Refuge

[7twistedwishes]

Her room.

616.

Weyland is tugged inside and the door closes, cutting off the noises, scents and lights of the Bar. In the almost complete darkness, there is Lucifer, her presence, her perfume.

Comments

[mechanicalswans]

She is a comfort.

So is the darkness--it enfolds him, encloses him, reminds him of the mountain where once he lived.

"She's gone," he whispers. "It's all gone. Everything."

[7twistedwishes]

"You are not gone."

There is a moment of silence, before she adds. "I am not gone."

Simple words, and maybe an offer.

[mechanicalswans]

"I saw it," he says. "Watched it happen. The world--holes in the sky, holes in reality, crumbling in on itself. Everything I had built was destroyed. I don't know if I can go back--don't know if I will ever have a door again--and if I don't, how can I ever be free?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Weyland." The Devil reaches to cup his cheek. "I am here still. You are here."

Oh, how she wishes she could say the words burning her heart...

[mechanicalswans]

"If my world is gone, my wife is gone also," he says quietly, "and my heart along with her. I can never get it back. It wasn't enough that I should chase her to the end of time, but even then--even now--"

He shakes his head slightly.

"I will never be whole again."

[7twistedwishes]

A small sigh, and she leans to Weyland's chest, falling silent.

She can not reach to him, not now, and maybe not ever.

[mechanicalswans]

The mechanical ticking of his unreal heart is more noticeable than usual--which is to say, quite noticeable, especially as close to him as she is.

That is what keeps them apart. What his wife had taken, and what she had left behind.

Her words--surely that cannot be how it happened; she loved him, and he had no idea that anything was wrong until she was gone--come back to him, unbidden, and he tries his best to banish them again.

I don't want to do this anymore.

He holds her close, trying to make sense of what is left of his world.

[7twistedwishes]

So The Devil just stays close, holding to Weyland, and waits.

She is good at waiting, giving time to time and letting the inevitable happen.

[mechanicalswans]

"How do you put things together again?" he asks quietly. "Surely you must've seen so many people lose everything they had--and you yourself, cast out and forced to find a new way. How do you do it?"

[7twistedwishes]

"First you stop." Lucifer sighs. "That is the hard part, you stop. You have a core, and if you just stop, the pieces will stop too and fall to the center."

"They gather in a jumbled mess, but with the pieces together you can start fitting them into a shape, filling gaps."

[mechanicalswans]

"I don't have much choice, here. I am outside of time and everything that was, has ended."

But he wants to move on. There is nothing he'd like more at this moment than to be free, free to choose his path and his loyalties.

"Maybe it just takes time."

[7twistedwishes]

"Here, you have all the time in the universe." She touches Weyland's cheek again.

"Of all universes."

[mechanicalswans]

"Maybe it will be enough," he says. "And maybe it won't, but here I am anyway."

He leans against her, closing his eyes.

[7twistedwishes]

"I will be here for you." She holds Weyland close, her lips moving silently, out of his sight, with the words she will never be able to say.

[mechanicalswans]

"You always are," he says, more quietly. "You deserve someone better than me, I hope you know that."

[7twistedwishes]

"I don't deserve anything, Weyland. I am the one first marked for destruction, and humanity that I loved and hated will outlast me." She ests forehead to his chest. "I don't want anyone else."

[mechanicalswans]

"I never loved humanity," he says. "Individuals--there were a few I could tolerate. But as a group, I found them little better than disrespectful parasites. You deserve better than them, also."

[7twistedwishes]

"I saw so much potential on them." The Devil sighs a bit, settling more against Weyland's chest. "Then I saw how they wasted it."

[mechanicalswans]

"That's all they do," he says. "Waste what they have, covet what they do not have, fight over what they do not deserve. All they have ever done."

[7twistedwishes]

"And once in a while one rises above the mud, and wanders alone until the otehrs pull him down."

"Sad." She moves, and kisses Weyland. "But, a worry for another time."

[mechanicalswans]

"There are no worries left," he says, resting his chin on her shoulder. "The worst that could happen has already happened. It can only get better from here."

[7twistedwishes]

Her Nature would demand she changed his mind. Tormented, taunted and teased.

Good thing she is not compelled to do so now: Lucifer can nods, hold her... special friend, close, and soothe him. Tomorrow will bring change, whether they wish it or not, and hopefully the changes will be for Weyland's benefit.