead to touch daisy’s. her ragged breath is unbearable, ghosting over her lips.
“daisy... look,” basira says in a low voice, barely more than a whisper. “what in this world is more elusive than a healthy relationship with someone you love? look at us. we’re so fucked up. we’ll never get there. but aren’t we worth chasing? worth working for. not me. us. could you see it like that? could you see us like i do?”
daisy stares into her eyes, terrified. "i..." basira’s gaze does not waver. be strong, she begs daisy without speaking.
then daisy melts. “yes,” she says, and finally, finally, reaches out to pull basira closer.
they’re already so close, breath becomes skin in an instant. daisy’s arms wrap around the back of basira’s neck and she’s kissing her, her lips, her cheeks, her brow, her fluttering eyes, in the middle of an abandoned road in a dying world she's kissing her. daisy pulls back for only a moment to stare into basira’s eyes again, but this time she’s looking into them like there’s something down deep within them that she would spend forever chasing. maybe she will, basira thinks, seeing the way a flush of color has seeped back into her cheeks. maybe it will be enough to sate the Hunt while letting daisy claim her softness.
“we’ll figure it out,” basira mutters, half to herself. half to the woman she is learning to love all of, teeth and terror and tenderness all at once.
“yeah.”
daisy’s lips against hers again make her forget everything else.