(Closed to Ray) Homecoming.

(Closed to Rayleigh, this is also a continuation of the March Vignette)

“Fuck, that movie was good too.”

Vince smirked as he lowered his complaining wife back onto her feet, letting her take a few careful steps through the tall grass. He was certain she hadn’t been hurt in the fall, in the matter of moments they’d been falling, he’d managed to react fast enough to make sure of that. Inhumanly so in fact, plus the addition of him using teleportation magic meant that it didn’t quite take a genius to put two and two together.

He was home.

He paused, frowning slightly as he pondered that thought. Had he not had that same thought the last time he’d fallen through a random portal to another world? That he’d gone back to the place he’d belonged? Which of those two worlds was his home? Earth? Where he’d been born and raised? Or Althanas where he’d come into his own as a hero? He shook his head, turning to find his wife staring at the stars above them. Before them, a small pond sat still as glass, reflecting the cosmic portrait of the stars as if it were some sort of onyx mirror. Wordlessly he approached her, the only sound the gentle gust of wind and the crunch of his feet on the grass. Her brown eyes twinkled in the dim light of the night as he wordlessly took her hand in his.

“They don’t have stars like this back in Texas.” Vince mused.

“No,” his wife breathed back after a long pause. “Pretty sure there’s no cell signal out here either love.” There was a long pause where neither spoke for a moment before they both broke into a nervous chuckle. Soon, both had crescendoed into a full out fit of laughter, Vincent hunching over to catch his breath.

“Any clue where we are?” She turned to him, shivering slightly in the cool night. Vincent blinked, looking down at both of their attires and frowning. They’d not been dressed to be out on an adventure, her in her sweatpants and tanktop, Vince in a little more than boxers and a very comfortable cotton shirt. Instinctively he reached into nothing, feeling the ebb and flow of raw magic weave through the air. Within a matter of moments he’d procured a rather familiar purple coat, draping it over her shoulders with practiced care.

“Raiaera, judging on the stars.” He replied calmly as he could. That was the second time he’d used his magic in ten or so minutes. He’d spent years feeling cripled without his powers, like the trip to earth had sliced off a part of him, yet here he was rusty as hell popping off with some of his most complicated tricks with nary a trace of rush. To say he was excited about the prospect was an understatement and a half, the rush quickened his pulse and he had to work to keep his breathing from giving him away. “Unfortunately I don’t think I have any shoes your size tucked away in my little magical treasure vault, so unless you want to wear a pair of my old boots we’re going to need to wait till we find a town to get your feet taken care of.”

Rayleigh looked down. Though bent grass cushioned her bare feet, cold earth still managed to sneak between the blades and between her toes. The sensation was oddly calming. "It's alright," she assured Vince, bringing her head (way) up to meet his gaze. The emotion she found in those sapphire eyes nearly knocked her off her shoe-less feet. If Vincent Cain were a cartoon character, like the ones he had made her watch over the past two years, his eyes would simply burst from his head. The man hummed with excited energy, and she swore it might come oozing from all orifices if he continued to stand there. But beneath the raw ecstasy lurked something entirely different.

Relief.

When they had first been teleported to Earth, Vince had leapt at the chance to show her his "home." Now? This felt more like a homecoming than anything they had experienced on the big blue planet.

Her own feelings about coming back to Althanas were not so clear, even to herself. On one hand, this was where she had been born and raised. On the other, Vincent had been the closest thing to family, and he had been by her side the entire time. Mostly, Ray found herself frustrated that she had just finished acclimating to Earth's culture, only to be thrust back into a land of magic and outdated technology. She was really going to miss microwaves, and the television dinners that saved her from cooking duties.

So she simply drew his royal purple coat tighter around her thin shoulders. While the air's chill wasn't unbearable, she had grown accustomed to Texas' warmer climate. Now, as the breeze blew her brunette hair back from her flushed face, she suddenly unlocked long-since forgotten memories of her time in Salvar. "Thank you for the jacket," she told him. "The tanktop seemed like a much better idea when I thought I'd be sleeping soon." Pausing to glance at their surroundings, she added, "I figure it's going to be a longer night now, huh?"

“At least a lot longer than I would like.” Vincent replied sheepishly running a hand through his long golden locks. The sight of her wrapped up in his jacket stirred something primal in him, as a young highschool student he’d longed to have a girlfriend to “go steady” with so that he could give her his jacket, you know, the type of shit you saw in high school romance movies. Yet here was his WIFE wrapped up in essentially the most quintessentially Vince thing he could think of. His sapphire gaze broke from hers as he began to scan the scene around them. Ultimately, they couldn’t stay here. It wasn’t as bad as the cold snap they’d just endured in Texas, but they would both get sick if they stayed out here unprotected from the elements for much longer.

“You know.” he mused, as his eyes swept the scene. “I could swear that I’ve…” he paused for a moment, taking a couple meandering steps towards the nearby pond. “...been here before” he finished as his feet reached the edge of the pond. He felt an intrinsic connection to this place, like it was somehow important to him, and then his gaze fell upon the ruins of what seemed like an old fishing dock and everything clicked. Memories of him, soggy and cold curled up on the musty decking hacking out lungfuls of water and sputtering came crashing down around him. He blinked, stunned.

“Ah, I see.” he mused aloud, turning back to his wife. “We’re right back where I started from.”

This revelation was a small beacon of hope, he realized. For if they were where he’d first landed all those years ago, it would mean that there was a town not too terribly far away. A town would mean an Inn, which would mean a nice warm bed for the two of them to curl up in for the night and perhaps, just perhaps, date night could be salvaged.

"Really?" She moved up behind him, and with a whisper of fabric against fabric, slid her arm through his. For a moment, Rayleigh was content to let silence hang between them. At least, their voices did not contribute to the night sounds: crickets chirped, frogs croaked, and water lapped lightly at the shore.

Finally, the woman spoke again. "You really haven't told me much about that night." Granted, she had never properly asked, though she had always wondered. Vincent had told her all about Earth, building her the world with his words, until she could practically see it herself. When she did eventually end up there, she realized she recognized many of the places and items he had described. While on Earth, Vince had passed the time reminiscing on his adventures in Althanas. The space between Earth and his time with the Tarot Hierarchy, however, had remained a mystery. Surely, there was a reason for that, right? Regardless, now was as a good a time as any for Vince to share what he knew.

“You know…” he trailed off. “It’s honestly not that great of a story all things considered.” He let a small chuckle escape his lips as he pulled her a little closer. The story felt so far away, he’d done so much, experienced two whole worlds he’d never could have imagined. The beautiful fantasy that was Althanas and her magic, and the wonderful world of Texas with Ray where he’d gotten married and started a life instead of just waiting for the days to pass him by.

It felt like a prologue to a really great book, and yet somehow it seemed fitting to be standing on the shore of this pond once again.

“It all started the night I turned twenty one.” He urged her along to follow him, walking as they spoke. “I’d just ordered a pizza and finished a good ole Netflix binge when a package from my father arrived. It held a series of books that contained rules from some sort of tabletop game called Althanas, and as I was reading into it I suddenly fell backwards, plummeting through the sky and plopped headfirst into this pond!” He gave a rather dramatic flourish with his free hand as he spoke. “So I crawled like a drowned rat onto that dock over there although…” he paused. “It wasn’t so fucked up the first time around. I wonder what happened? A fire maybe? I’m getting distracted. I crawled out of the water and sat there shivering for a bit trying to figure myself out for a bit. After a while I ended up picking a direction to walk, looking to find someone who might be able to help me out…”

With a grin and a twinkle in his eyes, Vince closed his own and spun slightly, wife still in hand as he picked once again, a random direction. “That way!” he exclaimed with all the confidence and energy he could muster even though it was very clearly almost bedtime. “If I recall correctly, I found a village off in that direction!”