Private To Quell the Tempest Softly

[Makko Vyres]

In the quiet, yet tumultuous moments of soft sobbing and fierce emotion, Makko hadn't truly thought about how he had showed his affection. Only that single pang of guilt that he enjoyed the closeness.

All those months of pain. Knowing she was subject to that coward's abuse, then not knowing at all. Through it all she had missed him too. He had never stopped thinking about her.

He watched as she dabbed away ugly tears and thought that she could not have been more beautiful. That it had taken such an extreme moment to turn on Horace was a testament to her strength in the face of suffering.

"I missed you too, always," he said. Makko sighed quietly. Whatever she - or the circumstances they found themselves in - made him feel it was always intense.

He should have fallen silent, but of the two of them he was most prone to speaking carelessly.

"You remember how I told you I felt, the night before you left for Ukatis?"

He met her gaze. He felt it was important to look into her eyes as he spoke the truth.

"I never stopped feeling that way. Never stopped loving you Cora. But if we can just, you know, hang out again. If I can be there for you. I'd be..."

Happy seemed the wrong word. After all she had been through, the moment was bittersweet as they made confessions that had burdened them for so long.

"I would like that."

The show didn't matter. It had never been about that.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Makko had never the most eloquent speaker, but he was always far more direct than Cora. Even if he fumbled, his words had the most endearing, sincere quality to them - something she privately adored.

Never stopped loving you Cora.

Surprise was understatement. Blue eyes flared wide, studying Makko's face, not knowing what she was looking for. Deceit? No, he wouldn't do that. Not unless he severed their ties with the aim of hurting her. Even if he did, she would deserve-

Her brow scrunched suddenly. She would not do his feelings an injustice by giving into self loathing. That spiral was stopped the moment she met him with a watery smile.

"Y-yeah," She croaked. Makko deserved more words, a pretty paragraph and flowery descriptions of how much he meant to her - but her mind was slow and tired, only able to grasp the fact that he still cared for her and wanted her in his life.

Cora would build her hope around that. Around Makko, around Valery and Kahlil and Jasper and Colette and Shan - around Dominick and Fantine and their siblings, around Ukatis as it rebuilt itself, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the Mandalorian war machine.

She would build her hope, her healing, her future. Maybe, someday, it would be their future.

Cora's gaze dropped from his face, traveling down to the dark smudges on his sleeves where he'd wiped the mascara from her teary eyes. Two fingers pinched at the fabric, rubbing it between them.

"I'd like that too." She whispered.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

She didn't believe him. It lasted barely the span of a few breaths, but for Makko it seemed to stretch out. It was a reminder of how far apart their paths had taken them. She had been been deceived and manipulated, but Marcel and Ukatis customs had been doing that for longer than he had known her.

Her smile - tentative at first - was the bright dawn on a new day. The mist of uncertainty that clung to the landscape of their lives would be burned away by such a smile.

"Good," he said softly. Just like Cora, he crammed far too much meaning into that one word. Another thread, woven through the strands of their bond, helped to tie them all together. He let his relief, let his care for her wash over her. Warm and comforting.

Makko reached over the pile of cushions and tugged a blanket over her shoulders for some very real warmth. As he did so, he gently placed a kiss against her forehead. He could be greedy and he could be selfish. The world wanted to crush them and Makko wanted back those nights where they shut that out and just belonged to one another.

He picked something lighthearted from the deck. It wouldn't have mattered what it was. Cora was emotionally exhausted and within a few minutes her breathing had slowed. Makko angled his head to check without disturbing her. She was gone.

He decided thar he probably should have woken her up or at least tried to maneuver out from beneath her to sleep on the floor. He didn't have much energy left either. It was benduday tomorrow, there was nothing urgent to be done. Makko simply turned off the projector and let the slow rhythm of her breathing and her comforting weight drag him down into sleep too.