Opera Cake

The Trolley Problem

Elsa looked up at the news upon another report of places going up in flames that can't be doused. Ellie had visited her when Danny disappeared a week ago that he had found the 'dens of his enemies' and won't be contacting her anytime soon. Although she knew that this was war for Danny, she cannot help but be uncomfortable that he was part of so much destruction. She may have accepted that he was something of a terrorist or a super villain. However, she also knew that if he had a choice, this was not his. To him, a peaceful resolution had passed away long ago when they started to experiment on both ghosts and humans.

Even when she had counseled for wisdom from Ahtohallan, all she received was darkness. She realized that killing their enemies was the only viable choice. After all, they had tried to discover a way to utilize the ley line once. It was only their dismissal of any supernatural method that halted that line of thought. Not to mention, the people involved had disappeared and their family and friends had no recollection of them ever being part of their family. Danny had been thorough in his erasure of those people.

"You alright?"

Elsa turned to look at Jazz. It had been almost 2 years since she knew the woman and Jazz was something of their personal psychologist, despite having no official doctorate until Iduna managed to convince her to take online studies. After all, she have talent and talent needed to be polished instead of being left to waste. She still worked at the flower shop, though, being more comfortable away from people. She still felt nervous around rowdy crowd but she was comfortable with them and her family due to constant exposure.

Elsa smiled, "I'm fine,"

Jazz hummed before looking at the news, "He's doing this to keep us safe,"

Elsa nodded, "I know. It's just that..."

"It's hard because of the violence?"

Elsa sighed, "I may sound ungrateful but I can't help being scared of this side of him,"

Jazz smiled, "I'll be more worried if you just accept it all without question," She looked at the news, still showing the burning forest, "It is normal to be afraid of violence,"

Elsa pursed her lips, her fingers curled into tight fists, "May I admit something?" At Jazz's nod, she said, "I love him. I truly do. And I know why he was doing all these things. But is it wrong to hope that he didn't have to go this far? Even if it is for the good of all, is it wrong to wish that there is a different method to settling this? I mean, I understand completely that what they had done was immoral and that if allowed to thrive, I will be in danger too. Even Ahtohallan had showed me that reasoning with them would only end with my death and the withering of the whole world. But still, I-!" She sighed, "I don't want more death to be on his hands,"

Jazz studied her for a moment before nodding, "We all do. Hoping that it didn't have to come to a head like this. But even so, even when it goes against our own moral code, we understood that there was no other way. So the most we can hope for was that he won't go after innocents,"

Elsa thought of the family that forgot someone, believing that they were never together. She sighed, "He know well to tie up loose ends," They lived because they were innocent in the context in which that family member wasn't. Elsa had a feeling that the erasure of memories must be something that was related to magic. She recalled Diagon Alley and how saturated with magic it was.

To hide a whole society and live alongside it with barely any interaction...

On one hand, what Danny did was the equivalent of destroying a happy family. On the other hand, what he did was give them a second chance. Elsa understood that everything he did was to keep the world turning and her alive and safe. She understood it all and she accepted that he cannot be all around good. But understanding his cruelty and accepting his violence could not cull her fear of his dangerous side. Part of her wonder if fearing him meant that she loved him less.

Jazz patted her hand, causing Elsa to look at her, and smiled, "You are just being human. But also, your actions towards him after he does all these will speak louder on how you truly feel about him,"

A few days later, a familiar emoticon of a sick ghost appeared on her phone. Though she was in her office, Elsa dropped everything and left. Knowing that Agnarr will understand her emergency. After all, even though he too was uncomfortable with the destruction of properties that showed up on the news, he was shrewd enough to know that it was for the better. It was why conversation was a bit strained after hearing the news. They understand Danny, but what was uncomfortable will be uncomfortable.

Upon reaching his studio, Elsa quickly sought out the bathroom. She habitually strip down so that she can make skin on skin contact with him. Upon finding Danny unresponsive under the shower head, she joined him. Humming soft tunes and trying to coax him back to the surface. However, he remained unresponsive. Elsa sobbed back tears as she gathered him.

There were more scars on his body. She knew that he will heal. But she still worry about his physical health. She knew that there was only so much she can do for his broken psyche. She had come to understand that Danny's psyche was broken when he came forward to her after her kidnapping incident. She had accepted to be his pillar and anchor for his sanity. Whatever was left of it. So the only thing she wanted for him was to be safe from danger, something impossible until the people who broke him die, and healthy.

After what seemed like forever, he stirred on her lap and she heard him whisper, "I love you,"

Elsa replied, "I love you too,"

Which was the truth. She loved him, despite all the immoral things he did. She will never know how bad he can get but he would always hide that side of him from her. For Elsa, he was a lover. She wondered if this was how life was like had she been involved with a crime lord. That made her snort in amusement as she helped Danny to bed, his condition stabilized enough that she could move him with ease. Though she did train with weights since deciding to take care of him, her muscle strength was still too lacking to pick a completely dead weight Danny. So she could only move him once he was partially aware.

Breathing hard once he was in bed, she helped put on his pants for him. She then took out his first aid kit, looking for Frostbite's special healing spray. It could help speed up his healing for any superficial injuries. Something she was immensely grateful for. Even if he was immune to most human diseases, she just want to made sure that his open wounds would not be infected.

Once that was done, she sighed in relief as she looked at him. Tightening the robe she had put on, she leaned over to card her fingers through his moonlight locks. He was glowing slightly, unable to suppress his energy. Now that she was sure that he wasn't wrecked with his memento mori, she kissed his temple. She smiled when her simple action caused him to smile a little. After that, she dressed up and started to clean up his mess before heading for the kitchen.

Elsa made him some simple pasta meal with leftover steak, cutting the meat into tiny bite sized pieces, before adding his ecto-supplements that he had designed to look like cheese dust. When she first saw the 'green cheese', she was marveled by the things that he came up with for the sake of 'his people'. Once complete, she put it on a special heating pad so that it won't go cold. After that, she started on his special ecto-shake to help increase his ectoplasm. This she put in his second smaller fridge, disguised to look like part of the cabinet.

Once these were done, she returned to his side and lay down. She noticed the slight grimace on his expression and immediately rubbed the crease between his brows, smoothing his tense expression. Snuggling up against him, she wondered about the people that hunted him.

Will this war end?

She knew he pushed back their wedding because he didn't want her presence in his life to be known. She also knew that he was getting impatient since he didn't want to be engaged with her for too long, worried about her reputation. Still, she didn't want him to be reckless.

At the very least, her patience with his war calmed him down significantly.

Emotionally drained for him, she fell asleep as she snuggled up against him. He moved to spoon her and Elsa wrapped her hand on the arms wrapped around her.

Her moral dilemma aside, she would never leave him. Of this she was sure as the rising sun...