fandomtownies | The Park, Sunday Evening

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The Park, Sunday Evening

It was hard to find the exact spot where the Nothing had taken Warren. It was getting dark, for one thing, and she hadn't exactly been paying attention to the scenery. But people were coming back all over the island and Karla had poured her heart and her Self and everything else she could into remembering and bringing back the people she loved.

And that included one tall, handsome, winged male who had sacrificed everything to keep her safe. Several times.

So she was running through the woods in park determined to find him and make sure he was okay. She passed the playground--and made a mental note to come back and check there, too, dammit!--but kept going. There was someone else she needed to see first.

[For one, obviously, but open to anyone else in the park!]

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When Warren came back into being, the first breath he took came after the last instant of a scream. His arms were thrust out in front of himself, eyes on a very particular spot of ground in front of him. An empty spot of ground.

"Karla...?"

Had it backfired? Missed him and taken her instead? He looked around, wide-eyed, taking in his surroundings as he circled. No... everything else was there. There was a sky above and there was ground down below and he felt less boxed-in than he'd been in days.

He was just... alone. And trying not to panic as his feet found the ground again and he turned around, desperately trying to find her.

"Karla!?"

Hearing her name brought Karla up short. Her heart, pounding from her mad dash, skipped a beat.

"Warren?" she cried, adjusting her course slightly. She tried to tell herself that she was just thrilled to have heard his voice again, not that there was anything special about hearing him calling out her name. "Warren?!"

She burst through the underbrush and into a clearing. There he was, looking as frantic as she and as handsome--and whole!--as she'd remembered.

"Warren!" And now she was flinging herself at him.

And he was catching her up in his arms, folding his wings around her and so help him, he was never going to let go all over again if he could help it. Only, only there was something about that, some reason why it wasn't so simple, and that would come back to him in a moment, he was sure.

Right now, it didn't seem so important. She was safe. Oh, god, she was safe.

Karla held him as tightly as she could, so tight that she would almost be afraid of hurting him if she'd had room in her mind to think of paltry little things like that. She didn't. Her whole being was suffused with joy and relief and the mantra Safe. Safe. He's safe and here and safe and with me and thank the Darkness he's safe.

Without thinking, she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. Poured all of her relief and happiness and love--yes, love, always love, forever love--into that kiss.

And Warren kissed her back, wouldn't have been able to keep from kissing her even if he could remember why something seemed miraculous and sideways about this all at once. He kissed her and thanked whatever force in the multiverse would listen that she was here in his arms and safe.

And halfway through that kiss, he had to bite back a sob as he found himself being thankful that she wanted to be anywhere near him at all.

Karla's own cheeks were wet by then, her body trembling from more than just the kiss. They were together, kissing in a park that could be full or empty or even non-existent for all that she cared, just the two of them together forever in the world of the kiss. She loved him and he loved her and--

And--

And the reality of the situation crashed back into her. The things she'd said and did--and, yes, the things he'd done, too. She had long since gotten over her hatred and the majority of her anger, but there was no saying that Warren had not. Some of the things she had said and done had been pretty terrible. It would be completely justified for him to still be angry, hurt, and hating her, too.

Under normal circumstances, Karla would have finished the kiss to talk to him. To sort through her feelings and his and see where they stood. But this was not a normal circumstance. She was exhausted and confused and emotionally drained, still reeling from weeks after weeks of fear and grief and loss. And so, rather than doing the rational thing, Karla panicked.

Wrenching herself from his arms, Karla gasped out, "I'm sorry--I should never have--" and then turned.

And fled.

Leaving Warren standing in the park, watching her go, his lips still slightly pursed and his feathers dragging in the dirt.

"... Oh."

~~Since her name was in the tags already,~~ Raven was suddenly back in the park as if no time had passed. The Auditors were gone. She looked around herself in confusion; it was darker now, and colder, but with no feeling of the passage of time, she had no idea what had just happened.

A piece of paper fluttered at her feet, and she bent to pick it up. The lights ringing the park made it easy to read the one word written on it: REMEMBER. Instinctively she thought of Azarath and all its cold beauty, and the Netherverse and all the worlds it touched. Her mother (and, unfortunately, her father), and Gotham and all the other worlds she'd visited, the homes of her friends most of all. Jono. Karla. Sookie. Bobby. Tara. Kennedy. Dinah. Tahiri. Hoshi. Cassidy. Hurley. Even the ones who had gone away seemingly forever, like Didi and Ariel and Andy and Joan and Diana. All her friends, past and present.

She closed her eyes and remembered.

Edited 2011-12-11 23:07 (UTC)

Karla wasn't the only one coming to the park today at a run.

Jono had lost somebody here, too, and so help him, he was hitting the park at an all-out run for the second time in a handful of days, eyes ahead, looking for the place he'd seen the Auditors huddled.

"Raven!"

Could she remember while she was being swept up into his arms? And if entirely without thinking he moved to press his lips against hers, would that be okay with her?

... And could she please ignore the kilt and spear and the bloody stain down the back of his coat?

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice and the feel of his emotions at Jono neared her. She could sense his anxiety, but before she could question why he was so worried or even greet him, she was in his arms and he was kissing her, and no, she had absolutely no problem with that, no problem at all.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back and sending with each one love and reassurance that she was here and she was all right. Questions could wait.

She was safe. She was safe and whole and in his arms and the taste of her mouth was enough to damn near knock him off his feet, and he was coming to learn important lessons about how important it was to breathe in between kisses, only he was fairly certain that he'd be able to catch his breath in just a minute, and...

Eventually, the need to breathe won out, and he pulled his face back just a little, gasping for air, his arms tightening around her shoulders all the more to make up for it.

"You're safe," he murmured, holding on for dear life. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Raven."

"I do not understand," Raven said, breathless as well. Her head was spinning, and it wasn't just from confusion. She'd missed his kisses, and the physical ones were just as dizzying as the empathic ones.

"I did not intend to scare you," she said softly. "What has happened? There were three people here, strangers, I think they were Auditors. They said I was abnormal and one tried to grab hold of me, but they vanished and I was alone again.

Then she realized the tiredness caused by her faded soul didn't seem as strong anymore. It wasn't completely gone, but the exhaustion seemed to be vanishing with each passing moment. And the sudden blunting of emotions caused when the world around the island had vanished was lifted as well.

"They touched you," he murmured, not about to let go just yet. "They touched you and it took you away, just like the rest of it."

But now she was here. It was okay. It was better.

"You... sent out a call for help, and Karla and I got here and you were just... gone."

There had been rock-throwing. And yelling. As you do.

"Gone?" Raven repeated, feeling sick in her stomach at the though of suddenly vanishing from existence, like Azarath and all the other worlds that had been taken. "How long?"

She shook her head, moving her hands to cup his face between them. "No, that does not matter. What matters is I am here and safe. You brought me back."

She looked away from his face just for a second to take in the stars above, not the force field and the black clouds that had been trying to get through it. "Is it all back? I do not feel as weak as I had been."

"I think it's all back," Jono replied, looking up toward the stars as well, allowing himself a hint of a smile. "She told us to remember, and we did..."

And she was there in his arms, and if the rest of the universe never came back, at least he had this.

"If it isn't all completely back yet, it will be. There was a lot of damage done."

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