“Are you sure?”

She looked over the city, the skyscrapers burning gold in the sunset. She lowered her head slightly, chin jutting out.

Maria placed her hand on the other girl’s shoulder. She could feel the tight rubber band of tension pulling in her shoulders.

She smiled softly, lifting her chin with a gentle finger.

“I’ve never been surer.” Maria said.

Lina chewed on the insides of her cheek. She couldn’t look away from the city; from the hundreds of buildings crammed full with the thousands of lives she was sworn to protect. She couldn’t let the girl she loved cross the boundary. Not yet.

“I can’t. It’ll make things too complicated,” she whispered. “I want to keep things like this. It’s easier to be Warmaiden. She’s better at things than I am.”

Maria sighed, running her fingers up into Lina’s hair that was knotted behind her mask. “I want more than Warmaiden,” she said. “I want all of you, don’t push into a certain box. I want to know all of you.”

Lina snapped her head towards Maria.

“Do you?” she said, chest rising and falling heavily. “Maria, I don’t want to put you in danger.”

Maria made a noise of indignation. Too fast for Lina to realise, she grabbed a hold of her and pulled Lina towards her. She folded her into her arms.

“I love you,” she said quietly. “Let me love you completely.”

Lina let out a shaking breath and held Maria tightly back. She felt Maria bury her face in her neck and then come up again.

Maria gasped. The mask was gone. Lina’s eyes; deep brown and staring shyly, looked back at her.