The States

how little words mean (when you're a little too late)

i. Scott

The only possible way to describe the relationship he has with Elizabeth would be that they've always been something.

Best friends, allies, maybe-almost-sorta lovers. It's complicated. It's even more complicated when Sera is added to the equation or when they bring up that time during the revolution and the subsequent ignoring each other for two months after.

See, he thinks Liz loves him the way he loves her, but he's never quite sure, and the timing's never quite right. They're always caught in that maybe-maybe not stage.

But the important part is that they're always something.

ꤠ

Daniel leaves- secedes from the union- five days before Christmas. It's a mess made up of Will's bloodied knuckles and Del's cold stare, David's crossed arms and Scarlett's clenched fists. 

Scott can't think of a clearer way he could have said fuck you to all of them than the signature on the secession notice.

In January, Drew leaves. Then Flora. Then Josh. Scarlett. Evangeline. Austin.

ꤠ

Scott always goes to Elizabeth when he needs to work something out, or even just calm down. It's always the same, with Elizabeth sitting against her headboard and Scott laying with his head in her lap. 

Usually, she ends up playing with his hair, too, and he's almost certain she uses her gift on him sometimes. Scott doesn't call her out on it, though, because if he does she might stop. 

"I can't believe they'd do this to all of us. That they'd just- rebel against the Constitution."

Elizabeth's hand stops idly carding through his hair.

"Scott," she says evenly. "Where the hell in the Constitution does it forbid secession?"

Scott looks at her. "We're a Union, Liz. Indivisible, and all that?"

Elizabeth raises her eyebrows. "I wasn't aware that my star was a shackle. I entered this union of my own free will, and I should be allowed to leave of my own free will as well."

Scott recoils, the word leave echoing in his mind.

"Are you going to leave?" He sits up. This isn't a discussion he can have lying in her lap.

Elizabeth leans away at his tone. "Excuse me?"

"Are you going to be a traitor too?"

Elizabeth stares at him. "You're a hypocrite," she finally bites out.

"What?"

"You know who you remind me of?" She doesn't wait for him to respond. "England."

Scott flinches.

"We were called traitors before, remember that? During the revolution?" She shakes her head. "Get out. I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Liz-"

"I said get out, Scott."

ꤠ

They don't talk after that. Elizabeth ices him out completely.

It's not the first time they've fought, but they fight rarely enough that every time feels like the end of the world. 

Scott keeps thinking it'll get better, but it doesn't. Elizabeth's made her position clear, and maybe he should have expected that after the whole nullification thing with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.

Every time they try to talk, they end up arguing over the same things.

And then the Battle of Fort Sumter happens, and Elizabeth leaves in the middle of the night two days later.

ꤠ

Elizabeth writes him a letter after, but all Scott reads is the first sentence before he burns it.

I'm sorry. She had written, but she wasn't. She wasn't sorry.

He finds her violin on top of his bookcase, wonders how long it was there before Elizabeth had left.

He cradles it to his chest and allows himself to cry, just this once, for what he's lost.

ꤠ

The first time they meet on a battlefield, it isn't pretty.

Before, they'd always been on the same side. They aren't, anymore.

Scott can't bring himself to shoot her, and she can't shoot him either, but that doesn't stop them from fighting each other until they're both down in the mud.

He can't let her go on to kill his men, and she can't let him either.

They both know when the battle is won. Elizabeth lets up enough from where she has him pinned for him to be able to flip so her back is to the ground, grabbing her wrists and pushing them down.

Elizabeth tenses, testing his grip, and a year ago, hell, a month ago, she would have had no trouble getting out of this.

Scott beats his worry back, trying not to think about the way Wes got called Virginia these days, trying not to wonder if she could die and not come back.

"You know, I almost thought you would leave too." Elizabeth murmurs softly.

Scott's jaw clenches. If he left- If he seceded, it would force Sera to leave too. The war would be over before it even began.

There are cruel things he could say right now about her. About not giving a single damn about Alfred, who raised her. About Sera, who was- well, theirs.

His heart aches. Instead of saying something cruel, he presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth. Elizabeth's eyes are wide, blue-green clear and bright like sea glass.

It leaves a bitter, coppery taste in his mouth. Scott lets go of her and struggles to his feet. "Then I guess you don't know me at all."

He takes one step away, then another. There's a finality in it, a goodbye as clear as if he said it aloud.

It feels like the end of an era.

He doesn't look back. Somehow, he knows Elizabeth doesn't either.

AN:

that's the first chapter. There are ten, but the rest of them are posted to Archive of Our Own because this story did end up with some triggering content and this is not a trigger warning friendly format. If you want to continue it, you can find it on my AO3 under the same username i have here, magicandlight. I would post the link but wattpad isn't letting me :(