[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 112: In Which Void Learns to Speak

The cable car station was busy with actual tourists doing normal tourist things.

We bought tickets and waited in line, Azryth’s arm around my shoulders the entire time, keeping me tucked against his side.

"Clingy," I observed.

"You were clingy first."

"Fair."

Void had been watching the cable cars with obvious fascination, eyes tracking their movement up and down the mountain.

The cable car arrived, and we packed in with a family from Germany, a couple from Japan, and some college students who were definitely going to make this ride louder than it needed to be.

The doors closed and we started ascending.

Void made a small uncertain sound as the ground dropped away.

"You drove off an Equilibrium Emissary," I reminded it quietly. "You can handle a cable car."

It pressed closer to my neck, not scared exactly, just... processing the concept of voluntary altitude.

Azryth’s arm tightened around my waist, pulling me fully against his chest as we rose higher.

The view was incredible. Mountains in every direction, the valley below looking like a postcard, snow-capped peaks catching the morning light in ways that probably violated some natural beauty regulation.

But I was more focused on the way Azryth’s hand was moving in slow circles on my hip, the way his chin rested on top of my head, the absolute contentment radiating through the binding.

"What are you thinking?" I asked quietly.

"That I’ve existed for over five hundred years and never did this." His hand pressed more firmly against my hip. "Never took time to just... exist somewhere beautiful without purpose, I never had someone to do it with."

"You’re doing it now."

"Because of you." His lips brushed against my hair. "Everything good is because of you."

My throat tightened. "That’s..."

"True," he said simply.

Through the binding, I felt what he wasn’t saying. Gratitude that I’d pulled him out of that amulet, relief that we’d survived everything, love so fierce it made my chest ache.

I turned my head to look up at him, and his hand came up to cup my face gently.

"I love you," I said, quiet enough that only he could hear.

"I know." His thumb brushed my cheek. "I feel it constantly."

"Good."

His eyes were warm, content, and I felt like we were the only people in the cable car despite being packed in with tourists.

The cable car reached the top, and we stepped out into alpine air that was cold and clear and perfect.

Azryth kept his arm around me as we walked to the viewing platform, and I stayed tucked against his side because apparently we’d both decided personal space was optional.

"This is nice," Mara said from the railing, taking photos like a normal person instead of someone who’d helped destroy an ancient organization this morning.

Henrik stood beside her, looking out at the view with quiet appreciation.

Ryota had found a bench and was actually relaxing, the constant tactical awareness finally eased into something that looked almost like peace.

Azryth pulled me to the railing, positioning us slightly apart from the others, his arms coming around my waist from behind.

"Look," he said quietly, chin on my shoulder.

I looked out at the Alps, at mountains and sky and impossible beauty.

"It’s perfect," I said.

"It is." His arms tightened. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For this. For pulling me into your chaotic mortal existence." His lips brushed against my neck, just below my ear. "For making me want to do absurd tourist things instead of just existing alone."

I leaned back against him, feeling solid and warm and real. "You’re welcome."

***

The cable car ride down was packed with the same mix of tourists we’d had going up.

I was tucked against Azryth’s side again, Void settled happily on my shoulder after surviving the ascent, when Mara made a thoughtful sound.

"Huh," she said, looking around the cable car.

"What?" Henrik asked.

"Nobody’s staring at Void."

I glanced around and she was right. The German family, the Japanese couple, the college students...none of them were even glancing at the floating ball of purple-black energy on my shoulder.

"Ah... we’ve gotten so used to dimensional weirdness that we forgot normal people exist," I said.

"Apparently normal people can’t see Void," Mara observed.

"Wait." Henrik frowned. "That woman in the chocolate shop saw it, she even commented on it floating."

"Oh." Mara’s expression shifted. "Then she must be one of the reality merger affected. The people who can now see things between dimensions."

"Chen Wei’s supposed to be tracking them down for training," Ryota said. "Sounds like she missed one."

"You should let her know," Henrik said.

Ryota was already pulling out his phone. "On it."

And that was it. No drama, no crisis, just a casual observation that some people could see dimensional entities and some couldn’t, and we should probably tell the person coordinating training about the woman who could.

Normal day.

***

We didn’t get back to the fortress until late evening.

The rift passage from northern Italy deposited us back in Alaska, and we walked up the path in comfortable silence, Azryth’s arm around my shoulders, mine around his waist.

The Covenant was gone, my mother’s killers were eliminated, and we’d spent the day being absurdly normal tourists in Switzerland.

It felt like closure and new beginning all mixed together.

"That was good," Mara said as we reached the entrance. "We should do normal things more often."

"Agreed," Henrik said.

"Next time without the violence first," Ryota added.

"Where’s the fun in that?" I asked.

Void made a happy chirp and created one last sparkle-sphere before we went inside.

Mara immediately claimed the kitchen with the determination of someone who’d been planning this.

"I’m making food," she announced. "Real food. Sit."

We sat.

Henrik pulled out his tablet, reviewing something that made him frown thoughtfully. Ryota settled near the window with tea, the constant tactical awareness finally eased. Azryth sat beside me on the couch, I rested my head on his shoulder, his hand finding mine automatically.

Void floated from my shoulder to hover near the table, watching Mara work with the intense focus of someone studying advanced theory.

She was making something that involved pasta and vegetables and cheese, moving around the kitchen with practiced efficiency.

Void’s eyes tracked every movement, the knife chopping vegetables, the water boiling, the pasta being drained, the cheese being grated into a bowl.

It leaned forward, practically vibrating with focus.

"You’re very interested in this," I said.

A sharp chirp of agreement.

Mara added the cheese to the pasta, stirring it together with roasted vegetables, and Void made a small sound that was almost a whine.

"You still can’t eat it though," I said.

Void’s eyes dimmed slightly, disappointment clear in the way its glow faded from bright purple to something darker.

"Sorry, that’s just reality."

It made a low sound that felt like disagreement and created a single sparkle that popped with more force than usual. Not playful... frustrated.

I tried to ignore it, but Void kept staring as Mara brought plates to the table....pasta with roasted vegetables and enough cheese to constitute a health violation.

We ate, and Void watched.

Its eyes never left the food, tracking forks from plate to mouth with the intensity of someone witnessing something deeply unfair. The glow around it shifted, not threatening, but agitated, purple-black energy crackling faintly in ways that suggested mounting frustration.

"You okay?" Azryth asked quietly, noticing my distraction.

"Void’s having an existential crisis about not being able to eat."

His lips curved slightly. "Understandable."

Void made an indignant sound and created a sparkle near my plate, sharp-edged, annoyed, dissipating quickly like punctuation on its mood.

"What do you want me to do about it?" I asked the furball.

A longer trill, insistent and demanding.

"You literally don’t have a mouth. That’s not my fault."

The energy around Void intensified, purple-black sparks that felt more frustrated than aggressive, building in frequency.

"Is it okay?" Henrik asked, looking up from his tablet.

"It’s mad that it can’t eat," I said.

"That’s... surprisingly relatable," Mara said.

Void’s eyes blazed brighter, and it made a sound I’d never heard before...something between a warble and a buzz that conveyed pure exasperation.

Then it created a sphere. Not sparkles, a solid sphere of condensed energy that hung in the air, pulsing with what felt distinctly like annoyance.

"Void," I said carefully.

The sphere dissipated, but Void’s eyes were still burning bright, locked on my plate with single-minded intensity.

"Look, I’m sorry you can’t eat. But you’re made of compressed cosmic energy, I don’t think you need food."

A sharp, angry chirp.

"What do you want me to say? Grow a mouth?"

The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

Void went completely still.

The energy around it got bigger, not crackling anymore, building. Purple-black power condensing in ways that made the air feel heavy, made the fortress wards hum in response.

"Uh," I said.

"Riven?" Azryth’s hand tightened on mine, his attention fully on Void now.

The furrball began to glow brighter, the energy swirling around it in patterns that looked almost deliberate. Purposeful.

Mara’s scanner started screaming.

"What is it doing?" Henrik asked, standing.

"I don’t know," I said, because I really didn’t.

Void’s form shifted, not much, just slightly, like reality was bending around it to accommodate something new.

The energy built higher, concentrated, and I felt through some sense I couldn’t name that Void was doing something. Changing something, making a choice about its own structure that probably shouldn’t be possible for residual nexus energy.

"Should we stop it?" Ryota asked, moving closer but not touching.

"I don’t think we can," Azryth said quietly, his power manifesting around his hands just in case.

The air around Void shimmered, warped, and then...

Something opened on its surface.

Small, dark... definitely a mouth.

Not cute or friendly-looking. Just a thin line that split across the lower portion of its spherical body, revealing darkness inside that looked deeper than it should be, like staring into a void that went on forever.

Void’s eyes brightened with what could only be triumph.

It had grown a mouth.

Because I’d told it to.

Because it wanted to eat badly enough that it just... changed itself.

"Holy shit," Mara whispered, scanner still screaming in her hands.

The mouth moved.

Opened slightly, testing the new structure, and I saw something that looked like teeth inside. Not normal teeth. Sharp, crystalline, catching light in ways that suggested they weren’t made of the same matter as everything else.

Void made a sound, testing vocal cords it shouldn’t have, experimenting with this new capability.

Then it spoke.

One word.

Clear and distinct and absolutely wrong.

"Mama!"