[fic- 001]
Just like dreams couldn’t do the heat of the Beat Mesa justice, they didn’t do the feeling that welled- unnameable but not entirely unfamiliar- in her chest when Davesprite appeared at her side in LOWAS, in the midst of a sword strike, deflecting it and assisting in a counter. It was pride, she knew- pride and affection, tinged this time with a little bit of sadness because she knew and he knew that they wouldn’t make it out of this alive. Not that Davesprite was really alive anymore to begin with. But moreover, it was pride that maybe- just maybe- Dave would eventually get over those things she knew were her fault for instilling in him from an early age to begin with. She spun Davesprite out of the way of a slash that would’ve taken off his left wing and shoulder, kicking Jack off-balance in the process, and then followed in herself, sword arcing upward and missing the bastard by little more than a hair as he shifted back out of the way and brought his own sword out and forward in a strike that felled a few strands of hair but nothing more.
Man but this motherfucker was on some otherworld Iaido shit with that sword in his gut, wasn’t he?
It was weird, watching things like this play out when she’d been dreaming (and she used the term loosely) about this fight for about as long as she could remember. It always ended the same way- the feeling of cold steel through her chest and her waking to clutch at a wound that wasn’t there. Or rather, that wasn’t there yet, at least. She could almost calculate the moment it happened- the instant when the final prototyping happened and shit went to hell.
What she didn’t expect was Davesprite shoving her out of the way and taking the first blow meant for her himself, blood and feathers flying, falling- just like the thing that had once been a doomed version of her little brother.
“Dave-!”
Dave, not Davesprite, because sprite or human, Dave was still Dave was still her charge was still her little brother and she was his Guardian, sister, Guardiansister, goddamnit and she was supposed to protect him until she couldn’t anymore. And yet here was Davesprite saving her life if only for a few moments longer.
It doesn’t hurt as much as she thought it would when the sword is suddenly in her chest, and she’s falling, falling and Jack is falling with her and for a moment she hopes- but then the sword drives into the ground and further into her because of the impact and she realizes that no.
Nothing’s changed from her nightmares at all.
Beside her, Davesprite is disappearing like a properly defeated NPC should, and if the sword in her chest wasn’t painful enough, watching his hand stretch out for hers even as the digits begin to disintegrate makes it ache tenfold, because she can’t even reach back.
“M’sorry Sis- I couldn’t-”
“Fuck are you talking about Dave? Most epic. Battle. Ever… right?”
She turns her head, lips twitching into something she’d like to pretend is a self-assured smirk despite the blood trailing from the corner of her mouth. Dave smirks back, even though he starts to disappear halfway through it.
“Yeah. If there’s not a goddamn ballad written about this, I will be disappoint son.”
He’s barely there anymore, more of a presence than anything, but she answers anyway, turning her face back to the sky as her vision starts going dark.
“Yeah, me too.”
His chuckle fades into nothing amid the wind LOWAS is named for, and she closes her eyes.
You did good Dave- and you’ll keep doing better. I know you will.
Otherwise, I really will be disappoint son.