zephyr (noun) - a gentle, refreshing breeze

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ bounty on my head by grizfolk

CORDELIA ALWAYS HAD
SILENT NIGHTMARES

Cue blinked awake, staring at the dark ceiling before pushing himself up on his elbows, looking over to the opposing side of his bed. Cordelia was sitting up, looking at her fingers as she picked at them. Cue frowned a little, pushing himself to sit up beside her, watching her face for a minute.

Cordelia's eyes were downcast, crossing her legs before closing them and looking up towards the ceiling. "You're staring."

"You're pretty." Cue's response was gentle, glancing at her hands before looking back to her face, "Nightmare?"

"Mm."

"So, yes." He nodded slowly, keeping his own hands clasped in front of him the same way. "What about?" Cordelia's eyes remained shut, squeezing them tighter as she shook her head slightly. Cue waited a moment for an answer, but when she didn't offer a response, he shifted in front of her, standing on his knees to tilt her head up to him instead, pressing a kiss against her mouth, "Cordy, come on." He pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth, pulling back to watch her eyes blink open, looking up at him.

"I couldn't get out." Cue sat back down on his knees, keeping his hand underneath her chin as he ducked his head into her neck, spreading soft, romantic affection up her neck, waiting for her to continue. He felt her arms thread around his own after a moment, closing her eyes again against the warmth. "My door, you know, in the dreams? I couldn't open mine to get to the other's. It was stuck, or something." Her voice caught, not on emotion, but rather on hesitance about the dream itself.

"That's all, sweetheart?" Cue ducked his head again, pressing a kiss to her throat before moving to the other side.

"Mm." Cue kissed up to the shell of her ear, feeling Cordelia's head drop into his chest, tugging him closer to her.

"Mm?"

She sighed then, deeply, opening her eyes again before pulling back, eyes downcast to trace the tattoos sketched over scars on his chest. "No."

"No?" Cue watched her for a moment, once again tilting her head up, "What else?"

Cordelia pressed her warm palm against his chest, leaning into his hand a little. "You know the night we started like..not dating, but-"

"When Echo's magic freaked out?"

"Yeah." She sighed again, voice quieting, "Uh, it was about that..night." Cue paused then, frowning more, eyebrows furrowing as he stroked his thumb over her cheek. Soft moonlight bled into the room, speckling shadows in between the leaves of the scattered trees along the beachline. Again, her eyes shot from his, looking out towards the window. Twittering sounds vanished among the thicket, echoing in soft waves against the opposing sea. "He was there." Cue can feel her draw in a slow, even breath. "He was in my head."

"In your head?"

She dips her head, dropping it into his shoulder, keeping her arms around his neck securely. The response is silent, but Cue doesn't need the confirmation. Instead, he wraps his arms back around her waist, lacing his fingers after encompassing her entirely, and adjusting with crossed-legs so he could pull her into his lap. She didn't protest, muttering soft words underneath her breath. "Cue?"

"Mm?"

"What would you have done? If-"

"Don't do that Cordelia." His interruption is fast, and even if he does know that Cordelia dislikes very few things more than being interrupted, it's for good reason. Raising his head, he threads strands of hair with his fingers. "Nothing happened to you. And you're safe now." His other hand slid up her waist, setting a slow, even pace of reassuring movements. Cordelia doesn't respond, and Cue buries an irritated sigh. Not towards her, but at the fact that someone had scared her. Enough to haunt the world she was born to roam in the dark. "I would have killed him too."

"You would have?"

"Probably." He moves his head to sit his chin on top of her own head, glancing towards the gentle waves of the sea beyond his door. The moon is full tonight, sending some kind of cold nostalgia down through his soul, vibrating down his spine. "I'm not sure it would have been as merciless as Echo." He didn't doubt that anyone could think of something much worse – at least not one of them. "But if he had gotten you somewhere, Cordelia, I'm not gonna sit and pretend I wouldn't do something about it." If he's being truthful, Cue doesn't know what he would do in that situation. He's waited long enough for Cordelia, and he does love her. Desperately so. But he's also aware that slaughtering someone isn't much of a confession.

Well. It doesn't matter. Cause if he had touched her, Cue probably would have ripped the spine from his back and beaten him with it.

"It doesn't matter Delia. You're here now, and everything's gonna be okay." There's a beat of silence, both of them leaning to listen to the calls of marine creatures in the deep distance. Cue knows though, he does know that Cordelia doesn't want a savior, and she doesn't want someone who thinks he needs to protect her all the time. Cue knows that, and he doesn't want to pretend she is someone who needs that fervent protection at all times. "It's not your fault. He was playing a game you weren't even aware of."

"You know it's not the first time I've been drugged." She says it so casually, that Cue's heart skips a beat when he registers it completely. Apparently, his silence is more of a response than she needed, because she adjusts to sit sideways against him, placing her palm on his chest again. "It's the first time it's been that close, but, when you're a girl living alone in a large city, with not the best ability to make connections." The deep sigh that comes from her throat sends a crack down his chest, fracturing metaphysical ribs. "I don't know."

"I'm sorry." It feels weak, but Cue's not really sure what else to say. What do you say to that?

"It's okay." Cordelia insists, and while he very much disagrees, he lets her continue, curling into his chest. "I'm here now anyway, and you've always made me feel safe."

Oh.

He doesn't have much of anything to say at all, is something he quickly discovers. Cue doesn't say a lot anyway, but he does wish he had something better to say than i'm sorry. He doesn't really think Cordelia wants a speech about how he wants to protect her, mostly because Cordelia is smarter than that, and she already knows that. Evidently, she doesn't expect him to say anything, because her palm shifts, tracing the webbed scars over his chest, "I suppose I shouldn't tell Echo about them, then." He can hear the humor in her voice, and it reverses that jagged crack down his chest. Not quite all the way, but enough that he feels like he can breathe a little better.

Cue ducks his head, pressing another romantic kiss against her shoulder before turning his head to dot the crook of her neck with soft affection. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her smile a little, as if to herself, before snuggling impossibly closer against him.

"Echo's really powerful, isn't she?"

"Yes." He returns back to his original position, keeping firm arms around her. "She is."

"Could you beat her?"

"Could I-" Cue paused, the words ricocheting off the back of his mind and back to the front, bouncing for a second before he shook the initial shock away. "Could I beat her?"

"If she turned on us, could you?"

"Why would you ask that?"

Cordelia tilts her head back up at him, fearless and unashamed, waiting expectantly for her answer before realizing Cue isn't going to give one without an explanation. "I've seen your nightmares, Cue. You think I haven't? I'm a dream-walker, in case you forgot."

 Cue manages to bite back a statement of defense, to justify why he thought that, but all the words seemed jumbled for a moment. It was true, he was terrified of being turned on. Cue wasn't scared of very many things. After all, in all of immortality, there was plenty of time to face and conquer your fears. One of the ones you can't ever shake, no matter how long you've lived, is the wicked scent of betrayal.

It happened once. So why couldn't it happen again?

"Yes." Yes, he could beat Echo.

He'd just die doing it.

"I could beat her, Cordelia." She didn't need to know that anyway, and he wasn't about to tell her that if Echo turned on them, was there any hope for anyone at all?

"So why didn't you?" Her voice is gentle; solemn. Sitting up in his lap instead, watching his face with her own sharp, sincere eyes, awaiting his answer. "In your dreams, why didn't you beat her?"

"How could I?" Cue met her eyes, his own emotion snaking up into his throat, threatening to choke his words. Because how could he beat her? How could he kill the girl he had saved? The girl he raised, an immortal of love tried and true.

How could he slaughter his own kin?

True, she wasn't his real daughter, but wasn't she all at the same time? Blood doesn't make a family, bond does. Just as much as he cherished each of the immortals, just as much as he would die for each of them.

"Could you beat her then, Cue? Could you?"

His throat hurt, but all at the same time, he understood why Cordelia was asking this. Because Echo was a comet of energy, a nebula of exploded stardust and heat. Because she could blow up the world as they knew it, and not even blink. He understands why it's on her mind. It's because it's been on him. Not intentionally, but memories of his original life have flooded his thoughts.

It had been his daughter, Morrigan, who'd turned on them all. His true daughter, one that he and his wife had had long, long ago, when the universe was still new, and Cue wasn't on this planet at all.

Venus, his soulmate, had died to protect them.

To protect him.

I wasn't fast enough.

It was the same day he got his wings. Fighting against his own child as she ripped their homeworld away, piece by piece, watching her erupt in absolute fury, as if she had never tasted love herself.

Because to stop an immortal, to really stop them, another immortal must be the one to do it. Venus had been falling, too far, and too fast for him to reach her, and in a single moment she'd been encompassed by the same fire that took Morrigan from him too.

I wasn't fast enough.

"Yes." His answer isn't as confident as he'd want it to be, but it is honest. He could do it, even if it would rip him apart. Even if he couldn't find Cordelia again for longer than the universe would still live. He would have too.

Cue feels a warm hand against his cheek, stroking his face with gentle, soothing strokes, and when he meets Cordelia's eyes, he realizes why she actually asked. She asked because he needed to face the frequent nightmares he'd been facing. Her eyes are softer than they had been a moment ago, and he watches her adjust, swinging to sit up on her knees, cupping his face as she presses a warm, affectionate kiss to his mouth. "Do you feel better?"

He feels almost blindsided, but he really can't help but the strangled warmth pour deep into his stomach, his own smile rising over his face, against her mouth before speaking back, "You think you're so smart."

"I am so smart, thank you very much."

"So you didn't have a nightmare?"

"No, I did." She's pulled back slightly now, still standing on her knees to wrap her arms back around his neck, "I just also know you had one, I could hear you muttering again." He feels Cordelia's hand run through his hair, tugging at the tangles for a beat, "I don't feel as scared when I stay with you anyway." She shrugged, "I mean, I wake up scared, but you're always right there" Her face turns from borderline apathetic to nearly mischievous, eyes glittering, "You're just so handsome, Cue, I mean, look at you." hands unweave from behind his neck, running down his chest instead, and Cue feels something like heat pulse in his cheeks.

Apparently, that's exactly what she'd been looking for, even thought Cue scowls, placing his hands back on her waist to push her back on the bed, sending her a scolding glance. Cordelia just pats his shoulder assuredly, unbothered as she gets to her feet off the bed, stretching her arms above her head.

"Come on Cue, I wanna go for a walk."

"You didn't even ask me."

"Oh, so you don't want to come with me?" She turns on her heel, blinking at him expressionless as she reaches for Cue's drawer, pulling it open before retrieving a shirt and sliding it over herself. "That's fine. Don't go with me."

"Stop being a brat, I'm going." It's a half-hearted grumble, laced with no real malice as Cordelia hands him sweats from his drawers, pushing them shut before heading for the bedroom doors that lead out to the private beach. 

He watched her open the doors, picking up a box from inside his nightstand, pocketing it before returning to find her impatient, expectant gaze on him. She didn't ask, so he didn't tell, only turning back to walk, Cue stepping out the doors only a moment later to fall into step beside her.

The air is fresh and cool, kissed with the promise of a cooler day. The trees around the island were already beginning to shift. The forest seemed to be lined with more autumnal trees than before, dancing with the edges of fall-kissed foliage. The island was strange sometimes, but it did have all four seasons, something that Cue was grateful for. He knew the others would feel the same. It was only the end of August, but there was the taste of the beginning of fall.

Cordelia's hand found his, interlacing their fingers as they walked in silence, breathing in the cool air of the morning. The skies were turning from that smokey blue into something warmer, the horizon glimmering with the softest rays of light. The beach was quiet, the ocean humming a harmony of its own silence while they walked down the edge of the sand and water. It was nice. The fact that they almost always did this after nightmares was a welcome reprieve, it was quiet enough to feel aware, but with each other it felt a little less like isolation.

"What did you get?" Cordelia's voice finally breaks the silence, her gaze flickering to his before returning to the steps in the sand, imprinting shapes into the ground. Cue doesn't quite respond, and her patience thins, "Earlier, you stopped to grab something, what was it?"

"None of your business."

"Yes it is, it's very much my business what my boyfriend is sneaking around with."

"You're too nosy." Cue's voice is steady, even if the hint of amusement lines the words. He can't help it, not really.

"That's rude." Cordelia skids to a stop, holding out her hand expectantly as she removes her other one from Cue's grasp. Her eyes shine with petulant determination, and Cue can't help but smile a little as he turns on his own heel to face her. He knows very well that she would have let it go by now if he'd insisted on it, but he really doesn't want too. So instead, he pulls out the box, and drops it in her awaiting palm.

Cue had gone back to the forest, where she'd lost her ring.

It had taken him, and the other immortals (apart from Echo, who was distracting Cordelia), nearly half the day to find it. But they'd found it, and that's what was really important. He had bought that ring for her, truly and honestly, and yes, it was expensive. Even if he hadn't been interested in her, he would have gotten her a fake ring, but he'd picked that one especially for her. She'd seemed so upset when she'd lost it, and he'd caught her more than once glancing at her fingers, as if expecting it to appear.

Cordelia's face is blank when she opens the box, showing that same glimmering ring, polished and cleaned, and ready to go right back to it's home on her finger. Cue watches as her throat bobs, and tears prick the corners of her eyes.

"You should marry me, Cordelia." Cue reaches for her face, brushing uncried tears with his thumb before lowering his mouth to hers, only to whisper the softest words into her mouth, unspoken letters written between them. To promise her that he has been listening, that he sees her, understands her, and more than anything in the world.

He loves her.

"Please."

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

wyn !!

twenty-sixth chapter 

so, this is the last actual chapter

next is the epilogue

thank you for being here
i love you