Mages of Rubia ✔️

34

Cooper is here again, bringing more cigarettes for Arden. They really have been burning through them. They've been stressed and impatient.

"Az says he's going to stop the war after this last conquest. Perhaps you guys should go now. He seems serious about it."

"And you don't think he would cause problems?" I ask.

"We're fighting, Coop. I'm sorry. You should just go somewhere when the conflict starts," Arden says, "So you're safe."

They haven't told Cooper about the dreams. They've been getting worse. They try to sleep alone to avoid us hearing, but Ravana slips into their tent after a while, sometimes I do instead. We don't want to leave them alone with that. Ravana doesn't want to see it again, though.

"Maybe. Maybe I'll find my own deserted island and get away from all this stupid---" he sighs, tugging at his hair.

"Sorry. I haven't been sleeping much."

"I get it," Arden says, patting his back.

"We really should find somewhere safe to retreat to in case shit gets insane."

Cooper nods. "I'm gonna go chat with the soldiers. I need to chill out a bit."

He walks away, sidling up to a familiar soldier I think he has a thing for.

"He said if Rubia loses he's going back to Himnoa with you. So make sure he's on that boat when you win."

Ravana sighs. "Arden..."

They look up at him, and I'd swear they already look dead.

Ravana leans down to give them a good kiss. They turn to me and raise an eyebrow, I give them one too. Of course.

-

The soldiers find an abandoned house with a basement for us to shelter in, just in case. Arden and I visit so we know where it is.

"Dank down here," they observe.

I hum.

"Should we christen the basement?"

I turn to look at them, already pulling their shirt off with expectation. They have a very lacy, brightly colored bra on underneath.

"Seriously, Arden?"

"Seriously."

"We don't have condoms."

"So fucking what? If I die, free abortion. If I don't, I'll pay. Or we could keep it."

I consider what it would be like to parent a kid with them and Ravana for a moment. It would be chaotic, but I think we'd do a decent job. I'm sure it wont happen, though.

"Fine. Dank basement sex is fun, I suppose."

When we're done, we smoke a cigarette stub, one of the last they have.

"Do you think we could raise a kid?"

I hum. "Yeah. I think it would pretty cool."

"I'd be the cool parent, you'd be the militant dad, and Ravana would be the one who does the actual dad stuff."

I laugh. "Yeah, he loves kids."

We sit silently a moment. I wipe Arden's tears as they start to cry.

"I can feel it coming closer. I just want to live and have a kid with you guys and, and call them Jamie or something like that," they sob against me, dropping the cigarette and accidentally burning themselves.

I brush it aside and they don't even notice.

"It's alright, love. We'll be alright. There's a chance, isn't there? You can survive and we'll raise little Jamie and it'll be okay."