Work Text:
Lila had always known she longed for freedom. She thinks she may have been born with the feeling, an ache so deep in her core that she felt it with her every breath. She trusted that longing, it’s what kept her fighting and moving forward, it brought her to Red London, to her ship and crew, to her magic and the open sea. And to Kell. His red hair tousled by the salty sea breeze, his eyes trained on her, one pitch black and the other a clear blue. Lila felt free under that gaze in a way she had never before.
Lila had never realized the longing even farther inside: comfort. A sense of belonging and understanding that she had only ever associated with feeling trapped, like wearing a coat two sizes too small. Lila had always thought freedom would feel like a coat her size and it did, but comfort was better. Comfort was a coat tailored perfectly for her, lined with satin the color of Kell’s blue eye. And at first this realization terrified her, she wasn’t ready to give up her adventures and settle down like some bored housewife. But she soon came to realize, neither was Kell. He wanted to see everything as badly as she did, was willing to fight by her side, he knew the call for freedom that lived in her as a bone-deep ache, he felt it too. With Kell, any foreign shore could be home.
Lila had spent her whole life searching for freedom, and when she found it, she found something better alongside it: comfort.
She found Kell.