Work Text:
You awoke with a start, your heart beating wildly in your chest, a sharp pain shooting across your front just as thunder sounded from outside your window, the rain pelting down as a sob tore from your throat.
Breathe, you tried telling yourself, slow breaths .
You tried...and failed...as you snapped your eyes shut, pursing your lips as you grabbed the front of your shirt in a clenched fist.
Just a nightmare. Just a very bad dream. You’re fine, you assure yourself.
Still, tears threatened to spill over your lashlines and your chest felt like it was caving in at the memory of...
You quickly open your eyes and grabbed your phone off your nightstand, unlocking it and scrolling through your contacts until you saw Zayne’s name before... hesitating , your thumb hovering over his contact.
You should call Dr. Zayne. He always wanted to know how you were doing physically. Always told you, even if it was the middle of the night, he would answer and help you if needed. You should call him.
You closed your eyes once more, trying to breathe through the pain as you forced your fist to unclench from your shirt and you soothed a hand over the phantom pain still lingering.
When you opened your eyes again, you scrolled up until you saw another name and without a second thought, your thumb landed on his contact and your phone began to ring.
You doubt he was up—even for an Onychinus leader, but...
He answered on the second ring.
“Evening, sweetie, ” His voice drifted through your phone, still sounding quite awake and alert despite how late it was. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this late call?”
You paused, words seemingly failing you as you listened to his smooth, deep voice. You forced yourself to breathe when it felt like you’d forgotten how to and, as if that was enough cause for concern, Sylus’s voice lost all mirth as he spoke to you again.
“What happened?”
You heard movement on the other line before a set of something— keys? —jingling caught your attention.
“A-Ah, I’m sorry...I’m fine. I just...” You paused again, biting the inside of your cheek as, again, you rubbed your chest to soothe the lingering ache you felt. “I don’t...know why I called. I’m sorry.” You grimaced as you apologized again.
How pathetic , you chided yourself inwardly.
More movement on the other end of the line, before Sylus sighed. “Why are you apologizing? ”
You went to apologize again for apologizing, before you stopped yourself and forced a humorless chuckle out. “Right. Did I wake you? I know it’s late and—”
This time, Sylus interrupted you. “It’s fine. I was still up looking over some paperwork.”
You hummed and glanced toward your windows, the rain still coming down hard. Thunder booming over the night sky and echoing through your phone. Was it raining in the N109 zone too?
“It’s pretty bad out there.” You murmured quietly, not really talking to him , per sé, but just generally speaking.
A pause and then Sylus saying, “Fortuantely, a motorcycle isn’t all I drive, Miss Hunter. ”
You tuned back to your conversation, thinking quietly. He had been grabbing his keys when he assumed you might have needed help. You flashed a small smile into the darkness and shook your head.
“I’d still hate for you to be caught out in that.” You admitted.
You couldn’t see it, but Sylus shrugged.
“If you needed my help, it wouldn’t have mattered to me.”
Hearing him say that, you froze. The ache in your chest had dulled and the pounding in your head was a brief pain before your small smile grew slightly.
Before you could stop herself, you told him, “...it was a nightmare. Maybe the thunder outside didn’t help but I...I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest...” You paused, shaking your head as you took a shaking breath to try and calm your nerves before continuing, “I was going to call my friend; he’s a doctor and the one who’s been overseeing my treatment and check ups for the aether core.”
“But you didn’t.” He assumed after a brief moment. You couldn’t quite pinpoint what that was, but there was something in his voice that just sounded...strained? You couldn’t have been sure, but you shook your head before realizing he couldn’t see you and clarifying audibly.
“No, I didn’t. The pain in my chest...I don’t think it had anything to do with the aether core. It seemed pointless to bother him with such things.” Zayne, more than anyone, deserved all the rest he could get—you couldn’t imagine just how difficult it was with his schedule and having to be on top of everything as a doctor.
And before I knew it, I had already clicked on your name, you spoke inwardly, blinking slowly as you leaned back in your bed, staring off into the darkness of your room.
Sylus hummed, also leaning back in his chair and looking off to the side thoughtfully. After a moment, he asked, “Would you like to talk about it?”
You clenched her jaw slightly before loosening a breath. “No...no. Sorry, I—”
Sylus chuckled. “Apologizing again, kitten?”
The burst of laughter that came out of you had you had slapping a hand over your mouth. “Shut up .” The sound that slipped out was still filled with amusement.
Sylus laughed with you and the calmness in which settled over you, over the both of you, had you breathing a lot easier and the ache in your chest had pretty much evaporated into nothingness.
You both continued to make small talk. Sylus had done most of the talking, and you’d been content listening to him rattle on about his day and the shenanigans Luke and Kieran had gotten up to since you had last seen them. You even asked about Mephisto when you could faintly hear his little caw in the background, probably a little irked that Sylus was keeping him up with his phone call.
The thunderstorm in the background had lessened and the rain was like white noise as you both continued to talk for the next hour before you had to stifle a yawn behind your hand.
Of course, he noticed. “You should try and get some more rest. Dawn is still a few hours off, but we wouldn’t want you to start dozing at work.” He teased and you found yourself smiling softly.
“Me or you?” You shot back sleepily, giggling to yourself.
"Cheeky, aren’t you?”
You hummed, your eyes already closing as you got more comfortable in your bed. Still, you didn’t hang up—and with his soft breathing on the other line, you knew he hadn’t either.
“Comfortable?” He asked quietly. You could faintly hear the sound of papers shuffling around.
“Mhm.” You licked your lips and burrowed a little further into your pillow. “Are you going to go to bed too?”
“In a few.”
“You shouldn’t make the twins worry.” You drawled a little bit, the pull of sleep threatening to take you.
“Just the twins?”
“...Mephisto too.”
The soft chuckle filled your ear and you smiled sleepily at the sound.
“Sleep well, love.”
That was new. But you didn’t even register the new nickname before you felt sleep pull you under, your phone slipping slightly from your hand.
When you awoke a few hours later, your phone was still on and you could faintly hear the soft snores of Sylus on the other end.