[color=gray][CENTER][url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6ufDdjf2R6dPkerMixEzDx?si=b84532ed661642fb][img]https://i.imgur.com/r8gXLww.jpeg[/img][/url][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=978184][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Ünterland.[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=#978184][b]Human #5.098:[/b][/COLOR] [I]vertigo.[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][center][sup][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#928b85]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#9b948d]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#928b85]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][/sup][/center][INDENT][sub][color=#978184][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR]&[/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=#978184][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [color=gray][I]Reunion.[/I][/color][/right][/SUP]
[indent][INDENT]He fucking smiled at her, and if that hadn’t sent her heart into a fluttering mess caught betwixt the rungs of her ribs, then his voice would’ve done just that: implanted so cruelly within her chest that she had almost forgotten what it sounded like. But there it ruptured and burst and fell through her body as she trembled, a slow smile shuddering across her face, a bite of something barely restrained as she clutched at the capes of the cloak and pulled them tautly closed, her knuckles gone pale. Hot, wet anger rushed through her as if magmatic wrath come to life; it pricked at her eyes and lashes where emotion welled and suddenly hollowed out the void of her soul into remnants of yearning as Amma heatedly answered.

	[color=#978184]  “Hey there, [/color][color=#978184][i]Casanova[/i][/color][color=#978184].” [/color]

She couldn’t place this sudden, unbidden rage, and she didn’t care who (not even with their current audience) witnessed her struggle to temper this wrath that slowly sluiced through her veins. Amma’s eyes devoured Gil entirely, leaving nothing to be unstudied or remembered, but when she noticed the stump that was his remaining arm, her rage intensified and stole away her breath as both shoulders rose and fell on her quickening pant. He may not have died, but he did not come out wholly unscathed. Gil was here; he had come for her, as no one had ever done before, but at what cost? Did such an inquiry of price truly matter when everything that had happened thus far had been so steeply lost by the revelations of a name?

He scrambled up out of the dirt, brushing Kylmie aside as he swallowed up her entirety in a fierce embrace. Kylmie simply let him, turning her attention to the salve she had requested and doing her best to treat Hornet. Gil clutched Amma to his chest for a long while, savouring the feel of her body in his arms, the scent of her hair swirling about his head, taking each and every sensory input as [i]yes, yes, this is her, she is real and she is here and we have [/i][i][b]found[/b][/i][i] her[/i], triumphant and consoling simultaneously. There were only a few small shakes that wracked both figures as small tears were shed, and then he managed to pull himself back and plant his forehead to hers. His one hand took hers, lacing their fingers, woven through each other like such a long-ago night under such a less perturbing moon; gently, his stump rested just above her hip, as inconspicuous as he could make it. 
	[color=#fce205]"I'm here, Amma. I found you. I'm with you."[/color]

[center][color=#fce205][i]I’m here.[/i][/color][/center]

The void within her began to crack; fine-lined fissures suddenly burst and swelled, scoured and carved and glimmering amber-yellow through the darkness of her heart and the dregs of rage that churned bitterly still through her heaving chest. 

[center][i][color=#fce205]I found you.[/color][/i][/center]

Had he? Here and now, and back then. The scent of him coiling through her head, the warmth of his embrace so stark and alarming against the chill of her body, that it wrecked a shudder through her entire frame. Her arms held him fiercely, possessively, her nails scraped against the quaking lines of his back and held there as if he were a phantom of her waking world.

[center][i][color=#fce205]I’m with you.[/color][/i][/center]

	[color=#978184]“What, how- Why?” [/color]Her voice broke, the usual assuredness of her accent bubbled and churned as her teeth clenched and her breath faltered. The whisper of her confusion suddenly wrought a keening sound that she immediately smothered against her palm, her other so graciously held within his own. Amma’s eyes honed and dug deep into the faded blue of his stare, the shimmering emotion encapsulated and usually restrained suddenly welled over and fell as tears she could not stop. Anger, pain, and desire made a muddled mess of her heart- her soul. Her hand fell away from her mouth and shook. 

	[color=#978184]“I saw it tear you apart. I [/color][i][color=#978184]felt[/color][/i][color=#978184] it. [/color][i][color=#978184]I thought you were dead[/color][/i][color=#978184].”[/color]

Gil pressed his lips to hers, passion mixing with tears in an intense, rapturous alchemy. He cradled her cheek with his hand, softly tracing delicate fingers down her jaw and throat, while his other arm matched her ferocity and held her fast against him. When they finally broke apart, Gil could only smile, his breath hot and his eyes glistening.
	[color=#fce205]"I know. I know. I'm sorry. Another Gil died where I should have. I wish I could have been here sooner. I searched for you for months, for so long I stopped believing I'd find you at all."[/color]

He took some long moments to breathe, to settle, to just [i]look[/i] at her, fierce eyes and gritted teeth and clenched fists; she looked even more ravenous than he remembered, a knife that had been honed beyond sharpness. How he wanted to soften her edges, fold comfort and respite around her, and take away the torment that was built into her bones.
	[color=#fce205]"I came with others; Lorcán and Aurora. We were led by Ellara. I got separated; I don't know how long I've been walking. Hor-[/color][i][color=#fce205]Abelle[/color][/i][color=#fce205] says time doesn't work how you expect it to here."[/color]

[i]Months.[/i] 

She knew it to be true, Kylmie had said as much, but to hear it confirmed and tumbled from his lips that had been passionately molded against hers still plunked a stone betwixt her ribs and left it there to plummet further into the lingering shadows of despair and anger. Her shoulders rose and fell, every quick, harsh pant of her breath pluming white between them, she felt heated and frigid all at once, fire and ice writhing through her veins, his touch damning and inspiring all at once in one fell swoop of an emotion she could not name. 

	[color=#978184]“Aurora is here,”[/color] Amma breathed. She smudged the heel of her palm across her cheek, her tears unbound and unchecked, her voice watery and deep. [color=#978184]“Kylmie said the same thing: time is different here. I fell.”[/color] She manacled her fingers around his arms, held him tightly in a vice, refused to let go as she lowered her eyes and continued: [color=#978184]“I was trapped in the dark. Again.”[/color]

	[color=#978184]“I don’t know how much time passed, I almost didn’t make it, but I did. I got out this time.” [/color]

Amma lifted her eyes, the lingering touches of a forgotten hope glimmering through the cape of her lashes as she admired the lines of his face, his jaw, his lips. He was aged, just as she was. Back and forth, she studied him in sluggish increments, down and up, ticking away at every piece of him- even the remainder of his arm. Amma didn’t hesitate to coil her palm down, edging close to where his arm should’ve been, her gesture splayed and curled, more spindling heat firing away through the pads of her fingers. She wouldn’t ask what happened, a part of her already knew. She didn’t recognize the name Abelle, but everything and everyone fell away into a fogged backdrop. A memory resurfaced, glimmering in hues of gold and yellow, merged seamlessly and fervidly with whispers of a scarlet promise.

	[color=#978184]“You said my name.”[/color]

Gil leaned forward, gently tucking her hair behind her ear with a delicate finger and brushing his lips against her lobe as he hovered in her periphery and whispered:
	[color=#fce205][sup]"Ammaranthe.",[/sup][/color] and placed a soft kiss on the nape of her neck just behind her ear as if to emphasise it. 

	[color=#fce205]"I did,"[/color] he continued, leaning back to look her in the eyes. [color=#fce205]"I think you[/color][color=#fce205][i] told[/i][/color][color=#fce205] me, in one way or another. Something connecting us, uninvited but undeniable. Look-"[/color]
He raised his hand, showing the modest ring nestled around his finger.[color=#fce205] "This...[/color][color=#fce205][i]brought[/i][/color][color=#fce205] me to you. It's how I found you. How I knew [/color][color=#fce205][i]where[/i][/color][color=#fce205] to find you. Another connection."[/color]

	[color=#978184]“How did you…”[/color] Her breath fell into a whisper and gradually faded by the immediate shock she felt at seeing the ring worn on his finger. Her nape burned where his kiss marked her skin, and slid through her body in a shudder. More connections, more delicate threads that inadvertently bound them together, all fused under the revelations discovered in a kiss. A wedding of two souls, riddled with unspoken vows, the glimpse of self presented unwillingly but laid bare. He found the forbidden name once stolen from her, unknowingly gave it back, and before her stood a man unlike all the Gils she had seen in her nightmares. This was him, as he was, as she knew he could be. It all seared and marked and branded her heart, the fissure of her despair and malcontent riddled in the touches of intimacy and kindness.

	[color=#978184]“That’s my mother’s ring.”[/color] Amma informed him, touching her fingers carefully to the worn bronzes and golds, the red gem flickering under her gesture. A spark of energy arced through her palm and glittered in familiar hues of red where the faintest touches of amber wore into the shade delicately. She had felt a similar signature before.

	[color=#978184]“The flower. The one you made at the dance. I still have it. It felt like this, too, as if waiting for something.”[/color] Amma pulled through her braided hair and mussed the strands around her shoulders, the length and mass settled down back as she pulled out the familiar arrangement, still intact and whole, pristine as it had been when first copied, now nestled within her scarred palm.

Gil plucked the flower from Amma's palm, twisting it in his fingers as he marveled at its existence.
	[color=#fce205]"This...shouldn't be here. This should have disintegrated a [/color][color=#fce205][i]long[/i][/color][color=#fce205] time ago. Even if it was fresh, this place disrupts hazies; it should have been torn apart at the atomic level as soon as it crossed over..."[/color]
He broke into a smile, then a chuckle, and then couldn't help but guffaw, a loud and joyous sound that echoed out. He neatly tucked the flower back into Amma's braid and pulled her in once more.
	[color=#fce205]"I'm so glad you're safe."[/color] He said, his voice muffled amidst her hair.[color=#fce205] "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't...if I couldn't find you."[/color]
He chuckled again, letting out a breath he felt he'd been holding for the last three months.
[color=#fce205]"I was only half-convinced any of it was even [/color][color=#fce205][i]real.[/i][/color][color=#fce205] Part of me was expecting to wake up one day and discover I'd just been dreaming. But seeing you here - holding you. [/color][color=#fce205][i]Touching[/i][/color][color=#fce205] you; it's all real. This place is real. Abelle's real. [/color][color=#fce205][i]You're[/i][/color][color=#fce205] real."[/color]

Their combined and shared sorrows and tension slowly bled out into one another, and Amma marveled at the comfort found in the bracket of his arms, the way her frame immediately loosened, all bunched muscles and intensity melding into sweet coils that shuddered through her. Gil’s laughter trickled down her body, a sound she thought she’d never hear again, his voice a welcoming timbre that balanced against her eternal rage and sought to tame it. 

	[color=#978184]“You’re real,”[/color] Amma muttered and ran scarred palms up the lines of his back, tracked over the links in his spine with her fingers, and held onto him as if she had all the time in the world to just be as she was: a girl in the arms of a boy. [color=#978184]“You’re alive.” [/color]A sensation fluttered and dove through her belly, which inspired her arms to tighten around him in reflex; a part of her wanted to hear her name whispered to her over and over again, to perhaps lay claim to pieces of her heart and soul denied to her for years and lost to the dark.

However, circumstances would not allow them moments of reprieve, despite all passionate emotion, as Kylmie entered Amma’s peripheral vision.

	[color=ffffff]“She’s healed, for now.”[/color] She informed Gil quietly, mindful of her granddaughter in his arms. She, being who Amma had to assume was this Abelle person he had mentioned twice now, her gaze tracked and flicked to where she spotted her chitinous body and iridescent wings, one of which was utterly shredded. Part of her should’ve been surprised, but Ünterland had shown her all manner of beasts and creatures, and whilst there was a story here to be named and told, Amma found herself dis-entangling from Gil’s embrace to allow him to talk to Kylmie.

	[color=#fce205]"Thank you,"[/color] Gil said as he uncoiled his arms from about Amma's waist, but let his hand linger to hold hers, standing by her side and proffering a gentle squeeze to reassure her he wasn't going anywhere, this time. 

	[color=ffffff]“I do apologize for the way you were brought to us. Had we known…”[/color] Kylmie carefully regarded Amma, who met her inquiring gaze briefly before she glanced away into the distance, neither confirming nor denying their familial connection. [color=ffffff]“Well, either way. We’ve managed to stave off some of the damage, but she will need rest. She can do so under...observation."[/color] 

	[color=#fce205]"Still? She's not Hornet, anymore. She's not dangerous. Abelle can be trusted."[/color]

His defense fell on deaf ears.
	[color=ffffff]"[i]Trust[/i] is earned, and despite your...ties, you are still a stranger, and your companion owes much reparation to my people. Hornet, 'Abelle' - whoever she may be, well-intentioned or not; she will [i]always[/i] be dangerous."[/color]

Gil's face hardened, and he was about to respond in kind, but Kylmie saw it coming and halted him before he began with a stern look and solemn hand.
	[color=ffffff]"We are under siege, and we are being asked to harbour strangers and enemies alike. My coven is tense, and they have good reason to be; let me allow them this one comfort. If she is as you claim, I am sure she will be understanding."[/color]

Gil scrunched his nose; it was only Amma returning a squeeze in kind that cracked his shell.
	[color=#fce205]"Fine. But I'm not happy about it. I want to know as soon as she wakes up."[/color]
	
	[color=ffffff]"Noted."[/color] Kylmie answered, silently relieved. [color=ffffff]"I think it best you rest yourself; we can rouse you both as needed. The dragon could return in the next few hours, or maybe another day from now, depending on how fast it can regather strength; we need to ensure we are ready to match it in kind.”[/color] 

At the mention of the dragon, Gil felt goosebumps erupt across Amma, the slightest shudder crossing her body. She spoke, her voice strong, belying the fear underneath.
	[color=#978184]“If I’m not here by the time it comes back, it’ll have no reason to attack, maybe. I can look for Ellara,” [/color]Amma offered, determination brightening her eyes. Sleep was far away from her mind.

	[color=#fce205]“N[/color][color=ffffff]o.”[/color] Gil and Kylmie answered swiftly, simultaneously. They looked to each other, Gil allowing Kylmie the space to continue.
	[color=ffffff]“I won’t allow you to put yourself in danger like that. This risk is too great.”[/color]
	[color=#fce205]"I've come all this way to find you and bring you home, Amma; if that beast found you, and I wasn't there..." [/color]he trailed off, unwilling to put more words to the terrible potentials. He had yet to forgive himself for the events of the dance; he couldn't fathom losing her again. [color=#fce205]"You don't have to confront your monsters [/color][i][color=#fce205]alone[/color][/i][color=#fce205] anymore."[/color]

Amma flinched but said nothing to that, a defiance nestled there in her stance before Kylmie rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, matching her gaze and recognizing three generations of fire pooled therein.
	[color=ffffff]“If you lure it away, it will devour you, and come back for the coven all the same. Ellara will find us, and hopefully she can help you all go home before the dragon returns. We will be fine.”[/color]

She stepped back again, now gesturing toward the hut Amma had emerged from. 
	[color=ffffff]"Now, I suggest you return to your rest; our homes are open to you, Gil, as they have been to my granddaughter. The repairs are near-complete; we must take these quiet moments to remember why we weather the storms.  I'm sure you have much to catch up on,"[/color] she said, a jovial edge entering her tone and a warm smile creeping across her face, [color=ffffff]"and I'm sure we can afford you both your privacy for one night, at least."[/color]

Gil returned the smile, and as Kylmie drifted away to return to the coven's work, he was sure he saw her wink.

[/INDENT][/INDENT][/indent][/color]