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"Goldmary?!" Lapis' foot fell deep into a snowdrift, throwing off her balance. She felt the sharp edges of the ice slice open her unprotected face, hot blood immediately welling up. She ignored the pain, focused instead on the blur of yellow that darted ahead in front of her.
How could she move so nimbly, so gracefully, in all of this snow?
Watching Goldmary scale the icy ruins nearby, all to launch her Spear through the neck of a Corrupted, she remembered: Goldmary was Elusian. Of course she moved like a wraith in the snow, it was her element.
"Darling, I know I'm stunning to watch." Goldmary pulled Lapis out from the snow drift, where the cold had been seeping in and leadening Lapis' entire body. The warm blush that flooded the Brodian's cheeks made the scrapes burn and throb. "Do remember that this is war, even if it's not… our war."
Right. Right. They had been called by the Divine One to join them in this alternate world, jumping into the well at the Somniel as a small but elite force to help quell a large scale battle between two foreign Queens. The roar of chaos from Corrupted and human soldiers alike suddenly came back into clear focus. The pretty white blanket of snow they came upon was now trodden and caked in mud and blood. Drifts blown by the beat if wyvern and pegasus wings might have held more than just ice and snow in them. It was a battlefield so far worse than what they had seen in their world, but a battlefield nonetheless.
"Sorry," she mumbled, reaching for her Killing Edge. Thank goodness the blade itself was such a bright shade of red. As long as she didn't look too closely at it, or her own clothes, she wouldn't have to think too hard about the lives she had taken or was about to take. "How far are we from Queen Timerra?"
The fliers had been sent west to deal with Queen Ivy over the mountains. Though the fell Queen's Bolting was still a threat even at this distance. Ideally, the others would keep her distracted enough for Lapis, Goldmary, and several other infantry units to capture Timerra and force a mutual surrender.
"Close by," was Goldmary's only answer, holding Lapis' face in her hands and staining her gloves as she smoothed Vulnerary over the scrapes. "We are in no rush if it puts us at peril. Remember that the Divine One told us this."
"W-Well, yeah," Lapis brows furrowed. "But that doesn't mean you can just… go off alone!"
Goldmary smiled, tracing her finger along Lapis' nose before poking the edge of it. "My my, be careful. If your Prince Alcryst heard you so worried over little ol' me instead of him…"
"G-Goldmary!" That was not a problem, as Alcryst was also part of the western force with Fogado and Etie to help shoot down the fliers. "I-It'll be fine! Just let me do my job, okay?"
Before she finished speaking, she caught sight of a Bow Knight racing toward them, a Berserker leaping from the back of the horse. Lapis shoved Goldmary out of the way, sending the Elusian into the very drift she pulled Lapis from. "I'll cut you down to size!" she shouted at the approaching enemies, before launching herself in a blinding flash to break the berserker and use an inherited skill from Emblem Marth to pivot and land two terrifyingly deadly blows on the enemy. Arterial spray hit Lapis and steamed in the snow as the soldiers crumpled at her feet; with one hand, she reached up to try and wipe the blood from her face, only smearing it like war paint instead.
It ws Goldmary's turn to stare.
"Ouch- ouch!"
"S-Sorry."
After the explosive end to the snowy battlefield, Alear had told them to return to the Somniel. A fresh group would go in, because there was more work to do, and fighting in the snow was a wear on everyone.
Goldmary had taken the brunt of a Dark Inferno from Queen Timerra, and waited until they were back in the Somniel before crying about how it made her look. The singed clothing, the frayed edges of her hair, the angry splotches of blisters across her skin….
Before Alear sent them home, she had been stuffing clumps of snow down her shirt and trying to apply cool Vulneraries to her face. It was absurd, honestly. At least back at the Somniel, they had a stockple of Elixirs that they could use.
"Might need to ask Pandreo and Lady Micaiah for some help," Lapis murmured. She knelt over Goldmary, who had stripped entirely barely and laid with a sheet across her buttocks. She had been unable to reach her back with snow or medication, and Lapis volunteered to help her out. After all, if it wasn't for her charging off to try and Break Queen Timerra who hefted the Bolt Axe, Goldmary likely wouldn't have been cooked the way she was. It was the least she could do. "I'll try to be more gentle, Goldmary."
The blue liquid, thick and cold, stretched between Lapis' fingers as she shifted her weight to better balance over Goldmary. She had her knees on either side of Goldmary's hips on the bed, and were it any other time, she would likely have been a blushing mess at the bare skinned warrior beneath her. In that situation, it likely would have had Goldmary facing her properly, and—
"OUCH! Lapis, what are you doing?"
"A-Ah! Ahhh, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to squeeze so hard—"
Shaking unsavory thoughts from her head, Lapis frowned and clenched her jaw. It was so easy to spiral when around Goldmary. Always had been, from the flirty comment sent her way on the Grand Crossing to the ever so polite "Please die" in Destinea. There was no denying, from her grace and skill that she was integral to the army. Focusing less on the feeling of the skin softening and healing under her hands, Lapis focused on making sure the layer of Elixir was spread evenly and deeply.
"Maybe I should get burned more often," Goldmary hummed, arms crossed over her chest a bit later.
"W- What?" Lapis, in the middle of wrapping bandages arount Goldmary — and trying her very absolute best not to touch her boobs — stilled. "Why?" But before Goldmary could appropriately respond, Lapis kept going, her words tumbling out of her as her shock and irritation at Goldmary's lackadaisical attitude grew. Especially considering this was the same woman who complained about ocean water in her shoes. "Don't even joke about that! I-I'll tell the Divine One not to entrust Lord Roy or Lady Camilla to you with that attitude."
She didn't bring up Emblem Celica — both women knew Goldmary had no talent for magic, anyway.
"Oh, Lapis." Goldmary laughed softly. She kept her eyes half shut as she looked over her shoulder. "Don't be silly. That's like me telling the Divine One to keep you, our strongest and only bear wrestler, off of the front lines."
Huffing indignantly through her nose, Lapis resumed her bandaging. "Still," she said. "Don't be reckless. We need you." I need you. Lapis bit the inside of her mouth, hard, against the intrusive thought.
"Oh, very well," Goldmary sighed, holding her hand to her cheek. "But only if you promise me a massage like that again, okay?"
"…wh- huh?"
Goldmary didn't repeat herself.
Tying off the bandage with trembling fingers, Lapis quickly went to wash her hands and dispose of the use Elixir bottles and other paraphernalia of medical supplies. "Just," she muttered over the clatter of dumping instruments into the sink — Jean would be livid if she didn't properly clean and sanitize things — "…just don't be reckless. And then I'll think about it?"
Sighing as she clasped her shirt closed over her bandaged skin, Goldmary approached. She slipped her arms around Lapis' waist, knowing the petite Brodian could not evade with her hands in the sink — and careful not to jostle the girl into cutting herself on accident, either. "Promise me?" she asked, her voice a breathy, giggly gust against the shell of Lapis' ear.
"I-" Lapis hunched her shoulders, screwing her eyes shut tightly. Of course, doing so reminded her of Goldmary shoving her away from the fall of fire and the steam of melting snow, the shriek of pain and anger before the smell of burnt flesh had sent Lapis' stomach roiling.
She opened her eyes. If all it took was a promise, then….
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I promise."