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Their relationship has been going so well for a few weeks already. Although there were times in which the two of them would end up arguing, it was normal. Nothing they can't patch up a few minutes after failing to ignore each other because they're like that. Being each other's soft spots and Flamebringer once gagged at the sight of them shamelessly spending time together in his garden of all places, while his lover is busy being out on a mission in who knows where. (They got kicked out after.)
But W is very much convinced that Amiya is a real demon. No, not the sarkaz kind nor the oni kind from the east. Their race can be kind too. What Amiya would be is a literal demon. If W wasn't a sarkaz herself, she would have probably asked the sanktas to go and exorcise Amiya(They should know how to exorcise except for that bubbly redhead and literal machine that Flamebringer called as his lover, she thinks) . Because she's a demon from the darkest pits of hell, teasingly smiling at her from across the table while stirring a cup of hot chocolate.
"Are you sure that you're ready?" Amiya asked, tone so soft and smooth like always but W thinks that she doesn't like how it sounded. Not with the context of their conversation.
W scoffed, swinging her legs under the table and navigating around it just to only place it on the surface of the table, still careful not to knock anything off while crossing her arms. "Of course I am. I was born ready." She tells the cautus whose smile widened.
"But W… that wasn't what you said when I asked you about it yesterday."
And she had the audacity to snicker— this little bunny is getting too mischievous for her own good.
Even if W knew that she's partially responsible for Amiya suddenly getting more cheeky.
W scowled, "I think your memory is failing you, bun'." She retorted back, though she couldn't help but be mesmerized the moment Amiya's mask cracked to show a very bright smile as melodic laughter left her lips.
"Sorry, sorry." Amiya quickly backtracked before placing the spoon which she had been using to stir down, attention still on W as her smile contorted into a concerned twist of her lips, "But… are you really sure? I don't mind us not telling Dr. Kal'tsit for as long as you're not up to it—"
"You sound like you don't want me to tell grandma about us."
"Quite the contrary, actually." Not missing a beat, Amiya quickly dismissed W's suspicions about her not liking the thought of them being officially together, "I'd love it if we can make this official because I love you a lot." She says and all W can do was to purse her lips, properly take her feet off the table, place her arms on the table in exchange before raising a hand to catch her cheek as she turned to look away towards the blue skies that surrounded them, finger drumming rhythmically on the metal surface as she hums.
But the corners of her lips were indeed raised, a faint blush decorating her face smartly covered by how she was facing away from Amiya.
Sometimes W is convinced that Amiya is an angel too.
When she woke up, it was to Amiya shifting so much that she had to open her eyes just to see what it was that bothered her lover. But it was too blurry so W just closes her eyes again.
"Stop moving…" The sarkaz mumbled as she tightened her hold on Amiya's waist, melting at how warm the bed currently feels thanks to their shared body heat and a blanket over their clothed forms.
If you think they did it, think again. W may have a foul mouth and equally foul history but she's not that down bad to ask Amiya if she wanted to do it. Amiya has a bright future ahead of her and W would rather not do anything that might obstruct it. Yes she can be nice too, shut up. It's a privilege reserved only to Amiya.
Though, she quickly froze when Amiya placed a hand over her head before leaning down to whisper, "We uhm… have a guest."
In their room?
Who the fuck—
"You're… Operator W."
An unfamiliar voice thoroughly woke W up, her eyes snapping wide open as she craned her head to the side of the bed where silver colored feline ears greeted her.
And if W's memory serves her right, this was the kid that can easily take down whole enemy squads by herself.
Rosmontis, Amiya's "younger sister".
"Oh shit—" W cursed before Amiya yanked her tail as warning, hissing but not continuing, biting her tongue so as to not let any more unwanted and unpleasant words not fit to a child's ears leave her mouth.
Rosmontis blinked at the sight before her, arms clenched tight over her terminal and then turned her gaze to Amiya, tilting her head in confusion. "...?"
Amiya giggled.
And then the two of them were out of the bed, sitting in front of the coffee table while Rosmontis also sat by the opposite side, three cups of beverages (two coffee, one hot chocolate) presented as drinks.
"Were you two…" Rosmontis decided to break the silence first that had begun to choke W as her tail flicked so much, anxious as to what will happen now.
Then Rosmontis just had to make it worse by saying the following words with a completely straight poker face devoid of any emotion but curiosity, "... Making babies?"
W choked on her own saliva.
Amiya tells the sarkaz that it was good that Rosmontis was the one who discovered them, not Blaze, not Folinic, not either of the vampires, not the Doctor—
And most importantly, not Kal'tsit.
"I knew she'll find out sooner or later." Amiya says, flipping over the pages of a novel she had been recommended by Istina when she visited the middle students to check up on them, "She has a habit of entering my room without any prior notice because she used to get a lot of nightmares." She continued but it didn't ease W up at all, who kept eyeing the little feline that now lay sprawled on their bed, silver tail swishing back and forth midair as she typed away on her terminal.
But W didn't show it, rather, she just kept silent, her lips unbelievably so straight which is really not like her.
"W, don't worry." Amiya immediately noticed this detail (she always does) and gave her a reassuring smile, "I told you that Rosmontis is trustworthy." She continued as the feline in question raised her head upon hearing her name but returned to whatever she's doing immediately after. "Plus, she can help us have an easier time when we try and convince Dr. Kal'tsit."
"You better be sure about that." W grumbled. "You talk like I need to impress her too." She huffed when Amiya gave her a sheepish look. "You know I'm bad with impressing people, bunny."
That was something they both knew because W has… a really interesting backstory. It's either people end up becoming scared of her and leaving her alone or they end up scorning her and not leaving her alone. But Amiya trusted W and she does have a plan in mind.
"You are but I trust you." She grinned. "And it's not that hard to get Rosmontis to be impressed. Just be nice."
"Nice and me doesn't fit in one sentence."
"Be nice in your own way then."
Amber colored eyes narrowed themselves on azure colored ones.
She clicked her tongue. "Fine."
W was never good at saying no to Amiya anyways.
Then the day after, she found the same silver feline tailing her behind, a poker face greeting W everytime she turns around and W is convinced that the cat is following her until she leads them to somewhere else where there are no other people but them. Just to kill her in cold blood for being with Amiya.
(W swears that Amiya's 'family' just have to be so fucking troublesome but that doesn't make her love the cautus any less.)
"... What?" She snapped towards Rosmontis when she still kept following her even when she had changed her destination to the restrooms in hopes of the feline respecting her space and leaving. Which, didn't happen. Unfortunately.
"Do you really love Amiya?"
A question.
W faltered in her steps.
Does W really love Amiya?
In this kind of situation, W can say so many things. She isn't a poet nor a romantic but she'll be anything for Amiya. Actually, there's a lot of thoughts going through her mind too, listing all the reasons why she ended up falling in love with the younger girl. And reasons why she's willing to go through hell and back just for her, everything be damned.
But she doesn't say anything else, except for an audible, "I do love her a lot."
Rosmontis can feel emotions, but not to the extent Amiya can. It was something that she had always used, to see if one was trustworthy or not. Amiya told her once that there are things that words alone cannot convey, that there are things only conveyed through the smallest of details.
And seeing how W's face softened (so unlike to the image Rosmontis vaguely remembers), the way the corners of those lips twitched slightly upward and how the emotions that surrounded W which normally were anger, annoyance and displeasure turned to something softer.
Happiness.
Rosmontis decides that she can let everything that W had done pass and be left behind, if just for the sake of Amiya's happiness.
"Bunny, tell the kid to stop giving me candies." W grumbled as she dropped several candies on the table that she and her lover shared together, in the middle of Flamebringer's gardens once more. "I think she wants my teeth to fall off. Or die from diabetes."
Amiya, however, only smiled softly. "Really? Then she must really like you." She told the sarkaz who only shot her a confused expression. "I'm serious, you know? She's not the type to give other people stuff."
"Well, like or not, I sure don't like these candies. Blegh." She faked puked, face contorted into that of disgust.
The cautus hums, picking up the candies and reading out the labels, "Oh. You can give these to the other children then."
The disgusted face turned even more disgusted. "You do it." W says, stubborn and not wanting to ruin her carefully crafted image, feared by any and every kid that Kal'tsit picked up from every place they end up to. "Children are the bane of my existence."
"I'll tell them you gave it then~"
"Bunny, no!"
Then W fucked up. She thought that they were hiding their relationship well enough, with only a selected few knowing about it. But she had fucked up.
Blaze told her that she had been noticing Rosmontis hanging around with her for a while. Curiosity and overprotectiveness got the best of her and she ended up keeping a very close eye on W.
She saw her with Amiya.
Oh fuck.
The elite operator glared at her and if looks could kill, W would have joined Theresa in the afterlife already. Wait, nevermind. She's going straight to hell, not where angels like Theresa go. Not where angels like Amiya will go after they finish whatever task they have in this mortal world.
They were already in one of the training rooms, devoid of people but the two of them and it made W think that she had prepared for this, separating W from Amiya and keeping Rosmontis busy (because Rosmontis can also get very overprotective of the people she befriends). And W is so fucking dead.
"You're going to die." Fiery azure eyes, so unlike Amiya's, narrowed on W as the sarkaz can only plaster a grin on her face. Too bad, she doesn't plan to die today. Not yet, atleast.
(And if she were to die, she'd like it if she would die protecting Amiya. She doesn't dare dream of dying because of old age by Amiya's side. She doesn't deserve that after all.)
Though, she does take notice of the fact that the feline did not carry with her the weapon which can easily rip through walls and tear W limb from limb. But if W's memory serves her right, Blaze can beat the hell out of her with just her fists.
W has never been one to back out from a fight. Especially not a fight where her relationship with Amiya is at stake.
"Try me." W taunted, amber colored eyes going wide when she suddenly found Blaze right in her face before she felt a fist make contact with her cheek, flinging her across the room with only the wall to stop her.
The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Her teeth seem to have grazed the walls of her mouth, enough to make it bleed. She spat saliva and blood, raising a hand to wipe away the remaining liquid off her mouth, nose scrunching at the thought of Amiya getting angry because she had hurt herself again.
But those aside… that was Blaze's arts. She had heard about it from Amiya. It was a simple kind of heating arts, but made dangerous with the way Blaze utilized it. W wasn't stupid, she knows how it works. However, she really should have expected that Blaze will use her arts in this fight, if only to really beat W up, enough not to die but enough that she will be close to dying.
Growling, W turned her head towards Blaze who stood like a sharp blade, silent and glinting with killing intent, and bared her fangs, blood painting her visage from the previous blow.
"You're fucking on."
Being a Sarkaz meant that W could take more blows and not go down. Being a Sarkaz also meant that her physical strength wasn't anything to scoff at, as evident with the way she grabs anything and everything she can get her hands on to obstruct Blaze's relentless attacks. At this point, the training room is now in dire need of being repaired and more equipment to be replaced because of the mess they have made.
"Is that all you can do?" She hissed as she caught Blaze's fist, so unbelievably scalding hot that it burnt right through her fingerless gloves.
Blaze growled back, ducking to evade a hook from W before swinging a leg to topple the sarkaz over.
Which, unfortunately, worked because W is so so tired, bloody and battered from this fight against an elite operator who used her Arts to fuck her up thoroughly. But even as Blaze had her pinned, a face clearly painted in anger above her, W did not wipe that stupid ass grin on her face before she coughed out, red flowers blooming in midair before splattering both of their faces.
"You." Blaze said, tone dangerously low with fangs bared, feline ears pulled back in an act of aggression. "Break up with Amiya."
"Dream o—"
A fist connected once more.
"Gah—" W moved her jaw, mouth open to test if it was still intact. Thankfully, it was. "Can't even let me finish a damn sentence?"
Blaze's glare didn't diminish in the slightest. "I fucking told you. Break up with Amiya."
"And I fucking said, dream on. Are you deaf, asshole?"
Blaze let out a snarl, raising a fist once more before a hand grabbed it midair.
"My apologies, but I must not allow you to continue causing harm to Operator W any further, lest her death becomes the only outcome to this. Furthermore, are you aware that you have destroyed the room designed for my and Flamebringer's use?"
Executor.
To think that W's saviour would be the sarkaz that she would always slander if only to get on Flamebringer's nerves. How laughable.
However, it seemed that Executor's entrance finally brought back logic and reason to Blaze as the anger dissipated from her face, but remained neutral. "..."
Flashing a celebratory grin towards Blaze's way with her hand displaying a middle finger right into the feline's way, W found herself drifting into the darkness.
She passed out.
W thinks she likes this place. Just her and Amiya alone somewhere in the middle of the forests (she thinks it's somewhere in Sargon, because she recognizes these trees), living in a house.
Just the two of them, no wars, no fights, no conflicts, no work. They had nothing to worry about, only needing to think of their breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day.
W decides that she wanted to stay here forever.
But the world hates her so much that it also decided that this would be just a dream, which she found out when she opened her eyes to the bright lights of somewhere painted in white.
"Where the hell…" Her voice came out raspy, throat so dry it hurts to speak so she winced from the pain. Speaking of pain, she literally feels so fucking horrible that she can't move. Not like she wants to as she finds a familiar pair of cautus ears lying beside her, fast asleep as hands wearing so many rings intertwined with W's. Their hold so tight as if afraid that W would disappear.
(In the back of W's mind, she imagines another ring on Amiya's ring finger. Maybe something made out of the ice that never melts from Kjerag? W would want it to be fancy, because Amiya deserves everything and more and W is very much willing to do anything for her happiness.)
But she won't go anywhere, W repeats to herself. She'll make sure that she won't leave Amiya's side.
"You're awake."
A voice hums from the other side and W nearly woke Amiya up with the way she tensed up, alarm and panic flashing in her eyes in a split second before coming into realization.
It wasn't Kal'tsit.
"You're…"
"Warfarin. Call me Warfarin." Warfarin provides as she holds a clipboard in her hand, looking over W and her vitals with a satisfied hum. "You broke a rib. Also dislocated a shoulder." She continues, sounding very nonchalant.
"You'll recover in a few days, don't worry about it." W let out a relieved sigh.
(Since when did she become so relieved about her injuries healing quicker? Blame her bunny and how she fusses over her so much every time she gets any kind of wounds when she gets deployed in the battlefield.)
She doesn't question how she would be able to recover so quickly, because she can still feel the remnants of healing arts around her. She has always been sensitive to arts. Or maybe that's something she can thank her sarkaz origins for.
She also doesn't doubt the fact that the vampire knew about her and Amiya already, not batting an eye at how intimate the two of them looked. Perhaps it's because of Closure. Though, W doesn't care enough to know how Closure found out. When she knew the vampire during Babel, she was a nice person.
"I see." W replies, gently taking her hand away from Amiya's hold and then placing it on the cautus' head, rubbing it.
"You should tell Kal soon." Warfarin broke the silence again, while she wrote W's medical reports (or so W thinks she's doing), "Closure told me that Rosmontis and Blaze already found out about it anyway. If you make her wait any longer, I'm afraid you'll end up here again except you'll be permanently crippled."
To this, W paused on weaving her fingers (full of small scars and callouses from all the battles she had partook in) through chocolate colored locks.
"That vampire really tells you everything." She says after a few seconds of consideration. It seems that she didn't make a mistake as she saw Warfarin softly smile to no one in particular, a dust of pink decorating her pale cheeks. Probably thinking about the said other vampire fondly. Gross.
But nevertheless, W really did consider it. She knows that it's about time anyways.
"And what about the big cat?" W raised a brow as Amiya brushed her hair (no longer wet from the shower Amiya forced her to take because she was all sweaty from sparring with Flamebringer who decided that she still needs to recover and therefore purposely tired her out quicker than normal). W likes the way Amiya would pause in between brushes before she feels small and delicate fingers weave through them and then resume brushing again.
"Blaze certainly does not like you."
"Gee, thanks for stating the obvious, captain obvious."
"But she told me that she'll try."
"Try to what? Not kill me but still beat me up?"
Amiya chuckled before a pair of arms snaked their way around W's neck and wandered down, placing her chin on the Sarkaz's shoulder before reaching an arm out to steal away the Rubik's cube that W had been fidgeting with. She wasn't so successful however, as W quickly stretched her arm away from the cautus's reach, snickering at how Amiya huffed for failing.
Instead, the bunny settles to nuzzling the crook of W's neck, deeply inhaling as she smells the familiar scent of smoke and ashes with a hint of the cold of winter (because W often returns to lands covered in white snow, if only to reminisce of the days that had passed). It wasn't a pleasant scent to others but Amiya loved it anyway, because it was W's, a proof that the sarkaz was born in the battlefield, lived and survived through it until she found the other within arm's reach, holding them tight and never letting go.
"That tickles, bun'." W complains, raising a hand to push away the offending girl who only giggled, letting herself fall to the soft surface of the bed before W joined her after she threw the cube somewhere in the corner of their shared room, limbs finding themselves entangled with one another as they melted into another round of cuddles. W just spooning Amiya who traced shapes on the palm of her hand, having discarded her gloves the moment she entered the room.
"She'll try not to beat you up."
"I feel like that's a lie."
"But would you let her beat you up?"
And a pause, "If it makes you take care of me and not take that Doctor's work so you can do them instead, hell yes."
"You're ridiculous."
W is only ridiculous for her.
Then the time to come clean finally came, W hearing the familiar voice of PRTS announcing that her presence was requested, literally broadcasting it throughout the landship. It was so unnecessary, but perhaps having her execution publicly announced like this would make her a legend, her name said through whispered conversation about how a demon had charmed the young leader of Rhodes.
But W would be lying if she said that even after weeks of preparing and conditioning herself, sleepless nights going through all kinds of situations and days of thinking about answers to any kind of questions that the lynx might throw her way before ruthlessly ending her life, that she wasn't nervous.
She thinks she's never had it this bad before, being nervous that is. Her throat feels so full even as she swallowed so many times, boots clanking against the metallic floor as she approached Kal'tsit's office. She supposes that had it not been for her gloves, then her nails would have pierced through her palm already.
She stopped just before the door, finding the fact that the room is so quiet to be very terrifying that she froze as she was about to enter.
But then she remembers eyes like the cloudless skies, a voice that sings a lullaby to her whenever she wakes up from her nightmares and the warmth that only Amiya would be able to provide to her. It's always been only Amiya, W knows that.
Even now, she's doing this for Amiya. (But she knows that had the cautus heard her thoughts, she'd correct her. Say that it's for the both of them. That W isn't alone, will never be alone, never again will she be alone because Amiya is there by her side.)
Then, she's doing this for the both of them.
So W summons up all the courage she has, gently placing her hand on the buttons beside the door and standing tall, head held up high while plastering an annoyed expression she normally wears when in the presence of the lynx, although more subdued because of her subconscious wish to at least not anger her too much.
"Take a seat!" The Doctor, who was also in the room as W found out, quickly started, gesturing to the sofa placed directly opposite to its pair, a coffee table in between.
W pays him no mind, because she also finds the Doctor to be very annoying, though she's thankful that he's there. Not just her and that green cat alone.
The Doctor, as observant as always, passed by W, their shoulders nearly bumping before he whispered a small, "Good luck," to her before heading towards the coffee maker beside the door.
He's not so bad.
And now, she's faced with a Kal'tsit, whose eyes are glued onto paperworks spread on the table that W could care any less. But she was nervous, and if she doesn't want her eyes to dart around, then she needs to focus on one thing. She decides to focus on Kal'tsit instead, the sound of a coffee cup being served to her faintly registering amidst the loud sound of blood rushing to her ears, she swears she can hear her heartbeat too.
She parted her mouth to speak first, only to be beaten to a punch by the lynx.
"You know what it is you're getting yourself into."
A statement. Not a question.
They both have known each other for far too long and Kal'tsit have somehow been always able to read W as if she was an open book. She can do it to everyone, actually, and W had always hated it. Hated the fact that this woman in front of her can do it so easily, while W struggled without the help of anyone like Ines or Amiya.
Simply put, Kal'tsit knows that W has made her decision so clear and unwavering. Knows so much that all she was waiting for now is for W to say yes, and admit that she knows what she's doing. She's just like that. An existence that some would even call omnipotent, really.
But W doesn't say that, so resolved into making Kal'tsit accept the fact that she loves Amiya enough, that a simple 'yes' alone would suffice and so she declares it so. "I love Amiya."
Kal'tsit's actions halted, her feline eyes snapping towards W and narrowed her gaze on the sarkaz, her lips pulling into a straight line as silence blanketed around them. She surely didn't expect for the mercenary to willingly drag this out.
W does not stop there however, never will. Not when it comes to her and Amiya. "Beat me if you want. Kill me if you want." She states, raw emotion in her voice that she snarls as she says it. "But for the love of god, don't do it when Amiya still loves me."
I don't want her to cry.
Words were left unsaid but eyes have always been the windows to one's soul and Kal'tsit can see so clearly that W meant what she said. And more.
"When Amiya no longer loves me as she does now—"
"Or when I hurt her too much."
"Then I'll gladly offer my heart to you on a silver platter."
Kal'tsit goes silent.
Kal'tsit is never silent, for even if her lips are pulled tightly closed, you can hear her speak through every movement she makes, and through the gaze she levels to anyone. But she does, taken aback but her visage shows nothing, never gives it away but W somehow knows.
"Welp." Approaching from behind Kal'tsit, the Doctor finally speaks up. "Losing is part of the game, is it not, Kal'tsit?" He says, stopping to lean forward beside Kal'tsit's ears, the backrest of the sofa supporting his weight. And Kal'tsit looks at him, lips still in a thin line as she talks to him without talking at all.
W never liked how these two could communicate with just their eyes, no words needed. (She imagines that there'll be a time where she and Amiya can do it too.)
And then Kal'tsit looks away with an even more unreadable expression (but W notes defeat briefly appearing in the lynx's eyes) , the Doctor looking so happy as he speaks on her behalf, the feline now making herself occupied by the paperworks once more.
"Congratulations, W." He starts, clapping and W swears that she can imagine him grinning behind the mask. "You pass."
W has never been so happy.
Amiya tackles her for a hug, arms locked on W's back and she reluctantly returns it when they were still in the presence of two of Amiya's guardians. "I knew you could do it!" She says, voice muffled because of how she really just pressed her face against W but the other can perfectly hear her.
"Yes, yes, now let me go before she mauls me out of this landship." W struggled to get out of Amiya's grasps, not really used to showing her affection in front of people (except Flamebringer, she likes how the other would always become annoyed).
And then they were out of Kal'tsit's office, the two of them now standing by the edge of the landship again, watching as the setting sun paints the sky in a beautiful shade of orange.
"But, really, bun'."
W lowers her head to chocolate colored locks, inhaling the scent of what she now declares as the scent of home, "Thank you." She says, all quiet and soft because again, W isn't used to it. Never has been the type to thank someone genuinely but she thinks she can learn how to, all because of the cautus that now separated away from her, face still bright.
"No problem!" Amiya says, puffing out her chest proudly, "You have yourself to thank, because you didn't chicken out."
Oh, how offended W felt because of her statement.
She's a master of running away, that's a known fact but she'll never run away when it comes to Amiya.
"Really now?" She huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "You should trust me more, bunny."
And W loved the way Amiya laughed, so unrestrained and literally a music to listen to.
No.
W simply loved Amiya, the kind that was pure and just flowers and hearts all around.
And Amiya loves her back, and that's all W really needed.
"I love you."
W says because it's really that simple.
"I love you too."
Amiya says back, full of love and affection as she entangles her fingers again with W's. Fond smiles painted on each of their faces, all directed towards each other.
They weren't picture perfect, both are very much broken and full of cracks like old antique mirrors you can easily find in abandoned castles and houses but they can fill each other's gaps and become full. They were both full of imperfections, but they've decided that they were both perfect for each other. Together, against fate and against the world.
The sarkaz doesn't dislike the sound of that, finding herself falling even harder (when she thought she has hit rock bottom for Amiya) as Amiya presses soft kisses to her exposed fingers.
Truly, W loved Amiya a lot. And that won't ever change.