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The body was cold. Freezing. It didn’t radiate that loving warmth that seemed to be able to fill an entire room in mere moments, even if it was only seen by himself. He was so, so cold.
Billy’s tears were silent now, rocking as he cradled Eddie’s limp body. How he wished this was just a dream. That he’d wake up with his chest pressed against the boy’s back, nose buried in his hair and breathing in that familiar earthy scent. That he’d kiss the knobs of his spine and look up into those beautiful doe eyes, Eddie’s lips curling into a soft smile after sharing a mere whisper of a kiss. That he would turn around in Billy’s arms, press their foreheads together, and reassure him that it was only a nightmare. That it wasn’t true. He was safe. Warm. Alive.
But he wasn’t, and he never would again. All because Billy let him go out on that field in his place. Because he didn’t want to be disrespected by a king that he could easily kill with a simple flick of his wrist. If he had just gone into battle like Eddie had asked, he’d have come back to the brunette’s warm embrace instead of Billy having to watch as Steve carried Eddie’s slack corpse, tears in his eyes as they had to hold Billy back from storming the city by himself.
Neil came, disgust smeared on his face like a second skin as he watched his son rock his soulless lover. “He is dead,” he said, voice flat and uncaring.
“Henry is dead,” came the reply. “Tomorrow.”
“You have no armor.’
“I do not need any,” he gritted his teeth with the effort to speak.
Neil reached forward with cold, pale hands, almost as cold as Eddie, to take him away from my arms, “He did it to himself.”
“Do not touch him!” Billy shouted, almost positive that the rest of the camp heard him. He clutched the boy tighter, curling around him as if he could protect him now.
The god stared at his son. Perhaps in shock. Perhaps in anger. It would never be revealed on his face, however. “I will bring you armor,” he said before turning his back on his weeping son and disappearing into the swirling waves of the sea.
Now alone, he broke apart once more. Cracked sobs shaking his frame. He had never felt so weak. So powerless. He was so bare. He always felt strange after taking his armor off, but now it felt like it had been torn from him. Like someone had skinned him and left him out to dry. He hated it. He hated himself. But he could never bring himself to hate Eddie. Never in a million years or in any life that they ever reunited in. For Billy was still mortal. His heart beat in his chest like a drum, though, now it bled from where it was torn in two.
He swore to avenge his love. If he dies, so be it. A life without Eddie’s warm smile wasn’t one worth living anyway.