Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ilye was a strange individual— Louis noticed.

She rarely talked, only did so when it was absolutely neccessary. She communicated mostly by gestures instead. Shaking her head when she didn't want something, nodding her head when she approved of something, grimacing hard when she was terrified of something, mind you, it was Yakumo's ominuous painting, but she never smiled.

He tried to provoke one out of her on many occasions, all of which, regretfully, were met with failure.

So imagine his surprise when he caught her secretly smiling at him when he was rambling on and on about his most favourite recent read.

It was fleeting— and in a moment, it vanished. 

Still, Louis's cold, dead heart did a thing. And he wasn't certain of what to feel about it.

Whatever it was though, he knew that he liked her smile. 

Chapter Text

Revenants didn't need to sleep to maintain their physical health. Technically, they were creatures that violated the law of nature— creatures that shouldn't have been birthed into existence. And these creatures didn't sleep.

But on some occasions, the hallucination of fatigue did tire him out and clouded his mind with a false desire for sleep. And Ilye, too, was no exception.

So when he found her passed on the couch, blanket forgotten as she curled in on herself in an attempt to ward off the freezing winds, but still stubborn enough not to shiver, something inside him just melted.

Gently, carefully, he snaked his arm beneath her shoulders and her thighs and carried her up. Her body shifted ever so slightly, adjusting to find a comfortable position in his arms. Louis smiled softly— the kind of softness that he himself wasn't even aware of. 

When he laid her back into the warmth of her bed, the Queenslayer's arms flung towards and clung— wrapped around his neck, pulling him down face flat against the fresh smell of recently washed bedsheet. Her face buried into his chest, legs tangled with his own. And she was mumbling something incoherently, something that had the syllables similar to his name.

Louis's face immediately flared up.

He felt awkward and suddenly self-conscious. His back was starting to sweat. And he wasn't sure if this was something she wanted— he wanted— or it was just a false desire that exhaustion seemed to plague his mind these days—

But then her breath grazed his neck, and all logical thoughts ceased to exist. 

Louis sighed.

Maybe just one night, it won't hurt, one night to let his instincts take over.

But it definitely hurt when morning came, and the first thing he saw was Yakumo's shit-eating grin. 

So much for one night.

Chapter Text

It was raining. 

How?

Louis didn't know. It hadn't rained ever since the day the city fell prey to the horrors below. 

It was- perhaps- a much needed positive change when everything else just screamed despair and hopelessness as of late. The ever-thicker miasma and a tragically depleted blood bead resevoir were messing with everyone's patience.

The rain came refreshing like a breath of crisp and clean air- a basic neccessity now turned luxury that Louis wasn't allowed the privilege to indulge. The Great Collapse had turned even breathing into a nightmare. 

An odd sense of nostalgia hit him suddenly, but he couldn't exactly tell what it was about, or why he was feeling such a thing at this moment- it was as if his body was trying to remind him of something that he forgotten, something so agonosingly dear, yet painfully faraway, and that it was fighting for dear life to hold onto the invisible thread of this very thing. He couldn't let it go. He felt like he would only live to regret if he did. 

So he greedily inhaled the rain into his lungs, letting its icy touch spread far and wide amongst his dead cells. The cool droplets on bare skin was somewhat clearing the heavy fog inside his head to illuminate the blurry images he was trying to make out earlier. 

He could see a hazy figure pressing their forehead against his own. A girl, he realised from the familiar way she was holding his face. He couldn't see her face or what she looked like beyond an obscured countenance and some scattering strands of white hair, but he could hear her voice. 

Louis's heart pounded as he felt her lips near his ear. 

She whispered, 

"Louis." 

 Louis jolted awake. 

He gasped audibly as his eyes fought to refocus. 

After a while, the world emerged in his vision again. And in the centre of it, Ilye was cradling his face. 

The cold sensation of her hands sent tingles down his spine and forced his mind to still. 

"Ilye?" Louis asked, unsure of himself. He still felt dazed. "What happened?" 

"You passed out." The Queenslayer explained. Louis's eyes widened at that. 

"Passed out?" What? How? Why?

 Ilye nodded, "When the rain started." 

It was only until Ilye mentioned that did Louis realise it was, indeed, raining heavily. The sky was dark and thick with black clouds. They were both soaked to the core. 

So it wasn't all his halucination. 

Then what he saw... The person he saw...

He wondered who she was.

Louis's attention shifted back to Ilye. He belatedly realised he was lying on her laps and holding onto her arms desperately. His knuckles had turned white. 

Louis shot up almost immediately. He could feel his face burning with the heat of embarrassment, but he did his best to compose himself. 

He cleared his throat. 

"Forgive me for my... inapprorpiate behaviour. I was not aware that I would act so unbecomingly while I was unconscious."

"I don't mind." The Queenslayer responded. Somehow, her reply merely made him feel more embarrassed. "Are you alright?" 

Louis didn't know. He felt strange, but he didn't want to worry her or anybody else once they returned, so he went back to bluffing his way out of the conversation. "I am."

Famous last words.

His cursed body betrayed him right there and then as his legs gave out when he tried to stand up. He fell right back into her laps with his face planted in the softness of her thigh.

Louis scrambled to move away, but Ilye held him back and pushed him down once again. Her hands kept him from trying to sit back up. 

Louis blinked. 

"Rest some more." was what she said and that was a definite. 

Time seemed to freeze in place. The rain was roaring with such ferocity, but Louis could only hear her quiet and gentle voice.

Louis looked at her, then looked at her hand on his chest, then at the sky weeping tears. 

He suddenly felt tired. His eyelids were heavy.

Her voice was the last thing echoed inside his head before he finally succumbed to exasperation. 

Somehow, it sounded like the voice he had heard in his brief travel to the realm of dreams. 

Chapter Text

When they returned to the Home Base, they were soaked from head to toes.

The rain lasted longer than Louis expected. 

Was it hours?

He wasn't sure since his sense of time had long dulled as each day passed in the same monotonous pace, but it did feel like it had been going on for hours...

He appreciated the change of scenery- truly a breath of fresh air that was much needed, but he certainly didn't appreciate having been forced to retreat underneath such a heavy downfall.   

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any of the Lost as they raced back for the Home Base. It would have been difficult to maneuvor in this weather otherwise should conflict arise, and while Louis was well aware that Ilye was beyond capable of defending against the odds, he honestly didn't want to risk ruining their brief moment of respite that had become a rarity in this day and age. 

He could still remember how gentle her touch feel on his forehead earlier...

He wished they could stay like that a little bit more. 

Nevertheless, good things never lasted long. Louis had to stop his imagination from running wild because, at the entrance, Yakumo was greeting them with a knowing smirk.

It was his least favourite thing to see now.

"Soooo," Yakumo drawled as he slithered over. Louis tried to slip away but a hand was quickly thrown over his shoulder to keep him in place. 

He mentally sighed. Not again. 

"Did ya have a good time out there?" Yakumo raised his eyebrows. His smirk seemed to grow bigger and bigger. "Rain, huh? Pretty romantic if I do say so myself. Have you finally made a move?"

Louis's face flared up almost immediately at the mention. The recent incident was still fresh in his memory and he was greedily clinging onto it, but he would not give into Yakumo's ridiculous game. 

"What are you talking about." Louis said, feigning ignorance. He simply did not want to share what transpired between them. 

His response only made Yakumo become more persistent than before. 

The arm around his shoulder tightened on purpose, which Louis tried to push away to no avail.

"C'mon, Louis. Everybody knows how you feel. Can't hide that shit when it is so visible on your face." Yakumo chuckled, "I mean. You should have seen yourself while you are looking at her. The way you can't take your eyes off of her no matter where she is? The way you are so focused on her? To the point you are holding your book upside down? Only a kid would fall for your weak attempt at bluffing, and I'm no damn kid. Nobody in this place is."

"Except Io." Louis pointed out. 

"Except Io." Yakumo agreed, "But that's beside the point. So, did you make a move?"

Louis groaned, albeit inaudibly. "What move are you talking about? We are just friends."

"Yeah, and Mido is not evil."

That caused Louis to glare.

"Look, what I'm saying is," Suddenly, the humour vanished from Yakumo's voice. The light-hearted weight on his shoulders seemed to gain an extra tonne of reality because now, Louis would love to get out of this conversation. Yakumo, of course, didn't let that come true. "You deserve it. You have worked harder than any of us here to ensure that everybody is safe and sound. Hell, you even go as far as to secure the fate of the revenants, when none of them have the slightest bit of connection to you. But you don't have to face it all alone, because we are here for you. We are here to share your burden, your responsibility. That's what friends do."

Then Louis was freed from the crushing weight, only to be pushed towards the direction where Ilye had just headed.

"So," Yakumo smiled. "Just go for it, Louis. Be honest with yourself."

And confess.   

"We might not have much time left anyways. Who knows when we will frenzy and become one of the Lost out there? At least, make sure it is well spent." 

Starting with embracing new feelings as they were.