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“Fuck yeah,” Karlach growled, tossing aside her great maul.
Wyll raised his eyebrows and grinned. A drop of blood--not his, he was pretty sure--slid into his eye, and he wiped it away with the back of one sleeve. Then wiped the stone one too, just in case. “Did you just throw your favorite hammer?”
She was already on her knees, rifling through the dead cambion’s pockets. His minions lay broken and crumpled around him, splashes of color against the ashen landscape. Ruins, broken war machines, more ruins, fire; they’d been hacking and hammering their way through Avernus long enough now that it almost felt like home to Wyll.
“Come on, come onnnnn,” Karlach muttered, tearing at the cambion’s jacket. “There has to be something.”
The smile slid off Wyll’s face. He nodded and sent a significant glance at their fellows, who were picking over the rest of the carnage for anything usable. They backed off, leaving Karlach to Wyll. He stepped over the remnants of a particularly nasty fire elemental, approaching her slowly. “Maybe he kept it somewhere safe. A lair nearby.”
“These fuckers always have the important shit in their pockets!” There was a note of desperation in her voice now, and the infernal engine in her chest, usually at peak performance in Avernus, flared hot.
Wyll settled a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find it, Karlach,” he said quietly.
She glanced up at him, amber eyes flaring hot, reflecting the heat from her engine. The heat from her fierce heart. “It has to be here. It has to.”
He knelt beside her and began examining the cambion’s lower half for any sign of pockets or purses. His heart hammered loud, a familiar, sick sensation building in his throat. How many times would she have to live through heartbreak? All the effort he and Tav had gone to, to make sure that Karlach saw the aftermath of the Elder Brain, that she got a chance at a life on her own terms…
His heart ached. He would give anything to make the blueprint appear. Anything to fix her heart.
Last time he’d agreed to give anything, it hadn’t worked out that well. He shouldn’t think things like that. And yet…
“Karlach…” he started, voice cracking.
“Don’t,” she said sharply. “Don’t fucking say it, Wyll. It’s here. It has to be here.”
He settled a hand on her shoulder.
She winced and halted her search, chest flaring bright, head hanging. “Sorry. I should be used to this, by now. Shouldn’t get my hopes up.”
“Hope is our greatest weapon,” he reminded her. “We’ll find the blueprints. We’ll get them to Dammon. And if we don’t…”
She glanced back up, gaze meeting his.
“Then we’re stuck here together.”
“You’re not stuck,” she said quietly.
“As long as you are, I am,” he promised, squeezing her shoulder.
For a moment, something crackled between them, like it had a million times before, like an accidental cast of Shocking Grasp. But as much as Wyll wanted to tell her how he felt, how he’d felt for a long time now, it was never the time. The last thing he should do was make this about him, his feelings, his love.
She was the first thing. The only thing. Even if she didn’t feel the same.
“Wyll…” She said, eyes wet and wide.
He opened his mouth to tell her it’d be okay. He wished he had something smarter to say, something prettier, but no poetry came to mind just then. “Do you need a--?”
“Karlach! Over here!” Flo shouted from somewhere within the ruins.
She gave a little growl and pushed to her feet, then held out a hand for him. “Come on, soldier.”
He took her hand, and she pulled him up--hard. He staggered into her, and she caught him around the waist.
“I was going to ask if you needed a hug,” Wyll said with a chuckle. The heat of her might’ve been from Avernus, but he loved being near it, feeling it rolling off her.
“I definitely need a fucking--”
“Karlach!” Flo’s voice was sharper as she came around a ragged wall waving something that looked a lot like paper.
“Shit.” Karlach started toward her, releasing Wyll.
He sighed and followed… and then realized what Flo was waving.
“It was in a chest back there! I think it was his!” Flo said.
Karlach grabbed the oversized page and turned it over in her hands. “Shit,” she repeated. “Fuck. Fuck. I think this is it. Wyll! I think this is fucking it.”
Wyll caught up with them and eyed the page. And… “It is. It’s an infernal heart. And it’s--”
“Contained!” Karlach grabbed Flo in a one-armed hug, then wrapped the other around Wyll and pulled him in.
He tilted his head back so their horns didn’t get caught, laughing in relief, in awe, in amazement. Despair had almost gotten him there. Almost.
“Zariel is gonna be pissed,” Flo said, but she was laughing.
“We found it! We fucking found it!” Karlach planted a kiss on Flo’s cheek, then let her go. She turned to Wyll.
He folded her into a full on bear hug, letting her warmth soak into him. “I’m so happy for you.”
She laughed, her breath warm against his hair. “Wyll?”
“Karlach?”
“I’m gonna kiss you.”
“You--oh.” He pulled back a little.
She looked down at him, her eyes wide again, her smile tentative. “Is that okay?”
“I--uh. Yes. Yes, please.”
She caught his mouth, her lips sliding hot against his, her arm tightening around his waist. Warm and strong and beautiful--and relieved.
They pressed their foreheads together, careful of their horns. “I’ve wanted to do that forever,” Karlach mumbled.
Wyll chuckled. “Me too.”
“Why didn’t you say?”
“We’ve been busy.”
“Idiot.” She snorted. “We could’ve been fucking this whole time.”
Wyll smiled. He could do much better than that. And oh, he would. “I like to do things the old fashioned way.”
“I knew you were gonna say that.” But Karlach smiled and squeezed him tighter.
Wyll cleared his throat. “We should--uh. We should head to Baldur’s Gate. Find Dammon.”
“After we’re done hugging,” she said.
Face hotting up now, as well as his belly and various other body parts, Wyll couldn’t help laughing again. “After we’re done hugging.”
Flo disappeared behind the ruined wall again, but not before adding, “‘Bout fucking time.”