to live and burn is
the most exquisite form of self destruction

I’m not leaving you.

The swiftness of Jaws’s denial was both a blessing and a burden. The scarred roan didn’t want her to go, he didn’t... but he also wanted her to be safe and happy. And he wasn’t sure— he didn’t think— that there was any way he could promise those things to her. He’d broken his share of promises in the past, but this was different. Breaking a promise to the smoky black mare would break him in a way that her absence could not. He’d already failed so much (Debonaire. Conquistador. Cherish. Cullen. To name only the worst.), and this felt like his last chance to do something right. If the Lagoon crumbled back into darkness the moment he was gone, there would still be a piece of him left in the fierce daughter who’d found her way back. She’d keep fighting, keep living, and she’d remember him. And while he’d once dreamed of a legacy that the entire islands would hold onto, now— now being remembered and loved by this single girl felt like enough.

Jaws melted into the palomino as if his offer had lifted the weight of an entire world from her shoulders, and Rade knew the answer even before she spoke. I couldn’t imagine anywhere else, she said after a sniffle. I don’t want to be anywhere else. Smiling in answer to the soft fierceness of her voice and the tight press of her body, the Boss felt his heart lighten too, flipping a single time in his chest. This moment was everything— hope and joy and victory and a promise that they’d face the world together, no matter what came. And when Jaws spoke again, her words echoed that thought, reinforced that vow. I’m staying with you, nothing is pulling us apart again.

Rade laughed warmly, tugging a curl of inky-black hair and pushing back into the mare with a force of his own. With a strength that hadn’t been there only moments before. “Of course, little fool,” he teased, calling on memories of their time together in the meadow. “That’s what being a Companion is all about. If anyone tries anything, the whole Lagoon will give ‘em hell, and they know that. So you’re stuck with me.” For as long as he had left, anyway, but there was no point in adding that. Rade’s mortality was never far from his own mind, and Jaws— well, he’d seen the way she looked at him sometimes. The concern that she tried to hide.

“I figure we celebrate,” He finally continued, gaze flitting back out across the sea. At peace with the world for once— or at least, as close to peace as the old stallion ever came. “The Lagoon can survive a day without its Boss, so I’m yours until tomorrow morning. So… what would you like to do?” This should be interesting. Part of him still saw Jaws as the filly who chased crabs up and down Atlantis’s beach, and well— he wasn’t sure what sort of things the mare she’d become enjoyed. But whatever it was, he’d give it a shot.

If Rade was going to be remembered, he wanted to make those memories worthwhile.

stallion . palomino roan . mustang mix . 15.1hh
debonaire x neassa