#he doesn't nod off at all just keeps watch as Thena rests

[softquietsteadylove]

Hey i know you already make a Thenamesh hunger games au and i just can't keep my mind of it specially now, Can we ask for a part 2 of it maybe when they already in the battle field.

Ikaris was not invincible. None of them were. Thena said so herself.

Gil stared him down, his chest heaving from running through this bizarre fabrication of a tropical jungle. He needed fresh water - any water - and fast. And now he was facing down by far the deadliest tribute in here.

Well, maybe the second deadliest.

"Oi," Ikaris tipped his chin at him, "tadpole."

Gil almost rolled his eyes before he remembered his order to never take his eyes off the enemy. He gulped. Ikaris was not invincible. Ikaris had a terrible temper.

"You volunteered, right?--for your nerd brother," Ikaris grinned at him, completely menacing. He certainly had the handsomeness and charm of a Capitol trained career tribute. "Y'know my bitch companion volunteered for her brother, too. She's the reason I'm in here."

Ikaris had a terrible temper. He was easily baited. Gil gulped, "I-I thought you careers all wanted the chance to fight in the Games."

"Yeah but not 'cause blondie got me stuck here."

Thena was right, Ikaris would kill anyone, and she was top of his list.

Gil kept his weight on his feet light. He wasn't as agile as Thena, but he knew he was definitely stronger than Ikaris. Ikaris had showy muscles for a specific strength, but Gil was certain he could out strong-arm him. It was the murdering that Ikaris would have the upper hand in.

"I've seen 'er talk to you," Ikaris continued. "You know where she is?"

Gil's blood chilled. That was why Ikaris hadn't launched a spear right through his heart on sight. He was hunting for Thena - his biggest competition - first. "No."

"What'd she promise you?" Gil didn't like the smirk on his face. "A li'l, uh, fun, eh?"

Gil's stomach twisted.

"You help me find her," Ikaris fixed his cold blue eyes on him, "I'll let you make good on that promise."

"I know she'd launch herself out of the arena before she would let you touch her."

Ikaris had a terrible temper, and the effect was obvious and immediate. He snarled, baring his teeth.

Taunt him, tease him, anything necessary, Gil heard in Thena's voice. He glared at him more, "that what pisses you off the most? That Thena doesn't care for your Golden Boy act? That she's the only girl in the world who doesn't want a damn thing to do with you?!"

"Shut your filthy mouth, you loach!"

Gil gripped Ikaris' arms as he charged in at him. Thena was right about his technique being simple and sloppy, too. He used brute strength, but he didn't have skill like she had. Gil had sparred with her a few times during assessments; Ikaris was nothing in comparison. Heavier, but nothing.

In retrospect, it was probably Thena doing him a favor and letting him show off his strength, even then. She had a weird way of looking out for him, and he only hoped he would get to pay it back somehow.

Gil twisted Ikaris' arm around, wrenching his wrist the wrong way and stealing his spear for himself. This would help him fish if there was any water to be found at all in this hell.

"Coward!" Ikaris roared at him as he scrambled to pursue him, injured or not.

Gil kept running. He didn't want to kill anyone in here. Not even Ikaris.

"Get back here!"

Gil squeezed his eyes shut. Ikaris was faster than he was. He sprinted harder, but he had been running this whole time. He didn't have the stamina of someone who had trained for this their whole life.

"Open your eyes!"

Gil skidded to a stop, slipping slightly on the jungle floor. He twisted to look behind him, vines and leaves in his way. He saw a flash of gold, and Ikaris a few paces behind him. Then Ikaris had a knife in his shoulder. Two--three knives driven into Ikaris' already injured side threw him to the ground.

"Move!" Thena turned, screaming at him over the drum of blood in his ears. She reached out, gripping the shoulder of his sparkly uniform suit and dragging him with her. "Come on!"

Gil let her basically drag him with her. He looked at her hand. She had her knives, a blade of any kind being her signature weapon of choice.

"Gil!" she barked at him, pulling him behind a tree and shaking him. "Look at me!"

He blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He had been fighting Ikaris. But now he was looking at Thena, with her blonde hair in a tight braid, her pretty green eyes, her pale skin. He was in the jungle, with Thena.

"Gilgamesh," she shook him again. This was why Kingo told him that Thena had so much skill; she didn't have the personality for tribute gifts. She was beautiful, though. "Gilgamesh, look at me and listen."

"I am listening."

"Where are you?"

"The Capitol," he repeated dumbly, just staring at her. But the edges of his vision were coming back, slowly. "The Games--the dome."

"Where is your home?"

"District 4." Home, in his little shack he shared with Phastos, Dad buried on the island and barely scraping by, just the two of them.

"Who are you here for?"

"My brother." Phastos wasn't a Fighter. He was a Thinker--he was gentle hearted, and kind, and he wouldn't have survived in here. Phastos had someone who loved him. Phastos had found love, somehow, in a world like this--a love that was already hard enough. "I'm here for my brother."

"Good." She nodded sharply, slapping him on the arm. She had a sparkly jumpsuit on too, but hers looked better than the rest, Gil thought. She gripped the two - mismatched - knives in her hands. "Let's go."

"Thena," he blinked.

"Here." She said it softer, pulling out a tiny canister from the side pocket on her leg. "It's not much, but there was some rain dripping off the tip of the cornucopia."

Gil gulped down what little water it was. She was right it wasn't much, but by all the districts it was more than he'd had, and he needed it.

"We have to keep moving."

Gil swiped at his chin and licked his lips, eager for every little drop. He looked at Thena's back as she started walking ahead of him, head twitching every which way to keep a lookout for them. "Please tell me you had some of that too."

Thena didn't even look over her shoulder at him. "Have you found any food?"

That was a no. Gil huffed, gripping the spear he had gotten from Ikaris. "I was looking for water. Even if there are weeds at the bottom, I can make us something edible."

That did get her attention. She nodded, saving her words and moving along.

"You're here for Druig," Gil said, and finally got to see some sort of human reaction from her. "That's what you keep telling yourself, right?"

Thena pushed some foliage out of their way, seeming to head in a very determined direction. "Might help keep you sane."

Gil understood that well. He cleared his throat, making sure not to trip on any roots or get caught on any vines. "Phastos...he's really nice. He's funny, too. He's not that strong a swimmer, but he, uh, he like--he invents stuff? Like h-he made a contraption that helps us get the nets in faster. Like an engine that makes the arm on the boat into a fishing rod reel."

Thena paused, holding a leaf up for him to follow. She was smiling. "He sounds like a good kid, Gil."

He smiled at her too, holding up the leaf for himself. She was shorter now that he was closer to her. "What's your brother like?"

Thena waited, really seeming like she was debating answering him at all. But she sliced through a vine in front of them and sighed. "Druig is four years younger than me. He shouldn't have been in the draw to begin with, he was just born early."

He was born early, and already as young as he could be to be in the draw--no wonder she had volunteered for him without hesitation.

"We have no one else," she said more quietly, looking around again. "I made Ajak promise me that if I died, that she would make sure he was taken care of."

"I'm sure he will be," Gil said quickly. They were pretty hollow words. But he meant them all the same. She looked at him just the way he would expect, too. But he smiled, "if he's as smart as you say he is, right?"

That seemed to surprise her. She smiled again, that pretty one that made her a crowd favourite. She smiled with her teeth; he thought it was cute. "Smarter."

[wives-natlho]

She's Not Who You Think She Is (Memories of Coco part 4, finale)

She’s not who you think she is. She’s a monster, a murderer, and a coward.  We found her ship, bearing your name, and have hauled it to Western La Noscea.  Come and meet me here. I want to talk to you. I’ll be waiting. 

The letter once again came sealed and slid under the front door of the Sweet and Savoury, addressed to Coco. It arrived when Coco was the only one at the bar. She had gone to the basement to clean up, and it was lying there when she came back upstairs. She checked outside and found no sign of anyone near. Not even footprints. 

This has gone on too long. This has to end. It must.

We’ll do some reconnaissance, and form a plan, Coco thought. We’ll show up in force, ready to bring this all to a close. This madness has to stop.

She started penning a notice for the Savoury patrons and employees to gather once again. 

A couple of folks from the Savoury offered to help. Namely Einar, the Miqo'te tavern owner, and a Padjali woman with a penchant for espionage named Uari-Uk-Upash. Both have been extremely helpful with other tasks in the past. Uari-Uk was present when Jaye’s voidsent Ikkobach was captured and forced into its crystal prison. Einar is also a force to be reckoned with for sure, most recently wielding some sort of blood magic that Coco didn't fully understand. 

And, of course, Athena and Jaye would be alongside. 

The plan was simple, but maybe not easy. 

Athena and Uari-Uk-Upash, whom Coco affectionately called "professor", scouted around the Western edge of La Noscea. They spotted it in a cove surrounded by aetheric coral and Sahagin eggs. The ship itself was crawling with Sahagin, and beginning to be covered in eggs and coral itself. However, the Navigator's mark on the ship's hull was uncovered and untouched. They wanted us to spot it. After reconnaissance, the group met up on a small vessel borrowed from some Sharlayan connections.  

Ride up, get in, get the captain, and get out. That's the idea. 

The longer the group was there, the more Sahagin would swarm, so speed and efficiency was key. Uari-Uk, Athena, Einar, and Jaye would be on Sahagin duty. Keep the area clear so Coco can get inside the ship. The crew upstairs was relying on their Bartender to do the actual search and rescue inside the ship. 

"Got it?" Athena's voice snapped Coco back to focus. She was gripping the railing on the boat, staring off into the mass of Aetheric Coral just ahead. "Does everyone understand the plan?"

Coco nodded. "Yes…" 

"Hey, wait a minute… Why is Coco going in alone?" Jaye protested. "You'd never let me do that, 'Thena!" 

"You're right. I wouldn't… Not yet anyways." Athena peered at the Viera’s small voidsent friend, currently resting on Jaye's shoulder and watching intently. "But Coco is ready for this… And she needs this."

"It doesn't feel great to be talked about like I'm not here." Coco said over her shoulder. 

"Tell me about it." Einar smiled a crooked grin. He had come up against this sort of life-defining moment before. From the smile, though, Coco couldn't tell if he actually found the humor in the situation, or if he was just trying to break the tension.

"Sorry." Jaye blurted out. She gave a sharp look to Ikko, still on her shoulder, clearly hearing something no one else did. "Hush, you. That's mean." 

Athena looked over and raised an eyebrow. Jaye just shrugged. 

"Okay, it's time. Let's focus up." The professor got down to business, as she is wont to do. 

—-----

Coco didn't see the first assault. She was the last onto the ship, intended to run through an opening made by the others. She climbed onto the Memories' railing and witnessed the results of the attack. They tried not to kill any Sahagin. They were supposed to be allies of the Maelstrom. However, Einar and Jaye were both still struggling to grasp the limits of their respective powers. Some few lay dead at their feet.

"Go, hurry!" Jaye shouted. Ikkobach had placed its form between the doorway into the ship and oncoming Sahagin. It moved aside for the oncoming Coco, rapier drawn and steeled to finally finish this. 

Just inside, it was surprisingly quiet. The slick layer of egg sack and whatever goop the Sahagin used to mark their territory worked as an effective insulation. The air was hot, but dry. The fish men had no reign inside the ship. This was someone else's territory. 

Her boots clunked against the wood below, and betrayed her presence, provided the battle above didn't already do that. Coco had been one step behind this entire time, though, and did not expect to have the element of surprise. She walked through a doorway into a large opening inside the ship. The room was dark except for a single light at the opposite end, some kind of Garlean technology strung up to highlight a chair, upon which sat Captain Goss: bound, gagged, and barely breathing. 

"Don't take a step closer. You've seen what this thing can do." Coco heard a metal click from the darkness alongside the familiar voice. A beat of silence, and then he continued. "How have you been, Sister? I assume you've figured that part out by now." 

"You're no family of mine!" Coco practically growled. 

"Oh? Then what about her?" The first visual sign of the assailant was a Garlean-looking revolver with its hammer cocked, pointing at the head of the older woman. 

"Wait, don't!" Coco lurched forward before catching herself and taking a deep breath. She still stood a dozen or so yalms from the light. 

"Careful. Step closer and all of your answers will be blasted away." The gun moved closer to Captain Goss, also showing the glove and sleeve of the assassin. Coco recognized the garments from the Garlean military. 

She took a half step backwards. “Okay… Let’s talk, then. Why have you done all this?”

“Yes. Let’s talk.” The figure stepped forward, with no hat or mask this time. Standing in the light was a half Roegadyn, half Hyuran Garlean man. He wore full Imperial military regalia. His “dress blues” as it were. He pressed the weapon’s barrel into the Captain’s temple, as she remained unconscious. “How about you recap what you know so far?”

Coco was hesitant, but relented. She told her side of the story. “I know I’ve been being stalked by someone who wanted me to see people getting killed. I know that you’re most likely my half brother, and that Captain Goss here is your mother as well as mine.”

“Good. What else?”

“Ugh. I don’t have time for this!” Coco was getting annoyed. 

Her brother pressed the barrel harder against the bound Sea Wolf. “Okay, okay!... Um…” Coco searched for more answers in her mind. “You know about her fight against this clutch of Sahagin, and that she tried to cover it up. That you made some kind of deal with them to get back at her. And… I know that she wouldn’t still be alive if you just wanted revenge.”

“Exemplary work, sister.” Coco winced at the word. She hated the way it poured from his deranged lips. “You’re right about almost everything. I haven’t been stalking you, though. Just nudging you to find out more on your own.”

 “You’ve lost your mind.” Coco sounded almost empathetic. “How much did Garlemald take from you?”

“Garlemald took my pain, that this woman gave to me and turned it into something more.” The assassin snapped to attention and signaled a Garlean salute. “My name is Titus aan Goss, found son of the Empire! I have suffered the fruits of my mothers sin, as have you and many others. I wanted you to know this. To know the source of your pain and misery. To know the monster from whose loins you sprang, full formed and destitute.”

Coco’s confusion was obvious on her face. What is this lunatic on about!?, she thought.

“This woman,” he continued pointing the pistol back at Captain Goss, “is a murderer. She slaughtered innocent Sahagin, and left her own crew to die. She fled the scene afterwards and paid to have the incident covered up while she lay low far inland. A coward!”

Coco took a deep breath in and released it through her nose. She was focusing both on the words and trying to form a plan of how to get out of here without losing what is most likely her mother.

“This woman,” the assassin grew angrier, “fucked a Hyur she had never previously met, and dropped me, the result of her dalliance, in a small town to the north to live alone, with no one to care for me! A Whore! Were it not for the Garleans I would have suffered as an orphan like you did.”

Coco noticed the assassin moving more subtly towards her, releasing his watch on Captain Goss in the chair. 

“This woman,” he was almost shouting, “fucked a captain that she hated, and dropped you, the result of that dalliance, in the godsdamned desert. You should hate her for the life she has forced upon you.”

A silence fell in the room. The dull thuds above waned, telling Coco the fighting was nearly done. She cleared her throat and calmly spoke. “What do you want from me?”

“I want my sister. You’re the only person left I could possibly identify with.” He lowered his weapon and flipped it around in his hand, holding the handle out towards Coco. “I want you to know the pain I have suffered, and to help me to end its source. And I wanted you to know there is a route to freedom at my right hand. As a blade fighting for power and truth in the Empire.”

“Wait…” Coco’s eyes widened and looked around rapidly. “Are you fucking serious!? You’ve killed at least three people trying to get my attention. And you think I would join you!? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“... What?” The assassin’s shoulders slumped. “You don’t understand, still? You don’t see that this is all her doing?” He raised the pistol once again, pressing it to the head of the still unconscious Captain Goss. “Fine. Then I am truly alone.”

“No!” Coco readied her rapier and dashed forward across the room.

BLAM! 

BLAM!

—-------------------------------

Athena and Jaye rushed into the room, following the blast. Three bodies lay on the floor, awash in blood. 

Coco, Captain Ana Goss, and the assassin, Titus aan Goss. 

“Fuck.” Athena cursed through the silence.

Jaye's heart pounded as she fell in behind Athena, checking various pulses. 

Coco was breathing, but with a gunshot wound in her shoulder from the pistol’s first bullet. 

“Wait! I know what to do here!” Jaye thought back to her time in Gridania, attempting to study aetheric manipulation in the Conjurer’s guild. She focused for a brief moment and began to muster water and light aether from the air to focus it on the wound. Athena nodded, and checked on the other two corpses. 

The pistol lay on the floor just outside of Coco’s grasp, with two spent rounds from the revolving chamber, and the assassin’s head was half missing. A spray of blood painted the opposite side of the ship’s interior. 

“Shit.” Athena didn’t know what else to say. 

She turned and examined Captain Goss, the older white-haired Roegadyn woman. She was unharmed, but still tied to the chair and toppled over on her side. Athena’s training informed her this woman was clearly under the effects of some sort of poison or medication to keep her sleeping. She wasn’t even breathing that hard. 

Coco sputtered, springing upright and then yelping from the pain in her shoulder. She looked around and saw her loved ones tending to her and her mother, and saw the carnage from the shot she fired from the assassin’s own gun. Whatever this was, this madness, it was over now. Coco’s adrenaline wore off and she was suddenly very tired. 

“Hey.” Jaye smiled. “You okay?”

“Nope.” Coco chuckled. “That’s gonna fuck me up for a while. But I think I’ll be alright eventually.”

Coco looked over Jaye’s shoulder and saw Athena standing, worried and pissed off. 

“What about the Sahagin?” Coco asked.

“Quiet for now, but we’d better hurry.” Athena replied.

“Right.” Coco winced when standing up, supported by Jaye, while Athena picked up Captain Goss like a sack of popotoes. 

They left the room, the gun, the assassin, and the ship behind. The Sahagin can have whatever is left. 

—-----------------------------

Former Captain Ana Goss, whose ship is now lost, woke up in a Maelstrom first aid tent. Her eyes focused on what looked almost like a mirror that somehow looked 30 years into the past. 

Coco, shoulder wrapped in bandages, spoke. “Good, you’re awake.

… We need to talk.”

[softquietsteadylove]

Thena loves watching Gil and sprite interact with each other. Falling in love more and more with him. Write something for the actor au?

"Enjoying?"

Thena smiled as Sersi came up beside her, extending a glass of something more suited to her palette. Whatever it was it was more sweet than don perignon. "Thanks--everyone's having a lovely time."

Sersi often hosted in her expansive London penthouse after an awards ceremony. It was quite the place to be, and it excused her from having to go to a much riskier party just for the sake of networking and brushing elbows with the industry.

"Especially those two," Sersi tipped her glass in the direction of the outside patio, where plenty of people were enjoying the night air, but especially Gil and Sprite, roasting marshmallows over her fire pit.

Thena just laughed. Sprite was repeatedly trying to set hers aflame while Gil attempted to fend her off while also achieving a perfect golden brown for himself. "She really is just happy she got to come to one of these, finally."

As much as Sprite was not a people person, or interested in her sister's - or cousin's - level of fame, she had always wanted to see what happened at an afterparty. Thena had always insisted they were boring and drab, but Sprite wanted to see the boring and drabness for herself.

"I'm glad she's enjoying herself," Sersi joined in Thena's laughter as Sprite attempted to sabotage the both of them, pushing both their marshmallows closer to the flame. "Whose idea was this?"

"Gil's," Thena sighed, watching as the small game turned into an all out fencing match until Gil finally took both their marshmallows for himself as a way of ending things. Sprite looked appalled before he offered another, visibly telling her to keep it out of the fire. "I think she was actually a bit bored, lurking around on her phone. But he found them in your cupboard and took her out there."

"He has a way with her, doesn't he?"

Thena just nodded. She was sufficient enough at reading lips to tell that Sprite was demanding to know why she couldn't eat the charred marshmallow. Gil was explaining something about how it wasn't good for her. As her primary guardian, Thena had attempted to do that with many things, just to get a positively scathing remark in reply.

But Sprite yielded to Gilgamesh, rolling her eyes but roasting her marshmallow pleasantly, like a law abiding citizen, instead of a teen who wanted to wave around a flaming marshmallow in the middle of a party.

"He certainly does," Thena sighed again. Sprite did seem to enjoy the nicely toasted confection. She continued to watch them until Sersi cleared her throat deliberately. "Hm?"

Sersi merely gave her a look, her eyes bouncing between her and the two outside now staking multiple marshmallows per stick. Thena continued to stare at her expectantly until Sersi laughed. "I'll have to memorise this expression for my next role as a loving wife and mother."

Thena nearly choked on the sugary drink Sersi had brought her. She licked her lips, blaming her faint coughing on the heat suddenly in her cheeks. She set down the fancy stemless crystal flute. "I beg your pardon."

"Please," Sersi easily dodged her cousin's toothsome comment, though. "I know very well what that look means."

"I did not catch your baby fever, if that is to what you are referring," Thena attempted to hiss at her, but again, Sersi let it roll right off her. They had grown up together, after all; she was entirely too accustomed to it."

"I'm not saying you want a baby," Sersi shrugged, very deliberately leaving the rest of her accusation in tact. She took a sip of her own drink, so innocent and demure. "I'm saying you look at Gilgamesh and Sprite like you're imagining living in a three bedroom cottage on the seaside."

Thena sniffed, "I hate the sea, too humid."

"Ah, yes, of course, that's the problem," Sersi snickered.

Thena leaned off her marble kitchen island to glare at her more fully. "Shall I find your costar, Mister Whitman, and ask what he thinks of a seaside cottage?"

Sersi didn't rise to bait nearly as voraciously as Thena did, but she did flick her cousin's earring. "That is different."

"I do not see how," Thena growled at her, both women more invested in drinking away the other's teasing.

Sersi pursed her lips as she finished her champagne. "Dane and I know how the other feels."

That did make Thena pause. She furrowed her brows, "when did this happen?"

Sersi shrugged, looking down at her countertop and tracing her fingers along the ripples of marble. "We were at another party like this, we simply talked and talked and...somehow we ended up on the subject of what life we would lead if not for all this."

Thena admittedly listened with rapt attention.

"I always wanted to be a teacher," Sersi smiled at her own nostalgia. "He said he used to imagine the same thing. One thing led to another and I suppose... "

Thena raised a brow.

Sersi sighed, her shoulders dropping. "We agreed we can't right now. The medical show got picked up so we'll be on that until one of us gets fired or written off."

Thena looked down as well. She had to admit, Sersi wasn't nearly as timid as she could let herself appear to be when she was playing the darling of the United Kingdom.

"But perhaps in the future," she shrugged, feigned a smile. "We'll see."

Thena had to admit, Sersi had made more of a move for her future than she could remember making in a hell of a long time. She looked outside again, to where Sprite was teaching Gil how to make a s'more. "We work together too much. The risk is too high."

Sersi gave her a pointed look, "too high for your own happiness?"

Thena sighed again, watching Gil secretly blow on Sprite's marshmallow for her as she rooted in the graham cracker box. "I'm happy right where I am, Sersi."

"Admiring from afar?" Sersi felt the need to put a name to it as she too watched Sprite smash the melted marshmallow between two graham crackers and way too big a section of chocolate.

Thena also finished off her drink before pushing the glass to the side. "I think love is best from afar, like art, or stage makeup."

Sersi offered a mild laugh before bumping her shoulder against Thena's. "I never said anything about love, but I can see your point."

Thena whipped around, prepared to snarl at her needlessly nosy cousin. But all she saw was Sersi flitting over to Mister Whitman himself, the two of them smiling at each other like schoolchildren in puppy love. Thena rolled her eyes.

"Hey," Gil looked up, smiling at her as she ventured outside and over to them. "There you are."

"Here I am," she sufficed to say, eager to put her conversation with Sersi from her mind. "What are you up to?"

"S'mores!" Sprite sufficed with the single word, swinging her melting marshmallow in her sister's direction.

Thena nearly flinched but Gil caught it at a perfectly safe distance from her.

"Easy," he both chided and laughed off as he apprehended the offending confection.

"Dude," Sprite sighed, but accepted the pilfering, instead reaching for a new one.

"I do hope you're not eating yourself sick on those," Thena felt the need to add, only for her very lovely young lady of a sister to give her the finger for it. "Right."

"Here," Gil whispered, offering the toasty marshmallow from between his fingers.

Thena let him deposit it into her palm. She hated marshmallows, but she had to admit, it was cooked to perfection. "Hm, they taste better when they're toasted."

"You should try real, homemade marshmallow sometime," Gil chuckled as he reached to roast another one, either for her or for himself. "It's a totally different experience."

"Don't tell me you know how to make that too," Thena groaned. As if she needed another ridiculous reason to be infatuated with him.

"You can come over to my place and try it," he nudged her gently.

"Party at Gil's!"

"Sprite!" Thena hissed at her, catching the disgusting vision of her sister's completely full mouth. "Honestly!"

Sprite rolled her eyes but tossed another marshmallow at her.

Again, it didn't reach her, as Gil caught it in midair and added it to his roasting spit. Thena watched the confections achieve their perfectly golden state, using the excuse as a way to lean against him by the warmth of the fire.

[softquietsteadylove]

Omg pls, i’ve been DYING for a bodyguard AU and somehow your latest fic read my entire mind and hit the nail directly on the head. WOW I’m so invested in everything you write but that one really takes the cake, i could read thousands of chapters set in that universe. But if i have to settle for one request, could i pretty please get a continuation of the mob boss/bodyguard AU based on this line: “That he is still going to put his life on the line to protect her, whether he's a traitor to both sides or not.” I would die for this omg, thank you for all that you write and please know your work is cherished by so many!!

"Showtime."

Gil switches the channel on his earpiece after hearing Kingo's signal. He looks at Thena, standing in the middle of her office as if it's just another day for her. "Ready?"

"I suppose I have to be," she answers as honestly as she can. She walks over to him, tugging at the lapel of his jacket. It's obviously more calming for her than for him, but neither of them say a thing.

"Thena," he starts to say. She doesn't look at him, but her hands flatten against his chest instead of pulling away.

"It's not too late," she whispers to him. His forehead comes to rest against hers in the quick minute they have to themselves. "You can walk away now."

"Walk away," he has to laugh, his breath hitting her face as he does. He lifts a hand to hold the one of hers that's resting over his heart. It's already pounding, and nothing's even started yet. "From this?"

Thena looks up at him, and he looks down at her. They've just barely started leaning closer when the windows shatter.

Gil has her in his arms in a second. It's an instinct for him, at this point. He shields her with his much broader back curving over her as he pushes her away from the shattering glass. He hunches them both over and rushes her against the far wall.

"Are you okay?"

He can't possibly hear her over everything that's going on around them. But he feels her nod her head from where he's pressed her against his chest. His hand fits firmly on top of her head, assuring him that she's there. "Okay, you're okay."

Gil blinks as he turns away from watching the main door as Thena tugs at his shirt.

"Back."

That's right, she has a back door installed for situations like this. But it's further from the main door of the warehouse. It puts them further in the fray.

But his top priority is Thena's safety. And right now it's either sit and wait to be found or get her out of here.

Thena tugs at him again, and he complies, holding her shoulders in both his hands as they shuffle to the back door, still crouched. He moves in front of her, peeking out and then taking the corner first. Only then does he pull her after him, making sure she's behind him.

It's chaos--complete and utter madness. Agents are everywhere, there are members from both sides scrambling to escape or scrambling to eliminate each other before they go down with the ship.

Gil rips off his coat and throws it over Thena, still keeping her as close to him as he can. She's a beacon with that bright blond - almost white - hair of hers.

"There!"

He hears it to his right. He ducks them down behind some crates--anything to get them out of the line of sight. Everyone is going to be looking for the biggest fish to catch, especially the other side, who undoubtedly know by now that they've been set up.

"Gil!" she calls out to him, pulling him to his feet as he slips in his hurry to get them out. "Side door!"

There's a side door just for personnel, so the main doors don't always have to be opened. Thena goes ahead of him, just starting to push it open. He catches her by the waist.

"Hands up!"

"It's us! We're coming out!" Gil rushes in front of her. He holds his hands up in front of him. Thena pulls the door behind them and he keeps her behind his back, shielding her from view as much as possible.

"Step away, Gil!"

No way in hell. "It's us!"

"Step away from her, Gil!"

"It's us," he repeats again. He's not leaving her, and they're going to have to go through one hell of a fight if they think he is. He reaches behind him, finding Thena's hand with his. "I'm not going anywhere without her."

That was the deal.

"Let 'em through."

Gil moves slowly. His fellow agents keep their eyes on him, and on the subject still practically cloaked in the blazer he tossed over her. Only once they're in the middle of them does he move out from in front of her. And it's only so he can wrap his arm around her shoulders, still making sure he is all but inseparable from her.

Thena looks up at him, as if it's just another day for her. "Are you okay?"

He can't help smiling at her, despite everything around them. "I think things went pretty well, all things considered."

He gets to hear her laugh.

"Agent," he's greeted once they've reached the safety of the van with his own handlers and superiors waiting. "You've retrieved the informant."

That was the deal.

Thena - and a few of her chosen people, like Kingo - will provide invaluable intel to the agency. And in exchange, she will be allowed to live freely in the custody of an agent who can guarantee that she doesn't escape jurisdiction.

"I have a name," she snarls at them, dusting herself off primly (although still with Gil's jacket over her shoulders).

Gil can't help smirking at them. They wouldn't know how to handle Thena if they tried anyway, he reasons. Just as well she'll be 'in his custody', so to speak. But even then, they both know who's in charge. "You heard The Boss."