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Rose stood hesitantly in front of Kanaya's door, trying to muster up the courage to knock. It had been multiple days since she and her other friends had come to rescue her from her ecto-father's clutches. The confrontation had quickly turned into a fight, Dirk and her brainwashed self facing off against their friends, joined by Terezi and an alternate version of Calliope. The strife had been rough, weapons clashing as her friends and wife begged her to come home with them, while Dirk and the Muse faced off against each other in a brutal clash.
None of them could remember much after Dirk took hold of them, using them as puppets to fight the Muse alongside him. All that they knew is that they'd won, coming to on the ravaged surface of Deltritus as Dirk died a Just death.
The aftermath of the fight was a blur. Freed from Dirk's hold on her, Rose had been extremely confused and struggling with her emotions, spiralling and unraveling. Thanks to Davepeta's own Heart powers, her soul was back in her old body that Dirk had, apparently, been keeping on his person. Freed from the ultimate self hivemind, it had taken time for her to wrap her head around everything and undo the hold her father had on her mind. She also had to come to terms with her own actions, and guilt ate away at her. She’d needed a few days after that to gather the courage to try and talk to Kanaya. Her darling wife that she abandoned. She took a deep breath and knocked before she could talk herself out of it.
Entering the room, she took in her wife's beautiful face. She'd missed her. Her stomach churned with guilt, and longing, and anxiety as Kanaya met her eyes, her expression uncertain and hopeful.
"Is It You? Have My Prayers Been Answered?"
Kanaya's breath hitched and took a tentative step towards her, hesitantly reaching a hand out.
"Is It Really You Standing There? Or Am I Dreaming Once More?"
The jadeblood made her way to her, slowly. Her cool fingers traced the contours of her face, as if trying to assure herself that she was real. Rose's cheeks flushed against her lover's delicate touch.
"You Look Different...Your Eyes Look Tired."
Rose suppressed a flinch. While Jane's life powers had restored her body to a functional state, it wasn't the same as she'd left it. She was somehow thinner than before, almost emaciated, and dark circles adorned her eyes.
"Your Frame Is Lighter." Kanaya gently released her face to lay her hands on Rose's shoulders, taking in her wife's form for the first time in months. The troll was trembling ever so slightly, breathing shakily.
"Your Smile Torn..."
Kanaya's jade green eyes met hers, flashing with hope and desperation and longing, her fingers digging into her shoulders as she gripped her tighter. She took a shaky breath.
"Is It Really You, My Love?"
Rose's knees buckled as a sob erupted from her throat. The floodgates opened as the dam burst open, releasing all the hurt and regret she’d been holding in since she’d first woken up. She fell to her knees, gripping her wife's shirt tightly, pressing her head against her lover's stomach. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, soaking the troll's shirt.
"I am not the one you fell in love with", Rose started, "I am not the one you once adored..."
Kanaya, concerned, ran her hands through Rose's thin blonde hair in a soothing manner.
"I am not your kind and gentle lover, and I am not the love you knew before..."
Rose craned her head up to meet her beloved's gaze.
"Would you fall in love with me again?" she asked shakily, "If you know all I'd done, the things I cannot change - would you love me all the same? I know that you've been waiting for love..."
Kanaya knelt down in front of her, grasping her wife's hands. Rose looked down, as she could not bear to look her in the eyes, wracked with regret and sorrow.
"What kind of things did you do?", Kanaya asked gently.
Through her tears, Rose recounted her actions on Deltritus, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Kanaya's thumbs drew soft circles on her knuckles. She pressed her forehead against her wife’s as she listened to her tales. She'd known, of course, that Rose was not entirely blameless in all of this. Dirk's brainwashing could not explain or forgive everything, yet Kanaya couldn't find it in her to be mad at her wife. Not when she finally had her back in her embrace after so long, not when she was already drowning in her own guilt like this.
"So tell me: would you fall in love with me again, if you knew all I've done - the things I can't undo? I am not the girl you knew!" Rose cried out, "I know that you've been waiting..."
She'd already forgiven Rose; now she needed to help her forgive herself - to help her find herself again.
"If That's True," she started, "If You Truly Aren't My Darling Rose, Then Walk Away From Me Right Now. If You're Not My Wife, Walk Away From Us - Like Our Years Together Don't Mean A Thing To You, Like You Never Loved Me, Like You Didn't Promise You'd Love Me Until The End Of The World When We Were Fifteen."
"Sixteen", Rose whispered. "Our first night on Earth C... I said… I said I'd love you until the end of times, and long after that."
Kanaya smiled warmly. "Only My Wife Would Know That, So I Guess That Makes Her You."
"Kanaya..."
Rose's lips stretched into a smile as she whispered her wife's name.
The troll took her wife's face in her hands, angling her head to meet her eyes, before she spoke up.
"I Will Fall In Love With You, Over And Over Again." She paused to take a breath, emerald tears pricking her eyes. "I Don't Care How, When Or Where, No Matter How Long It's Been You're Mine."
She wrapped her arms around the human's waist, pulling her closer to her. She was crying too, now.
"Don't Tell Me You're Not The Same Person, You're Always My Wife And I've been Waiting For You".
She pressed her lips against her wife's, pulling her into a deep and passionate kiss. Rose held Kanaya tightly when they finally broke the kiss, burying her face in her shoulder. The two women desperately held each other, finally reunited. The floor was uncomfortable, and their positions awkward, but they didn't care - they finally had each other again, and they never wanted to let go. They stayed in each other's arms for a long time, as the sun set and the moon rose, neither of them needing to speak a word, content to just be in each other's presence.
"How Long Has It Been?", Kanaya asked softly.
"A year..." Rose whispered back.
"I Love You."
"I love you.”