Work Text:
They talk about it on day one.
Beau is not used to being pursued, being wanted and being someone’s first choice.
It’s not something that she’s really gone around hoping for, and when Yasha finally kisses her, Beau is awestruck and Beau is terrified.
She has yearned for so long, watching, waiting, wishing for Yasha to look at her the way that she has always been looking at Yasha.
Of course, no matter how observant she might be, she completely missed the fact that Yasha had indeed been looking at her like that .
Being with Yasha is something that fills Beau with wonder every day of her life.
But Yasha knows her, and she sees her insecurities written all over her face.
That’s why they talk about it immediately, even though it takes a while for Beau to believe it.
“Are you sure?” Beau whispers, eyes wide and mouth agape.
Yasha smiles so softly that Beau almost cries.
“I am.”
And Beau, capable of sabotaging everything to perfection, herself first and foremost, stubbornly continues.
“But, you know, what about…?”
Yasha takes her face in her palms. Her smile is still there, and there’s sadness in her eyes, but there’s also peace.
“Zuala is in my past. I have loved her deeply and will love her forever.” she says. “This does not mean that I love you any less.”
Beau sobs a small laugh.
She shakes her head, and she can’t believe what she is hearing.
“I want for us to have a future, Beau. Are you in?”
Beauregard nods, kissing Yasha once, twice.
“Yeah. Fuck yeah, I’m in.”
~~~
One small talk is not enough, and Yasha knows it.
Years and years of trauma and neglect can’t be fixed with a couple kisses, no matter how intense and how sincere her love is.
Yasha tells Beau that she doesn’t have to worry, that she is sure, that she is not going to change her mind, and Beau says “Okay.”
Beau says “I believe you.” But Yasha knows that she doesn’t.
And it’s okay.
She doesn’t expect to heal such a big wound in a short time.
She doesn’t care, because Yasha knows she’s in for the long run.
And so she waits.
Patiently and steadily, she loves Beauregard the way Beauregard deserves to be loved: with open arms and an open heart. With kisses and laughter and banters and fights.
She gifts Beau flowers and cheers for her in the fighting pits.
She pays for Beau’s ale until they stop counting who’s spent what money and they start considering themselves a package deal.
She holds Beau through her nightmares and cures her wounds after her fights.
Yasha loves Beau the way Beau doesn’t know she deserves.
With honesty, and gentleness and pure, burning passion.
~~~
They live and love each other so earnestly that one day, Beau gets it.
She understands what Yasha has told her so long ago, before and after kissing her soundly.
They’re around the campfire, the Nein happily drinking and sharing stories, and Yasha’s head tilts to the side, leaning on Beau’s shoulder.
Her heterochromatic eyes shine in the soft light of the fire, and Yasha nurses her ale as she watches their friends go about their stories.
Yasha’s free hand is ghosting over Beau’s knee, gently caressing it in a mindless movement.
And Beau gets it, she gets the honesty and the purity of her love.
She knows Yasha doesn’t consider her as Zuala’s replacement.
She understands that, no matter how Yasha’s first wife will forever be alive and loved in Yasha’s heart, Beau is just as important, and Yasha’s love is just as lasting.
“I love you, Yasha.” Beau whispers, not to break the main conversation.
She feels Yasha’s smile against her shoulder, just before Yasha turns her head to kiss the bare skin.
“I love you, too, Beau.” Yasha responds, and yes.
It’s just that simple.
~~~
Yasha sees it in her eyes in the next few days, in the following weeks.
Beau carries herself with more certainty, with more confidence, if that’s even possible.
She notices it in the way Beau looks at her, grinning wildly from across the battlefield, that every last doubt in Beau’s heart has evaporated.
Yasha doesn’t know who or what has finally convinced her girlfriend, but she doesn’t care.
She is happy, and she can’t care about anything else.
So… she asks.
“Have you ever thought about getting married?”
Beau spit takes the whole gulp of ale she’s just taken, and Yasha has to hold it together for the sake of the conversation, but Beau’s face is quite the spectacle.
“Wha- What ?!” Beau croaks, as she desperately tries to clean herself up.
Yasha hands Caleb's scarf from where it’s hanging on the chair, its owner dancing somewhere with Caduceus.
The tavern is decently crowded, loud enough to cover their conversation from Veth and Jester, who are plotting some shenanigans a few seats away, but not too loud to drown out their own words.
“Have you ever thought about-?” Yasha starts again, before being interrupted by Beau’s waving hand.
“No, I mean. I heard what you said. I just, I mean. Are you…?” Beau looks at her in awe, and surprise, and with an incredible amount of love. “Yasha, are you sure?”
Yasha smiles at her, a small smile that Jester has started to call the ‘ Beau smile ’, since it is apparently only ever directed at Beau.
“Yeah. You know I love you. And that would just… seal it. If you’re interested, of course.”
Beau's smile is so bright that it could potentially light up the whole tavern on its own.
“If I’m interested? Yash, babe, I- Of course, I’m interested !” Beau’s voice lowers, as her hand goes to rest on Yasha’s. “I just never asked, ‘cause…”
Yasha nods. She doesn’t need to know the end of the sentence to know exactly what’s been going through her girlfriend’s mind.
“I know. And I love you for that.”
She does. She really does. She knows Beau would have never asked, not when Yasha had had such a beautiful yet disastrous first attempt at marriage.
Yasha knows that Beau respects her and her love for Zuala too much to ever put Yasha in front of a decision like that. Which is why…
“Which is why I’m the one asking.” Yasha says.
Beau’s palm is soft on her cheek, and Beau’s thumb traces her lower lip, her chin tattoo.
“It would be the greatest honor to be your wife, Yasha.” she murmurs. Then, a grin splits Beau’s face and Yasha just knows she just had an idea. She doesn't have to wait long to figure out what it is.
“You know…” Beau says, eyes scanning the crowd for a brief second before going back to meet Yasha’s. “If we go out to sea, Fjord could easily marry us.”
Yasha grins back at her girlfriend.
Well. Fiancée, now, she guesses.
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
~~~
Of course, because of the absurd amount of trouble the Mighty Nein manage to get themselves into, it takes them months before they even get to see the ocean again.
They tell the Nein about their decision, of course, and Fjord almost cries when Beau asks him to officiate the ceremony.
Jester’s scream is so high pitched that Beau is certain they’ll see some windows crack, but at the end of the day they manage to announce their decision without a hiccup, and they earn themselves a round of drinks from each of the Nein.
Since Yasha’s first wedding had been a secret ceremony, it seems only fair that they’re now deciding to share it with their whole family.
But the war starts all over again, and they somehow find themselves on the Ball-Eater of The Nein Heroez before anyone has even the chance to figure out details about a possible location.
They get picked up by Orly around Darktow, quite possibly preventing an onslaught by the hand of the Revelry, and the Nein have really yet to figure out how they land in the most absurd situations without even trying .
So of course, just as they’re sailing the waves of a massive storm in the vicinity of Brokenbank, they find themselves completely surrounded by a whole battalion of Sahuagin.
The nasty sea-devil fuckers pop out from literally nowhere, and Beau doesn’t really have much time to think before they are, once again, fighting for their lives.
Beau turns swiftly, raising her elbow and slamming the bottom tip of her staff on the Sahuagin’s chin, sending it flying a couple meters away, green blood mixing with the rain.
She turns back, twirling the staff in her hand and turning to face the approaching enemies. She closes her hold on the wood just in time so that the momentum brings the staff up, diagonally, hooking under the sea devil’s armpit and slamming the creature against the one next to it.
They both tumble to the ground, slowing down the one behind them just enough for Beau to complete her turn. She drops the tip of the staff to the side, weapon resting on her hip, then sharply turns back around, using the twist of her body to give more power to her next movement. Beau twirls the staff above her head as she avoids a trident directed to her waist, then grabs the end of the stick with both hands and brings it down and sideways with a scream.
The crackling of thunder does very little to cover the horrible sound of bones breaking, as the Sahuagin gets hit right on its ribcage, smashing it completely.
“Beau! Behind you!”
Beau hears Caleb’s warning just in time, spinning and nearly tripping on the wet planks of the Ball-Eater, catching her balance as the ship swerves to one side, but manages to turn back to her right with her staff in one hand, breaking the knees of the sea-devil who’d tried to attack her from behind.
She looks to her left, where another monster has escaped Jester’s spiritual weapon, and she quickly wraps her staff around her neck, switching sides with expertise. Just as her left hand closes on the wood, her arm extends and her staff cracks the skull of the creature open.
Beau lets herself be carried by the momentum, going with her weapon as she falls to one knee to avoid the blood and the brains of the Sahuagin from splattering all over her.
She looks up, wet hair sticking on her skin, and there she is.
The storm is roaring, it’s pouring down on them like there’s no tomorrow, and the ship is creaking so menacingly that it feels like it’s falling apart, and yet nothing, no image can compare to the one of Yasha, sword in hand, powerful and beautiful.
~~~
Yasha parries once, then twice, successfully breaking the Sahuagin’s guard, and finishing it off by sticking Skingorger right through his cranium.
She kicks the body in the stomach, dislodging the sword from its head and turning where she feels a tug at her shawl.
Swinging from the bottom up, she is able to parry at the last moment, in a screeching of metal against metal as the rusty glaive inserts itself between the teeth of the trident. With a satisfied grin, she brings Skingorger down, together with her enemy’s weapon, opening its guard up just enough for her to use the back of her fist to smash the creature’s face.
The Sahuagin drops to its knees, and Yasha spins rapidly to her right, scooping up with Skingorger to impale the next creature. She yanks the weapon away and turns to her left, roaring as she brings the weapon down and beheads the last Sahuagin.
As she straightens up, she catches sight of someone, a very specific someone , slowly standing up and grinning at her.
Yasha sighs out a smile, widening her stance to resist a new sudden movement of the ship. The rain is cold on her skin, but she feels incredibly alive.
She’s just about ready to go check if her friends need help, when she notices a small movement, a Sahuagin that is swiftly and quietly approaching Beauregard from behind, eyes wide and thirsty for blood.
Yasha blacks out.
The fear and the rage come bubbling up back inside of her, and she lets out a scream.
~~~
Beau watches, as the lightning rumbles in the blackened sky and the thunder illuminates the whole ship with a bright, white light, Yasha’s wings explode out of her back.
The beautiful, golden rimmed, white feathers unravel outwards, swiping the water and the blood from all around Yasha’s figure in an explosive wave of air.
Beau hears the faint gasp from behind her, and knows what’s about to happen before she even sees it.
Yasha leaps into the space that separates them, roaring in all her glory as she flies just past Beauregard, slamming back down onto the deck and spearing Skingorger inside the Sahuagin, deep to the handle.
The wood vibrates for just a moment upon impact, and then there’s a brief second of quiet.
Yasha extricates the glaive from the wet flesh of the sea creature, turning to look at Beau with something in her eyes that Beau doesn’t immediately recognize.
“Beau,” Yasha says, as her heavy breathing raggedly slows.
“Yasha?” Beau asks, uncertain of what to make of her partner’s gaze.
Yasha looks at her, wet white hair falling on her shoulders, dark rusty blade in her hands, and smiles.
“We’re at sea.” Yasha says, and Beau’s heart stops for an instant.
She finally recognizes the look in Yasha’s eyes, the sheer determination mixed with utter love and devotion.
The rain is cold and the wind has picked up considerably, but Beau feels warm.
She sobs and she laughs and she nods.
“Yeah. Yeah we are.” and then, loud enough to make herself heard over the howling of the storm…
“HEY! FJORD!”
~~~
Yasha looks up to see Fjord, Dwueth'var in one hand and an Eldritch Blast shooting from the other, as he tries his best to prevent a bunch of Sahuagin from taking control of the helm.
“What?!” he screeches back, chopping an arm of a creature off with his sword.
Beau laughs, opens her arms to the pouring rain and yells, “MARRY US!”.
Fjord does a double take, almost tripping on his own feet as he stumbles back.Yasha sees Caduceus stopping mid combat to laugh and clap his hands, before a storm of bugs envelops him.
“I’M A LITTLE BUSY !” Fjord shrieks back.
Yasha catches a glimpse of a creature nearing them, but Beau is quick to punch the living shit out of it before she can even make a move towards it.
“Just do it!” Yasha hollers back, turning to find Fjord again.
From the other side of the ship, a giant lollipop comes careening back to stab itself into a single, massive Sahuagin that was just about to assault Beau from behind. Jester, together with her mirror image, pops up for Gods know where, howling in joy and excitement.
All around them, Yasha catches the Nein’s expressions, all a mixture of exasperation, joy and exhaustion.
Caduceus simply nods in her direction, sharing a smile that is worth more than a thousand words.
Veth shoots a couple darts in the air, screeching “Yeah, just do it, Fjord!”.
Caleb, not so subtly running from his own group of Sahuagin, slips in between Yasha and Beau, claps his hands on each of their shoulders and mutters a few words.
Almost immediately, Yasha feels her whole body warm up. A soft, blue glow emanates from Caleb’s fingers and spreads across her whole being. The same is happening to Beau’s body, which is being surrounded by this beautiful, shimmering aura of warm, cozy energy.
Yasha breathes it in, and she doesn’t know why nor how, but her mind is cleared of the exhaustion she was feeling just a moment ago, her muscles feel stronger, and her skin thicker, impenetrable.
With Beau next to her, recharged and empowered by whatever spell Caleb has cast on the two of them, Yasha feels invincible.
The glow disappears and Caleb sprints forward, his focus now on a new group of Sahuagin trying to destroy the foremast.
“Everything okay?” Beau asks her, and Yasha nods.
“Fjord! Hurry up!” Jester screams happily from the stern of the Ball-Eater, way too cheerfully dancing amongst her spirit guardians.
And finally, Yasha hears Fjord’s voice once again, a loud “Fine!”, that cuts through the clashing of weapons and the screams of battle.
Yasha’s heart almost stops. She can’t believe it. She can’t believe it, but it’s true.
“YASHA!” Fjord is shouting. It’s really happening. “Do you take Beau…?”
Of course she does.
“Yes,” Yasha interrupts, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I do!”
She sees a Sahuagin to her right, grabs Beau’s forearm and pulls her away, just as Beau does the exact same in order to parry an attack from a creature that must’ve been right out of Yasha’s sight.
“BEAU!” Fjord continues. He shoots an Eldritch blast at a creature. “Ah, fuck! Do you ta-?”
“FUCK YES, I DO!” Beau interrupts as well, hollering with pure happiness at the rain.
The ship jerks to one side, hit by a strong wave of water. Fjord disengages from his enemies, running directly toward the helm to grab it with his free hand, somehow managing to steady the ship’s undulation.
He looks tiredly up at them, at their waiting eyes, and waves Dwueth'var in the air.
“Great!”
All the Nein somehow manage to turn to look expectantly at him.
“What?!” Fjord exclaims. And then: “ OH ! I approve, yeah, you’re married!”
His fatigued scream does nothing to hide the huge grin that’s splitting his face now.
Yasha harpoons one of the last Sahuagin to the mast near them, just as Beau gambles another three with an energy wave of her Belabor quarterstaff.
Yasha doesn’t wait. Gods know she’s waited too long already. She reaches out, grabbing Beau’s hand and yanking the other woman towards her.
Beau goes with a half laugh, dropping her staff to weave her arms around Yasha’s waist.
Yasha bends her knees and then, with one swift, powerful thrust of her wings, their feet leave the ground, spraying water all around them. One of Beau’s arms hooks behind Yasha’s neck, and Yasha is quick to grab Beau’s waist to pull her closer.
They shoot upwards, away from the finishing fight, with the screams of the Nein cheering from below, and the roaring of the storm shaking the air around them.
~~~
Beau looks up, to Yasha’s determined expression, to the way she flies up, far enough away from shooting range but not high enough for it to become dangerous.
“Yasha!” Beau calls, and Yasha looks down.
The wings close around their bodies, enveloping them in a warm, dry cocoon of golden white feathers, where the rain can’t reach them and where it’s just… them.
Inertia carries them upwards, and for a brief, eternal moment they’re floating, holding onto each other for dear life.
Beau’s thumb caresses Yasha’s cheekbone, and when their eyes meet, nothing could be more perfect.
Beau never knew happiness was something that the Gods had in their plans for her.
But as she looks into Yasha’s eyes, she knows she deserves it all.
“I love you.” she tells her, and Yasha smiles.
They close every remaining distance, just as their flight comes to a stop, just as the powerful rumbling of the thunder lights up the ocean and the ship below them, and finally they kiss.
Yasha tastes like salt, and blood, and sweat, and Beau kisses her, she kisses her wife with love and passion and promises.
They could die tomorrow, just like they almost died yesterday and just like they could die this very moment, in the middle of a storming ocean, but it doesn’t matter.
Or actually, it is all that matters.
Their lives are what they are. They were forged in battle and in battle they’ve grown to know each other. Beau doesn’t remember a moment in her life when she wasn’t fighting for something, and she knows that for Yasha it’s pretty much the same.
But this is the difference, now.
They’re not alone, not anymore. They have their friends, their family. The Nein, who are there with them to witness this incredibly important moment, and who will be there to witness many more.
And mostly, they have each other.
They will always get into trouble. They will always find themselves running head first into battle. Beau knows there’s not a chance on Earth or the Nine Hells that that’s ever going to stop, and she knows just as surely that wherever they go, whatever they do… Yasha will be next to her.
They kiss, and they hold onto each other, with more thunder roaring in the distance, mighty and powerful enough to shake the earths.
~~~
Yasha feels Beau’s body pressing against hers, molding onto hers, trusting her to keep her safe, and she doesn’t know if the wetness on her cheeks is rain or tears, but she doesn’t care.
As a child she’d thought she would’ve gotten married to a clan member she didn’t know and who she was going to force herself to love.
Growing up, meeting Zuala, knowing what love had really meant, had made her realize that she could’ve never tied herself to someone other than the love of her life.
Years have gone by since that fateful day, and Yasha knows she’s grown in more ways than one.
Zuala had been the love of her past life, and the Yasha who met her and loved her, the Yasha that is still alive within her, will forever love her. But there is a new story written on her skin, and another love carved into her heart.
Marrying Beau doesn’t and will never deny what marrying Zuala had meant, and Yasha knows that both her and Beau are aware of that.
As Beau breathes in, and they move away to look each other in the eyes, matching smiles and chuckles, their bodies starting to fall, Yasha’s wings spread wide once more.
They slowly make their descent, Yasha’s wings folding once, twice, as their feet touch the ground again.
The storm is still raging and shaking the Ball-Eater, but Fjord has the helm gripped in his hands, and the Nein are putting down their weapons.
The last Sahuagin falls at the hand of Jester’s spiritual weapon.
Fjord gives the command back to Orly, and they all gather around Yasha and Beau.
The rain is still incessantly pouring on their heads, but they’ve seen far worse.
There’s not really words to be said, or speeches to be given, and the Nein simply close in on them to hug them, to pat their hands on their shoulders, and to smile at them with tears in their eyes. They all know how long and painful their journey has been, and they share a profound affection both for them as people and for them as a couple.
They are quite codependent on one another, Beau once said. Yasha has always agreed, and so have the rest of the Nein, it seems.
Jester hugs Beau so tight that Yasha thinks she hears bones cracking. Fjord and Caleb squeeze her arm and then turn to high five Beauregard. Caduceus nods with a certain degree of satisfaction, and Veth simply meets Yasha’s eyes with a knowing smile.
“What?” she asks.
Everyone looks back at Veth, and the halfling sighs, happily.
“I’m finally not the only married woman in the group.”
It brings out a collective chuckle, and Yasha looks down at her wife.
Beau is already looking at her with one of the biggest smiles she’s ever seen her donning.
Beau’s hair, long and dark, is dripping wet, her bun almost completely undone; she has a deep cut on her cheek, and several other scratches all over her shoulders and abdomen.
The world seems to disappear once again, as the Nein scatter, some checking in about the recent fight, some others -Jester, it’s mainly Jester- trying to convince the group to jump to Nicodranas for the night to celebrate.
Yasha’s wings retract as Beau’s fingers gently trace her chin tattoo and then her lower lip.
“That was… Fucking perfect.” Beau laughs, quietly, just loud enough to be heard above the crashing of the waves.
Yasha nods. It was. It really was.
She honestly couldn’t have thought of a better way to get married than what they have just done; it is so representative of hers and Beau’s relationship, of how their life is and will be.
It’s chaos, and happiness found between a punch and a dodge, of moments between a storm and a watch, and Yasha wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“My wife .” Yasha murmurs with a small smile, and Beau’s cheeks flush.
“Seems like it, yeah.” Beau says, and they’re kissing again, they’re pressing against one another again, fingers tracing old and new scars, and Yasha sighs, happily.
Everything is okay.
~The End~