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In hindsight, they could have planned their escape better.
Lauren dodged another blow, whirling around the adversary and slamming her shoulder into his back. He fell and she quickly slammed the butt of her pistol into his masked temple, knocking him out.
She stood panting for a moment before turning to her partner in crime, still locked in battle with two other fighters. Kieran dodged one dagger swipe gracefully, landing a solid kick to the man’s face, then cuffed the other in the temple as he turned.
Finally the abandoned fourth floor of the warehouse was truly empty, save for Lune.
Kieran took his hat off for a minute, raking a gloved hand through his hair. He turned to Lauren, panting slightly.
“Are you alright?” he asked, walking towards her.
She nodded, nudging her downed foe to make sure he was truly unconscious before turning to her partner.
“I didn’t expect them to find us so soon.” she said, frustrated. “Wasn’t this just supposed to be a surveillance mission?”
“Oh, come on, darling.” Kieran started, and she could feel his smirk through his mask. “By now you ought to know that nothing we do goes to plan.”
“You can say that again.” Lauren muttered, straightening her dark coat. “Well, I don’t think we’ll be getting much more spying done now that we’ve been found out.”
“Yes, and we shouldn’t linger.” Kieran said, eyes darting around the dark warehouse.
They took the stairs two at a time, hands on gun and sword handles, shoulders tense for any more ambushes.
“Let’s just get to the cave and we can figure out what to do from there.” Kieran said as they reached the third floor landing.
Lauren moved to go down the next flight of stairs, but Kieran pulled her back by her sleeve. She whipped her head around, confused, but at Kieran’s terse expression, finger to his lips, she paused.
“Someone’s here.” he whispered.
Lauren strained her ears as she took her pistol out of her holster, and sure enough, she heard faint footsteps on some floor below them.
Are they coming up the stairs?
She heard the soft click of boots on steps.
Shit.
Kieran put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention and nodded his head towards a door on the third floor landing.
They crept silently towards the door. Lauren could hear the guards getting closer on the staircase. Kieran wrapped his hand around the doorknob, knuckles tensing…
And the door flung open in his face. The world erupted in light, florescent flashlights shining in Lauren’s eyes, as men poured out of the third floor room. She dodged grasping gloved hands and lashed out blindly with her fist, hitting flesh. She felt a hand on her wrist and reeled back to strike, but then she saw who it was.
Kieran dodged another blow, this time from a baton, and jerked her towards him as another guard lunged at her from behind. Lauren slammed into his chest and he leaned down so she could hear through the chaos.
“You have to get down the stairs!” he yelled, slamming a fist into a man’s cheek. “Hop the railing and climb down. There were only a few men on the stairs.”
Lauren aimed a shot at one man’s shoulder, dropping him with a loud bang.
“And leave you here?” she shouted back. “Not a chance!"
“Look, love.” he said, sidestepping another man and driving an elbow into his back. “I appreciate the support, but I’ve got this. I’ve beaten more men than this.”
Lauren’s heart pounded in her chest as she grappled with another foe, his hands trying to grab her face. She slammed her knee into his groin and he fell with a sound akin to a whimper.
“Are you sure?” she shot back, jerking to the side as a bullet whizzed past her arm.
“Positive!” she heard from somewhere through the confusion. “Now go!”
Lauren huffed out a breath, then charged through the remaining men, hauling herself over the railing and bracing herself on the bars. She tried not to look at the first floor in the middle of the spiral stairwell, still far below her.
A guard grabbed at her from the other side of the railing and Lauren had no choice but to lower herself, her feet dangling but her hands still clutching the bars. She breathed out, face screwed up in concentration, then swung her body forward, letting go at the last second and catapulting over the railing below. She slammed into the concrete of the second floor and winced, but scrambled up as soon as she got her wind back.
Lauren could still hear the sounds of conflict above her, so Kieran was still holding on. She pushed down her worry and ran down the stairs, getting ready for another fight.
At the first floor landing, she saw her last adversaries: three guards with jet-black batons. She sighed and cracked her neck, then cocked her pistol.
The first two were easy: she shot one in the leg and he fell, toppling the other under his weight. One foot to the head and the second one was out. She grappled with the third man for a few seconds, but then the guard slammed his baton into her side and it knocked the wind out of her once again. She coughed and heaved as she tried to keep her grip on his arm, but she could feel her energy evaporating. She could barely breathe. Her vision narrowed as she channeled every drop of strength she still had into her arms.
Come on, Lauren. Come on, come on, come on…
She growled as her hands slipped slightly—
Do it for Kieran. You need to clear the way for him.
She screamed and hooked a leg around the guard’s, slamming both of them to the ground, and hurled a punch at his face. His hands came close to her neck; he wasn’t knocked out yet. She punched him again, his head slamming into the concrete, and again, her knuckles splitting on his cheekbone. At the sharp burst of pain, she stopped, chest heaving.
The man was unconscious, nose a bloody mess and bruises blooming on his cheeks. Lauren got up off of him and looked around her. Three men laying prone on the floor: one with a face full of blood and one with a pool spreading under his leg. Lauren shook her head to clear her mind and jogged out of the building into the wet, cold night air.
She found a dark corner to seek refuge in beside the warehouse and then looked up, towards the third floor. Flashes of light shown through the dusty windows, shadows flurrying through the glow. Lauren felt her chest tighten as agonizing minutes crept by.
Should I go back? What if they hurt him? What if they—
She shook her head and continued watching the third floor window. She saw a shadow get bigger in the light as it got closer to the glass.
Is that…
The figure kicked the window open and Lauren gasped. It was Kieran, kicking an adversary off of him and then turning to look outside, at the drop below him.
“Don’t you dare.” Lauren hissed tersely in her hiding place, more to herself than to him.
Kieran fended off one last adversary and did the exact thing that Lauren had begged him in her mind not to do.
He jumped.
Lauren watched him fling his body out of the third floor window and choked his name out without meaning it, the sound cutting through the silent air.
She heard the thump of a body hitting the ground, not far from her location and her heart stopped.
No. No, he can’t die like this. Not like this, not alone, in the cold—
She bit back frozen tears as she rushed out of her hiding place, running towards the place he’d fallen. He couldn’t be dead, because if he was dead she didn’t know what she would do, how she would go on without him—
She reached the place under the window where he should lay, but there was nothing there. Nothing but cold, wet concrete.
What?
Had the men already found his body and taken it away? Gods, if the Phantom Scythe took his chance at a proper burial, too—
And then she heard his voice.
“Fancy seeing you here, detective.”
She whirled around and there he was, his hat missing and his hair wet and messy, but alive. He was alive and here with her and giving her that smirk that would usually annoy her but now just gave her this relief that filled her whole body with warmth.
Her heart started again.
Kieran opened his mouth, probably to say something else snarky, but before another word could come out of his mouth she slammed into him, arms desperately winding around his torso, her face buried in the juncture between his neck and shoulder.
He smelled like lavender and metal and rain, and she breathed him in as he hugged her back because he was warm and safe and alive.
His hands hesitantly rubbed her back, his lips whispering next to her ear comfortingly.
“It’s alright, love. I’m fine, we’re okay.”
At the sound of his soothing tone, Lauren couldn’t help but let out one wracked sob. She felt the tears well up, and while they felt icy when she was holding them back earlier, now they fell down her face in burning trails.
“You’re such an idiot.” she said, her voice muffled in his coat. “You…you can’t do that to me.”
His chest rumbled in a soft laugh.
“Look, you can berate me all you want, but can it wait until we get somewhere safe?” he said, hands gently raising her off of his shoulder.
She should have felt self-conscious of the tears on her cheeks, but all she felt was relief as she looked into those familiar cerulean eyes. She nodded and stepped back, feeling the absence of his warmth immediately.
Kieran turned to start walking and stumbled slightly. Lauren grabbed his arm, concerned.
Was he shot? Is he even going to make it to safety?
“It’s okay.” Kieran said before she could ask, letting her sling his arm over her shoulder. “Must’ve twisted my knee when I fell.”
“Nothing else?” Lauren asked as they walked as fast as they could down the street.
“Nothing other than a few bruises and scrapes.”
“You should be glad that the word ‘few’ is subjective.” Lauren grumbled. “You look like death.”
“All the more imperative that we get to my apartment, then.” Kieran said.
“Your apartment? I thought we were going back to the cave!”
“Love, even I will admit that I can’t make it to the cave in this state.”
Lauren looked over at him while she walked and realized he was right. He was limping heavily, his face drawn and eyes stony.
“I doubt you can even make it to the apartment.” Lauren reasoned, adjusting his arm on her shoulder as they made their way down the street. “My house is closest, let’s just go there.”
Kieran choked out a laugh, wincing slightly.
“I don’t think your uncle will approve of meeting me in this state for the first time.” he joked. “I have to make a good impression as your boyfriend, after all.”
Lauren rolled her eyes.
“He’ll be asleep by now, it’s after midnight.” she said. “He’s got a much more solid sleep schedule than you or me.”
Kieran said nothing for a moment, so Lauren glanced over at him. His face was conflicted, she could tell.
“You can’t make it to your apartment, Kieran.” Lauren said softly, stopping on the empty street for a minute. Selfishly, she let her hand rub circles in his back as she held him up.
“Let me take care of you.” she whispered, eyes traveling over his worn face. It still held his usual power and confidence, but just…frayed at the edges. He was more exhausted than he let on.
Lauren had to admit that the events of the night were catching up with her, too. Her side ached from where her last assailant clubbed her in the ribs, and her hands felt sticky and stiff from the dried blood accumulated on her shredded knuckles. A bone-deep ache had settled over her entire body, covering all of her other little wounds and capturing her in a cloud of exhaustion.
Kieran finally nodded his assent and they started limping along once again. It felt like eons before Lauren spotted the manicured gardens and wrought-iron streetlights of her neighborhood.
“Please don’t tell me we have to climb your balcony.” Kieran groaned as they walked up the path to her front door.
Lauren laughed slightly, shaking her head.
“We just have to sneak up the stairs quietly.”
Just as Lauren suspected, the house was quiet, the crack under her uncle’s bedroom door dark. The stairs creaked a little bit as Lauren helped Kieran climb them, but eventually they made it to her bedroom.
She hadn’t closed the curtains when she left earlier, so cool moonlight streamed through the glass and painted the room in hues of blue and white. Kieran hissed as he put weight on his bad leg and Lauren’s heart lurched.
“Hey, sit down on the bed.” she said softly, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him onto the duvet. “I’m going to get something to wrap your knee.”
Lauren left him sitting on the bed, walking down the hallway to the bathroom where the first aid kit was. She opened the cabinet with suddenly shaking hands and stopped for a moment, crouching on the bathroom tiles. Her fingers gripped the handle of the first aid kit tightly, but she couldn’t get up, ensnared in place by some heavy weight deep inside her that had just come to light now that she was alone.
She had felt it when she watched Kieran fall from that third story window. It pressed down on her as she searched for his body.
But it had retreated into the shadows when she heard his voice again, when his arms were wrapped around her.
Now, though, she couldn’t help but feel it: that emotion that made her chest feel tight, that conjured up frantic images and what-ifs, that kept her kneeling on the bathroom floor in the dark, unable to get back to Kieran.
Why is this happening to me?
She knew why, but with the whirlwind of anxiety running through her she couldn’t make it out.
All she knew is that if this night had taken a darker turn, she didn’t know if she would ever recover. If she had run towards where Kieran fell and saw him laying crumpled and cold on the pavement, she knew that somehow she too would crumble from within. She needed him. Desperately.
And he needs me right now.
Lauren closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in deep, trying to relax her hands.
I told him I would help him.
Lauren opened her eyes and slowly got up from the bathroom floor, muscles screaming as she rose from her cramped position. Her hands shook, but her legs could support her weight.
I have to help him. I have to keep him alive.
She walked back on quiet feet to her bedroom, pausing at the half-open door for one agonizing second, then going inside.
“There you are.” Kieran said, voice slightly raspy from tiredness. He had moved to lean against her headboard, laying his hurt leg out on the bed and letting the other one brush the floor. Lauren felt the weight in her chest give a little bit as she saw his eyes, already brighter than earlier.
“Sorry, I had to find the first aid kit.” she said quietly, laying the kit on the mattress and sitting gently beside Kieran’s leg. “How are you?”
“Better, now that you’re not leading me on a forced march through the entire city of Ardhalis.” Kieran quipped, the corner of his mouth quirking in a grin.
She swatted lightly at his foot, covered in a knit sock.
“Seriously, though, thank you for letting me stay here.” Kieran said, his face growing serious. “I know it’s not the ideal situation right now.”
Lauren looked up from the kit, eyebrows knitting together.
“It’s completely fine, Kieran.” she said, forcing her hands to stop unwrapping the bandage she held. “You’re always welcome here.”
Kieran was silent after her words, and she caught a hint of something in his demeanor. Worry? Guilt? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Lauren wanted to reach out and smooth the ridges between his brows.
What am I thinking?
“Alright, let’s see that knee.” she said finally, moving to roll his pant leg up. He shot out a hand, grabbing her wrist before she could push up the fabric, expression pained.
“I already tried that when you were getting the first aid kit.” he said apologetically. “My knee’s too swollen and tender to roll it up.”
Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
“I’ll just take them off.” he said slowly, reaching to unbutton his pants.
Lauren nodded mutely, fixing her eyes on the bandages as he gripped his waistband. She looked up quickly at the strangled grunt that came right after, though.
In order to get his pants to his knees, Kieran had to push his body off the mattress, relying on his legs to hold his weight. This was obviously too painful for him and he collapsed back on the covers with a pained groan. Lauren clenched her fingers into the comforter for a millisecond before putting a hand on his shin, stopping his actions.
“Let me do it.” she said, exasperated. Kieran looked at her with wide eyes for a moment, then that inevitable, shit-eating grin spread across his face.
“You seem quite eager to take my pants off, detective.” he purred.
Lauren just shook her head and moved towards him, grabbing his belt loops gently and pushing the pants down his thighs. His legs were all muscle and hard planes, just like the rest of him. Lauren thanked every god in existence that he wore completely modest black boxers underneath. When her hands reached his knees she tried to be as gentle as she could, but she felt him flinch when the pants fell across his left knee. When Lauren saw the injury she couldn’t help but suck in a surprised breath.
His knee was indeed swollen and reddish-purple, covered in ugly bruises that made Lauren wince on his behalf.
“Yikes.” Kieran breathed, vocalizing Lauren’s own thoughts.
She pushed his pants a bit lower to leave room for the binding and grabbed the bandages.
“This is going to hurt but I have to stabilize it.” Lauren said. Since when did she want to comfort him like this?
“Eh, I’ve been through worse.” he said, and she knew it was a joke but his words sent a spear through her heart.
That’s not something to brag about.
She started wrapping the bandages around his leg, hating every time he winced. She could tell he was holding the pain in, trying to convince her that he was fine. Just like he always did.
Like he doesn’t think I need to care about his well being.
A burst of anger bloomed through her at the thought as she finished wrapping his leg, and for a moment she kept her hands resting on the bandages, hating how affected she was by this. Hating how unaffected he was.
“Lauren?”
He has no idea what it would do to me if he hadn’t survived that fall. If I couldn’t drag him out of the factory ashes. How it would kill me if he left me.
She felt a hand brush her shoulder and looked up, into his concerned eyes in the darkness. Suddenly that white-hot anger was back and she couldn’t keep it in anymore, clenching her hand around his calf.
“Why would you do that?” she said, trying to keep her voice down but still sounding piercing in the quiet room.
“…What?”
“You just throw yourself out of a third story window like it’s nothing, like somehow you’re invincible because you’ve ‘been through worse.’” she seethed, holding finger quotation marks up for effect. “News flash, Kieran! You’re human! Most humans can’t survive something like that!”
Kieran blinked, disoriented by her emotion change.
“But I did survive.” he said softly.
“You survived because you were fucking lucky!” she grated, voice rough. “You can’t control luck, and some day if you keep being this reckless you won’t just twist your knee, you’ll die!”
To her dismay, she felt hot, furious tears prickling in the corners of her eyes and prayed they didn’t fall.
“Let’s hope my luck doesn’t run out any time soon, then.” Kieran countered, voice growing brittle.
Lauren could have screamed. Instead she settled for slamming her fist into the sheets, the muffled sound still sounding deafening in her ears. She was trying to get through to his thick skull that she—that she cared about him!
There were so many emotions in her body, feelings pent up ever since he told her to run on that third story landing, ever since she saw him fall from the window. She was so overwhelmed, pure passion taking over her words.
“You can’t take those kind of risks anymore, Kieran.” she said, trying to keep her voice measured but feeling her voice crack on his name. She felt the burning tears sting her cheeks and clenched her jaw. “Not when there’s people who need you!”
Kieran leaned forward at the sight of her tears, the defensive look on his face melting away like spring snow.
“Darling, you don’t have to worry about me. You’re the real person helping everyone in this duo.” he said.
He thinks I meant that the people of Ardhalis need him as Lune.
Lauren growled, throwing her hands in the air.
“That’s not who needs you!” she snapped.
“Who does, then?” he asked.
“I need you!” she pleaded, voice breaking as she said it. The tears on her face weren’t from anger anymore.
Why can’t he see how important he is?
“Why do you think I was crying after I found you earlier?” she questioned. “Why do you think I hugged you like that? I thought you were dead, I thought you did something reckless again and this time it didn’t pay off and you were gone—”
Her strangled voice cut off as Kieran leaned closer and reached out one hand, brushing the tears off her cheek with one rough thumb. His face was contorted in regret, in worry, in understanding. She leaned reflexively into his palm, letting her eyes flutter shut for a second of bliss.
“I’m sorry.”
His voice was rough and close to her ear, meant only for her. His thumb slowly stroked her cheek, his other hand ghosting over her arm.
“I—I never had anyone care for me enough to make me stop being reckless.” he explained haltingly. His words were bare, all of his usual bravado absent.
“I guess…I didn’t think anyone would want to care.” he said. “Not—not like you do.”
Lauren opened her eyes. He was so close to her now, their foreheads almost touching. She closed the distance, letting her head press against his, feeling his soft locks brush against her temple. She felt the relentless urge to be close to him, to feel his warmth.
“Of course I care.” she said simply. “You…you have no idea how much I care.”
His hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head, carding through her hair, his other hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her into his chest. She let out a sigh at the feel of his solid form holding her close and twined her own arms behind him to grip his shirt at his shoulder blades. She felt him breathe, slow and easy, his chest expanding against hers as she let her eyes flutter closed again.
Eventually he leaned back on the headboard again, bringing her with him in the late night haze that had clouded their minds. Time blurred against him. She thought she felt his lips press against her temple. She knew she felt him tracing slow circles into her back for a long, long time. She moved her hands from his back to rest on his chest instead.
At some point she found herself laying down on the bed instead, Kieran’s arms still tight around her. Her head rested near his collarbone, her hands reaching up to curl into his shirt. His slow breaths propelled her back to sleep, his arms a comforting weight around her exhausted form.
And at some point during the night she realized that she never wanted to leave his arms again.