Light and Dark

Cold.
Cold.
That’s all Nico could feel. The wet ground underneath her palms and fingertips. The concrete under her giving no support whatsoever.

For a second she thought this was all she would ever feel again, the cold, damp, empty nothingness, surrounding her, drowning her. And the moment she stood back up and held the staff she admitted to herself that this...the hurting...had to end.

So she stood up, feet planted firmly on the ground, her fingers collapsed tightly around the staff as they muttered the magic words causing the Mashup Monster to fly backwards and knocked unconscious.

Karolina was still on the ground, her wolf laying down with a dislocated arm, the joint visibly out of place as Nico’s eyes scanned the wolf, she hated seeing the blonde in so much pain, her staff would only do so much however, the wolf blood and magic running through her system would take care of the rest, so she hauled the wolf up, letting her lean on her for support as the wolf hobbled back to the van.

She wandered around checking the damage seeing if there was anything she could help. Looking on as Chase pulled Gert up and Molly threw a large metal pole that had fallen on top of Alex in the opposite direction, however, glad to see that no damage was caused to any of her friends, save fo the few cuts and bruises.

They all hobbled their way over to the car, Nico settling in the back with Karolina knowing that she would be uncomfortable giving her arm, her staff had managed to reposition the joint but she could see that the blonde was still in pain. So Karolina had changed back into her human looking self.

“As much as I usually enjoy seeing you naked, you look like shit, here’s some clothes and I’ll sort you out when we get home.” Nico handed her the pre packed bag of clothing and helped Karolina get dressed.

“You sure know how to make a girl feel better.” They both laughed at the comment knowing that the tall gorgeous blonde would always turn to jokes in order to make light of the situation.

But that didn’t stop Karolina from smiling her famous Karolina Dean smile. And that didn’t stop Nico from loving it. Especially when the shorter girl took her hand in hers and placed it in her lap, a gesture that told Karolina that she was safe as long as she was with them, and the blonde stroking a thumb over her knuckles telling her that Nico was safe as long as she was by their sides.

As they got home and unpiled themselves from the car, Nico noticed that Karolina was still wincing as she would walk, there was still something off about the way she would pull a door handle or the way she would push something out the way, the blonde was still in pain.

Nico took Karolina’s hand once more, taking the two of them upstairs and to their shared room, where Nico encouraged Karolina to lay on their bed, hopefully the spell she had in mind would help the blonde feel a little more at ease.

Holding up the staff she could feel it’s power thrumming strongly throughout it, pounding its way through her, she spoke the words that she hoped would bring Karolina some relief and they did as such, her labored and rushed breathing became slower and easier, steadier, her winces became a soft face that was only reserved for Nico, her pain was evidently now bearable as Karolina’s whole body eased itself further into the mattress.

“If you wanted to catch me alone all you had to do was ask.” Karolina winked at Nico as she crawled into bed alongside her.

Karolina tapped her chest, a sign for Nico to know that she could lay her head on it as she had done so many times before, wrapping an arm around her waist, holding her tightly, almost as if that was the only thing keeping her here.

She let her hand trail patterns into the warm skin. Warmth. A feeling that she never thought she’d feel again after their plan happened to go sideways.

But they were safe for the time being, as they held onto one another, safe in each others arms and these four walls that they’d come to call home.

“I was so scared that I’d lost you. I saw you laying there and I...it hurt me seeing you like that.” Nico admitted.

“I was terrified that I’d lost you, that I’d never get to hold your hand again, that I’d never get to see the way you smile when you think you’re right, or that smile when you walk into a room and see me. When they did whatever they did….I was scared that that was it. And then I felt your magic and your hand and I knew everything was going to be okay. Because everything’s better when you’re around. As cheesy as that sounds.” Karolina smiled letting Nico know that she was okay, even if Nico’s hand did get a little tighter as she’d spoken.

“Cheesy is perfect when it’s with you.” Nico smiled into the blonde's chest.

It was a fairly rare occasion that any of them would admit that they were scared, at least aloud, mainly due to the fact that if something had gone wrong, if someone had gotten hurt, if the mission in which they had recently been on had taken so much of a toll on them, it would be evident in the way they winced and the way they moved as if all the years they had left had finally caught them.

But they all knew better that given some time things would be okay again, however unclear that thought may have been at the time, they wouldn’t give up hope that things would eventually settle. They were runaways after all. What did they expect?

So when it got late and everyone was tired no one expected anyone to start speaking about anything, sure the odd conversation was nice, someone who had grown some guts to start a random conversation on the last film they watched or a random object in which they had found in the mansion, but they would always wait a day before chastising themselves or others on the events that had gone wrong in whatever shape or form they happened to go wrong in.

Since sleeping didn’t seem like an option for Karolina, given the amount of pain her dislocated shoulder was in, Nico opted to find a film that the two of them could watch together, so that Karolina could still rest but Nico wouldn’t have to be far from her. It was like this sometimes, after missions, one of them would get hurt and the two of them would silently agree that neither one of them was leaving the other’s side.

Tiptoeing her way downstairs, in attempt not to possibly wake anyone else up, she found herself in the main living room of the mansion where many of them had spent few nights when they couldn’t sleep, the first night they had spent in the living room unsure of what to do or where to go or how long they would be safe for or if they even had working toilet.

Finding the film was easy, she knew the genre that the blonde liked, she’d walked in many a time to see Gert and her girlfriend watching an old movie that the previous owner had stacked on a shelf. Placing the video in the player and setting up the projector, she turned around to see the blonde stumbling her way into the living room, the sling taking up residency on the majority of her arm and placing herself in the corner of the couch that the majority of them had silently acknowledged was her seat.

Nico came to sit beside her, trying not to get up in her personal space before she would then allow Karolina to wrap her good, functioning, strong arm around Nico and she slowly leaned herself into the blonde’s touch and warmth that always seemed to radiate from her.

Why should they spend so long getting annoyed at things they couldn’t control and getting angry at themselves for a mission that didn’t go to plan when they had more important things to think about?

-----------------------------------------------

Alex was the first one awake which wasn’t surprising as he was the first one to go to sleep and since Nico and Karolina were the last ones to go to sleep, eventually deciding to stay on the couch since neither one of them had the effort or strength to move, that was how Alex had found them.

Karolina resting her back on the couch seat, whilst her head was balanced on the arm of the couch, which couldn’t have been comfortable, but the blonde was actually awake, she just hadn’t moved, didn’t want to risk waking the shorter woman that had fallen asleep curled against her, Nico’s head resting against the blonde’s chest as Karolina’s arm was wrapped around her, stroking patterns into her skin hoping that it would ease her girlfriend awake.

Alex looked at the two of them, a smile slowly gracing his lips as Nico barely managed to shift herself awake.

“We need a meeting about yesterday, but there’s no rush, take the time you need and I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready.” Alex whispered so not to disturb Nico, who would gladly commit murder if someone woke her too early.

“Baby, are you awake now, Alex wants a meeting with everyone in the kitchen.” Karolina maneuvered herself so that she could speak into Nico’s ear.

There was a series of soft grunts before an arm jerked itself out of the warm embrace the two of them had found themselves in. The blonde looking at the shorter girl with nothing but love and adoration as well as excitement.

Nico almost shivered at the sight before moving and pulling Karolina’s hand with her as they walked into the kitchen to see everyone already sat there, smiling as the two of them entered.

“So yesterday went a little sideways.”

“Thanks for starting off light, Alex.” Chase rolled his eyes at the comment.

“We all know a lot went wrong yesterday, if I don’t say it someone else will, we got hurt, especially Karolina who could barely move her arm yesterday.”

“If it’s any consolation it feels a lot better than it did.” Karolina would always find a way to throw the fixation somewhere else, making sure that everyone else was okay before she made sure she was.

But that didn’t mean that the others hadn’t seen the way that thing had sent a blast throwing her straight into a wall before she fell to the floor, Nico swears she could still hear the popping of the joint coming out and the crunching of bones ricocheting from the ground.

Still receiving those looks that said ‘you still got hurt’ as her eyes floated around the table, they had always had a promise to look out for one another, so when someone got hurt, it was an instant feeling of wanting to do better and feeling like they had failed yet again.

“The point is...the mission still didn’t go to plan and I can’t lose anyone else. So we need to do better, need to be better and I know that’s not easy...easier said than done but…”

“Alex, easier said than done is literally a metaphor at this stage in time. Being better than we are now is practically impossible, we beat the guy, I don’t know about you but I’m willing to take and keep that victory.” Nico was close to yelling at Alex.

“We are never going to be the best, there is always going to be someone bigger and better and braver than us, someone is always going to hurt, we can’t pretend that none of those factors mean nothing. We know the mission didn’t go as planned, but that’s life, nothing goes as planned. So we have to take the wins as they come, so on that note, this meeting is over and I’ll be outside if anyone needs me.” Karolina stood up, walking herself out the door as promised, Nico’s gentle eyes watching her as she did so.

Alex’s eyes widened before he looked down at the floor in shock and embarrassment. What was he thinking attempting to have a conversation about this when everyone was already on edge.

It was like trying to talk to an over-caffeinated Gert about women’s rights, you wouldn’t have a chance at winning, she would only have to say a couple words and you’d instantly be either confused or at a loss for words or perhaps both.

“Both of you are right, in one aspect or another, she’s right that we have to take the wins where we can, but you’re also right in the fact that we don’t get second chances with these missions. If they fuck up, that’s it, there’s no rehashing what happened and trying again, it’s one take and that’s final. I know that sometimes even our best isn’t enough but at the end of the day...our best is all we have. And on that note I’m going to see if my girlfriend is okay, excuse me.” Nico explained before getting up to leave in the same direction she had just watched Karolina walk off towards.

This left the others wondering what more they could possibly do, they’d tried everything and even that wasn’t enough and yes of course the blonde had been right, they had won against him, but at the cost of someone getting hurt and the rest of them getting their asses handed to them.

It wasn’t a defeat any of them would admit they had, but at the same time they didn’t have any room to call it anything different.

Gert stood up and walked over to another room somewhere finding a library of some sorts and stopped in the middle of the room, Chase had watched her and by her halted movements instantly knew that something was wrong, so he joined her in hopes that she would speak to him and that he could understand how to perhaps help her.

“Gert, are you okay?” Chase approached with a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, m’fine.” Gert looked down but nodded all the same.

“Gert, talk to me, I’m right here, I know something’s wrong and I wanna help, I might not know how but I want to at least try.” Chase took the purple haired woman’s hand in his hoping to convey his words and emotions through the action.

“I just...you all have powers and things you can use in battle, things that make you all useful in different ways, you have your fistagons as stupid as they seem sometimes, Nico has that staff that will only work for her and is completely incredible, Molly has freaking super strength, I mean Karolina is a fricking werewolf and what do I have...a telepathic connection to a dinosaur that’s barely useable. I just feel useless. I know it’s stupid but…”

“It’s not stupid. I understand how you feel. I feel the same sometimes. Sure, I have the fistagons but all they do is blow stuff up, I can't use magic or lift a car ten feet in the air or rip a human to shreds in 3 seconds. My point is...you’re not useless, you’re more important…. for different things. You have skills that none of us do, you have knowledge and a presence that all of us could only ever dream of having. You’re powerful, just for different things, you might not be able to throw a bus ten yards but you can easily beat a villain with your strong words and knowledge, easily tear someone down with your fierce and sometimes scary demeanor.” Chase explained and looked as if he was about to give up as he thought it wasn’t helping, but Gert surprised him by wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him down to kiss him before putting a little space between them.

“You’re not useless either. You can be a real jerk sometimes, but you’ve never been useless.” She smiles before walking off.

-----------------------------------

Nico had been pretty sure that she had followed the correct way in which Karolina walked out. But once she’d stepped out the door there was no sign of her short haired sexy blond girlfriend. So as she normally would she came to the conclusion that Karolina had perhaps turned and gone for a run.

Since they lived so far from any near civilization, the nearest being at least 30 miles away, Karolina has free reign to turn into her wolf and run as far and as fast as she could, inevitably always ending up back at the rear door which was where Nico was stood with a pile of clothes she had gone to fetch for the blonde.

It was long until the blonde and golden wolf had shown up, fur ruffled by the wind, covered in a little dirt here and there but no longer any limp from the previous day, so she walked behind a fallen down tree and changed back into human form as Nico walked towards her with clothes.

“You never fail to amaze me. Your wolf is...incredible, there’s nothing like you, no other words would do you justice.” Nico looked everywhere attempting to hide her blush as she stumbled to find words.

Karolina just watched as she dressed herself looking at the newly pink tinted skin shone brightly in the sun. Deciding it had been quiet for too long, she stepped closer to Nico, kissing her hard, before taking a step back to allow them time to breathe.

“You never fail to amaze me by how amazing you are.” Karolina moved a hand against Nico’s cheek, stroking a thumb lightly against the cheek and under her eye.

“Are you okay after what happened in there?” Nico knew she had to breach the subject at some point. Might as well be brave and face the music now.

“Yeah. I just... I'm so tired of people saying we aren't good enough or we can do better when all we ever do is try the best we can. All I've heard my whole life is ‘do this better’ ‘you’re not good enough for this yet’ ‘maybe another time you'll get the hang of it’ and maybe now I just want someone to say that just this once it was okay. It was enough. We won. Maybe not the way we'd like to but we won nonetheless. Why do we have to focus on the negatives and the things we didn't do instead of the things we've done and did rather well.”

“This is one of the many reasons why I love you. You're always so positive in a world that tries to make everyone negative. You are a ray of sunshine amongst shadows. You always find the light in something. You always wear a smile even if it hurts and I know that I've said before that you were hiding behind it but sometimes someone just needs to see your smile and they instantly know everything is going to be okay. That's one of the many things I love about you.” Nico smiled no longer attempting to hide the blush that had scattered itself across her face.

“One of the many things, eh? What else are we talking about here?” Karolina didn't catch the hitch of breath that Nico took as the blonde’s hand found its way under her shirt and lightly scratched her fingers against it.

“Your positivity. Your smile. Your laugh. The way that you won't drink tea because you don't want to fit into a stereotype. The way you talk in the morning when your voice is raspy, that does a lot of things, sometimes I think you don't even realize but then I know you do because that's why you do it. The way that you're patient and willing to listen. The way that your hand fits in mine. The way you make me feel when we're completely lost in each other and I never want to face the world again. The list is endless really.” Nico’s arms found their way to a light balance on Karolina’s shoulders as the blonde’s hands found their way against the shorter woman's hips, pulling her closer to kiss her deeply.

And the short moment of peace was disrupted by Alex walking out yet again to announce that no one wanted to cook so they we're ordering food before leaving them to it as they handed responded, still wrapped in kissing each other.

Once they broke the kiss they walked back inside hand in hand towards the living room where they were huddled around a take out menu deciding how much of each they were going to get.

--------------------------

The group, now in food coma’s, were dotted around the projector in respective places. Karolina in her space in the corner of the couch with Nico tucked into her, head resting in her lap and the blonde raked her fingers through her hair.

Gert between Old Lace and Chase making a Gert sandwich. Molly on the old recliner chair that no longer reclined and Alex who had managed to claim himself a beanbag after discovering that all the usual spots to sit had been taken in residency by the members of his chosen family.

It was moments like this where they could peacefully just exist. They didn't have to worry about making a plan, or who had to be saved, or if their parents were on the verge of finding them, it was a moment for them to breathe and recharge their batteries and be a better family than the ones in which they had been born into.

Somewhere during the film that everyone had forgotten had been playing, each of them slowly made their way to their bedrooms, Nico and Karolina were the last ones to go as soon they hadn't quite realized that everyone else had in fact gone.

But making their way to their room it was only then that they truly had a moment somewhat to themselves. Taking their time to catch their breath with some much needed privacy.

Karolina the first to get herself ready and laying down along the bed, her height being shown dramatically as she reached the bottom of the bed with her foot, grabbing the latest book she had been reading from the top of the night stand, she began reading as Nico got herself ready for bed also.

Nico slid into her side of the bed, resting a head on Karolina’s shoulder.

“Can you read to me?” Nico’s voice was barely a whisper as she spoke softly to the blonde.

“Sure.” Karolina gently placing a kiss on top of Nico’s head.

As she began reading, Nico realized how much she loved hearing the other woman’s voice, how her emotions changed throughout and how it kept a steady calming and reassuring pace. Just how it was in real life, when she would take Nico’s hand and place a chaste kiss against the knuckles, tethering Nico to reality, keeping her calm and letting her know she was safe, a steady, calming reassurance that Nico was loved and okay.

Of course the couple had their odd fights, most of them had meant nothing, the consequences of being cooped up with the same group of people, plus dinosaur, in one space, they were bound to have fights every now and again, but the ones where they meant something, the ones where Nico would get angry that Karolina had been so reckless or the ones where Nico has gotten hurt and Karolina had been worried that Nico hadn’t been thinking and could have lost the one person she loved the most, they were solved through simply speaking to one another about why they were so angry about it. But that only made them love each other more.

Even if they didn’t say it all the time, it was in everything they did, like when Karolina would go on a small shopping spree and would get something for Nico to make her feel a little better, or when Nico noticed that Karolina was having a down moment and she would grab extra movies on a ‘spares run’, it was in the way they spoke to one another, especially in the private moments, and the way that their hands always found each other, whether they were in battle or simply sitting on the couch with food in front of them, and it was in the way they simply existed around each other, where Nico would lean against Karolina, a head resting against the taller woman’s shoulder whilst the blonde’s arm wrapped itself around the smaller woman, holding her close.

And this moment was exactly like that, Karolina reading to Nico, letting her know that she was there whenever Nico needed her, that she was loved and safe and that things would eventually be okay.

“You’re cute, you know, when you don’t think anyone’s looking but you’re completely entranced by someone, the look of awe in your face, the tint of pink slowly creeping its way into your face. You’re beautiful.” Karolina softly tucked a strand of hair behind Nico’s ear that had fallen out of her bun.

“And you’re amazing, you can be really stubborn sometimes, but you’re one of the best people I know. You always listen, you always know what to say, you’re brave and...strong,” Nico winks as Karolina looks at her, causing the blonde to raise an eyebrow, “you’re handsome...incredibly so and I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life and there;s never enough ways to say that to you or enough hours in the day for me to be around you. I might sound clingy but I love being around you and listening to you, holding your hand.”

“You could never sound clingy, and hey, it’s a good thing that my incredibly beautiful girlfriend can’t get enough of me.” Karolina smirked before winking then adding a smile to the mix.

“When you put it like that you make me sound like some kind of crazy person.”

“Yeah but...you’re my kind of crazy.”

Karolina leaned in towards Nico, kissing her deeply but not hard, in a way that she was hoping would convey the emotions she was feeling that words simply could not.

“I love you so much.” Hearing those words from Nico would never not make her heart flutter with love especially as Karolina continued her reading until Nico was asleep with her head resting against the blonde’s chest, Karolina putting the book down on the bedside table, saving the page as she too, succumbed to sleep.