Title: rest of their time
Rating: T
Fandom: Nights of Azure
Relationship: Arnice/Lilysse
Wordcount: 757
Short summary: Lilysse had made a choice that Arnice had reluctantly accepted. Only now does Arnice actually understand what it meant.
“I’m home.”
“…Welcome back.”
Arnice bites her tongue, biting back words of concern at the weak response she received from Lilysse upon returning to their home. She knows Lilysse is doing her best, as a human…as an aged human…to live out her days. Absent from the greeting is the rush to the door, the enthusiastic embrace, the wide smile. Has it been years since Lilysse has done that? Nowadays Arnice often finds Lilysse sitting at the dining table with a notebook open to an old recipe. To a recipe Lilysse no longer has the energy to cook…
Arnice shakes her head, shaking off that train of thought. They had fought over this before. A few times, actually. Arnice had even stormed off and not returned for a night. But the one thing Arnice has never truly won against Lilysse is a battle of stubbornness. And if Lilysse wants to live out the rest of her days as a human, even if Arnice could turn her into a demon, even if Chris has told both of them that Lilysse would be welcome as a demon at any time…
Then again, Arnice’s choice in this matter was stolen from her so long ago that she can’t really understand Lilysse’s thoughts here. It’s a luxury to be able to die on one’s own terms, Arnice supposes. A luxury that Arnice will not have…
“Arnice.”
“Yes?”
“Come here.”
Arnice is taken aback by the severe tone in Lilysse’s voice, the command she makes. Arnice steps in closer, her right hand reaching out to be grasped by Lilysse’s left. Lilysse takes her hand, just holds it. It feels cool.
“It’s getting close to time, right?”
Arnice’s whole body freezes. Does Lilysse mean…does she think…time for…?
“So I want you to bite me. Turn me.”
“What?”
Lilysse’s hand finally squeezes Arnice’s. The strength in the grip is so much less than…so much less than it used to be.
“I’ve lived a good life as a human, right? Now I can become a demon.”
“You…don’t want to wait until the very end?”
Lilysse laughs. It’s more vibrant than anything else that has come out of her mouth lately. Arnice can’t help but smile reflexively, even as some things are finally becoming clear. For Lilysse, the rest of her days as a human…didn’t mean the rest of all her time. She just wanted to see all she could as a human and pick the time for the transition. Such a selfish choice…
But Arnice can’t fault her for it. That’s the luxury of having a choice, after all. And really, she’s more overjoyed than anything else, that Lilysse has made this choice to continue existing. To become a demon, so she can stay by Arnice’s side.
“Alright.” Arnice steps even closer. She had been very careful with her teeth, with her blood, for these past years especially as Lilysse’s human body aged and her skin became thinner. The transformation will rejuvenate Lilysse, grant her the same timelessness as Arnice. It will be harsher on current Lilysse’s body than it would have been decades ago; it will have a lower chance of success. But Arnice trusts in Lilysse’s willpower, Lilysse’s judgment.
“Meet you on the other side?”
And then she bites, hard. Lilysse’s hand reflexively squeezes Arnice’s harder. It must be painful, but there is little Arnice can do to ease such pain. Her blue blood will burn inside, attacking every cell. It should only take a few minutes at most, but knowing she can’t do anything more to help… That she can only keep her grip on Lilysse and pray that Lilysse keeps her sanity…
Her mind cycles through their moments together like an endless slideshow. Brief moments at the academy, sharing lunch together. Lilysse’s smile. Going out to town. Dancing. Lillyse’s laugh. Sharing a bed. Lilysse’s hands on her body, and hers on Lilysse’s. Lilysse’s kiss…
She should have kissed Lilysse before biting her, to engrave that so deeply in her memories that… She could have shared her blue blood that way instead…
“I’m home.”
Arnice blinks out of her reverie. It’s the same voice. And when she pulls back to look, it’s the same smile, the same twinkle in those eyes…
“Welcome back, Lilysse!”
And when she is tackled onto the floor by her reinvigorated, newly-turned demon lover, and kissed like she is the only source of water in the desert, Arnice knows that joy, the relief, and the excitement to start of the next part of their lives are shared between them.