The words echoed in Nick's head long after he awoke to find the other side of the bed empty. He checked the clock and muttered to himself, having slept in far later than he'd intended.
The song intertwined itself with his run, meant to clear his thoughts, to push away that looming fear of dread his dreams had left behind. He'd not experienced what Sabrina described as nothing he dreamt of was new, only a reliving of the memories he'd arrived in Vallo with. Of the Returned, of the Weird, of sending Morningstar off to the unknown.
It was only after he'd finished showering that he spotted the twin necklaces on the nightstand next to the clock. They couldn't have been there when he'd woken up, he'd have looked right at them. But there they were now, exactly as he'd pictured when he'd decided to have them made, back home.
Except he hadn't followed through, not yet. He'd not had time, arriving in dark Vallo first. He puzzled over that as he examined each one before getting dressed and pocketing them. By the time he arrived at Cerberus Books, he'd temporarily pushed them from his mind, focusing instead on the checklist Sabrina had left him. The time passed quickly, and when Sabrina arrived later in the afternoon he felt rather accomplished, and sufficiently distracted from the night before.
"Hey Spellman," he said with a grin, holding up the completed list.
Sabrina had begun falling into the steady rhythm of most of her days in the life she’d carved out for her in Vallo again. There were significant differences since she’d come back from that darker version of Vallo, but unlike the memories that she’d gained from right before her venture there, these differences were welcomed. Getting to see her best friend at breakfast sometimes, waking up tucked beside Nick in her bed or his depending where the two had decided to fall asleep the night before, and then hanging out with the two of them after her classes were done for the day was a twist on her life in Greendale that she hadn’t expected to ever really have again.
There was still some adjustment, but her talks with both of them the week prior had helped quiet the anxiety that had nearly overwhelmed her. She didn’t have to try and make everything perfect, they’d let her know when things were too much for them as they adjusted to Vallo, and she could just focus on being their friend. The communication had really upped between all of them and it was another welcomed change between how it had gone at home.
She grinned as she spotted the list, leaning forward to kiss him briefly in greeting, before moving around to inspect all the tasks he’d managed to finish off for her.
“Thanks for getting all of this done,” she told him when she finally stopped moving. Now instead of trying to hammer it all out over the next few hours, she could enjoy time with her boyfriend. “Did you have a nice day?”
It was such an unassuming question, and so loaded at the same time and Nick considered how to answer.
"I'm going to need to talk to Dan about the sleep thing," he answered, deciding that said enough. "It got better though and even more so now that you're here."
Sabrina frowned, brow creasing as she thought about how she’d left him alone to go on her run earlier that morning. He’d seemed okay then but she knew how quickly a dream could turn into a nightmare. Especially with how much nightmare material there was in their lives. “He’ll definitely help you with it if you ask him to,” she decided on as her answer before she sat down beside Nick.
“Do you want to talk about it?” If he didn’t then she wouldn’t push but it seemed like a good idea to put the offer out there.
"Just what we left behind," he said. Or what he'd left behind and what she'd dreamt after the fact, here. "Nothing new." That was significant, at least. No new memories to torture them both with. "It ended on the battle of the bands and I've had the song we played stuck in my head on and off all day."
He thought for a moment before adding, "Oh. I guess there was one thing new."
“At least we were able to give Peggy Sue her chance at justice,” Sabrina murmured as she tucked her hands under her chin. One bright spot in the insanity that had been that day. It was an event she couldn’t stop thinking about, the rejection of both Edward Spellman and the Dark Lord, something she was still grappling with. Having Dan and Lucifer in her corner in Vallo helped, but it didn’t quite fill the chasm both of her fathers’ rejections had left.
“What new thing?” Hopefully it was something good.
"You said Vallo sometimes brings in items from home, right?" Nick asked. "What about items you'd only planned on getting at home, but hadn't yet?"
Sabrina arched a brow, even more curious than she had been before. “I wouldn’t put it past the magic of this place.”
Nick reached into his pocket, relieved to find the chains weren't completely tangled up as he separated the two lockets and held them up for her to inspect. "I was going to have these made, and I found them here exactly like I imagined. They'll work as beacons, so we can always find each other."
“They’re beautiful, Nick,” she told him, thankful that he’d gotten a good gift from Vallo for his first one. Hopefully it would wait a few more months before it decided to dole out anything too traumatic.
Sabrina held the two lockets in her hands, a smile blossoming on her face as she took in their pictures. “I love it. I mean...if you’re planning on giving me one anyway.”
"Sure, Spellman," Nick teased with a grin. "You can have one."
He took the one with her picture from her and put it on, before carefully fastening Sabrina's around her neck. "Looks good," he decided.
Sabrina looked down at the one with his picture in it, fingers tracing over it before she looked up, her grin a little wicked. “Let’s see if the beacon part of it works.”
With a wink, Sabrina murmured out the teleportation spell and disappeared.
Nick would have expected nothing less of Sabrina, especially once he saw that grin on her face. With a smirk to match, he held his locket in one hand while repeating her spell, quickly finding himself face to face with her.
"Seems it works," he said before looking around at the unfamiliar setting. "Where are we?"
She’d brought them deep within the forest, to a place that not many others had ventured to but she found herself returning to on multiple occasions. With how often the forest liked to shift it wasn’t the easiest place to always find, but there was a peace to it that reminded her of the Greendale woods. As crazy as the forest back home could be Sabrina had always called it home. Probably because she’d been born in it.
“My favorite place in the woods.”
"Good thinking, choosing somewhere I couldn't guess," Nick said, taking a moment to really appreciate his surroundings. "It's beautiful. And calming." He could tell why she liked it, as he felt the same way. "Just like you, Sabrina."
He reached for her hands, taking them in his own as his eyes met hers. Two months before, he feared he may never see her again. Now that they were reunited, he was taking nothing for granted.
"I love you," he said softly. If they had enough moments like this, would all the rest matter?
Her expression softened considerably at his words. Sabrina didn’t think she’d ever get tired of hearing him say those three words to her. Especially when they weren’t being said before he was being whisked away to Hell or some other craziness that happened in their lives. It was just the two of them in her favorite spot, no insanity for miles around.
“I love you too.” As much as Vallo annoyed her with all of the comings and goings--and she still hadn’t forgiven the place for dark Vallo in general--she was grateful that it had brought Nick and Roz there. Especially Nick. All Sabrina wanted was for him to have a chance at a life without all of the strife of their homeworld.
She stepped forward, hugging him tightly, needing to feel him.
Nick allowed himself to be pulled in, leaning into Sabrina's embrace and hugging her back. Whatever tension that remained from earlier in the day seemed to disappear. The two of them had been through so much, on and off and literally putting each other through hell but here they had a chance.
He looked off into the woods behind her, deciding he was going to talk to Dan as soon as he saw him next. Because he wasn't messing this up again.
“I don’t have anything else I have to do today,” Sabrina started as she pulled back slightly, wanting to see him. “Do you want to go for a walk? See where the place takes us?”
Though. If they were walking in the woods… “The hounds might end up joining us though if they sense us out here.” Which meant Salem would probably follow, unwilling to be left out if the other three were getting attention.
"Considering I missed the morning run? Sounds perfect," Nick replied, reaching for Sabrina's hand.
She easily took hold of his hand, interlocking their fingers as she started to tug him along. She felt lighter than she had in days and was determined to embrace that feeling for as long as it surrounded them. Who knew how long Vallo would keep the two of them around, but Sabrina was intent on making the most of every single moment that she could.