Exit Signs I Missed (A Dark Artifices Fanfiction) ✔️

DRIVE

Emma's head broke the surface of the sea, white froth churning around her shoulders as she treaded water. She needn't have struggled, really—the magnet-like pull, the irresistible tug dragging her towards the stretch of sand ahead of her, was movement enough. She could have let herself follow it, but she was Emma Carstairs, and she didn't - wouldn't - allow herself to be blindly pushed to her fate.

Her upper arm burned where the parabatai rune was - or had been. One of those. She was too scared - no, not too scared, Emma Carstairs did not get scared - too busy to check. As she reached the shore, the ocean's roar faded in her ears; everything was muted except for the pain in her arm, and she gritted her teeth, flopping facedown on the sand. Footsteps kicked small puffs of sand into her wet shirt; her lower half, legs encase in jeans, was still covered by the rising tide.

Some old, primal, elemental part of Emma panicked as water came over her head. Her arms throbbed in agony, and she could feel every injury, every scar and whip weal burning like they'd been doused in acid. Her muscles ached with exhaustion; she spluttered as water began to fill her nose. She was going to drown, and die -

"Emma!" Julian's voice cut through the haze of ocean and frenzy, as his hands took hold of her and turned her over, pulling her out of the water.

The pain in her arm was gone, like it had never been there, vanished like morning mist once the sun came out. Her shirt was torn at the shoulder, showing a faded parabatai mark, she noted with a sort of numb joy, as an afterthought, really, because the way Jules was looking at her made her want to glue herself to his side and never leave him again.

"Emma," he said again, less of a call this time, more like reverent praise. "Emma."

The third time he spoke her name, it was next to her skin, sand against his mouth, his lips on her pulse point like he was trying to keep her heart beating and he could do it by kissing her. His eyes were ocean-coloured, that she'd always known, but now he was the ocean, surrounding her. She'd fallen into him. His body was everywhere at once, engulfing her in scent and warmth and vivid sensation.

He was Julian, everything she needed to be when she couldn't be. Polite when she didn't want to be, keeping secrets she would have spilled, making her happy when she had forgotten how to be. Her family, her best friend, her best love. All she could think to say was, "You've said my name three times now, Jules. Was there something you wanted from me?"

She felt him smile against her neck as he clutched her to him. They were the same height like this, with her sitting on his lap. Close enough to kiss.

"I was going to ask you," Julian said slowly, his mouth touching her, searing her, with each syllable. "If this felt familiar."

"Hmm," Emma out her hand on her chin, elbow on his shoulder, pretending to be in deep thought. "You pulling me out of the ocean, us in wet clothes on the beach, very close to each other? No, I can't say that feels familiar."

"Too bad," he said cheekily, lifting his head from her throat to look at her with a carefree grin that embodied everything she loved about him. "I guess I'll have to jog your memory."

It was not too bad. It wasn't bad at all.

:::

The trip back to the Institute was as ordinary it could get.

Emma had her feet propped on the dashboard, Julian drove precariously close to the speed limit, and the radio station was being fiddled with at an annoying pace. It was everything he loved about their life together, a perfect snapshot of the reasons he didn't regret becoming Emma's parabatai.

Julian felt at once lighter and heavier, relieved of one burden to have it replaced by another. His heart was breaking open, yet healing, wrapping tightly and sealing around the love that threatened to burst it. Emma's hand was in his, and he lifted it to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles, the back of her hand, the scars that glowed white in the Los Angeles sunshine.

Emma was happy - he could tell that, even with her face turned away, even without the parabatai bond holding their emotions together like beads on a string. He hadn't needed the parabatai bond for anything but cleaving her to him, and Julian had realized that a long time ago, the very moment they'd spoken the words that would allegedly bind them together for the rest of their lives.

And Julian also knew that this didn't change anything. They were in love, but he was in love with his best friend. There would be passion and longing, as well as teasing and laughter. They would be equal partners in everything, would always have each others' backs. There would be no love quite like theirs, the one that had passed through every kind and retained all of them, whether it was romantic or platonic or familial. He would always feel every kind of love for Emma, would always seek to protect her in every single way.

The sky was above them, the sea stretching far ahead. Their future was unknown - but he knew it was bright.

Julian stepped out of the car, Emma at his side, and they walked towards the Institute, where their family was waiting.

THE END.

(Unless you want more. Tell me if you do with a comment below!)