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Joe, Nicky, and Nile would have her head for this. Since her immortality left, they had all been more cautious of her, trying to keep her out of harm’s way. They were all asleep now, Joe curled happily against Nicky’s back, Nile on her back in the other bed, leaving room for Andy. But Andy wasn’t sleeping.
Her heart beat fast, loud enough that she could hear it in her ears like the drums of war, the rush feeling the same as if she were running into battle. But she was just walking down a long, empty cobblestone road, the only sound being the crickets and frogs hidden between old buildings with aging stone.
Booker had found her- well, she had found Booker, and he’d called Copley to get in touch with Andy. When he spoke her name, it felt like all of time had finally stopped around her. Quynh. Her zolotse.
She hadn’t wanted the others to know, not yet. They’d be overprotective, and Andy was just… so tired. Quynh could hate her for breaking her promise, for abandoning her to the sea for 500 years. Part of her hoped she did. She didn’t deserve Quynh’s forgiveness for giving up.
She knew all too well that she was risking her now mortal life. If Quynh killed her now, she wouldn’t come back. She was fine with that. In fact, it seemed the most heavenly end to her too-long life, to be looking into the eyes of the woman who had held her heart for centuries.
Andy stared at the old barn, with one of it’s doors hanging off a hinge and a part of the wall simply torn out. From the end of the dirt path, she could see Booker standing in the doorway, giving her a small wave.
Every step to him, to the barn where Quynh would be, felt like another decade. His soft greeting was hushed by the rush in her ears, but she hugged him back tightly all the same.
“She’s inside, I’ll take you-”
“No. I want to go alone.”
Booker hesitated, stepping back from Andy to give her space, his eyes worried. “Are you sure? I… Andy, I don’t want you to get hurt, in case she was lying to me.”
“I’m sure, Book.” Andy gave him a soft, genuine smile, putting her palm to his scruffy cheek. “No matter what happens, I chose this. And if it’s my time… Tell the others that I’m sorry I couldn’t give them a proper goodbye, and that I have letters for them hidden in the silver box on the fireplace.”
Booker’s eyes told of a million unspoken things as he held Andy’s bittersweet gaze. Finally, he broke it, giving a small nod as he swallowed thickly. “I will.”
Andy gave him a soft thank you as she pulled away, turning and walking into the dark barn. She could see the flickering lantern light coming from the hayloft. Taking a breath, she began ascending the worn ladder, time seeming to slow down to a painstaking crawl.
There she was. Turned away from her, sitting on the only still assembled hay bale, a small dagger being twirled in her hands as she seemed to examine it, lost in thought. She didn’t look up as Andy stepped up onto the slightly groaning wood.
She seemed somehow even more beautiful than Andy could remember. Like a newly sharpened sword glimmering in the light. Andy stepped forward as Quynh slowly stood, not breaking her gaze from the blade. “Quynh…” Her voice was barely a whisper, a desperate choke of her name. As those calculating dark eyes fell onto her, Andy felt her entire being shake with a helplessness and a surrender to the woman. She felt her knees hit the wood, but nothing else mattered as she stared into Quynh’s eyes.
“Andromache.” Quynh’s voice was soft in volume, but Andy could hear the hurt louder than any explosion. “It’s been a long time.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Quynh.” Andy’s voice shook, but she pressed on, “I tried, for decades, we spent at least fifty years solely trying to find you or a way to find you. We just… We couldn’t. And I know it’s not an excuse, I know that I should have kept searching, and believe me, I would have walked the entire earth and died every death for you, but I couldn’t ask that of Joe and Nicky. I couldn’t leave them, either.” She had to take in a shaky breath, looking down a moment to blink back tears so that she could still see Quynh. “I regretted it every day.”
Quynh listened with no emotion on her face, hiding it well behind her facade as she always had, but Andy could see the miniscule cracks of her mask. The twitch of her mouth, the way she looked down for a moment as she blinked, the slight stutter in her breath. “I had thought that you simply forgot about me. That you didn’t care.” Quynh stepped forward, casting a shadow over Andy as she loomed above her, the dagger lifting slightly towards Andy. “I wondered how you could be so cruel to leave me to die, over and over, chained in a box to drown. I wondered if everything you said had simply been a lie.”
Andy felt the sharp tip of the blade against her lifted chin, but she wasn’t afraid. “I never lied to you. I broke my promise, but I never lied.”
Quynh was silent for a moment. “I saw Booker shoot you. Your wound did not heal.” The blade pressed into Andy’s skin, though not quite enough to break it. “And I wondered… If you should be punished for my fate.”
Andy’s lips upturned slightly, and she couldn’t help the small, sad, bitter laugh that escaped her. “Oh, Zolotse, I was. Every day without you was worse than dying. I thought of you often, and it felt like my soul was being ripped apart, longing for you.” Andy’s hands gently wrapped around Quynh’s hand, slowly guiding the blade down to her heart. She reveled in the warmth of Quynh’s skin, in the slight confusion in Quynh’s eyes. “When I realized that I was mortal, it felt as if Atlas had the world taken from his shoulders. I would finally be released from an eternity without moya dusha.”
“You are selfish.” Quynh’s voice was hard, the hiss of a serpent. “You would have left me in the ocean forever.”
“I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness. You can kill me, slow and torturously, make me feel every pain that you had.” Andy was so genuine that it threw Quynh off a moment. As Andy’s hands fell away to give Quynh full control again, she gave a request she knew may not be given. “I only ask that you might grant me one last kiss.”
The air seemed still, like the universe had stopped moving completely in that moment. Quynh’s mask was breaking, her anger and pain and hurt all showing as tears finally broke, barely visible in the darkness. Andy kept her eyes on Quynh until the blade’s swift swipe across her cheek caused her to break her gaze.
That familiar warmth blossomed, slowly dripping down Andy’s face until a couple dropped splashed onto the floor. She could tell that it was just barely deep enough to leave a scar if it healed. Quynh’s hand was as quick and steady as it had been 500 years ago, her aim just as perfect.
Before she had time to even properly feel the pain, she heard the knife clatter against the wood. “I hate you,” Quynh hissed, falling to her knees so she was level with Andy, who looked back at her only with love and reverence. Her hands went to Andy’s face, her thumb rubbing over the gash, making the woman grunt in pain. “You are the most cruel woman in the entire world.”
Andy could see the tears streaking down Quynh’s cheeks, even in the shadow of her silhouetted face. She could hear the despair in her voice, so similar to how she had sounded as Lykon laid dying, his wounds unhealing. “I am only thankful that fate allowed me to see you one more time,” she whispered. “And I truly hope that you may find only peace and happiness in the coming years. I am ready, Quynh.” Using Quynh’s native tongue, as she often had in their most tender shared moments, she said, “My love will stay with you.”
It was what finally shattered the remaining pieces of Quynh’s mask. Andy was suddenly flung back by the force of the other woman’s body against hers. She only just managed to catch herself before she toppled over, quickly moving forwards again to steady them as she felt the warmth of Quynh’s lips. She could feel her nails digging into her shoulder blades hard enough to break skin, but she didn’t care at all as she kissed Quynh back with the fervor of five centuries of longing. Her arms slipped around Quynh’s slender waist as naturally as the shadow to the moon, her fingers clinging to the fabric of Quynh’s dress as though it could prevent her from ever disappearing again.
As Quynh finally pulled away, Andy opened her eyes to see her expression of bittersweet sadness. “It is not the end. You promised. You and me, until the end.” Quynh pressed another kiss, a softer, slower kiss to her lips. “You won’t leave me again, Andromache. I will make sure of that.”
The quiet determination in Quynh’s voice would convince Andy to step into molten lava. Staring at her love with tenderness, she smiled. “I swear it.”