Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There's a dead Frog”

the young Woman turned her Head, scrunching her eyebrows together. Desmond had his back turned to her while leisurely drying his hair “what?” she peered in a hushed tone “a dead frog? back there?” leaning forward in order to look behind the man, anxiously expecting to see a tiny and decaying corpse before his feet.

he faced the window as he answered “No no” he gestured outside “ i saw him in the Pool… just floating around” the last part whispered more to himself than her.

She followed his gaze out the window. The glow of the lamps made the scenery look liminal, like time had stopped here and hasn't moved since the 70s. The sky was already pitch black, only a few specks of light were able to shine through its thick veil.

her gaze fell from him looking down at the ground. She exhaled lightly, the bed creaking as she got on her feet. Her eyes wandered to his back again watching his muscle tense and loosen as he moved his arm. She took a couple of steps in his direction feeling the scratchy carpet with each step she took.

The prickly sensation brought her back to simpler times where she had met him in New York. It stirred an eerie feeling within her. Crawling up her throat as if it was trying to choke her from the inside out. Back then she thought …. It was easier back then.

Swallowing down the tightness she stopped shortly before him, almost feeling the warmth radiating off of him. Before she could reply he began again “he was just fucking floating around there” pausing he huffed sounding tired ” while i was swimming” he dropped his hand as he kept his gaze onto the pool sounding almost offended.

Oh…

“ i don't fucking get it” he paused frowning deeply as he raised his arms slightly only to let them drop heavily against his side again “ I mean he was probably just jumping around.. fucking living his Life and now hes just-” he abruptly stopped his sentence. The look on his face was more distant than ever. While his shoulders slumped and his hands began to tremor slightly, she stepped closer reaching for his hand and taking it in her own “Yeah i suppose he was”

He took his hand out of hers and moved over to their shared bed. Letting himself fall on it and putting his head between his hands. Desmond could feel a tightness rise in his chest seeming to slowly take over the air in his lungs.

He had been fine after he survived the Orb thingy back at that stupid Cave, all thanks to that ancient Greek lady Kassandra and her intervention.

She stormed in and demanded they place their hands on the Orb together. He was so fucking confused and taken back at the time that he just let her do it. So after they successfully saved the entire Planet together, they ran, along with the rest of the Team. He had been laser focused through the whole fiasco.

But now in a motel 5 miles away from that fucking shithole, he decides to take a swim in order to relax and out of nowhere he sees a dead fucking frog and he loses his damn mind? What was wrong with him? He had been killing people left and right! Past and Present! So why was his chest so tight all of the sudden and why does reality feel like a big Fog slowly encompassing his Body and dragging him away from it?

His breath slowly started to shorten and his fingers were getting numb “baby” she softly called out to him “Hey hey, Desmond look at me” lowering before his feet and taking his hands in hers “I'm here” she pulled them away from his head “ Des it's Okay.. we're safe” she placed both her hands on his forearms and proceeded to soothe them over his own.

Tears welled in his eyes as he spoke so quietly one could easily have missed what he said “No-fuck..no i just-” he looked deeply into her eyes “ I'm not supposed to be here..I don't deserve to be” her movement halted as her eyes widened a little. What is he saying? He doesn't deserve to be here? He continued “ I was supposed to die back there! this isn't how it should have ended!” little droplets fell down his face.

“what?” she managed to croak out, perplexed by his statement. Shuffling closer now and placing one hand on his thighs.

He averted his gaze from hers, now fully trembling. Desmond couldn't look at her, he still remembered the pain in her eyes when he agreed with Minerva's Plan. He knew it already, deep down, how all of this was going to end.

She had pleaded with him to not go along with it like the others had, That there was another way, one where he would continue to live alongside them. But he didn't budge, telling her this was the only way, the only path he could take. The only Path he was meant to take.

And when he told them to leave, his Father had to practically drag her out of the Room. She looked so angry and there were tears running down, he had to force himself to turn away.

His were falling rapidly now. One little drop after the other. But he didn't weep or wail, he was just sitting there like a still painting forever frozen in Time. The sight made her heart clench and tighten her fingers around his arm. She too began to see a blurry vision of him, his voice barely above a hushed whisper “Lucy and - and Clay e-everyone'' he reached for her hand and held it tight “I failed everyone. Even when I was suppose to do this one thing, this one stupid fucking thing and just die i couldn't even do that.” Oh she knew what he meant all too well, the gnawing feeling eating away at her insides and filling her up with horrible thoughts. He didn't deserve them, he had been through enough. Desmond Miles deserved a fucking break.

“ Desmond, you don't deserve to die” the woman said softly.

“Yes i do”

she gripped his hand tighter at that. Looking firmly into his eyes.

“Desmond..”

“I couldn't protect them, I couldn't save them.. I-”

She stayed silent and let him continue. He swallowed, shifting in his seat.

“All my Ancestors guided me to that exact moment.. all their suffering was for nothing”

“That is simply not true Des-”

He shook his head and pulled his hands away “No You don't get it” he said standing up, he wiped his tear streaked face and walked by her. He wouldn't be convinced, No Desmond felt like it was something he deserved. Perhaps to make amends for everything that had happened during these past three months.

“All my life I have been running away from my purpose!”He raised his voice and turned to her “this one thing all these generations of people had let to! This whole time I felt like it was the only Path for me and just before I fulfill what i was born to do!? it all gets just fucking thrown out the Window and i am just to except it? just like that? “

Desmond got quiet again, his tears had stopped to fall and he was breathing heavily. She watched him from her position on the floor, not having moved since he got up. “Des..” her voice cracked and her eyes had become glassy. She softly shook her head “ I can't even imagine how you feel like right now I-” gently standing up she carried on “ You think your only Purpose in life was to be sacrificed?” She stood there mere 2 meters away from him looking rather dumbfounded.

“Yes” he laughed rather humorlessly in addition to that he began to pace around the room while breathing started to pick up again “I have barely felt alive these last weeks, I felt like this isn't even MY body! I'm not sure what difference it would have made when i actually died”

“Desmond” she took a step closer to the middle of the room “It would have made all the difference, we would've- We were devastated”

Suddenly there was a shift in the room. He could feel his thoughts pouring in like a flood, drowning him, choking him until nothing was left.

Chapter Text

A loud buzzing rolled through the dimly lit room, accompanied by rushed shuffling. As the rummaging continued, so did the rising annoyance of a certain British fellow.

„Could you hurry up, by any chance?”

Rebecca accidentally let something slip through her fingers — a small box full of screws hit the ground with a sharp clatter, irritating Shaun even more.

„Oh, for the love of—could you be any louder, please?”

She only rolled her eyes. Moving across the room, she searched for her device, scattered somewhere… though where exactly, she couldn’t quite remember.

She started combing through her duffel bag, shifting things around and huffing each time she came up empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Shaun kept his ear pressed against the thin motel wall, desperately trying to catch any more of the muffled conversation next door. Suddenly, the voices fell completely silent.

„Augh! I can’t hear anything!”
Beyond his frustration, he was starting to feel more than a little ridiculous.
A member of the Assassins, ear pressed against drywall, spying on his boss’s son and his girlfriend.
Yeah… this wasn’t exactly his most dignified moment.

„Calm down, I almost got it,” Rebecca said.

„I am very calm, thank you very much. Oh, and do take your time, please — it’s not like they could be saying anything important right now.”

„How about you stop talking and keep listening so we don’t miss anything?”

„How about being organized for once? Wouldn’t be too hard to know where your gear is, huh?”

„You know what? You little—”

Shaun suddenly waved his hand to shush her „Quiet down! I think I just heard something.”

Rebecca rushed — rather clumsily — across the room, hopping over bags and equipment before arriving beside him. She pressed her ear against the wall too.

Shaun glanced up at the ceiling, straining to catch the faint mumbling through the wall.
„…Did he say something about… a sandwich?”

Rebecca scoffed „I don’t think that’s what he said.”

Shaun frowned „Why not? He could be hungry.”
This is getting ridiculous, she thought.
“Because I’m sure that’s not what they’re talking about.”

The British man shot back, „You know, all of this discussion could have been avoided if you’d just brought your spy-tech. Or at least a glass.”

Rebecca clenched her jaw. As if they hadn’t already had a terrible day — no, Shaun had decided that now was the perfect time to be a little bitc—

„It’s not really polite to spy on your friends, you know. I mean, I’m not exactly one to talk… but still.”

Both of them froze and instantly spun around.

There, sitting quietly in the dirty — and probably bedbug-infested — armchair on the other side of the room, was the strange Greek woman.

Kassandra.

Calm as ever, arms crossed, watching them with mild amusement.
Her suit was a little run-down from the Temple earlier that day — scratches and dirt patches scattered across the fabric — but Kassandra still managed to look as sophisticated as a millionaire businessman.
The black suit sat tight against her forearms, looking like it was about to burst from sheer muscle.

Rebecca instantly moved into a defensive stance. Back straight, shoulders squared.
She may not have been as skilled a fighter as Desmond — with his cocktail of ancestral experience — but she’d gladly throw hands if she had to.

Shaun, on the other hand, defaulted to the one defense he had mastered:
the time-honored British tradition of yelling at the impossible.

„Are you right in the head!?” he exploded.
„You odd demigod weirdo! WHO told you it was proper to sneak up on people you don’t know? For a second time?!”

His voice bounced off the motel walls, completely disregarding their neighbors.

„Brilliant! As if showing up out of nowhere once today wasn’t enough for you — noooOoOo, of course you do it again—”

Rebecca placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly.
„Jesus, Shaun — you’re all red. Calm yourself!”

Perplexed, he stared at her.
„Are you right in the head, Becs? That woman appeared out of nowhere!”

Rebecca took her hand off him and glanced over at Kassandra, whose presence seemed elevated by the faded yellow wallpaper — almost as if she was more solid than reality itself.

„I know, Shaun — but screaming bloody British isn’t helping.”

Shaun blinked.
“Bloody British? What the hell is even that—”

He was immediately interrupted.

„Ahh. Different centuries, same kinds of people…” Kassandra murmured, crossing one leg over the other, her voice calm as ever.

While Shaun was baffeld left and right, Rebecca and Kassandra took to the floor. Leaning on her hip hands placed right on top of them and putting a deep frown on her Face Rebecca questioned „How did you get in here?“

Kassandra took a more relaxed pose, adjusting her lapels. The silence in the small motel room stretched out, thick like the humidity before a summer storm. The old lamp in the corner buzzed steadily, like an irritating mosquito trapped in the heat.

Rebecca could feel her shoulders tense with every passing second, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied the Spartan, watching for any sudden movement.

Shaun shifted uncomfortably beside her, his gaze darting between the ancient woman and the door, as if expecting an ambush at any moment.

Suddenly, Kassandra leaned forward. Her gaze locked onto the two Assassins, like a lion studying a leap of gazelles.

She slowly lifted her hand, pointing across the room.

Both Shaun and Rebecca followed the direction of her finger.

„Through the door,” she said softly, a slight smile tugging at her lips. There was no malice in her voice — only mild amusement.

Shaun blinked „Throu- huh?? What do you mean I- there was on Sound!?“

Rebecca sighed pinching her nose between her Fingers and again placed a Hand on his shoulders „ lets just move on Shaun…“

He waved widly into the Room„What!? No! This is insane—Shes like a Greek Ninja!“
Kassandra chuckled quietly, clearly amused by the British man’s outburst. I haven’t had this much fun in years she thought.

But then her expression shifted „Alright, enough of the pleasantries,” Kassandra said, her voice steady, calm „I didn’t come here for nothing. I came to talk about your friend — Desmond.”

Suddenly the air in the room grew so heavy one would need a machete to cut through it.
Both Rebecca and Shaun froze, turning toward her fully now.

Rebecca felt a sudden surge of anger rising in her gut. Desmond? she thought bitterly. What could she possibly want to talk about… and about him, of all people?

Her fists clenched instinctively, her brows furrowing.

Whatever this mystery Lady had come to say, Rebecca was ready.

As for Shaun — a wave of sickness washed over him. But not the kind you feel hovering over a toilet. No, this was a different kind of sick — the kind that twists in your stomach when something big is coming.

The man who had become a friend — who had almost sacrificed himself for the entire world — was about to become the topic of conversation once again.

Whatever this woman wanted to talk about, Shaun wasn’t sure if he was ready.

Rebecca asked what she wanted to Talk about. A slight sneer adorned her Face.
Kassandra recocnised this, seeing it as a warning to be careful —very careful— so she started explaining.

With her Hand in her lap and her legs crossed again „ Desmond is not someone you think he is. With all the ancestor and the fate of the world laying apon his shoulders. He is something I am even to fully understand.“

Pausing for a Moment seemingly gathering her thoughts she continued „I … learned of Desmond a couple of weeks ago. It was around this time too i learned about the fate he was supposed to fufill and the role he had to take on.“

Peaking their interest as she talked, Shaun grew nervous „ what are you saying ?“ Kassandra locked eyes with him „Well nothing yet.. just listen for a Moment…please?“ Neither of them Said anything so the spartan took it as a sign to move on.

„You should realize what happend in that Temple is not end of it. Not for a Long while yet.“
Rebecca clenched her fist in frustration again, as Shaun swallowed thickly.

„the Both of you are smart enough, so Im sure I dont Need to explain that handling with the Isu brings its own Sets of rules, threats and always another consequence…“

Rebecca asked this time her jaw tightening „ what kind of consequences?“ it worried her what the spartan Woman was about to say next.

A Beat of silence glazed over the conversation. Kassandra took a Deep breath this part was never her favorite in her 2000 years of living. She unfolded her legs and opend her suit-jacket as she locked her ganze with their again she delivered the dreaded message.

„He saved the world once“
„He may have to do it again“

The silence hit like a hammer, heavier than before.

Rebecca’s voice came out sharper now, her temper starting to rise.

„No no no! Youre lying! Do you have any idea what he has already sacrificed? What he had to Go through? What had to go through? Desmond gave up everything!? Do you mean to Tell me he has to do it all over again? The pain? the loses? The slaughter?“

Shaun shook his Head fast, his Voice uncharacteristicly stern.

„What exactly do you expect us to do? Stand by and let him sacrifice himself again? No. We’re not letting you drop some prophecy on us and walk away. He’s our friend!”

Kassandra let their outbursts happen. They were more than entitled to it — this was about a close friend they thought already lost. She knew that feeling all too well. Immortality does that to a person.

Her mind flickered — briefly, unwillingly — to Phoibe.

Her sweet, doomed Phoibe.

There had been countless times over the centuries where Kassandra would have torn apart the very fabric of the realms at their seams — ripped reality open like fragile cloth — just to stitch it back together for the sake of a few stolen moments.

Moments with her family.
Her friends.
Her people.

But fate had always been cruel. And lingering on such thoughts only sharpened the pain. With a small breath, she forced her mind back to the present.

This wasn’t about her.

This was about the fate of their friend.

And if her immortality had taught Kassandra anything, it was that while wisdom could guide others, it could never stop grief from finding them.

Rebecca’s voice suddenly cut through the heavy air „He didn’t almost lose his life just to sacrifice it again — do you hear me!?” she shouted, her hands trembling at her sides. “How dare you stand there, sniffing around in other people’s lives and say something like that?!”

Her hands trembled at her sides, her voice cracking under the weight of her fury and fear — but she didn’t back down. Her eyes were lit with something fierce, something guttural. Shaun instinctively reached out, as if to steady her… though his own hands weren’t exactly steady either.

Something fluttered uncomfortably in his chest. A strange, hollow feeling, like his insides were unraveling thread by thread, word by word. The room — the conversation — it all felt surreal, like a film he was watching unfold from a seat far away.

Since that first hideout, since meeting Desmond properly, since all of it began… Shaun had never imagined grief could feel like this.Not for someone who was still alive. Not for a friend whose heart was still beating in the Next Room.

A beat of silence passed through the room after Rebecca’s outburst.Even the buzzing lamp in the corner seemed to quiet itself beneath the weight of the tension.

Kassandra let her.

Let Rebecca shout.

Let her call her a liar.

Let her feel what she needed to feel.

Shaun had been uncharacteristically quiet through it all — and Kassandra let him be, too. She’d seen that look before. The one he wore now.She had worn it herself, many times, across many centuries.

But now…Now it was time to speak. Gently — but with the certainty of someone who had already lived through far too many endings.

„I know what it is to lose the people you would burn the world for,” she said „I know what it is to fight fate tooth and nail — and still lose.”She looked down for a moment, her expression unreadable „You don’t forget the sound of someone slipping through your fingers. Not even after two thousand years.”

Rebecca and Shaun stood still, unmoving, near the wall where they had tried to eavesdrop on the serious conversation their friends were having. But they hadn’t expected to find themselves on the receiving end of another—perhaps even more terrifying—revelation.

„ I have been granted the high honor of carrying this artifact, called the Staff of Hermes…” Kassandra’s voice echoed quietly through the room. “Its keeper receives rapid rejuvenation, longevity… and, some time ago—visions.”

„What… kind of visions?” Shaun asked, hoping it was the right question amidst the whirlwind of information.

Kassandra looked at him with the seriousness of a mother warning her children about the dangers of the world „It was not something I had ever experienced in this way. After I stabilized the energy of a Isu Temple in the north, the Staff began to glow.”

She pulled a small golden disk from behind her back—no bigger than a pancake. Both Shaun and Rebecca followed her movements with cautious eyes.

„A power—or rather, a feeling—surged through it. A sensation that wormed its way deep into my bones, forcing my mind into pathways it could never reach on its own.”

In an instant, the Staff began to glow, its solid form shimmering and warping like liquid light before their eyes.

Shaun flinched, as though a sudden noise had struck him, and Rebecca tensed on the spot, anticipating danger.

But the danger never came. Nor did the sound. It was only the artifact—shifting, changing, transforming.

Its shape expanded—over two meters tall. The top of the Staff transformed into a pointed spearhead, with a downward-facing pyramid at the base. From that pyramid, two symmetrical wings emerged, one on each side. Below the gleaming tip, two golden serpents curled downward along the staff’s shaft, coiled like ancient protectors.

And then, as if the transformation itself had been a breath held in, Kassandra continued: „I was shown what the Staff had long remembered—memories of a past long gone… and a future so important that nothing else quite compares. But what else would you expect, when the entire world’s fate hangs in the balance?”

Her voice dropped lower, more solemn.

„I saw a man… in a room. A temple, to be exact. I saw a sky so bright it was blinding. And I heard screams… twice.”

She continued, her expression tightening „After I saw that, I knew I had to do something — anything — to keep it from happening.”

A beat passed. The room was still.

„So as soon as i came to I made my way to the temple of my Vision. After I finally I arrieved I saw you already camped outside.”

Her eyes flicked toward Rebecca and Shaun.

„At first, I thought you were just ordinary humans. Explorers. But then I realized what was really happening. And on that fated day, I entered the temple… and did what I had to.”

Kassandra let her gaze fall onto the Staff. By now it felt more Heavy then back when she was handed down the ancient atrifact.

The Motel room dimmed behind her eyes. Her Staff hummed strongly between her Fingers— and for a breathless Moment the Room tipped aside.

A few Hours before

The air was chilly and tense.

An icy blue hue shimmered off the cold temple walls as Kassandra rushed through the winding pathways, navigating the twists and turns of the ancient place.

Her boots struck rubble and cracked stone with every urgent step.Rounding the final corner, she skidded to a halt before a group of four people — all of them disheveled, drained.

Two men. One wore glasses and a proper shirt, oddly out of place in this crumbling place; he had his arm wrapped around a woman, steadying her. The woman in his arms wasn’t visibly injured, but she looked more devastated than any wound could explain.Tears streamed down her cheeks like dew drops, silent and unstoppable.

The other man was older — much older. A deep frown carved his face, his whole posture barely holding itself together, as if he were on the edge of something… raw and gut-wrenching.

The last of them was a dark-haired woman in a beanie — a grotesque kind of hat, Kassandra thought absentmindedly. But that didn’t matter now. That woman’s expression was pure fire. Anger. A wildfire meant to burn anything in its path.

It must be happening.
Now.

The white-haired man lifted his voice, strained but commanding. “What do you think you’re doi—?” Kassandra didn’t let him finish. She raised her hand, voice sharp with no patience for delay.

„No time. Where is the Fated One? Now!”

The man squared his shoulders. One hand lifted instinctively — perhaps to block her, perhaps to plead.But her answer Layer beyond them.

She pushed past the group.Their protests rang out behind her.

“Stop! You can’t go in there!”
“Get away from him!”

„GET OUT OF HERE. NOW!” Kassandra roared.

She burst through the doorway.

The walls stretched impossibly high above her head, lit with a soft, pulsing gold. Isu energy hummed in the air like the quiet before a storm.

And there —At the center of the chamber —Stood a man.

Shoulders squared against the weight of the world. Dark circles under his eyes. A presence that spoke of someone who had seen too much… and was still willing to give more.

The pedestal in front of him glowed. A single orb pulsed with life, waiting for the fated hand to complete the circuit. His hand hovered above it — so close.

Dark hair. White jacket. Handsome, in that weary, tragic way. Just like in my vision, Kassandra thought.

„Before you do or say anything, I need you to wait,” she commanded. Her voice cut through the air — sharp, commanding.

Desmond turned, startled, his expression hardening.
“Who the hell are you?”

She moved closer in long strides, reaching into the inside pocket of her jacket. Her fingers closed around the golden disk — and the moment it touched the open air, it transformed, unraveling like molten light into the Staff of Hermes.

Desmond blinked.

The hell was this?

Now face to face, Kassandra softened her tone.“I’m a friend,” she said gently. “Just… one you haven’t met yet.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t have t—”

„I know,” she cut him off. „Time. You don’t have time.”

He stayed quiet.

„I’m not here to stop you,” she continued, lowering the Staff slightly „I’m here to share the burden”

She raised it again between them „This staff — it was made by the Isu. It heals its wielder… but that power can be shared. Redirected”

Her voice was fast now, but clear. Every word pressed by the weight of the moment.
„I don’t want to take this from you... I want to help you survive it”

Desmond stared at her — this stranger with ancient eyes and a weapon that pulsed with something he couldn’t quite name. Power, yes. But something more. A memory. A warning.

His hand hovered again over the pedestal.

Kassandra stepped forward, her voice low but steady „If you touch that orb the way you are now, it will take everything from you.”

Desmond’s chest rose sharply with a deeper breath. „That’s the whole idea.”

She gave him a look — not pity, but something older and softer. “You don’t have to carry this weight alone.”She extended the Staff toward him. “Let me help you. Let the Staff take on what you wouldn’t be able to survive on your own.”

Desmond snapped, „ I can’t delay this anymore! The flare is coming, I need to—”

„ I know,” Kassandra cut in, stepping closer. „But if you die here, another flare will come. I’ve seen it.”

He froze.

„I saw you dying,” she went on, the words racing out of her now, “and after that—years, maybe only months later—a stronger, larger flare hit the Earth. Millions perished. The world turned to a deserted tomb. Your sacrifice here won’t stop what’s coming… it’ll only delay it.”

Desmond’s eyes flicked to the orb, then back to her.

„There’s a chance,” she said quickly, earnestly. “A crack in the stone. A tear in fate itself. If you survive this, you can save the world from that.”

His hand drifted away from the orb. His face was unreadable — thinking, calculating, maybe just feeling.But when he spoke, his eyes never left hers.

„…Whatever you need me to do, we need to do it fast.”

Kassandra’s chest eased. Smart man.

„Before you touch the orb, you need to touch the Staff,” she said, voice steady but fast „I’ll take the brunt of the energy from the surge. I won’t lie to you—you will feel pain. But it won’t kill you.”

Desmond nodded once, jaw tight, shoulders set.

„Then let’s do it.”

The memory faded into the background of the still night, wrapping around the three like fog in the early morning sun.

Kassandra let out a deep breath, her bones finally tired and weary from the weight released from her shoulders. The Staff had allowed her to live for two millennia, saving her from otherwise fatal wounds — but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still feel pain.

Neither Shaun nor Rebecca spoke first.

Then suddenly, a cough — meant to be quiet, but sounding like thunder in the motel room „So you… saved him just to let him sacrifice himself again?” Shaun’s voice was strained and tired.

The Spartan let her gaze fall upon him, her grip tightening on the Staff „I saved him so his final sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain,” she let the words linger „I don’t want to lead him to his death like a lamb to slaughter, but if he’s able to survive this flare with the help of the Staff and my input, maybe he can survive the next.

She paused „But I can’t say for certain… that he will.”

Sadness rolled over them both — along with a fragile thread of hope.

Rebecca finally spoke again „Then we’d better make sure this time it it sticks„ Kassandra nodded in firm agreement.

With a practiced movement, she shrank the Staff and slipped it back into her pocket.

Outside, the wind had picked up, rustling the leaves and stirring the stagnant water of the old pool.

Today had felt more fated than anything the team had ever lived through.

And now, somehow, the future felt even more so.

Chapter Text

Her eyes were heavy, her hair tousled — the most disheveled he’d seen it since their time in New York.

It reminded him of specific that night… they’d gone clubbing together. Danced until their legs ached. Drank cocktails he loudly declared were “all piss” and that he could make a thousand times better… but drank anyway. Sang their lungs out to catchy pop songs. Loved each other until both were out of breath.

And then collapsed into bed.

And woken up… just like this.

Her eyes were open just a smudge, letting in enough sunlight just to see him, probably. The Hand remained on the top of his Head, moving her Fingers just oh so softly through his short hair. The feeling tickled down through his spine spreading warmth through his shoulders.

He nuzzled closer to her chin, almost unconsciously, trying to savor any kind of comfort her embrace offered. Finally, Desmond let out a small breath, unsure if it came from relief or exhaustion.

His hold tightened slightly as he spoke, his voice still groggy from sleep “You’re still here.”

She remained quiet at first, letting her other hand glide over his shoulder, feeling his muscles tense and relax ever so faintly beneath her fingertips. Her lips found their home on the crown of his head, catching the familiar smell of chlorine in his hair immediately pulling her thoughts back to last night.

“Yes,” she whispered, placing a soft kiss on his head. “I am.”

The brightness stung her eyes as the room slowly came into view. Still a tad messy, bags scattered everywhere, some half unpacked, others not even touched. The towel from the night before hadn’t moved from its place on the floor.

Closer. That’s how she felt him move. His arms wound around her waist and hips, like a snake trying to trap its prey. His legs threaded themselves between hers, as if claiming that space for his own. Finally, his nose pressed into her neck, searching for her pulse, any sign of life.

The young woman let him. She didn’t even want to put up any resistance. It had been too long since they’d had a moment together — in company, let alone in solitude. She had missed his warmth on her skin.