[center][i][h1]Reunion[/h1][/i]

Day 9, Morning
Hazumi, Lazarus
Collaboration between Themerlinhawk and Wild Wind
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Hazumi was unsteady on her feet as she climbed out of the taxi, knowing that Lazarus would be waiting for her here. She couldn’t bear to call him so she’d asked Azel to make the call. 
Because there was something fundamentally wrong with her senses. She couldn’t find him. Not even if she tried. 

It was a busy street but she didn’t notice. Didn’t care.
There he was. He looked worried. 
He hadn’t changed. 
Of course he hadn’t changed!
She had been gone for less than three weeks! 
But somehow… she hadn’t expected to ever see him again. 

Her steps forwards were ginger and uncertain but gravity pushed her towards him. She didn’t know what her face bore but she felt it was twisted with pain and sorrow. Her eyes were blurring already, hot tears burning her cheeks. 

No sooner than reaching him she crumbled in his arms and burst into uncontrollable tears. 

As he stood waiting for Hazumi Lazarus thought that perhaps it was all a lie, that he would have to make someone pay for jerking him around. It all melted away when he saw her walking towards him. Every cell in his body screamed to run to her and sweep her off her feet and carefully whisk her away to Finch’s Loft where he could lock the two of them away from this idiot world and its problems. 

Meeting her eyes he could see the tears forming in them and it snapped his heart in half like a piece of rotten wood. As she fell into his arms he wrapped her up tightly and as he wrapped her in his arms he weaved a fence of essence around them. Very rarely did he use veils but this one was something to keep the world around them away. Even if just for a moment as it caused the people on the street to part around them like water around a stone. In addition to that he changed the air pressure around them so no one could hear them. 

Collecting his beloved up in his arms Lazarus stroked her hair and softly whispered to her that it would be alright. With careful hands he supported the majority of her weight and the back of her head. Resting her against him; his eyes scanned the area around them. Even with her back safely in his arms he was in no way letting his guard down. 

But this wasn’t a trick and it wasn’t a trap either. Just the two of them, finally reunited, rejecting everything around but each other. It took a long time for Hazumi’s heart to settle to a steady beat and for her breath and tears to calm. “Hysterical”, some might have called her. But maybe also “relieved”.
 
“Thomas….” She tested and even just the sound of the name almost made her cry again. And she didn’t know how to continue. ‘I’m sorry’? ‘Please don’t let me go’? Everything sounded too trivial. And weak.
 
She squeezed his jacket and tried to swallow the shame and guilt she felt. For disappearing. For feeling so relieved to be in his embrace again. For crying. For shaking.
 
A small smile crept to her lips, the compass seemingly settling on ‘hysterical’. “Stupid ‘dry clean only’ coat. All smudged now. Very poor choice, Thomas.” The scoff sounded a lot like a sob. Ordinarily she would have pulled away by now and put up a front.
 
But not today. Today she was defeated, once and for all. This moment was a gift. Possibly the last one she’d get to share with him.  

With a wry smile he shook his head “Oh how quickly we forget how little makeup and my clothing matters.” The master mage’s own front was quickly falling to pieces and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up in public. The centuries had robbed him of tears long ago but she’d found them soon after they’d become close. Pressing eyes tight shut he buried his face in her hair and inhaled slowly.  

It was such a small thing when the whole of reality could be picked apart by the right tool; but to him her smell drove away all his fears and replaced them with her presence. The rational part of his mind told him that there were questions that needed answering but his heart, starved as a feral dog drove the questions away. 

Reaching down Thomas hooked his left arm under her legs and picked her up in his arms. No superhuman strength needed. With a quick shift of her weight so that she was was settled firmly in his arms he crossed out of the street to a bench and sat down settling her in his lap firmly. Before taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face to meet his eyes. 

So desperately he wanted this moment to last, to run on forever and never end. Unfortunately he knew it wouldn’t but that didn’t mean he couldn’t prolong it. With his thumb he gently wiped away her tears caressing her more delicately than he’d ever touched anyone in his life, he was sure. It was almost as though he was afraid she might shatter into a thousand pieces and rip his heart away with her.

“I missed you Hazumi-” The Necromancer’s voice broke and he had to bite down to keep from his own tears. 

 The pain from his words was unbearable. It was larger than a thousand deaths. And those simple, wonderful eyes… They were hard to meet.
 
But she tried. And she tried to believe this is true and not just another trick of her mind. It was true. She was here, in his arms… and ‘it will be alright’.
 
Her gaze faltered and she dropped her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms rightly around him. She didn’t want any distance between them, not even just air, not even just enough to see his face.
She didn’t have to. She felt his body against hers, his breath in her neck, his warmth all around her. If death were to come to her, then this is how it ought to be. And if it were to retreat, then this is how life itself should resume. This is all she needed. This odd body and the wonderful soul that resided within. Here. Next to her.
 
But what about him?
He had the right to know.
 
She braced herself, against him. “I am so sorry for leaving you…” Her voice was so pained. “And… I lost all my power.” She finished. And it took all she had not to plead him to stay despite.

The statement seemed to tickle the back of Thomas’ mind but he pushed it aside. Having her here in his arms was all he cared about as he caressed her hair. “It’s okay, you’re back that is all that matters.” 

The Necromancer knew that he should address the fact that she had just suggested that her return at this point only solved his problems. The thought bounced off of the fact that she was here in his arms and his entire search was over. 

Realizing that she was still waiting on a response to the fact that she was now effectively mortal Thomas pulled her back up so that he could smile down at her through misty eyes. Taking a moment he rolled his eyes at the effect she was having on him before wiping at them. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll figure that out when we have time for something less important than our reunion.” With that he pressed her back to his chest and wrap his arms tight against her so that she was right against his chest.

[i]Safe[/i]

The thought hit him that his either made her much safer or much more vulnerable. Either way she was back in his arms and that was something he could work with. The parts of his brain that were less wired into emotion tried to begin planning but the huddled weeping form of Hazumi was too much for him and his full attention turned back to her as he stroked her wonderfully soft hair. She needed something more immediate than for him to protect her. Hazumi needed his acceptance and assurance. Tugging her face back up he smiled at her before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers. 

Kissing a goddess never got old and this time was no different. Even without her powers she was still the only thing in this life that he worshipped. The world saw them as dangerous; he had won the Essence of the World's heart and she was a dangerous weapon. No one even stopped for a moment to consider that the reason might be that he never saw her as a weapon. Not once from the day they had met. 

Pressing his lips to hers firmly he savored the feeling of his heart fluttering at the contact. For a brief moment he was back in her office; the feeling of their first kiss as though his cold grey world had suddenly had a bucket of paint dumped across the whole of it and the colors hurt his eyes. Snapping back to the present he could taste the warmth of her lips and the slight salt of her tears where they had rolled down her face. Twisting her so she was facing him he pulled in essence and sent it outward in a rolling wave. It was similar to the earlier veil only it blurred them from existence and sent those around them scurrying like mice. Not sure why they were running. It was a simple trick and wouldn’t last or work on anyone essence sensitive but it bought them some much needed privacy.

Perhaps people were right to say “seal it with a kiss” because at that moment her worries eased, replaced magically with the overwhelming sensation of security. After all, words could lie but his kisses never could. And he made it last, this simple, wonderful, reassuring feeling that no magic could ever evoke, no matter how strong. No magic other than love. So she finally focused on the present - on his warmth and his affection, and kissed back, remembering all the times they've been together. 

For all the decades they'd shared, it had never been enough. At first she was scared, timid, intimidated by a man she was falling madly in love with. A man so deeply hurt by the death of his beloved, so willing to trust her. Then they had to protect what fragile safety they had found in each other against the Academy and the Peacekeepers, only for it to be ripped from them by Sathanus. And now… now this. 

It was just another challenge to be overcome.

“It will be alright.” he loved telling her. But sometimes she forgot he really meant it. She took a breath that felt like the first in forever and stroked his chest. “It is alright, in your arms. We're here, aren't we? As long as you're beside me, I need no other magic.” Of course, that was wrong. The world wasn't that forgiving. But in this moment it was the only truth in her heart. 

Clasping her hand to his heart Thomas smiled as she touched him. Cradling her he nodded - this was all they needed. Shifting her so that she was held in his lap comfortably and carefully. The rush of people had died down and with a flick of his hand he rearranged organic and inorganic particles weaving them into a blanket that he cast of the two of them. Keeping her close he kissed the side and top of her head kissing her over and over again. Making oh so certain that she was real as his tears dripped down over the sallow skin of his face. 

“Don’t...don’t leave again. I don’t know what happened and right now I don’t care at all. You are all that matters to me. I don’t care where I have to follow; just don’t leave me again. That’s all I’m asking. I will do anything, I will stop anything, just name it.” Squeezing her tighter to his chest he was suddenly very angry and very afraid. All of the sudden the world was a threat that needed to be ground under his heel to protect her. Every single threat could be neutralized and...The thought trailed off as he continued to stroke her hair. 

There was no way he could do this. I didn’t matter that she had no powers; he’d always wanted nothing more than to protect her and keep her away from the light of so many burning gazes. 

“Can we go home now love?” 

All of the sudden the ring in his pocket was no longer a reminder of something. It could have a future now…

Hazumi nodded and finally managed a smile. “I never want to leave you again. You are the only meaning of 'home’ for me. You are all that matters.”