A/N: So, um, maybe by now you've gotten over the initial OMG WTF at the pairing... Done for the kink meme over at LJ. Don't read if the idea of Ninian and Elbert having sex squicks you out, because that's what happens. This was really interesting to write, just cause coming to terms with the pairing was so challenging, but... I feel like it came together in the end! Please leave a review, but no flames. I don't care if you think the pairing is gross, just tell me what you think of the writing!

Words: 865
Characters: Ninian, Elbert
Time: During their imprisonment by Nergal, before Elbert's death
Genre: Drama

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Nintendo, not me.

The cell was silent save for the scurrying of rats in a distant corner. Ninian flinched at every loud squeak. They were nibbling on the mostly inedible remnants of the prisoners' last meal. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Elbert watching her carefully, with cool understanding in his gaze.

"You have nothing to be afraid of," he said. "They're busy. They won't come near you."

A scream echoed from a faraway room, from somewhere above them. It was Nils's voice. Ninian winced, and all of a sudden Elbert was by her side, his arms tight round her shivering shoulders, pulling her into his embrace. When she tilted her head, her cheek brushed against the skin of his arm, and she was shocked to feel its warmth sparking against her skin, almost painful. Involuntarily she gasped. Elbert did the same.

"Your skin is so cold," he murmured. "Ninian, you're like ice. You must – take care of yourself…"

The words were empty, hopeless and helpless. Ninian could not remember the last time, in this world or the other, that someone had held her so strongly, so tenderly… There was only one vague memory, so reminiscent of the present that she thought she must be confused…

His heat was intoxicating, intriguing. Her human hands, still somewhat unfamiliar, uncontrollable, slipped beneath his shirt and explored his chest, his stomach, desperate for more of that weird and wonderful warmth. She could feel his ribs. His body still retained a mature, purposeful sort of strength; it fascinated her, the contours of his muscles, the rippling of his skin when he tensed at her touch, the rapid beating of his heart beneath his chest. She heard his breath catch.

"Ninian, what are you…?"

"Please," she whispered. She rested her ear against his heartbeat as her hands continued to explore. "Please…"

A shuddering sigh escaped him, but though he made no move towards her, neither did he offer any further resistance. Carefully, as if tasting an unknown delicacy, she pressed her lips to his skin. He was not clean; they had been confined for too long for proper hygiene, but it was not unpleasant to her. Elbert was as still as if he were the one born of ice. Too entranced by the moment to blush at her boldness, Ninian lifted Elbert's hands onto her breasts, pressing them there, imploring him. In small increments, kissing his collar then his rough jaw, she found his lips at last, and, to her surprise, he accepted her kiss without argument.

They didn't speak another word. Ninian's dress slipped from her shoulders; she shivered, and Elbert's warm hands covered her bare skin, followed by his mouth. She gasped at the new sensation. His lips were just as tender on her skin as they were when they formed the words and stories that gave her so much comfort. His hands tangled in her cascading hair, and when she slipped her own hands over his stomach, his waist, and beneath his belt, his fingers twisted slightly in her tresses, an inadvertent twitch, not painful, but just enough force that she could feel the tension at the nape of her neck.

She found him already hard beneath her hesitant fingers. Her hands moved inexpertly now, by sheer instinct, and she was naïve but not imperceptive. It did not much matter, for when Elbert pushed up her skirts and pulled her onto his lap, she did not need to use her hands any longer. Moving her hips, pressing against him, her instinct now ran wild, thoughtless and without inhibition. He started with his hands, slipping his fingers inside her. He followed her movements; he read her desires and responded; she could feel herself wet and hot and desperate. Then he shifted, removed his hand.

Their eyes met for the briefest of moments, flaming red against icy blue. Then all she knew was the sensation, the most exquisite combination of pain and pleasure, bearing firmly but gently into her, ever deeper, ever stronger. Every now and then, she would feel his lips caress her shoulder, sometimes his teeth, always with a burst of warm breath. She felt heady with the rolling freedom. Her limbs tingled, her fingernails dug furrows into his back as she rocked until she wanted to cry out for release, and only by some unknown miracle did she restrain herself. Instead, they reached their peak in breathless, gasping silence, then descended slowly, reality beginning to reform around them.

Elbert lifted her, for her limbs were weak. He cradled her kindly, sliding her dress back over her shoulders and the marks he had left, then running his hands through the tangles he had made in her hair. It was only too easy to hide them.

For a moment, there lingered a sudden, stifling stillness. Then Nils screamed again from above, followed by a laugh of inhuman coldness. But not even that was enough to drown out the squeaks of a squabble in the distant corner, claws and teeth ripping at fur. Ninian shook in shame and fear. Her tears melted into Elbert's sweat, and his arms seemed the only thing protecting her from the oppressive walls suffocating the space around her.