piers | 02. most love like hunters

[ She has a way with making principle--equal parts conviction and belief--look soft. Not the kind that is brittle and easily corrupted, but the kind that treads the footpath to salvation. People like that were rare.

He holds her gaze, blue on fearless blue. When he does close his eyes, it's to take it in rather than force her out.

It's something of a small victory. ]

"No man is an island", huh? While we're reciting clichés. You learn it the hard way, eventually. [ Like he did. He's not even sure that he believes it, entirely, but he'll be an island if it means safe harbor for those close to him. ] It's the stubborn ones who don't that get in the most trouble. Losing your measure of humanity when you think about it in terms of what's just and what isn't makes you no better than a doll.

[ I believe in you much more than that. Black, white, and porcelain. Don't mess it up. ]

Don't lose your way. [ Finally, he retracts his grasp. ] You're not anybody's soldier. Time isn't going to take that away from you.

[ lightning rarely, if not ever, stops to think about her actions or how her words affect people, so she receives his response with mild confusion, feeling she's done something but can't decipher what.

listening to him, she straightens her expression.

no better than a doll, huh? is that what she had become before...

her fingers jolt as he pulls his hand away, forgetting that she'd been holding them the whole time. she grunts lightly as she regathers composure, soldier-like despite his admonition. ]

I know. I fight for myself and for my loved ones alone, for the purpose of bringing us back together again.

[ she halts, realizing it might be a little of an insensitive answer after his telling her he killed his partner... good going. geez. she swings her head down and back up again. ]

You can fight for that too, even only for their memory.

[ Contrarily, most of what Shouta does, no matter how personally or selfishly motivated, is for the sole purpose of affecting others. To draw out the good, the human, the ugly, the desperate and the fulfilled. Dig his hands in and upturn what he could.

The Captain of the Tokkei takes no prisoners.

So her reactions do right by him and all that he stands for; he has an inkling that he might understand them better than she does. ]

What a lucky bunch. [ The friendly audacity he wears so well kindles and roars back to life when he smiles and shifts to scratch the back of his neck, rub away the tension and warm the dose of chilliness she so faithfully administers. ] You'll do it.

As for me, well. Memories... I've got better things to protect than those. People who I know are real. [ Half a lie, rooted in the terrible truth. Hypocrisy at its finest. ] That was what I decided, when I told myself I'd live again.

Lucky? [ it sounds strong, like a stamp onto a paper, a dull thud of a hand dropping to the table. it began with her, didn't it? —well, no. it didn't. but her, her sister' involvement in it all—that could have been prevented.

yet she doesn't feel that she misses her old ways. the day-in-day-out workaholic, the blinded guardian, the merciless sergeant. a person who didn't trust anyone but herself.

that life had been lonelier than it is now.

though her fists tighten, she lets it go quicker than she does her anger now and looks steadily at shouta. ]

In summary, for the future.

[ she huffs out something amused and ironic and stays quiet, pensive. until she repeats after him. ]

We'll do it.

[ then her eyes swing to the side and look around. honestly, interval dimensions... ]

Whenever we're out of here, anyway—but it's been nice seeing you again, Captain. And...talking.

[ there are some many things she's thankful for her in her heart, yet it's still troublesome say it out loud... ]

Hey. [ Shouta doesn't have the perspective to look at things the way she does, no matter how much he might try, or want to. She'd been reborn, carved out from stronger things. For Shouta, there was only the precious now and the past he'd locked away save for stolen glimpses. Just the seconds and minutes that shaped these exact moments they were living, nothing more and absolutely nothing less than that. ]

They're lucky to have you looking out for them. [ He amends, a challenging half-grin spilling across his whole expression to temper her more ruminant gaze. ] Really lucky.

[ He takes a step back from her. ]

I'll hold you to that, you know. Lightning.

[ time is unpredictable, but events have a way of coming about only at the right time. taking cue from his words of parting, a pillar of light springs up behind lightning, a tornado of gold and a doorway leading into blinding white light. the soldier turns her eyes from the flash of brightness to give shouta one last smile, a smile that matched his with its fire, hope, and determination.

Your friends are lucky too. Be seeing you then, Captain. Next time, give me a better story.

02. most love like hunters

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