glowstick-lesbian

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

Chapter 6 - Nice To Meet You

Summary: Gustave x reader, Lune x Sciel, WC: 4.9k CW: No warnings, very fluffy chapter, mentions of injuries.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

Finding Esquie’s nest wasn’t hard. The entrance to the hollowed out mountain is adorned with a sculpture of his face. The stories about Esquie have always been your favourites. He’s always such a lovable character, of course the info that comes back to Lumière is usually limited so people most definitely use their creative liberties. 

You can’t wait to meet him though, it’s like going to meet a celebrity. The Gestral standing guard at the entrance to the mountain has his arms crossed. 

“Pasword.” He grunts as you stop in front of him. Gustave looks around everyone awkwardly, you smile at him as Sciel sways over to him. 

“Gustave. You are the loudest.” She teases giggling. Gustave sighs and steps forward, he waves at the Gestral who just looks at him tipping his head. 

“Hi.” He says awkwardly. He lets out a sigh then shouts. “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” You can’t help laughing at the absurdity of it all. Everyone else is smiling but the Gestral raises their arms defensively. 

“Hey, no need to be so rude.” He says. 

“I’m not. Sorry, it’s just the password is ‘get out of my way’” Gustave says trying to apologise to the Gestral who has just moved out the way. “I’m sorry.” Maelle pats him on the back as Lune and Sciel walk past them into the mountain. 

“C’mon he's a Gestral, he will have forgotten about it in a few minutes.” You smile and follow Maelle past the entrance. You catch up with her as you hear Gustave trying to apologise again. Esquie’s nest is beautiful, the whole place is built into the mountain with pools of fresh clear water. The lighting is soft blues and purples casted by the ornate lamps hanging from the ceiling. 

“Are you okay, Maelle?” Gustave asks catching up with you all. 

“I dunno. Getting a bit of… deja vu again.” Maelle replies. She’s been pretty quiet since her vision last night. Gustave’s been sticking by her side.

“The light here. Feels a little.” Sciel stops for a second looking around. “I dunno, yeah.” You raise an eyebrow at her but she just continues. You make it through to what you assume is the main chamber, at the top of some steps there is one large pool. You can feel the heat from the steam, you’re all looking around. 

“Where is he?” You ask.

“Weeeee.” You hear and everyone turns to see Esquie fly into the mountain and lands in the pool splashing water into the air.  

“Bonjour, mes amis.” Esquie says. Leaning bavk ans resting his arms over the rocks behind him. You gasp you can’t believe you’re standing in front of the Esquie. 

"Bonjour, mon ami!" Sciel chimes stepping forward and waving.

“Sciel.” Lune cautions. 

“What? I dunno, he seems nice.” She says back.

“He is nice. I’ve read all the stories.” You say excitedly stepping up to him, you almost feel like you want to bow. 

“Oh! It’s you! Hello again my terrible swimmer friend. Have you finally come to learn how to swim?” Esquie asks leaning forward to look at Sciel. 

“No. I- I’m not that fond of water” She says looking at Gustave for support. 

“Actually that's why we're here. We need to cross the sea Golgra said you could help.” Gustave says. 

“Mon ami! ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss.’” Esquie says, you all look at each other. 

“I don’t get it.” You say. 

“They say Esquie likes to talk in riddles.” Lune says, you can already see she’s deep in concentration trying to figure it out. 

“In what way?” Esquie asks, it makes you chuckle. 

“We really need to cross the sea. Could you please help us?” Lune asks. 

“Mmm. There’s a lot of you to carry, I would need Florrie.” He says. 

“Florrie?” Maelle asks. 

“One of my rocks.” He says. 

“I remember them from the story, Esquie has lots of rocks. Florrie and Soarrie. There were others.” You explain looking back up at Esquie. 

“How nice it is to finally meet you.” He says. You frown, tipping your head to the side. 

“Okay. Where is your rock now?” Gustave asks. 

“It was stolen by my archnemesis! One whose every step shakes the foundation of the whole world! The one known as… François.” Esquie says dramaticly, it makes you smile.

“Okay:” Lune says sceptically.

“Let me guess. François is located deep within Nevron-infested territory, right?” Gustave asks. 

“Oh no, he’s right next door over there.” Esquie points, everyone turns behind them and looks at another cave entrance in the rocks.

“Oh.” Gustave says. 

“Well that's easy.” You say, shrugging. 

“I guess we’ll take a look then.” Gustave says. 

“Fantastic. Good luck mes amis!” Esquie says as he waves you away. You smile at Sciel as you walk away, the words Esquie said to you are still spinning in your head ‘How nice it is to finally meet you.’ Maybe he just says that to everyone, he didn’t say it to anyone else. 

“Are you okay?” Gustave asks. You nod and smile at him as you make it through the cave. 

“Oh you should probably stay back.” Gustave says. You frown at him and he points up at the grapples. 

“I’m fine.” You say rolling your ankle. 

“Just this once.” He says, his eyes pleading with you. His eyes could bring you to his knees. You reluctantly nod and head back towards Esquie as they fly away on the grapples. 

“Oh, do you have Florrie?” Esquie asks you. You shake your head. 

“No, I can't use grapples right now. I hurt my ankle.” You say holding your injured leg out. 

“The more you take, the more you leave behind.” He says. You frown at him again, these riddles make no sense. You look down into the water and you can see the bottom. 

“What did you mean when you said ‘it was nice to meet me?’” You ask. 

“I love meeting new people.” Esquie says. “You are one of my favourites.” You frown at him even more confused. A loud roar fills the caves bouncing off the walls, you turn to look towards François cave. 

“Ho ho ho. They sound like they’re having fun!” Esquie exclaims. You’re not too sure about the fun thing as you hear the sound of metal swords crash against rock. 

A few minutes later they’re back. Gustave smiles at you and Maelle hands Esquie a large rock.

“Oh you got Florrie.” He says as he takes it out her hand and holds it up. “Hum, that's not Florrie.” 

“What do you mean thats not Florrie?” Lune asks, you can hear a little annoyance rising in her voice and Sciel rests her hand on her shoulder. 

“HA! I never had Florrie! Your rock is still on the Stone Wave Cliffs!” François shouts from his cave. 

“Eeeh bah, he got me good.” Esquie says dropping the rock in the water. 

“I guess we’re going to the Stone Wave Cliffs then.” You say crossing your arms. 

“If you get me Florrie back we can be buddies!” Esquie exclaims cheerfully. 

“The Stone Wave Cliff’s where are they?” Guatave asks. 

“All the way to the north! Just aim for the big 33.” Esquie says, then flaps his arms with a whoop and throws himself in the air. You all smile at each other as he leaves his cave. 

“How was François?” You ask Gustave as you all turn to leave. 

“Grumpy.” He smiles. 

“We should make camp before we go, be prepared. I would like to update our journals.” Lune says. You all nod in agreement and head back to the camp.   

____

“Need a hand?” You ask as you peek over Gustave’s shoulder he’s writing in his diary. He smiles at you and shuffles, nodding for you to sit down. 

“Are you writing about Esquie?” 

“And François.” He smiles. 

“I wonder what he was so grumpy about.” You chuckle. 

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” He asks suddenly. Heat imminently rushes to your cheeks.

“I-” You choke on the words, you’re not sure why, why does he care? “I’ve never had a boyfriend. What about you?” Your eyes widen. 

“I mean girlfriend? Or boyfriend that's- I don’t care. I know you were with Sophie.” You say, your face feels like it’s on fire. He chuckles closing his dairy. 

“Yeah, me and Sophie were together.” 

“I saw that she Gommaged this year. I’m sorry.” You say. He sighs and looks back out at the Monolith.

“It’s okay. It was strange seeing her again, after so long.” He sounds sad. 

“How long had it been?”

“A few years. We had been broken up for a while.” 

“But she never got with anyone else.” You don’t know what made you say that, you cringe looking over at him. He’s still looking out towards the Monolith, his eyes fixed on the horizon. The sky and floating lights light up his face and eyes. You can see moisture building in them. 

“Do you ever think about what the Paintress thinks?” You look at him and frown then look back out at her. 

“Maybe. But she still changes the number every year.” You say, innocent people die every year. 

“Maybe she doesn’t have a choice.” He says, looking back at you.

“Everyone has a choice.” You say grimly. You don’t believe the words coming out your mouth. All the people who Gommaged don’t have a choice because The Paintress makes the same choice every year. You lost your parents and your brother because of a choice she made. You sigh, thinking about your brother still hurts. He should be here not you, he deserved better. 

“Get up.” Gustave says suddenly getting to his feet. You frown at him as you get up, he bends down picking up a stone and offering it to you. You take it and he picks up another one. You roll the stone around in your hand, Gustave grunts as he throws the stone with his normal arm. 

“Your turn.” He says smiling at you. You frown but copy him and throw it off the cliff. 

“This time try and hit The Paintress.” He says handing you another stone. 

“The Paintress.” You laugh. “She’s miles away.” 

“I bet you could hit her.” He says, crossing his arms. You laugh again looking at the stone in your hand. This time you lean back before throwing the stone as far as you can. You watch it as it disappears into the clouds. 

“So close.” He says, you chuckle and bend down to pick up another stone. He does the same and you both throw them. 

“Close.” You tease him as his stone vanishes, falling down past the cliff. 

“We’ll get there.” He says after a few more stones and a few more minutes of teasing. He turns to you and grabs your wrists. You drop the stone in your hand to look up into his deep brown eyes. You can see the moisture in them, whatever he’s about to say - he means it. It makes you strangely nervous.

“We’ll get to the Paintress, we’ll get your answers then we will destroy her so she can never paint a number again.” He says. 

“What if she doesn’t have the answers?” You say. 

“Then we keep looking. The Continent is massive and there has to be answers somewhere.” He says. You so want to believe him, but you don’t get answers. It’s not a mission for you, it's a mission to kill The Paintress and save Lumière. You might never get answers but at least then people can’t hate you if your expedition is the one that kills The Paintress. Maybe then people will finally accept you. 

“You don’t have to do this.” You say. He smiles and his hands run up your arms. 

“I want to.” He smiles, tipping his head to the side slightly and smiles. 

“It’s going to be okay. All of this is going to be okay.” He says. You smile and try to believe him but the words just seem to fall flat. “Besides, we have tomorrow to look forward to! The stone cliffs and find Florrie.” It makes you chuckle thinking back to Esquie. 

“How are we supposed to find one rock in a place that is entirely stone?” You ask. 

“I bet without amazing skills and little bit of luck we’ll find it.” He says letting go of your arms. It makes you miss his touch, it makes you want him to hold you and never let go. He smiles at you and rubs his hands together.

You wish you could stay and talk to him all night. You just want to feel normal again, that's what Gustave has reminded you, that you are normal. You just got dealt a bad hand as Sciel would say. 

“We should get some rest, it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. You don’t want him to leave, you can see the look on his face. He doesn’t want to leave either. 

“Or we could talk.” You offer smiling. Please say yes. He smiles back at you and nods. 

It’s bliss, pure and utter bliss. 

You move to a more secluded spot by the brook where the night is lit up by floating lights and fireflies. The chroma on the Continent, makes the power you have under your fingertips buzz as you both sit down on a patch of grass leaning up against a rock face.

You completely forgot what it was like to have someone around you who actually cares about what you have to say. Someone other than your brother who you can talk to and learn from. Gustave is patient too; he lets you talk and rant about what you enjoy which isn’t much compared to him but you don’t care because you soak up every piece of information he tells you about himself. 

He shows you the sweet messages his apprentices left on the first page of his diary. He shows you the sketches he’s been working on to improve the lumina converter. Is there anything he can’t do? He’s so passionate about what he talks about, he makes sure to explain things slowly when he can tell you’re not quite getting it. 

Then the conversation turns to his family, his sister Emma and Maelle who they adopted after her parents Gommaged. He talks about them with real love in his words, it makes you miss your brother. He was always there, he always made sure you had someone to talk to and a shoulder to cry on. Then he would cheer you up when you were down. 

You move the conversation to what happened between him and your brother while you were in the medical centre. It's the only topic where he seems to go shy, his demeanour changing to something more akin to embarrassment. He’s sat by your side when you’ve been injured twice. You don’t even realise how much time has passed until he offers for you to lay up against his chest when you start yawning. 

"In case you fall asleep." He justifies blushing.

"I won't." You reply with a smile but you're already moving between his legs.

It feels a little too intimate at first but you don’t care, he wraps his arms around you to show you more of his diary and asks if you would help him write in it again tomorrow. You nod excitedly and relax against him, he talks about what he would do when you all make it back to Lumière. He wants to teach his apprentices and make more converters then come back to the Continent and gather its power to take back. 

You don’t know what you’re going to do if you make it back, one thing’s for sure though you want to spend more time with him. Make up for all the times he’s been by your side. You wish you could ask your brother about him and what he was like when he was sat by your side. You still don’t understand how your brother never mentioned him. 

Your eyes start to droop closed as he tells you a story about him and his sister and before you can stop yourself you’re falling asleep in his arms. 

… 

He wakes you in the morning with a kiss. 

A kiss. 

You feel him shuffle and his lips on the top of your head. You don’t think he was trying to wake you but his movement does. You’re not sure what to do, you can feel the early morning sun on you and you don’t need to open your eyes to know it's morning.

You hear him hum and his hand rubs your arm, it’s nice it calms you as you decide you should wake. You’ve been sleeping in the position between his legs all night, you know you need to stretch your legs. He must feel worse. You take it slowly, moving your head and opening your eyes to the warm sun in the sky. 

For a few seconds you let yourself enjoy Gustave’s touch, you forget where you are and what you’re doing and you breathe in the fresh air. It doesn’t last long as you see the Monolith in the distance and a knot forms in your throat. 

This isn’t a holiday.

“Morning.” He says as you sit up off his chest. 

“Morning.” You say turning to smile at him, he smiles back as you stand up. You offer him your hand which he accepts and you pull him to his feet. He wobbles for a second, his legs will have definitely fallen asleep, he should have woken you. You can’t help smiling at him again and you turn to head back to the main camp. 

He reaches out and grips your wrist. “Wait.” He says and runs his fingers through his hair. He’s nervous, you frown and take a step back toward him. Before you realise it he’s laced his fingers with yours. He squeezes your hand and closes the distance between you both. 

“I want to tell you something.” He says. You try to keep your expression neutral or at least you don’t want to look nervous. 

“Okay.” You say. 

“Well, it’s kind of embarrassing- I mean not embarrassing.” He stutters and you reach out for his other arm, you run your hand down the cool metal and when you reach his hand you lace your fingers with it. He lets out a breath. 

“I like you.” He says, you frown. That's it?

“I like you too.” You say smiling.

“No. I mean I like you like you.” 

“Oh.” It’s all you can say as you take in his words.

“Ever since I saw you had signed up for Expedition 33 I knew I had to tell you. I didn’t have the guts to do it in Lumière. Every time I would see you my heart would stop.” His admission makes you gasp. You knew Gustave in Lumière but you weren't close. You always assumed he was as nice as he was to you to everyone. Gustave was just a nice guy. 

But no, because he sat by your bedside with your brother while you recovered from the attack. He always made sure that you were never alone when you were at the academy, he was always there even when you didn’t know you needed him. 

He was by your side again in the Gestral Village, and tonight when he let you lay against him and never once complained. 

Because he likes you.

“Gustave.” You say, you feel guilty for some reason, he has more people to worry about here then you. He has Maelle and a sister back home. He’s basically become the de facto leader. He has more to focus on than you. He pulls his hands out of yours. 

“It was a bad idea. I’m sorry.” He says heat rushing to his cheeks as he runs his hand through his hair again. 

“No, no. It’s okay, I would rather you be honest. It’s just-” You pause looking for the right words. “There is a lot going on here, there is a lot at stake.”

“I know.” He says, hanging his head. You step up to him and reach out for his hand again. 

“I don’t know what it’s like to have someone like me.” You admit feeling heat rush to your own cheeks. He smiles slightly, he laces his fingers with yours again and steps up pressing his forehead to yours.  

“I could show you.” He says lowering his voice. You close your eyes feeling his breath on your face. His nose slides against yours, your breath hitches in your throat and you imagine being with him. You imagine what it would be like for him to be with you. You love the way he looks at you, you love the way he holds your hand or touches you. 

“Gustave?” You hear Maelle's voice behind you and you both break away from each other. You turn to see Maelle, your face burning with embarrassment. What was she going to think? Would she think you’re trying to take Gustave away from her? Maybe she’ll start to hate you. 

At least that is something you’re used to. 

Gustave moves around you to go over to her, he looks back at you as he wraps his arm around the top of her back and they walk back towards the main camp. You smile at him and let out a breath looking down at your hands. It feels like you can still feel the heat from his in yours.

You think you like him too.

___

The journey to the stone cliffs is a short one. Now you have Esquie as a guide you’re able to traverse the Continent with ease avoiding Nevrons and even finding quick shortcuts. When you make it to the cliffs you’re in awe at how beautiful they are. The stone is almost as black as obsidian, and it almost looks like it's carved into the shape of long hexagon pillars. When you walk around the cliff face and look out across the dark ocean, you can smell the salt in the air as the waves crash against the cliffs hundreds of meters below you. 

In the distance there is a broken ferris wheel creaking against the rocks it's fallen against. You all walk to the cliff edge to look. 

“It’s beautiful you say.” Sciel looks at you with a raised eyebrow and you shrug. “In a kind of hauntingly beautiful way.” 

“Who do you think built it?” Sciel asks, gripping her hands behind her back. 

“Expedition 50. You see they built this massive wheel to try and cross the world.” Gustave says, you smile and Maelle giggles.

“You know apparently that's where people used to go on dates.” Sciel says teasing Gustave and leaning in closer to him. “What do you think happened in those carriages?” Before Gustave gets a chance to respond Esquie appears in the sky, flapping his arms as he soars past you all. 

“Bonjour, mes amis. Florie’s close I can feel it.” He stops hovering in place. 

“Come on, you can fly. Can’t you get Florie yourself?” Maelle asks, Esquie flies closer to you all. The ground starts to rumble and you all watch in horror as a massive Nevron rises out the water behind Esquie. 

“Oh, no. Too much effort.” He says as he turns around to face the Nevron, it looks like the one you briefly saw under the water. It’s massive, bigger than the block of flats you live in. You all watch as Esquie triples in size then launches himself into the Nevron with a thunderous clap. 

You all watch as Esquie returns to his regular size and flies away and the Nevron crashes back into the water. 

“Hold on. Esquie is that powerful.” Gustave says shocked. You close your mouth as Gustave turns to look at you all with a shocked look on his face. He’s powerful enough to destroy the paintress, he’s powerful enough to destroy everything.

“Apparently so. And very lazy.” Sciel says, good, as long as he’s too lazy to destroy everything then you’ll be happy. Lune smiles and you turn to continue to follow the Cliffs round. You follow the jagged curves of the cliffs eventually coming to an open area with Nevrons. They’re beautiful though, some are massive with huge shining crystals sticking out of them instead of a head. Then there are the ones who are one long pillar of stone or crystal carved into the same hexagon shape.

Their legs are wrapped around the stone like vines. You almost feel bad for absolutely decimating them. As they crumble to the ground you pick up their discarded crystals and work your way around to an abandoned little village. 

“Woah, do you think people used to live here?” You ask. 

“Maybe.” Lune replies. “There is so much we don’t know about the continent.” 

“If people built these, what happened to them?” You ask, it makes a shiver thinking of the fact that people might have lived and that they’re now gone. You walk through and take the Nevrons out with a sombre silence. By the time you make it to the entrance of a massive cave you’re staring to feel worn out. 

You all summon light orbs in your hands and walk in. 

“Hello!” Sciel calls into the darkness, her voice echoing on the walls.

“Sciel, we don’t know whats in here.” Lune says. 

“I bet a bunch of Nevrons.” Sciel smiles and reaches out connecting to the grapple hook and flies across to the other side of the cave. You chuckle following after her and launching yourself through the air. It feels good to glide through the air, when you get to the other side Sciel throws her arm around your shoulder. 

“You’re good with those crystals, think you could show me some tricks?” She asks, you’re surprised she’s asking but you smile and nod. 

“Only if you’ll teach me some card tricks.” You say. 

“Of course!” She chimes and heads over to the glowing strand that is going to take you deeper into the cave. The deeper you go the cooler it gets and the stronger the smell of salt gets. You wonder if once these caves were full of water, it seems like it as water still drips from the walls and ceiling. 

As you make it through the caves you eventually see the water crashing all the way up the sides hitting you as you make back outside. Ahead of you is another cave that looks even darker. 

“Ohohoh! Florrie is over there.” Esquie says as he flies past you and ahead of the cave you’re all about to walk into. Something about it just puts you off, you can’t help it, everything is telling you not to go in there. It’s the only way forward though. 

“But I sense something scary.” Esquie says. That doesn’t help, you shoot Gustave a worried luck and he stays behind to walk with you as you make it into the caves. 

“Afraid of the dark?” He asks, smiling at you. 

“No, something just doesn’t feel right.” You say, you can’t quite put your finger on it then it hits you. This place, these stones you’ve seen them before in your vision. You stop in your tracks. You haven’t found the exact location yet but you can see it so vividly in your mind right now. On a cliff face looking out into the sea and the man, from the beach. He was there too. 

“Hey, what is it?” He asks his hand resting on your shoulder as you grip your chest, you watch as a light on the floor clicks on as the others ahead of you walk past it. 

“I don’t like this place, we should go back.” You say pleading for him to listen to you. He looks concerned and frowns. You hear another light flick on. 

“We can’t go back, we need to keep moving to find Florrie.” He says. Panic rises in you at his words, you can’t let him go on, maybe if he stays here it’ll be okay. “Whats the matter?” You sigh, you don’t want to tell him about his death, it almost feels like you saying it is going to wish it into reality. 

“I saw these caves in my vision when I touched the stone man again.” You admit that much at least. 

“What else did you see?” He asks.

“The man from the beach.” You sigh. It feels like a weight off your shoulders but at the same time you feel guilty for withholding the rest of the vision.

“I think we would know if he was here.” Gustave says trying to put you at ease but it doesn’t help. He squeezes your shoulder, it's the only thing that’s reassuring. 

“I don’t like this.” You say, he drops his smile and walks around to stand in front of you, his hands grip your shoulders. 

“It’s going to be okay, he’s not here and if he does show up we have Esquie.” He smiles oozing confidence. You nod forcing a smile back at him. You have to believe it's going to be okay. He nods and offers you his hand, you reach out and take it lacing your fingers with his. 

“Together.” He says. You nod and smile. 

Together you’re going to walk to his death. 

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

[glowstick-lesbian]

Has anyone figured out what’s so viscerally wrong with this woman yet

[glowstick-lesbian]

The Engineer’s Forge on Ao3, by me.

Pairing: Gustave x Female Reader

Rating: E

Word Count: 4333

Back in Lumiere, it was not uncommon for Gustave to work late into the evening, refining his life's work and imparting his knowledge onto his apprentices.

Wondering why he hasn't returned home, you venture out to find him still in his workshop, slaving and hammering away over the anvil.

It is there in which he discovers that beneath your skirt, lies nothing else.

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

Chapter 5 - Visions in the Night

Summary: Gustave x reader, Lune x Sciel, WC: 3.8k CW: canon typical violence, angst, hurt/comfort, discription of scars & wounds.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

You’re tying your boot laces as someone walks behind you.

“Are you okay?” Gustave asks, you turn to look up at him. 

“Yeah.” You reply smiling.

“I’m not talking about your ankle.” He says, you frown. “You talk in your sleep.”

You let out a long sigh. So he did stay by your side. The thought makes your heart warm. You finish with you putting your other boot on and stand up. He smiles at you and you stop in front of him. 

“I’m okay.” You say forcing a smile. He hums stepping up to you. 

“Do you still think about the attack?” He asks. Fear runs up your spine, why does he want to talk about that?

“I-I- sometimes.” You admit, his gaze is soft, his hand grips your wrist, you look down as he turns your wrist over. You can see the scar on the inside of your arm that runs from your wrist to your elbow. 

“You talk about it in your sleep.” He says. You feel heat rushing to your cheeks. You're embarrassed, you didn’t even know you talk in your sleep. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” He says. He smiles at you, his expression soft. You’re not sure what to say, he makes you nervous. But in a good way, he makes you feel all warm and his touch sends goosebumps down your body. He drops your wrist with a sigh.

“If you ever need anything you know you can just ask.” He says, you nod and smile at him.

“Thank you, Gustave.” You smile, he nods and then turns away. You bite down on the inside of your cheek as you fight the urge to call him back. You rack your head for anything, just something to keep him here. 

“You held my hand.” You blurt out, he stops and turns to look at you. Your face feels like it’s on fire. “Back in the Gestral Village, when I woke up you were still holding my hand.” His hand goes up to rub the back of his neck, he looks sheepish. Now you feel bad for making him embarrassed. 

He takes a step up to you, dropping his hand and reaching out for yours. You want to step closer to him too but you’re frozen in place. He closes the distance between you both leaving what feels like in only a few centimetres. His touch on your wrist is gentle, you can feel his breath on your face.

“I couldn’t leave you. I don’t want you to ever feel alone again.” He breathes as his fingers lightly lacing with yours. It sends shivers up your arm. Your breath catches in your throat, your heart feels like it’s going to jump out your chest. 

“I know I’m not alone.” You say. He locks his fingers with yours and he squeezes your hand. His touch is gentle and he leans his head in closer, his breath is hot in your ear. It makes the hair stand up on your neck. 

“I couldn’t think.” He admits, his voice is low in your ear, you can hear the sadness and the pain. “When you passed out. I-I thought I was going to lose you.”  

You gasp. Gustave, the man who you’ve only ever spoken to in passing was afraid of losing you? Maybe it’s because you’re in his expedition? No, there is something more, something in his eyes. He looks like he so desperately wants to say somthing but he can’t. 

“Gustave.” You breathe. “I-” 

Whatever you were about to say is ripped from your throat by an ear peacing scream. Gustave tenses, he lets you go, you see his eyes widen and colour drain from his face. 

“Gustave!” Maelle's voice cuts through the air. Gustave is already turning on his heels rushing back towards the main camp. You follow him, your heart racing faster than ever. You see Lune and Sciel trying to calm her down. 

“-was him. T-the man, the f-from the beach. And a woman.” 

“From the beach?” Sciel asks. Maelle throws herself into Gustave’s arms. You step back watching as Sciel rubs her back as she sobs. 

“It’s okay.” He says. 

“Maelle, breath, sit down.” Lune says as her and Gustave help her sit down. You don’t know what compels you to look behind you but you do. A shiver runs up your spine. Gustave holds her shoulders supporting her from behind while looking around for a looming threat that isn’t here. 

Lune bends down next to her, rubbing her leg. Gustave locks eyes with you for a second, something about his demeanour makes you feel like you need to prepare for a fight. You calm yourself, he keeps a tight grip on her shoulders, she looks terrified. You can’t help but feel sorry for her. 

Most people would say she’s seen enough death for a lifetime, but a gommage death is different then someone getting their head chopped off. 

“What did you see?” Lune asks earnestly. “Every detail could be important.” 

“He-he said we need to go home. He- it’s all my fault. He said it’s all my fault.” Sciel bends down in front of her. You feel out of place, not close enough to comfort her but not a complete stranger. You just keep your distance, your eyes flicking between Maelle and Gustave.

“H-he said I’m going to make things work.” She’s still panting between her words. Her breathing is so fast you almost step into try and ask her to breathe when Gusatve bends down on the other side of her his hands running down her arm. It seems to ground her as she looks down at him. 

“I- everyone was frozen. I-I couldn’t. It was like a walking nightmare.” She sobs, Gustave stands back up again pressing himself against her back, he seems restless, Sciel bends down in front of her and  rests her hands on her knees. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s over.” Gustave says. He looks over at you, almost like he’s looking at you for support, you’re not sure what to do or what he wants. 

“What else? You said there was a woman.” Lune says as she walks around the front of Maelle. Gustave looks up, shooting eyes at her, you can see the anger on his face.

“Lune, maybe later.” Sciel says standing up and putting herself between her and Gustave. You should step in, you should do something. You’re not sure what though. You saw a woman in your vision too. What if it’s the same person? You hold your tongue though, now is not the time. 

“Sh- she had a mask.” Maelle says. Okay, not the same woman. 

“Did the woman you see have a mask?” Lune turns looking you right in the eyes. You freeze not expecting to be questioned right now. 

“No.” You say swallowing hard. So you didn’t see the same woman. Your visions, nightmares you’re not sure what they’re supposed to be but you had to touch the man from the mansion to see the vision. Maelle was sleeping. Maybe she is just struggling from the trauma of seeing people die. 

“You saw something?” Sciel asks, looking at you. You feel guilty for some reason. 

“The person from the mansion. I touched him and I saw a woman painting a picture. Of us.” You explain, you haven’t had a chance to explain things to Sciel and you don’t know what the others have told her. It seems like it doesn’t matter anyway because Lune and Gustave seem too interested in Maelle anyway. 

“I know it’s hard, but I need you to focus, okay? While the details are still fresh.” Lune says squeezing Maelle's knee. 

“Lune. Ask her tomorrow.” Gustave says. You can hear the warning in his tone.

“Lune.” You say stepping up to them. Her head snaps to you. 

“Maybe I should try touching him again. Maybe I’ll see something new.” You say gesturing at the cave, she stands up looking at him in the cave then back at Maelle quickly. She nods and leaves Maelle. You let out a long sigh and look up at Gustave. 

He smiles slightly and mouths thank you, you smile then turn to follow Lune. 

“Do you think you and Maelle’s visions are linked?” She asks as you walk over to the cave. 

“I don’t know. I had to touch him but Maelle was sleeping.” You explain. Lune hums as you walk into the cave. You don’t even know if this will work; you just wanted to get Lune away from Maelle. You hope Sciel doesn’t think you’re selfish, you don’t care who has the most important vision, you just want to know what is going on with you. 

The man never seems to move, every time you see him it’s like he's never moved.

“Maelle said she saw the man from the beach. Did you see him?” Lune asks. You snake your head. 

“Just the woman drawing us, she didn’t have a mask.” You say. The energy around the man from the mansion always feels intimidating. You swallow the nerves though and approach the man towering above you. He looks down at you, there has to be eyes behind the black pit of his face. 

You blow out the nerves as you reach out for him gripping the cold stone of his arm. It’s like ice shoots through your veins, everything in your body is telling you to let go but you push it away and hear the man groan as you close your eyes. 

You’re on a stone cliff, you can hear the sound of the sea behind you, you can smell the salt in the air. You look up at the scene before you, it’s like things are frozen in time and you’ve just interrupted something. 

You see the man from the beach, he’s just standing there with his cane in his hand. His other arm is around his back. He looks angry, upset, you can’t quite tell. You turn to look behind you, you can see the Monolith in the distance, your eyes move down to see the people standing behind you.

Your breath catches in your throat when you see Gustave. Maelle is there too, trapped in some kind of shield, there’s a look of terror on her face as her fists are pressed against it. Then there’s Gustave. Blood splattered across his face, his hair matted in some places. 

Now the smell of iron fills your nose, charred flesh and blood. You gasp when you see his missing arm. You look down at the electronic sizzling of the broken appendage on the floor. You feel tears come, he’s protecting Maelle - everyone. He can’t fight the man from the beach, none of you can. 

But you can all protect each other. You’re standing between the man and Gustave, you move to the side. You don’t see any of the others just Maelle, you’ve never seen cliffs like this either, it must be further up the Continent. 

It happens in a flash, the moment you’ve moved from between them the old man launches himself at Gustave. His cane turning into a massive sword and slicing directly through him.

“NO!” You scream. The man turns to look at you and frowns. You panic, fear pulsing through you just like the woman painting you all he sees you. 

You let go of his arm with a scream rushing backwards in an attempt to get away from him. 

Everything happens so quickly you’re not even sure what happened until you stumble and your body hits the hard ground. Lune rushes over to you, she grips your shoulders holding you up. 

“What? What did you see?” She asks as you try to orient yourself. You don’t know what to tell them. You think about Maelle, how would she react if you told her you saw a vision of Gustave dying. 

“The man, from the beach.” You say between breaths trying to get yourself to calm yourself. 

“And a woman with white hair? Did you see another woman?” She asks almost impatiently. You shake your head, your mind is spinning. Where was the woman you saw? Now there is a new person, a white haired woman Maelle saw. 

“What else? Did you see us?” Her questioning is relentless as she squeezes your shoulder.

“No, I was alone again.” You say, you hope she believes you. It wasn’t real, there’s no need to worry them. Just like your other vision, there’s no woman painting you. It’s like what Lune says about dreams; your brain is just using what you already have. 

You got stabbed through the leg, you hate the thought of any of them getting hurt. That’s all it is, you can’t bear the thought of Gustave being killed. You look past Lune at the man, he looks even more ominous, it’s like there’s even more Chroma circling around him than normal. 

Lune looks back at him quickly then at you. 

“Are you okay?” She asks. You nod, she offers you her hand, you hesitate for a moment but you accept it and she helps you to your feet. 

“If you remember anything else let me know.” She says sighing, you can already see the gears turning in her head. Now she’ll go and lose herself in research for the next few hours she probably won’t even sleep. 

You watch her as she walks out the cave and back towards the others. You can see Gustave and Sciel comforting Maelle still, you could join them but you don’t want to right now. 

You want to be alone. 

…

You sit on the edge of the cliff looking out towards the Monalith. You can’t stop seeing the vision of Gustave dying. It doesn’t help that you’ve somehow been getting closer to him. Closer in a good way but it feels strange. A good kind of strange. 

He held your hand again, you look down at your hand imagining his fingers wrapped with yours. He has surprising soft hands, his mechanical hand can be strangely warm too. It makes a warmth bloom inside you and you find yourself smiling. 

You shouldn’t get too close though. He’ll be dead in less than a year and you’ll be left to wander the Continent alone, without them. You decided you’re not going to tell them about what you saw, well not the part where Gustave died. It’s just going to upset them especially Maelle and besides you’re not going to let him get hurt. 

You owe him one. He saved you on the way to the Gestral Village. He stayed by your side while you were recovering. If anything remotely like what happened in your dream you’ll step in. You’re not going to let him get hurt, if anyone has a chance to get to the Paintress it's them. 

You hear steps behind you and turn to see Gustave, you force a smile at him. He smiles back and sits down next to you. 

“How is Maelle?” You ask as Gustave sits down next to you.

“Sleeping.” He says. You don’t bother turning around to look. 

“How are you?” You ask. 

“I’m okay. Did you have another vision, I heard you scream.” He says. 

“Yeah, the man from the beach. We were on a cliff.” You say. It feels like you’re lying to him, you technically are but you don’t want to upset him. 

“What do you think it all means?” He asks, you raise an eyebrow at him. You don’t know, he should be asking Lune this not you.

“Maelle didn’t have to touch anything to get her vision. Maybe eventually we’ll all have one.” You say, this place is magical, you've decided not to question things you don’t understand and just accept them. There’s silence between you both for a few moments. You look out at the Paintress and sigh. 

“What were you going to say?” He asks. “Before Maelle called?” 

You pause choosing your words carefully this time. 

“You don’t have to look after me, Gustave. You have Maelle and she needs you more than me.” You say. His hand lands on your knee, your fingers dig into the edge of the cliff. You could throw yourself off right now and no one would have to worry about you. 

His hand lands on your thigh breaking the thought. 

“I don’t want you to worry about me. I want you to let me worry about you.” He says. You feel heat rushing to your cheeks. 

“Now before you answer I want you to know I’m already worrying about you so it’s already too late.” He says with a smile and a chuckle. 

“I don’t want to be a burden.” You admit hanging your head. He squeezes your thigh and you look up at him. There’s a shine in his eyes, they’re almost as deep blue as the sky. His smile is soft and his cheeks are flush with pink. 

“You are not a burden. And you never will be.” He says. You nod but you don’t believe him. He sighs and looks back out at the Monolith. 

“I visited you, you know. When you were attacked and in the medical center.” He says. The admission makes your heart pound in your chest and you grip the cold stone ground letting the rough stones bite your palm. 

You had no idea. 

“You were unconscious, your brother was always by your side. Every second. We spoke, he wanted to find the people who did that to you and drown them.” Gustave scoffs like he’s reminiscing about a chat with an old friend. 

“I managed to talk him out of it. I don’t think he wanted to spend the last year of his life in a prison cell.” You smile thinking about your brother. You had no idea Gustave ever spoke to him, your brother never mentioned it. 

“Thank you.” You say, it’s all you can think to say. “You didn’t have to do that.” You rest your other hand on top of his. You both look at each other, he leans in ever so slightly. 

“When you got hurt in the woods, watching the life drain from your face.” He stops and you squeeze his hand. “It reminded me of the attack, when you were unconscious  in Lumière. It hurt.” 

Hurt. He was hurt, he was hurt and worried. He stayed by your side now and when you were injured the first time. He’s been closer to you than you’ve ever known. 

“Gustave. I don’t know what to say.” You reply. 

“It’s okay, we can just sit here.” He says and turns his hand over in yours and you lace your fingers with his. He smiles and looks back out at the vase expanse below you. Most of it is covered in clouds but this sky is full of fractures and stars. It’s beautiful. You both sit there in silence, Gustave rubs your thumb with his. His touch is gentle and before you know it you're resting your head on his shoulder. 

After a few minutes of just enjoying his presence he pulls out a leather bound diary. He tells you all about it and his apprentices are waiting for him back in Lumière. He seems close to them and he’s enthusiastic for them to be able to have a record of his travels to read. 

You like how passionate he gets when he’s talking about people he likes, or technology. You help him decide what to write and he explains about Lune and Maelle fighting in the Gestral arena with Sciel. You feel bad that he missed it to stay by your side. He promises he’ll take you back so you can see it yourself. 

“We should get some sleep.” He says when he’s done. You take your head off his shoulder and yawn. Yeah, you should but you don’t want to leave his side for some reason. You look back at the camp pulling your legs up from the edge of the cliff. Lune and Sciel are still awake, you want to talk to Sciel. 

“Maybe in a bit.” You say smiling at him. 

“Okay, don’t stay up too late Chanceuse.” He smiles and heads towards the camp. You don’t feel very lucky right now, or maybe you are. 

…

You’re too tired to be nervous as you walk up and tap Sciel on the shoulder. She turns and smiles at you. 

“Can we talk?” You ask, she looks over at Lune with her head buried in a book. Sciel nods and gets up, she’s been with Maelle, stroking her hair until Gustave came back and took over from her. Now he’s passed out next to her snoring softly. 

You both walk away from the group over to the brook. 

“What do you know about dreams?” You ask. She frowns. 

“I had a dream that someone died.” You explain. 

“Who?” She asks less confused. 

“Does it matter?” You sigh. She hums and crosses her arms. You see her press her lips together as she thinks. 

“Death in a dream could mean someone is about to die.” She says bluntly. You sigh you were hoping for something less morbid. 

“But it’s also a symbol for transformation. Something in your life is changing, maybe a relationship or your personality made a big change.” She explains. You feel yourself blushing as you think about how much closer you’ve been getting to Gustave. You nod at her, at least that’s not as grim as her first response. Her hand comes to rest on her shoulder. 

“Dreams are not always right. You have just had a brush with death, that’s probably all it is.” She says, her eyes wide as she scans your face. 

“Thank you.” You say smiling at her. She gives you the biggest smile back and squeezes your shoulder before letting her hand drop. He spins on her feet and heads back towards the camp. 

“Amethyst!” She calls back suddenly. You look up and drop your hand into your crystal pouch. “It’s good for anxiety.” You smile and nod at her. You pull a small purple amethyst out and roll it around in your palm. You should give one of these to Maelle, maybe it will help, probably not. 

Watching the sun rise over the camp is something you’ll never get sick of. Even the Paintress looks good as the light hits her silver hair making it look red, then orange and pink. You sip on the tea Sciel made for everyone. It’s sweet and earthy, Gustave cooked up some eggs and rice and Maelle announced to us all that she bought hot sauce with her. 

Lune looks like she has hardily slept. That you expected though, she always looks like she’s never had a day's rest in her life. You’re glad she’s here though, you’re definitely lucky having the one person who dedicated her whole life to understanding the Paintress. 

“I found an old log from Expedition 59.” Lune says as she puts her tea down on a tree stump. “They describe a place with yellow and white trees.”

“Lune, we can’t get side tracked.” Gustave says spooning some rice into a bowl. 

“I know, but there could be answers there.” She says. Gustave sighs as he passes a bowl to you. 

“What did they say?” You ask, if Gustave isn’t curious you definitely are.

“It seems they were chasing a Nevron.” She says. 

“Chasing?” Sciel asks, frowning. 

“Apparently, if we could go to the woods we might be able to find more of their logs. It seems like this Nevron was different.” Lune explains. You look over at the cave where the man is. Every time you look over at him a chill runs up your spine. Gustave sighs. 

“We’re going to Esquie’s nest then we’re crossing the sea to the Paintress.” Gustave says. 

“Just us five?” You ask.

“Unless we come across more people but yes, us five.” Gustave says. You nod at him. 

“Maybe Esquie can help.” Maelle says. 

“Maybe he can.” Lune says. 

“I can’t believe we’re going to meet Esquie!” Sciel chimes in. You’re excited too, everything you’ve heard about Esquie is always so positive.

“I can’t believe the password is ‘get out of my way.’” Gustave says, shaking his head before spooning more food in his mouth.

“And say it as loud as you can.” Sciel reminds him, you chuckle, you forgot about that. Maelle chuckles too. She seems in better spirits this morning, whatever she saw last night seems to be a distant memory. You can’t stop thinking about what you saw though. 

A bloodied dying Gustave, you don’t ever want to see him like that outside of a vision, you watch him eat and smile as they talk about their favourite Esquie stories. His eyes land on yours and he smiles at you. You smile back and look down at your food. There’s a pit in the bottom of your stomach. You can’t let him get hurt. 

It makes you feel sick the thought of him getting hurt. That's when you decide. He’s allowed to worry about you but you get to protect him.

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

Chapter 4 - Ancient Sanctuary

Summary: Gustave x reader, Lune x Sciel, WC: 3.8k CW: canon typical violence, angst, hurt/comfort, wounds, injury, blood.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

“This has to be it right?” You ask as you’re all stood at the entrance to a dense forest made up of red trees, red grass, lots of red. 

“He did say red trees.” Maelle said. 

“Where is he anyway?” You ask, when you woke up in the camp this morning he was gone. So much for having a guide. 

Maelle shrugs. “Maybe he went ahead.” 

“Okay. Let's go.” Gustave says enthusiastically. You all nod and follow. The forest is stunning, the red leaves in the early morning sun make the forest look like it’s on fire. It’s stunning, there is still no sign of Noko although there is evidence of something. 

Nevrons, or more dead Nevrons. 

“That's a lot of dead Nevrons.” Gustave says as you walk into a clearing, Lune bends down to touch one then an alarm rings out making you all jump. 

“NEVRON ALERT! NEVRON ALERT!” You all look around, there’s nothing here other than the dead.

“I don’t see any-" Gustave starts. 

“I think they mean us.” Lune says.

“They must be Gestrals! They’re cute but they’re idiots.” Maelle says, that makes you giggle and she looks over at you. You look away feeling embarrassed. Suddenly the ground starts to shake, the sound of wooden gears fills the air and you all watch as a giant - thing - appears out of seemingly nowhere. 

“Sakapatate!” Lune calls.

“A what?” You ask. 

“Gestrals, they create them for defence. It was a rumour of course.” She explains.

“Hey, hey! We are not Nevrons!” Gustave shouts. 

“I don’t think that’s helping.” Maelle says as her sword appears in her hand. Gustave does the same and you watch the massive creature raise its shield and slams it into the ground. Lune throws a ball of fire at it and the shield sets alight. The Sakapatate panics and throws the shield away. 

Fire, that’s it’s weakness. 

“Aim for their joints, it’s their weakest points!” Lune says as she conjures another ball of flames. You nod and pull out a crystal letting it warm in your hand a set alight before launching it at the spinning joint on the Sakapatate. You miss but Gustave has better aim with his pistol and knocks the Sakapatate straight to the ground. You turn and smile at him, he nods and walks to catch up with Maelle. 

You don’t know why he’s being so nice to you, you don’t mind though. It’s not something you’re used to, that's all. You should appreciate it, he could end up being your only friend here. Lune famously doesn’t have friends and Mealle seems cold towards you. Maybe she thinks you’re taking Gustave away from her.

You come across another few more Sakapatate’s which are dispatched quickly. You end up walking ahead of the group hearing Gustave and Maelle laugh behind you. You like Gustave’s laugh, each time you hear it it makes you smile even if you don’t get the context. At least out here people can still laugh while impending doom waits around every corner.

You walk a few more steps then suddenly a hot fiery pain jolts up your leg. You scream, collapsing to the ground and clutching your lower leg. You feel blood travel over your hand, it’s warm and the smell makes your stomach twist. 

You look at the spearhead sticking through your leg. 

“Putain! Merde!” You cry out, the pain makes your head spin. Lune and Gustave crouch down by you. You’re still squirming and holding your leg as pain pulses through you, someone's hand lands on your knee. 

“Merde!” Gustave calls, pulling his backpack off and opening it. He pulls a tourniquet out. 

“I should check ahead for more traps.” Maelle says. 

“No!” Gustave and Lune say at the same time. You look up at Maelle as Lune’s hand your knee. 

“Can you heal it?” You ask lune. 

“No. We need a healer.” She says. 

“What do you mean no?!” You snap as Gustave tightens the strap of cloth around your leg above the wound. 

“The Gestral’s have healers.” Maelle says. 

“They’re also made of wood!” You snap, it’s not really fair. They’re living beings like anyone else but you don’t care right now you have a spearhead sticking through your leg. Courtesy of said Gestral’s.

“We need to get to the village. How much further?” Gustave asks Maelle. 

“I don’t know, this whole place is like a maze.” You can hear the panic in Maelle’s voice. Your head starts to spin as the immediate pain subsides. Gustave must be able to see the colour drain from your face as he comes over and hooks his shoulder under your armpit and his arm around your back. 

You cry out as he picks you up and you lean against him wrapping your other arm around his chest and gripping onto his uniform. You can feel his heart, it’s beating as rapidly as yours. You grit your teeth as Gustave helps you take the first tentative step. It’s like a fire up your leg and to the rest of your body. 

“How much further?” You ask, you’ve only done one step. 

“Noko!” Maelle calls, you see the small Gestral run out from under a bush. 

“What happened?” He asks coming over. His hands come to the side of his face as he sees the state of your leg. 

“Oh no! You stepped into a Nevron trap!” He says. “We should go to Golgra, Golgra will know what to do.” 

“How? This place is a maze.” Maelle says, she seems calmer now. 

“I know a shortcut.” Noko says, pointing back where he came from. The thought of trudging through bushes with an injured leg is the worst idea in the world but you keep going anyway. 

You’re hobbling on one leg, holding onto Gustave as hard as you can, each time your foot touches the floor black spots flash in your vision and you cry out. 

“Almost there.” Gustave says. 

You laugh. “Lair, you have no idea where we’re going.” 

“I thought it might help.” He hitches you up closer to him. “If you thought it was closer.”

“It’s probably miles away.” You groan as the terrain changes making the stones stab at your foot. You keep going for what feels like hours. One time you even get lost before you’re being half dragged through a gap in the trees. It comes to another clearing. 

“The village is just ahead.” Noko calls pointing. 

“I think I’m going to pass out.” 

“No you’re not, you’re okay.” He says holding you tighter. His other arm comes around your front. “Hold on to me.” You grip the cool metal of his arm, it’s grounding and helps keep you stumbling with Gustave a little longer. You keep following Noko when suddenly you hear a noise that sends a shiver up your spine.

It sounds like wood and turning gears. Then out from behind a rock steps the biggest Sakapatate you’ve ever seen. This is getting ridiculous now.

“Noko, tell them we need to get through.” Maelle asks. You’re barely paying attention to him shouting, you only hear the replies. 

“Mighty warriors! We will test our newest creation: Ultimate Sakapatate!” An unseen Gestral shouts back. You groan, slipping out Gustav’s arm for a millisecond before he grips you even tighter pulling you up. 

You can tell he’s struggling too, but he hasn’t complained. You hear more Gestral shouting and cheering. The Sakapatate roars slamming its shield on the ground. It makes everything shake and this time you slip out his arms before he can catch you in time, you fall to the ground hard. Gustave bends down next to you and helps support you so you can sit up.

“Yo-you should help them.” You say as Maelle and Lune get into a fighting stance. He looks back at them then at you, he pulls you back so you’re leaning against a rock. His hand lands on your thigh and he squeezes. 

“Okay, don’t pass out.” He orders. 

“No.” You say nodding. Your head is throbbing as much as your leg, that’s going to be easier said than done. You can already see Maelle and Lune throwing things at the Sakapatate with grunts. Your eyes flick to Gustave and you watch as his sword materialises in his hand as he walks towards the Sakapatate.

In any other situation that would look incredibly cool but right now all you can focus on is not passing out. You feel heat brush over your body as Lune throws a flaming orb at its shield. Your vision blurs and you have to blink a few times to get it to clear. 

You see the flash of weapons, the sound of metal hitting wood, then there’s a thunderous cry that makes you shake. You have to dig your nails into your palm to stop yourself from passing out as the sound makes you white out for a second. 

You see as the massive shield crashes to the ground. Good, that’s going to make it easier for them. The ground shakes as the Sakapatate roars again, your vision goes fuzzy and a chill runs through you. This time the fuzziness doesn’t clear from your vision and black dots start dancing around the edges. 

“Gustave.” You call out, maybe this is the end. Maybe you’ve lost too much blood. You think he looks back, it’s almost impossible to focus now. There’s shouting but you can’t tell who it is, your body slumps as you start to lose your grip on reality. 

Suddenly there are hands around you, it jolts you and you have a second of clarity seeing a worried looking Gustave kneeling over you, your head in his lap. 

“Stay with me. Come on, don't close your eyes.” He says, you can hear the desperation in his voice. There’s another flash of heat from Lune’s ability then the sound of fabric tearing. You should ask him to pass on a message to a loved one but you don’t have anyone left. 

“Gustave.” You breathe reaching out, he grabs your hand with his normal hand and squeezes it. 

“I’m here.” He says, it warms your heart and you smile at him, at least you try to.

“Thank you for being kind to me.” You say as black flashes around your vision. You blink but it just makes it worse. You close your eyes listening to Gustave trying to call for you. Then everything goes quiet. 

You wake to someone holding your hand. 

The moment you move and start to open your eyes whoevers hand it is vanishes. When you finally have clear vision you turn to see Gustave. You smile, feeling a warmth pulse through you. You see his cheeks turning red. Your throat is dry and you look down at your leg. 

It’s been bandaged up, it doesn’t hurt, you roll your ankle. Okay, now you can feel it. You wince and sit up in the bed. Gustave stands up to help you. 

“So we made it to the Village?” You ask. 

He nods. “They had a healer and Lune was able to make a healing tint.” 

“That’s good.” You say laying back. You feel like you’ve been asleep for days, your body is stiff and now you can feel the dull throbbing in your leg.

“The Chief Golgra is going to help us with getting into Esquie’s Nest. He’s going to help us get across the sea to the Paintress.” Gustave explains as he sits back down. 

“So Esquie is real too?” You ask surprised but happy, the stories you’ve always heard about him paint him in such a good light. He nods and smiles. 

“Wow, I can’t believe it, maybe Lune’s right. Do you really think the Grandis exist too?” You ask. 

“Maybe.” He chuckles. You smile at him, the red is leaving his cheeks now. You wiggle your fingers, it feels like you can still feel the heat from Gustave’s hand in yours. It makes you swallow what little saliva you have in your mouth which makes you cough. 

Gustave reaches to the side of him and picks up his canteen, he undoes the top and hands it to you. You lean forward accepting it. It’s his canteen, the one you’ve seen him drink out of, the same one his lips have touched probably a thousand times. 

You clear your throat again pushing the thought away and gulp down the water. 

“You’ve been asleep for a few hours. We came across another Expeditioner.” You almost gasp, has he been here the whole time? Nevermind that they’ve found someone else. 

“Who?” You ask, taking a pause. 

“Sciel.” He says, your heart drops but you hide it by drinking more water. 

“She was the champion of the Gestral’s fighting arena.” He explains. Of course she was. If there’s one thing you remember from her it was her fighting skill. 

“That’s good, did we find anyone else?” You ask handing him his canteen back. He looks sombre as he shakes his head. You sigh, it was a long shot, you are very far from the Indigo Tree. 

“How did Sciel end up all the way over here?” 

“A Gestral led her.” He says. You nod. “Golgra will be meeting with us soon, she’s going to give us the password to Esquie’s Nest.” 

You frown. “There’s a password?” 

“Apparently.” He says. 

“Thank you, Gustave. For helping me back when- in the woods with my leg.” Your cheeks heat as the words you wanted to say are getting muddled in your head. 

He smiles. “It’s okay, I wasn’t going to leave you alone.” 

Alone. You’re used to being alone, you’re used to having no one around you. 

“Sometimes it’s nice to have someone to care for you.” He says his voice lower and he leans in closer to you. You smile, it takes you back to last night in the camp. Maybe you should let him care, but he has Maelle. He doesn’t need more burdens. 

You sigh and swing your legs out the bed, Gustave stands up again offering you his hand. You accept it, feeling the warmth of his fingers heat your palm. It makes your stomach fill with butterflies. You stand up putting all your weight on your good leg. 

“Take it easy.” He says offering you his other hand. You take that too, using him to support you as you gently put weight down on your foot. 

“Gently.” He says looking down at your foot, his body centimetres away from yours. Your hands run up his forearms as you blow out the nerves putting some weight on it. 

“That’s it.” He encourages, your heart is thumping in your chest now as you grip onto him putting even more weight on it. It doesn’t hurt, there’s a dull pain but you’re surprised, whatever Lune did it worked wonders. 

“Try taking a step.” He says putting distance between you both but not enough to let go of the strong grip he keeps on you. You nod looking up at him, his eyes shine in the dim light of the room and he smiles at you. 

You look down putting your bad leg forward first. It feels like your foot goes straight through the floor. You stumble quickly putting your weight on your other leg. 

“It’s okay.” He says catching you, your chest ends up pressed against him. Suddenly your nerves are eating you away. The thought of putting weight back on it is terrifying. Gustave holds you tight, he doesn’t let you go until you stabilise yourself on your good leg. 

“Does it still hurt?” He asks. 

“No, I think- I think I just expected it to hurt.” You scoff, it sounds so silly. He gently presses you off his chest but still holds a tight grip on your forearms. 

“Look at me.” He says, you look up at him and he smiles. “Look at me instead of your leg.” 

You nod and keep eye contact as he takes a step back. You keep your focus on his eyes as you shift your weight again. 

“Keep going.” He encourages quickly looking down before looking back into your eyes. You feel the pain but you know your foot is on solid ground. You should let go of his arms, you should make sure you can walk unassisted. 

You don’t want to though, feeling his muscle flex under your fingers and the cool grounding metal of his false arm. You have to try though. You keep eye contact and slowly step back from him letting go of his support.

“See, I knew you could do it.” He smiles

…

The walk to the building they call the town hall is painful but Gustave never leaves your side. His hands and arms are always just out of reach, his hand constantly finding the small of your back. 

The hall to meet Golgra is long, there are Gestrals bowing to her on either side. You see the others already stood in front of Golgra. You can see Sciel too, she’s standing so confidently. She always came across as being such a confident person.

As much as you think she hates you, you always felt sorry about what happened to her husband. Just another person who deserved to survive instead of you, that's probably why she hated you. As you walk up to them Maelle turns and smiles at you, then others turn too. 

“Thank you.” You say to Lune. If you were friends you’d hug her. 

“No problem.” She smiles before turning back. You see Sciel look you up and down before she also turns back. It makes your stomach turn and you step up in line with them. 

“We are very sorry you got hurt, Expeditioner. It’s never happened that a human has ever stepped into a Nevron trap though.” Golgra says. Why does that feel like a jab at you? Sciel hums, you look over as she hides the smirk on her face.

You ignore it but see Gustave's eyes lingering on her. 

“You have proven yourselves worthy Champions! We will give you the password to get into Esquie’s Nest.” Gloria announces. “The password is: ‘Get outta my way!’” 

There’s silence for a few seconds then Sciel laughs. 

“The password is ‘get outta my way?’” Maelle asks. 

“Very Gestral-ish.” Sciel says as her laughing subsides.

“Esquie’s Nest is east of the Village. Sunniso guards that path.” Golgra says, you can’t tell if she’s bothered by Sciel or not. 

“Okay, east of here.” Lune relays. 

“There’s one more thing.” Golgra says, you raise an eyebrow at her. “You have to shout the password as loud as you can.” 

“‘As loud as we can.’ Got it.” Sciel says, her voice laced with sarcasm. You can’t help smiling, ‘as loud as you can’ is an interesting instruction but Sciel’s right - very Gestral-ish.

“Thank you, for everything.” Gustave says. 

“Try not to die too soon.” Golgra says with disinterest. Gustave turns and his eyes land on you, he nods his head in the direction of the exit and you turn following after Sciel and Lune. 

You feel his hand on the small of your back as you limp out the room. That warmth comes back deep within you, like a hot molten pulse flowing through your veins. Maybe this is normal, maybe this is what having someone who cares about you feels like. 

Back at camp you end up by the brook with the island in the middle. Your shoes are off and you’re cleaning your wound with the fresh water. All you can think about is Gustave, he’s always on your mind. 

He wants to care for you. He wants to help and be your friend. You have no idea what to do or what to say to him. What if you scare him away? You wring out the cloth gently tapping around the wound. It looks good, you wouldn’t have even thought a few hours ago you had a spearhead sticking out your leg. 

“Why crystals?” A joyful voice asks behind you. You jump, turning to see Sciel. Your whole body tenses up. 

“Wh-what do you mean?” You ask, she’s intimidating but she’s smiling. Her hands are behind her back as she walks around you standing so you don’t have to turn your body.

“Your weapon of choice.” She says her smile grows larger as she tips her head. Your hand pats your crystal bag. 

“My maman. She collected crystals, she used to think they were magic or something.” You explain. 

“They are.” She says. You raise an eyebrow at her. “Amethyst for protection, Lapis for power, Opal for kindness.” She trails off. 

You stand up pulling your leg out of the water. Since the walk back to the camp your ankle feels so much stronger. 

“I always thought you didn’t like me.” You say, you might as well be honest with her. Secrets will cause problems. She sighs sitting down on one of the boulders. 

“I just didn’t know you. No one did. Before the Gommage you were already quiet. After, well all people knew you for not dying.” She chuckles.

“I didn’t know that was going to happen.” You say. 

“I know. I was angry.” She says stand up. "A lot of people were. Why should their family and friends die and you didn't?” You sigh, you know it’s right you remind yourself of it almost daily but it still sings hearing someone saying it to your face. 

“I still lost my family.” You say dipping your head. 

“Your brother used to work on the docks right?” She asks, sounding sombre. You nod. 

“He had good fish. I saw him the day of the Gommage, he looked happy.” She says. You smile thinking about your brother again.

“He always accepted death easier than I did.” You admit. “He was happy.” Sciel hums and stands up. 

“I understand.” She sighs. “Death is so final. But it is inevitable.” 

“For some.” You say watching her. 

“Well that is because life is lucky. We don’t always get to live but we all get to die, Chanceuse.” She says cheerfully like she’s talking about anything other than our inevitable death. It’s nice though, refreshing for once you smile back at her and reach into your crystal pouch feeling for the stone you want. 

You step up and hand it out to her, she frowns and accepts it. 

“Obsidian; for friendship.” You say. She throws the stone in the air and catches it before pocketing it. She steps up and bumps your shoulder with her hand. 

“To friendship.” She repeats before moving back towards the main camp. You swallow the nerves as you follow her with your eyes. They flick up to Gustave who smiles and nods at you. You hum, he asked her to talk to you. You feel that warmth again rising in you from your toes. 

He didn’t need to do that, but he did. Maybe he really does care for you.

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

Chapter 3 - Someone Special

Summary: Gustave x reader, Lune x Sciel, WC: 5.4k CW: canon typical violence, brief suicidal ideation, discription/ mention of scars.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

Look for the strange corals. 

It doesn’t take you long to find them, they stick out like a sore thumb on the cost. 

Head north. Look for a door inside a hut.

That was the second part of the instructions, As you follow the corals you end up in a fantastical place, it feels like you’re under the water. As you look up you can see the bottom of boats, there are fish swimming around. 

You watch as Lune reaches out touching a squid before it jolts away. You look around mesmerised, there’s a broken ship and a massive anchor stuck into the ground.

“Expedition 68.” Gustave says bending down, you walk over to look as Lune bends down next to the bodies. “Elodie’s Expedition.” 

“Do you know the commanders of every Expedition?” Lune asks. 

“Expedition 68, their boat was blown into the air by a storm. They assumed they crashed on the Continent.” He explains. 

“They survived the storm at least.” Lune says. You look at the petrified bodies leaning against each other. Even here where you feel like you’re underwater they’re chard and dried. 

“Alright lets go, Maelle must be nearby.” He says standing back up. You linger behind as Lune and Gustave take off north. You swallow hard as you walk around the bodies and head between the tall seaweed flowing in the… breeze? Current? This whole place is making your head spin. 

Gustave leads while you hang back with Lune. There are more Nevron’s here, most of them are dispatched easily; Lune and Gustave are way more confident with their battles. They pick them wisely and work swiftly, you help by picking off the stragglers. It’s not long after you make it through an old sea mine chasm that Lune starts to ask you questions.

“Do you feel any different now you are on the Continent?” She asks. 

“I don’t think so. Should I feel different?” You ask. 

“No. I’m just trying to understand you better.” She says. 

“In what way?” You ask. You don’t believe there is a single question she has not asked you.

“I’m just trying to figure out if there is anything new we should try.” She says. 

“I think the only person who can help is the Paintress.” You admit. 

“I’m afraid that might be the case.” She says as you make it through another tunnel of coral. That’s where you see a shack, and a door. You all walk around to get a better look. 

“A door.” You say frowning. A door to where? There’s nothing behind it. Gustave and Lune walk into the hut tentatively as they look around for Nevron’s or traps. 

“It’s beautiful.” You say gawking at the stunning golds and bronze all atop a deep chocolate marble. Your hand runs over the tiles on the door frame. 

“Someone lives here.” Lune says. For some reason that sends chills up your spine. Gustave pushes the door open and a bright light cascades out, you bring your hand up squinting to block the light. It feels like the door is pulling you in. You reach out to grab someone and feel Gustave’s arm, you squeeze it and he flexes. You hear him grunt, the light getting even brighter you squeeze your eyes close. 

You hear a bang and the light vanishes. You open your eyes to something you never expected. It’s a house, not a house; a mansion. You look up at the stunning chandeliers cascading from the ceiling, the walls and floors are made out of brown marble and frilled with golds and bronze. 

There are paintings on the walls and stained glass windows. As you make it up the first set of stairs you see into the main room with more chandeliers, golden pillars and glass skylights. 

“Wow.” You breathe looking down the massive dining table that could easily seat 20. Gustave clears his throat, you look back at him, you’re still gripping the top of his arm. You let go feeling heat rush to your cheeks. 

“Mealle!” Gustave shouts heading towards the next set of stairs. Lune reaches out to grab his arm pulling him back. 

“Hey!” She snaps before lowering her voice. “We don’t know who’s in here.” He huffs and heads up the stairs to the right, you follow him up. There are doors - all closed apart from one, you can see the light spilling out. 

You all walk towards it Gustave is almost running as he turns to look into the room. 

A smile grows on his face, you and Lune walk around and you see a flash of red hair as Maelle runs into Gustave's arms. 

“Are you real?” She asks as he holds her tight, it makes a warmth boom in your core seeing him hug her, seeing him smile and hold her tight. 

“You smell real enough.” She says chuckling, you turn and smile at Lune who smiles back. Gustave picks her up and spins her in his arms, she giggles as he puts her back down. She turns to see you and Lune and smiles. 

“I’m sorry. I thought that y- On the beach I saw you and I- I couldn’t” Gustave says, you can hear the strain in his voice, it almost sounds like he is going to cry. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shoul- I should’ve- I should’ve come for you, and…” 

Maelle reaches out to touch his arm “It’s okay. It’s okay. We made it.” You and Lune look at each other and move over to them both. 

“How did you end up here?” Lune asks. 

“Where even are we?” You add, Maelle looks at you both. 

“I don’t know- It’s all a blur. I remember everyone at the beach. Then I woke up here with-” Maelle’s account is cut off and theirs a rumble in the building. You hear something behind you in the doorway, goosebumps rise across your body as you turn to look. 

A hulking figure stands there, his presence makes the energy feel dark and heavy. He has no face, his only clothing a tattered cloak. Instead of skin, his body is made up of some kind of grey stone and black smoke. 

He doesn’t look like any Nevron you’ve ever seen and he’s not attacking. He - It is just there a looming presence, it feels strangely familiar - grounding.

“With him. He’s been helping me a lot. He reinforced all my Pictos.” Maelle says. Maybe he’s not a Nevron, someone useful and a friend of the Expedition’s. You forgot about Pictos, you only have a few and you’re not quite sure how to use them. Another lesson you probably missed by not attending the academy. 

“What is he?” Lune asks. 

“I’m not sure, he doesn’t really talk.” Maelle says. You can’t stop yourself, you're taking steps towards him frowning. His head turns to look down at you, a shiver runs down your spine and you find yourself reaching out to touch him. 

There’s a burn inside you. You know this person, this figure who looms in front of you. Your fingers are about to make contact with the being; it's almost like there is an electricity between you both.

You keep your eyes firmly fixed on his face, there is nothing there though just a cracked void of darkness but it still feels like you can see something in there something familiar. Your hand lands on his cold arm, a new noise leaves him almost like a grunt or a huff. 

There’s a flash, the room freezes and images fly into your head. You see a woman, she’s sitting in front of a canvas. Her hair flows down her back, she has a paintbrush in her hand. She swoops it over the canvas and a painting appears. You’re trying to make out what it is when you feel a hand on your shoulder. 

You gasp, dropping your touch from the man. His head turns and he moves away from the doorway. You turn to see Gustave with a concerned look on his face. 

“Are you okay?” He asks. Your head is pounding, you look past him at Lune and Maelle. You nod and force a smile. You don’t have time to explain what you’ve just seen or if they will even believe you. 

“I’m fine.” You say. 

“The Chroma around him was quite different from the Nevrons.” Lune says walking up next to Gustave, his hand drops from your shoulder.

“Maybe he’s not a Nevron.” You say. 

“Then what is he?” Lune asks. You look down to the hall to see him walking down the steps, you’re not sure. You’re not sure where to start. 

“I think he saved me.” Maelle says. 

“Maybe we could talk to him.” Lune says. You frown at her. “On our way to the Indigo Tree, Gustave and myself, we found a Nevron who communicated with us.” 

“A Nevron?” Maelle asks, shocked.

“It said it needed light. So it could shine for its mistress.” Lune explains. 

“It’s mistress, the Paintress?” You ask. 

“Perhaps, it was quite cryptic.” Gustave says. “Maybe this person will have more answers.” You all nod in agreement and make your way down the stairs. Maelle walks over to him as he blocks the door. He makes a noise you can only describe as a breath. 

“Again? We just trained earlier!” Maelle says. You and Gustave frown at each other. The being makes another breathy noise and Maelle crosses her arms sighing. 

“Alright, alright. But this time I have backup!” She says before turning to face us all. 

“He wants us to fight, then he will let us leave.” Maelle explains. 

“Okay.” Gustave says, materialising his weapon in his hand. You and Lune do the same and the man moves away from the door. You feel bad for fighting him unarmed and inside the lobby of his house. If this even is his house. 

Maelle attacks first, she’s swift on her feet. Her blade crashes against him but he barely flinches. He reaches behind him and when his hand comes back there’s a weapon in his hand. It makes your breath catch in his throat. It almost looks like a paintbrush. 

You shake away the shiver that runs through you. It has to be a coincidence. He brings the weapon up then thrusts it down. Lune and Gustave jump out the way Mealle hits the ground, the only person out his range is you. You pull out a crystal feeling it warm in your hand and set alight before launching it towards him. 

It hits him square in the chest and flames engulf him for a second. You move closer, spinning your crystal as Lune attacks him with sparks of electricity. Nothing seems to be affecting him and he raises his arm for another attack. This time Gustave counters it before he gets a chance to swipe again and Maelle moves in for the attack. 

As soon as they move away in sync you stop spinning the crystal and throw it at him. It smashes into him with a crash and he’s thrown back against the wall. He stays on his feet though, you pull the chain back. Maelle and Gustave work well together; they move like they know where each one will step. No doubt they had lots of training at the academy. 

The man makes a groaning noise and reaches the weapon back behind him and you watch it fizzle away. Maelle does the same then approaches him. 

“You could come with us if you like.” She says crossing her arms, it growls. “If that’s a yes, we’ll find you when we build a camp. Or maybe you’ll find us.” You don’t know if you like the idea of this mysterious man being around. This man you swear you know.  Although he’s not even really a man, more a shadow of a man. 

“Let’s go.” Lune says heading for the door. 

“Maybe we should head back to the Indigo Tree?” Gustave adds. 

“We should get Noco first.” Maelle says. 

“Noco?” You ask, she looks at you and smiles. 

“Yeah, I'll introduce you.” She says pushing past Lune to open the door. This time there is no flash of light, no force trying to pull you out instead the door just opens back out into the underwater world you’ve been exploring. 

You all walk out and the door slams closed behind you. 

“Where is he? He’s usually around here.” Maelle says. 

“Who’s Noco?” Lune asks again. Before Maelle can say anything there’s a rumbling, the ground starts to shake and you all look in the direction of one of the paths which is blocked off by coral. Your heart rate picks up and your hand slips into your crystal pouch.  

A second later there's a crash and a figure launches itself through the corals. You frown, not quite believing your eyes. It’s a Gestral. 

It’s not much taller than your waist and has bushy red hair. You can’t help chuckling as it puts his hands on its hips pushing its chest out. 

“Is that- A Gestral?” Lune scoffs like she can’t quite believe it and crouches down in front of it. 

“Intruders! Oh, Verso would not be pleased. En garde, ruffians!” It says pointing at you all. It makes you chuckle again and you step up next to Gustave. 

Maelle laughs “Stop that, you big hairy brushface. Can’t you see they’re human?” Lune is still walking around the Gestral who even despite its size looks like it’s ready to fight each and everyone of you. 

“Noco’s a bit dramatic.” Maelle says turning to Gustave. 

“So the tales are true - Perhaps the Grandis and the Esquie exist too?” Lune says but she’s talking to herself. She shoots up to her feet and comes over to stand next to you. “Are there more Gestrals, like you? I would love to meet them.”

“Maybe.” Noco replies. 

“Noco, you silly scruff! Their village is not far from here.” Maelle says. 

“Have you already been there?” You ask her. 

“No, I thought it was best to wait in one place instead of moving around.” She replies. 

“Good move.” Gustave says, patting her on the shoulder. 

“We should go.” Lune says sounding the most excited, in fact she’s the most excited you’ve ever seen her. 

“Lune.” Gustave says, the smile fades from her face. It’s almost like Gustave has become the de facto Expedition commander.

“I know. We don’t have time for detours.” She says, sounding disappointed and crossing her arms behind her back.

“Right. We need to get to the Paintress.” He reminds her. 

“The Paintress? How you going to cross the sea? You’re so slow. And you have no fins.” Noco says. 

“The sea?” You ask confused, you’ve already crossed the sea.

“There’s another sea between here and the Paintress?” Lune asks. 

“Noco. As the best Gestral merchant ever, I bet you know a solution? Yeah?” Maelle asks sweetly. 

“Maybe.” He replies reluctantly. 

“Come on you broom head, I know you know.” Maelle says, throwing her arms in the air. 

“Ha! Broomhead. Very funny.” Noco scoffs, it makes you smile. “Okay, ask Golgra. Chief has the answer, just go to the Village.” Gustave looks at Lune then you. You smile at him and he smiles back quickly before turning his attention back to Noco.

“Where is the Gestral village?” You ask. 

“In the middle of our Ancient Sanctuary. Red trees everywhere, can’t miss it!” He says enthusiastically. You remember seeing a forest of red trees in the distance before you came down here. 

Gustave looks at Lune. “Well. I guess you’ll get to meet more Gestrals. Lune looks like she wants to jump and celebrate but settles for a smug grin at Gustave instead. 

“We should make camp for the night.” You suggest, it’s getting dark and you can feel the exertions from the day pulling on you. 

“That’s a good idea.” Lune agrees. 

Gustave nods. “Okay, we’ll head back, I saw a secluded place through a cave we could set up a camp.” 

You all nod in agreement and turn to head back through the way you came.

Gustave picked a great spot. 

It was through a long cave but it eventually led out into a break on the side of a cliff. The place looked almost picturesque at night with the fireflies and the gentle sound of moving water. While Gustave and Maelle got a fire started, you and Lune walked around the rest of the area to make sure it was totally safe. 

You see a little brook with an island and a kind of cave with a skylight. After an hour or so the mysterious man from the mansion shows up. Everyone goes silent as he walks into the camp, he seems to acknowledge us all before going into the little cave with the skylight. 

When everyone is finished you find yourself standing by the edge of the cliff looking out at the Monalith lighting up the horizon. It still seems as far away as it did in Lumière. You look down the cliff, you can’t see the bottom; it's shrouded in fog or low cloud. 

You step back from the edge as a shiver runs through you. The thought of throwing yourself over the edge brings back painful memories you’re not ready to deal with right now. 

“Hey.” Gustave says. You jump and turn to see him. You didn’t expect him to come and talk to you. 

“Hi.” You say, turning to face him. 

“Are you okay?” He asks. You nod.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Back at the house when you touched that man…” He trails off like he’s not sure what to say, or explain it. You don’t know how to explain to him what you saw. 

“I don’t know what happened.” You admit. “It was. It was like I knew him, he felt familiar.” 

“Familiar?” He asks frowning. “I don’t know how to explain it. When I touched him I saw something. A-A woman, she had long hair and she was painting.” 

“Painting? Was it the Paintress? Maybe it’s a clue.” He says. 

“Yeah, maybe I should talk to Lune.” You say, you turn to look at him, he smiles at you. 

“How are you?” You ask, you’re not sure what to say to him. He makes you nervous, your stomach is doing flips.

“Good, I’m glad Maelle is safe.” He says, you smile nodding at him. 

“Yeah, you seem really close.” 

“We are.” 

“It’s not everyday someone has the privilege of 2 adoptive parents. She must be special.” You blush when you realise what you’ve just said sounds extremely condescending. You go to apologise but Gustave just smiles. 

“She’s very special.” He replies, you blow out the nerves. She’s nice, she looks at you the same way Lune does, like you’re something to be studied - something they don’t understand. 

“Why did you decide to come on the Expedition?” He asks. You frown at him. 

“I had to.” You say. Everyone knows you had to join. It wasn’t fair that you survived. 

“I think there’s more to it.” 

“I thought.” You sigh looking down. “Maybe before we kill the Paintress I could ask her why she spared me.” 

He smiles and takes another step towards you, he turns to look over at the Monalith you turn too looking out at the number 33 shining in the sky. His metal arm is to your side, you look down at it. He invented the Lumina Converter, he’s done more for Lumière in his short life than most.

“Do you think we’ll make it then?” He asks.

You sigh. “I know I will. Maybe not with Expedition 33 but eventually.” He hums and leans in closer to you.

“I think we’ll make it.” He says crossing his arms, you turn to him and raise an eyebrow,

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yeah. We’ve got Chanceuse on our side.” He’s still leaning in close, smiling at you. 

“I hate that name.” You say. 

“I think it suits you. The only person to ever survive the Gommage on our side. I think that makes us lucky.” 

“Expedition 33 - the lucky Expedition.” You scoff. 

“The lucky Expedition.” Gustave repeats. He nudges you and you look up at him and smile. You hear Lune talking to Maelle, you both turn to look. They look happy, friendly, out of all the people you’re glad they survived. You have no idea what he would do if she died. 

You sigh looking back out at the Monolith. 364 days are left before the rest of Expedition 33 will Gommage, if you don’t make it to the Paintress with them you’ll have to wait for Expedition 32. 

“Tom hated me.” You say, he turns back to looking at you, dropping his hands. “Sciel hated me, that's why she gave me that name in the first place.” 

“I don’t think they hated you.” He says turning to face you, you turn too. You never knew how deep brown his eyes were, in the low light they look almost black. His hand metal hand lands on your shoulder, it’s surprisingly warm. It runs down your arm to your wrist. 

He picks your arm up, turning it so your wrist is facing upwards. You see the scar down your arm Gustave looks too, his thumb brushes the edge of the scar. 

“I remember hearing about the attack. I’m sorry that happened to you.” The gold Croma on your arm does little to cover the scar, etching it in hurt. Each time you did you thought of the people who did this to you. They were never caught, would it have mattered? 

You can’t blame the people who lost loved ones 

“I only got what I deserved.” You whisper. It’s barely audible, Gustave hears you though, he gently squeezing your wrist. Your eyes shoot up to look at him, his head is tipped to the side, he has a sombre look on his face. 

“Do you really think that?” He asks frowning. You sigh. 

“I didn’t do anything to deserve this.” It makes you angry, you should not have survived. “What did I do with my life? I did nothing. You built the Lumina Converter, Lune dedicated her entire life to study for her Expedition. I- I helped out in the orphanage once for a few years-”

“Hey.” He says suddenly dropping your wrist and moving his hands up to grip your shoulders. He bends so his face is level with yours. “It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. You’re here now, we are going to get to the Paintress and get you some answers.” 

You don’t know what to say, it feels like you can’t breathe. He’s direct but he’s not shouting at you and he hasn’t broken eye contact.

“And if we don’t make it?” You ask, always the pessimist. He squeezes your shoulders, his touch is nice, reassuring. Ever since the Indigo Tree his hands have always been by you - on you. His touch is reassuring and gentle, the heavy weight from his mechanical arm is grounding. 

“When one falls, we continue.” He says. “Only in this case when we fall. You will continue.” 

“Expedition 33 might never make it to the Paintress but you will. I think that makes you very special indeed.” He drops one of his hands and his mechanical hand runs back down to your wrist. You bring your hand up again so he can see the scar on your inner arm. 

“You don’t have to be so kind to me.” You say, feeling heat rush to your cheeks. 

“I think you deserve someone to be kind to you.” He says, you look down at your arm, his thumb runs over the edge of the scar again. 

“You have other people to worry about, Gustave.” You say pulling your arm from his hand. He straightens up and you cross your arms, you hear him sigh. 

“I can worry about one more person.” He says. You smile at him, he really doesn’t need to be this nice to you. 

“Thank you, Gustave.” It’s all you can think to say.

“Am I interrupting?” You both turn to see Lune walking over to you both. 

“No.” Gustave says. Lune nods at him and he gets the hint and leaves you both. 

“Everything okay?” She asks. You nod and she hums holding a book in her hands. 

“What’s that?” You ask, changing the subject, she looks down at it and starts thumbing through the pages. You look past her and see Gustave sit down on a log with Mealle. Now you’re upset Lune interrupted you. Maybe you should have said something? What would you have told him? 

You make me nervous, you make me feel like I actually matter. 

“Are you listening?” Lune asks, your eyes snap back to her and you feel yourself blushing again. 

“Sorry, yes.” You say locking eyes with her. She frowns, closing the book. 

“I can help you study, if you want?” She asks, you raise an eyebrow at her. 

“Okay.” You say, she smiles and starts to walk away from the edge of the cliff and back towards the main camp. On the way you look into the cave and look back at the mysterious man, he gives you a weird vibe, maybe it’s the silence and the missing face - whatever it is it makes a shiver run up your spine. 

Lune sits down on the other log and you sit next to her, she opens the book to one of the pages. You see a huge spread about Gestrals, it’s so strange seeing the speculative information on the page now you know they exist. 

“Do you think Grandis exist too?” Maelle asks, you look up at her and Gustave. 

“I hope so. I have so many questions.” Lune says before turning her attention back to the book and flicking the page. You see some of the previous Nevron’s you’ve defeated. 

“So each Nevron has a weakness, do they have a strength too?” You ask, Lune nods and flicks through the pages quickly. 

“That one looks like the ones who attacked us on the beach.” You say pointing at the Nevron on the page, their body is made up of 2 massive hands and It looks like it’s holding a glowing orb, the rest of its body is shrouded in a cloak. 

“Noir’s, they can absorb dark damage.” She says. They look scarier drawn on the page, the page then your brief interaction with them. It makes a shiver run down your spine. 

“Is it true you defeated an Eveque all by yourself?” Maelle asks. You look up at her, she seems enthusiastic about it. 

“I had help.” You say.

“But he didn’t fight? How could he.” She says. You sigh nodding, you’re not sure what to say. 

“He told me about Nevron’s weaknesses.” You explain. 

“I’m going to teach her more.” Lune adds. 

“You should have come to the academy, they taught us all about Nevrons and their weaknesses.” Maelle says. You nod at her but hold your tongue, surely she knew the bullying you were subject to. Gustave keeps her close though maybe he shields her from such things. 

“They don’t have anything in there about an old man do they?” Gustave asks somewhat seriously. 

“Thats the strange thing about him. Of all the recovered information we received back in Lumière none of them ever mentioned an old man.” She says. 

“Maybe he’s new?” You ask. You’re not sure what to think about him. He’s the first old person you’ve ever seen. 

“I don’t think so, he was old.” Lune says. You look at Maelle, she seems worried about something. No one says anything, you all just exchange glances. You can already tell you probably all have your own theories or thoughts on who he is and what happened. 

“The Nevron’s didn’t seem to be attacking him. It was almost like he had control over them.” You say grimly. You don’t want to know what the consequences are of pissing off someone who has that power. You hope you’re remembering wrong and you were just so caught up in the fear and adrenaline that you’re remembering wrong.

“What happened back at the house?” Lune asks, suddenly changing the subject you turn to look at her, your body stiffens up. 

“What do you mean?” You say trying to play dumb. It doesn’t work with Lune, she’s too smart. She just tips her head to the side. She’s not going to ask you again, you look down at your hands and think of a way to explain it. 

“I saw something. A vision. No, it wasn’t a vision, it felt more personal, it was like a memory.” You say, you look back up to see Maelle and Gustave looking at you with raised eyebrows. “I saw a woman, she had long hair and she was painting. I couldn't see what it was though.” 

There’s silence, the only sound is the crackling of the fire and the sound of the breeze in the trees. You look over at the cave where the man has taken residence. 

“What did she look like? The woman?” Lune asks.

You shrug. “I don’t know, I only saw her from behind.” 

“It must have been the Paintress.” Gustave says. You don’t think it was, for some reason she gave you a different vibe. You’re not even sure how to explain it. 

“Maybe there was something in the vision you were supposed to see to help us?” Lune says. 

“I didn’t see anything that could help us.” You say. You should have done a better job, you should have got more information for them.  

“Maybe we could try again?” Lune asks, you look behind you back to the cave. You need to help them, anything to help them. 

“Okay.” you say getting to your feet. Everyone follows as you make it to the cave. He’s just floating there - unmoving other than the Chroma flowing off him. You walk up to him, your heart is pounding in your chest. You swallow the nerves and step up to him. His head follows you, he has no eyes, no discernible face, just a cracked black space. 

“Hello.” You say. You’re nervous all of a sudden. His presence in the dark cave is intimidating, you reach out for his arm anyway. He doesn’t move, or make any noise. You take that as permission and touch his cold stone arm. 

There’s a flash, a blinding white that forces you to close your eyes. When you open them you see her again. The woman with the long hair, just like before she’s sat in front of the canvas. He arm swipes the paint brush making shapes and colours appear. You see her shift slightly as she finishes, she puts the brush down sitting back and admiring her work. 

Your heart is pounding, as she moves enough for you to see. You gasp when you see it. To your surprise it’s like she hears you and turns to look at you. Panic pulses through you and you let go of the man's arm. 

The memory fades in an instant, adrenaline pumps through you and your hand flies up to your chest. You take a step back from the man. There are tears running down your face, you’re panting looking at the figure, his head is looking straight ahead again.

“You’re okay.” Gustave says, his hand lands on the top of your back. It’s grounding, reassuring. 

“What did you see?” Lune asks, coming to stand in front of you as you take another step back.

“I-It was.” You choke on the words, stopping to take some deep breaths. 

“What? What did you see?” Lune asks, reaching out to grip your arm. You’re trying to get the words out. 

“Lune, give her a second.” Gustave says his hand rubs your back. 

“It was like she could hear me.” You say, when you say it out loud it sounds silly. 

“Is it the Paintress, did she look like her?” Lune asks. You shake your head. 

“Did you see what she was painting?” She asks, squeezing your arm. You nod, suddenly your breathing normalises as a pit forms in your stomach. 

“Yeah.” You say, you tense and look straight in her eyes.

“Us, she was painting us.”

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

Chapter 2 - The Indigo Tree

Summary: Gustave x reader, Lune x Sciel, WC: 4.9k CW: Description of wounds, death, angst, canon-typical violence.

AN: I promise this is not just a play by play of the game, there are just some parts that sync up.

Previous parts - masterlist - next AO3

Enjoy <3

You wake to a strange warmth. 

You’re alive. You almost can’t believe it. You open your eyes sitting up, your body is stiff, the sun is up. You look around trying to take in your surroundings. You can hear birds, the sound of water gently flowing. You pat your bag, you can feel your crystals. You let out a breath of relief and get to your feet. 

It takes way more effort then you know it should, you pat yourself over for injuries. There’s no blood but your ankle throbs as you put weight on it. You’re covered in dirt and you pull a twig out of your hair. 

You only know one healing Chroma and it’s not very strong, your ankle doesn’t hurt that much so you decide to look around and figure out if there are any other survivors. You walk over to the stream and wash your hands before walking around the boulders to a more open path. 

You can’t see anything, there are trees and boulders, you need to get to higher ground. Find the Indigo Tree - that’s the next step, if there are any survivors that’s where they’ll be grouping. You follow what you assume is some kind of path, maybe previous Expeditions made this? More likely though it was Nevrons. 

You don’t really like the idea of bumping into any of them right now. You’ve never fought a real Nevron before and you’re alone with a sprained ankle, it could be the death of you if you’re not careful. You keep pushing on until you can’t go any further, there’s a ledge. You pull yourself up and you catch your first glimpse of something other than forest.

You never thought you would be so happy to see the Monolith lighting up the skyline. You stand there for a few seconds just taking it in, if you’re heading towards it you’re heading in the right direction, the Indigo Tree will be that way too. 

You close your eyes and feel the cool breeze on your skin. You can smell fresh grass and salt from the ocean. You let yourself listen to the birds in the trees - a few seconds of solitude. You’re here, you're on the Continent, you’re going for the Paintress. You hear a new unfamiliar noise and your eyes snap open. 

You need to move, you’re not safe here. It’s not long before you spot the first signs of previous Expedition’s. It’s a grim sight seeing the vibrant green grass tainted with bodies. They’re strange though, you walk up to one and bend down running your hand over their arm. 

It’s like they’ve been turned to stone, all of them - piles of petrified bodies. You hear another growl and shoot up to your feet. There must be a Nevron close, you look up again and see the Indigo tree. You’re so close, you have to keep pushing on. 

When you make it around the next bend you see it, a Nevron, your first Nevron and it’s right in your path. You crouch down behind a rock and start scanning around for an alternate path. After a few minutes of looking and weighing up your options you decide the only way though is to kill the Nevron. It doesn’t look that big, you could take it alone.

You don’t really have a choice. Behind you leads back to a cliff with no way around, forwards is the only path. You stand up blowing out the nerves, you reach into your pocket for a crystal you can throw at it. 

You remember from the little training you did; attacking first will give you an advantage. You watch how the Nevron is walking - well floating around. Now you’re getting a better look you can see it has no legs. Its head is twisted, rusted metal forming a large triangle. Between the twisted metal there’s what you assume is its head. A deep blue glowing ore, that’s what you have to aim for. 

You drop your other hand to your side and feel the cool chain materialise around your wrist and hand. The heavy purple crystal on the end shines as you approach the Nevron from behind. You hold the other crystal between your thumb and forefinger looking at where you need to throw it. 

You get as close as you dare, there’s a little cave to the side of you, you could always use that if you need cover. You hold your breath aim and throw the crystal with as much force as you can. The Neveron screams, it’s like metal grinding against metal, the sound makes your ears ring. A bright blue explosion knocks the Nevron away from you.  You back up holding the arm with your weapon up over your head and spin it. 

You see the light blue tint of a shield form around you. The Neveron is angrily coming towards you, you see a translucent spike rise from it’s head, it has no hands by the looks of things it’s going to slam its head into you. Good, you just have to keep your distance. 

It lunges at you and you jump out the way throwing the crystal on the chain out towards it. You watch as it hits the spear, it sounds like glass as it shatters. You reach in your bag taking out a handful of smaller stones. You hold them tight feeling them warm up, when you open your hand the black and orange stones are on fire. 

You wait for the Nevron to get a little closer, you’ll get one shot at this. You throw your arm back and launch the fist full of stones at it. It screams, the fabric on its body instantly catches alight. The scream gets louder as it rushes towards you, you gasp but before you can move out the way it suddenly freezes. 

You’re gritting your teeth as it sways before falling to the floor. You stand there in stunned silence for a few seconds. You nudge it with your foot, it doesn’t move. 

You brace your hands on your thighs sucking in breaths of air. You did it, you killed a Nevron, alone! You laugh looking at it's body motionless on the ground, you never thought you would ever be able to do that. You stand up straight again, your brother would love to hear about this. You look around towards where you need to go next and get ready to take a step when you’re interrupted by a moan. 

It makes you jump, your head snaps to the direction you heard it. It doesn’t sound like a Nevron, it sounds different, almost human. You pull a crystal out anyway just in case you're wrong but head towards the noise. 

It's coming from the small cave, there’s not much light and you have to feel along the ridged stone wall. You hear the noise again, it’s definitely human, you hear a grunt. 

“Putain.” A voice says through gritted teeth.  

“Hello?” You call. There’s a sharp inhale and another grunt. 

“Putain, Chanceuse? Is that you?” He calls. Chanceuse? You keep walking until eventually your feet kicks something soft. 

“Ey, watch it!” He shouts through gritted teeth. Now you recognise the voice and as you bend down to slip your arm around him and help him up it’s confirmed. Out of all the people who could have survived and ended up next to you it had to be Tom. 

You don’t say anything as you pull him out the cave. He’s definitely injured pretty bad, he can barely hold himself upright. He leans on you heavily for support and you can smell the sickly scent of fresh blood in the air. He shields his eyes from the sun as you pull him out the cave. 

Your grip slips on him and you have to put him down against a rock before you drop him. Now in the sunlight you can see the injuries on his body. His face and clothes are splattered with blood. His hand lands on his side and he winces as he presses down. 

“Let me see.” You say kneeling down in front of him. He scoffs but moves his hand anyway, it looks bad, you don’t really know what to do. 

“I should have learnt some healing Chroma.” He says, you look up at him, he’s smiling. He looks pale and clammy, you reach into one of your pockets for some gauze. 

“What happened back there?” He asks. 

“I don’t know.” You reply. “There was a man, an old man. I tried to run and find cover then this Nevron attacked me. I woke up next to a stream.” 

He grits his teeth as you press the gauze in as best as you can. You place your hand over the wound and use your healing Chroma, it’s weak but maybe it will help until you can get to someone who can heal him properly. 

“Is that it?” He asks as the green glow from your hands fades. You look back up at him, it’s better than nothing. 

“How did you get out?” You ask, changing the subject. His expression changes from worry to something darker. 

“I don’t know.” He says resting his hand back over the wound. “Everything happened so quickly, next thing I know I’m in pain trying to drag myself into a cave.” 

“That was dangerous, you could have never been found.” You explain. 

“Yeah, well I wasn’t exactly planning on becoming Nevron bait.” He says. “Besides you found me, Chanceuse.” 

You almost wish you hadn't.

You let out a sigh then hear a bang. You stand up and you both look in the direction of the noise. It’s above the tree line in the distance a bright red flare lighting up the sky. That's where the Indigo Tree is, and there are other survivors. You need to move, you don’t know when it’s going to get dark and now you’re carrying one injured, it’s going to slow you down. 

“We need to go. We need to meet up at the Indigo Tree.” You say looking back at him. He nods and tries to push himself off the ground. You go over to him and help him up, wrapping one of his arms around your shoulders. You give him a second to steady himself and take a few breaths before you start to walk in the direction of the flare. 

“What happens if we run into Nevrons.” He asks after a few minutes. He really is slow and you have to go at his pace or he stumbles and you have to stop so he can get his balance. 

“I don’t know, we’ll deal with it.” You say. There’s no way he’ll be able to fight, it will be down to you again. You keep the fact you’ve already beaten one to yourself. You could do it again, you’ll have to do it again it’s not like you have much choice. 

After a few more minutes you come to another ledge. You let him go to jump up then pull him up after you. You keep waking, the valley turns upwards and the trees and foliage starts to turn to pretty shades of blue and cyan. You can see the Indigo Tree from here, it makes you smile. 

“Almost there.” You say hitching him up some more. It gives you the energy to make it down the hill, the valley feels like it’s closing in again. You keep going, the place seems to be almost void of Nevrons, you’re lucky it seems. Maybe the name makes sense, Chanceuse.

“Why Chanceuse?” You ask. 

He laughs. “It was Sciel’s idea. Thought if you are cursed, we could use a bit of luck.”

He’s struggling, his breathing has been picking up, you keep pushing.

“I’m not cursed.” You say. 

“You’re the only 34 year old I know.” He says and coughs, you stop letting him get it out. His breathing sounds even worse. You want to keep going, there are other survivors at the tree. There will be someone there with better healing Chromas he’ll be okay. 

“I still lost my family.” You say. 

“You’re living. You always were the lucky one.” He says. It makes you mad, you’re not sure why you bothered helping someone who hates you. You always were the lucky one. What does that even mean? You want to ask him but instead he cries out then doubles over in pain. 

You reach down to hold him, and help him back to his feet. 

“Look.” You say pointing at the entrance to the tree. It’s massive even from where you’re standing. “We’re close, just through this valley.” 

“Yeah.” He says, the word slurs. You hitch him up and he nods. You keep walking with him as slow as you can without him falling over. You let out a breath as you make it to the bottom of the tree. The roots spread all around the rocks, you look up, the tree is enormous, bigger than anything you’ve ever seen.

It’s beautiful, it looks like it’s shining, it’s almost like it’s alive and breathing. You can feel the energy coming off it, the Chroma here must be insane. You’re about halfway to the bottom of the tree when you hear it. 

It’s not human. You stop and turn, the moment you take a step back roots grow back over the entrance, blocking off the way you came in. 

“Merde.” You say. You need to find cover for Tom, there’s no way he’ll be able to fight whatever is about to happen. You don’t get a chance though as a massive Nevron crashes through the bottom of the tree. You pull Tom over to a fallen log and throw him behind it and cries out in pain. 

“You can’t fight that!” He shouts. You look back over at the Nevron, it's huge but it's like the one you fought earlier it has a glowing blue core. 

“We’ll die if I don’t.” You say looking back at him. 

“That’s a Eveque. Ice; it’s weak against ice.” He says before slumping down. You nod. You have an ice chroma, pair that with your crystals, you might be able to do this. What's that worst that could happen? You die? 

You’ve cheated death before, maybe you’ll do it again. 

You pull your weapon out your bag wrapping the chain around your hand. You pull out a white crystal. You watch as the Nevron floats towards you, you spin the chain in your hands. You feel your energy flow down the chain and into the large crystal on the end. 

This is going to be harder than the last Nevron you fought. You rub the crystal in your dominant hand. Ice, that’s what you need. You swallow the nerves looking directly at the centre of his chest where the blue glow is. You feel the crystal getting cold in your hand. 

You let out a breath and throw the crystal directly at the glow in the Eveque’s chest. It explodes knocking you off your feet. Your back slams against the roots and you fall to the floor. The scream that comes off the Nevron makes your ears ring. You’re still getting to your feet when it flies towards you.

It growls, throwing it’s arm in the air. You watch a spear materialise in its hand, you roll to the side as it thrusts it down on the floor. It makes the ground vibrate, you look over at Tom, he’s propped up on the log looking at you. He looks even worse than before, almost white with dark circles under his eyes. 

You don’t have time to sit there and stare, you pull yourself to your feet. Your ankle throbs and you turn looking at the Nevron coming towards you. You hold your chain in both hands, you spin the crystal around and launch it towards Eveque. You’re not sure what you’re supposed to be hitting, you just keep hitting, at least it’s flinching. 

You pull the chain back quickly and catch the large crystal in your hand. You reach in your bag and pull out two more stones. You feel them get cold, you hold them until you can’t stand the cold and open your palm letting them float above your hand. 

You’re not sure where to launch them; there's no more glowing orb to aim at, you have to go for its head. It’s the only option. You wait watching another spear form in his hand. You stand still waiting until it's about to strike then jump out the way. 

While it’s pulling the spear out the ground you launch the frozen crystals into the side of it’s head. It sounds like glass against metal as they explode, the Nevron gives up on getting the weapon out the ground. As soon as its hand leaves it vanishes like it never existed. You’re walking backwards as it turns towards you. 

You’re about to hit the wall of roots when Eveque sways. It’s about to fall, you can’t back up anymore, you let it fall, its head hits the ground with a clank. It kicks dirt up in your face and you squeeze your eyes closed. You’re panting, gripping onto the roots behind you for support. 

“Putain de merde.” You say opening your eyes again. You did it, you killed the biggest Nevron you’ve ever seen, and alone. You laugh standing up straight and putting your weapon away. You look over at Tom even he's smiling. You let yourself catch your breath and step back towards Tom. 

He comes out from around the log, he can barely stand, he wobbles and you rush over to catch him. 

“I can’t believe you-” He stumbles. You grip him tighter, keeping him upright. You can see the yellow strand inside the tree that will take you to the top. There has to be people up there, they didn’t come down to help you, maybe they’ve made camp nearby. 

“I couldn’t have done it without you. How did you know what it was?” You ask, he’s barely keeping upright. You’re basically having to drag him over, when you get up you’ll use the healing Chroma again. It’s probably not going to do anything but if it will keep him alive it’s better then nothing. 

“You never came.” He chokes on the words coughing again. “To the training, we had lessons about different Nevrons.” 

“I didn’t think I was welcome.” You admit. It’s not like Tom was ever nice to you, he was one of the worst. “Come on. We’re almost there.” 

“Sorry.” He says. His voice is raspy, his body slumps against you. You reach the strand holding him tight as soon as you grip it, it pulls you up. You focus on keeping Tom tight next to you. When you make it to the top it throws you off, with the extra weight of Tom you stumble face planting on the floor.   

You hear Tom cry out as you get up to your feet. You look around, you can’t see anyone. 

“Hello!” You call walking out the tree trunk and looking around. “Please anyone!” There’s no one here. You turn back to look at Tom, he’s rolled over on his back. You spot an expedition flag, you look for the box of supplies. Your hands are shaking when you find it you flick the latch and reach in. The supplies look old, you look for healing taints, anything that will work. 

You pull out a healing taint, the bottle is old and covered in dirt but it's good it’s not like these things go out of date. You rush over to Tom. Your stomach drops when you see his eyes closed. 

“Tom!” You call going over to him. You drag him out the way of the hole and rest his head up and on your knee. “Come on Tom.” You open the bottle and press it to his lips. You can feel his breath on your fingers. He’s still alive. 

“Drink it. It’ll make you feel better.” You say, you feel a lump in your throat. You can’t believe you’re crying over Tom. His eyes open and his mouth wraps around the bottle, you tip it up for him. 

He coughs and splutters and you pull the bottle away. “Are you crying over me, Chanceuse?” He asks. You chuckle and look down at his body. It looks like the taint’s barely touched him. 

“No.” You say sniffling. He coughs again, it sounds wet, it doesn’t sound normal. 

“When you make it back, Chanceuse. Tell my sister-” He chokes on the words, a sob leaves his throat. “-Tell her I love her.” 

Putain. He looks horrible, he’s not going to make it, you can just tell even with the taint.

“Just drink.” You say bringing the bottle back to his lips. He moves his face away.

“Tell her I died kicking some Nevron arse.” He chuckles and it throws him into another coughing fit. Suddenly your ears prick up, you hear voices. It sounds like they’re coming from the shaft down the tree. You’re holding your breath when you hear whoever it is connected to the strand. 

A few seconds later Lune jumps up out the hole landing perfectly. 

“Lune!” You call but her eyes land on you instantly. She comes over kneeling down next to Tom. 

“What happened?” She asks. You don’t get time to reply a second later another person shoots up the strand. 

“Gustave!” You say. 

“Hey, what happened?” He asks. Lune moves over to take over from you. You don’t know what to do but you know Lune has healing Chroma. You move out the way and stand up, she rests her hands on his shoulders. 

You look over at Gustave, you don’t know why but before you can stop yourself you throw your arms around him. He hugs you back - you didn't expect it but he does, his mechanical arm rests on the top of your back and he presses his nose into your neck.

You close your eyes and let yourself enjoy being held by another person. Another human, there were more people alive then you thought. You’re not sure why you survived but you’re not surprised Gustave and Lune survived. 

Tom makes a noise, it sounds horrible, each breath sounds like stones grinding against each other. You break from the hug and turn to see him, you see green strands flowing over him but he doesn’t look any better. Lune looks up concerned, you feel the cold metal of Gustaves hand on the top of your back. 

You watch as Lune’s hands move and the green wisps fade away. You go over and bend down next to him, you pick up his hand, it’s already cold.

“He hated me.” You say looking up at Lune. You see a ring on his finger, it’s small and pink, cheap plastic it’s like a kids toy. You take it off and place it in your pocket. It’s clearly his sisters, you’ll give it back to her and deliver his message. 

“D-do we bury him?” You ask, he deserves that respect at least. 

“We don’t have to.” Lune says, as soon as she does you look down to see his body changing, transforming to stone. He looks like all the other bodies you’ve seen on your journey here. It doesn’t feel right for some reason. 

You stand up and Gustave looks at you with sadness in his eyes. His normal hand lands on your shoulder and he squeezes. 

“What happened?” He asks. 

“I woke up near a stream. I started heading for the Indigo Tree, on the way I found him in a cave, he was already injured.” You explain. “What happened to you two?”

“Pretty much the same. Minus finding an injured Tom.” Gustave says. “I found Lune though.” He looks past you and you turn to see her, he drops his hand off your shoulder and it travels down your arm. You feel his fingers linger on the back of your hand. It makes  your heart rate pick up, you turn your palm towards him but he moves his hand.

“What happened to the Nevron down below?” Lune asks. 

“I killed it.” You say. 

“Alone?” Gustave asks, stepping closer to you. 

“I didn’t really have a choice.” You say. It’s not really the most important right now anyway.

“Did you find any other survivors?” You ask. Lune shakes her head. 

“Just bodies.” Gustave says grimly, you turn to look at him. 

“Who was the man on the beach?” You ask, he raises an eyebrow almost like he expects you to know something. 

“We don’t know.” He says relaxing his face but crossing his arms. 

“He was so powerful, what Expedition do you think he’s from?” You ask. 

“I don’t think he was from an Expedition.” Gustave says. 

You scoff. “That’s not possible. Where would he be from?” You ask, Gustave shrugs. 

“Old Lumière.” You say quietly. 

“That’s not possible, even if it does exist that would make him hundreds of years old.” Gustave says. A chill runs down your spine, the stories of Old Lumière always freaked you out. The thought of the Continent being split up, hundreds of people dying. 

“Whats this?” Lune asks suddenly, you turn from Gustave to see a red message etched onto a large stone, the text is red and glowing, it looks ominous.

“Took Maelle to the weird corals. Head north. Look for a door inside a hut.” Lune reads. 

“Maelle?” Gustave asks, going past you and over to the message. So she’s alive too, there has to be more, it’s not just going to be you four, there has to be more survivors.  

“This doesn’t seem right.” Lune says, you walk over so you can see the message. 

“It’s not signed.” You say squinting. 

“Exactly, anyone would know to always sign their message.” Lune says, moving her hand over the message. 

“Maybe they were in a rush, they're with Maelle.” He says. You frown looking at him, you can already see the determination on his face. He’s already made his mind up, Lune doesn’t look sure at all. 

“What if it’s a trap?” You ask, you’ll be the pessimist of the group, Lune looks at you and nods. 

“It doesn’t sound like anyone on the team what if it’s the man - the man from the beach.” She looks at you, you can’t tell if she wants you to back her up or blame you. 

“Whoever this is they know Maelle, they''re with her.” He says he's getting frustrated, you can see it in the way he carries himself. 

“We don’t know who they are. Protocol states we regroup at the Rally Point and wait 3 days.” Lune says, you look at Gustave’s face go hard, he shakes his head and starts pacing. 

“The message does seem strange.” You say. What if Lune is right and it is the old man on the beach, none of you are ready for him.

“Okay but maybe this place is dangerous, they could have been compromised and had to move. You saw the size of the Nevron at the base of the tree.” Gustave says he does have a point. 

“Protocol states-” 

“Protocol doesn’t cover every contingency.” Gustave interrupts Lune.

“There’s a reason it is protocol. We designed it to yield the optimal result in the vast majority of situations.” Lune explains, typical Lune she’s always one to stick to the rules. 

“Does protocol take into account our whole team getting killed?” He asks. It’s a low blow, you see Lune is taken aback, she just sighs. 

“I’m going after Maelle.” He says and starts to walk off. 

“Wait!” You call. He stops and turns.

“Y-you shouldn’t go alone.” You turn to Lune. “I can go with him, you can stay here and wait for other survivors.” 

You look back at Gustave, smiling at you nodding his head. A silent thank you, you nod back at him. 

“We should stick together.” Lune says reluctantly. She passes you and walks up to Gustave. “For the record though, I think this is a terrible idea.” 

“Noted.” Gustave says, they stare each other down for a few seconds before she scoffs, shaking her head and walking down the path. Gustave looks back at you and smiles, you smile back and walk up to him. He starts to follow Lune, just before you’re about to turn the corner you stop and look back to the tree. 

You let out a sigh. 

“Hey.” Gustave calls, you turn, seeing him a few steps ahead of you. He looks sad. “You okay?” 

You nod. “I’m okay. Just Tom… it should have been me not him.” You’re used to that thought by now. If Expedition 33 can kill the Paintress they’ll go back to Lumière, he could have grown old with his sister. 

Gustave smiles, taking a step towards you and holds his hand out. 

“You always were the lucky one.” 

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

A Day That Never Comes

You should be dead, you should have died a year ago. The number 34 shines on the monolith as a sick reminder - you should be dead.

You're special, that's what all parents tell their kids. You didn't actually believe it though, not until you survived the impossible.

You should have gommaged at 34, but you're still here. You're shunned and outcast, some people blame you for everything, others think you’re cursed. Why out of all the people in Lumière did the paintress choose to save you?

The only way you can think to make people happy and get answers is to join expedition 33, at least death will find you there

Chapter 1 - The Second Gommage

WC: 4.2k CW: Death, mentions death, description of scars, description of past assault, mourning, greif.

Enjoy <3

You should be dead, you should have died a year ago. 

The number 34 shines on the monolith as a sick reminder - you should be dead. Everyone dies, there has never - in the history of Lumière - been someone that survived the Gommage, it’s an inevitability. You wonder what you’ve done to deserve a life worse than death. 

People look at you with disgust in their eyes. Why did you survive but not their friends, parents, brothers and sisters? You wish you were used to it but it still makes you feel uncomfortable whenever you have to leave your flat. 

It’s the staring that gets you more than the talking, at least you’re pretty much heard everything people say about you. Most people avoid you, it’s the people who stare at you with angry eyes that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. 

You look down at the inside of your arm. There’s a scar, it’s only a few months old, it’s still red and pink, the skin distorted from the attack. You carved Croma over it in a pointless attempt to try and hide it. You deserve it really, that’s what you keep telling yourself. The only person who tells you otherwise is your brother and he’s supposed to do that he’s your only family left. 

You move away from the window and pick up your armband. Expedition 33, you never planned on joining an Expedition, maybe it was out of selfishness, no one comes back from them and you were too selfish to give your life. 

In reality it was probably fear, the fear of not really knowing what was out there. The fear of not knowing how painful death would be. You were always a selfish person, you remember fighting with your brother, your parents, even when you know how little time you all had together. 

You look at the only family photo you have with your family. It was taken a week before your mother Gommaged, your father was a year later. You miss them, they would know what to say, what to do. 

There’s a knock at your door a second later your brother walks in. 

“Happy Gommage!” He calls with two bottles of beer in his hands. He makes you smile as he comes over and throws his arms around you. You hug him back as tight as you can. This could be the last ever time you hold him like this. 

“It’s not happy.” You say, he breaks from the hug going into your kitchen. 

“Are you joking!” He calls looking through your cutlery drawer for a bottle opener. “From this day on I never have to work for Samuel and his stinky fish ever again.” 

“You could have quit.” You remind him. He turns back, opening the beers and handing one to you. 

“And what? Joined an Expedition, pff.” He says taking a swig of his beer. You follow him as his eyes look over you. You dressed in your expedition uniform, it will most likely be the last thing you ever wear. 

“You look good.” He says, his voice more sombre now as he lowers the beer. You smile quickly and look down at the band in your hand, you run your thumb over the golden 33. 

“You don’t have to do this.” He says. You look back up at him, you know that but what choice do you have? Live here and watch everyone slowly die until you’re the only person left. You’ve already spent a year arguing with your brother about this. 

“Maybe I’ll survive and I’ll find some answers.” You say looking up at him sympathetically. He sighs, taking another swig of his beer. 

“I hate knowing you’re leaving-” He sighs again. “Whatever fucked up thing happened to you - if it’s the Paintress - or some other power maybe Esquie? I don’t know.” He shakes his head, it’s like he’s not sure what to say. 

“You have something no one else has.” He reaches out to grab your hand with the armband. “A life, you have a life.” 

“So do you.” You say. 

“No, not now I don’t.” He says squeezing your hand. “I hate the thought of you throwing away your gift.” 

“It’s not a gift.” You say pulling your hand out his and turning away. You feel tears form in your eyes. You take a long drink of the beer blinking them away. 

“It’s not a curse though.” He says, you sigh and turn back to him. 

“I don’t want to fight. Not today.” You say. He nods and comes over to you, putting his beer down on the table. You turn to look at him and he takes your armband out your hand. 

“Maman and papa would be proud.” He says as he pulls it up resting it on the top of your arm. His hand lingers as he looks at it. You know it’s a lie, but what else is he supposed to say? Besides you should be the one comforting him, he’s the one who’s going to die today. 

“Kick some Nervon ass yeah?” He says going to pick his drink back up again. You nod and smile at him, before he gets a chance to move you throw your arms around him again.

“I love you.” You say choking on a sob. 

“Hey, what’s the rule?” 

“No crying.” You say squeezing him tighter, swallowing the tears. He sighs holding you tight for a few seconds. Neither of you say anything, you never expected to see your brother Gommage, you always knew you would go before him. Now you’re going to walk down to the dock with him and watch him vanish just like your parents. 

Just like everyone other than you.

“Come on.” He says breaking from the hug. “We should go before it’s too late.” 

“Hold on.” You say stopping him and going back over to the windowsill. You pick up the red flower you picked out for him. You walk over to him and pin it on the lapel of his red and white suit. 

“There, perfect.” You nod, he smiles then turns to leave. You don’t bother locking the door to your flat, you already dropped your bags off at the ship this morning. Tomorrow this will be someone else’s flat.

Or maybe people will think it’s cursed like you and it’ll stay empty. 

Someone is calling your brother over as you make it out to the main street. You look up, letting your eyes adjust to the bright sunset. 

“Sophie!” He calls, you swallow the nerves as you walk down the steps to catch up with him. You were friends with her, everyone is friends with Sophie. Like most people you haven’t really seen her in almost a year. It makes your stomach drop as your brother hugs her. She’s in red and white too. She already has a garland around her neck. 

“I will miss your fish jokes.” She says smiling. You see Gustave standing behind her, he looks good. Tired and sad but good, it must be hard for him, he used to date Sophie. 

“Why are fish so smart?” Your brother says. 

“Because they swim in schools.” She replies laughing. “You told me that one already.” 

“How am I supposed to keep track with all the fish the orphanage goes through?” He replies, throwing his arms up and laughing. Sophie’s eyes land on you, you smile at her. You don’t know what to say, she should be living not you. She did more with her short life than you ever did. 

“Good luck.” She says to you. 

“Thank you.” You smile. 

“You’ll take care of my sister won’t you?” Your brother asks Gustave. 

“Clement!” You snap grabbing his arm. It’s not Gustave’s job to look after you, you blush. “Sorry, we should go.” You say nodding at him and pulling your brother away. 

“Good luck!” Your brother calls. 

“Good luck?” You ask, still feeling the heat in your cheeks. 

“I mean who knows what really happens when we Gommage.” He says nudging you. The thought makes your stomach sink. You hope that there is another place after the Gommage and that your brother will be happy, maybe he’ll see your parents again. You loop your arm around his as you head down the main strip towards the dock. 

People seem to stare at you less now you’re walking around in an expedition uniform. You still catch them though, the little looks and hushed voices. The sun is really low now and the sky is a beautiful mix of colours. You and your brother don’t say much, You’re not sure what to say. 

You feel like you said everything you wanted to say a year ago when you were here instead. You haven’t been back to the docks since, you isolated yourself away from the world. It didn’t help that the first week after everything happened someone attacked you. They cornered you while you were on the way back from the store. 

You don’t remember much, just the pain of the knife on your arm and your neck. You woke up at the infirmary with your brother by your side. He stayed by your side the whole time you were recovering. 

You don’t quite make it all the way down to the docks, your brother leads you away from the crowd over to the left of the main dock near where the Expedition will be leaving from. You look up at him bracing your hands on the wall that faces out towards the sea, he looks scared. 

You’ve only ever seen him scared a few times before. When your mother and father Gommaged and when you woke in the infirmary.

He looks scared now. You reach over and grab his hand. He turns to look down at you, you see the tears building in his eyes. You squeeze his hand and he turns to you slightly. 

“I-” He chokes on the word. “I thought maybe I would get spared too.” 

“There’s still time.” You say with a smile trying to lighten the mood. It doesn’t work though and he shakes his head, your smile quickly fades. 

“I can feel it.” He says and looks back out at the monolith. You want to ask what he means but at the same time you don’t want to know. The energy seems to change, the sound of the crowds starts to die down. You hold your breath as you see the Paintress’s head start to rise. He squeezes your hand again, he chuckles and your head snaps up to look at him. 

“What?” You ask. He turns to look at you reaching out for your other hand forcing you to turn and face him.  

“I always wondered if it tickled.” He says. You don’t know what to say, you just keep looking at him, you see the Paintress out of the corner of your eye. You see the number change from 34 to 33. It makes you feel sick, tears are rolling down your brother's face. You can’t hold yours back anymore. 

They’re fogging your vision but you don’t want to blink and miss your brother. You start to see white and red petals fly into the air. You squeeze his hands again and he squeezes you back. 

He’s still here, your happy-go-lucky younger brother. Who would protect you at the orphanage from the older kids. Your brother who almost burnt your flat down baking crème brûlée to surprise you.  

“You’re going to do amazing things. My gifted sister.” He says. You want to reply but your voice catches in your throat as he starts to fade too. 

“Does it tickle?” You ask, he smiles, tipping his head to the side. He squeezes your hand one more time, you look down at them and close your eyes feeling your brother's hands leave yours. You wish yours was vanishing too, but when you open your eyes you’re still here. 

You let out a sob as the petals left by your brother fall out of your hands. You look back towards the crowd. Some people are crying, some are holding each other but most are slowly making their way back to the main square and away from the docks. 

You take the opportunity to turn and look back out towards the monolith, you see Gustave all the way down at the end of the dock, he’s alone now. 

You look out as the darkness of the night starts to fade in, the warm oranges and pinks are blown away with the millions of petals drifting towards the monolith. 

You shouldn’t be here. Out of all the people in Lumière you should be the last person spared.

___

“So I guess the theory you got the year wrong was also incorrect.” Tom calls to you as you walk down to the Expedition celebration. He has a bottle of wine in his hand. 

“Yeah.” You say, you’re not sure what to say. You don’t know any of them very well, you trained with them for a little while but even the people you’re going to be dying with held you at arms length.

“Well at least you’re making up for it.” He slurs and offers you the wine. You accept it, you can hear the spite in his voice. He’s lost parents, friends, he has a younger sister he’ll never see again after tonight. 

You take a big sip of the bitter, warm wine. 

“I heard Lune wants to talk to you.” He says as you hand him the bottle back. You look past him down the steps to see her working on a log by booths. “Probably wants to make sure you’re definitely not going to curse us.” 

“He-” 

“Easy Tom, if you drink too much you’ll be vomiting the whole journey.” A familiar voice behind you says. 

“If I’m going down it’s not going to be sober.” He says holding the bottle up. You turn to look at Gustave as Tom mumbles and makes his way down the steps. 

“Thank you.” You say, you feel yourself blushing again. Why? It’s just Gustave, you’ve spoken to him a handful of times, he’s a nice person.

“It’s okay.” 

“How were things with Sophie?” You ask, your eyes go wide as you realise what you’ve just asked. 

“I mean- sorry. How-” Idiot, you’re such an idiot. You feel more heat rush to your cheeks and let out a breath. “Are you okay?” 

He chuckles. “Yeah. How about you?” 

“Yeah.” You say. “I never thought I would be the one seeing my brother go.” 

“He worked down on the docks right?” He asks. You smile.

“Yeah, with Samuel.” 

“He had good fish.” Gustave says. You nod, remembering the free fish your brother would regularly drop off at your flat. Talking about him makes a lump form in your throat you’ve only just stopped crying. 

“I should go.” You say turning to look back over at Lune. “Lune, she’s looking for me.” 

“Of, course. I’ll see you later then.” He says. You nod and smile at him before turning to go down the stairs. You’re about halfway down when he calls you. You freeze and turn back to look at him. 

“I don’t blame you. For what happened, last year at the Gommage.” You’re surprised he’s talking about it. Your mind is drawing a blank, most of the time people get angry when they bring it up. Most people in the Expedition think you’re cursed and therefore the Expedition is cursed too. You smile at him and nod, letting out a long breath as you walk over to Lune.  

She looks concentrated as she works on an expedition log. You almost don’t want to disturb her. She hears you though putting down her work and standing up, she turns to look at you. Lune has always been fascinated by you - well not always - after you survived your first Gommage she would come to your flat almost daily to try and ask you questions. 

When you were in the infirmary after the attack, you couldn’t avoid her. She would sit and question you for hours, until a nurse or your brother would ask her to leave. It was strangely nice, she became someone you would look forward to seeing - other than your brother. 

“Is he..?” She trails off. You nod. She turns back to the table. 

“I found some papers written about what could happen if someone ever survived the Gommage.” She says picking them up and turning back to you, you take them from her. Typical Lune; not one to dwell on the past for too long. It’s all about the future. Tomorrow comes.

“I still think this is a bad idea. You should stay here not come on the Expedition.” She says, there’s spite in her voice. She was also a big advocate for you staying behind, although unlike your brother she’s expecting you to re-populate Lumière. 

“I want answers, maybe the Paintress can provide some.” You say. It’s optimistic, you know it is, she knows it is. The chances of you actually making it to her are slim, you’re more likely to die way before then. 

“You could have at least had a child. Maybe it’s genetic.” She says.

“Then maybe I’ll get to watch my children die too.” You say. 

“At least they won't lose their mother.” She says. You don’t know what to say, it’s making you sad. You don’t want kids, you’ve never wanted kids. Your best chance is still to get to the Paintress, maybe you can ask her for answers. If not they at least you can kill her and no one else will die. 

“Lune! Let me read your card.” You hear a bubbly voice behind you. You know who it is instantly; Sciel. You move to the side swallowing the nerves, Sciel doesn’t like you. 

“Oh,” she says, stopping when she sees you. 

“You know I don’t believe in that Sciel.” Lune replies, crossing her arms,  ignoring the obvious tension between you both. 

“Why don’t you do a reading for the whole Expedition?” You say. You need the people in the Expedition to at least tolerate you, if you’re going to be responsible for each other's lives you’d like to think they would help you. 

Sciel sighs looking quickly at Lune before shuffling the deck. You smile, maybe before this is all over she might even like you. She pulls out a card and flips it so you and Lune can see. It’s a pretty card with a large moon and gold accents. 

“The moon.” She says. 

“Is that good?” You ask, her eyes snap to you almost like she’s annoyed you’re asking. 

“It can mean different things.” She says putting it back in the pack. 

“It could be the death card, but it doesn’t mean anything.” Lune says. 

“Ah, the cards never lie.” Sciel says putting the pack in her pocket. “Besides, everyone dies.” 

She turns to look at you, her smile fading. “Well, maybe not everyone.” 

…

After your run in with Sciel you made your way to a quiet corner of the dock. 

You picked up a glass of wine too. Maybe Tom had the right idea, if you’re going to go it might as well be with a buzz. You sip on it as you see Sciel continue to go around reading people’s cards and raising a glass with everyone. Everyone but you. 

You’re not sure what you did to make her hate you so much - other than survive the impossible. When you showed up at the Expedition hall to sign up for Expedition 33. She looked shocked, staring at you with wide eyes as you spoke to the recruiter. 

Most of the other expeditioners kept their distance from you. The only people who would say more than two words to you were Lune and Gustave. Lune would help you train, teach you how to use Croma and carve it into your skin. 

Gustave was always so busy with his sister, Maelle you always thought he would be named as the Expedition Commander. Maelle also seemed reserved about you, you should be used to it by now, you shouldn’t care what people think. You see Emma walking down the steps. You watch as people start to turn their heads and move towards her. You see Gustave meet her at the bottom of the steps. 

You head back over to the tables putting your empty glass down as she makes it to the podium to make a speech. Alan, the Expedition commander steps up and accepts her hand, they talk between each other before he leaves her and she turns to look at everyone gathered around. 

Emma and Alan will give a speech then you will all raise a glass to the previous fallen Expeditioners and then there’s the traditional slice of cake. It always looked sad to you with the bent tower candle. At least the cake tastes good. You watch as Emma steps to the edge of the platform. 

“Expeditioners. The sword of Lumière. We honour your dedication. We do not take for granted that you dedicate your final year of life to keeping the hope alive for all of Lumière.” Emma starts. You look down at your hands. If you fail everyone here and everyone staying behind on Lumière will die. 

Maybe Lune was right and you really are the only hope for life to continue. Maybe you leaving to go on the Expedition is selfish. You look over and see Gustave, Maelle is standing just to the side of him. He’s done amazing things for Lumière, especially the Lumina Converter. He doesn’t need to sacrifice himself anymore. 

Just another person who deserves better. He looks over at you and your eyes lock onto his. You quickly look away, you should be paying attention to Emma’s speech. You swallow the embarrassment but you can’t help looking back. His attention is turned back to his other sister Emma finishing off her speech. 

Your heart is thumping in your chest. Your mind wanders to the times you’ve spent with Gustave. He’s a good person, a nice person. Sometimes shy but everyone loves him, he’s almost the opposite of you. 

Everyone starts clapping and it makes you jump, you look up at Emma and join in as she walks to the back of the podium and Alan steps up. You sneak a glance back over at Gustave but he’s moved, the only person you see now is Maelle and her red hair.

You don’t listen to Alan’s speech, you find your eyes wandering over the crowd, looking for Gustave. You curse at yourself for looking, he’s just an acquaintance, a colleague. Besides what does it matter, you’ll all be dead by the morning anyway. 

___

The ship ride across to the Continent was quicker than you thought it was going to be. 

Most people stood or sat around in silence, the only people talking were Alan and his lieutenant. They talk about the beach that we’re going to dock at as a heavy fog rolls in. It's thick, so thick you can’t see the land, it doesn’t help that it’s dark too. 

People are nervous, you can tell by the way almost everyone is gripping on to the side of the boat for dear life. The only one who’s smiling is Sciel, she seems the only calm one and by calm she’s almost giddy. It feels like the ship is rocking more and more the closer you get to what you think is the shore. 

It’s not long before there’s a crash and the sound of wood grinding against stone. The ship comes to a stop.

You go to the edge, you can see the black stony shore - you’ve never seen anything like it before, there are no beaches in Lumière. 

“We’re here.” Alan announces. Some people look excited, most look more nervous than before. You look around the group, you see Lune and Gustave. They climb off the ship first with Alan. You linger a little getting off with the back of the group. 

You’re all walking forward, following Alan when a sound of thumping fills the air. The fog is still thick, you think you can see huge black cliffs that look like they go on for miles. That’s going to be the first hurdle getting through them, maybe you should have landed at a better spot. 

Alan puts his hand up as there’s another thump. It’s louder now, it makes your body shake, you can’t quite pin where the noise is coming from, you see everyone looking around too. 

It’s definitely getting closer, it almost feels like it’s coming from below you. You spot Maelle in the group, her red hair makes her stick out as she stands behind Gustave. Your hand slips into your pouch, you feel your crystals, if you’re attacked at least you’ll be able to shield yourself. 

“Get ready.” Alan says, turning back quickly. You watch as people’s weapons materialise in their hands, you pull yours out too, wrapping the chain around your wrist and hand and letting the large crystal on the end fall. 

Suddenly the thumping stops, it’s almost like everyone is holding their breath. There are alot of people in front of you, you move to get a better look. 

“You- You’re old.” Alan says, confused. You almost don’t believe your ears, then you see him. An old man, grey hair with a cane in his hand. 

“How did you- How did you survive the Gommage?” Alan asks. Now you’re not breathing, a few people turn back to look at you. You feel guilty for some reason, heat rushes to your cheeks. The man doesn’t say anything, he just stands there. He’s dressed smart but he’s not wearing an Expedition uniform. 

“What Expedition are you fr-” It happens quickly, a single swipe of his cane and Alan is silenced. You’re not quite sure what happened at first, you’re still trying to comprehend it when his headless body falls to the floor. 

His lieutenant shouts to ‘fall back’ but you don’t register it quick enough and suddenly there are explosions all around you. Everyone scatters screaming and yelling. You rush forward looking for cover. You look around to see where other people are running to. You see a flash of red hair then an explosion right in front of you blows you off your feet. 

You’re thrown painfully against the hull of the ship. Your head is ringing as more explosions are fired off and you see new enemies moving in the dense fog. You need to move, get away from this place and find cover. You force yourself to your feet even as your vision blurs. 

You hear something stepping behind you, you’re almost too scared to turn around. Your heart is pounding in your chest. Whatever is behind you sounds like it's croaking, you see light envelop you from behind. 

You hold the chain of your weapon between both your hands. You almost want to laugh as you turn around to face the Nevron. You didn’t even make it a metre onto the Continent. 

The Nevron is huge, you can’t make much of it out, your head is still spinning, your vision is still blurred. All you can see is a bright yellow light and two massive hands, you start to spin the crystal on the end of the chain. If you’re going to go down you’re not going down without a fight. 

You barely have time to move or even scream before it lunges at you and everything goes black.

Banners by uzmacchiato & cafekitsune

[glowstick-lesbian]

in the waning moon

gustave x fem!reader - pt. 1 pt. 2

summary: joining expedition 33 was the right decision - you could watch over Maelle and help form history. Learning more about her illusive brother was merely a potential plus you choose to ignore.

wc: 2k

tags: slowburn (?), they're in love and kinda know it, unrequited love, coworkers (lmao) to lovers, angst angst angst FLUFF, brief graphic description of injuries, SPOILERSSSS FOR ACT 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

“Why is it built like that-” you continue, but Lune quickly grabs your arm to keep you from investigating further. The mime just stands there staring blankly into the distance, its large gloved hands feeling vaguely ominous. Gustave creeps closer, sword materializing in his hand.

“I work with buffoons..” Lune mutters once more before forming a ball of ice, you not far behind with two guns materialized. The damn thing still doesn’t move and by this point, you’re more than on edge. There isn’t even any wind and the smooth, almost porcelain, texture of its skin makes a slight creaking sound. All three of you glance at each other and nod. With both guns raised, you fire off two shots of chroma at the mime, porcelain not even cracking.

When a huge fucking hammer comes out to build a wall and Gustave stares with his mouth slightly agape, you know this little fight will be mildly entertaining. If you don’t die miserably that is. Lune rushes forward, high in the air as shards of ice go flying at the thing. Barely a crack.

“The wall. Convenient.” Gustave tuts, rushing forward with a quick slash that results in small golden cracks decorating the porcelain of an unblinking mime. You feel it before it actually moves, the air shifting as your training kicks in and your eyes follow to Lune.

“Watch out!” You call in a panic as the mime whips out an even larger hammer, not hesitating to smash it down on your friend. She barely dodges in time, especially at the third swing, and the damn mime doesn’t flinch as Gustave shoots at it. It simply hides behind that invisible wall again, unfazed. Lune sways on her spot, shaking her head as if to rid it of dust. You’re by her side quickly with your nerves on high alert, Gustave fending off the mimes hammer as you check up on her. There’s blood on her collar and her shoulder where the hammer landed, definitely knocking something out of socket. 

“Lune, Lune you need to drink this.” You urge, running out of time as Gustave is hit by the mimes hands. Lune blinks at the healing tint and, with uncoordinated movements, tries to drink it. The moment it’s out of your hands you’re attacking, flipping through the air and firing at the thing while evading that fucking hammer. Luck doesn’t last forever though and by the time Gustave has managed to sort his own swimming head, your ankle is caught by a large hand. 

The golden cracks are blinding this close up even as you hit the ground, ankle practically screaming at you when you stand on it to not be crushed to death by that comically large weapon. Someone yells for you to parry - truly you’re unsure who - and you barely stumble back from the mimes range. Lune’s familiar hands catch you by your armpits and hauls you back, a warm light overtaking you as the screaming dims to a low throb. Meanwhile, Gustave must be taking out his pent up anger with slash after slash - going as far as to call lightning from the sky to fuel his attack. In that moment you forget that you almost died, distracted by the smooth blur that is the brunet. 

Maybe you did hit your head?

“-Up! Get up!” Oh, right. Fighting. Mime with a hammer. Not cool. You’re back on your mostly steady feet, right next to Gustave. He looks worse for wear - sweat dripping down his forehead, blood and dirt staining his clothes and skin. Lune isn’t faring much better even as she throws balls of fire at the mime, golden cracks growing ever larger with each burn it receives. He looks over at you, concern painted on his face, and with the way you feel something spark, you know enough to snuff it before something goes wrong. Distractions end in death and death is something you can no longer afford. Not with Maelle gone and Lumiere resting on all of your shoulders. With a blink and a roll of your shoulders, you lunge. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

“...We are never listening to you ever again.” Lune huffs, sitting on the grass while Gustave collects the Lumina. You’re splayed out on your back, trying to catch your breath and unclench your fingers after firing your guns so often. A weak laugh leaves you and you nod in agreement, internally cursing your past self. Really, it did seem like a good idea to come this way earlier, but now as you watch Lune set her shoulder and Gustave bandage his head, all you feel is a deepening guilt.

“Well.” Gustave thinks for a second, sitting down by your feet with a grunt. “Nevermind, I can’t defend you.” He sighs in fake sympathy, patting your ankle. A sharp twinge goes through it and hiss in pain, instantly regretting not hiding the reaction when Gustave sits up straight and mutters multiple apologies. He cradles your ankle like it's something special, your pants in tatters around it and blood a matted mess in your leg hair. You wince when he brushes a finger along the inside of your ankle and he glances at you, then Lune. 

“Is it broken?” You ask, trying to not resign yourself to your fate this early. Lune sits down beside him and takes your ankle as you sit up, Gustaves hand on your back assisting the action. The first look at your ankle has nausea swirling in your gut; what the fuck man. 

There’s a deep gash down the outside of your leg, foot twisted at an awkward ankle that throbs whenever you wiggle a toe per Lune’s request. She stays quiet for a second too long. Based on the fact that this is how it looks after Lune’s healing, you don’t have a good feeling. 

“Somehow, no. Maybe your bones are malleable.” She mutters and you shiver, mildly disgusted. 

“Was the descriptor necessary?”

“Yes.”

“Fantastic.” You sigh and basically use Gustaves hand as the back of a chair; you don’t question why exactly he’s still holding you up. With an elbow tossed over your eyes to block out the glaring Sun and Gustave gathering bandages with his free hand, Lune assesses how to fix your predicament. After a tense minute she gestures for a bandage, warm light once again engulfing your leg. 

“Okay, any actual damage is fixed now, but you still need support.” Lune explains as you nod, still refusing to look at the wound again. Gustave stays silent, only glancing between you and your ankle with a borderline constipated expression that, if not for the circumstances, would have both you and Maelle giggling. 

“Gustave, I need you to hold her steady while I wrap this.” Lune instructs. 

“Sure, yeah.” He hesitates for a moment before moving to be just behind you, legs on either side of you and hands keeping you from jerking back anywhere like you did earlier. One hand rests on your shoulder - so respectful - while the other holds your left leg down. In any other situation you might’ve protested…but it’s Gustave. Maelle’s Gustave. Sophie’s Gustave. 

Guilt sinks further into your soul but you don’t make so much as a peep. Fuck, you're so selfish.

Lune carefully wraps your ankle and foot, providing as much support as she can. It’s a good thing that he’s holding you down because apparently, you’re quite ticklish. 

“We should make camp, right?” Gustave helps you stand, his hold on you lingering as if you’d fall over. It’s over before you blink. 

“Mmmh, yeah. The Sun is about to set and this area seems secure enough.” Lune agrees, rolling her aching shoulder with a grunt. You come to her side, just behind her, and carefully massage the recently healed spot. She sighs in relief and nods, accepting the silent thanks for fixing you up. 

The three of you settle down after making a fire and spreading your rations out, eating quietly. The moon doesn’t shine as brightly as it could and the air is a little too thick to relax fully, your ankle aching as the last of Lunes spell wears off. Gustave had patched himself up awhile ago, mainly having hit his head; that’s at least what he said when you and Lune fussed over him. 

A quiet clinking catches your attention so you lift your head, only to spot something that makes you burst out laughing. 

“What? Do they look that bad?” Gustave grins at you and Lune’s laughing forms, round sunglasses propped on his nose. The tense shifts and ebbs, backing off as the fire crackles. Lune, still giggling, rolls her eyes at his antics and throws a clump of earth at him that she conjured. He gasps in offense and clutches his heart, grin widening as his dramatics successfully make you laugh harder. 

“They look wonderful, Gustave. Very…” Lune trails off, thinking. “Nope, I can’t even think of something good enough to describe whatever this choice is.” She smiles cheekily, shaking her head as the last of the tension fades. 

“You wound me, Lune. Truly.” He sighs, glasses knocking crooked as he fakes a hairflip. You scoot closer on the log, moving before your mind can catch up.

“You look fine, Gustave. Maybe handsome if I squint and blind myself.” You tease as he laughs, giving up on the act. His laugh stutters when you reach up, two fingers stilling his jaw while the other hand corrects the glasses on his nose with a gentle but accidental caress to his temple. For a second - just a second - you think you hear his breath catch, but then Lune hums curiously and it’s over. 

You scoot away to your original spot, finishing up the roll you had previously been picking at.

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

It’s late into the night, all of you tucked away in your respective bedrolls when you hear it. A quiet sort of sniffle. Silently, you crawl out of your bed and take a peek at your friends. In the dim light of the dying fire you spot Gustaves shoulders shaking. You quietly call his name and he freezes, one last sniffle echoing in the night. No words leave you as you walk to the ledge facing the paintress, and you don’t glance over when he joins you a minute later. The redness of his eyes and tear tracks still lining his face aren’t acknowledged, nor are the few still slipping down. 

“Your ankle is okay, yes?” He whispers after a long stretch of nothing but the wind in the leaves. 

“Lune did good.” You confirm, but he still seems rattled. With a quiet grunt you pull your leg up so he can see; after a few seconds of an analyzing stare, he double checks your bandages and subtly, the rest of you. You do the same, cataloging every mark and dirt track staining his skin. Your eyes don’t meet for a good bit, too drawn in by any splash of fading red.

“We’re all okay.” You know it isn’t limited to your trio; you know who ‘we’ really is. That’s why you nod in agreement with the same unfaltering belief. 

Nothing happens when his pinkie brushes yours, and nothing happens when the rest of his fingers lay with yours either. For just a minute you allow yourself to daydream as you did in Lumiere, remembering late nights and too early mornings. For just a minute he lets himself breathe, remembering shared glances of approval and amusement during training. For just a minute, both of you shed the weight of Lumiere and the petals still falling around you. 

His fingers are worn and rough, similar to yours with differently formed calluses. His hand is warm where yours is cold and they don’t intertwine; something says it isn’t time. Not yet.

The voice sounds like Sophie. 

His Sophie.

Without a sound you stand, and Gustave? He lets you go with the same name echoing in his mind; that voice haunting him with nothing but love to keep it rooted in.

Your bedroll is still warm when you lay down, a reminder of how chaste whatever that was, was. His bedroll is still damp with tears for the women he loves and doesn’t dry for a long time. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

I wrote this while listening to such fairytale-esque music, sorry. anyways part 3 will be out at uhm some point, and I have no clue what I'm doing !

[glowstick-lesbian]

A thunderstorm scared me yesterday, so I wrote a little self indulgent thing with my man Gustave. It's very short, I wrote this mostly to comfort myself. Enjoy.

[glowstick-lesbian]

*drops this fat sketch bomb on you and runs away*

he's a really good lawyer 💋

available on Inprnt! (Link in bio!)

тгк: kameyasart

Inst/Twt/BSky: kameyasart

[glowstick-lesbian]

a silent kind

gustave x fem!reader - pt.1

summary: joining expedition 33 was the right decision - you could watch over Maelle and help form history. Learning more about her illusive brother was merely a potential plus you choose to ignore.

wc: 2.5k ON THE DOT

tags: slowburn (?), they're in love but don't know it, strangers to lovers, angst and fluff, SPOILERS FOR ACT 1!!!!!

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

It was a depressing evening. The day of the Gommage was not one for smiles, for laughter, for unweighted love - yet flowers bloomed and people danced, as if those in their hands weren’t destined to flit away in the wind at the stroke of a brush. Lovers, family, friends, and even complete strangers all embraced for one last warmth before their unjust end. A head on a shoulder, a hand in another, tears mingling in a final kiss - all to end in petals. The Gommage was painful, but you kept smiling. Maelle was beside you, ten years your junior, and needed your help in consoling the children. It was necessary that you never break, never falter under the weight of tiny hands needing your comfort. Maelle was still young, regardless of what she believed, and couldn’t handle it all on her own.

Emma makes her rounds, keeping an eye on all those with flowers decorating their doomed bodies. She falters, praying no one sees, but you do. You see how she pauses just a few steps from Gustave, where his entire world is narrowed to one point.

Sophie.

She is - was - a true sweetheart. Loved and appreciated by all; you are no exception. It was only a night prior that she pulled you aside and in hushed tears, begged you to watch out for him - Gustave. Her warm hands held your cold ones, teary eyes meeting solemn ones. It was with a tug at your heart that she made her plea - a final wish, she called it. Who were you to deny? A shadow in the lovers lives, not admiring but not resentful. Merely appreciative, if not daydreaming on days where your strength was weak and the warmth you craved was wrapped away. 

Now she stands there at the end of the harbor, the looming figure of The Paintress overshadowed by the grief of the shattered man holding her. It wasn’t pity or sympathy you felt, only understanding. You didn’t turn away when the petals flew, a glowing thirty-three hanging like an omen in the sky. You didn’t step back when Maelle shied away, tucking her face into your sweater. It was indistinguishable from the little ones hiding behind your legs, clutching your hands and wiping their noses against your clothes. Your own tears fell silently. An apology of sorts.

Gustave was frozen by the harbor, a broken image of angel highlighted by an unforgiving God. He never asked for the blessing or the punishment it brings. The love he craved enough to leave was permanently gone. If your heart tugged in his direction it was no one's business but your own.

“Come along Maelle.” The two of you usher the crying children away, gentle sniffling a broken symphony. She follows beside you and occasionally glances back at Gustave, torn between her duty and her support. Deep down she knows he needs time, so she follows you, sticking like a welcomed glue. 

It’s late into the night, the small city a quieter hum now that another number is gone. It made no sense to drink and party, but hey. If you were destined to die on this expedition, so be it. For those who come after. It’s those mumbled words that catch the attention of Lucien, stumbling over from a barely concealed sulking Gustave. 

“And what, pray tell, are we lamenting?” Your friend grins, arm slung over your shoulder as he steers to the very impressive five table layout. A warmth flickers in your chest, the grip loosening.

“The silence I was enjoying.” You say dryly, tilting your head to grin slightly at him. He chuckles, easily amused as usual, and sits down heavily on a table. His hand clutches a bottle, taking a long swig that makes your own liver ache. 

“You wound me dearest, truly.” He sighs. Margot walks past, sliding a token in your hand with a wink before shoving Lucien off the table. He squawks like a bird and a small laugh catches your attention. Gustave. It’s nice to hear, especially when it doesn’t falter as his eyes catch yours.

You look away first. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

He thought nothing of you at first, not during the festival and not when the expedition first arrived on the beach. You stood beside Maelle so he kept his eyes trained there, always airing on the side of caution. It’s when the man in the suit steps out that he looks away - a fatal mistake. The explosion hits, dread coiling in his stomach with ill intent while his ears ring a violent tune. Only one word, one soul, rips through his mind as a cursed symphony. Maelle. 

“What the fuck is happening?!” Leo curses, Lucien and Margot tucked alongside the two of them behind a rock. Dust and blood fills the lightning-striked air, making it hard to breathe. Before Gustave can even fathom a response, Margot is dead and they’re scattered. His head hits the ground hard, his eyes rattling in his skull as the ringing sharpens. The beach is shaking, why is the beach shaking?

With immense strength, he forces himself to look up - only to be met with the hands of a truly terrifying nevron. His training screams at him to act, to use his sword, to do what they all came here to do! But he falters. 

A blur comes in and he's off the ground, thrown to the side as Lucien yells at him to move! Just as he starts to wake up, to feel the panic and turn it into fuel, Lucien is shot away. Something, someone, is screaming; it’s so loud and his ears are hurting like his throat and - oh. He’s screaming. Screaming for the crumpled girl in front of him being dragged away by other expeditioners he knows he owes his heart to. Light eyes meet his, Maelle’s name ripping out of his throat as she leaves his line of sight. That damned nevron takes her place.

The large ball of chroma forming should terrify him, but he only feels numb. Is this what it means to be an expeditioner? It all goes dark right when a familiar form steps in his place, chroma exploding in a purple light. 

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

The first thing you notice is that your head hurts. The second is the yelling from somewhere below you. 

“Are you alive up there?!” It takes a minute but you roll over, just enough to catch sight of a familiar face. Lune. She sighs when she spots you, out of relief you hope. It’s honestly hard to think when your brain is rattling around. Through some form of magic, truly you haven’t a clue what spell she did, you’re on her level. 

“Sight for sore eyes..” You croak, being rewarded with a rare smile. Lune helps you up and you brush dirt off of your uniform, double-checking for any life threatening injuries. She heals both of you to play it safe. 

“Your mind is an enigma to me.” Lune chuckles as you both take a much needed breath in the fallout of whatever the beach was. You glance around the cave you’re in, brain helpfully blocking out the bodies of who knows how many expeditioners. 

“Cozy.” You comment dryly, the ball of chroma in Lune’s hand lighting the way. She mumbles on about contingencies, a rapid-fire pace you can’t even hope to keep up with. The cave widens and you look around, only snapping back into focus when Lune speaks to someone that isn’t you.

What you say makes your heart drop. Gustave sits with a gun to his head, lowering it not even a second later with Lune crouched by his side. You don’t know the man - not beyond Maelle, at least. The ache in your chest at the thought of her will be settled later. Quietly, you join Lune by crouching at Gustaves other side, pushing his hand down the rest of the way until the gun dissipates. His eyes catch yours and you look away first, pretending not to notice how encapsulating they could potentially be. 

“We will find her.” The whisper seems to waken something in him, your voice and the promise it holds. He’d frankly forgotten that Maelle was important to you too, guilt worming its way into his heart. That’s why he stands up, not saying anything beyond a grateful nod. 

The ground, hell the entire cave, rumbles beneath your feet. Gustave steadies you and Lune - though she’s already floating - as the nevron emerges from the dark. It’s tall as fuck and the ball of chroma at its head is well protected. Thankfully you’re a hell of a shot. 

You don’t even think before shooting at it, dashing to the side to get at the slim opening in that weird cage. Gustave looks at you, then Lune, and then back at you before shrugging and running forward, sword drawn. 

“I work with idiots..” Lune mutters before floating higher, shards of ice striking any weak point her calculating mind sees. Pain hits your side and you spot blood on Gustaves collar, but the attack patterns are quickly taking route in your mind. Within the minute the nevron is gone, Lune is pushing a healing tint in your hand, and Gustave unhooks the infamous Lumina converter from his pack at Lune’s insistence. The tint is sweet as you chug it, watching curiously as the converter actually works. 

Gustave sighs with relief, standing up and rubbing his neck. 

“Good, now let’s go. Any survivors should meet at the Indigo Tree.” Lune takes the lead while the two of you walk side by side. It’s silent for a while as the events of the day seep in, Sun slowly lowering in the sky. To pass the time you admire the landscape, tragedy be damned. Working with kids taught you to appreciate all that there is to see, and damn is it a beautiful sight. The Sun illuminates all there is; buildings older than your world, trees glimmering, and water sparkling at a nearby creek. A sigh leaves your lips, attention so focused on your surroundings that a pair of brown eyes slips by unnoticed. 

He thought you were a little odd. Not in a bad way - his friends and family all tended to be weird as Maelle would say. He could see why she liked hanging around you. It was bothering him that he never paid attention before; you’re strong and for some reason, his mind is telling him he needs to keep an eye on you. That’s why he’s watching so closely, even when your merry little trio runs into two more nevrons. 

“Is that a building..?” Your head cranes back to take it all in, Lune getting a grin on her face that is definitely not dorky. She’s already climbing before Gustave can blink, the two of you sharing an exasperated look. 

“I swear..” He mutters, clicking his tongue before climbing as well. You take a second to wipe the sweat and blood off of your brow - ew - before doing the same. 

The breeze gains strength the higher you go, your eyes watering. Lune seems intent to keep climbing even as the handholds run out. While it is technically mean to force her hand, you’re tired and not too fond of heights. So, you shoot out a window and hop inside, Gustave thumping down beside you.

“This is a safety hazard.” He comments at the destroyed flooring, but he still looks so excited at all he’s experiencing. Beneath that grimace is the same energy any little boy has; you see it all the time at the orphanage during apprenticeship day. 

“That’s what makes it fun. Maelle would be jumping off the walls in here.” You chuckle, remembering how the runner could never keep still. Gustave thankfully laughs with you. You weren’t sure when Lune got there but based upon her unamused expression, it wasn’t just then. 

“Guys, focus. We still have a mission.” She steps further into the house while you shuffle forward, tired of being active. Gustave takes the other half of the building.

It’s after listening to a depressing journal that you all walk out of the building. Lune pats your shoulder to get your attention off of the ground. 

“Indigo Tree, come on.” She ushers you both forward, Gustave now in the lead. Just as you take the first few steps down, crouching to avoid a nevrons sight, you see the handholds.

“Hey. Something might be over there.” You point west just past a large nevron, broken mountains concealing whatever the end point is. 

“We don’t have time for distractions.” Gustave shakes his head, Maelle his priority, but you can already hear how his interest is piqued. Lune debates in her mind, the Sun low in the sky. She knows that it’ll be growing dark soon. 

“The Indigo Tree is far, we might not even make it in time before dark.” Lune explains. The rock digs into your back as you lean against it, smug in your silly victory. Gustave glares weakly at you but relents with a sigh, already forming his sword. 

“There could be an old camp down there?” You suggest in an attempt to get back on his good side. Gustave, the angel he is, takes the obvious olive branch and nods with a small smile. 

“Go on.” Lune gestures at the nevron - more specifically its chroma center. You sigh dramatically but shoot it, Gustave faltering in his own attack. Lune covers with a fire ball, bless her. 

“...Did you just do that without looking-” He parries mid-sentence, grunting at the strength behind the nevrons own sword. You nod, dodging one of Lune’s ice shards with a yelp. 

“Watch the damn ice!” 

Lune quickly apologizes but hides a laugh of her own, floating off the ground as the sword swings her way. The nevron hits the ground, shaking what feels like the entire continent. You almost stumble but catch yourself. Gustave doesn’t have such luck, doomed to be clumsy, and would’ve fallen on his ass if it wasn’t for you catching him. 

“Oh uhm, thanks.” He clears his throat, embarrassment obvious with how his cheeks flush. The urge to laugh is there but you hold back, only nodding with a semi-cheeky smile. 

“Come on, it’s getting dark.” Lune flies forward, forcing you both to jog behind her. 

The ground is fractured beneath you and even with the grappling spots, your stomach still swoops when it disappears. There is nothing but clouds around you now, but you can make out a faint circular looking base up ahead. Definitely a camp. 

Lune lands first, waiting for the fog to clear and you both to catch up. Damn her agility. Your feet hit the ground and you stand still for a second, letting your stomach settle. Heights are decidedly not your friend. Brown eyes glance at you with what could be called concern. You meet them with a practiced dismissive smile. 

The fog clears and all of your heads turn simultaneously to the assumed base.

“Is that a fucking mime?”

𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆ 𓂃 ₊ ⊹𐔌 ﹒ ⋆ ꩜ ⋆

this will be continued I pinkie swear <3 THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR ALL OF ACT 1!!!!!!

[glowstick-lesbian]

[glowstick-lesbian]

[glowstick-lesbian]

stop being a meanie, they're nice humans! then keep them on your side of the cave! NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!

[glowstick-lesbian]

I REGRET NOTHING!!

((If you don't get it, google End of The World by AlbinoBlackSheep))