Work Text:
"Flame," she says. She's standing directly in front of him, practically leaning against his body, one of her hands fisted in his clothes. It's an odd sensation. He feels too light without his armor and gear, naked despite the layers he's still wearing. All of his items are gone, into Zam's inventory, or into the rows of wooden chests against the wall.
Her eyes are dark, her hair a muted yellow, and the dim light in the bunker makes Flame wish for a moment that he'd done this on the surface, where the sun could properly shine on her. She's so pretty. That's not the reason he loves her, of course, but it certainly makes the experience even better. Having the attention of such a gorgeous person, for however long it will last.
"Take them back," she says, pushing the hearts at his chest. "You're not going to do this. Not this—"
Flame laughs and shakes his head. She doesn't get it. Maybe later, she will. She'll see that he's not giving up. He's giving her a chance. Zam is the one with the relentless determination to keep going, more than anyone else. How many times has she been betrayed and killed and beaten down, and yet she gets up every time? How many times has she been hurt by the people she trusted— by Flame— and yet she keeps going?
He can't fight like that. But she can. She does, again and again. Every day, no matter how hopeless and desperate it gets, she rises again, like the sun.
Flame isn't the sun. But there's a powerful force for life within him, and he can give that to Zam right here, right now. His hearts. This is the best thing he can do for her.
"It's been fun, fighting you," he says. She might not fully understand why, but he still wants to try to explain, because he needs this to mean something. He's going to die for her. This is probably one of the most important things he's ever done. He wants to at least make her understand why he's doing this for her. "You kept me going. After I died that first time, you were the only thing that kept me here."
And Zam is speechless, her face twisting in an expression he's never seen directed at him. It's not anger— he's all too familiar with that. She said she doesn't hate him anymore.
Is it grief? Does she care? Does that passion for protecting Lifesteal also extend to him?
"You can't— are you actually serious about this?" she manages to say, her voice shaking. Flame winces at the sound.
Damn it. He's making her cry. Again. How many times has he made her cry, this whole season? This wasn't— this wasn't supposed to be a sad thing for her. He needs to try harder, to make her understand. She needs these hearts. She needs to keep going, to keep getting on her feet and wiping the blood off that pretty face of hers, to keep fighting and fighting and fighting until she wins. She's going to save Lifesteal. And she's going to do it with Flame's hearts beating right alongside hers.
He smiles and reaches towards her, slowly, making his movement obvious. She doesn't flinch away from him this time, and his hand touches the side of her face.
Soft.
"I don't have anything else to do here," he says.
Zam shakes her head, leaning her face for a brief moment into his hand. Flame's chest aches with a longing that shouldn't be there. He shouldn't want her this badly. He shouldn't feel this way towards her. Not with everything that's happened between them. Not with everything he's done.
But how can he resist? He loves her, even if he'll never have anything more than this.
Zam's mouth shakes even as she tries to smile. "You could help protect Spawn," she says.
Flame can't help it. He scoffs. Him? Protect the thing he's been targeting again and again, just because it always brought her out? Spawn means nothing to him beyond Zam's obsession with restoring it and defending it. Destroying Spawn always ignited a fire within Zam— a fire that Flame's still so addicted to. Even now, he can see that flicker of hope in her pretty, dark eyes.
"That's not something I care about," he says.
Spawn? No. Zam? Yes. But Spawn isn't Zam. It took him a little too long to realize that. She's more than the fierce, angry, determined response to the destruction and death that he brought to Lifesteal. She's the life that brings people together, the driving force of will that motivates and inspires and tempts people into doing something. Impulses, betrayals, alliances, retaliations. Zam is everything, and Flame regrets that he had only seen a fragile person who needed someone else to come and protect her for far too long. Zam had refused to fight, but that decision wasn't wasted potential. It was turning that unstoppable force within her to other things. Things that mattered to her.
Things that Flame wanted to destroy, just to see if she would finally break.
But she'll never break. And that's why she's the only one that he can trust with this. With his hearts.
"It's something I care about," Zam protests. She moves closer— when did Flame start to back away? She's still holding his hearts, cradled close to her chest. He likes seeing that. She's holding them like they're precious. He wonders how it might feel to be held like that, by her. He wasted his chances in the early days of the season, when she still trusted him.
Flame shakes his head again, looking away for a brief moment. His blindfold is gone— he wants to see Zam as she is this one last time— and seeing her is blinding, even in this dark bunker. She's so bright and powerful and alive. And he'll do anything to keep her that way.
This is for the best. She'll understand eventually.
"Flame…" she whispers. "Don't make me kill you."
Flame grins, turning back to her. She's not holding her sword, but the one he gave her must be in her inventory. The hearts have been put away, although he hasn't heard her equip them yet. That's okay. She'll probably equip them once he's banned.
"Kill me," he says. He moves closer and she twitches, a sword briefly appearing in her hand— probably out of instinct— before vanishing again. "Kill me!" he says again, breaking into a laugh.
She shakes her head. There are tears in her eyes now. Ah. He didn't want that. But a part of him is a little bit glad to see it. It's proof that this is important, to her and to him. She has to know that this is for the best. It's not an easy choice to make, but she will have to respect this. It's his final wish. And he knows that he can trust her with this.
He hands over the last items in his inventory: the rest of the enchanted golden apples. He doesn't need the temporary hearts anymore. The brief fantasy he'd had of her surging forwards to cut him down for his final death isn't going to happen, unfortunately. Maybe in another world. Maybe someone else will be so lucky, to have her drive a sword through their heart while she looks at them like she's looking at Flame now.
"I think this might be it for me," Flame says.
Zam is speechless again. Flame misses her yapping. He bites at the inside of his cheek and glances at the floor.
He's going to die in a moment anyway. Maybe it'll be okay to be just a little more selfish. What would get her talking again? What might get her to stop crying?
He looks around the bunker, smiling. "Ever since I died here, I knew this was the place where I wanted to die again. I wanted you to kill me. You sure you won't? You can use the PrinceBlade. Or my sword."
Zam rubs at her face, shaking her head. "What about Mane? What's he going to think?"
Flame sighs. Mane is going to have to understand this too. But Flame has been seeing the cracks in his brother's facade— "Mane's got his eyes on something," Flame says, pushing the thought out of his mind. He moves back to stand in front of Zam, his hand gently touching her jaw and tilting her face upwards to look at him again. "I've got mine on something different."
He leans down and kisses her.
Her hand reaches up to catch his forearm, but she doesn't push him away. She holds him in place and leans up to kiss back. Flame tentatively moves his other hand to touch her waist, her side, her shoulder. He can feel the strength in her compact body even as she leans into him, making a soft sound against his mouth.
Flame knows that he will regret indulging in this, because how could he have waited so long to kiss her? Why didn't he do this before? He could have done this months ago.
He could have kissed her when he came to save her in the Nether after she'd accidentally died, nearly a year ago now. When he thought that she was in trouble but when he arrived, he'd seen her standing in the middle of nowhere in a Nether waste plain, with absolutely nothing yet standing there with all the self confidence in the world. She'd laughed, joking about her misfortune and teasing him for how long it took for him to find her, and his stomach sank as he realized he was falling in love with her.
Why didn't he—
Ah. Right. Because he betrayed her. And because she hated him.
But that was alright. At least she was looking at him. At least she was thinking about him, making him feel justified for how much he thought about her, all the time. She was always on his mind, and he was always on her mind, for months and months, and that was enough at the time.
At least he has her like this now, even for only a moment.
"I'm sorry," Zam whispers. "I'm sorry— Flame—"
Flame kisses her again, pulling her closer and kissing a little more firmly into the sweetness of her mouth. He doesn't need her to apologize. There's nothing to apologize for. She goes along with him, her free arm wrapping around his back to hold him close.
When their lips break apart again, she tries to apologize again, and he kisses her again to cut her off.
Maybe… this is better than her killing him. It would still be nice if she did that… He never got to see her face when she killed him in the void trap.
Did she laugh? She must have smiled at least. She must have been happy. He's aware that he wouldn't be able to see that same reaction in these circumstances, but still…
He can't bring himself to regret this too much. He kisses her one final time. Her eyes have fallen shut, and she's clinging to him again, her hands tight in his clothes.
"Please take your hearts back," she whispers against his lips when he starts to back away. "I'm sorry. I don't—"
"It's not your fault," Flame says. Gently, he pulls away from her. She lets him go, but there are tears streaking down her face.
He offers her one more smile. "I'll only be mad if you don't win," he says.
Zam rubs at her face and nods.
He should stop dragging this out. He doesn't really want to leave her. But this is for the best. If she won't take his last heart, then he doesn't want anyone else to have it.
Flame drops into the void.
He's glad that the last thing he sees is Zam.