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softquietsteadylove · 9 months

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Thenamesh taking the subway for the first time! And some drama! pls?

Dane sat in unbearable silence with the woman next to him.

He and Thena were getting along, as far as Sersi could tell him. And he did enjoy Thena's company--she was calm, maybe a little cold, but he was getting to understand that none of her bite had teeth to it. And she seemed to find him funny.

He also knew that she wasn't doing well with most modes of transportation. She and Gilgamesh had apparently travelled by train as much as possible on their journey. Planes were too confined and too high risk, as it were.

He had been prepared to walk clear across London to meet up with Sersi and Gilgamesh, who were perusing the various food markets while Dane got some grading done and Thena rested through the morning and early afternoon.

It would take them literal hours but he was prepared for it.

Thena herself had said there was surely a faster way to get to them, and not to hold back on her account.

Now, they were seated together on the tube, in the least crowded car possible. They were through four stops already, and still had to make one transfer and then go through another six.

Dane cleared his throat. He wasn't entirely sure how to converse with the Warrior Eternal. She never struck up conversations on her own and he wasn't sure what would even be relatable to her, let alone not insufferably dull or passe for a person of her age--experience, maybe; he knew they didn't have any age at all.

Thena looked up as the lights grew dim. Dane looked at her instantly, watching for any small signs of trouble, "something is wrong."

He didn't ask for more. He knew her senses were capable of more than anyone else's. He made no attempt to placate her worries, either.

Not a few seconds later the car went dark before the emergency lighting shone faintly.

"Dammit," he murmured, looking out the window at the completely pitch black side of the tracks. They weren't even within site of the next station. "Power surge or something--we'll be stuck here until they can get the cars moved."

"Dane."

"Shouldn't be long," Dane sighed as he tried to see out the other side as well. No one else was panicking, which was a bit of a relief. "This does happen from time to time."

"Dane."

"We'll be on our way in no-"

"Dane!"

"Time," he muttered, catching the faint gold running under Thena's skin. Her eyes were closed, but he had been told that if he ever saw a flicker of white in them, he need do only two things: get Gilgamesh, and get away.

The car creaked under the dead weight of its load. Thena flinched.

"Okay, all right," Dane said gently, sitting next to her again. She was folded in on herself much more tightly than before--he should have taken more note of her posture. "Hey, Thena, are you all right? Can you breathe?"

She nodded, and indeed he could see the rise and fall of her shoulders, the clench of her throat.

"T-Tell me-" he gulped. Tell him what?--how to help her? Was there truly anything a mortal man like him could do?

She shook her head.

Dane pulled out his phone; no service, of course. He sighed, budging closer until his knee could knock against hers gently. "Thena, can you tell me what you need?"

Her throat tightened and her lips pinched together, something akin to a whimper escaping from her.

Gilgamesh: what, or who, she needed was her husband.

"Right," Dane sighed, still hovering close to the woman. He looked around him warily at the other civilians around them.

"Is she okay?"

He looked over, an older woman looking at them in concern. He gave her his calmest smile. "My sister-in-law, she gets...panic attacks--claustrophobic."

He looked at Thena again, afraid to worsen her struggle. He inhaled, "what if I talk? Something to focus on?"

Thena nodded, moving her own trembling hands to her head.

"Okay, yes, talk," Dane gulped and nodded to himself. His throat had never been so dry in his life. "Uhm, so, I-"

Thena growled from within her throat.

"Sorry," he sighed. Why had they split up? Even if just Sersi were here, she could calm her sister down. Better than he could, at least. "I'm sure you wish Sersi were here too."

Thena waved her hand at him.

Yes, Sersi--oh, Sersi! He leaned forward, "S-Sersi, yes, t-talk about Sersi?"

She nodded.

"Right," he let out a somewhat easier breath. "Well, we, uhm, we met almost four years ago now. She gave a presentation at the school and, well, I suppose I fell for her rather quickly."

"It's terribly cliche, but it's true," he chuckled, remembering the day he first laid eyes on the unearthly - oh, the irony - beautiful woman. "Even more unexpected was how much we had in common, and how she asked if I'd like to get coffee some time."

"I thought to myself, surely this woman is way out of my league. Surely she has some long-term partner I just don't know about yet."

Thena smacked his shoulder.

Right, no Ikaris talk; Dane rubbed his arm. "Sorry--anyway, we had such a great time talking about history and natural science that I suggested we get together again. And I suppose...it went from there."

"Sersi just...never gets tired of it all. Especially knowing now how long she's been here, I can't fathom how she still has so much wonder for the little things. But she takes nothing for granted--she loves the sunrise, and loud rain, and watching birds. She doesn't squish bugs who find themselves where they shouldn't be."

"Early in our relationship, we were on a walk in a public garden. There was a butterfly exhibit, and she told me that 'an old friend' of hers used sign language, and that her sign for Sersi was like a butterfly."

"Anyway, we were on our way out when we saw a butterfly on the leaf of one of the trees by the entrance. It was quite far from the butterfly exhibit and my guess is that it was swept away by the winds or something--poor thing."

"And Sersi," Dane sighed, a smile coming over him at the memory. "She held out her finger, and the butterfly made itself right at home with her. I've never seen anything like it, but it settled in her palm and moved its wings a little."

"We walked to lunch and that butterfly just sat there. At one point she took a strawberry out of her salad for it. Then, on the way home, it had finally recovered itself and...fluttered off."

"I'll never forget what it was like to see such a delicate life form so comfortable with another," Dane finished softly. Thena was holding herself much less tightly than she was before, he noted with some relief. "The next date we went on I got her a little trinket--just a silly little thing. Glass butterfly she could keep on her desk. Just-"

"It's on her shelf at home."

Dane blinked. Even before they had gotten stuck, Thena hadn't spoken since descending the stairs into the station. "I-It is?"

Thena nodded, looking up at last. Her eyes were green. "She keeps it next to the gift Ajak gave her on her wedding day."

Well that certainly was a place of honour, involving her ex-husband or not.

Thena looked up and over at something, Dane doing the same, even knowing it was futile. He looked back at her. "Something is coming."

He couldn't sense what she was, but he noticed a faint light travelling under them. He assumed it was safety precautions installed by the station.

"She's transmuting."

Dane blinked again. He knew that was what they called Sersi's power. He still didn't know every little detail of how they worked, and Sersi was more than tired of him asking her. But transmutation was the best word for it: transformation of one state of matter to another.

The lights came on and the car lurched as its systems booted again. The small crowd within let out a collective sigh of relief. Although not at full speed, the subway car did at least slowly slide into the next open station, where a crowd of people was both awaiting its arrival and anxious for those inside.

Dane startled as the doors rattled, being gripped and ripped open from the other side.

"I told you to use restraint!"

"Thena?!"

The Warrior Eternal rose and went right to him, letting their rescuer pull her into his arms as she buried her face in his chest. She sighed, "you're here."

"I'm here," he whispered to her, kissing the arch of her cheek and sending that golden glowing away.

Dane eyed the dents in the metal door where Gilgamesh had pried it open like wet cardboard. He cleared his throat, pulling it as far back as it could go and standing in front of it, "please, everyone, this way."

Sersi did the same with the other door, "everyone off, just in case it...shuts down again."

Gilgamesh pulled Thena off the modern contraption and to the side as the crowd filtered off the car and a station inspection crew replaced them. "Come on."

Thena settled into Gil's side as he led them away from the crowd and the congested stairs leading in and out of the station. She breathed in the scent of him.

Gil ran his hand over her hair as he turned to Dane, "you guys okay?"

He nodded, offering his sympathies in a weak smile, "certainly tried--I'm no substitute for the real thing."

"He did well."

Gil beamed, taking his wife's word and kissing the top of her head. He looked back at Dane with that same grin, "sounds like you did a hell of a lot better than 'tried'."

"I'm sorry," Sersi ran her hand down his arm, "I'm sure it was stressful being stuck in there."

He had never been more stressed out in his life. He shrugged, "we were all right, I think."

"Well, let's get above ground at least," Gil suggested, still with his bag of loot on his other arm. "Fresh air?"

Thena nodded against him, still quiet after their close call.

Dane looked at his girlfriend, "what did you do?"

Sersi gave him a somewhat sheepish smile, "copper is a much better conductor of both heat and electricity. Gil and I heard that a car had been stopped due to a power outage. He ripped the fuse box open and I turned all the wiring to copper."

Dane shook his head; she made it sound so simple.

"I changed them back already," she huffed in her own defense.

Dane just chuckled, taking her hand in his as they trailed behind his in-laws, "careful, love, or you'll make the news again."

#Thenamesh AU #maybe a little different but I hope you like it!#just...Dane on the subway with Thena #he's like do I talk?--do I not talk?#meanwhile Thena is off in her own little world #I do write Dane as really nervous and I think he has that part of him #but he's not really the bumbling sidekick type #and he does want to help people #he has a certain level of sureness to him as a human at least #I just would have loved to have Dane meet Thena #and Gil #I mean the little history nerd would lose his shit no?#and he's funny!#Thena likes humans who are funny!#They get kind of startled when she laughs but she just looks at them #you are funny #my husband is funny #and they're like...okay???

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