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Fire seared into fabric and flesh, swallowing green into its anger. Coco grunted through the pain, her hands dragging her through the burning atelier. She found the figure with a brimmed hat at the end of the hall, the one responsible for all of this. “You!” She snarled, pulling her weight straight at them with a fiery rage in her usually warm golden eyes.
“Child of Hope, they called you!” The brimmed figure turned to find the witch glaring at them with all the strength she could muster; they grinned maniacally, their boot slamming into her hands, bones popping and cracking with a cry. “I pity; I expected more!” The witch’s face met their boot, watching blood drip from her face.
Coco could only cough out blood, her broken hand hastily casting a spell, wind and fire mixing in beautiful swirls. “Get out of my atelier!” The wind and fire around them concentrated, forming a column that hurtled straight toward the brimcap’s gut, flinging them across the burning home and into a wall. The green-haired witch pulled themself up against burning wood, hissing from the pain as she limped towards the brimcap, laying limp against the wall.
Blood gushed out of her side while her legs failed, sending her falling onto the floor, ribs making a disgusting crack, yet she pushed through, golden eyes left in a blurry haze as a wooden beam crashed against her back, an agonised scream escaping her lips while bones crunched against the weight.
“Coco!” A familiar voice shouts while her head is swimming in blurry pulses. She found the brimcap’s dark figure painfully standing and walking towards her, amused laughter escaping their lips.
“Coco! Where are you?!”
“What now, Child of Hope?” They sneered. “I'm sure they would love to find you dead. What a shame that our vessel would waste away with you.”
“Coco! Stay right where you are; I will find you!”
Coco scowled at the brimcap, her free hand gripping their skirt, only for them to pull away, disappearing in a puff of black smoke and dark laughter. “Stop!” She raged, hands digging into wooden floorboards.
Splinters painted her hand red while her vision started to black out by the minute, green and black fabric becoming stained in the pool of blood that pumped with her pulse.
“Coco!”
Golden eyes fell shut, her body limp as the wooden beam was taken off her back, arms surrounding and carrying her out. “Stay with me, Coco!”
“Stay with me, you fool! I can’t live to lose you again!”
“Coco!”
The smell of salt and sterile medical instruments filled her lungs as gold eyes slowly opened awake, finding the windows glowing dark blue outside. Coco’s entire body felt terrible, especially her back and ribs. The witch slowly sat herself up with a long groan. “Great Hall…?” She could feel the way her lungs struggled to breathe; her clothes were discarded to the nightstand, and they looked freshly cleaned. “The atelier…”
Coco looked down and found her uninjured hand being grasped tightly by two ink-stained hands. The green-haired witch looked at her side and found Agott sitting by her bedside, hunched over, asleep on top of her legs. “Oh, Agott…” She sighed, her bandaged hand carefully tangling in dark hair, pushing apart curls and silver streaks, noting the weary, exhausted look her lover had in her sleep.
Her hand continued to run itself through her hair while her free hand gently rubbed circles on Agott’s tired hands until purple slowly cracked open. “Hmm… Coco?” She whispered.
“I’m here,” Coco murmured, pulling back her injured hand while she watched Agott slowly blink awake. “I’m here.”
Agott let out a small, exhausted hum before freezing and shooting up. “Coco! You’re awake!” She breathed out, letting go of her grip on the witch’s hands; despite her relief, her face morphed into worry and irritation at once. “What were you thinking!?” She chided, her finger pointly accusatory at her lover. “Rushing into a burning house like a woman possessed—”
“They burned the atelier down.” She breathed out, her voice tired but tinged with lingering rage. “That— That brimcap!” There was so much venom in her voice it felt like she was a new person. “They burned the atelier down! I—”
“I know.” Her irritation melted back into worry as her hands gently held Coco’s shoulders. “I know, I understand, Coco—”
“No, you don’t.” Coco hissed, her hand gripped Agott’s wrist, gold eyes filled to the brim with tears. “Agott, they burned down our atelier! Our home, Agott! And they burned it down—”
“I know,” Agott repeated, gently leaning forward from the edge of the bed, her hands softly massaging her shoulders. “I know, you’re angry, I am too…” Her hands went to Coco’s cheeks, gold meeting amethyst in the dark blue light. “But our atelier is just wood and stone. We could always rebuild at any time.” Their foreheads gently met each other halfway. “But you are my heart and soul. I could never get you back.”
Coco carefully shut her eyes, feeling her lover’s hands wipe away the tears that threatened to fall onto her cheeks. “Can you…” Gold slowly flitted open, shyly snapping away from Purple. “Can you come here?”
Circling hands stopped their journey. Agott quirked an eyebrow at Coco and leaned back, sizing up the bed. “Are you sure?” She glanced back at shy eyes. “It looks quite small for the two of us.”
“Please?”
With a heavy, fond sigh, Agott took off her shoes to carefully slip into bed with Coco, being careful to not jostle her lover and her many injuries. The bed fit enough for Agott to lie on her side, her legs tangling with Coco’s own as they locked eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Coco murmured, her hands finding Agott’s to grasp. “I didn’t mean to yell at you; it was wrong of me.” She breathed softly, tugging on the raven-haired’s hand to bring her closer.
Agott accepted Coco’s request, shifting closer to the witch. “I know you didn’t mean to.” She carefully kissed weary knuckles. "I'm sorry as well." The raven-haired move to gently kiss the green crown of her lover's head. "I shouldn't have yelled at you either."
"It's okay, Agott, I know I scared you bad." The two laid in bed, still in silence, lingering on their apologies before Coco started shifting closer to Agott and her arms. “What did they say? What happened to me?” She suddenly asked, green eyes glinting in curiosity.
Bile rose to Agott’s throat, threatening to keep her away from the question. “You sustained a lot of broken bones.” She murmured, her free hands pushing green hair back. “Sinocia told me that you had broken your back and hands; you even broke two of your rib bones.”
Coco had to reel her head back, making a face that looked like she could feel how painful her injuries felt to hear. “Yeesh,” She chuckled weakly. “I must’ve looked roughed up.”
“You had so much blood…” Agott continued, her hands squeezing Coco’s uninjured one tightly. “You practically turned my shirt red.” A small, exhausted huff of laughter left her lips, the small grim humour fighting a futile attempt to make the room feel lighter."
“I had to be out for long?”
“Three days, to be precise. Tetia and Richeh came to visit a few times. So did Qifrey and Olruggio.”
“Qifrey? Coming here to the Great Hall?” Coco let out a wry giggle against Agott’s shoulder. “Was it that bad?”
“It was.” The raven-haired witch hummed against green hair. “I thought his hair would somehow turn whiter.” The two fell into soft snickers at the jab.
“Oh, don’t do Qifrey like that.” She shifted her body again, noting how Agott’s hands quickly came to make sure she didn’t jostle her bandages. “I’m surprised he hasn’t gone bald from the stress.”
Agott snorted and gently pushed Coco back, a small smile forming on her face. “Maybe you should look at yourself first before chiding me.” She felt her heart grow lighter from hearing the soft laughter her lover made. “Do you want me to tie your hair?” She slowly pushed herself up, looking at how Coco nodded.
She leaned over, getting the hair ties before carefully bringing Coco up. Her hands moved carefully while she fixed green strands. “You really did scare me though,” Agott whispered. “I thought you were going to die.”
“I know.” She breathed out, relaxing against Agott’s hands. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” The raven-haired whispered, gently kissing Coco’s bandaged shoulder with a long hum. Her hands were still busy tying the witch’s hair. “I’m just glad you’re alive.” With a final knot, she pulled ink-stained hands back at the pony-tail. “There, all done.”
“Thank you, love.” She whispered before falling into Agott’s arms back in bed, her body melting into the light embrace. “And thank you for saving me.” She leaned back to find her lover’s face.
“Of course,” Agott mumbled gently, feeling Coco’s hand on her cheek while her arm snaked around to meet the small of her back. “We are supposed to look out for each other, are we not?”
“Yeah,” Coco whispered, leaning up while Agott leaned down. “We’ll always protect each other.” She hummed before the two reunited in the middle, their lips about to meet when the door suddenly pushed open.
Gold and Amethyst cracked open and snapped at the source, finding Sinocia standing in the doorway with a knowing smile. “Sinocia!” Coco yelped, pushing Agott off the bed, who grunted in surprise.
“Am I interrupting something?” She chuckled, watching Agott spring upright, blushing wildly, while Coco stood frozen, equally red as her lover.
“Well… I, I suppose—”
She sighed softly. “You know what, at least you two are doing better than your masters at that age.” Sinocia huffed affectionately as a few other nurses came into the room. “But as sweet as this moment is, I need you lovebirds to stay away for a while.” She gestured to the nurses approaching Coco. “We need to do another checkup on Coco.”
“Oh,” Agott hummed and gently took Coco’s hand, kissing the knuckles with quick fervour. “I’ll be just outside. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Coco smiled, their hands slowly letting go as Agott disappeared outside, but not before one last glance until the door closed.
“We’re glad you’re awake now, Coco.” She could hear Sinocia’s breath of relief. “How are you feeling?”
“So much better.”