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It had only lasted about two weeks, maybe a little longer or a little less depending on how bad Niki wanted to feel about themself on a given day.
It had been nice, before everything went topsy turvy and they gave up on a happy ending.
It was the end of summer, the air was warm and the armies bellies were full of berries harvested from bushes, sweet with a seasons’ growth, and fish pulled straight from the river that ran through the middle of L’Manberg. The country budded around them, buildings being pulled up out of the dirt, farms filling in the space between trees full of tart fruit and crops being stored away for winter. They were growing, but the militia hadn’t disbanded, still sleeping in tents below the walls in case they were attacked. Building a new country was beautiful, and dangerous and equally wonderful and frightening.
She’d slip away, after the dishes were washed, when the fires burned low and she was on watch because she didn’t mind being up late by herself, with the wall and the noise of night mobs for company. It was a waiting game, the three note bird whistle that was a signal to come out. Maybe she shouldn’t have shirked her duties, maybe it would make their chest ache now when they thought about the space between what they had and what could have been.
Quackity could be quiet when he wanted to be, slipping down to the very edge of their country and waiting for Niki to come outside of the wall. He wasn’t allowed in - general’s orders - but he could stand beside the gate and ring his arms around her and kiss her on the cheek.
“Come here often?”
She laughed, proverbial rose tinted glasses firmly fixed over her eyes.
“No, I’m on patrol.”
“Shame, you’re quite the catch.” His lips were warm in her hairline, soft and it had been so long since they were warm.
“Trespassing, again, Big Q?” Wilbur Soot, tall, fitting his uniform like he’d been born in it and standing just outside the confines of their little country.
“Not at all,” Nikki could feel Quackity's grin in her hair as he tugged her closer. “The line where your chunk begins is right there, and I’m standing all the way over here.”
“But you were thinking about it, I can see it in your eyes.”
“Why would I need to come over there when I have everything I want right here?” Quackity pulled Nikki under his chin and warmth bloomed through her.
“Scoundrel, seducing my soldiers.”
“Of course, I’m working my way to the top.”
Nikki felt another body press up against hers, long, thin fingers wound in with hers and she could hear the smack of a kiss as Wilbur joined them. She turned her head and was rewarded with one, and then a second kiss. She smiled, they took turns wooing her, with music and flowers and it was sweet as honeycomb.
It didn’t last, ambition and greed worming their way into the space left by cornflowers and dandelions. Niki was always cold now, their hands chapped and red inside of hand knitted gloves. They’d followed Wilbur when things went downhill, buried their anger at Quackity for siding with their enemy, and now Wilbur was leaving them too. It was a very different man in his skin from the sweet, considerate soldier they’d fallen for. They stared down at the fire burning low in the bowels of a ravine and worked another stitch into the flag in their hands. Even if they lived, it wouldn’t matter, they were all stone inside. Better to have never loved at all, the taste of long dead apples bitter on their tongue.