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thejusticelounge2014-03-30 08:59 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2014-03-30 08:59 pm
string your bows with red, arm your daughters with violet
Roy opens up the front door to Mar’i’s apartment with his key, several plastic bags over his wrists, three boxes of Krispy Kreme in his hands as he toes the door open.
Mari glances over her shoulder from the couch. There’s a college basketball game on her TV, but Mar’i seems more interested in the updates on her League comm. “Watch out for Pop—” she begins, but the lizard is already gliding towards him before she can finish, scrambling up onto his head like a crown.
Roy sets the donuts down on the counter even as Mar’i begins to speak, and he exhales, smiling quickly as Poppy clambers down for a kiss. He kisses the top of her head and removes a donut, placing it on the box for her. He walks over to Mar’i, and kisses the top of her head, sitting down next to her. “How are you feeling?”
Mari watches him for a moment. “I’m fine.” She glances back at the comms, then up at the TV. “I’m okay,” she amends, before looking back at Roy. “I’m sorry.”
Roy swallows, and bounces his knee a bit, exhaling. “Kyle texted me.” He reaches out and sets a hand over her knee, squeezing.
Mari nods her head. “That’s what I’m sorry about.”
Roy ’s face twists in a dark pantomime of his normal expression and he moves closer to her, on the couch, both his hands moving to curl around his elbows. “..why.”
Mari glances at an update on her comm before speaking again. “Because I didn’t know it had bothered you that much, and I didn’t do anything to help.”
Roy moves his hand to her comm and pushes it away from her side, pulling and pushing until Mar’i has to look at him. “It didn’t.. It’s not that it bothered me, Mar’i.” He takes a long, shallow breath in. “And you couldn’t have helped me with it.”
Mari furrows her eyebrows, deeply crinkling the dark skin between them. “Okay,” she says, “we don’t have to talk about it anymore.”
Roy repeats what she says, unthinking. “We don’t—” Hurt, genuine and deep, cuts him to the core and he nods, once, before releasing her elbows. Rising, he pushes it back—a learned instinct, a necessary one—and walks over to the counter where Poppy is still eating the donut, to unpack the groceries, silently.
Mari turns back on the couch, alternating her attention between comm and TV again.
Roy reaches over and pets Poppy’s head as he twists the plastic bags into neat triangles for disposal at the recycling bin. He moves around the island, towards the hallway for the bathroom. “Gonna shower, be right back.”
Mari nods her head. “Okay.”
Roy ducks into the towel closet, grabbing a new towel, before he disappears into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself. He doesn’t lock it, and doesn’t bother to worry about running out of hot water, it seems: he cranks the shower on high before he bothers to start stripping.
Mari pulls her knees to her chest, staring at the game like it’s going to unlock some deep wisdom, before she rolls her head a little, looking down the hallway towards where Roy’s gone. She stands, moving to the kitchen to examine the groceries, to try to find something he’s put in the wrong place so she can move it, but nothing’s out of place, nothing’s—. Mar’i opens the donut box with the intention of fetching the most sprinkle-y baked good inside, but the smell turns her already-fragile stomach. After a moment, she looks back down the hall, then turns bare feet towards it, taking small steps towards the bathroom.
Roy scrubs his skin a bit harder than necessary, opening the sliding glass doors to step out and grab his razor blade. He steps back into the shower, lathering with some of Mari’s soap. He doesn’t notice it, doesn’t realize that when he starts to shave, it’s Ollie’s process. Starting at the mid-flare of his jaw and down, the Van Dyke appears under the cloudy puffs of soap, like something uncovered by the steam of the hot water.
Roy sets the razor down in the little grooved space inside the shower wall, bringing his hand up to the stop of his skull, and squeegees the water and soap off his face, a sob wrinkling his features as he shakes his head.
Roy exhales through his mouth, a sharp puff of air.
Mari lingers in front of the bathroom door, moving between it and her bedroom, where Poppy has taken up a position on her window, staring out at the night and the passing lights of helicopters and planes coming into the airport. She watches the lizard for a moment, then wanders back to the bathroom, and opens the door. “I got to take the bandages off,” she announces, unprompted, over the shower’s din, then rubs at her face in the warm steam.
Roy nods, even though she can’t see it, and grabs some shampoo to scrub at his head. “..How was it?”
Mari glances over at herself in the foggy mirror. After a moment, she shifts, laying her hip against the sink. “I wanted to show you,” she says quietly.
Roy clears his throat. “Yeah, lemme just finish up here.”
Mari stares at the shower for a moment, then leaves the bathroom, shutting the door a little too hard in her wake.
Roy winces as the door slams and rinses the shampoo out of his hair, and out from under his arms, behind his knees.. He steps out of the shower, and moves to the mirror to wipe it own and trim the edges of his chin hairs. Then, towel slung over his hips, he walks out to the living room. “Sorry,” he states, unsure of why she slammed the door.
Mari is sitting on the couch again, although now she’s crossed her legs and arms. “Don’t apologize,” she says, tightly.
Roy adds, lamely. “Had shampoo in my hair?”
Roy exhales. “Do you want me to go, Mar’i? I can get dressed.”
Mari purses her lips. “No,” she says, finally.
Mari bunches up her shoulders. “Of course I don’t want you to go.”
Roy gestures to the bedroom, with a hard and firm open hand. “Can I go get dressed, or is that gonna be a problem too?”
Mari spins on the couch, expression dark. “Why are you acting like I’m being some tremendous bitch?! X’HAL, I didn’t fucking ask him to tell me, Roy, if that’s why you’re pissed!”
Roy grits his teeth, and his voice spikes up. “You’re the one who SLAMMED the door when I had to WASH the shampoo outta my HAIR!!”
Mari ”And you stomped off to go take a shower and didn’t even bother to ask if I wanted to join!” Mar’i looks half-defeated, half-enraged.
Roy bites down on his tongue but doesn’t lower his voice. “—first off, I didn’t stomp anywhere, and second, you looked a helluvalot more interested in your damned comm than talking to me!”
Roy continues, because he’s been unstoppered, and he doesn’t know any better. “..we don’t HAVE to talk about something that bothered me because you can’t help me, so why the fuck does it matter, right?”
Mari throws up her hands. “There are fucking Psions on the planet, Roy, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m concerned as shit that the fuckers that tortured my mother just crash-landed a goddamn ship into Hawaii!” She brings them back down, pinching handfuls of cushion underneath her grip. “If I’m bothering you, and I can’t help you, what am I supposed to do?! Throw your best friend under the bus and tell you all the shit he told me the same way he did to you? Sorry if I think your secrets deserve a little goddamn more dignity than that!”
Roy ’s voice goes higher, and the color rises in his cheeks, flushing over his temples and down his jaw. “Bothering you?! Is that what fucking Kyle said?!”
Roy ’s voice spikes higher and he moves closer to her, until he is nearly in front of the television, his hand holding the knot of his towel over his hips. “You’re not BOTHERING me.. Nothing you’ve done has BOTHERED me, up until you started slamming the doors!!” His face twists. “I don’t know WHAT the fuck Kyle told you, and I don’t even wanna know, because this is it, Mar’i, okay?”
Roy ”This is the straight goddamn truth: I went home that day thinking about us, thinking about YOU and thinking about ME, and how everything could change, and I didn’t feel—”
Mari goes pale, her features falling. “This is it?” she begins, then realizes what she’s misheard. “No, I don’t—Roy, STOP.” Mar’i’s shoulders fall. “He shouldn’t have told me anything, and you shouldn’t have to tell me, either. I don’t have to know everything.” She rubs her face with both hands, leaning over. “I just…”
Roy ’s voice raises up until he is outright shouting. “—I WANT EVERYTHING WITH YOU.”
Roy stops, and turns, going back, away, and towards the bedroom.
Mari raises her head back up, still pale, and watches him.
Roy shouts from the bedroom: “I WANT EVERYTHING WITH YOU.”
Roy ”—AND I KNOW THAT IF YOU WANT IT, TOO, WE’LL HAVE IT!!”
Roy opens and then slams a dresser drawer.
Mari parts her lips, a shuddering breath slipping out, and her attempt to not say what Kyle told her, to not be that person that— Mar’i makes it off the couch, but she doesn’t get as far as the kitchen island. “He said he’d never seen you that sad,” she croaks, breaking her promise to herself, fingers trembling on the granite. “He’s your best friend and he said you were so sad…”
Roy comes back, and he has a shirt in his hands, but hasn’t actually gotten dressed and his eyes are blazing, bright and wet. “Yeah, I was.” His voice cracks, but he swallows, pushes on. “I was fuckin’ sad as all shit because you looked tiny in that bed, and I couldn’t go—”
Roy ’s voice wavers, like there’s an earthquake happening, some vibration making his throat quiver. “I couldn’t go in and make sure it was okay, couldn’t stop it from happening, so I was sad, but why the fuck—”
Roy grits his teeth. “—why you, one of the best women I’ve ever met, ever had to even GO through this, so YEAH, I was fucking sad, but I thought..”
Mari sinks down, leaning her elbows and forehead against the countertop and taking slow gulps of air. “The idea of not being…of not making you happy, that…that X’Hal, it just…destroys me. More than some stupid surgery, or stupid i-infertility, or anything that can happen to me, because there’s always you, but if you’re not…” Mar’i shudders.
Roy moves to her, faster than he’s been the whole evening, and sinks with her, moving his arms around her body. He kisses the top of her head, the deep, lustrous purple of her hair. “..you make me happy, god, Mar’i.." He kisses her ear. "..you make me happy but the world doesn’t always." He drops his voice, whispering, as he continues to kiss her, all over her shoulder, even down her arm. He kneels against the floor, his towel staying in place. "..I was feeling.. powerless." Roy smirks. "..more powerless than normal, I guess."
Mari ”I’m sorry,” Mar’i croaks against his neck, “I’m so sorry I didn’t ask how you were feeling about it. I don’t want you to ever feel powerless, because that’s—” She sucks in a breath, choking on the saliva and tears clogging her throat, “—that’s the opposite of what you are. I’m sorry.”
Roy shakes his head. “..you don’t have to. It’s not about me.” He nuzzles his mouth against her neck, kissing the soft skin under her jaw, behind her ear. “..I’m pissed with Kyle ‘cause it wasn’t never about me.” The slip in his language is childish, but Roy doesn’t notice it. “..it’s always been about you, baby girl.” He lifts his hands, to cup her face, his expression flushed and still damp from his shower. From feeling. He kisses her nose and chin, cheeks. “..and how you are.” He presses his lips against hers, slowly. “Do you want to show me, now?”
Mari clutches at his hands with her own, returning his kisses with her own between shuddered gasps. “You should,” she begins, “you should go put clothes on first.” Mar’i smiles, albeit weakly. “I’m not…cleared for sex until Wednesday and I think taking my shirt off while you’re naked is a—” She kisses at his cupid’s bow, then jawline. “—a very bad idea.”
Roy nods and rises up, to go and do just that: get dressed. He comes back, in record time, in only boxers and a shirt, and dumps his towel on the edge of the bed before scooping around to Mar’i. He kisses her again, a hand settling against her waist, right where it is the narrowest.
Mari laughs playfully. “You haven’t been getting dressed that fast for school,” she teases, even as she guides him to the couch, guides him down onto it, guides herself down onto him. “I like it,” she says, sitting up and staring down at him. “So if you don’t, tough titty.”
Roy blinks. “Like what?”
Mari blinks at him. “The scar, Roy.”
Roy laughs. “I thought you meant my—nevermind,” he grins, but slowly subdues the expression into something softer, nodding. “Showme?” He asks, and punctuates the question with a kiss to her lower lip.
Mari nods her head against his lips, fingers dipping down to grab at the bottom of her baggy sweatshirt, tugging it up over the crest of her shorts. She pushes at the button of those, twisting her head in annoyance at the flickering light bouncing through her apartment from the tall windows. “Stupid helicopters,” she mutters, before Poppy makes an awful sound from the top of the kitchen cabinets, and a red light beams straight through the apartment, over the couple. Scanning.
Mari scrambles up, putting a hand out in front of her face to block the light. “What the—”
Roy blinks when the light makes it’s way into the apartment, his eyes having been focused on Mar’i’s fingers the whole time. But, when the light shoots in, red and sharp, and Poppy makes the sound she does, Roy loops an arm around Mar’i’s waist and hauls her, up. “OUT!”
Roy reaches out with his other hand for Mar’i’s comm and depresses the record button, even as he struggles with pushing power into his legs.
Head of Queensguard The light subsides almost immediately, once it’s run up and down all the walls and floors of Mar’i’s apartment. There is silence for a moment, and something dark is clearly outside, floating in front of the windows, blocking their view of other neighboring buildings. Then, three spots on the floor light up, like something from a Star Trek movie. The bodies appear quickly, pixelated, then razor-sharp, each almost seven feet tall and wearing thick, but sparse armor. The middle one, the leader, cocks his head and raises a blaster at the couple. “Vo’q rhull Mariand’r.”
Mari yelps at Roy’s manhandling, moving with him as he scrambles away from the windows, but freezes at the intruders. “Roy,” she rasps, pushing at him, “Roy, get out.”
Mari ”Take Poppy and get out.”
Roy snaps back at her. “I’m not fuckin’ going anywhere!!” He looks over at the three, and lifts the comm. “If you can hear this, it’s Arsenal. I’m in San Francisco with Nightstar—” He looks over at the intruders. “..the Spice Girls are having reunion tour in our living room.”
Roy pulls his arm around Mar’i’s middle tighter and looks back for Poppy, jerking his head towards them, to get the small alien to join them. He pushes Mar’i back, behind his hip, uncaring that he is barefoot, in boxers, with no weapon.
Roy Roy’s been in worse situations.
Queensguard 1 moves forward, even as the other two stay still. “VO’Q RHULL MARIAND’R,” he yells, like he’s talking to a child. “Mahar’ba deq akrul!” He keeps moving forward, his own blaster aimed at the two until he’s close enough to aim at one. He grins at Roy, aiming the blaster between his eyes. He doesn’t have to be close to make the shot, not with a weapon like this.
Roy lips curl, back, over his teeth in a feral grin and he narrows his eyes at the Queensguard. “Betcha you’re feelin’ lucky, huh, coming in and surprising us like this while we’re in our skivvies?”
Mari makes an awful noise, like something dying as she struggles against Roy’s grip. “NO, Roy, they’re—” She holds up her hands, trying to shield him from the blaster, trying to keep the peace. “Etu’k Mariand’r! Etu’k! Roy, stop—” Mar’i seems to choke on her own words, “—he doesn’t understand you, they’re not allowed to absorb other languages—”
Queensguard 1 snarls up his nose, clearly not understanding Roy’s words, but certainly understanding the venom behind them. He glances back at the leader, saying something in a laughing, snarling tone before he powers up the blaster, its glow a bright and unsettling green.
Roy pulls Mar’i back, and behind him fully, holding his hands out, palms up. “..come on. Come on.” He pushes her back, herds her back, away from them, casting his gaze over his shoulder. “Who are they?!” He turns to look at them, eyes still narrowed. “WHO ARE YOU?”
Mari holds up her own hand, fiery purple. Whatever she yells next is gluttural, clicking and ferocious, and she pushes against Roy until she’s out from behind him. She casts a glance at the middle man, then looks back at Roy. “They’re Tamaraneans,” she spits. “They’re telling me to go with them.”
Roy ’s color switches, from deathly pale to a livid red, and he turns his hand around Mar’i’s other hand, the one not glowing. “Why????”
Roy Then., immediately after, and before he gets his answer: “I’m going with you.”
Mari clearly doesn’t know either, but shakes her head.
Roy tightens his grip on her arm. “Mar’i.” He grits his teeth. “Don’t you fuckin’ leave me behind, that’s not how this works.”
Roy ’s grip is near-panicked and he repeats: “Don’t leave me behind.”
Roy tightens his grip on her arm. “Mar’i.” He grits his teeth. “Don’t you fuckin’ leave me behind, that’s not how this works.”
Roy ’s grip is near-panicked and he repeats: “Don’t leave me behind.”
Head of Queensguard takes a step forward, now, observing his soldier and Mar’i’s standoff, and removes a globe-like device from his pocket. “Poq’r mea kuyurl’l,” he begins, depressing a button on its side before he tosses it towards her, an alien script floating up on the holographic screen that appears.
Mari ”I’m not—” Mar’i begins, voice shaking as it tries to stay between what it needs to comfort him and what it needs to keep the impetuous Tamaranean’s finger off the trigger. She stares at the words, going quiet.
Roy tries to decipher it as well, but it’s impossible. “What does it say, baby?”
Queensguard 1 sneers at the tone of Roy’s voice, at the expression on Mar’i’s face.
Mari slowly puts down her hand, the bright color dissipating from it, and from her face, too. Her fingers are trembling when she looks up at the leader and says something in Tamaranean, half composed of clicks and pleading tones.
Head of Queensguard nods.
Mari takes off towards her bedroom at break-neck speed, dragging Roy with her.
Roy goes with—eyes cutting daggers at that one soldier— no dragging involved, but slams the door shut when they are inside. “Mar’i— Mar’i—” He scoops his hands around her elbows. “What’s going on? Talk to me!”
Mari looks around her room, rubbing her face so hard it leaves pressure marks around her forehead, her eyes. “Something’s wrong, Roy,” she begins, before she’s moving around again, searching for long pants in her closet. “X’Hal, I should’ve known, fucking Psions…”
Mari hoists Poppy up from where she’s wrapped herself around the woman’s left calf. “Don’t let her explode,” she says, voice trembling as she kisses the little lizard and puts her up on Roy’s shoulder.
Roy takes the cue to start getting dressed, too: shrugging on jeans and one of her shirts, Sailor Moon in pink. “What kinda wrong?” He inquires, his voice hitching a bit as he shoves his feet into boots, watching Mar’i carefully. “..pecans instead walnuts, or don’t drink the Kool-Aid wrong?” He takes Poppy, wrapping her around his neck, and kisses Mar’i’s mouth, hands moving to grip her elbows, pull her up tight.
Roy grits his teeth, half-shaking her. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Mari is shivering by the time she runs her fingers over his face. “You have to promise me you’ll go to class,” she begins, trembling, “you have to promise you won’t skip, okay?” She moves her hands down to his jawline, staring at him, and it’s clear from the look in her eyes, the way she runs over his features, that’s she’s trying to commit him to memory.
Mari says, in a half-sob. “I shouldn’t have gone to the Outpost, I knew they were going to find me, but I—” She bites her lip, chews on the soft pink skin. “I…I just got drafted for the Tamaranean Armada.”
Roy bursts out, his voice high and trembling, and he sounds all of fifteen when he demands. “What the FUCK does that MEAN?!”
Roy hasn’t processed her request yet, what she wants him to promise, is just attempting to push down the images that pop up into his head with the word ‘armada’ attached to them.
Mari shakes her head, shhing him. “Tamaran’s gone to war,” she mutters, turning her head at the sound of the men in the living room speaking.
Roy tightens his grip over her elbows, to the point they will bruise, no doubt. “..but.. but you’re half, you’re not even—” His eyebrows shoot up. “You’re not even from this universe!!”
Mari ”They…all Tamaraneans of age are drafted if war is declared, no exceptions. We don’t consider blood in the same way…” She lets out a soft noise. “I told Ryand’r who I was when I was on the Outpost. I needed him to trust me.”
Roy states flatly: “Say you can’t.”
Roy ”Say we need you here. We do. The League.. All of Earth, we need you to stay.” He clears his throat. “You have an obligation to stay.”
Roy curls his hand over her own, bringing it up and he kisses the tips of her fingers, her knuckles. “..you have to stay here.”
Mari shakes her head. “It doesn’t work like that, Roy. It’s mandatory. They’ll take me if I don’t go, they’ll—” She swallows. “They’ll kill anyone who tries to stop them. They’ve been sitting in fucking star chambers the whole ride here, I can fight a little but they’d rip our heads off before I could…”
Roy swallows, and then blinks, looking to the comm he left on the bed. “We can call the League—” His eyes brighten. “We can call Kyle, he can talk to them and figure out a way to explain that you have to stay!!” The hope crests in his voice, as he bends, reaching out for the device.
Mari ”The Corps has no jurisdiction over Vega planets, Roy,” she stops his hands, drags them back to her face. “I’m entitled to gather my things and say my goodbyes, that’s why they’re not pounding the door down right now.” Mar’i sounds close to hysteria as she speaks, but she keeps it tampered down. “I’m not letting them hurt you. I’m not letting anyone hurt you. But I’m not strong enough to stop them right now. I can figure out what’s happening in the Vega System and you can be safe, okay?”
Roy shakes his head, and he grits his teeth. “No.. No." His countenance pales and he sucks in a shuddery, wet breath, his teeth chattering together. "This is not how this story goes, Mar’i, this is not—I just found you, I’m not going to lose you." He kisses her mouth, and the inside of his lips are hot, the taste of his tongue sea-salt brine and the bitter tang of adrenaline as he drags it against the seam of her lips. "You just had surgery," he continues, desperate,desperate to find a kink in the plan, a loophole, someway of getting her out of this. “..you have to know someone, SOMEONE, that can get you out of this—no. No. No.”
Mari tries to smile, but the expression falls back into tearful sorrow. “You’re not going to lose me,” she says, almost sternly, gripping his biceps to shake him softly. “Our story ends with us as old farts sitting in rocking chairs with our kajillion grandkids and Lian and if you think for one second,” she kisses him back, fingers moving to dig into the back of his neck. “If you think for one second that I’m letting anything in this entire universe, including the goddamn Tamaranean armada, keep me from you, then you haven’t figured out how much I love you.” She presses her forehead against his. “I’ll find a way to keep in touch, and I’ll come back as soon as I can, and if you can’t tell me every word for medical shit in Spanish and if you put that—” Mar’i pulls her hand down from his neck, slipping something into his hand, “—if you put that on anyone else, I promise you I’ll hunt you down and make your life miserable, okay? Because I’m coming back. But I’m not strong enough to fight them right now, okay? I’ll fight them later, when I can, but I just…I just can’t right now. I can’t watch them—” She buries her face in his neck. “It’s gonna be okay, nutkin, I promise.”
Mari ”And if any more aliens come around asking for me, you have my permission to shoot first and ask questions later, okay?”
Roy shakes his head, his arms looping around her, and his grip goes tight. Hard. Archer’s tension making every muscle and tendon in his arms cue up in stark relief as he half crushes her, makes it so that it will be impossible to pull them apart. “..you end anyone who keeps you from me, who keeps you from me and our girls, and I won’t—” He makes a ragged, guttural noise, and loses the breath in his lungs, as he buries his face in the side of her neck, breathing in the scent of her. “..please. Please.”
Roy shakes his head, again and again, and tightens his arms, his nails digging into the skin of her back and shoulders before he pulls back and starts to kiss her, all over. Her forehead, and nose, and cheeks, and chin and jaw and ears and neck and the insides of her eyes, her eyelashes, the dimple under her nose, above her upper lip.
Mari nods her head, entangling up in his grip. “You take care of our girls, and you go to class, okay? I trust you with our future.” She smiles, watery at the ends, pushing her fingers gently over his forehead, smoothing the crease in his brow. “I love you more than anything, and I’m coming back to you and our little family, okay?”
Mari looks at his clenched hand. “I don’t want to dent it in someone’s face. Don’t lose it.”
Roy moans, softly. “I love you.” His voice drops to a whisper. “I love you so much, Mar’i.”
Roy shakes his head, and lifts his hands from her precious form to undo his necklace, looping the ring onto it before replacing it: his hands return to hold her. “..I love you.”
Mari smiles sadly and kisses him again, lingering against his lips. “It’s gonna be okay, baby boy, I promise, it’s gonna take way more than this to unstitch us from each other.”
Mari glances towards the door. “I need to go, baby, I don’t have much time.” She presses her palm against his cheek. “I love you. Tell Lian I love her, too, and that I’ll see her soon.”
Roy tilts his head back, nodding as she speaks, as she gives the direction she needs to: but he doesn’t let go of her, doesn’t release his grip on her body. He understands, but he can’t. He can’t.
Mari runs her hands over his, traces them back up to the arms, then wraps her own arms around his shoulders and neck, kissing him almost frantically. “I’m not leaving you, Roy, I know it seems like it, but I’m just…” She swallows and kisses him again. “Sometimes the planet has to go a little away from the sun so it can pull it back even harder. Like a swingset. You have to trust me, Roy, I promise if I could find a way to stay right now I would. If I had my say, I’d never leave your side again, not even to go to the bathroom or anything.”
Roy nods, mute, and inhales, shakily.
Mari cups his face. “I’m not leaving, okay? I know you’ve…X’Hal, Roy, I know this seems like an old song and dance, but I swear on…on my mother’s grave that I am not leaving you.”
Roy grits his teeth and calls on every god, his and borrowed, to keep his words inside, to keep himself from saying what he wants. He nods, and tilts his head to kiss her again, a deep one. He curls his tongue inside her mouth, running it over her teeth and the insides of her lips, tasting everything. Everywhere.
Head of Queensguard yells something from the living room.
Roy nearly yells something back at the door, but that would mean breaking the kiss, and he isn’t willing to. He holds her closer, eyes slipping shut.
Mari moans against his mouth, melting into him. It seems like an inhumanly long time before he needs air, and when he does, Mar’i looks even more unsure. “Roy,” she whimpers, fear seeping back into her voice.
Roy That does it. That. Does. It. Roy locks his arms around her, and shakes his head, and shivers the whispers out: “We can run.”
Mari looks at him for a long time, longer than she should with the occupants a few rooms over. “Not exactly what I think of when I think about running off with you,” she says, softly, curling a finger around his chin. “We could run. And we could probably hide somewhere where they couldn’t find us, not for a while. But if…but if they bring back reinforcements and start blowing up San Francisco or some other city looking for me, what do we do then? What do I do if they kill you to get to me?”
Roy inhales, sharply, and as he exhales, watches her face, the strength. The ferocity painted, underlying her features. What would she do. What will they do?
Mari straightens up as the sound of footsteps comes down the halls, heavy and overbearing. “Roy,” she begins, as they push the door open, yelling in loud tones. But Mar’i sounds oddly calm. “Roy, I love you, okay?”
Roy feels a bit like he’s floating. “I love you, too.” His voice sounds strange, and far away, and he nods. “I love you, Mar’i.”
Mari smiles as the guards pull them apart and slap thick metal bands onto her wrists. They magnetize suddenly, snapping her wrists together and encasing them in a thick metal shield, but Mar’i is just looking at Roy and smiling. “Wait for me,” she says, voice warbling, as the four figures begin to digitalize, then fade into nothingness.
Roy stares at her, nodding. Nodding even as they slap the cuffs on her. Even as she dematerializes and disappears from sight. He blinks, when it is all suddenly still. All suddenly.. quiet. Outside, on the street, someone depresses the horn on their car, the bright snap of sound bouncing back and off the tall buildings and up to his ears. He stares at the spot where she was.
Roy opens his mouth, tongue thick as he croaks out: “Mar’i?”
Mari glances over her shoulder from the couch. There’s a college basketball game on her TV, but Mar’i seems more interested in the updates on her League comm. “Watch out for Pop—” she begins, but the lizard is already gliding towards him before she can finish, scrambling up onto his head like a crown.
Roy sets the donuts down on the counter even as Mar’i begins to speak, and he exhales, smiling quickly as Poppy clambers down for a kiss. He kisses the top of her head and removes a donut, placing it on the box for her. He walks over to Mar’i, and kisses the top of her head, sitting down next to her. “How are you feeling?”
Mari watches him for a moment. “I’m fine.” She glances back at the comms, then up at the TV. “I’m okay,” she amends, before looking back at Roy. “I’m sorry.”
Roy swallows, and bounces his knee a bit, exhaling. “Kyle texted me.” He reaches out and sets a hand over her knee, squeezing.
Mari nods her head. “That’s what I’m sorry about.”
Roy ’s face twists in a dark pantomime of his normal expression and he moves closer to her, on the couch, both his hands moving to curl around his elbows. “..why.”
Mari glances at an update on her comm before speaking again. “Because I didn’t know it had bothered you that much, and I didn’t do anything to help.”
Roy moves his hand to her comm and pushes it away from her side, pulling and pushing until Mar’i has to look at him. “It didn’t.. It’s not that it bothered me, Mar’i.” He takes a long, shallow breath in. “And you couldn’t have helped me with it.”
Mari furrows her eyebrows, deeply crinkling the dark skin between them. “Okay,” she says, “we don’t have to talk about it anymore.”
Roy repeats what she says, unthinking. “We don’t—” Hurt, genuine and deep, cuts him to the core and he nods, once, before releasing her elbows. Rising, he pushes it back—a learned instinct, a necessary one—and walks over to the counter where Poppy is still eating the donut, to unpack the groceries, silently.
Mari turns back on the couch, alternating her attention between comm and TV again.
Roy reaches over and pets Poppy’s head as he twists the plastic bags into neat triangles for disposal at the recycling bin. He moves around the island, towards the hallway for the bathroom. “Gonna shower, be right back.”
Mari nods her head. “Okay.”
Roy ducks into the towel closet, grabbing a new towel, before he disappears into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself. He doesn’t lock it, and doesn’t bother to worry about running out of hot water, it seems: he cranks the shower on high before he bothers to start stripping.
Mari pulls her knees to her chest, staring at the game like it’s going to unlock some deep wisdom, before she rolls her head a little, looking down the hallway towards where Roy’s gone. She stands, moving to the kitchen to examine the groceries, to try to find something he’s put in the wrong place so she can move it, but nothing’s out of place, nothing’s—. Mar’i opens the donut box with the intention of fetching the most sprinkle-y baked good inside, but the smell turns her already-fragile stomach. After a moment, she looks back down the hall, then turns bare feet towards it, taking small steps towards the bathroom.
Roy scrubs his skin a bit harder than necessary, opening the sliding glass doors to step out and grab his razor blade. He steps back into the shower, lathering with some of Mari’s soap. He doesn’t notice it, doesn’t realize that when he starts to shave, it’s Ollie’s process. Starting at the mid-flare of his jaw and down, the Van Dyke appears under the cloudy puffs of soap, like something uncovered by the steam of the hot water.
Roy sets the razor down in the little grooved space inside the shower wall, bringing his hand up to the stop of his skull, and squeegees the water and soap off his face, a sob wrinkling his features as he shakes his head.
Roy exhales through his mouth, a sharp puff of air.
Mari lingers in front of the bathroom door, moving between it and her bedroom, where Poppy has taken up a position on her window, staring out at the night and the passing lights of helicopters and planes coming into the airport. She watches the lizard for a moment, then wanders back to the bathroom, and opens the door. “I got to take the bandages off,” she announces, unprompted, over the shower’s din, then rubs at her face in the warm steam.
Roy nods, even though she can’t see it, and grabs some shampoo to scrub at his head. “..How was it?”
Mari glances over at herself in the foggy mirror. After a moment, she shifts, laying her hip against the sink. “I wanted to show you,” she says quietly.
Roy clears his throat. “Yeah, lemme just finish up here.”
Mari stares at the shower for a moment, then leaves the bathroom, shutting the door a little too hard in her wake.
Roy winces as the door slams and rinses the shampoo out of his hair, and out from under his arms, behind his knees.. He steps out of the shower, and moves to the mirror to wipe it own and trim the edges of his chin hairs. Then, towel slung over his hips, he walks out to the living room. “Sorry,” he states, unsure of why she slammed the door.
Mari is sitting on the couch again, although now she’s crossed her legs and arms. “Don’t apologize,” she says, tightly.
Roy adds, lamely. “Had shampoo in my hair?”
Roy exhales. “Do you want me to go, Mar’i? I can get dressed.”
Mari purses her lips. “No,” she says, finally.
Mari bunches up her shoulders. “Of course I don’t want you to go.”
Roy gestures to the bedroom, with a hard and firm open hand. “Can I go get dressed, or is that gonna be a problem too?”
Mari spins on the couch, expression dark. “Why are you acting like I’m being some tremendous bitch?! X’HAL, I didn’t fucking ask him to tell me, Roy, if that’s why you’re pissed!”
Roy grits his teeth, and his voice spikes up. “You’re the one who SLAMMED the door when I had to WASH the shampoo outta my HAIR!!”
Mari ”And you stomped off to go take a shower and didn’t even bother to ask if I wanted to join!” Mar’i looks half-defeated, half-enraged.
Roy bites down on his tongue but doesn’t lower his voice. “—first off, I didn’t stomp anywhere, and second, you looked a helluvalot more interested in your damned comm than talking to me!”
Roy continues, because he’s been unstoppered, and he doesn’t know any better. “..we don’t HAVE to talk about something that bothered me because you can’t help me, so why the fuck does it matter, right?”
Mari throws up her hands. “There are fucking Psions on the planet, Roy, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m concerned as shit that the fuckers that tortured my mother just crash-landed a goddamn ship into Hawaii!” She brings them back down, pinching handfuls of cushion underneath her grip. “If I’m bothering you, and I can’t help you, what am I supposed to do?! Throw your best friend under the bus and tell you all the shit he told me the same way he did to you? Sorry if I think your secrets deserve a little goddamn more dignity than that!”
Roy ’s voice goes higher, and the color rises in his cheeks, flushing over his temples and down his jaw. “Bothering you?! Is that what fucking Kyle said?!”
Roy ’s voice spikes higher and he moves closer to her, until he is nearly in front of the television, his hand holding the knot of his towel over his hips. “You’re not BOTHERING me.. Nothing you’ve done has BOTHERED me, up until you started slamming the doors!!” His face twists. “I don’t know WHAT the fuck Kyle told you, and I don’t even wanna know, because this is it, Mar’i, okay?”
Roy ”This is the straight goddamn truth: I went home that day thinking about us, thinking about YOU and thinking about ME, and how everything could change, and I didn’t feel—”
Mari goes pale, her features falling. “This is it?” she begins, then realizes what she’s misheard. “No, I don’t—Roy, STOP.” Mar’i’s shoulders fall. “He shouldn’t have told me anything, and you shouldn’t have to tell me, either. I don’t have to know everything.” She rubs her face with both hands, leaning over. “I just…”
Roy ’s voice raises up until he is outright shouting. “—I WANT EVERYTHING WITH YOU.”
Roy stops, and turns, going back, away, and towards the bedroom.
Mari raises her head back up, still pale, and watches him.
Roy shouts from the bedroom: “I WANT EVERYTHING WITH YOU.”
Roy ”—AND I KNOW THAT IF YOU WANT IT, TOO, WE’LL HAVE IT!!”
Roy opens and then slams a dresser drawer.
Mari parts her lips, a shuddering breath slipping out, and her attempt to not say what Kyle told her, to not be that person that— Mar’i makes it off the couch, but she doesn’t get as far as the kitchen island. “He said he’d never seen you that sad,” she croaks, breaking her promise to herself, fingers trembling on the granite. “He’s your best friend and he said you were so sad…”
Roy comes back, and he has a shirt in his hands, but hasn’t actually gotten dressed and his eyes are blazing, bright and wet. “Yeah, I was.” His voice cracks, but he swallows, pushes on. “I was fuckin’ sad as all shit because you looked tiny in that bed, and I couldn’t go—”
Roy ’s voice wavers, like there’s an earthquake happening, some vibration making his throat quiver. “I couldn’t go in and make sure it was okay, couldn’t stop it from happening, so I was sad, but why the fuck—”
Roy grits his teeth. “—why you, one of the best women I’ve ever met, ever had to even GO through this, so YEAH, I was fucking sad, but I thought..”
Mari sinks down, leaning her elbows and forehead against the countertop and taking slow gulps of air. “The idea of not being…of not making you happy, that…that X’Hal, it just…destroys me. More than some stupid surgery, or stupid i-infertility, or anything that can happen to me, because there’s always you, but if you’re not…” Mar’i shudders.
Roy moves to her, faster than he’s been the whole evening, and sinks with her, moving his arms around her body. He kisses the top of her head, the deep, lustrous purple of her hair. “..you make me happy, god, Mar’i.." He kisses her ear. "..you make me happy but the world doesn’t always." He drops his voice, whispering, as he continues to kiss her, all over her shoulder, even down her arm. He kneels against the floor, his towel staying in place. "..I was feeling.. powerless." Roy smirks. "..more powerless than normal, I guess."
Mari ”I’m sorry,” Mar’i croaks against his neck, “I’m so sorry I didn’t ask how you were feeling about it. I don’t want you to ever feel powerless, because that’s—” She sucks in a breath, choking on the saliva and tears clogging her throat, “—that’s the opposite of what you are. I’m sorry.”
Roy shakes his head. “..you don’t have to. It’s not about me.” He nuzzles his mouth against her neck, kissing the soft skin under her jaw, behind her ear. “..I’m pissed with Kyle ‘cause it wasn’t never about me.” The slip in his language is childish, but Roy doesn’t notice it. “..it’s always been about you, baby girl.” He lifts his hands, to cup her face, his expression flushed and still damp from his shower. From feeling. He kisses her nose and chin, cheeks. “..and how you are.” He presses his lips against hers, slowly. “Do you want to show me, now?”
Mari clutches at his hands with her own, returning his kisses with her own between shuddered gasps. “You should,” she begins, “you should go put clothes on first.” Mar’i smiles, albeit weakly. “I’m not…cleared for sex until Wednesday and I think taking my shirt off while you’re naked is a—” She kisses at his cupid’s bow, then jawline. “—a very bad idea.”
Roy nods and rises up, to go and do just that: get dressed. He comes back, in record time, in only boxers and a shirt, and dumps his towel on the edge of the bed before scooping around to Mar’i. He kisses her again, a hand settling against her waist, right where it is the narrowest.
Mari laughs playfully. “You haven’t been getting dressed that fast for school,” she teases, even as she guides him to the couch, guides him down onto it, guides herself down onto him. “I like it,” she says, sitting up and staring down at him. “So if you don’t, tough titty.”
Roy blinks. “Like what?”
Mari blinks at him. “The scar, Roy.”
Roy laughs. “I thought you meant my—nevermind,” he grins, but slowly subdues the expression into something softer, nodding. “Showme?” He asks, and punctuates the question with a kiss to her lower lip.
Mari nods her head against his lips, fingers dipping down to grab at the bottom of her baggy sweatshirt, tugging it up over the crest of her shorts. She pushes at the button of those, twisting her head in annoyance at the flickering light bouncing through her apartment from the tall windows. “Stupid helicopters,” she mutters, before Poppy makes an awful sound from the top of the kitchen cabinets, and a red light beams straight through the apartment, over the couple. Scanning.
Mari scrambles up, putting a hand out in front of her face to block the light. “What the—”
Roy blinks when the light makes it’s way into the apartment, his eyes having been focused on Mar’i’s fingers the whole time. But, when the light shoots in, red and sharp, and Poppy makes the sound she does, Roy loops an arm around Mar’i’s waist and hauls her, up. “OUT!”
Roy reaches out with his other hand for Mar’i’s comm and depresses the record button, even as he struggles with pushing power into his legs.
Head of Queensguard The light subsides almost immediately, once it’s run up and down all the walls and floors of Mar’i’s apartment. There is silence for a moment, and something dark is clearly outside, floating in front of the windows, blocking their view of other neighboring buildings. Then, three spots on the floor light up, like something from a Star Trek movie. The bodies appear quickly, pixelated, then razor-sharp, each almost seven feet tall and wearing thick, but sparse armor. The middle one, the leader, cocks his head and raises a blaster at the couple. “Vo’q rhull Mariand’r.”
Mari yelps at Roy’s manhandling, moving with him as he scrambles away from the windows, but freezes at the intruders. “Roy,” she rasps, pushing at him, “Roy, get out.”
Mari ”Take Poppy and get out.”
Roy snaps back at her. “I’m not fuckin’ going anywhere!!” He looks over at the three, and lifts the comm. “If you can hear this, it’s Arsenal. I’m in San Francisco with Nightstar—” He looks over at the intruders. “..the Spice Girls are having reunion tour in our living room.”
Roy pulls his arm around Mar’i’s middle tighter and looks back for Poppy, jerking his head towards them, to get the small alien to join them. He pushes Mar’i back, behind his hip, uncaring that he is barefoot, in boxers, with no weapon.
Roy Roy’s been in worse situations.
Queensguard 1 moves forward, even as the other two stay still. “VO’Q RHULL MARIAND’R,” he yells, like he’s talking to a child. “Mahar’ba deq akrul!” He keeps moving forward, his own blaster aimed at the two until he’s close enough to aim at one. He grins at Roy, aiming the blaster between his eyes. He doesn’t have to be close to make the shot, not with a weapon like this.
Roy lips curl, back, over his teeth in a feral grin and he narrows his eyes at the Queensguard. “Betcha you’re feelin’ lucky, huh, coming in and surprising us like this while we’re in our skivvies?”
Mari makes an awful noise, like something dying as she struggles against Roy’s grip. “NO, Roy, they’re—” She holds up her hands, trying to shield him from the blaster, trying to keep the peace. “Etu’k Mariand’r! Etu’k! Roy, stop—” Mar’i seems to choke on her own words, “—he doesn’t understand you, they’re not allowed to absorb other languages—”
Queensguard 1 snarls up his nose, clearly not understanding Roy’s words, but certainly understanding the venom behind them. He glances back at the leader, saying something in a laughing, snarling tone before he powers up the blaster, its glow a bright and unsettling green.
Roy pulls Mar’i back, and behind him fully, holding his hands out, palms up. “..come on. Come on.” He pushes her back, herds her back, away from them, casting his gaze over his shoulder. “Who are they?!” He turns to look at them, eyes still narrowed. “WHO ARE YOU?”
Mari holds up her own hand, fiery purple. Whatever she yells next is gluttural, clicking and ferocious, and she pushes against Roy until she’s out from behind him. She casts a glance at the middle man, then looks back at Roy. “They’re Tamaraneans,” she spits. “They’re telling me to go with them.”
Roy ’s color switches, from deathly pale to a livid red, and he turns his hand around Mar’i’s other hand, the one not glowing. “Why????”
Roy Then., immediately after, and before he gets his answer: “I’m going with you.”
Mari clearly doesn’t know either, but shakes her head.
Roy tightens his grip on her arm. “Mar’i.” He grits his teeth. “Don’t you fuckin’ leave me behind, that’s not how this works.”
Roy ’s grip is near-panicked and he repeats: “Don’t leave me behind.”
Roy tightens his grip on her arm. “Mar’i.” He grits his teeth. “Don’t you fuckin’ leave me behind, that’s not how this works.”
Roy ’s grip is near-panicked and he repeats: “Don’t leave me behind.”
Head of Queensguard takes a step forward, now, observing his soldier and Mar’i’s standoff, and removes a globe-like device from his pocket. “Poq’r mea kuyurl’l,” he begins, depressing a button on its side before he tosses it towards her, an alien script floating up on the holographic screen that appears.
Mari ”I’m not—” Mar’i begins, voice shaking as it tries to stay between what it needs to comfort him and what it needs to keep the impetuous Tamaranean’s finger off the trigger. She stares at the words, going quiet.
Roy tries to decipher it as well, but it’s impossible. “What does it say, baby?”
Queensguard 1 sneers at the tone of Roy’s voice, at the expression on Mar’i’s face.
Mari slowly puts down her hand, the bright color dissipating from it, and from her face, too. Her fingers are trembling when she looks up at the leader and says something in Tamaranean, half composed of clicks and pleading tones.
Head of Queensguard nods.
Mari takes off towards her bedroom at break-neck speed, dragging Roy with her.
Roy goes with—eyes cutting daggers at that one soldier— no dragging involved, but slams the door shut when they are inside. “Mar’i— Mar’i—” He scoops his hands around her elbows. “What’s going on? Talk to me!”
Mari looks around her room, rubbing her face so hard it leaves pressure marks around her forehead, her eyes. “Something’s wrong, Roy,” she begins, before she’s moving around again, searching for long pants in her closet. “X’Hal, I should’ve known, fucking Psions…”
Mari hoists Poppy up from where she’s wrapped herself around the woman’s left calf. “Don’t let her explode,” she says, voice trembling as she kisses the little lizard and puts her up on Roy’s shoulder.
Roy takes the cue to start getting dressed, too: shrugging on jeans and one of her shirts, Sailor Moon in pink. “What kinda wrong?” He inquires, his voice hitching a bit as he shoves his feet into boots, watching Mar’i carefully. “..pecans instead walnuts, or don’t drink the Kool-Aid wrong?” He takes Poppy, wrapping her around his neck, and kisses Mar’i’s mouth, hands moving to grip her elbows, pull her up tight.
Roy grits his teeth, half-shaking her. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Mari is shivering by the time she runs her fingers over his face. “You have to promise me you’ll go to class,” she begins, trembling, “you have to promise you won’t skip, okay?” She moves her hands down to his jawline, staring at him, and it’s clear from the look in her eyes, the way she runs over his features, that’s she’s trying to commit him to memory.
Mari says, in a half-sob. “I shouldn’t have gone to the Outpost, I knew they were going to find me, but I—” She bites her lip, chews on the soft pink skin. “I…I just got drafted for the Tamaranean Armada.”
Roy bursts out, his voice high and trembling, and he sounds all of fifteen when he demands. “What the FUCK does that MEAN?!”
Roy hasn’t processed her request yet, what she wants him to promise, is just attempting to push down the images that pop up into his head with the word ‘armada’ attached to them.
Mari shakes her head, shhing him. “Tamaran’s gone to war,” she mutters, turning her head at the sound of the men in the living room speaking.
Roy tightens his grip over her elbows, to the point they will bruise, no doubt. “..but.. but you’re half, you’re not even—” His eyebrows shoot up. “You’re not even from this universe!!”
Mari ”They…all Tamaraneans of age are drafted if war is declared, no exceptions. We don’t consider blood in the same way…” She lets out a soft noise. “I told Ryand’r who I was when I was on the Outpost. I needed him to trust me.”
Roy states flatly: “Say you can’t.”
Roy ”Say we need you here. We do. The League.. All of Earth, we need you to stay.” He clears his throat. “You have an obligation to stay.”
Roy curls his hand over her own, bringing it up and he kisses the tips of her fingers, her knuckles. “..you have to stay here.”
Mari shakes her head. “It doesn’t work like that, Roy. It’s mandatory. They’ll take me if I don’t go, they’ll—” She swallows. “They’ll kill anyone who tries to stop them. They’ve been sitting in fucking star chambers the whole ride here, I can fight a little but they’d rip our heads off before I could…”
Roy swallows, and then blinks, looking to the comm he left on the bed. “We can call the League—” His eyes brighten. “We can call Kyle, he can talk to them and figure out a way to explain that you have to stay!!” The hope crests in his voice, as he bends, reaching out for the device.
Mari ”The Corps has no jurisdiction over Vega planets, Roy,” she stops his hands, drags them back to her face. “I’m entitled to gather my things and say my goodbyes, that’s why they’re not pounding the door down right now.” Mar’i sounds close to hysteria as she speaks, but she keeps it tampered down. “I’m not letting them hurt you. I’m not letting anyone hurt you. But I’m not strong enough to stop them right now. I can figure out what’s happening in the Vega System and you can be safe, okay?”
Roy shakes his head, and he grits his teeth. “No.. No." His countenance pales and he sucks in a shuddery, wet breath, his teeth chattering together. "This is not how this story goes, Mar’i, this is not—I just found you, I’m not going to lose you." He kisses her mouth, and the inside of his lips are hot, the taste of his tongue sea-salt brine and the bitter tang of adrenaline as he drags it against the seam of her lips. "You just had surgery," he continues, desperate,desperate to find a kink in the plan, a loophole, someway of getting her out of this. “..you have to know someone, SOMEONE, that can get you out of this—no. No. No.”
Mari tries to smile, but the expression falls back into tearful sorrow. “You’re not going to lose me,” she says, almost sternly, gripping his biceps to shake him softly. “Our story ends with us as old farts sitting in rocking chairs with our kajillion grandkids and Lian and if you think for one second,” she kisses him back, fingers moving to dig into the back of his neck. “If you think for one second that I’m letting anything in this entire universe, including the goddamn Tamaranean armada, keep me from you, then you haven’t figured out how much I love you.” She presses her forehead against his. “I’ll find a way to keep in touch, and I’ll come back as soon as I can, and if you can’t tell me every word for medical shit in Spanish and if you put that—” Mar’i pulls her hand down from his neck, slipping something into his hand, “—if you put that on anyone else, I promise you I’ll hunt you down and make your life miserable, okay? Because I’m coming back. But I’m not strong enough to fight them right now, okay? I’ll fight them later, when I can, but I just…I just can’t right now. I can’t watch them—” She buries her face in his neck. “It’s gonna be okay, nutkin, I promise.”
Mari ”And if any more aliens come around asking for me, you have my permission to shoot first and ask questions later, okay?”
Roy shakes his head, his arms looping around her, and his grip goes tight. Hard. Archer’s tension making every muscle and tendon in his arms cue up in stark relief as he half crushes her, makes it so that it will be impossible to pull them apart. “..you end anyone who keeps you from me, who keeps you from me and our girls, and I won’t—” He makes a ragged, guttural noise, and loses the breath in his lungs, as he buries his face in the side of her neck, breathing in the scent of her. “..please. Please.”
Roy shakes his head, again and again, and tightens his arms, his nails digging into the skin of her back and shoulders before he pulls back and starts to kiss her, all over. Her forehead, and nose, and cheeks, and chin and jaw and ears and neck and the insides of her eyes, her eyelashes, the dimple under her nose, above her upper lip.
Mari nods her head, entangling up in his grip. “You take care of our girls, and you go to class, okay? I trust you with our future.” She smiles, watery at the ends, pushing her fingers gently over his forehead, smoothing the crease in his brow. “I love you more than anything, and I’m coming back to you and our little family, okay?”
Mari looks at his clenched hand. “I don’t want to dent it in someone’s face. Don’t lose it.”
Roy moans, softly. “I love you.” His voice drops to a whisper. “I love you so much, Mar’i.”
Roy shakes his head, and lifts his hands from her precious form to undo his necklace, looping the ring onto it before replacing it: his hands return to hold her. “..I love you.”
Mari smiles sadly and kisses him again, lingering against his lips. “It’s gonna be okay, baby boy, I promise, it’s gonna take way more than this to unstitch us from each other.”
Mari glances towards the door. “I need to go, baby, I don’t have much time.” She presses her palm against his cheek. “I love you. Tell Lian I love her, too, and that I’ll see her soon.”
Roy tilts his head back, nodding as she speaks, as she gives the direction she needs to: but he doesn’t let go of her, doesn’t release his grip on her body. He understands, but he can’t. He can’t.
Mari runs her hands over his, traces them back up to the arms, then wraps her own arms around his shoulders and neck, kissing him almost frantically. “I’m not leaving you, Roy, I know it seems like it, but I’m just…” She swallows and kisses him again. “Sometimes the planet has to go a little away from the sun so it can pull it back even harder. Like a swingset. You have to trust me, Roy, I promise if I could find a way to stay right now I would. If I had my say, I’d never leave your side again, not even to go to the bathroom or anything.”
Roy nods, mute, and inhales, shakily.
Mari cups his face. “I’m not leaving, okay? I know you’ve…X’Hal, Roy, I know this seems like an old song and dance, but I swear on…on my mother’s grave that I am not leaving you.”
Roy grits his teeth and calls on every god, his and borrowed, to keep his words inside, to keep himself from saying what he wants. He nods, and tilts his head to kiss her again, a deep one. He curls his tongue inside her mouth, running it over her teeth and the insides of her lips, tasting everything. Everywhere.
Head of Queensguard yells something from the living room.
Roy nearly yells something back at the door, but that would mean breaking the kiss, and he isn’t willing to. He holds her closer, eyes slipping shut.
Mari moans against his mouth, melting into him. It seems like an inhumanly long time before he needs air, and when he does, Mar’i looks even more unsure. “Roy,” she whimpers, fear seeping back into her voice.
Roy That does it. That. Does. It. Roy locks his arms around her, and shakes his head, and shivers the whispers out: “We can run.”
Mari looks at him for a long time, longer than she should with the occupants a few rooms over. “Not exactly what I think of when I think about running off with you,” she says, softly, curling a finger around his chin. “We could run. And we could probably hide somewhere where they couldn’t find us, not for a while. But if…but if they bring back reinforcements and start blowing up San Francisco or some other city looking for me, what do we do then? What do I do if they kill you to get to me?”
Roy inhales, sharply, and as he exhales, watches her face, the strength. The ferocity painted, underlying her features. What would she do. What will they do?
Mari straightens up as the sound of footsteps comes down the halls, heavy and overbearing. “Roy,” she begins, as they push the door open, yelling in loud tones. But Mar’i sounds oddly calm. “Roy, I love you, okay?”
Roy feels a bit like he’s floating. “I love you, too.” His voice sounds strange, and far away, and he nods. “I love you, Mar’i.”
Mari smiles as the guards pull them apart and slap thick metal bands onto her wrists. They magnetize suddenly, snapping her wrists together and encasing them in a thick metal shield, but Mar’i is just looking at Roy and smiling. “Wait for me,” she says, voice warbling, as the four figures begin to digitalize, then fade into nothingness.
Roy stares at her, nodding. Nodding even as they slap the cuffs on her. Even as she dematerializes and disappears from sight. He blinks, when it is all suddenly still. All suddenly.. quiet. Outside, on the street, someone depresses the horn on their car, the bright snap of sound bouncing back and off the tall buildings and up to his ears. He stares at the spot where she was.
Roy opens his mouth, tongue thick as he croaks out: “Mar’i?”