Souls Embraced in the Dark

Hushed whispers filled the air and it took quite some time for them to die down. By the time that things were quiet again, the cables and Barrier blocking off the interior of the courtyard had begun to dissipate. The tattered earth and torn interior of the courtyard within the Barrier was replaced by the untouched and peaceful scenery of the original in the mundane world once more as the last vestiges of the Barrier receded. Moira and John approached the two calmed warriors quickly, with Sophia close behind as always. The three of them arrived just as Adantia and Lord Brighton clasped arms.

"You're not half bad for an old man,” Adantia teased. "You must have really been a sight to see when you had the full Rose."

"I fear I've sat idly for far too long. Even with the full power of the Golden Rose, I do not know if I could have emerged victorious. Your skills don't seem to have dulled in your isolation, though."

"...Well, you had a lot of duties around here to take care of. I didn't have much to do besides train and think. And I tried really hard to avoid the second one."

"I would imagine so. We did not come to America until after Paix was destroyed, but we still heard the stories from across the pond. My deepest condolences for your losses."

"Hey, it's just everything I've ever known and loved, plus my eyes. No big deal, right?"

The silence that followed was so thick that John nearly choked on it, until Adantia broke it once more with a raucous guffaw.

"Geez, lighten up, you guys. That was years ago, get over it already."

A look passed between the three others, a look that Adantia pointedly ignored.

“Be that as it may… your legend as one of the most powerful Enchanters in the Abyss is clearly not undue. Nor your reputation for Ferromancy,” Lord Brighton noted. “You released so many spells from those cables… are you certain you will not need them for the war?”

“Most of them don’t need to be reforged, they just need a little mana work. The rest… well, I had to make a good impression, didn’t I?” Adantia said with a grin. “Don’t worry. I didn’t use all the best ones, I saved those in case something goes sideways. Pretty impressive though – I had a bunch of reinforcement runes activated at the end there, but my cables were still bouncing right off you. Some kind of protective aura?”

“The Lady does have a great many gifts; as the Lord Protector of the Shield Warden line, defense is one of her greatest.”

A brief comfortable pause settled in, no one quite sure where to turn the conversation, before Adantia stepped in once more.

"Hey, you got any good food in this place? I'm so over fast food, and enchanted food that's older than the kid that dragged me here."

"One of my Knights can escort you to the kitchens, and our staff will happily prepare any meal you request. You are welcome to eat as much as you desire."

"Dangerous words,"Adantia said, grinning wickedly as Lord Brighton called one of the spectating knights over to lead her away. Moira stepped closer to her father, but both of them remained silent until Adantia was out of sight.

"Father, was it really necessary to go that far? You haven't called upon the Rose in years. We're lucky that no one was hurt."

"I had to be sure that this woman is who she says she is... or at the very least, has the strength to live up to it. We need to know as much as we can about her, and her capabilities, if she is going to become our ally. Besides, I think that was rather a fine way to begin shaking off all my years of rust."

"Shaking off...?” Moira asked, a note of worry entering her voice. "Father, are you intending to go to war?"

"I will do as I always have, and obey the orders of my Warden. Of course… an ally of that strength may require quite the discussion on how this changes our plans."

"One person changes nothing; if we withdraw from our agreement with the rest of the Order, they will not offer us the same terms again."

“You don't need their offer now," John said, crossing his arms. "You don't have to leave your home anymore, or marry some random Knight you've never even met!"

Moira's lips pursed as she turned to the few knights still standing around the outer rim of the courtyard. Her voice took on an air of inarguable authority as she shouted loudly enough to startle John.

"I want this courtyard cleared at once!"

The sounds of feet clamoring over pavement filled the air for nearly a minute, as all the former onlookers hastily made their exits. The last two to leave even went so far as to shut the Courtyard doors behind them, leaving a blanket of silence to drape itself over the four still remaining.

"John, I understand your feelings on this matter, I do, but I will do what I must for the Order, the soldiers who count on me, and for you as well. Ensuring that you will be welcome and safe there was -"

"What? Moira, I'm not leaving Springfield! This is my home; everyone I care about is here, and they're all in danger."

"We've already made preparations to bring along your mother. Kim will be moving with her father, and I've been trying to get in contact with Layla," Moira argued.

"None of them should have to move either! And if I was going to lose my home anyway, I wouldn't need to flee, I'd lock myself away again."

"Well, I thought... I thought you would still want to come with us. To come with me."

The last words hung in the air, defying their own weight. John saw uncertainty in Moira's eyes, a moment of weakness breaking through the Warden's outer walls. John stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders, doing his best to comfort her, though he couldn't hide the troubled look on his face.

"Moira... I don't want to lose you. And I won’t physically stop you from trying to leave, but I’m not going with you. I don’t want to lose you, but I’m not going to follow you across the ocean to watch you enter a marriage you don’t want and give up the Blessing you inherited. Just the thought of what that would to do someone... I don't want to see you like that, and now I know that's the last thing you want, too!"

John paused as he fumbled to put his thoughts in order, but all he could manage was a simple question.

"Moira, are you going to ignore what just happened between us?"

The flush that covered Moira's face nearly matched her hair. The Warden seemed to lock in place, her whole body stiffening up.

"F-father, perhaps you should leave as well."

"Is that an order, my Warden?”

“L-Lord Brighton, I think it pertinent that you leave at-”

“Moira, you do still have the Rose, don’t you? You must know he’ll only be able to keep it for-”

“Father, leave at once! That is an order!”

“O-of course, my Warden.” Lord Brighton’s slight stumble of his words came not out of surprise or intimidation in the slightest. Rather, he was grinning so widely and his lips trembling so much that John was quite certain he was holding in the kind of laugh only the most devious of fathers could earn. He went so far as to place his hand on John’s shoulder as he passed the Gamer on his way out the door, a gesture he emphasized with a squeeze tight enough to be both comforting… and very disconcerting.

Moira didn’t utter so much as a slight sound until her dad was completely gone, and the door had latched behind him. Then she rounded on John… but not with the fury he expected. Rather, Moira’s gaze was something inscrutable, a look so unfamiliar to her that John had difficulty piecing together the bits of Moira he’d witnessed before to even begin to guess what she was expressing.

“John, I… I know that I may have let myself become a bit rash back there. Between the stresses of the dealings with the British Order, the uncertainty of your safety, the imminent threat from the north, and a half-dozen other worries, I haven’t been as steadfast and reliable as a Warden should strive to be, and I know I’ve sought multiple forms of relief for that burden-”

“That’s the excuse you’re going with?” John asked, unable to restrain the quirk of his own eyebrow as his skepticism took an undeniably physical form. “You were just using me for some stress relief? That’s insulting and insultingly transparent.”

John didn’t actually believe that’s what Moira meant, but the words threw her off guard enough to allow John to press things a little. The blush that colored Moira’s cheeks told a story all its own, but to her credit, the Warden managed to keep her face mostly straight as she **** out a response. Even as John stepped closer to her, even as he drew their bodies together and her breath caught in her chest.

“N-no! N-nothing, I mean! Nothing like that! I was simply reacting with relief at seeing you returned unharmed, and I was so eager to have our first uninterrupted conversation in a year… I simply lost track of myself, and I- I mean, you are a very attractive man, John Newman. I won’t deny that, but all the same, I am a Warden. I cannot be swayed by such sexually attr- depraved traits as physical fitness, unyielding will, a massive- ego and an altog- all togethe- a completely unyielding, obtrusive, stubborn...”

John smiled at the stammer that quickly shattered Moira’s illusion of confidence as their faces hovered just inches away from each other. Even in the moment, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of affection and pride at the glimmer in her eyes and the adorable way she tripped over her own words as their bodies pressed against each other and he wrapped one arm around her waist. Moira fell silent the moment that John’s fingers touched upon her jawline, letting her fiery words die on her lips as John leaned ever closer… and then paused, with their lips so close he could feel the heat of her body against his own.

“Moira, I may be an absolute novice at so many things, diplomacy among them,” John admitted, letting his skin brush Moira’s for only a moment, “but I know a thing or two about desire and denying it. Lerianna and you could honestly bond over a lot. All the same… I’m not going to make things that easy for you.”

“W-what are you going to do to me?”

The words might have sent a chill down John’s spine, but the way Moira spoke did something entirely different to him. The anticipatory shiver in her voice matched the quiver in her lips, the heat of her body rose and fell with the intonation of her excitement beneath those hesitant words, and the slow, deep breaths that Moira was taking made it abundantly clear that her words were not fearful, but hopeful. Her chest heaved as she twitched, torn between freezing with shock and writhing with lust.

But whatever degenerate fantasies were playing in her mind weren’t enough. Not for John, anyway. His words were true – thanks mostly to his creations and his new life in the Abyss, John knew much more about lust and desire than he had in his old life. John could see both on Moira’s face, even now, even while she was embroiled in shock and denial.

John couldn’t honestly say he had anticipated Moira holding the kind of feelings for him that she seemed to. Her affections had always seemed steeped in a mixture of caution and concern, more like a babysitter than a lover. Perhaps he was ignorant, perhaps he was in denial, but whatever the case, he’d never anticipated her earlier reaction to his return. But as surprising as her feelings may have been, they weren’t unwelcome – and more importantly, they gave him a way to break past her walls, if only under the most **** of circumstances.

“I’m not going to do anything. Not on my own, anyway,” John whispered, his words certain and teasing, his mouth playing across the barest reaches of Moira’s **** lips. His flesh touched hers so briefly it may not have happened at all, carried on the grace of wind and so fleeting that at the moment it happened, it was already nothing more than a memory. “I want you to tell me what you want me to do. Not with your lying words – tell me with your body, Moira. If you really regret what you did back there, if it wasn’t what you actually wanted… then it shouldn’t be hard for you to endure this. To just stand there, with my lips so close, my body so ready, and so willing.”

John’s words didn’t hang in the air as he spoke them – they had no time, and no room. The moment he’d finished the last syllable, Moira was pressing herself against him once more, her hand locked around the back of his head and her body so heated that he felt himself blushing along with her. Their lips met with a familiarity that defied the brief experience they’d had with each other. Even having anticipated and hoped for her exact reaction, the intensity of Moira’s embrace nearly overwhelmed John as her plump lips met his for only a moment before Moira’s tongue was pressing its way into his mouth.

John’s lips parted with eager acceptance and the two of them remained interlocked like that for what felt like eternity. The only sign of time passing was their movement with and against each other, tongues and lips locked in mirroring motions. Their only reason for parting was for breath – a thing that John nearly forgot about until Moira pulled away, gasping for air, having pushed herself to the absolute limits of her endurance.

“J-John, I can’t… I simply cannot risk so many lives, so much danger to my people… to you, to my father, to everyone. Not for any amount of attraction.”

“I’m not asking you to risk anything. I’m asking you to trust me,” John said, nodding firmly.

“John, I trust you. I truly do,” Moira said. “If all I had to do was bet the Order on the fact that you believe you can win… I would do it in a heartbeat. But it’s not your belief I worry about, John. It’s the results. This is a war the likes of which hasn’t been seen on this continent in decades. Even the British Order would not walk into this lightly. I wasn’t lying earlier; if we back out of this deal and are placed into a more precarious situation, we will not be offered the same terms. You, my father… I cannot lose either of you. I cannot leave you behind.”

There it was again. The mention of her father being left out of any potential deal, placed alongside someone like him – an anomaly, a late bloomer with an ability that defied the laws of magic. John ignored the building curiosity of Lord Brighton’s past to **** out an even more painful topic.

“If we fail, if we lose, or if at any point we believe we cannot win… if I yet live, and have the strength to crawl my way off that battlefield,” John said, words slow, voice low, tone as grave as he’d spoken in over a year, “I will welcome your Order into my world. I will take all of them to a place safe from the ravages of this world, and we can rebuild from there.”

Moira stilled in silence for a long while, still resting in John’s arms, her own limbs still wrapped around his but suddenly losing their strength.

“John, I hadn’t… I didn’t dare to ask. After what happened-”

“You are the only one I would make this offer to,” John whispered, fear and trauma and uncertainty all evident in the tremble of his voice as he spoke even now. “For I trust your Order, your skill in vetting your recruits, and your ability to keep secrets. I will not offer you keys to my world as I once did. I will not promise easy or reliable transit out of that world. But there is food, there is shelter, and there is enough space for this Manor even among the land we do not currently use. Even if it must be rebuilt brick by brick. Would you accept that promise, Moira?”

“I… I…”

Tears welled in Moira’s eyes, emotions so convoluted and interwoven present in her gaze that John could not pretend to read them.

“I need time to think,” Moira said, sniffling as she finally pulled herself away, releasing herself from John’s grip and standing on her own two feet once more. “Go find Adantia. Meet my father and me in the war room in… twenty, maybe thirty minutes. We have much to discuss.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Moira didn’t respond, and John felt no need to add any more than he already had as she strode away from him, at last leaving John and Sophia alone in an otherwise silent courtyard.

“You’ve been awfully quiet back there, Sophia,” John noted, turning his gaze to the armored Harpy. “No comments on what we just saw… or what I just promised?”

“You are my leader, Father. I would follow you into the depths of hell itself. If you believe we can win, that is enough for me to believe as well. If you believe that the Order and its Knights can be entrusted with our sacred home, then that is enough for me to share your faith.”

“Steadfast as ever,” John said, half a grin playing on his face as his mind considered what had just happened – and what he had just done. “Come, Sophia. Let’s go find Adantia.”

“Father… there was one matter which I might address with you.”

The tone in Sophia’s voice was an unfamiliar one to John; all he could do in his surprise was quirk an eyebrow and return her gaze.

“You should be forward like that more often,” Sophia said, eyes meeting John’s with a hint of almost playfulness glistening behind her confident pupils. “You underestimate the attraction those around you often have. I cannot name a worthy woman we have met who would deny your advances.”

“Th-thank you?” John said, blinking slightly as he processed the unexpected… was it a compliment? An observation? Simple advice? John wasn’t sure what Sophia was getting at, nor was he sure why she looked so amused as she pushed past him.

“Come, Father. The larder awaits.”