Deserve
Word Count: 621
"Hey Ren, do you think the stars are together-together?" She can feel his curious gaze on her. "Mom used to tell me stars were the spirits of good people and heroes who died a long, long, long time ago. As a reward for the good things they did, they get to live forever in the sky. And good people believe in love, right? So wouldn't they find someone special up there too?"
From under the small, makeshift tent, cerulean eyes blink up at the sparking specks of light through the blurs of raindrops that crash down around them. The intense aches she had felt in her body had numbed to a faint pulsing sensation as she focuses on her environment and her more severely injured partner. His arm is broken to an extent that his aura cannot heal it all, but she doesn't trust herself enough to not make it worse if she attempted to help. He needs both arms to make pancakes, after all.
No reply sounds from him, but she wasn't expecting one. She lifts his uninjured arm and tucks herself into his side, letting his arm wrap around her shoulders as she rested her head on his. It's been hours since they were stranded, their scrolls laying in pieces somewhere in the forest, and since then, Nora has run out of things to talk about. Her eyes lower to his bloodied form, her mind returning to the battle that did that to him. Pain strikes a hole in her chest, the vivid memory of Ren being smashed and tossed around like a rag doll burning in her thoughts.
Slamming her eyes shut, she wills it away but the image is stubborn. The rage she had released after Ren's unconscious body fell to the forest floor bubbles up again, but there are no Grimm to annihilate now. Forced to relive it, she sees herself kneeling over his body, Grimm slowly closing in on them. She remembers struggling to find a pulse and dying from the utter anguish that choked her when she couldn't. She remembers how much heavier Magnhild was in her hands as she shattered the bodies of the creatures responsible, swinging her hammer blindly as tears blurred her vision. She chokes the emotion back, burying her face into his chest and grabbing onto his tunic. She cries brokenly, "I thought you were dead."
His arms close around her tightly, bringing her closer, and she soaks in his comfort the best she can. Over and over again, she repeats to herself that he is alive, right here, right now and she needs to calm down. She'd taken care of him the best she could, hadn't she? She was good. She found shelter and bandaged them both, taking care of him as much as he did for her. She was good. And he was good.
"Don't good people deserve to be together-together?" She whispers.
He squeezes her gently, comfortingly. "They do."
She's unnaturally quiet and still for a time, but suddenly she shifts in his arms and raises her glimmering eyes to the heavens once more. "I want to be a star, Ren. It seems so happy up there, twinkling and watching everything. Even if I'd never be able to fight again, I could just watch others. Jaune and Pyrrha would still be around. And Jaune fighting Grimm is all the entertainment I'd need. Maybe. I might have to use my star magic matchmaking powers on those two to make things interesting." Her voice trails off, following her thoughts. And then she looks up at him, and the emotion in her eyes showed an intensity unlike her excitement for battle.
"Will you be a star with me, Ren?"
"Always."