Vin - AU doubles only. No canon-puncturing

[doomedtheworld]

Vin dropped through the fog covering Chicago, dropping a coin ahead of her and Pushing against it to slow her fall. The fog was strange for the city but she didn't mind it... it almost reminded her of the mists back home. It didn't swirl around her as she used her Allomancer so it wasn't quite the same but it hid her, let her move largely unseen

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[doomedtheworld]

Vin crept through the mists and the darkness soundlessly, a skill she'd picked up as a child and honed nearly to perfection during her time in Chicago where the worst things all had better senses than any human ever could. It felt easier in the fog, more natural, for a moment she could almost pretend she was back home surrounded by mists that hid her, protected her and for one brief moment had given her power.

Perhaps that was the reason why her mind told her she heard the rustle of paper, a page turning. Maybe it was the reason why the figure ahead of her, sitting in a small circle of light suddenly seemed so familiar. Except she knew this city and its dangers and she wasn't about to be taken in by a trick of the light.

She crouched down and moved forward, hand straying to the dagger hidden beneath her black coat, prepared for anything... anything except the person whose features suddenly became clear when she got close enough.

Immediately, she straightened with a quiet gasp and for a moment all she could do was stare. Finally, after a heartbeat she found her voice but could still only manage a single, whispered word....

"Elend...?"

[notgentlemanly]

Self-trained to ignore the tittering of noble women and the disapproving glares of his father, there were few forces that could rouse Elend when he was absorbed in a particularly good book. The voice who called his name, however, was just one such force, and easily the one he preferred over all the others.

Marking his place in the book, though not quite shutting it, he looked up with the warm sparkle in his eyes that was saved only for her. "Well hello there," he greeted, still getting used to the sight of her wrapped in mist and men's garments rather than ball gowns, but finding he did not mind the change. However she dressed, and whatever her name, she was still the woman he had come to value over anyone else in his life, and her presence now was very welcome. "I should say this dream just became a great deal more appealing."

[doomedtheworld]

Vin stood back in the fog, still trying to sort through the feelings that surged through her when he turned. Barely a moment had passed that she hadn't wished for this to happen, to see him just one more time and know that he was okay. Through all the terror and the nightmares she had gone through in this city, that hope had stayed with her and now he was here and she could barely bring herself to move.

Elend was here... and so were those nightmares.

"You can't be here." She shook her head, blinking rapidly in a futile attempt to banish the tears that came to her eyes and she stepped back. "This is a trick."

[notgentlemanly]

Elend lifted one eyebrow at Vin's words, before looking down and giving his own chest a firm poke. "I certainly feel like I am here, but then dreams are strange things."

Looking back up, his expression sobered as he saw the tears in Vin's eyes. In a instant the book was closed, and he rose to step towards her, reaching out to offer some sort of comfort. "Val-Vin, what's wrong?"

[doomedtheworld]

Vin edged back as he stepped forward, the rational, paranoid part of her brain still not believing he could really be here. It had to be an illusion, a trick, some image conjured from her mind to toy with her. So she edged back even as her heart screamed at her to go to him.

"Prove it." She said, and felt something tear inside her even to say the words. "If it's really you... what was the first thing you asked me to do? The night we met on that balcony."

[notgentlemanly]

His expression serious, Elend froze in place as Vin took a step back from him, eyes full of concern as he watched her carefully. The distrust he sensed from her hurt a little, but he dismissed such feelings as selfish. Of course Vin had every right to be suspicious, after everything she had been through in the past few months. No, he reminded himself, Vin was Skaa, she had probably been through far more in her life than he could even begin to imagine.

Straightening, he held his hands open and relaxed at his sides, and met her gaze firmly. "I asked you to scoot to the side a little so that you weren't in my light."

[doomedtheworld]

Vin's heart broke a little when she saw the hurt flicker across Elend's eyes, but she had to be sure. Even when he answered the question, her mind worked furiously. They had been alone on that balcony, true there was the small chance that a Tineye had overheard their conversation but... no, that wouldn't have come into play here and now.

Vin's hands dropped from the weapons at her sides, and she took a step closer as the tears finally fell from her eyes. Elend was here, in Chicago, out in the open and in danger. Her mind told her that she had to get him away from here, get him somewhere safe, away from the monsters that hunted in the dark.

But in the end, all of that could wait, Elend was here! She was already in motion before she knew what was happening, sprinting across the distance between them and throwing herself into his arms.

"I'm sorry." She clung to him desperately, as if terrified that if she let go he would vanish again. Fade away like the fog. "I didn't mean to leave. I didn't want to."