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The Kiske's home after the reuniting-and surprise expansion-of the family, had become a lot warmer; a place that had only been home to briefly three, then two, then one, had suddenly become a space for five or more, if you counted the fluctuating yet frequent visitors.anywhere else this would likely become a cause for much chaos with any other family. To them, it made the place brighter, more lived in, less hauntingly lonely. Despite the amount of people that now inhabited the place, its occupants still found moments of relative peace, like two of them found now, positioned in front of a vanity in their shared bedroom. They hadn't had a lot of time to spend together; at least, not like this in years. But with the saving of Elphelt and Ky's presence typically not being needed (read: allowed) at G4 the world had calmed down a bit, and the two of them found themselves with the availability to do some stuff that had to be set to the side previously.
Like give Ky a haircut.
It was something he had practically forgotten about, if he was being honest. A minor task lost in the whirlwind of conferences and paperwork he got lost in since rising to the throne. He simply didn't have the time to go in and keep it at the desired length he preferred it at, especially at the rate it would grow back. However, if he were to be more honest, scheduling concerns were not the only reasons he had delayed until this long to get his hair cut. The other reason, and perhaps more important one was only known to him (and mostly likely one other person).
He only trusted Dizzy to do it.
His years in the Crusades, he could barely admit now, had been unkind to him. They taught him that if you wanted to survive you could never let your guard down. In the years after, having become not the most agreeable public official, only strengthened that sentiment. It was silly, he would say, to have this many issues over someone cutting his hair, but she would never laugh at him. She understood it, the difficulties in letting someone that close, and she would never make fun of him for that. And that was exactly why he could only have her do it. Could only trust her with this weakness.
The kids weren't in the house today, having gone out for Sin to show the Valentine sisters some of his favorite spots in town, leaving just the two of them in the house- a perfect time for a vulnerable task. A soft breeze could be felt from the open window on the other side of the room. Their property was large enough that the only sound that could be heard from outside was the waving of tree branches, rocking softly along with the wind. The temperature was mild, the outside air doing wonders to keep the inside from getting too stuffy. It was comfortable. He was comfortable.
He was safe here.
The almost rhythmic clicking of the scissors stopped. His thoughts were pulled into the current moment as he heard her adjust how she was sitting in the chair behind him.
She whistled appraisingly. "It feels like we've been here for a while now and yet it looks like we've only just started." There was a slight playful tone in her voice, like despite her words she wasn't upset by this knowledge. "I suppose it has been a while since we've gotten to do this."
He usually tried to keep his eyes off of the mirror whenever he was getting his hair cut. Despite trusting her with the task, he didn't want to risk seeing the glint of the scissors so close to his scalp, didn't want to see how longer hair framed his face, but at her words he couldn't help the study the progress she'd made. She was always slow when it came to his hair, careful to make sure it got to the desired length and that nothing became too uneven, and while he couldn't attest to the amount of time that had pasted he could already see the difference. While not where he wanted it yet, his hair was a bit shorter looking- more as it had been two years prior, except a bit better taken care of.
"If it's taking too long we can stop, you've done a great job already I would be fine with this." His eyes found hers in the mirror, she looked unamused by his words.
"No, you wanted to be shorter, remember? You don't have to make a compromise for my sake, Dear." He felt her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to. Perhaps we could take a break from this instead? I don't want to tire you out." He had noticed a slight shake to the scissors when she first started cutting his hair. Like she was out of practice from using scissors like that, from using her hand like that, from doing much movement at all. Perhaps he asked her for too much too soon, he should've waited to make a selfish request like this for a bit longer-
"I'm fine, Ky. I can keep going; it's just a haircut." Her fingers were going up and down along the side of his neck, and he focused on that. Leave it to her to notice, the slow motions were soothing. "I love you, and that you're always trying to think of me, but it's fine. The kids won't be home for a while, we can take our time. If I need a break I'll let you know, but for now I think we should keep going."
He forced himself to push his previous worries to the side as he replied, a simple: "Okay," and she was back to the task at hand. The hand on his shoulder moved to shift his hair and head as needed. He did not mind this, however; the lull in conversation allowed his brain to ponder the statements said before. It had been a while since they've gotten to do this, hadn't it? The last time they've had this moment had to be around when he'd first taken the throne, maybe around when he had to leave Sin with Sol? His memories of that time were starting to fog.
And yet he could remember every painstaking day of what came after.
He was silent for some time, the clicking of the scissors and the warmth of someone just behind him doing nothing to pull him out of the isolation of that time.
"Dizzy?" He started slowly, he got a small 'hmm?' from her in between the gaps of his question, but nothing more as she waited for him to continue. "I've been wondering, two years ago when I had to seal you away using Thunderseal... What was it like in there?"
The clicking stop as the scissors were pulled away once again. A silence filled the room, and as it drew on he opened his mouth to take back the question and apologize for overstepping, when she responded to him.
"You feel a couple things while in there." She rotated the scissors in her lap as she spoke, "You feel almost, detached from everything. I could no longer see or hear what was going on outside and because of that I lost track of the time. Dr. Paradigm had told me when I first got out, about how time should've been almost halted for me and how long I had been gone for, and while I was surprised to learn the actual amount it felt correct. I guess in a way, my body could still feel how long it had been even if my mind didn't immediately recognize it.
"I was scared for a while. Of what was going on outside, of leaving you and Sin alone, of still disappearing, but after a while it mostly mellowed down. And after that, I was left alone." She was looking down at her lap, her expression one of sadness that pained him to look at.
"To be honest, it was lonely. It was only me in there. With nothing to go off it was hard to tell myself that everything would be okay. It was hard to not be scared when no one could tell you when it would be over. It was shocking to me. Before then I at least had you to talk to, or the Jellyfish Pirates, or Testament, or Necro and Undine, but no one else was in the seal with me. I was all alone and that loneliness had to be worse than the fear. I've know some kind of fear my entire life, but I had never once been alone like that before." She stopped again and after a moment her eyes lifted to meet his, at some point while she'd been talking he'd rotated in his chair to face her. He didn't know what face he was making but it was clear she didn't like it, her hand cupped his cheek and her face lifted into a gentle smile.
"But it's okay, I'm out now. I'm out now and I have you and Sin and everyone else to keep me company." Her attempt to calm his worries didn't achieve its full effects as he pulled her into his arms, almost trying to take her away from the past.
"Dizzy... I'm sorry I did that to you." He said, trying to hold her as close to him as he could.
"Its okay now Ky, you didn't know what it was going to be like-"
"No, I should've looked into the spell more, found another way-"
"You saved me Ky." She pulled her head back so they could look at each other. "I was disappearing, we didn't know how much time we had, you did what you needed to do, the only way you knew how."
"I know I just-"
"I won't allow you to keep beating yourself up over this Ky. You did what you could and it worked. You talk about that time like I had died, but I'm still here. We made it through it."
"I thought you had."
"I know you did." She looked sad again. he really needed to stop causing that. He squeezed his arms against her a few times, almost reminding himself that she was still there.
"I love you," he said eventually burying his head into her, "I want to keep you safe."
"I love you too, and you always do." She says, rubbing circles into his scalp, "No matter what I know I will be safe as long as you're around."
They sat in the moment for a while, allowing the other to remind themselves that they were here, in the present , together. Eventually Dizzy pulls away fully, Ky's eyes follow her movements as she retrieves the scissors from where they'd fallen and sits back down in her chair.
"Now let's see if we can finish that hair cut. We don't want the kids coming home to your hair being all uneven, right?" She offers him a smile, simple as she moved away from the past. He nodded, joining her in the present. The rest of the hair cut was spent in silence.
"A weapon is nothing more than a weapon! Resistance is futile!"
"No, it's not!"
He watched as his wife struggled against the binds as Necro lashed out. They were losing control over the guardian, they were running out of time. Ky knew he had to do something now, knew what needed to be done, his grip of Thunderseal tightened as he started funneling his magic into it to start casting the spell. Whoever this girl was, whatever scheme she was a part of, he wouldn't let her have it. Not today, not against Dizzy.
"It's too late!"
As he rushed forward his mind was years in the past. Back then he had almost been too late, back then he had failed her but this time would be different. This time he would do it right.
"No, it isn't!"
Necro's anger spilt over the edge and he started charging his attack, no longer being able to stand aside against his master's torment. The blow, if allowed to be unleashed would surely destroy most of the castle, taking out any party goer along with it. His eyes were not on the guardian however, but Dizzy, she looked afraid not of Necro but of the chaos he was about to unleash. She looked terrified that all of the work her and Ky had put in to get to this very moment, was about to be completely undone by what could only be perceived as her own doing. Ky's spell was almost ready to be cast, it would be different this time, things would be better this time, he could make it.
"Hold on! I'm coming to save you!" The spell was ready and the shots fired out, he would only have moments to make it but he would. Time slowed and the magic incased Necro's blast, and it's owner. Surely Dizzy would recognize the spell, she would know what was about to happen. He would save her. He would not let things be the same as last time.
In the seconds before the seal took its effect Ky bridged the gap between them and hugged his wife. She put her arm on his chest and pulled away, registering that something was different this time, someone was here with her. She smiled, realizing he was here, and he smiled back. The situation as a whole was dire and she no doubt was displeased with herself for allowing Necro to go out of control again, to have to be sealed away once more, but it was okay.
She wouldn't have to be alone this time.