Lastland (Stormris) Oneshots

Great War

Iris panted, chest heaving and body shaking. She wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand, staining her knuckles an even darker shade. Threads of purple intertwined in the red, spreading like the petals of a violet, or an iris. Her eyes were narrow, concealing the purple glow emanating from them. Weak though she was, she never felt more alive! Every sense was firing off, heart pounding as her stomach—

Purple eyes shot open, but this time, there was no glow. And although Iris' heart was still pounding, she was lying flat on her back in bed, no battlefield in sight. The bed creaked as Iris rolled off it to pace the floor, radiating pent up energy. Her bedroom was a crypt, and although she was the only one, she treaded as lightly as if it were full. Maybe it was, in a way. Oh, how the ghosts of her past could haunt her!

She cursed the other woman in her head, those piercing blue eyes staring into her very soul, that tied-back hair as golden as she was.

Of course! Always! Ever the perfect one! Perfectly imperfect! Rough on the surface, but a heart of gold underneath! She always knows how to make the right decision, even when it's hard... Then there was Iris, and she felt something inside raging and flaring up again. All communication had ceased between the once-loving couple, and all because of Iris. Storm had made it clear the door would always be open, but Iris would have to return, Storm wasn't going to go after her. It was a powerful, good ultimatum, and that was all the more reason Iris loathed it.

And then loathed herself in return. Her ego thrashed helplessly, a tiger in a cage, lashing out at anything it could reach, including Iris, and the other woman occupying her thoughts constantly, no matter how hard she tried to turn away. As if the universe itself was trying to haunt her, thoughts unbidden suddenly came flooding through Iris' mind. In lightning flashes, she saw the deterioration of their relationship, the inability to see and agree to one another's position on the latest crisis facing them. The sweet dreams and even sweeter kisses were over now. Iris slept in a single.

If I can get through this, Iris thought, sarcastic and desperate all at once, I don't think I'll ever cry again! Why? Because if she got through it, the pain would finally be over, and she would be grateful? She would be too numb and empty to feel? Nothing would hurt as badly as this, and everything else would seem easy by comparison? Or because there would be little left in her life worth mourning once the storm was over?

Tempestuous—pun intended—as Storm and Iris' relationship could be, it hadn't always been that way, of course, and those were the days Iris also saw in the lightning flashes, contrasting painfully with every weaponed word that echoed like thunder through her memory.

The ache, the desperate desire, inside of Iris was almost unbearable. She wanted nothing more than to pin Storm to a wall and never let her go again. Or to have Storm being the one pinning her, clinging to her, just like how it was supposed to be, and how it used to be.

Help m, hold me, save me, shield me! I would gladly do the same for you! If only she knew she ached to set her arms and armor down and replace them with Storm, forever.

ooo

Storm reclined in her seat, staring unseeingly at the unforgiving sky. Brighter and crueler than the stars above, she saw the words Iris said and the letters she wrote. Her logic was sound, and reasoning compelling, and yet... something in Storm just could not bring herself to step across that final threshold and fully accept what the younger woman was proposing.

I... can't. I just... can't. You KNOW that I've never been good with... feelings... Self-consciousness stung, striking Storm suddenly in the stomach. She even wrapped her arms around herself, although she was unaware of it. How embarrassing and stupid to admit! And yet, in her anger and earnestness, all Storm could do was scream at Iris in her head. Iris was miles and miles and miles away from her now, after all.