Vanessa didn't think as she made her way back to Atlantica. Back to Finnick. She didn't want to think. She didn't have to. Nothing had to change.
Moving the stained sheet, at the entrence of the place, she saw Finnick. Just there, sleeping away in his hammock.
She thought it best not to wake him, so she sat herself on the ground, next to the hammock.
"Vanessa?" She heard him say.
He wasn't asleep at all.
"Yes?" She answered.
"You're alive?" He asked. "I would've thought"
"Thought what?" She cut him off.
"You'd be prey to that witch" he spat, and held her hands in his.
"She wouldn't" Vanessa said, under her breath. But then again, she couldn't be sure.
"I brought you back here, when the room filled with ink" he explained. "Then there she was, picked you up with her tentacles, hissed at me, then left"
"She hissed at you?" Vanessa asked, almost laughing.
Finnick nodded.
"So I went and got this, in case you returned" he said, reaching into a bag. "It was my grandmother's"
A ring sat there in his palm. The gem was a ruby red, the band was a deep bronze.
She held it gently, and read the inscription.
"To my beloved, once and future queen" Vanessa read. "But I am not a queen. Nor am I your wife"
She stammered over her words, and put the ring back in his hand.
"I am aware" he said, exhaling hard. "My father always said, you'll always know with these things"
"And do you?" Vanessa asked, despite herself.
"I think so" he said, holding her face. "I love you"
That word scared her. Derek had warned her about that word. A simple four letters, yet could bring down the whole world.
"You can't" she told him. "You are simply not allowed to, by the law of God. You see, I am not your bride"
"How would you like to be?" He asked.
Perhaps she did. Perhaps she did see a future with this boy. And perhaps, just perhaps, a happy ending to her story.
"Yes" she said, before it could pass through her mind first.
"Yes?" He asked, enthusiastically
"Yes" she said again, laughing.
And closed the conversation with a kiss.
With that, he slid the ring upon her finger.
"You are my queen" he said, and rested his head on her bust.
"I love you too" she said back to him.
And maybe she did. Maybe she meant every part of that word. Only time could tell for now.