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The heat was scorching, warmth seeping through even the thick soles of Keralis’ best boots. He was too exhausted to keep up any semblance of a conversation, so he occupied himself with quietly humming along to his heavy footsteps as he walked across the crumbling red soil, even if it made his throat all the more dry. He’d have gone crazy had he had no noise to keep his mind busy, with xB being strangely quiet behind him as they made their way back to their portal. Its mysterious purple shine peeked through the gap between two outcroppings in the distance.
“Almost there, Princess! We’re so close!” He didn’t turn back to speak, focused on putting one foot in front of the other even as a relieved grin spread out across his face. But xB didn’t reply. Not even a hum of acknowledgement. Truth be told, Keralis suddenly couldn’t even remember if he’d been hearing his footsteps behind him for the past several minutes. He froze, twisting around, his eyes falling onto empty space where he should have been seeing xB’s pretty face. “XB!?”
He stumbled over his own feet in his haste to retrace his steps, looking left and right for his mysteriously disappeared friend. His heart rate increased with every step, menacing clouds of red dust billowing up around him as he ran. It wasn’t long before he found xB in a crumpled heap on the ground, shallow breaths barely making his chest rise, completely unresponsive to the world even as Keralis shook him by the shoulders with frantic calls of his name. His skin was burning hot and completely dry under his fingers. “Fuck!”
He grunted as he hauled the unconscious man up with his arms strung under his armpits, wrapping around his chest so he wouldn’t slip out of his grip. His legs were already burning before he even started his descent down toward the portal. He was thankful that at least it wasn’t an uphill battle, even as his steps came slower and slower after one another. But he had to get xB out. It was his own fault that he’d gotten in trouble in the first place! Stupid, stupid, why had he not paid attention to how long they’d been in the Nether? He knew that xB couldn’t stay in the heat like that for long, without drying up. Even short trips down to the Nether were risks to his health, but he’d severely miscalculated this time, and xB was the one suffering for it. He trudged along, no matter how much his lungs ached for a break. He was so close, he could already hear the faint sounds of the portal in the distance, a promise of rest and water, sweet, cold water.
He tried to be careful as he hauled xB over the rough obsidian base, but it still left long scratches down his thighs by the time his whole body was caught in that ethereal purple glow. Keralis held tightly onto his torso as he started to feel his stomach churn, vision growing blurry as the purple overtook it, overtook him, and his feet were no longer on the ground, floating, flying, falling, his one anchor the slow heartbeat underneath his palm, and then the breath returned to his lungs as his feet touched the ground again, this time on the hard planks that made up the walkway around his shipyard.
Water! They were right next to the water! All he had to do was roll xB over the edge with a single, forceful shove. It still made his heart skip a beat as he watched him get swallowed up by the murky water, even though he knew xB would be completely fine. More than fine. He needed the water to return back to normal, for his skin to rehydrate, and for his consciousness to return to him. It was a split-second decision for Keralis to start shedding his clothes, opting to stay close to xB instead of running to fetch a potion of healing for him. This was not the kind of damage that a potion of healing could really do anything against, anyway. In no time, Keralis had lost all his clothes save for his boxers, everything else thrown haphazardly across the pier, dangerously close to being drenched as Keralis dived into the water with a splash.
The ocean was cold, a very harsh contrast to the blistering heat of the Nether. Keralis’ limbs stiffened up even as he continued his descent toward xB, who was floating peacefully down by the bottom. The color had returned to his fins, his blue freckles almost glowing in the gentle light that seeped through the water. His gills splayed open, letting him breathe deeper than his lungs ever could. He looked so tranquil, with his body gently waving in the currents. Pretty. And most importantly, healthy. But he still didn’t open his eyes.
Keralis’ lungs were starting to burn. He wasn’t like xB, he couldn’t stay underwater for long. He quickly closed the distance between the two of them, finding it a lot easier to pull xB up toward the surface than it had been to drag him all the way back home. He was still winded, barely having recovered from their trip to the Nether, either, by the time he had hauled xB onto the wood. He was starting to come to.
“Princess!”
“Keralis?” he groaned, shutting his eyes as soon as he blinked them open. He whined as he brought his arms up to rub aggressively at his face. “I don’t feel so good…”
“Yeah, no shit.” Keralis crawled forward to settle by his head, laying a palm over his forehead. Being dumped into the water had significantly cooled him down, his sopping wet hair still dripping, coloring the boards below his head a shade darker. But underneath it all, he was still radiating heat into Keralis’ hands. Still not great, considering how low his body heat was supposed to be. No matter how much Keralis would complain about it when they were cuddled up together, he still would much rather see xB healthy and happy. “I’m gonna fetch a healing potion for you, okay, Princess? You stay right there!”
He wasn’t exactly an expert on guardian-hybrid biology, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to try a potion. His feet seemed a lot more inclined to get caught in every crack as he sprinted down the creaky boards of the pier into the heart of his shipyard to rummage through way too many storage units before he finally found the shulker of potions he needed. By the time he turned back down the pier leading toward where he’d left xB, the man had struggled to his feet, bent over himself as he shuffled along, toward where Keralis was speeding toward him.
“Princess! Princess, what are you doing? What did I tell you? You can’t be exerting yourself!”
XB looked up, wrinkling his nose in distaste as Keralis took a hold of him, trying to get him to lie back down again. “It’s uncomfortable here! Why are you trying to give me back pain? I want a bed.”
“But, Princess! The water!”
“Bed!”
“You’re gonna get all dry! Mummified xB! I don’t want that, no thank you.”
“I’ll be fine, Keralis, come on! I’ll drink lots of water, I promise.”
Keralis grumbled discontentedly under his breath the whole time he spent slowly and carefully assisting xB toward the closest building with a bed.
XB’s eyes fluttered shut as soon as his head hit the pillow, leaving Keralis to try and wrestle the covers out from under his body. He tucked him in tightly, though he was careful not to jostle him too much. By the time Keralis pulled out his box of potions, xB was fast asleep, soft snoring swallowed up by the pillow he had his head buried in. Keralis sighed, but in the end, abandoned the shulker at the foot of the bed.
After all, rest was an important part of getting better, which he muttered to himself as he slipped under the covers beside xB, plastering himself up against his side with his head buried in the crook of his shoulder. To make sure nothing bad happens to him while he sleeps, he told himself. It was only a half-truth, he knew, but it still brought him a sense of security that he could feel his heartbeat under his palm as xB’s rhythmic breathing lulled him into sleep.