WASTED PILOTS -- X

[★SPACED]

"HOW MUCH CAN YOUR BODY TAKE
ONLY AS MUCH AS YOUR HEART CAN MAKE
GIVE IT UNTIL YOUR BODY BREAKS"

Time was slowly easing the ache within her lungs, the severe and desperate need to see him, to feel him, to know he was there. And though Liesel knew that time could never truly erase the memory of her beloved Ulrich, she had also begun to realise that she was not going to fade into nothingness without him - that she, in fact, was still alive. Druid had helped her. Her darling brother was as happy as he'd ever been, and this in itself was a huge comfort to the girl made of sapphire and silver. Though watching him with his wife had stuck needles through her weeping heart, she had found it breathed a certain hope into her, a small blossom of happiness for the sake of her brother. The family had reminded her of her own - a messy affair. Schindler and Magdalena wanted nothing to do with her, and had not mourned the passing of their father… and in turn Liesel found herself afraid of them.

So instead of going onward to Skull Island (where she had instinctively known her dreadful children would be) the starlight ridden girl had waded outward to Sparkling Shores Island. There wasn't much to it - a bare slip of sand and salt, abandoned in the middle of the ocean. As her dainty hooves touched the soft sand, Liesel fell in love. This Island was hers, it felt like, so small she could see that she was the only one there, and so forgotten that it felt as if it had only come into being when she arrived. The sun warmed her silvery sapphire skin as she danced alone, lupine eyes finally embracing a bittersweet moment of happiness. It was going to be OK.  

kota ugh this is hideous but I can't wait for this!

[kota]

    Nexus was f*cking stuck, stuck, stuck in the vast expanse of the blue wolf's jungle paradise. He was almost entirely sure that the ocean itself didn't want him to leave. The entity was pulsing and hungry, fervently swallowing him whole and spitting him back up onto the banks of yet, another island when he tried to escape. It was quite clear that he was hating it, hating it, hating it was such a deep passion. Still, maybe the ocean knew more than it was letting on, knew something he didn't, something he'd want to know. Maybe the ocean was taking him somewhere.

    He draws his russet shoulders out of the froth and emerges from the waves like wraith from the darkness, materializing in a slip of limbs. He's heaving from the effort of his swim and his ribs rattle as he exhales harshly. He's not equipped for island travel, he's too weighed down by his own muscle mass and it's taking its toll. He's exhausted and he has half a mind to rest somewhere in this place, but he needs to get away from all of the sand, always away from the sand. That's when he sees, and his eyes open more than a fraction for the first time since he'd reached the edge of the water.

    The ocean had led him to Her, to that God damned summer girl, with her silver hair floating in the midafternoon sun. She was graceful, and balanced, gliding smooth as silk in a dance he couldn't ever wish to match. He was mesmerized by sharp hips and blue velvet curves, but it was the halo of gold that the sun had graced her with that drew his attention. "I've seen Lola dance," he pauses choosing his next words carefully. Paradisum's ex could have been a tender subject for all he knew. "in her prime." They'd had recitals, he remembered, when he was younger. Only the elite had gone, and they had ceased before he became an adult. His mother had made him play the piano in front of a crowd for the first time, he'd hated it (as he hated most things). He draws closer, salt-raw limbs aching under the pressure of his henna musculature. He's at a loss for words again, but he's quick to find himself. "She's got nothing on you."

[★SPACED]

"HOW MUCH CAN YOUR BODY TAKE
ONLY AS MUCH AS YOUR HEART CAN MAKE
GIVE IT UNTIL YOUR BODY BREAKS"

He emerged like a wraith from the cerulean waves, his body a slip of shadow amongst all the pale light of her domain - almost black against the soft alabaster sand that speckled his long, muscular legs. She had to pause, ignoring the prominent shift of her heartbeat, pretending not to notice how the salty waves had drenched his skin in such a way that every muscle was defined, that every single sharp, masculine line of his body was hers to examine. He was beautiful, despite her continuous denial. Not in the way that Ulrich had been - her own mini sun, watching her with his ever-present emerald green eyes as she orbited him. He had been her sunshine, golden and glorious, made for so much more than he had been - his potential untapped, unlimited - and he'd chosen to be with her. He'd made her so happy, so safe, so loved.

Nexus frightened and excited her. He was dangerous. He was part of Fates line - a line she had desperately tried to avoid. She had thought the madness ran with him, behind those black eyes. Looking at Nexus now though… Liesel wasn't sure what to think. He looked so much like his father - and why wouldn't he? He was the first born, that legendary son that had vanished only to return a much more aggressive leader. Her breath caught as he spoke, and she dropped her eyes suddenly, all too aware that she had been staring, had been…considering. 

"I've seen Lola dance,"

She stiffens, her dainty shoulders tight and harsh. She had no fondness for Lola. 

"She's got nothing on you."

Her lupine gaze flicks upward, staring at him from behind a forest of silver lashes. Her head raises, smoothly, gracefully, quickly. There is a long moment of silence before Liesel takes a hesitant step forward, her eyes reflecting a myriad of emotion, though she doesn't know yet which one to settle on - life had become so much more confusing without Ulrich. 

"I've seen Fate, in his prime…"

She, too, pauses. Liesel knew that her next words were vastly important, and she still didn't know what is coming to slip off of her crimson tongue;

"You're not like him. You're… - Where did you go? You left me in the Hollow. Where did you go?"

kota nom nom nom <3

[kota]

    The salt had already begun to dry on his tan skin, raven locks separating into thick tousled waves across his chiseled crest. White sand plastered itself to his legs, chest and stomach, tainting the palette of black and henna he'd been painted with. He studied Liesel's face with a faint look of concern, his veins turning to ice under skin that blazed under her stare. He was completely vulnerable to her gaze, and he suppressed the urge to squirm like a fly caught in honey. Many women had looked at him before, there was no doubt about that. Yet no one had ever studied him as she did. No one ever noticed the tiny scar over his left eyebrow, the one he'd gotten rough housing with Patroclus as a child. Or the tiny snag in his ear that Lumos had delivered with a sharp nip his third year, when he'd made a snide comment about her virtue.

    Liesel was different, she didn't swoon or bother him with petty bullshit. She was genuine and sweet, like the warmth of a fireplace or the whistling of a blue jay, her presence comforting and… lovely. It was no surprise that she was Paradisum's most beloved child, Nexus had almost been surprised that the blue wolf hadn't retaliated when he'd stolen her away from the islands. How could Paradisum have trusted a man he'd never met? Had he assumed that Fate's brood were entirely trustworthy? (If he'd met Gladriel would he still turn the other cheek?) Yet after he'd hidden her from prying eyes in the Hollow he'd realized just how fragile he found her to be. He felt he had to walk on eggshells to keep from damaging her.

    Nexus used to think that all he'd ever see looking at the Jungle King's brood was blue. Boys in navy silk and girls in sapphire satin, all angles and speed. But she wasn't just sapphire with silver accents, she was a thousand galaxies wrapped in summertime bliss, blue velvet and tantalizing eyes. She was all of the Hollywood starlets that haunted his mother's guilty pleasures. Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco. She was regal, positively so, having inherited her father's sharp angles and lupine eyes, but she wasn't stoic like the old man, she was soft like new velvet.

    He watches as the tension winds in her shoulders and feels the symptoms of regret. He shouldn't have said anything, he should never had said anything. But now she's taking a short stutter step towards him, and he's questioning his entire existence. Had he actually come here to find her? Had his conscious sent him here purposefully? He knew she would have returned to the islands. Those eyes…
    
    "I've seen Fate, in his prime…" She's taking her sweet time with her next phrase and he gulps, feeling his chest constrict, whatever she's about to say might ruin him entirely. "You're not like him. You're… - Where did you go? You left me in the Hollow. Where did you go?" Amber rimmed eyes widen a fraction, his heart drops from his chest. Sudden elation quickly turns into sudden dread. How could he have done such a terrible thing?

    The Hollow had been secluded, it had made him feel alone and added to his paranoia (was he becoming his father?). He had felt suffocated, and lonely all at once, if that was even possible. He had been afraid, as much as he'd hate to admit it. He had to get away from that place. He had to escape, to clear his muddled mind. Yet he hadn't thought about Her, he couldn't think about Her, it would drive him crazy.

    "I'm sorry." He manages to choke out that much. "I wish I could tell you…- I wish I knew." Everything had been a blur when he'd left. He only remembered his return, his surprise when he'd found his childhood home desolate, abandoned by Kladdan. How he'd been so quick to claim it, if only to put his father's soul to rest. Then (though he hadn't known it to begin with) he'd gone to find her, to apologize. Look where he was now. "What is it I have to do to make you happy? What is it I have to do for you to come home with me?" The words are coming out in a rush.

★SPACED omgomgomg <3