𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 | 𝐒𝐨𝐂

𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍. 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐒

Natasha leaned over Kaz's front, until her cheeks rested on the place where his heart should have been. "Kuwei," Natasha snapped, spurring the boy from his daydreams. "This is one dosage, no?"

She jerked the bottle in front of him, praying that he'd work a little faster. "Yes," Kuwei spoke slowly. None of them had caught onto what Natasha was planning to do. He grabbed onto Natasha's wrist. "You are Grisha?"

Natasha nodded irritably, arcing her wrist in the air. A crow born from shadows glid from her palm and circled her head before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. "Shadow summoning," She snapped. "It's a thing,"

Kuwei swallowed in disbelief. "I do not know what parem does to magic like yours. There is already a margin for error with any normal Grisha. For someone as powerful as you-"

Natasha rolled her eyes, leaning back against the wall. Kaz's eyes were focused torturously on hers. "What are you doing, Darkling?" Kaz said through gritted teeth. He watched as Natasha uncorked the vial, holding it beneath her nose.

"Giving them a show, Rietveld," Natasha said with an ethereal smile. She pinched the golden power onto her palm, grazing it over her dark skin. "Just on a grander scale, you know how over the top I like to be,"

Kaz couldn't smile. "It's dangerous," His hand shook as he endeavoured to reach out and hold Natasha's hand. "You heard the boy. There are a thousand things that could go wrong,"

"Weren't you calling him a shoebox five minutes ago," Natasha asked. She looked up at him with kind eyes, placing a palm against his cheek. The Frejdans and Ravkans were advancing from both sides. But neither of them cared. It was them against the world.

"I'll be fine, Kaz," Natasha breathed.

"But what if you aren't," Kaz wanted to scream. "What if something goes wrong and something awful happens to you. What happens then?" Natasha sighed, looking down at the powder in her palm and back into Kaz's defeated eyes.

"Than you keep fighting," Kaz flinched beneath her touch before leaning in further. "No matter how broken you get. You fight your way out there, head high, pistols blazing because you are Kaz fucking Rietveld," Her laugh blew against his cheek.

"Want to see a final trick?" Natasha asked softly. She smoothly slid her free palm off Kaz's cheek, summoning her powers for what might have been the final time.

Two gorgeous black swans floated out from her fingertips. "Swans," Natasha grinned, watching the pair fly around both their heads in a smoking arch. "They symbolise soulmates not just in this life, but for everyone one after this - if I can not have you in this life, Kaz Rietveld. Know that I will find you in another."

Kaz swallowed hard, thoughtfully admiring the two swans encompassing them both. "That's disgusting," Kaz rasped. "Imagine, I work a day job in a bank, and there are annoying crying kids,"

"Incredibly awful," Natasha said sarcastically.

Kaz grinned, and for a moment, he never wanted it to end. "I love you, Natasha," His voice was hardly louder than the wind above the racket of the Fjerdans. "In this lifetime, and every other to come,"

Natasha cheered her closed palm up into the air, downing the parem with a disturbing swallow. The taste was sugary, almost burning in the back of her throat. A cough hacked out of Natasha's throat, and the urge to vomit was unbearable. Alessia was shrieking from the top of the tank, Kuwei calling from beside Kaz.

But then everything darkened.

Natasha's vision pooled into black seas, an inky substance falling like tears from her eyes. The blood in Natasha's body thrummed, each sound magnified to the highest decibel. Her heart pulsated inside her chest.

She looked up towards the sun, a zealous core of energy. Natasha rolled her eyes, concentrating her energy elsewhere. The small light from Rotty's cot was radiating, burning holes into the dark pits of her vision.

"Natasha," Alessia whimpered, reaching out to grab her hand.

"Move," The Shu flinched as if she had touched something abnormally hot.

Natasha moved wordlessly through the crowd. She didn't have to move her hands to summon. The shadows manipulated the will of her mind.

Natasha studied the crowd, numbering each light source. There were over a hundred, and already her advancements could feel the strain. Her time training was restricted to only a few years. Even parem couldn't announce that.

"Back away,"

Natasha rolled her eyes, continuing to walk forward. "I've got a gun. I will shoot you," Natasha paused in front of the man's face, dipping her head against her shoulder.

"That's all very well," She grinned, poking him into the centre of the chest. The Frejdan raised his rifle to her forehead, his finger twitching on the trigger. "But an assassin is only good if he can see where he is shooting,"

Then the screaming started.

A/N

- If you enjoyed please vote and comment, I'm incredibly bored while I'm self isolating and your comments are highly entertaining. The Bucky Barnes gif was unprecedented but works lovely.

- rosa <3