Work Text:
sylus’s footsteps are just like him—measured, controlled, methodical. he’s never in a rush because he always has a plan.
his rhythm is grounding, so much that it’s almost ironic. the slow, heavy thuds that may have meant danger when you were younger now guaranteed your safety. and in their absence, you lost a little bit of home.
he wasn’t supposed to be gone this long. you never wanted him gone at all. if he stayed, you wouldn’t be curled up and shivering, suffering through the pain alone.
another pang lights your nerves on fire, but there’s no one to hold you through it. your quiet whimper is lost in the air.
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a foreign sound jolts you awake.
erratic, rushed steps, pounding down the base hallway. so unfamiliar, you almost panic. an intruder?
but how would they have gotten past luke and kieran? the last one to try was swallowed by a trap door.
groaning, you shift back on the bed, preparing to defend yourself as best you can.
a large figure bursts into the room before you’re ready. heaving shoulders, furrowed brows, and wild vermillion eyes.
that’s how.
they must have told him.
you blink in greeting, too exhausted to pretend.
in quick, uneven strides, he’s kneeling at your side. a worried hand runs across your trembling waist. “why didn’t you tell me?”
a mumble is all you manage. “you were busy.”
he scoffs as if it weren’t true, and you wish that’d been the case. “too busy for you to tell me you were hurting?”
you bite your lip, but not from pain.
surprise, worry, and guilt. they mold his face into one of sorrow.
“sweetie,” he starts, voice low and thick. delicately, he slips into bed beside you, wrapping you in his arms with a gentleness no man like him should be able to muster. “get some rest. i’ll stay with you until it passes. and when you wake up, i’ll tell you how little everything else matters to me when you’re in pain.”