Work Text:
Homecoming
A hinge creaks somewhere too near
The tallow candles gutter and throw maddened shadows
Shadows tinted blue as a smile
That twine and suck like tentacles over him
Causing sweat and seaweed to drip down his spine
A hinge creaks
And the shadow of tentacles glides up
To the hinge of his thigh
And in that moment his heart sits silent, waiting
A hinge creaks
And a door pounds open
It pounds
Pounds like his heart trying to crack through his ribs
Pounds like the waves far over his head
Pounds like his lungs when they shrieked for air
But received only the caress of the sea
Aeron buries his face in the pillow
Drowning again
Not in ale
Not in the sea
In his buried, dead memory
But what is dead comes back, harder & stronger
Harder
Harder
Harder
But he is stronger
No longer a cowering child
Aeron's pillow is soaked with water
Infused with salt
He inhales deeply of it
The essence of his savior, his god
Whose many-suckered arms held him to its chest
Cradling him as the pain passed
And his shaking stopped
But he knows
His brother is home
And the hinge will creak as it always has