[P] I reach to the sky and call out your name

[Apollo]

And I don't want the world to see me 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand Snow crunched under their hooves. They surely made quite a sight, two black forms amidst a backdrop of white snow, circling about a lake covered in ice. Their pace was slow, leisurely. Occasionally they would brush shoulders as they walked, closer than simple friends, the sparse distance between them speaking of an intimacy that they themselves may not have even known. Silence reigned between them, the need for words long gone. Words were superficial when all they needed was a look, a smile, or a frown, able to read one another quickly and effortlessly through eyes of mahogany or crimson.   Apollo was, to put it simply, content. Oh, his heart still ached for Zola. He felt incomplete in ways that not even Ktulu could fill. There was a part missing within his heart, within his soul, a little niche reserved only for the eyeless feline that had come into his life so dramatically. His heart would always ache for Zola, and he would never stop searching for her. The overo knew that his thoughts and feelings were mutual in the eyes of Ktulu, who still surely so desperately yearned for Eytan to return to her side. Instead, they only had each other. It wasn’t a bad situation, not at all, but it could be so much better. Hadn’t they lost enough?   Reaching over amidst their leisurely pace, Apollo pressed his muzzle into the golden etchings of his dark lady’s shoulder tattoo. He lipped at the familiar lines, swallowing a deep sigh of contemplation. His love for her, once hidden away and ignored for fear that she would not love him the same when so much had transpired between them, had reared its head incessantly, a force that he could no longer ignore. And, over the months since their arrival to Novus, Apollo found that he lacked the willpower to continue to ignore it, not with his heart so heavy from their shared losses. So, as the days trickled into weeks and the weeks trickled into months, more and more little actions began to sneak out, subtle and not-so-subtle mannerisms making their way into the light of day.   He had never been shy about physical affection, not with Ktulu. Yet during their stay within Denocte and the Night Court, he found that he would brush against the ebony mare in passing, or nose the tresses of her mane, inhaling her familiar scent. He would nibble along her spine in a way reminiscent to their younger years, when they had chased one another and danced so flirtatiously within the Heavenly Fields. He would smile at her as though she were his world, and, Apollo was finding, she was. Ktulu was everything. There would be no world without her in it, and at times, he found himself crippled with the sudden fear of losing her.   They had been through so much, though. Surely she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Right? Self-doubt was a common enemy to the Merciful, as was anxiety and depression. Things were different now. They weren’t who they used to be. Regardless, Apollo spent his time leaning upon her, relishing in her presence and her unfathomable strength, and when the darkness became too much for her to handle, when the weight of their new world was far too heavy, Apollo would offer his shoulder for Ktulu to lean against instead.   They worked well together, the two of them, and Apollo knew he was doomed. Smitten. In unfathomable, unexplainable love. He never wanted to imagine a world without the Constrictor in it. Couldn’t.   It had been Apollo who had suggested their little stroll around the lake of Denocte, ignoring the flurries that fell from the heavens in a lazy pace that matched the lack of urgency they so displayed along their walk. He was warm and content by ktulu’s side, glancing sidelong with adoring honey-brown eyes, the windows to the depths of his soul, his love. He would bump against her as they walked, her touch feeding an undying flame within his breast.   “… This is nice,” he murmured thoughtfully, snow crunching beneath their hooves and the sound of flurries falling like whispers to his ears, “Just the two of us. It’s nice to just get away.” Denocte had been very accommodating since their arrival, but Apollo felt stifled within their Court. It was different then the life he was used to, among herds and a band of mercenaries. Oh, they were all nice, he supposed, but there was a lazy sort of complacency among them, a stagnancy that he didn’t fancy. He couldn’t imagine much promise within the Night Court, much purpose, but the only purpose he truly desired was at his side. ’Home’ was the form of an ebony lady with ivory tresses and piercing, fierce crimson eyes.   Wherever Ktulu went, Apollo would follow. That was simply how they were. That was their dynamic, and he wouldn’t change it for anything.   The Merciful exhaled, mist furling upwards towards the sky only to disappear. Brows pinched, honey-brown eyes glanced away, towards the frozen lake. “Ktu, I… There’s something I want to tell you. Something I should’ve told you a long time ago.” Something that he had told her, once upon a time. Years ago, he had laid his heart bare, speaking the words that he had been terrified to utter. That, however, was a different lifetime, and he could not allow it to sully this moment.   When everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am

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