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Imogen awoke from a dream — not one of her constant nightmares, but rather a pleasant one. She dreamed of a future, dreamed of a little cabin on the edge of Whitestone… dreamed of Laudna there with her, toiling away at some new horrid puppet on the kitchen table with the open-hearted glee that Imogen was so fond of.
Even thinking about it in the waking world made her heart swell with love. She turned in bed to look at Laudna’s sleeping form next to her… to find that she was not sleeping at all. She was sitting up, pensive eyes staring ahead at the wall, biting the tip of her thumb.
Imogen sat up. “Laudna? Somethin’ wrong?”
Laudna startled, looking at Imogen with surprise. “Imogen? D— did you have another nightmare?” She was already scrambling to grab her notebook-slash-dream journal off the nightstand next to the inn bed.
Imogen had to resist a fond eye-roll — just like Laudna to immediately worry about Imogen rather than herself. “No, no nightmare. What’s goin’ on? You seemed… off.”
Laudna’s frantic hands accidentally knocked the journal off the table, the thud of it on the floor punctuated by a hissed curse.
Imogen reached over, taking Laudna’s hands and gently guiding them over to the space in the bed between them. Laudna froze for a moment… then relaxed, turning her hands so she could gently clasp Imogen’s back.
“Laudna… you know you can talk to me, right? Is there somethin’ bothering you?”
Laudna’s eyes flicked away for a moment. “It’s… nothing important.”
Imogen moved one of her hands, cupping Laudna’s gaunt cheek and looking earnestly into her black eyes. They were liked pits of darkness, surrounded by a sea of dull white… but there was a welcoming light within those dark circles. Something kind and warm.
“If it’s you, it’s important to me.”
Laudna exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “A— alright. I… I guess I’ve been… doubting things.”
Imogen raised an eyebrow. “Doubting how?”
Laudna’s free hand wrung the bed sheets between her long, thing fingers. “I don’t want to say it.”
“You don’t have to,” Imogen assured. “I’d never make you do anythin’ you don’t want to.”
Laudna smiled at her… then frowned. “Imogen, I… I’m still not sure if any of this is real.”
Imogen blinked with surprise. “You mean… you think this still might all be some trick by Delilah?”
Laudna nodded, eyes dropping. “For the second time in my existence, I died. The last time I came back it was only because of… of her. Strings attached. How am I to believe that it could happen again without her being responsible?”
Imogen felt her heart ache, a deep anger flaring in her gut. Delilah Briarwood — she was a monster, someone that had not only taken Laudna’s life, but used her for decades afterward. Made her doubt herself, the people around her, didn’t let her have any control over her own destiny.
Imogen could still remember her purple bolt of lighting splitting the nightmare copy of the Sun Tree down the middle, the loud crack of gnarled, dying wood being torn in half, the smell of ozone in the air, the sound of Delilah screaming with rage… it was a good memory.
Imogen freed Laudna from Delilah’s clutches that day. Laudna was the only one in control of her life now.
And it meant Laudna was back. Imogen still remembered after the ritual had succeeded, standing by the sun tree with Laudna in front of her expressing these same doubts…
And she remembered leaning in, looking at Laudna’s face, her lips, overcome by the pure emotion of the woman she loved being alive again and wanting to prove that this wasn’t a dream. Because Imogen had wanted this moment for a long, long time.
She didn’t understand when it had happened, when her feelings of friendship had become something more — it had simply happened, less of an immediate change and more of a gradual understanding of her own feelings. She held it in, kept it secret, never told anyone — not that she’d talked to anyone else before meeting the rest of the Bell’s Hells, but it was about the principle of the thing.
She’d stopped herself back then. It didn’t feel like the timing was right.
“Imogen?” Laudna asked, voice shaky and weak. “I… I need you to tell me. Is… is this real?”
This time, Laudna gave in. She leaned forward, not backing away, closing her eyes as her lips met Laudna’s. They were cold, yet softer than she would’ve expected.
The kiss didn’t last for long — Imogen pulled away to see Laudna staring at her, wide-eyed.
Imogen brushed her thumb over Laudna’s cheek. “It is. It’s as real as how I feel about you, Laudna.”
Laudna blinked rapidly, as if her brain was trying to catch up to everything that transpired. “Oh.” Her eyes met Imogen’s. “Oh.”
“I’ve, um… I’ve been feelin’ like this for a while,” Imogen said, her voice waning now that the rush of what she’d done was starting to wear off, and the anxiety and panic that she had done something wrong was starting to eek it’s way into the fringes of her mind. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you. If I should at all.”
“You…” Laudna swallowed. “Tell me… tell me what you feel. Please. I… I need to hear it. In your voice. Your words.”
“Laudna, I— I’m in love with you.”
Laudna let out a breathy gasp. While she was looking away, Imogen didn’t get the sense that it was out of anger. She was just… processing. But she wasn’t pulling away, her hand still clasping Imogen’s. Finally, she let out a small laugh. “Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out before.”
Imogen tilted her head.
Finally, Laudna looked at her again, smiling wide. “This has been staring me in the face all this time, and I just… I never even considered it.”
“I— I wasn’t sure what to do,” Imogen stammered. “I didn’t want to take this choice away from you, and I— I don’t want you to think you have to act like you feel the same just because you don’t want to hurt me.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that.” Laudna wrapped her arms around Imogen’s neck, leaning in and… and kissing her this time. Imogen leaned into it, wanting to practically breathe Laudna in. When they pulled away, Imogen kept her head against Laudna’s chest, listening to the soft, rhythmic, slow beating of her undead heart, Laudna resting her chin on top of Imogen’s head. “I love you too, Imogen. Thank you for helping me see that.”
Imogen wrapped her arms around Laudna’s waist, feeling relief surge through her. She said it back. She said it back. “Still not sure if this is real?”
“I know it is. Even Delilah couldn’t fabricate something this perfect.”
Imogen chuckled softly, leaning into Laudna and feeling her eyelids start to droop. Her sight fell on the ring on Imogen’s finger — two snakes and a ruby.
It wasn’t really an engagement ring or anything like that, but it had meant something similar when Imogen gave it to her. It was a promise — they would stay by each other’s sides, no matter what.
Nothing would get between them. Not any other people, not Delilah Briarwood, not Ruidus… not even death itself.
As Imogen drifted off to sleep in the arms of her best friend and love, she felt a peace that was ever so absent in her chaotic life. The solid island in a stormy sea named Laudna. That was all she ever needed.