Eventually, they do work their way over to Plegia, and Sully doesn't desert.
She isn't sure if she's brave or an idiot for staying- probably both- but Libra is rarely too far from her, and she's comforted by that.
That's the only comfort she has. Everything else has gone to hell, just as she expected yet at the same time far worse than she imagined. Validar not only deceived them, but he stole the Fire Emblem after he possessed Robin, who was alternating between shame and anger while trying to keep a straight face. Still, she doled out strategies for the future with far less authority than before the return to Ylisse. Having seen Grima's damage herself, Lucina had been crestfallen, but not simply at the idea of Validar resurrecting Grima- if the fact that her resentful glares at Robin softened into remorse were any indication. She's gotten a little better at reading strangers, but even she knows Lucina isn't exactly subtle.
All this happened over the course of one night- and that night isn't over yet.
It hasn't been a great day for Sully.
The crew is setting camp up in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere. Chrom twitches every now and again like he would like nothing more than to keep going, but Sully knows she's exhausted and half the camp is dead on their feet.
As she sets up her tent, she tries to parse through what little she knows. The Fire Emblem's gone because Robin got brainwashed or some shit. If they don't get it back soon, Validar's gonna resurrect Grima and there goes the world. Even beyond that, though, she thinks back to the inquisition. Of Tiki and Say'ri and how they still stay with the Shepherds and Libra still has not the courage to talk to the former, though he tells her repeatedly that he will consider it. Of how Basilio died partway through it and how she misses having someone with a fouler mouth than her in camp. Of Kjelle, a faceless spirit that she tries not to pester Lucina about anymore, tries to forget about, tries to push towards the back of her mind except for the times where it consumes her brain and leaves an irreparable ache in her heart.
She finishes the tent and sees Libra follow her, fixing the mistakes she isn't surprised she made in her distracted exhaustion. She flops on the ground and instead of getting the cots, he follows. She closes her eyes but decides they can wait until later to get them. She may sleep on the gods-damned dirt.
She's surprised that Libra kneels and gently lies down next to her like the hoity-toity graceful bastard he is. Their sides touch again, but neither seems to mind.
"You're gonna mess up your perfect hair," she teases.
He gently grunts. "It's already going to be a mess in the near future," he responds. "Perhaps I'm simply getting a headstart."
"Hmm, that." She smiles. She likes when Libra gets a little attitude around her. She likes real things, and the more real he gets, the more she likes him.
The two are quiet for a while, the comfort of their presence near each other drowning away Sully's thoughts on the unholy mess before them. She's always been the type to worry about that later, but as things get worse, she isn't sure she should be.
She decides it to be safe enough to bring up something adjacent to the conversation.
"I'm thinking…"
"At this time of night?" Libra warns, a wan smile on his face.
"Aw, hush," she responds, and he chuckles. "But that just means if I'm thinking of anything stupid, we can chalk it up to the time and forget about it."
"I'm sure it won't be," he tells her.
"Heh." This is probably the twelfth time Libra has made her blush since they met, and she probably hasn't blushed much more than that ever. "I mean… let's say this all ends and we don't die. We can just… go for what we want, right?"
"I assume so," he says. A logical response as expected. Still, Sully can sense him smiling.
"Yeah, well… I've been thinking that the whole knight thing- that's gonna be the background of my life going forward. And I'm, like… what are we gonna do with it?" Sully turns to Libra, hand holding up her head. "Like, what is it that you want to fill your life with?"
Libra rubs his eyes. He almost hits Sully in the face by accident, but at least he's loosening up. "I cannot say that I know full well." Sully tries to hide her disappointment as he continues. "I would like to see peace return to the world. I would like to be even better at teaching the gospel of Naga. Perhaps over time, I will build and open the orphanage for the children who need it. Still, all of these are ideas, none fleshed out."
Sully snorts. "Yeah, they're probably the same with me. But, like, they're things I wanna do for me. And yours are all about what you can do for others. And it's okay to be selfish every now and again, you know?"
Libra clears his throat awkwardly. The more tents that begin to surround theirs, the darker the light is into theirs. "I do have long-term goals, like yourself, and I am…" He clears his throat again. "Doing my best to embrace those… does that not seem like a thing I am doing for myself?"
Sully sighs. "In an annoyingly technical way. Look, let me put it like this- is there anything that you want for yourself? Anything?"
Libra leans up and folds his hands over his mouth, eyes locked on the flap of the tent. Sully can tell that he's thinking and that he's unnerved all the same. She waits for him to apologize, and he does, qualifying it with "It seems that I don't know at this moment."
"It's okay," she insists. "That's what we've got life for, right?"
Libra nods, but he doesn't seem convinced. Sully sighs as both lie back down.
"You know what's been on my mind a little?" she continues. "That made me wonder that?" Libra turns towards her at her words. "Lucina told me I had a kid out there."
"Oh my."
"Oh, gods-damn my."
The two lay next to each other and attempt silence, but Sully can tell Libra's burning up at the mention. She asks "Is everything okay?"
"I…" He stops. "A child?" Before she speaks, he adds "I mean, with all of the children that traveled with Lucina and how they've all claimed Shepherds as their parents… I suppose it makes sense. I just… didn't consider that you would be one."
Sully snorts. "'Cause you thought I was gonna be a spinster forever?"
She relishes the way Libra gasps, choking like he hit his head. "I can assure you that it's not what I meant, Sully, I apolo-"
She means to cackle but giggles instead. It's adorable to see him scramble sometimes. "Relax, Libra," she says. "I mean, I would have thought the same."
Libra relaxes. "I apologize."
"Stop that," she demands reflexively. "Half the stuff you apologize for you don't need to."
Libra nods slowly but clearly isn't comfortable with the idea. Damn it, now Sully wants to apologize, but she lets it go. "How has knowledge of this child… impacted you at all? I imagine it has to have."
She nods. "Yeah, like, course it has. I don't know much about my kid but that's on purpose. I mean, I'm curious, but I try to draw a line in it, 'cause if I were more familiar with her then I'd have ditched everyone a long time ago trying to find her."
Libra winces, and even in the dark of night, Sully knows it. She decides to piece it all together in her head rather than ask him to explain the pain. He's not keen on that. She eventually starts to enter the realm of getting it, the idea of leaving before she became this close to Libra,and says "Damn it, I'm sorry I didn't think of..."
"It's your daughter," Libra insists. "The fact that you've made it this far without so much as telling anyone-"
"I know, I know," she moans, leaning up and facing him. "I should have at least told you."
He raises an eyebrow. "Is that honestly what you'd expect my response to be, Sully?"
Sully closes her eyes. "Not really," she says, "but I think I would if I were you. I shouldn't have kept this a secret, but-"
"You're far too harsh on yourself."
Sully's surprised enough to flop her arms back on the grass with a loud poof. Libra usually never interrupts her, and she was about to snap back at him but instead, her mind wanders towards thoughts that better illuminate the statement.
"Maybe."
"I certainly believe so," he says, leaning up. "I'm no stranger in keeping deeply personal secrets to myself. It is completely fine for you to have your own, especially those that weigh on you so. I know this can't have been easy for you to bear for so long, so to share it at all is the strongest thing you'd ever do."
Sully smiles, even though a few tears have been provoked. She can't help it; she trusts his words. Oftimes they've given her heart when hers was near to breaking. He's her partner. His words are his connection to her. Damn, she's gotten sappy, but… She needs him in times like these. Everything's so haywire and emotional, so she needs a fellow person she can trust to effectively comfort her.
"So if there's anything I want in life, right now…" She sighs. "Probably it's to find her. Because everything's really coming to a head. And not only do I not want her to die, but it'd also suck for her if her mom went and left her a damn orphan again."
Libra seethes and closes his eyes like the idea hurts him more than her. Then, in a serious tone that could provoke rain from the gods down into the desert, he says "So it shall be. We shall find her."
"Damn." She whistles. Her heart's racing. "That's… big."
"If it's momentous, it fits the occasion."
She turns to him, almost falling into his shoulder. Libra would probably be surprised, for sure, but she can't really hide how being near him sets her soul on fire. She doesn't really feel this way, even around the men and women she's deemed pretty. Perhaps because none of them are people that she would imagine to ever be hers. No matter how unspoken it gets, Libra is hers.
"Sully?"
Damn it, she got lost in thought. Thought that certainly has left her beet red in her clothes. She flops back down with more bounce than she expected on the grass. "Sorry," she says. "I just… you're really good with words, you know? Like, really damn good."
He blushes. Har! Gotcha back, buster! "Coming from you, I'm truly flattered. I've long admired your way with words."
"Oh wow, for real?"
He nods. "I can count multiple times where your words have made me feel…"
"Feel how?"
Sully's heart skips a beat because she knows that they're falling and they're not going to be the same when they land.
Libra struggles for words, and Sully reaches for his hand. He hesitates to take it, so Sully repeats "Feel how?" because she's gonna get some sort of reaction out of him.
A few more seconds. Then "I fear I have nothing to say better than… 'your words make me feel good'." He looks downward at where their disconnected hands are. "I wish I had a better description for you. I apologize."
"It's all good," she says, voice raw and starved. "I think I can get it."
Finally, finally, he takes her hand. When he squeezes it, she nearly falls atop him, giggling in a way that isn't entirely logical. "My, my," he muses, but she can tell that he isn't near alienated.
"Libra, I swear…"
"You do that a lot," he points out.
"Har!" she barks. Slowly, she dares to shadow him. "But this time, I think I'm gonna mean it."
Libra's grin in response is surprisingly impish. "No time like the present, I suppose."
She leans down toward his face, hands pressed against the dirt to either side of him. "I'm just gonna kiss you," Sully says. Maybe more, if he wants it, but if not, she'll deal.
"That's fine," he responds, the look on his face somewhere between deliriously queasy and very much more than fine.
Are you sure?" she asks.
He hesitates, and Sully's starting to regret she asked because she herself is damn sure, but she knows Libra's defenses are tricky to get over. The more she asks if it's okay, the more she knows she actually did it.
Libra slowly pulls his legs from underneath Sully, giving her cause for concern until he accidentally rams her head with his knees as he does. He gasps when she flies back, rubbing her forehead something fierce, concern out the window.
"Fuckin' hell, gods sakes," she steams, eyes closed because the world hurts to look at. "What the fuck was that?" Huh, she does swear a lot.
"Oh gods," he says. "I'm so sorry!"
"Hey, jackarse," she responds with a teasing smirk, quickly getting back up and over him. "I never took you to be experienced but I'm pretty damn sure that ain't how you kiss someone."
He laughs to himself so quietly it gets lost in the wind. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, Sully. I'd…" He scratches the back of his neck, stopping before he gets too low. "I'd feel more comfortable were I to sit up, but please, allow me to rectify it if you would be so kind."
She cracks a guffaw. "You get one chance, Libra. One-"
Then, because of course, something has to happen:
"Come quick!"