Archive of Our Own ^beta

Their reunion had been everything March could have hoped for, a blur of bubbling joy and crushing hugs and each of them telling all, and, with Stelle, gentle kisses, stolen in quiet moments—all of it peppered through with moments of tears, every one of those tears good. Cyrene, taken with their revelry, had suggested that they stay a moment in Aedes Elysiae, and catch their breaths, still outside of time, or so near as not to matter.

And so, it came to be that at the end of that precious blur March found herself curled up with Stelle in the Sacrament Courtyard, with Dan Heng seated nearby, talking with Cyrene.

About grain.

Because, Dan Heng would always be Dan Heng.

But! Dan Heng could be the Dan Hengiest that Dan Heng had ever Dan Hung, and it would not have done anything to shift March's smile. It was so good to be with them again...

And it was so, so good to be in Stelle's arms once more. To be held by her, wrapped in her gentle warmth.

Stelle had often slept with the camera near her—and truly, that had meant a lot. But it wasn't the same. Nothing was.

But then, nothing needed to be. She lingered in the moment, for once staying awake longer than Stelle, taking fresh joy from feeling her slip into sleep, and listening to her steady breathing.

Just... feeling Stelle against her, filling her world.

Slowly nodding off, half in the world of dream-logic already, March once again had the thought that if anything could have improved this day, it was if she'd gotten to spend a little more time with Evernight—

Followed by the thought that hey, if Evernight was sleeping, and she was sleeping, then—

March found herself standing in the middle of her room, just as she remembered it—except that she could also see herself lying in bed, asleep—except March didn't have any black pajamas—

It was Evernight! And just as she made the realization, she clocked the longer hair as well, on the sleeping girl, one tail of it falling over to her front at her hip. In contrast, March didn't need to look into a mirror to know that she herself was back to her normal appearance. She could feel that her inherent Marchness was fully maxed out.

Evernight was laying on her side, on top of the covers, facing toward the room, and she was clutching something to her chest. It was a pink and blue plushie—

It!

Was!

The!

Jellyfish!

March's heart surged in her chest, and she found her hands on her face, her smile too big for just her mouth to handle. The jellyfish! The jellyfiiiiiish~!

"Stelle," she said, and turned around, and she was so eager for Stelle to be there to share this moment that through some mechanism that she would have to think about later she pulled Stelle right into the dream, making her appear by her side. She was holding her flaming lance and looked like she'd been about to use it. "Look!", March pointed at the sleeping Evernight.

Stelle blinked away a moment of confusion, and the lance disappeared, and her clothes were replaced with her gray pajamas as she adjusted to the scene. March realized that she was wearing hers, too, in all their beautiful pink and blue and white.

Stelle, as always, had a way of focusing on the important things. "You do make a cute jellyfish."

That made March a bit prouder than she was proud of and happier than she was happy about. "Naturally(?)!", she said, audibly second-guessing herself. Then she rallied, fully leaning into the cuteness is justice of it all, propping her hands on her hips. "I'll have to see if I can change shape later, so you can see the real deal for yourself! But! Also! I found her!"

Stelle smiled. "So you did. It looks like she's sleeping tight, though. Might be even harder to wake than you are?"

"Hey!" That... would make sense, though. March, her expectations suitably tempered, got on to the bed and tried gently touching Evernight on the shoulder, then giving her a little shake.

She was very corporeal, very real, but... her breathing stayed calm, and she did not stir.

Up close, though, March realized that Evernight's pajamas weren't pure black—they were dotted with little jellyfish-pluses in pink and white and blue.

March felt a whole new surge of affection for the sleeping figure. "Oh, you..."

With nowhere else to put the feeling, March held it, her hand on Evernight's shoulder, willing it to reach her.

Did she maybe smile, just a little?

... probably not. "I think you might be right, Stelle." March turned to look back at her, and then back to Evernight. "Well, she has earned her sleep, and then some. I just wish I could've gotten to speak with her more."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance," Stelle said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and putting her hand on March's leg, her touch gentle and warm. "And she looks like she's sleeping well, right?"

She did. She looked serene, like the edge she usually showed had melted away. The only thing that bothered March was that she was sleeping on top of the covers. Surely her bare feet would get cold, if nothing else?

That wouldn't do!

"Help me tuck her in," she said to Stelle, and Stelle did, smiling, pulling down the covers while March gently shifted Evernight's weight so Stelle could get them past her.

It was March who settled the covers over her, though, and tucked her in.

That was better.

Now she could sleep well.

But...

"I don't want to leave her alone," March said, looking at the sleeping form, then at Stelle, expecting Stelle to sympathize, and to affirm one more time that Evernight looked comfortable, and they could just let her sleep.

Instead, Stelle just shrugged. "Well, no reason we can't sleep here, right?"

"Sleep in a dream?"

"Why not? It's only the..." Stelle counted on her fingers, looking a little unsure. "Fourth level? Maybe?"

March didn't bother to check her math. Why not indeed! "You have the best ideas!"

Stelle grinned, delighted in more ways than one. "I'll remind you of that the next time you're groaning at something I do."

March smiled at her. "I guess you can get one for free." But, thinking about it, she felt a pang in her heart, and continued, "Though, really..."

Oh geez, here came the waterworks again. March felt herself tearing up, and for the silliest possible reason. "I want that, too, y'know?. I've missed that too." March took Stelle's hands. "I want you to tease me, and drive me crazy, until I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Because that was part of how Stelle loved her.

Part of how March loved to be loved by her.

Stelle was blinking away tears, too, though there was also humor brimming underneath, in that very Stelle way. "Even the... even the Shush jokes?"

A giggle burst through March's tears. "Well, let's not go... no, yeah, okay, even the Shush jokes." She looked at Stelle, so full of love there wasn't room for anything else. "I want everything."

Mercifully, Stelle didn't choose that moment for a pun. Instead, she just pulled March into a tight, reassuring hug. "You've got it."

March wrapped her arms around Stelle in turn, and they stood there, holding each other tight, March with her face tucked into Stelle's neck.

A kiss wouldn't have been enough, in that moment.

They needed the contact.

Finally, March pulled away, and they shared a tender smile, and an even more tender kiss.

March sighed, and rested her forehead against Stelle's neck.

It was so good to be able to do this again.

Stelle stroked her back. "How do you want the sleeping arrangements?"

March looked at the sleeping Evernight. She wanted only the best for her. She turned her eyes back to Stelle. "Her in the middle?"

"Hmm... how about," Stelle pointed at Evernight, and said, "little spoon", then at March, "middle spoon?"

That... did have a lot of appeal. But also. "I don't think she'd mind being next to you, if that's what you're worried about."

Stelle nodded solemnly. "I'll take your word for it. But, the way I see it..." Stelle rested her arms on March's shoulders, and smiled at her. "I can't not be next to you, and probably she can't not be next to you, so that means you can only be in the middle. Besides, she's got the plushie. It's the littlest spoon."

March gave her a kiss, because she was right there, and smiled. "Well, I guess I can't fault your logic..."

"I do have the best ideas."

"Determined to make me regret that, are you."

"No," Stelle said, and gave her a little kiss, and a very tender smile. "I never want to make you regret anything."

Aaaa March could feel herself start to tear up again—

Stelle got a thoughtful look. "Well, except maybe the thing about the Shush jokes."

March giggled, waterworks averted. "You..." She sighed, helpless with tenderness for her dork of a girlfriend. "Let's go to bed."

They did, both of them getting in bed from the window side—Stelle's side—for once, to get in behind Evernight. March carefully wrapped her arms around the sleeping figure, and held her, like Evernight was holding the plushie. "I hope you have sweet dreams," she whispered, and willed it to be real.

Stelle came up behind March, snuggling up close, her right arm rustling the covers as Stelle moved it across to find March's, and follow it along to Evernight's front, encircling them both.

March, in the middle, was suffused in both their warmth.

She was home.

It was a perfect moment.

"A dromas and a chimera walk into a bar—"

March burst out giggling. "Stelle!"

Stelle gave March's forearm a gentle squeeze, and her words were so, so warm. "I love you."

March briefly loosened her hold on Evernight, so she could take Stelle's hand in her own, in an answering gesture. "I love you too."

Evernight stirred, coming aware to a familiar yet unfamiliar warmth.

There was no danger.

So how was she awake?

She had a body, felt her body, felt her arms around something soft, felt soft arms around herself, her legs in a tangle, drool on her neck...

All of it suffused with warmth.

She turned around, slowly, and opened her eyes, March 7th's memories her guide to how to best accomplish such a feat, in circumstances much like—but not exactly like—this.

She had already known what she would find, March 7th snuggled up against her, and behind her, Stelle. Both sleeping peacefully.

How had they even...?

She looked at the sleeping March 7th, with tenderness in her heart. As cute as she had been as a jellyfish, she was even cuter like this. Evernight used her sleeve to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth, and March 7th made a 'mnyea' sound when Evernight touched her cheek.

It was adorable.

"You just couldn't leave me alone, huh?"

It was a thorny thing, being loved by yourself.

"I'm not sure she's ever been willing to leave anyone alone. You... maybe least of all."

Evernight had been aware of Stelle stirring to wakefulness, so it wasn't a surprise that she had spoken—but her expression somewhat was. Stelle still had her head on the pillow, and she was looking at Evernight past the sleeping March 7th, golden eyes gleaming in the half-light.

It wasn't quite how she looked at March 7th, in her memories, but it was dangerously close.

"I see you're not wary of me anymore."

Stelle smiled at her. "No reason to be. I have a read on you now."

Hearing that, the only thing stronger than Evernight's desire not to be perceived was her desire to know that she had not already been perceived. "Oh?"

"You were testing us. I'm not sure exactly what kind of endgame you had in mind, but you were trying to confirm that March was right about us. That we really were who she thought we were. You were never playing to win."

Well, that wasn't too bad. A little uncomfortable to hear it spelled out like that, but nothing too astute.

Still, she wanted to find a flaw. "What makes you think I wasn't playing to win?"

Stelle smiled at her. "You would have tried harder. You could have just impersonated March."

Okay, this was getting worrying. "Too much of a risk. If you had seen through it, you would have been completely antagonistic. It was better to just keep you off-balance, keep you guessing."

"I don't think that's it." Stelle looked at her, golden eyes not unkind, but serious. "You weren't worried that you couldn't pull it off. You were worried that you could. And you would have hated that."

Evernight went very still, and did not say anything.

Stelle continued. "You couldn't bring yourself to become her and betray her friends, even if none of us would have remembered." Stelle's smile was gentle. "You love her far too much for that."

They continued to look at each other a moment longer. Then, Evernight, her expression completely static, very deliberately took the plush jellyfish and pushed it against Stelle's face, breaking their eye-contact.

And maybe she would suffocate on it.

A girl could dream.

Stelle started laughing, which isn't the most encouraging sign if you're attempting murder. She did pull back her arm from around her and March 7th, so she could put up enough of a struggle to keep breathing—but she didn't grab Evernight's arm, or seriously push back and turn it into a tousle, which Evernight was grateful for and—to her additional dismay—also disappointed about. But what Stelle was doing was letting her regain her composure—which just further went to prove her point.

Fine, Stelle had a read on her.

She would have to live with that.

"Oh, before you kill me?", came Stelle's voice, muffled by the plushie.

Evernight relented, letting go of the jellyfish and instead wrapping her arms around March 7th, returning her sleeping hug. Stelle could have the plushie. "What?"

Stelle picked the now-uncontested jellyfish off her face, and looked at Evernight again. Her expression was, if anything, softer. "March wanted you to know. She loves the name you chose. It was her top one thing she wanted to tell you."

Evernight smiled, directing the tenderness to its rightful place, the sleeping March 7th. "I thought she would. I'm glad."

Stelle placed the jellyfish plushie on top of them, so it lay atop Evernight's and March 7th's sides. Then she looked at Evernight, her hand hovering in question. "Okay if I touch you?"

Evernight suppressed a sigh. "Yeah. Would be hard for you not to." The unspoken part was 'while she was hogging March 7th', which she had no intention of stopping, so it wasn't worth mentioning.

Stelle gently settled her arm around them—March 7th, jellyfish plushie, and Evernight all—and Evernight did let out a sigh, as that very specific warmth spread into her, blooming from Stelle's touch, even through clothes.

It wasn't uncomfortable, and that was the problem. Being this close to Stelle, with Stelle so unguarded, so open—and with her, not just the March 7th in her memories—was like trying not to fall into a star.

Evernight might have been an abyss, but unfortunately for her, that was precisely where stars shone the brightest.

But neither of them said anything more. They just laid there, looking at each other over March 7th's head. Soon, Stelle started drifting off, each blink seeming longer.

But then, she rallied, snapping awake. "Oh. Do you have any heads-up you could give me about Cyrene?"

"Why her?"

Stelle yawned. "I keep waiting for the second—" she caught herself with a smile "—well, third, fourth, maybe fifth? Shoe to drop. But she... she's playing to win." Stelle let out a sigh. "And I hope she deserves to. If not her and Phainon, then who?" Stelle yawned again, and smiled. "She's got the second most powerful protagonist energy I've ever seen."

Stelle squeezed with her arm, to show that she meant after March 7th.

That...

Well.

What could Evernight say that would actually help?

That was not a simple question to answer.

So she answered a different one. "Trying to balance between three different Paths..." She made her expression flat. "Have you considered just burning it all down? It would be so much simpler."

Stelle laughed, sleepily. "Sorry, but I'm greedy. And March is benevolent. So you're out of luck."

And so she was.

Still unsure how to answer, Evernight watched Stelle drift off again, apparently content to let the question lie—

And then she rallied again. "Oh. One more thing?"

"What?"

Stelle slowly moved her arm, bringing her hand up to touch Evernight on the cheek, a gesture very familiar from March 7th's memories. The meaning might have been different, but not different enough to reduce the magnitude of experiencing it first-hand, as the intended recipient.

Stelle smiled at her, gentle and sleepy. "I'm glad you're here."

... and then, she moved her arm back, and promptly dozed off, leaving Evernight tangled in a knot.

She was not equipped to be known by, and loved by, two people.

But here she was.

"... likewise," she said, after she was sure Stelle had fallen asleep and would not hear her.

And, a while later still, when she was sure Stelle was sleeping deeply enough that she would not wake from it, Evernight defied gravity to touch her cheek in turn—and then pull on it.

Stelle did not make a cute sound.

It just made her look more smug in her sleep.

Evernight let out a long sigh. "She really is a handful."

There was a very familiar, very happy giggle, and Evernight realized that she had been so focused on Stelle that March 7th waking up had snuck up on her. "But how much do you like her?", came the girl's voice, same as hers but oh so gentle, from near her heart.

"More than I'd care to admit."

"Even to yourself?"

"Especially to myself."

March 7th nudged her way out of their hug, to look at her. Her smile was radiant. "It's good to be honest, you know."

And so, Evernight returned her smile, and said something honest. "I didn't think I'd get to talk to you again so soon."

She didn't know how it was possible, either. Unless... she looked at Stelle, deep in sleep—very deep—and considered the weight of her arm, laying across them.

March 7th beamed. "She has a habit of granting wishes, you know. Especially ours."

"So it would seem." Evernight turned her attention, and her smile, back to March 7th. And speaking of wishes granted... "I like your name too. It's wonderful. I'm glad you liked my homage."

If she had thought March 7th's smile couldn't get brighter—which she hadn't—she would have been wrong. "Thank you! Oh, did she pass on any other messages?"

"No. But she said that was the top one thing you wanted to tell me."

"Well, top two is... I want to thank you again for protecting everyone. Because..." March 7th gave her a gentle squeeze filled to the brim with good intentions. "I don't think I can just ever thank you enough for that. So thank you."

Evernight smiled at her, and briefly touched her face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You can thank yourself for that. It was because of who you are that things turned out the way that they did." She could see that March 7th was reluctant to let that slide, so she added, "So what's number three? And how many things are on the list?"

Her smile this time was less blinding, but no less cute. Though, maybe there was some Stelle influence to it...? "How long do you have?"

Evernight knew what the situation called for.

She settled down for a proper sleepover heart-to-heart, and smiled. "As long as you want."

That made her eyes sparkle. "Then, let's chat the night away!"