Bright Eyes [Apotheosis/Chimera/Wolf]

There’s a touch on Wolf’s leg, and he wants to relax into the soothing sensation that he assumes - hopes - is Chimera. That the man is giving him this much attention is more than he could have ever hoped for. He’d done something right. Finally. Finally, he’d done something to make Chimera truly happy. Part of him is so relieved, so relieved and so happy that he almost misses what Apotheosis is saying.

He feels dumb with shock when she says it.

How could this have happened? How could she… How could Chimera…

His eyes flicker back and forth between them without understanding. Then, it clarifies for him as Chimera speaks. He’s being sold. Like a cow. Like a horse. Chimera - no Marsward - never, ever wanted him. It’s all been a lie. Everything.

He remembers the other man touching him so gently. Caressing him. Telling him such sweet things. Bringing him back from the brink of nothingness. From the edge of giving up. He’d been nothing until Marsward, but he’d never been anything to the other man.

“This is everything I’ve ever wanted for you Wolf.”

A tear slips down his cheek.

“All… all I’ve ever wanted was to make you happy.” His tears slip down his cheeks. He’s never felt so horribly miserable in his entire life. This is all he can do. This will make the other man happy. This is what he wants. It doesn’t matter what he…

He looks up at them. He wants to beg Chimera to take it back. To tell him that this was some kind of mistake. But the man is smiling. Smiling. He can’t choke out the words that he’s said a million times before. Can’t. Because Chimera will never say them to him. Never has. Never will. He’s been so stupid.

“I need to pack.” He says, wiping the tears from his face with one hand and then…

She should be concerned. She should wonder why he's not going to embrace her and put all the kisses in the world on her head and on her lips. She should, and in some quiet little part of her, she looks at the tears in his eyes and the way that he responds to Chimera when the horned wolf talks to him, and that little part says, Something isn't right here.

But the rest of her head is so far gone in the glow of her happy arrangement that she can't follow through on it. He loves her for real. He's crying because he's going to be united with her for real soon. She's the one who he's always wanted to make happy. She's his soulmate. He's her promised one.

Soon she'll be holding him. Kissing him. Her entire being devoted to making him happy and to have his love radiating back on her in return. She'll be so happy with him. Unspeakably happy.

And he'll be murmuring an 'I love you' every night to her when he falls asleep in her arms, and all of the darkness in her heart will be banished for it. Never will she want to cast herself into the abyss again so long as he remains the loving light in her life. So long as he smiles at her...

She'll never feel pain again.

It's a lie that she shouldn't believe, a lie that she's telling herself. But it's sweet feeling and a haze in her head, like she's drunk on the possibility of his love, soon, in her hands. So soon. So very soon. She'd gotten him out. He's free to be hers.

"And I believe I need to follow up with my attorney now," Apotheosis says to Chimera, smoothly sliding away from him. "They can hash out the details. When's the soonest I'll see him on that plane?"

She has to cancel her own flight now. She's got to prepare her house for him. She's got to make it a place that's comfortable for him.

She won't let this man scare her. Not when she's on the precipice of happiness. Not when she's about to have the love of her life in her arms forever. She won't let go of Wolf, and she'll have the money on the dot. Wolf's vacation will be a permanent one.

With him in her home, his silver eyes shining in the light, her life in full-color for the very first time in such a long time, he'll never have to think about Chimera or being an escort ever again. He's free. Just like he freed her from her despair and her loneliness.

It was the bare minimum of what she found acceptable to do for him. But the rest could come with time. She could furnish him with all of her love and make him never want for anything ever again, as he deserved.

"It is agreeable to me," Apotheosis responds, with a smile that's offered really only out of courtesy and for her own pleasure at the result. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

With a clap of her hands and an activation of a certain ability, she goes home. It's not long before she logs off and tears off her gear.

She sends Zalgiman one text message. It's a flood of heart emoji, couching three sentences: I love you so very much. I cannot wait to see you. Soon we will be together always.

He doesn't respond. She doesn't mind. Her attention's entirely on placing the right phone calls and then turning her attention to preparing the house.

And with any luck, she'll never have to see Chimera's bright eyes of different colors ever again.