Chapter Text
The glow of the Shepherds' bonfire illuminates the inside of the tent, the warm light of the flame dappled against the canvas as the distant sound of tomfoolery echoes through the air. It’s nothing like their future, where even Owain and Cynthia’s antics did little to alleviate the heaviness of the air. Here… Severa can actually relax, and now that she's finally reunited with one of the few people in the world who needs her – who wants her – she's going to take full advantage of it, thank you very much.
As Noire – pale cheeks flushed red – removes her smallclothes from her body, Severa's eyes trace her slender figure. The redhead's gaze roams the timid girl’s torso, moving from her faintly visible abs to the scar on her side caused by a Risen’s blade. To the faint Lichtenberg scars dotting Noire's hands, signs of her failed attempts at dark magic before her parents sensibly pushed her down another path. To the millions of other small divots and scars with no discernible origin on her body that look a little bit too neat, too precise to just be random things Noire had picked up during the end of the world.
Severa doesn’t like most people, but she thinks she hates Tharja, just a little bit. God, it’s no wonder Noire’s such a mess at times.
(It makes Severa happy that Noire chose her of all people as her safety net. Because it means that no matter how coarse or crude or prickly she is, Severa's not a monster, and never will be.)
Still, she doesn’t want to make love to her most precious person – the one she swore to protect – for the first time with rage kindling in her stomach, so for once, Severa smothers the embers in her stomach.
(It was one of Noire’s many oddities. She was the only person the redhead didn’t want to be angry around.)
Oblivious to her thoughts, the archer shoots her a smile. It's goofy and sweet and cute and makes Severa’s normally cold heart melt like an ice cube on a summer’s day.
“P-please be gentle with me, okay?”
Severa scoffs, unable to hide the blush on her cheeks. “Don’t be stupid – of course I will be.”