(Untitled)

[pennated]

Characters:Nill pennated and Heine Rammsteiner nebenmond

Setting/Location: Empty Ballroom

Date & Time:Day 8, Morning before the Caravan leaves

Warnings:

Summary: Heine and Nill reunite for the first time since he disappeared a few days ago.

Comments

it's okay! I'm sorry I took so long with this :( I am also in a rough patch!

[pennated]

The occasionally clicking of feet on stone outside the doors brought her hope as they grew closer and knocked her down as they faded away. It became harder each time, worse than footsteps preceding them until she sunk to the floor to stare at her reflection in the immaculately clean marble.

She looked the same as ever, not a hair out of place from the moment she'd been swept away to Willaknapp. Coincidentally she'd even cycled through her clothes back to the same black dress as the day with Giovanni and the explosion. She hadn't noticed until now, that despite all her scrubbing the faint smell of gunpowder and crumbling drywall remained.

A soft thudding sound from outside made her heart begin to race again, her faith in him was unwavering but it was hard. As they approached she couldn't help but sit up, eyes on the door until they stopped at the height of their sound. In a second she was on her feet, and the world stood still until the door swung slowly open.

It seemed almost surreal, and Heine seemed almost as surprised to see her as she was him. She wondered how she could ever have doubted it from the start, the girl was in front of him in a heartbeat and it was just like it had been eight days ago. She reached out and light grabbed his hand with her much smaller ones, and everything was made real.

She couldn't be happier, but at the same time the loneliness of the days rushed her as well. Nill beamed up at Heine, but couldn't prevent the corners of her eyes from watering. She freed on hand to wipe them away before they could sneak out before the typical Nill 'I'm happy to see you' returned.

omg don't worry please. :( your nill is so adorable i'd wait forever if needed!

[nebenmond]

It was almost as if neither of them had ever left home; the way she looked now being the same as when he last saw her. Heine himself was at least in much better shape than when that fight initially ended, although his clothing had suffered some newer rips and bullet holes that seemed to always decorate his outfits (much to Nill's despair) when he came back from a fight. Heine had barely made any more steps forward before she was in front of him, taking care of the remaining distance between them. And when she took his hand, he knew that to have even considered that talk floating around different version of people and about timelines and different worlds and etc. really had been more than just stupid on his part.

He returned a smile he always had reserved for her, and her alone. At first, it didn't seem that he noticed her premature tears but when she went to rub her eyes dry Heine made sure to gently catch her hand in mid-air only to do the same as she had done. He even came to crouch in front of her to be more at her eye level before he helped her wipe those tears away. "Hey, Nill, sorry about the wait," he said in response to her silent enthusiasm once he lowered his hand from her face to retake her other hand and she had finished wiping her eyes dry to her own satisfaction.

Only then was he able to close his eyes a moment, exhale a soft sigh of relief (-she was safe, that's all that mattered), and let his contentment show before shaking his head slowly and looked back to her. They were the only ones there in that moment, but he wasn't quite so willing to relax his guard as he had done so countless times in that sanctuary she waited for him in back in their world. No, this ballroom wasn't that type of place, but he at least gave her a second or two to see that even beyond his facial front-even the gentle one-that he really truly was relieved at that moment. And this? The two of them stuck wherever the hell they were?

It was okay now. "I won't leave without you, again." And though he had not personally done so, apparently a previous him seemed to have. Whether intentional or unintentional didn't matter and, regardless, he was the one here now and he felt the need to accept responsibility for it.

If only because it was a dead point after he said it: it would never happen again.