[ An act of mercy. The image that comes to mind, hard on the heels of the flash she gets of some man he must know helpless and and linked to a machine, isn't of Edward or even of the small, helpless animals he thinks about. No, it's Shorty: Shorty with tears in his eyes, trying to hold the demon inside at bay; Shorty watching her with trust and warmth along the barrel of Peacemaker even as the muzzle pressed to his forehead. Shorty saying they're wrong.... you're a good girl, Wynonna while tears streamed down her face.
And then it's Fish, his smile sweet and trembling as he looks up from holding the shaking, ruined body of his lover, so gentle even in the face of another death for them both. Fish telling her you'll be the one to break this curse, Wynonna like he believed it. Fish telling her he doesn't want to live knowing death is right around the corner at her hand. Levi a smoking wreck of himself, embracing a death with his lover rather than a life waiting for the Heir to gun them down.
Neither of those felt like mercy, but she has to believe she gave them a chance at peace. She has to.
(And if it were Edward, kneeling there in front of her, asking for the peace only she can give? What would she do then?)
Her lashes flutter and tiny muscles in her jaw and throat jump. Could she give him up, if she had to? Could she lose another person she cares about, on her own terms, and keep going?
She knows the answer is yes. She'd perfected the art of losing people years ago. But even with the fear that pushed her out of the cabin and away from him today, the thought of letting him go on purpose, pushing him away, meets with an almost visceral shove of stubbornness, a wall of I don't wanna. ]
I guess I must not truly love him, then. Mystery of the red string: solved.
[ Maybe Konstantin will understand this, too: the selfish desire to keep someone who probably shouldn't be hers in the first place. But she does want to keep him. She wants him to be hers. Just one person. Is that so much to ask?
She pours one of the glasses of liquor into the other, moody, and looks back over at him. ]
You got strapped into a giant rocket and went to space. You'd think something like this would be easier to deal with.
cw: reference to executions by firearm
And then it's Fish, his smile sweet and trembling as he looks up from holding the shaking, ruined body of his lover, so gentle even in the face of another death for them both. Fish telling her you'll be the one to break this curse, Wynonna like he believed it. Fish telling her he doesn't want to live knowing death is right around the corner at her hand. Levi a smoking wreck of himself, embracing a death with his lover rather than a life waiting for the Heir to gun them down.
Neither of those felt like mercy, but she has to believe she gave them a chance at peace. She has to.
(And if it were Edward, kneeling there in front of her, asking for the peace only she can give? What would she do then?)
Her lashes flutter and tiny muscles in her jaw and throat jump. Could she give him up, if she had to? Could she lose another person she cares about, on her own terms, and keep going?
She knows the answer is yes. She'd perfected the art of losing people years ago. But even with the fear that pushed her out of the cabin and away from him today, the thought of letting him go on purpose, pushing him away, meets with an almost visceral shove of stubbornness, a wall of I don't wanna. ]
I guess I must not truly love him, then. Mystery of the red string: solved.
[ Maybe Konstantin will understand this, too: the selfish desire to keep someone who probably shouldn't be hers in the first place. But she does want to keep him. She wants him to be hers. Just one person. Is that so much to ask?
She pours one of the glasses of liquor into the other, moody, and looks back over at him. ]
You got strapped into a giant rocket and went to space. You'd think something like this would be easier to deal with.