"Ivy?" Lila whirled around.
She could sense her bondmate was near. But something was amiss. However limited her Psionic abilities may have been, Lila knew she was kept unusually distant from Ivy's feelings.
What can't I see?
The Earthling was picking flowers beneath a small oak tree, her eyes averting themselves from the looming shadow of Anya's ship. Nearly a hundred or so feet were required before that white Canere finally gave up. Anywhere closer and it would practically smother Lila with its watchful presence.
Asshole.
She rose to her feet, scrunching her freckled little cheeks as a white figure came into view. Lila's gasp was audible the moment she realized who it was. Though the speed at which she traveled across the spotted grass was considerably louder.
"Lila," she could hear Ivy's wounded voice in the back of her head.
The heiress's step was off beat. Her skinny legs no longer carried the grace of a dancer. And her expression, more than anything, carried the weight of mountains.
"Ivy!" Lila practically latched onto the girl with open arms. Though her partner seemed too weak to return the favor.
When Ivy did muster the strength, she gave a desperate, feral embrace.
"Owie," Lila winced.
She could feel the heiress's nails dig into her back.
"You okay?"
"Just hold me," Ivy whispered.
"What did she do to you?!"
She nearly sounded like Sonera. But Ivy had enough to worry about regarding vengeful girls and made sure to shut it down fast.
"Nothing…it's my family again. Anya was gentle."
Lila knew then the extent of Ivy's pain. It wasn't often at all that she would care to explain something without a bite at the end. But the heiress spoke plainly.
"Let's get you inside." Lila escaped Ivy's grasp before tugging at her arm. But the heiress wouldn't budge. Her lips quivered and turned pale.
"I don't," she whimpered - her eyes glazed before bursting into tears.
Ivy hated feeling so weak and miserable. The advent of her strength should have put that away, or so she thought. But all she wanted at that moment was to smother herself in every trace of Lila she could find.
"Hey, it's okay," the earthling managed a comforting smile.
She could find the haunting statues of the pearl in Ivy's mind. But nothing regarding her past. It was shrouded from her, just like the corruption in her dream.
"I'm here."
"I know," Ivy huffed.
Realizing her partner wasn't going to make it all that far, Lila swept the girl off her feet, lifting with all her might. She already knew how light Ivy could be, but her weak muscles made the princess's carrying more difficult than it should have been.
"Mmh," Ivy looked weak, her smile barely forcing itself out.
"I got you," Lila groaned. "Just…give me a second."
The Earthling suspected Ivy wanted nothing to do with the Aerie, and decided to limp her way towards that same lone tree in the distance. If not for Ivy's rather fantastical weight, well below 100 pounds, she wouldn't have made it five feet.
But she did.
She had too.
She was "locked in".
Ivy couldn't possibly express how she felt. The vulnerability of the situation wasn't just palpable; it turned her mute. All she could muster was a little whimper every now and again.
But it felt good.
And Lila understood.
"Here we go," Lila gasped, setting the heiress down on the soft grass.
"Hm," Ivy nodded.
She lay on her side, leaning on the oak tree as her eyes wandered towards Lila's freckles.
"Better?" Lila knelt in front of her, brown eyes gleaming with hope.
"Come here," Ivy muttered.
Lila leaned in, unsure of what came next as Ivy's sharp nails cupped her cheeks.
"Uhh, hehe."
But as the heiress's lips puckered, she began to blush in abrupt realization.
"Mmh!" Lila's hands found Ivy's shoulders by instinct alone.
She nearly forgot how good that felt.
Ivy's kiss.
Her embrace was sickeningly possessive, demanding something deep and precious from Lila's soul. Ivy took that easily enough. It was hers from the start. Long before things ever became romantic between the two.
"Tell me how you wanted this from the start." Ivy's bond allowed the words to seep through her mouth without a hint of noise. "Tell me all about your delusional crush."
Lila had no response. She didn't need one. Ivy could read her tiniest expression, study every scrap of her brain as it struggled to keep up.
"I'm pretty, right?"
The Earthling was still stuck to Ivy's lips, her little tongue pinned to the roof of her mouth.
"So soft and impossibly thin."
The truth came from Lila's shameful thoughts. Not even bothering to deny them, the Earthling merely shut her eyes with a labored expression and held still.
"Y-you…" she finally managed to contribute. "You smell really nice too."
"I know I do," Ivy boasted.
Her exterior wasn't nearly as haughty. In fact, it was still just as desperate as when Lila picked her up. But she needed comfort.
The warm distraction.
"You know…I'm a fabrication…" Ivy's Psionic voice came out slowly.
"Mm-mm," Lila shook her head. "It's real, remember? Still a cute girl. Who cares if you're nuts and bolts?"
Ivy wanted so badly for her to be right. But simply existing as a machine had long since been a trivial matter. It was the horror of her legacy that brought even Lila's to tatters.
For within her mind, locked so deep that Lunae struggled to find it, rested a lingering bit of fear.
The Mimic.
It wasn't enough to prevent her love. But it was a challenge nonetheless. And Ivy would meet it.
"I'm…not as strong as you need me to be," Ivy pulled away, using her real voice to speak as she pressed a finger against the corner of Lila's nose. "My power is fleeting."
"Girl, you parried a building-sized sword what you are-."
"Not what I mean, Lila."
"Nah, like, you're built different. You are her. If it wasn't for Sonera, who's probably out there kicking ass for us, you'd be one of a kind."
Ivy rolled her eyes, "I mean…I can't be like her. Sonera. I'm not…I'm not strong enough."
"You don't gotta be the stoic wolf to be strong," Lila smiled, her hands dropping onto Ivy's defined hips. "You can be tired. It's normal. It's natural. And I can be here for you."
Noble words for someone who's feeling me up.
"You mean it?" Ivy searched for the confirmation she already had.
"I mean it. You can do the damsel thing. Not like I haven't been there."
Ivy narrowed her gaze, "The what?!"
"You know…the 'oh, I'm weak and hot and would like to be carried' bit. Classic. It's spicy. I'm shit at it, but I try."
I never should have let her read my mind.
"Excuse me?" Ivy played along. "This is all you. We could make an entire codex about your face-planting escapades."
I'm falling for her tricks already, dammit.
Let me mope.
Stop making me smile and play.
Stop knowing what I want.
"I mean, yeah," Lila sighed. "I was scared of that Imura lady. You saved me. I was scared of the first trial. You saved me. I was totally out of my depth with the Infesrare-."
"I 'princess carried' you out of that one too."
"So much stronger than me…" Lila's freckled cheeks flushed, struggling to maintain the banter as Ivy climbed onto her lap with open legs. "S-so pretty too."
Ivy was faltering in her own way, breathing heavily as she began to press her chest against Lila's nose.
Not quite as mighty as Lunae's.
But more than enough.
Even better in its own way.
Ivy's breath hitched, her eyes wobbling as the last scrap of anger escaped. "Lila."
The Earthling's excitement wasn't exactly subtle. But she hesitated.
"W-we shouldn't do that here."
Ivy knew exactly what Lila had imagined. She'd do anything to hear it described out loud. However, the Earthling was far too gentle.
I love that about her, too.
"No," Ivy protested, muffling Lila's argument with her chest.
The bare flesh just above her window scrunching up against that adorable freckled face.
"Fuck that. Fuck the Consortium. Fuck their empire. Fuck my father and his nightmares," Ivy whispered in a soothing voice. "Let your wings spread. Be what you want, my dear Lila. Do what you wish."
Suddenly, Sonera's old advice stuck to the forefront of Lila's mind. It was like the assassin had anticipated this exact moment. Realizing it wasn't just for her, but for the comfort of her white flower, Lila sprung into action.
With all the force of a mouse.
Some things were too precious to lose.
Ivy grit her teeth before she was pushed to the floor, rolling onto her stomach as her face brushed against the dirt. She mimicked disdain and a sense of unease. But her back practically arched itself, shooting the heiress's rear into the air.
"Woah," Lila hesitated. "Uh-…"
She could see beneath Ivy's skirt.
A plump, heart-shaped round of soft skin met her beyond the fringe.
It's easily warped skin wrapped in thin, icy blue lingerie.
She'd seen it before. But never had the perfect image been located so close to her pelvis. A truly devious plot suddenly began to hatch in Lila's mind.
One she had sparsely imagined days after meeting Ivy.
"Ugh," Ivy groaned as her chin was lifted off the floor, her hands shaking as Lila's breath massaged her ear from behind.
"Say it," Lila asked rather politely. She was nice that way.
"I-I…" Ivy struggled to say the words, her waist locked into an angled position.
The past versions of the heiress would implode at the thought of yielding herself in such a way, let alone to one such as Lila. But there she was, desperate and satisfied to defy her fate alongside the girl she loved. All that was left was to let go.
Again.
Some things just can't be avoided.
As Lovatte would say.
"I submit," Ivy croaked. "Take me."
The dramatic act made it sound like Lila was about to do more than just grind herself against the heiress. But that was enough. Back and forth she'd rock Ivy, letting her partner's graceful little grunts fill her ears.
"So cute." Lila smiled.
It took everything in Ivy's power not to make more noise. She loved the way her chest swayed in the air and was simply intoxicated by the warm bump on her rear. But most of all, it was Lila's feminine hand that kept her nightmares at bay, clinging to her prideful chin with all the love and care she had grown to expect.
And accept.
It was rather fortunate that no one was watching. Not with Anya tucked away in her ship along with her entourage. But somewhere in the distance, Yrix could sense their love.