Work Text:
The sea's gentle sway on the boat gave you the peace that you searched for, waves collided with the rocks of the bay making a sound that nearly put you to sleep as you stood on the Morrigan's deck, facing the ocean's spray.
It was a cold night, a lonely one, too.
Everyone was either out cold in an inn, unwilling to be in the boat that they had been forced to ride for the past few months, searching for an actual, comfortable bed, or drinking their livers out.
Yet you still remained, dark robes cloaking your form, one wouldn't be able to easily notice your shadowed form in the night's pitch-black darkness, yet it had been Shay who approached you, standing next to you in total silence.
You felt yourself grow restless at the man's quietude. You were used to his boasting, loud form. Though that time had already passed, the Shay Cormac that you used to know was no more. The Shay that you knew would make bets with you to who could reach the other end of the forest first without falling on the ground, the Shay that you used to know would toast with you for absolutely no reason, the Shay that you knew would leap through your window at night just to talk with you senseless until it was morning. Your Shay used to be an assassin, someone you trusted.
Soon, a tune began to escape Shay's lips. One that you knew, one that you loved, or, used to. It was the one that he would sing as he took your hand to dance around a fire, the one he would sing as you nearly slept in his embrace during the nights he'd talk your ears off, the one he sang to you when you were mortally wounded by templars and brought to Achilles' home in hopes that you would recover, he was by your side the entire time as you were passed out in a spare bedroom, bleeding through the white sheets of the bed. But he was still there nonetheless, holding on to you, cradling you until you came back to your senses and were able to go back to training and to doing missions.
"I'll swim and sail on savage seas..." His voice, you could hear the pain behind it, even if you did not face Shay.
No, you couldn't face him, not after the pain he had caused.
"With ne'er a fear of drowning..."
He had betrayed the brotherhood, killed Liam... Hope... he nearly managed to kill Achilles, too.
"And gladly ride the waves of life..."
Yet here you were, by his side in the Morrigan. You weren't an assassin anymore, but you weren't a templar, either.
"If you would marry me..."
You had left the brotherhood after Shay's betrayal, all of your confidence for a better future gone. 'It was all a lie', you used to tell yourself.
"No scorching sun nor freezing cold..."
London welcomed you warmly in its dirty streets, you became someone who would pass around information for the right price. You had all of the local gossip, and assassins and even templars would use you to their advantage. It was honestly surprising how neither of them would try to kill you in the long run, you were a dangerous person to be kept alive, after all.
"Will stop me on my journey..."
Then Shay found you, and he asked for your help. You were naive, innocent... and you fell for it.
"If you would promise me your heart... and..." His voice broke, you could hear it, you saw how much it pained him. He knew that he had lost you years ago, that he had lost the woman he loved the most. Yet, even after his betrayal, even after he had killed your friends, even after he had turned his back to the brotherhood, you still loved him.
"And love me for eternity." Part of you called it instinct to finish his words for him, but as you turned around to finally face Shay, you couldn't help the softness in your eyes as you saw the tears clinging to his gaze.
He took your hands on his, his fingers were warm, unlike your own, which were as cold as the freezing waters below the deck. He fumbled to say something, but you silenced him which words that took him even more by surprise.
"My dearest one, my darling dear, your mighty words astound me..." You began, looking from your hands to his eyes, a small smile opening up at the side of your lips as you dragged Shay along with you at a slow pace. "But I've no need of mighty deeds when I feel your arms around me."
The laugh that filled your ears was pleasant as Shay used one hand to hold your waist firmly, spinning you into a circle. "But I would bring you rings of gold, I'd even sing you poetry!"
"Would you really?" You chuckled at his words, earning an eye roll from him.
"And I would keep you from all harm if you would stay beside me!" He extended his arm that held on to your hand, letting go of your waist as he led you to spin around.
"I have no use for rings of gold, I care not for your poetry-" You were out of breath by now as laughter struck up your through, barely managing to accompany his singing. "I only want your hand to hold, I only want you near me!"
"To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold, for the dancing and the dreaming, through all life sorrows and delights I'll keep your laugh beside me-"
You both spun breathlessly across the Morrigan's deck, laughing and singing as the joys of a past surfaced, memories that you both missed dearly that neither of you would speak up about, for both of you knew what the other was thinking about, no doubts in your heads as you two danced closer together, his hands pressing to your sides as your palms laid on his chest, caressing his tousled clothes as the two of you came to a stop, giggling like two young adults.
Silence reigned once more as you stared into his chest, unable to look up at him and meet his gaze. You knew that he stared at your face, searching, praying that there was some sort of feelings left still. His palm came up to cup your face, lifting it as his fingers cradled your chin.
Finally, your eyes met. You could see the love that he still harbored for you, even after all these years. He didn't need to ask, you knew from his gaze what question he had in his mind.
Slowly, you lifted yourself up into your tiptoes, faces growing closer together as your lips met his, softly hugging for the longing embrace you had hoped would find you many years ago.
'Yes, I still love you,' Were your thoughts, 'I always did'.
He didn't need to tell you, either, you knew from the way that his hands rested on your face, from the way that he refused to let go of your body that he had so desperately thought of this moment for so long, he loved you, he missed you and now he finally had you again.
You were his once and you never stopped being his as he never stopped being yours.