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The man was dead. There was no question. If it were not for the stillness of his breath, or the rigid manner in which his limbs lay on the tepid ground, unmoving, then there could be no doubt from the twisted shape of his mangled spine that could not in any earthly capacity be capable of sustaining life. Even if by some divine miracle this tangled mass of flesh still possessed a beating heart and eyes that might see and know of its predicament, or that its certain demise was sure to come very soon now, it could not remain that way for very long.
At the very notion, you found yourself utterly terrified. To imagine this life extended beyond its natural means was too terrible a fate to bear. Though the object of your pity lay much less with the gruesome scene that lay at your feet, as its blood bloomed wide, reaching now the toes of your shoes, staining and soaking their soles in its crimson swell.
It was Adam, your Adam, who towered before the wretch, solemn as a monolith, that drew this pang of pity from your heart.
He too was once no more a fetid mass of parts as these, rent from their resting places and assembled into this amalgam of flesh before you. He was indeed a victor in every sense, over life, over death, and now over this lifeless husk that would have done either of you great harm if it had continued to live.
Yet as he breathed now, low, heavy, air rushing through his stolen lungs like wind through a tunnel pass with nowhere else to expell but in a rush, there cast no glory in his shadow, no triumph for his deed - noble, though it had been. For one who loomed so large there was a smallness in the way he shuddered in the aftermath, in the way his shoulders adorned by old and worn furs rose and fell, and there could be no doubt that something troubled this great and terrible creature. It was for this knowledge that all fear from what had transpired before quit your mind, and was usurped by a need you could not name, but one that made you wish to console the beast in your purview all the more for it.
He looked fearful, as he turned to face you. Though his eye caught a fierce shade of amber in the dim lamplight of night, it did little to mask the panic that held steadfast in his face as his eyes darted over your form in a frenzy. He spared no moment in approaching, his footfalls disjointed and weary on the ground, hands reaching for you as though you stood at a vast and lonely distance, when it had only taken but a few small strides for him to stand before you.
His eyes roved and raved, seeking injury. His hands roamed, his survey thorough, his hands palpating all the while against your tender skin, as though you too might quit every perfection or imperfection and fall dead where you stood. He found nothing. There was nothing to find. You had been unharmed, thanks to his swift action, but he knew there was always a cost to be payed for the violence of the world.
Still yet, he could not calm. His breathing did not cease its stampede on silver zephyrs through the chill of the air. He could not stop the stinging tide of fear in and out of his own tattered body, even if he rent himself apart to find its source and tear it from his chest, he would find no relief. He could only shudder from the pain, and gaze into your eyes now and ask with honesty and tears that rode down his cheeks what he might dread to hear.
"Are you hurt?"
It came more a quiet plea than a question, hope beyond hope running wild in his mismatched eyes. You shook your head before you could even think to respond to him in words.
"No…"
His breath hitched. Hands reached for your face, and touched with a trembling gentleness the warm swell of your cheeks. It was so tender you thought his fingers might be no more than phantoms that would pass through your skin if he attempted a firmer touch.
"No, Adam," you breathed, hand reaching for his, uncaring for the blood it imparted onto your skin, holding him steadfast to you, "I am all right."
There was a hardness in the way he kissed you then. Lips that had found yours in unbearable softness since ever you had known them met you now with a stiffness that could only be borne through pain and grief and loss… and in that pain, an unbearable knowledge that this creature will know it again and again as long as his unending life will allow.
But this was not the day he would lose you. And you tasted the freedom in his heart from the tears that mingled between your mouths as he plied his open to your lip's gentle caresses, though his could not help but to remain firm as he returned these passions to you. Though the pain would never fully relent, it became easier to bear as your kiss assured him that at least now, and in this moment, you were here beside him, and that you would not leave him even now, having seen what these hands that held you so softly have wrought in the name of love for you.
His eyes flooded in relief as you broke apart, though he still held you close as he spoke in a quiver.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry, I couldn't…"
"It's all right, Adam."
Your hands came to his chest, where the patch over his heart pounded and bled, and suddenly began to slow, your warm palm its only balm to soothe its incessant toil. His eyes shut and shed the spare tears that had gathered in them as his blood began to cease its roaring.
"I cannot suffer any man to live that would hurt you," he said with a great solemnity, a promise made that only this night might keep.
His cheekbones caught the light as his head tilted down in shame, and you hand that spared his heart came to grace its countenance, returning his eyes to your comely face.
"I know. And you haven't."
He could not help how he leaned into your touch, a calm rumble emanating from his chest as you held him. As you shifted your step, the squelch of blood coagulating under your feet alarmed you both to reality; that it wouldn't be long before another might chance upon this scene, and what further turmoil that might bring caused you to act.
You removed your hand, and found his, fingers dancing over the patch of his fingers, tugging him away.
"Come. We have to leave this place," you bade, and he nodded in consent as he fell in tandem with your steps as you pulled. If it must be ever thus to keep you with him, he would not regret any action he took to prevent it for the rushes of fear that came with it. For your safekeeping, he would suffer any misfortune, as long as you were there to guide him out of that place and into the night with only the love you could give that was a solace to his forever broken heart.
It made him content at last, then, to follow where you led, leaving all fear and doubt with the ruination you left behind.