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Bronya looks at the clock, furrowing her brows. It was already well past midnight and Seele had yet to return to her in her chamber. She took a glance at her phone, no message either from her lover. She knows that Seele can be quite busy, rounding up any troublemakers in the mines of the Underworld or just overall dealing with the remaining Fragmentum down in the deserted areas. It was her job as a key member of Wildfire and Bronya knows that Seele can hold herself well in a fight.
Of course she could, there was a reason why Seele was so well-respected amongst the Wildfire ranks and now slowly climbing the ranks for the Silverman guards.
She was strong and well-equipped for any type of physical conflict. Bronya knew that, she knew Seele was strong, she’s seen that strength firsthand, back when she had single-handedly shooed off those hooligans that were attacking Bronya all the way back then. And the way she handled herself during the fight against her mother.
Bronya knew that Seele was strong.
But yet with no contact with her lover since she had left with a kiss, Bronya couldn’t help but worry. It only made sense that she was concerned, no? Despite all her strength, Seele was only human.
The gray haired woman sighed, rubbing her forehead as she decided to set aside her paperwork. Her life as the Supreme Guardian of Belobog was stressful to say the least, even resulting in her needing to take her work into her own private time when she was supposed to be resting. She supposes there is no rest for someone with a position such as hers.
She can’t help but wonder how her mother handled this. Her mother seemed to work with ease and without trouble, but perhaps that was because she had circled all her attention to the Stellaron. Bronya wouldn’t know.
There’s a sudden knock on her door. Bronya looks up, putting down her paperwork. She wonders who’s knocking at her chambers this late in the night. Perhaps Pela found a breakthrough in melting the Everlasting Frost. It’s likely not with how impacted the first is on Jarilo-VI, but Bronya can have hope can’t she? That in this lifetime she’ll be able to see this world thrive like it once did decades before her-
There’s another knock, a set of two continuous ones before pausing and Bronya is scrambling to get out of her bed to open the door.
She had thought it was silly at the time, when Seele had mentioned it. A secret knock combination between the two of them, one singular knock with a pause and two consecutive knocks without pause. But they had used it far more than Bronya would like to admit. Between meetings and late night encounters, Bronya had found herself using that knock combination quite often.
And now, she had never been so relieved that it-
She swings the door open and there’s Seele.
“Hey.”
She has that signature lope-sided smile of hers that Bronya loves so much, but even then, her eyes can’t help but widen at the state of her lover.
There’s a thin cut on her cheek, red and fresh, the blood smeared. Her skin is bruised, broken in places that makes Bronya’s heart ache. There’s a collection of red marks and cuts all over her knuckles and Bronya can see that she’s sustained far too many injuries to be walking.
“Seele?!” Bronya can’t help but exclaim.
What is she doing here?
She should be at Natasha’s clinic. The older woman would know what to do.
“Sorry,” Seele murmurs sheepishly. “Can I come in?”
Bronya swallows the lump in her throat. It's difficult to speak with her beloved looks so terrible. Her eyes focus on the red, the blood on Seele, it's definitely hers based on the cuts. She closes her eyes shut, taking a second to ease the pure panic and ache in her heart. She didn’t like seeing Seele hurt, if it were up to her, Bronya would personally see to it that whoever had hurt her Seele would be imprisoned indefinitely.
“O-Of course…” Bronya manages to say, stepping aside for Seele to walk inside. She hobbles in and Bronya feels her heart break.
Seele sits herself down on Bronya’s desk chair, breathing a sigh of relief like the very action of standing up had hurt her. Bronya follows shortly after, causing the door. She instinctively reaches to touch Seele before hesitating and putting her hands down. Should she really be touching her when she’s so injured?
Seele needs medical care right now, but Bronya lacks the proper knowledge like Natasha does. All she has is basic first aid.
“Why aren’t you at Natasha’s?” Bronya asks, eyebrows furrowed in worry. “You’re hurt… badly.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Seele brushes off easily. Bronya frowns and Seele averts her eyes, her ears tinting red, “I wanted to see you.”
“You could’ve seen me at any time, Seele, I’m not going anywhere,” Bronya sighs. “But… you need medical attention right now. Let me take you to the clinic-”
“That’s too far and I can barely walk, you know,” Seele stubbornly points out. She crosses her arms over her chest and Bronya looks at her through narrowed eyes, “I know a few tricks and stuff from Natasha, I’ll be okay. I just… can you help me?”
Bronya’s will falters.
“Okay.”
The gray haired woman hands Seele a pair of pajamas to put on whilst she goes and finds some medical supplies to help patch her up. Bronya frowned to herself, collecting ointment and bandages. Stupid, reckless Seele. She’s so horribly earnest in her words and it’s absolutely terrible how easily she is able to dismantle Bronya.
Admittedly, she wanted to see Seele too, but not when she was in this state.
Bronya returns and Seele has changed and washed up, her bloody and torn clothes neatly folded and stacked on the desk for washing and fixing later. She’s sitting on the desk chair patiently, inspecting her own hands. The dark purple haired woman instantly notices Bronya’s presence once more and visibly lights up, almost like a puppy. Bronya tries not to see the image too much, of a wagging tail and perked up ears.
“I missed you,” Seele admits, so honest for how usually stubborn she was, and Bronya can’t help but smile before walking over to Seele.
She caresses Seele’s uninjured cheek, “I missed you too. But let’s get these bandages first.
Seele nods easily and she holds out her hands to Bronya, the gray haired woman, kneeling down and taking a cotton ball with disinfectant and pressing it against the wounds. Seele lets out a slew of curses and hisses as Bronya works slowly and carefully, making sure that Seele gets patched up to the best of her ability.
Thankfully, her wounds have stopped bleeding, but it doesn’t make the process any less jarring. It breaks her heart to see these injuries littered across Seele’s skin and it's even worse that Bronya can see what happened to her through the wounds.
A knife to her knuckles, a hard punch against concrete.
“What happened?” Bronya asks, her voice just barely above a whisper. She wonders, who would do this to Seele? How could someone do this to her? Bronya’s heart rages at the very thought of these attackers.
“Just… some guys in the mines- ow fuck-” Seele hisses when the cotton ball presses against a deeper wound on her hands. Bronya quickly supplies with ointment to reduce the pain before picking up the roll of bandages. Seele regains her composure quickly to speak once more, “There were some guys in the mines, I don’t know what was up with them but they were being really bitchy and were planting some kind of bombs? It was fucked up, didn’t like the way the Overworld and Underworld were mixing together or something.”
That’s enough information for Bronya to know what happened.
Her whole body heats up with rage. She rips the white wrapping on Seele’s hand and pats it down, she tries not to wrap Seele’s other hand too tightly, making sure to keep enough control, but she’s seething.
Bronya knew with the way that her mother had treated the Underworld, establishing connections suddenly after her ascension to the position of Supreme Guardian wasn’t going to be easy. But it angered her that Seele was hurt in this fight. Those miners who had issues with her took it out on her lover who was doing her job.
“I’m okay,” Seele assures her, reaching out with her newly bandaged hand to hold Bronya’s face. Her thumb passes over the gray haired woman’s cheek in a comforting manner, “Plus those guys look way worse than I do, trust me.”
Bronya breathes, “I trust you.”
The pure affection Seele has in her eyes is overwhelming. She looks at Bronya with this pure adoration that if hard to keep eye contact with yet, Bronya wants nothing more to drown in it. She looks away to continue wrapping Seele’s hand and the other woman lets out an amused giggle, Bronya’s face heating up a little.
“Any other injuries I should know about?” Bronya looks back up at Seele and this time it's Seele's turn to look away. She gives an awkward look, her mouth opens with an excuse and Bronya already knows it’s a poor lie. Seele is a terrible liar she’s learned.
The signs show the way she refuses to make eye contact with Bronya and fidgets in her seat. Bronya sighs and forcefully pulls Seele’s shirt up because she just knows there’s a gash there somewhere.
“Wha- Bronya!! Warn a girl will ya-”
Bronya’s eyes widened at the long gas across Seele’s abdomen. By no means is it deep, thank goodness it isn’t deep, but it's enough to make Bronya wince. She looks back up at Seele who frankly looks ashamed of herself and Bronya pushes down the bubbling disdain she has for Seele’s attackers.
“I’m sorry-”
“It’s okay,” Bronya cuts her off. She rubs Seele’s knee in a soothing fashion, “I know you didn’t want to worry me, but isn’t that what lovers are for? To worry and care?”
Seele pauses, “I- yeah… sorry.”
Bronya sighs and continues to clean Seele’s wound, “No need to apologize.” Bronya takes her time, gingerly wrapping the bandages around Seele’s torso. Her heart hurts and her being burns with rage at the people who did this to her beloved. She briefly considers sending Silvermane soldiers down into the Underworld to find those miners, but she shakes off the thought.
She’ll think about it later; right now, the most important thing was Seele.
Bronya finishes up wrapping Seele’s torso, pulling the other woman’s shirt down. She exhales out of her nose and looks over the rest of Seele’s body. There’s bruises on her arms and a cut on her cheek, but that’s all that’s left. At least the damage wasn’t major, Bronya can’t help but think. She takes a bandage and wipes at Seele’s injury lightly, before pressing a bandage against it. She pulls back and her lover looks far better than how she came in.
“Thank you,” Seele looks at her with the most grateful expression known to mankind and Bronya sighs in this adoring fashion and shakes her head.
“It was nothing,” Bronya brushes off. She holds Seele’s face in her hands, cupping the other woman’s cheeks. Her skin is warm to the touch, her light purple eyes are bright and the adoration that she holds for Bronya is clear. It warms her heart that she’s loved so much, and even despite how much Bronya is worried and concerned for her lover, she knows that Seele will always come back to her at the end of the day.
“I’m glad there are no permanent injuries,” Bronya says softly. She pulls her hands away and wraps her arms around Seele, pulling her into a tight embrace. Actions speak louder than words and Bronya personally has always found difficulties in expressing the way she felt out loud. But she thinks her embrace tells Seele enough as the other woman slowly and kindly returns the embrace, fingers running through her gray locks.
“Sorry for worrying you,” Seele tells her. “You know, I wouldn’t get killed off that easily.”
“I know,” Bronya murmurs through a shaky breath. She shivers at the idea of Seele being gone, it doesn’t sit well with her. Not at all, she doesn’t like it. She hugs Seele tighter, “I know.”
“Trust me,” Seele pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “I’ll always come back to you.”
“I know,” Bronya breathes. Seele chuckles a little and pulls back, moving her hands to cup Bronya’s face. Her touch is warm and Bronya can’t help but melt into it, her smile is soft and kind and at this moment, it’s just them. In Bronya’s personal chambers, Seele on her desk chair and Bronya clinging to her.
Seele leans in to press a kiss against her lover’s lips. It’s soft and slow, and they briefly break away for Seele to pull Bronya onto her lap. The gray haired woman can’t help but let out a yelp when she’s abruptly yanked up and pulled onto Seele’s lap. She feels her face heat up and the grin on Seele’s face is wolfish and proud. She seals their lips with another kiss, it’s more eager this time, more heated. There’s this burning feeling in Bronya’s chest with the way that Seele grips her hips, leaning into their kiss.
Her heart soars, stomach fluttering with butterflies as she lets Seele have her way. Bronya’s arms snake around Seele’s chest, holding her as close as possible.
Seele makes a point to squeeze her rear and Bronya yelps.
“Seele!”
“What?”
Bronya grumbles and Seele laughs.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”