Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rae couldn’t settle. His leg bounced up and down and his fingers kept fiddling with his hair.

It’s her. It’s actually her.

He couldn’t take his eyes away from her face.
She looked so peaceful, eyes closed and her light blonde hair framing her face. She looked older than she did in Rae’s dream visions and memories: shallow wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and a small portion of her hair turning grey.
They were in the med-bay, Isla asleep in one of the beds and Rae sitting in a chair beside her. The nightstand beside her bed had a glass of water and a vase with a single allium from Athena inside.
When he’d found her outside the broken stasis and linked their minds, she’d only been able to stay awake long enough to say his name before passing out.
“Hey,” A familiar voice broke Rae’s trance and he looked up to see Caspian standing in the doorway, a cup of coffee in each hand. “Any change?”
“Uh, no. No change.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes.
“I brought you some coffee.”
“That’s a dangerous game.”
“Don’t I know it.”
They laughed, Rae taking a cup from Caspian and taking a long drink. The god brought over another chair and sat next to Rae, looking at Isla.
“So that’s really her?”
“Yeah.” Rae nodded, his voice cracking slightly.
Caspian’s hand found Rae’s and he squeezed, letting his finger trace shapes on the back of his hand.
“I still can’t believe it’s actually her,” He continued, tears welling in his eyes, “I just wish Ic was here to see it.”
Rae wiped his face with his sleeve, sniffling a little.
“Yeah… I wish I could’ve met them.”
“I think you would’ve gotten along. You’re both funny and smart- and, yeah.”
Putting his coffee on the ground beside his chair, he reached out, taking Isla’s hand. Her skin was soft and unmarked.
Isla’s head moved to the side, her eyelids fluttering.
“Mom?” Rae moved from his chair to kneel beside her, holding her hand tighter. “Mom, are you okay? It’s me.”
“Rae?” Her voice was weak, but just hearing his mother say his name brought more tears to Rae’s eyes, some rolling down his face.
“Yeah, yes, yes. It’s me, it Rae.”
Isla’s eyes opened fully and their eyes met. Relief broke her face as she pushed herself up, wrapping her arms around Rae’s neck, holding him tightly. Rae hugged her back, the both of them crying fully now.
When they eventually pulled away, Isla’s hand drifted to Rae’s ender markings, holding his face in her hand.
“You look so different now- your horns… your face… you look just like Enderian.”
More tears flooded Rae’s eyes, “Thank you.”
“You’ve gotten so big, little star.”
This made them both start sobbing even harder.
“A lot has changed since you were away, mom.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry for leaving you and Icarus alone.”
The guilt in her voice hit Rae like a gut punch as he forced his voice to become steady.
“Mom, that wasn’t your fault. It was Fable, he was the one who took you, who caused all of the bad things to happen.” Rae hugged her again, smiling at the warmth her mere presence brought him. “You were never the problem.”
They pulled away after a few more moments, Isla glancing behind Rae and finally noticing Caspian sitting there, awkwardly.
“Hello. Uh, who are you?”
“Oh, uh,” Rae stammered, getting to his feet, “Mom, this is Caspian. He’s one of my partners.”
“Uh, hi.” Caspian gave a small wave before extending his hand, “Caspian Solcrest, patron god of memory.”
“Hi, Caspian. It’s nice to meet you.” Isla shook his hand. “Wait, hold on… Rae, did you say one of your partners?”
“Uh, yeah. I did.” Rae took a deep breath, “I have three. Aax, Cas and Fenris.”
Isla smiled, “Are you happy? With them?”
“Yeah, very. I’ve never been happier,”
“When can I meet them?”

Rae called his partners inside the med-bag and they all introduced themselves: Isla thanking them for keeping Rae safe and happy.
They were recounting everything that’d happened to them that Isla had missed while she was imprisoned in purgatory.
During the conversation, Rae glanced over to the vase on the nightstand, doing a double take.

The allium was gone, replaced by a single blue orchid.

Chapter Text

“I think you’ll really like Athena and Bruin.” Rae said, the tip of his tail twitching in his lap. “They’re really nice.”
They were sitting in the living room of the Ghaae house: Isla, Rae, Caspian and Aax.
Atlas was curled up with her head in Isla’s lap, enjoying the pets. She wasn’t really supposed to be on the couch, but no one said anything.
“Okay.” Isla nodded, fidgeting slightly.
“Is everything okay?” Aax asked, noticing Isla’s discomfort.
“Uh, yeah. Just a little nervous.” She took a deep breath, “I just don’t want to mess anything up.”
“You won’t.” Rae took the hand Isla wasn’t petting Atlas with, “Everything’s gonna be okay, you’ll see.”
“And anyway, physically impossible to not get along with people here.” Caspian chimed in from the kitchen, grinning at them in his ‘Sounds Gay, I’m In’ apron, “No one is anything but nice.”
A knock on the front door drew everyone’s attention. Caspian left the food in the kitchen and answered, welcoming in Athena and Bruin. Athena has holding a small bouquet of orchids in her hand and Bruin had a white paper bag with the bed and breakfast logo on it.
“Hi, Miss Morningstar.” Athena waved as Isla stood, Atlas grunting in frustration. Bruin gave the wolf dog a reproachable look before turning their attention to Isla, smiling nervously.
“Uh, hey. I’m Bruin.” They stuck out a hand and Isla shook, taking notice of the not quite human features Rae and his boyfriends had told her about.
“Hi.”
“I have these for you.” Athena handed the bouquet to Isla, who smiled.
“Thank you, Athena. And you don’t have to call me Miss Morningstar, Isla’s fine.”
Athena nodded, “Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“We brought some things from the, uh, bed and breakfast for desert.” Bruin said, holding out the bag, “It’s not as good as the stuff Fenris makes for Starbarks but it’s still very good.”
“Thank you.” Isla took the bag, smiling.
“Dinner’s ready!” Caspian called. They all moved from the living room over to the dining table. The table was set for all of them, complete with a tablecloth embroidered with sunflowers.
“I’ve made my mom’s pumpkin soup and a little something else. Rae, could you grab the bowls, please?” Caspian said, walking over with a large plate.
“Is the something else burnt cinnamon rolls?” Aax asked, taking her seat.
“Aax!” Rae’s face began to burn as he set the bowls down, resisting the urge to throw a bread roll at his partners as they laughed.
“Uh, what?” Isla looked confused, giggling a little.
“We’ll, a few months ago-”
“No, don’t you dare. I WILL throw a roll at you.” Rae interrupted but Caspian ignored him, continuing his explanation, gleefully as he sat down.
“Rae wanted to make all of us breakfast and so he tried to make cinnamon rolls, baked them at the same temperature to cook steak and ended up making bricks.”
Rae buried his head in his hands, face turning magenta in embarrassment. Isla started laughing quietly, covering her mouth with her hand.
“It’s okay, Rae.” Athena put a hand on his shoulder, “You make up for it with your gadgets and science.”
“And your uncle tendencies.” Bruin added, their words eliciting a bark of approval from Atlas. “See, Atlas agrees.”
“Did you just- talk to Atlas? And she understood you?” Isla looked from Atlas to Bruin, giggling in the confusion that plastered her face.
“Yeah,” Bruin shrugged, “It’s one of the perks of being a child of the world,”
Atlas whined and Bruin nodded, “Uh huh, right. Okay, gotcha.” They turned back to Isla, “She thinks your dress is pretty and she likes having you around.”
“Thank you, Atlas.” Isla smiled, walking over to her and tickling the fur behind her ears.
Rae smiled, turning to the food as Isla sat back down next to him. He frowned, thinking he was going crazy.
“Rae, is there something wrong?” Caspian and Aax asked. They stared at each other, horror and confusion on both their faces as everyone laughed.
“No, no, everything’s fine.” Rae laughed too, taking a big bite out of a bread roll.

There weren’t just sunflowers on the tablecloth anymore, there were orchids and spore blossoms too.