They ran for what felt like hours, too frightened to look, but too overjoyed to stop. It was dark out, but thankfully the full moon provided just enough light to avoid tripping over an exposed root or in a gopher hole. It was only when the two were utterly spent to their last morsel of energy that they stopped. One let themselves collapse into the grass and dirt, while the other bent over, holding her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

“Hey… Justine?”

She looked down and to her side and saw Karlach sitting on the ground, also struggling to find their wind as their engine softly hummed.

“Yeah…?” she replied. Couldn't even muster a second word.

“We made it, didn't we?”

Justine slowed her breathing, taking in longer and deeper breaths more carefully as she stood back up. “Yeah… we did.”

Karlach gave her a look that was like deciding between a frown and a smile but being unable to settle on either. “How do you know?” they asked, almost in a whisper.

Justine nodded before she swept the sweat from her brow. “Look up,” she said, and they both saw the moon above them. “Now look down,” and they saw dirt, grass, twigs, and leaf litter.

Karlach scooped up a handful of soil and brought it close to their face, where they gave it a long sniff. It wasn't ash, or soot, or any kind of brimstone; it was earth. An earthworm then wriggled halfway out the side of the mound, and upon seeing it, they chuckled hesitantly.

A few seconds of silence hung between them.

“FFFFFUCK YEAH, SOLDIER! WE DID IT!” Karlach screamed, and leapt to their feet before pulling Justine into a fierce bear hug, even lifting her a smidge off the ground. Once done, Justine joined her in cheering, and the two spent a whole minute just running around the small clearing they'd stopped in, picking up handfuls of leaves and tossing them over their heads, running their palms over oak bark, and just feeling the cool, moist ground surrounding them.

Karlach and Justine then paused to look at each other, and without needing to exchange any words, the two closed the distance to share an equally fierce kiss before giving each other a gentler, more intimate hug.

“What did you say you wanted to do once we got out of Avernus?” Karlach asked their partner as the two shared their hug.

Justine sighed and buried her face in the crook of her lover’s neck. “Sleep in a big, soft bed,” she said, then sighed again. “Big enough to stretch my arms and legs out in every direction, and soft enough to feel as though I’m floating amongst the clouds.”

They both sighed peacefully, and Karlach gave Justine a momentary squeeze just out of pure delight.

“And you?” Justine asked, though, she already knew the answer, and so she began to smile.

“Well, I’m going to have a big, hearty, filling meal… then, a long, soothing bath… wash the… everything off us,” they explained, then leaned into Justine’s ear to whisper their next part as intimately as possible. “And then, I want to raw you so hard we’ll both feel it weeks from now.”

More silence hung between them.

Karlach huffed, and very quickly the two started to giggle and laugh completely out of control, only ending when the two locked lips once more.

…..

A few confused or prudish tavern visitors might have stared at the two partners happily and rather noisily engorged themselves on their five-course meal: a couple of bowls of chowder, an entire side of roast beef with gravy, half a wheel of holey cheese, a modest stack of freshly baked bread rolls with butter, and a basket of fresh figs to help the pair rehydrate after they escaped from Avernus.

Karlach didn’t even bother with her utensils, or carving slices of roast beef for their plate. Instead, they divided the slab of meat in two with a cleaver, tore chunks off their half with their teeth, and then poured gravy from the pitcher directly into their mouth. They did much the same with their soup, they simply picked up the bowl and tilted its contents into their mouth, complete with happy lip smacks and sighs of joy.

Justine at least cut her meat into bite-sized pieces and used the provided spoon to eat chowder, but even she couldn’t resist biting right into her wedge of cheese before chasing the rich, aged, cheese with the delicateness of a fresh fig.

There was time for no words once the food arrived, and both ate almost nonstop until well past the halfway point of their meal as if some nefarious force might come by and snatch it away from them at any moment, though they did find occasional moments to share a glance and a smile with each other, sometimes also a short laugh.

It was only when they were down to soaking up the last bits of meat juices, gravy, and chowder with chunks of bread did they manage to continue their conversation.

“...Halsin is closer to the build I used to have,” Karlach explained, pausing a moment to chew and swallow. “You know, thick, strong… big,” they added, putting extra emphasis on the last word, followed by a short chuckle. “But that all changed when I was in… the very bad place,” Karlach said, frowning for the barest moment as she remembered the past. “And even if they had half a heart to feed me any more than the barest minimum I needed, this thing,” they said as she poked her modestly glowing chest, “chews up so much juice it’s a wonder I wasn’t skin and bones by the time I crawled out of… that place.”

Justine also frowned for a moment but managed to flip back into a smile after she popped the last fig into her mouth. “But, all that’s behind you, yeah?” she said, biting and chewing into the juicy fruit afterwards. Karlach raised a confused eyebrow at their partner, so she elaborated. “Your last upgrade must be working, right? You got tired when we were running away! I’ve never seen you get tired before!”

Karlach blinked a few times before they muttered a simple, “Huh, maybe so… would be nice to fit into my old clothes again… assuming I ever find them.”

…..

Karlach always preferred bathing under cold water, which everyone understood, given their history. And for others, well, any pool of cold water Karlach occupied tended to not stay cold for very long, but even under a perpetually chilling waterfall, Karlach could keep themselves warm enough to enjoy the soothing chill, while their partner could enjoy their relaxing warmth.

It was only once they saw the water downstream start to turn dark and cloudy did the two realize just how much filth and grime still clung to their hair and skin, but rather than try to wash it all off as quickly as possible, both took turns washing the other, running hands through hair to gently rub out all the dust and brimstone accumulated during their time in Avernus. Every half a minute or so one would stop to share a kiss, and at one point, the two hugged each other tightly as the water poured all around them.

“Hey, Justine?” Karlach whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I love you so much, you know?”

“And I love you too, Karlach.”

…..

Despite their seeming promise to do just the opposite after their escape, the bed frame under Justine remained only barely shaken as Karlach took her uncharacteristically gently from behind. The two may not have been able to get the exact kind of inn bed Justine wanted, but that hardly mattered to either of them as they joined in bliss, Karlach ever so slowly leaning more of her weight onto Justine’s back, going a little bit deeper with each movement, and enjoying all of the little moans and squeals she made as she squirmed beneath her, and balled up the top sheet with her hands.

Eventually, though, Justine worked up enough control to ask the one question that had been drilling into her mind. “You know you can go rougher with me… right, Karlach?”

Karlach exhaled slowly as they dove deep into Justine, they ran their tongue up the back of her neck, enjoying the shivers that radiated up from their partner as they did so. “Shh…” Karlach whispered, just staying hilted in their lover, the two were silent for several seconds before they picked back up. “I… want to savour this,” Karlach continued to whisper, pausing to kiss Justine’s ear before gently nibbling its edge. “I need to savour this, soldier.”

Justine exhaled gracefully as Karlach withdrew, as they cupped her breasts from behind and kneaded them slowly. “Won’t be your last time, Karlach,” Justine reminded her.

“Yeah,” Karlach replied, then surprised their partner by driving her hard into the mattress, gasping alongside her as they started to pick up pace. “But… we were never able to… savour it… we can now…”

Justine nodded and then buried her face deep into a pillow as Karlach rammed into her hard. Soon after, she began to shudder up and down her body, and panted hard into the pillow before she exhaled sharply.

Karlach paused for a moment. “You came, Justine?”

Justine wordlessly nodded into her pillow.

“Good soldier,” Karlach praised before she picked right back up where she had left off.

…..

Both lost track of how many times Justine came before Karlach finally finished. They tried to withdraw, but the climax overtook them too quickly, and they only made it halfway out before they came hard, right into their lover.

Justine looked over her shoulder at Karlach behind her for a few seconds before they both laughed it off. This was par for the course whenever the two had sex, at least outside of Avernus, when they had the luxury of both being able to take the time to come to a mutual climax, and if consequences arose from their nonchalance, then they would deal with it together, just as they had tackled Avernus, and Karlach’s malfunctioning engine together.

So it was after washing up that the two lay together naked in bed, Justine resting her head sideways on Karlach’s chest while they had their arm wrapped around them, the two just taking the time to relax and bask in each other’s presence.

“So, you’ve come a long way since eleven seconds, sweetheart,” Justine teased.

Karlach let out what could only be described as an imitation of one of Lae’zul’s clicking sounds before she fired back. “You’re never letting that fucking go, are you?”

“Do you deny it?”

“I hadn’t had sex in over ten years!”

“I don’t even know how long you went this time… could’ve been hours, I’d never be able to tell.”

“T-There are other ways to have sex! I never stopped at just eleven seconds!”

Justine chuckled and lifted her head to kiss Karlach’s cheek. “Yeah… but come on, Karlach, I know what you want the most, there’s nothing wrong with being… well… vanilla.”

Karlach fumed ever so slightly but stopped and smiled once they saw how happy and earnest their partner looked. “So long as we’re both enjoying things, right, soldier?”

Justine nodded. “And also uh… probably doesn’t count as vanilla anymore when I literally cannot feel the entire lower half of my body anymore,” she said.

They both went silent for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.

Justine nuzzled back into Karlach, and Karlach hugged Justine a little closer.

They both sighed of pure joy and bliss. There were no more words needed, Karlach carefully grabbed the lantern on the table next to them and blew out the light.

Tomorrow there would be so much more.