Frieren swallowed as midnight gazed into her.
"Stay?" Percia tilted her head with an unreadable expression. "Is there something else you need my assistance with?"
Frieren flinched inwardly. "...Well, no."
"Is it something to do with Fern and Stark? Are they okay?"
"...Fern seemed fine. I just talked to her."
"I see..." Percia exhaled. "Then it's Stark. I was worried with the way he ran off yesterday..."
Of course. It was a simple fact: who was she to assume that Percia wanted to come back? For her, at that?
Frieren's grip loosened from Percia's sleeve.
She was a fool. She had assumed, and taken the intentions the wrong way, and now —
At least she had gotten to see her again. Frieren let her eyes trace over Percia slowly, quietly, taking in what she could while she still had the chance — the sharp line of her jaw, those eyes deep and still as standing water, the faint weariness in them that hadn't been there a thousand years ago. The precise way she held herself. The tension in her shoulders that never quite left.
She had lost her once. She would lose her again today.
"Frieren?" Percia's brow furrowed. "Are you alright? Are you sore from last night?"
Frieren couldn't help the slight smile that tugged at her lips. "I feel much better than before, thank you."
But how was she supposed to pretend? How was she supposed to stand here while Percia looked at her like that and feel that everything was fine?
A hand settled on her face, lifting her gaze up from the floor. "Frieren, please tell me what's wrong..."
This was cruel.
"It's nothing." She leaned into the touch before she could stop herself. She had yearned for this warmth. "I just..."
"I just missed you."
Percia's hand stilled.
"...Missed me?"
"Yes." Frieren felt the dam in her chest creak from all the unsaid words. "I missed you a lot."
It broke.
"I missed the weight of you beside me. The mornings I would wake up and you would already be there. The way your mouth would almost smile — not quite, but close enough that it felt like something meant only for me." Her voice was steady until it wasn't.
"I missed your presence. Your being. I missed you, Percia."
She looked up at Percia, sight blurry with tears she hadn't meant to shed. "I— I shouldn't have done any of that." Her voice died down to a horrified whisper. "I hurt you. I used you—"
"Frieren."
A soft hand brushed the tears from her cheeks.
"I let you hurt me. I let you use me." Percia's voice was quiet in a way Frieren had never heard from her. "It was the least I deserved — for everything I kept from you."
"No—" You didn't deserve that. How could you say that?
"You were hurt. I broke your trust."
"Percia—" It's never been broken. I still trust you.
"I didn't know how to fix it." Percia paused, she sounded tired. Deeply, honestly tired. "And I still don't... I'm sorry, Frieren."
Why are you the one apologizing?
"Stop." Frieren cut her off before she could continue. "Stop talking as though it was your fault."
She steadied her breath.
"It wasn't. I was the one who held too tightly. Who convinced myself that forty years was enough to know you — that another month was enough to understand what you'd lived through. It wasn't. It barely scratched the surface." She looked down. "I was frustrated with myself. For not knowing you better. And I turned that frustration into something ugly and aimed it at you. That was mine to carry. Not yours."
She took Percia's hand carefully, the way you hold something you're afraid of dropping.
"I know I don't deserve to ask anything of you. Not after what I did. It would be wrong of me, and I know that." She brushed her thumb against the back of Percia's hand.
"But I'm selfish. I've always been selfish when it comes to you. I won't lie to myself by saying that I don't want you to stay."
"I want you to stay. Even if it's only for a while. Even if nothing changes, or everything does. Even if you just need time to decide." A breath. "You're always welcome. No matter how many centuries pass between us."
She looked up. Eyes steady, despite everything.
"So please. Stay."
---
Stark fidgeted with his spoon, his breakfast left untouched before him.
Frieren sat diagonal from him, in front of Fern. The space next to her was overwhelmingly apparent.
Percia wasn't here.
It didn't help that Frieren's eyes were slightly swollen. It didn't help that she was staring into her hands, as if she could still feel something in them.
He glanced at Fern, her eyes said it plainly enough: I shouldn't have trusted her with Percia.
Stark looked away. He couldn't argue with that. He couldn't say anything, actually. The silence had settled over the table like weather and none of them seemed to know how to move through it.
Cutlery clinked softly against plates. Minutes passed.
Then a familiar weight settled on top of his head.
Frieren looked up. Something in her face — the tension that had been sitting there since this morning — came undone, quietly and all at once.
"Percia." Her voice came out soft. "You're back."
"I said I wouldn't be long." The hand shifted in his hair, easy and unhurried. "I just had something to take care of."
He saw as Fern turned in his periphery, her expression morphing into pained relief. "...You're here. I- I assumed the worst."
"The worst?" A beat. "Frieren. Don't tell me you all just sat here in silence."
Frieren looked down at her hands again. "...I'm tired from crying. Even keeping my eyes open is an effort right now."
"Besides, I didn't know if you'd really come back."
The figure behind Stark moved. He heard the chair beside Frieren pull out, felt the weight shift as she settled into the seat.
"I always keep my promises." The voice was quieter now. "And I'm promising now — I won't leave again."
Stark finally allowed himself to look up.
Percia smiled at him across the table. Small, genuine, the kind of smile that didn't need anything from him.
"Hello, Stark."
His arms trembled with something like relief, the knot in his chest loosening all at once.
"Hi, Percia."
She was back.
Percia inclined her head, reaching for the untouched plate of bread and sliding it toward Stark with a faint twitch at the corner of her mouth.
"Eat. You'll need your strength if we're continuing north today. The road won't wait for empty stomachs."
Stark watched as Frieren's hands found Percia's cloak under the table. Percia didn't pull away. She simply turned her palm upward and took Frieren's hand into her own, long fingers curling gently around the smaller ones with quiet, deliberate care.
He was just glad that everything worked out.
---
Author's Note:
I'm so sorry for the slightly delayed update! For some reason this chapter didn't save correctly... T-T