[private] what little that i have to give, i will give it all to you; magnus

[magnus]

but she's bringin' the moon and stars to me -

He has done his best to hide the pain from her—but it is difficult, if not impossible, to hide such truths from the other half of his heart. Impossible to pull it away from her when they are so completely tethered. He knows that she can feel the exhaustion in him. The way that his life has shifted to be so grounded by the sun and then to have it ripped away completely. The golden ichor poured from his very veins.

If it were not for her, he is certain he would not have lasted this everlasting night.

But the sun is not his only anchor these days and he feels an ease when she settles against his chest like she belongs there. Like, perhaps, she has always belonged there. Like it had just taken him a millennia of fighting and wearing himself down to find this kind of heaven with her. He smiles, the glow of him radiating out stronger in her presence as he reaches down to press a kiss to her cheek, her throat.

“I love you too,” he murmurs and although he tries to alleviate it, he can hear the gravel in his throat. The soreness and fatigue weaving through his every syllable. A heavy sigh as he shifts, his muscles burning. His gold-flecked eyes close as she settles against him and he lets her warmth fill him, as though she could be the sun that normally fueled him. As though he could simply pull back the light through her.

Perhaps he can.

He feels the hope in her voice as easily as he can feel the fear, but he brushes them both aside. Laughing, the sound rich, he buries his head in her wild mane. “I would take a million days, just like this, with you,” he promises, and he knows the truth of it. He had gone into death fighting tooth and nail before. He had tore himself apart to avoid it—but he would gladly walk into its depth if she was by his side.

“Light or not.”

A smile, something stirring in his gaze as he pulls back to regard her—to study the faint lines of her face that he can see from his weak glow. “I spent a long time in the dark, Isle. I can bear the shadows.”

But when the light begins to creep across the sky—impossible, beautiful—his heart stutters.

Stutters, stumbles, and then stops.

A beat.

And then two.

Tears prick the corner of his eyes as he finally sees her in the light, but no words come.

- Magnus