Takes place after the Peace Ending of SMT IV: Apocalypse.

"And this is K's tavern."

There's a moment when Isabeau pushes open the doors, the three newest prentices standing by her side (just the same as they did once), that she can only describe as déjà vu. The bar is a plethora of activity, as usual, half familiar faces sharing tales of heroic deeds and laughing heartily around the assorted tables.

She closes her eyes, almost expecting to hear Walter's eager footsteps race up to the blackboard, Jonathan politely greeting their fellows, and –

"Ah, if it isn't Commander Isabeau!"

K's welcome brings her back to the present moment, and she opens her eyes before giving him a short bow of her head. "K, you know you don't have to call me that." She must have told him as much a dozen times already, not that she didn't expect him to enjoying teasing her about it. "It's not as though you referred to Sir Hope the same way every time he came to see you."

"True, true." He nods to the prentices as she gestures them inside, grinning. "But you're still youthful and fun to tease."

Isabeau rolls her eyes, but can't hide the smile on her face. "So, these are the newest faces in the barracks, huh?" K gives them a measuring glance, causing one of the prentices to shift her weight onto her other leg nervously. "Three this year?"

Nodding briskly, Isabeau steps aside so he can get a better look. "As I said previously, this is K." She tells the three prentices, who were now huddled together curiously looking around the establishment. "He's the bartender, and the owner. K, this is Ursula, Marcus, and Gunther."

As she introduced each new prentice, they bowed respectfully. Seemingly pleased, K turns back to Isabeau with a sly smile. "So, has Flynn seen this new lot yet?"

"Of course. He's always front and center during each year's Rite."

Isabeau already knows where the conversation's going before he speaks next. "Well, it's no surprise – with you being their teacher and all. When are you two planning on finally tying the knot, anyway?"

A couple of the bar goers snicker at K's antics, but Isabeau just gazes calmly back at him. "When are you planning on finally retiring?"

The pretices stare at her with wide, shocked eyes, clearly having not ever seen anyone talk in such a manner to another samurai, let alone K. K, however, lets out a bellowing peal of laughter. "Oh, prentices, let me tell you – you're in good hands. Just don't let that sharp tongue of hers deter you." He winks at them. "There's a reason why Hope chose her to succeed him even if she's not much older than you all."

It was true; at twenty-three years, Isabeau was currently the youngest samurai commander in recent history, possibly the youngest in Mikado ever. No one had been expecting it. She certainly hadn't been herself – everyone was waiting for the day Flynn was chosen to be Hope's successor. Given everything he had done in his mission to save both Tokyo and Mikado regardless of the machinations of every god and demon who rose to oppose him, it seemed easy to assume. But, having heard about Isabeau's efforts to hold Tokyo together after his capture, he had been deeply impressed by her natural leadership skills.

The white commander's uniform still felt too heavy on her shoulders at times. But it was knowing that she wasn't alone that made the responsibility that much easier to bear.

The prentices were watching her again, clearly waiting for instructions. "I've brought you here to attempt your first challenge quests." She explains, gesturing to the blackboard close to the bar. "Take them on together or alone, that is your own decision. But pay close attention to how difficult the quest in question is before you take it – there will be time for heroics after you've fully completed your training."

"Indeed, Gunther." Ursula, the female prentice with long blonde hair and blue eyes, smirks and shoves her ebony-haired friend teasingly. "How's the sting you received from that Chagrin doing, anyhow?"

Isabeau observes them in amusement as they banter among each other a moment longer before clearing her throat. "Tomorrow, we'll be taking a trip to Tokyo to show you around one of the Hunter's Associations as a follow up to this. Remember to stay vigilant, and keep an eye out for each other. You may be recruiting demons now, but your fellows are always your greatest allies."

"Yes, ma'am." Marcus bows his head to her, curled brown hair bobbing with the motion. "We'll make Mikado proud!"

The sincerity in his words resonates within her. She closes her eyes with a knowing smile. "I know you will."

Sharing a brisk farewell with K and her prentices as she leaves them under his care, she exits K's tavern – nearly running into someone on the way out. Gasping, she steps back out of reflex, she and the other person stand blinking at each other for a moment before her face flushes. "Flynn!"

…Damn, she can just hear K's chuckle as the tavern door closes.

"Ah, I was looking for you." Flynn says, his whole face lighting up upon seeing her. "I hope I didn't interrupt your duties."

"Oh – no, I just concluded the prentices introduction to K's tavern." Isabeau explains, to which he nods in understanding. "Why, has something happened? Do you need my assistance?"

Often, Flynn and Isabeau came to each other first for help with their work when necessary. It was just what came naturally to them; having fought by each other's side for so long, sometimes it was as if they could tell what the other was thinking before they acted.

But Flynn just smiles, a slightly amused curl of his lips. "No. I simply wanted to see you."

"Ah…" Isabeau finds herself at a loss for words. The warmth that had just faded from her cheeks returns, this time with a hint of red. What was it about his simple straight-forwardness still managed to catch her off guard?

Flynn does not seem to mind her lack of reply, instead coming forward and cupping the side of her face with one hand. "Even one week in Tokyo is a lonesome prospect when you wake from your dreams only to find no one lying beside you."

The blue scarf he now wears wrapped around his wrist (for Walter, with a yellow scarf around his sword for Jonathan) brushes against her skin. A breeze rushes around them, ruffling the tattered edges of Flynn's own samurai coat along with their hair. Times like this it occurs to Isabeau, just how much they have changed in five years. By Mikado laws, Flynn was still considered a samurai and was treated as such – his role, however, was one that was extended to aiding the people Tokyo as well.

Always, they were both so busy. Moments like this only seemed to become rarities as time went on.

Isabeau raises her hand to rest it over his. "Well, you are home now. Your lonely nights are but a memory of times that have passed." Her voice softens along with her aloof demeanor. "…I had missed you as well."

Their kiss is quick but sweet – and promises more later, when they are not under the wandering eyes of the other samurai walking around the plaza. It's a thought that buzzes beneath Isabeau's skin.

"I will be retiring early, I think." Flynn says, eyes flicking in the direction of the barracks for a moment. "Will you be long?"

Isabeau finds herself thanking the universe for leaving her with no other immediate work for the rest of the afternoon.

"No. I shall join you as soon as I'm able."

Flynn nods, starting toward the location of their shared sleeping quarters before giving her a lengthy glance over his shoulder. "I'll be waiting for you."

Isabeau smiles. The warmth of his words almost makes her forget for a moment that there are other people around. "As will I."

"You know," Isabeau's breath hitches in her throat for a moment as Flynn's gentle trail of kisses down her neck ends in teeth against her collarbone, "K brought it up again today. While I was – ah – introducing the prentices."

Flynn, currently looming over her with his face still buried in her shoulder, hums in acknowledgement but doesn't budge. It takes a few seconds of Isabeau massaging her fingers through Flynn's unbound hair for him to lift his head. His green eyes reflect the light of the afternoon sun shining through the window.

"Every time I go to the tavern now, he never fails to ask," a laugh melts into Isabeau's words as she continues, "about when we're finally going to swear ourselves to one another."

And Flynn smiles back at her, with an adoration that still makes her feel like she's the center of his world. She expects him to speak, but instead he presses his lips to hers until she's left breathless and pleasantly light-headed against their bedsheets. "Alright."

"Al… right?" His words vaguely register in Isabeau's mind, but her thoughts are still hazy from the afterglow of their actions just before.

"Let's do it."

"You mean… get married?"

Flynn didn't miss a beat. "Of course. We can do so whenever you'd like."

"Wh – Flynn!" As much as Isabeau was not expecting this reaction from him, she can still feel the way her face softens into a smile herself, the laugh that weaves its way into her words. "You can't just decide something like that on a whim!"

Still grinning, Flynn shifts his weight so he can settle beside her on the bed, leaning his head on one hand. Adjusting her position to move closer, Isabeau's fingers fall away from his hair, instead finding themselves tracing the pale scars of old wounds across his chest. In the back of her mind, she vaguely remembers tending to some of them when they were fresh.

"Is that not what you want, though?" While his tone hasn't changed, it now comes to Isabeau's attention that he is being completely serious. His free hand entwines itself in one of hers, leans forward until their foreheads touch. "There are no laws saying we cannot. And even if there were, when has impossibility ever stopped us?"

Again, with his straight-forward honestly. Maybe it was time for Isabeau to return the same sentiment.

"A small ceremony, in the summer. Nothing too grandiose." She spoke aloud the thoughts she'd been having for more than a year now, words from her heart. "You and I have never been much for that sort of thing, anyway."

Flynn's thumb caresses her palm as he leans back slightly. "Is there anything else you desire?"

"I…" Isabeau's smile drops for a moment, her eyes shifting away before gazing back at Flynn seriously. "I don't want anything to change. Our roles, I mean. The world needs us, and I swore long ago to never fault you for putting the people first. That still stands. For both of us."

It was always a possibility, that one would fall for the sake of their life long mission. A possibility that became very real with every demon they faced and every battle they scarcely won. It was something Isabeau thought about every time she or Flynn would come home wounded and exhausted, wordlessly falling into the other's embrace to feel their warmth and remind themselves that they were alive and that they had to keep fighting.

She can see in his eyes that Flynn's having the same exact thoughts. He lifts her hand and brushes his lips against her knuckles. "You know I would never do otherwise."

In truth, she does know, but hearing it from him still causes a gentle wave of relief to wash over her. Wanting to be closer to him, she snakes her arms around his torso, pulling him back down to lay beside her and burying her face into his shoulder. As she absently presses a kiss to his neck, he chuckles a little, carding his fingers through her hair. She had allowed it to grow a little longer than she wore it previously, but never let it get past her shoulders.

"I… had always thought this unobtainable."

Isabeau doesn't look at Flynn's face, but she can feel his hands still for a moment in surprise as she speaks. "Marrying for love and not for status. Bringing forth such a monumental change in the world." She pauses when she feels the sting of tears – not an uncommon feeling to her when they were together like this, as much as she would always try to hide it. "Being fortunate enough to find you in this life."

How many lives had they lived before coming to know each other – how many faces had they worn, how many people had they known? When they died, how many times would they be reborn before finding each other again?

In that moment, the sheer weight of that thought is unbearable to her. "Do you think… we'll truly be able to meet again in our next life?" She hates how uncertain she sounds; how her voice dips closer to sounding afraid than she'd like to admit.

For a moment, Isabeau's question hangs in the air without answer, until Flynn shifts to pull away from her, just enough to move his head. "Look at me, Isabeau. Please." Part of her wants to remain hidden against him, to keep him from seeing the few tears that had managed to escape in wet trails down her cheeks, but she does what he asks. His hands reach up to cup both sides of her face, gently wiping away what was left from the rush of emotion that had overcome her. "We made a promise, did we not? To Jonathan, to Walter – to ourselves. Nothing in this world could severe the string of fate that ties us all together."

There's such genuine honestly and belief in his eyes that Isabeau feels the urge to cry all over again. "Flynn… I…" Her voice quivers, betraying the sob that has risen in her throat. "I don't want to live in a world without you."

Wordlessly, Flynn leans in to kiss her, and she closes her eyes, allowing him to press her back against the mattress once more. Nothing else needs to be said now.

She loses herself in the sensations – of his body moving against hers, of his hands leaving hot trails across her skin until she reaches for them, lacing their fingers together beside her head on the pillow. Her world melts together into a blur of color and sound, until the only thing she can still focus on is the green of Flynn's eyes, never looking away from her. She tries to hold his gaze through it all, but eventually, that too becomes impossible.

And right before the moment everything becomes too much, Flynn leans down into the curve of Isabeau's neck, breaths coming hot and fast against her ear. "When the time comes, I will find you. I will." She can only whimper in response as he goes on. "Gods and demons of this world be damned, I swear I'll never leave you. I swear to you on this life, and the next, and all that come after that as long as we live in this world, I will always find you."

As they carry each other over the edge once again, Isabeau knows with all her heart that she can hold Flynn true to his promises.