Mother Save Us

The battle was over.

The evidence of it lay strewn across the vast field- mangled forms and forgotten weapons, the powdery grey of rising smoke from weakening fires. From Lorelai's place overlooking the carnage she could easily smell the blood, its putrid, sour scent unmistakeable- fitting for the aftermath of the scene that had taken place mere hours before.

Lorelai gripped the strap slung across her chest, closing her eyes as she eased into the peace of knowing Mother was here. She could feel the unsettled souls wither as they waited, she could feel the vibtration of the earth beneath her bare feet as the now empty vessels began their return to the soil, as Mother took back what always belonged to her but was borrowed for the sake of creation.

It was never easy to feel the phantom aches of loss, to see the aftermath of war and know that Mother mourned her creations as they tore eachother apart. Lorelai's bag heated against her hip with a knowing warmth. It was never easy, but she had been taught since she was young what her purpose was and it was necessary. As necessary as the war itself and knowing that this part of herself would always remain. That Mother all the same would continue to create in the hopes of a distant paradise.

The air shifted, then, a subtle brush of wind against her back as another being appeared beside her. She tensed, her gaurd rising as the being moved, ancient words of magik grazed the tip of her tongue, ready to protect herself when a hand layed over her shoulder.

Lorelai froze, knowing who it belonged to so suddenly her heart stuttered in its wake. She took in in the heat of the touch as it radiated through her thick cloak, felt it curl in her chest and settle like hope. She knew exactly who it was beside her.

"Carina," Lorelai whispered, closing her eyes to breathe in the familiar scent of lavender and cedar as it invaded her senses, overtaking metallic crimson. Distant memories flickered in her mind, good and bad alike. She couldn't ignore all the horrid things she had gone through, all the horrid things the woman beside her had done, but it was so easy to forget when she remembered all that had been so beautiful about them in the first place. What she hoped could still remain beautiful. "I thought I'd never see you again." She said, voice breaking.

Her chest ached, suddenly, eager with the need to hear the womans voice, to hear it tell her that she was okay. That it would all be okay, no matter how unlikley it seemed.

The hand resting on her shoulder tightened, just the slightest, the shaky breath that preceded Carina's words more than enough to let Lorelai know that Carina hadn't thought she'd see her again either.

Her voice was low, a soft timbre that sliced through the tense silence. It had always reminded Lorelai of the moons light, of how it felt to stand beneath it. "Lorelai," Carina sighed, almost chiding, "I pride myself on making good of my promises, espesially the ones I make to you."

Lorelai smiled, felt a flush paint the high angles of her cheeks red as she lifted her hand to lay softly over Carina's. It sent a spattering shock of heat down her arm, buzzed in the tips of her fingers. Carina's slender hands had spilled more blood than on the feild before them, and yet it was still painfully soft against hers.

"If I remember correctly, you promised you would live. Not that I would see you again." It was almost painfully easy to tease the woman, to play as they had done so often before.

Carina hummed, tangling their fingers together before she turned Lorelai to face her with knowing eyes, "Have I been so vague in voiceing the depth of my devotion to you?"

Lorelai couldn't help the weak whine that escaped her throat when their eyes met, as she took in the divine beauty of the human before her. Her raven hair draped over her shoulders in long waves, held away from her face by a dark silver headpiece that cut into the soft curves of her cheeks, framing her warm skin and auburn irises. Even with the evidence of battle present in her bloody lower lip, the jagged cut along her forhead and the tire deep set in her eyes, she was still the most gorgeous being Lorelai had ever seen- would ever have the privelage of seeing.

"You're vaugueness never did as much for me as your honesty." She murmured, so taken with just looking at her.

"My life is yours, Lorelai," Carina said, tears welling in her eyes as she spoke. "To live is to exist under the comfort of your gaze."

Lorelai stifled a shocked breath at her words, at the purity of them. She frowned, finally noticing the sorrow and regret rampant in Carina's expression. The way her eyes flicked over Lorelai like she wasn't sure she'd be able to do so again after this.

"Carina..."

The woman shook her head, a movement so small if would have been missed if Lorelai hadn't been so focused.

"I have begged to Mother for forgivness, my love, for the chance that my atonement be enough to deserve you. That you might look at me and find someone worthy of being yours, of giving yourself so wholly in return."

Lorelai felt any words that she might say fail her, they caught in her throat and choked her with all the things she felt for Carina. She had always been sure in her feelings, regardless of all the things that told her she shouldn't. Even when the woman before her had looked at her like a monster, Lorelai knew what ran through her blood. What it had meant when it sang to Mother and back that Carina was her path.

She brought a hand to Carina's face instead, fingers pressing against the pulse in her neck as her thumb slowly caressed the smooth but bruised skin of her cheek, reveling in the shiver her touch garnered.

“I-I’ve hurt you.” Carina continued, “I’ve hurt you more than I’ve hurt anyone else. I've lived my whole life blind to the truth, and I begged for forgiveness but I fear it hasn't been enough-"

“I have loved you from the moment I laid my eyes on you, Carina,” Lorelai whispered, her voice shaking at the confession. "There has never been a moment where my soul didn't belong to yours."

Tears spilled over the flush skin of Carina's cheeks, her unoccupied hand lifting to press over Lorelai's as she closed her eyes, leaning helplessly into the touch. Lorelai felt her heart pound at the sight, because looking at her felt so heavenly.

"How can you love me after all I've done?”

“Because you freed me, Carina...You freed yourself. I never faulted you for the cards you'd been dealt because with them you changed. There are many things to be said, many things to be done but I know without a doubt that its you I want you by my side for all of it and for as long as I shall live, even after."

Lorelai didn't know when they had gotten so close, when the need to sow herself to the reason she continued fighting had taken over, but they were pressed against eachother now, her cloaked body flush to Carinas filthy armor. Their foreheads touching as they breathed one another in.

"I promised you I would live. And I promise now to always return to you, to always find you. Even if my body fails and my soul resides with Mother, I will find you so we can be one, once more, always."

“Funny you think I wouldn't follow you wherever you go,” Lorelai murmered, the crooked slope of her nose nudging against Carina's almost playfully, even as the thought of living without Carina purged her insides.

"Lets hope it doesn't come to that."

They were kissing then, their lips meeting softly, slowly, as if either one would break at the pressure. They had kissed plenty before, be it angrily or driven purely by the lust that consumed them, but this was different. It was delicate, a gentle slide of lips and tongue that said more than words ever would. It was a promise from the both of them that even as their world continued to darken, they would fight towards the light that led them to freedom. Together.

Carina was the first to pull away, out of breath and panting as she touched their foreheads together once more. Her thumb brushed against a tear Lorelai hadn't even noticed had strayed down her cheek, the faint glimmer of gold sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

“I adore you.” Carina whispered, speaking into the subtle space between them with an assurance that was breathtaking.

“And I, you.”

Hand in hand they made their way to the field of fallen soldiers. The scent of blood growing stronger until Lorelai was nearly snarling at the smell, she forced herself to not cover her nose, holding her head high in a show of respect to those who had faught. Good and evil alike, though those lines blurred more so every day.

Carina huffed a laugh beside her, eyes sullen as her gaze flicked along the carnage. “I'm grateful to not have a nose as strong as yours.”

“Perks of being Fae I suppose,” Lorelai mumbled, lifting a hand to her bag for the seeds nestled within it. They were warm to the touch, humming with an energy that never failed to flood Lorelai's heart with the gravity of their purpose.

When a beings physical form died and returned to soil, their soul remained, stagnant and restless in the place of their unbecoming. The seeds gave them a path, guided them to Mother where she waited with open, loving arms. It pained Lorelai to think of all the souls lost because her kind hadn't been there to help them, because they had been kept from their purpose in the name of ignorance and greed.

But she was here now, and she would do what she could.

Slowly, in the comfortable silence of mourning, Lorelai made her way through the feild. She whispered memorized prayers, bowed her head and lifted it to the sky to bask in the sunlight of Mothers love with every seed dropped to the chest of a corpse. It was easy to lose herself in the the task, but Carina stayed beside her for its entirety, holding her unoccupied hand with a steady grip. She tried her best to repeat the prayers after Lorelai- the tongue was still so unfamiliar to her- and she bowed her head the same and lifted it too. Carina had always said it was difficult to feel Mother, and it made Lorelai's heart sing to see her try, anyway.

The sun had started its decend into the horizon by the time they were finished, a soft orange glow blanketing the wall of the evergreen forest that towered before them.

“What now,” Lorelai said, staring down at their intertwined hands as they swung thoughtlessly between them.

The fight was over, but she had a feeling another was ready to start any moment. It was a war afterall, one that had barely just begun.

Carina sighed, her grip tightening. “Now we wait, and when they come for us. For all of us. We’ll be ready.”

A spark of light caught their attention, and they turned to look at the feild behind them. What once was covered in bodies and blood now swayed with simpler life. A feild of daisies where each bloom payed its respects to the life lost beneath it.

Lorelai lifted their hands, pressing a kiss against the back of Carinas as she eyed the feild with a heavy heart.

“Let’s go,” She said, turning to lead the way to a future they would overcome together.