mirror shards // matthew fairchild {1}

seventeen // ad victoriam

CW: lots of violence, disassociation, blood and injury...let's just say this one earns its mature rating?

It takes Sydney less time to get ready than the others. She's already in gear, already armed. She sits in the hallway outside the training and adds more runes to the ones already on her arms. She's still there when Matthew steps out, now dressed from head to toe in black. Sydney takes a moment to just let herself appreciate it, because damn, it's worth appreciating.

"All ready to go?" he asks, taking her arms and pulling her to her feet.

"Well," says Sydney. "Ad victoriam."

"To...something? I don't speak Latin very well."

"To victory," says Sydney. "I mean, it's that or else." The full implication of the words doesn't really settle even on her until she's said it, and then she realizes that she's right. One or both of them might not come back from Tower Bridge. None of them might return.

Sydney acts on impulse, grabs Matthew by the collar of his gear jacket, hauls him in, and kisses him. For a moment, Matthew freezes and Sydney thinks maybe she's gone too far. Then his arms wrap around her back and he tugs her roughly closer, responding back like his life depends on it.

They pull apart and stare at each other in shock.

"By the Angel, Sydney, what was that?"

"Precautionary measure," Sydney answers. "In case I don't have a chance to do it again."

Matthew puts his hands to the sides of her face and kisses her again, parting her lips with his own, his mouth hot and soft and surprisingly rough. It takes all of Sydney's control not to back him into a wall then and there.

He pulls away with a smack, eyes blown wide. "We're both going to come back from this," he murmurs, his voice rough, "and we're both going to come back in one piece. And then, if you'll like, we'll pick this up right where we left off...and maybe we'll finish it, too."

Oh, dear. Sydney wants that so badly it gets hard to breathe. Damn. Now she can't focus, and just when they're about to go into battle, too.

Sydney grabs Matthew's collar again. "I swear," she whispers, "that we will come back from this. And if we don't, I will personally track down your ghost, and you will never hear the end of it for making me a promise like that and not living long enough to go through on it."

"I don't even want to know what's going to happen if you don't come back."

"It would involve my ghost. That's all you need to know."

< & >

Once everyone's got all their gear and weapons together, they head out for Tower Bridge. Sydney's already wound up from the anticipation of going into battle, and now Matthew has her twice as wound up, the result being that she feels like someone has replaced her veins and arteries with copper wires, and her heart with a thousand-volt battery.

"So, about what I said," says Sydney, slowing down to keep pace with Matthew.

"Mm..."

"Just know that I would never actually hurt you, alright? That's a line I'm not going to cross. Unless you explicitly ask me, and even then..."

"If we get to that bridge, then we'll cross it." Matthew tilts his head. "You know, it was never a thought, really, but now that you've brought it up..."

Sydney pinches the bridge of her nose in melodramatic fashion. "You're unbelievable. You're aware of this, right?"

"Very. It's a major facet of my personality these days, I'm afraid."