Work Text:
This week had, in every way, been utterly exhausting.
Long days in the field, technical difficulties in the office that led to you having to rewrite all of last week's reports, the aether core in your heart flaring up. It had been one thing after another, but the glorious light at the end of the tunnel had been a three-day weekend you were spending in the N109 Zone with Sylus.
Of course, the week had to end on a bad note, though, with a 4pm call to the field to dispose of some Wanderers that had materialized in a park. Most of them had been standard. Easy to kill, although tedious due to the sheer volume of them.
But one of them. One of them was something nauseatingly new.
It was all a blur in your memory now, but the emotions remained. You'd been focused on taking out what you thought was the last Wanderer, muscles tensed as you waiting for the perfect opening before firing your pistol. The Wanderer had dissolved with a screech, and your shoulders sagged with relief.
Then you'd felt something crawling up your right side.
You'd looked down and felt all the blood drain from your face. It was a Wanderer, about the size of a cat, but with the build of a tarantula, and it was crawling up your leg.
A strangled shriek escaped your throat and all proper training flew out the window. You swung your right arm down in a wide arc, striking the Wanderer with your pistol. It fell to the ground and you rapidly stumbled backward, your throat tight with fear and disgust as it shuddered and turned to face you, surging forward way too fast with way too many legs-
And then Xavier was there, driving his sword through its body and pinning it to the ground, frowning as it dissolved. He'd looked at you with so much concern that it turned your fear into embarrassment, and you'd brushed the incident off as a fluke caused by a lack of rest.
Luckily, the reports were straightforward and the work day ended quickly afterwards. You'd brought your overnight bag to work, so you didn't even need to stop by your apartment after leaving the Hunters Association and heading straight for the N109 Zone.
The motorcycle ride was usually enjoyable. You loved the rush of the ride and the admittedly slightly illegal speeds you reached once crossing into the lawless territory.
But now you felt uneasy. Every itch was a set of legs crawling up your skin. Your right leg felt wrong, like you could still feel the arachnid Wanderer there.
It's fine, you thought to yourself as the Onychinus base finally came into view. You're safe now.
And for a bit, it was fine. The twins met you at the door (they were on their way out carrying what looked suspiciously like two flamethrowers) and Mephisto guided you to the kitchen, where Sylus was finishing dinner. In the few texts you'd managed to exchange with him this week, he'd admitted that his own week had been hectic enough that his sleep schedule would be more aligned with yours this weekend.
You were able to forget your troubles as you ate and caught each other up on your weeks. When you got to today, you casually mentioned the new Wanderer, acting unbothered by its appearance. In the shower, you scrubbed your skin with a little more force than necessary, but the redness it caused was covered by your pajama pants.
Finally, the moment you'd been waiting for all week arrived, and you were able to crawl into bed with Sylus, humming with content as you closed your eyes and nuzzled into his chest.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were about to start purring and making biscuits," he said, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and hugging you close.
You opened your eyes to look up at him and make some sort of face, but a dark spot in the corner of your eye made your heart drop. You bolted upright, pulling yourself out of Sylus's hold and whipping around with your heart in your throat, but it was only a small tuft of a black feather resting on the sheets.
With a scowl, you flicked it off the bed and glared at Mephisto, who looked unbothered on his perch by the window. Sylus frowned as he watched you, his brow furrowed.
"What was that?" he asked, so gentle and concerned that it made your heart ache.
You didn't have it in you to admit that, for a second, you'd thought it was a spider on the bed. You were a Hunter. You risked your life constantly. You shouldn't be fixated on something like this.
"Nothing, just jumpy after this week," you said dismissively, settling back down with your head on Sylus's chest. He hummed in acknowledgement, and you tried to let that soft rumble and the beat of his heart calm you down.
But it was hard. The room was so dark. If there was a spider, would you even be able to see it? Had you ever actually seen one in the base? Did Mephisto get them? If he didn't, could you- no, there was no way you could ask Sylus to take the time to add a spider-wrangling protocol to Mephisto's code. You would just have to bribe the crow yourself. But you couldn't just go have a hushed conversation with the bird right now- Sylus would insist on knowing what was going on. It would have to wait.
Despite your internal turmoil, the exhaustion of the week and the warmth of the blanket over you and Sylus's body under you won out. Your eyes lowered shut and your mind grew fuzzy with incoming sleep, and you felt yourself drifting off...
You're not sure when you opened your eyes, or if you even opened your eyes at all. You weren't sure if you were completely dreaming, or just hallucinating something over reality. It didn't matter what was happening, just that one moment, you were drifting off, and the next, you were peering through the dark, just barely able to make out your arm wrapped around Sylus-
And a dark shape crawling on your skin, eight legs and a large body, moving horrifically fast towards your face-
It wasn't some strangled shriek this time. You full-on screamed, propelling yourself away from Sylus and scrambling out of the bed. Your legs twisted in the blankets and you fell off the mattress hard, but you didn't stop moving until your back was against the wall. Your breath came in shallow gasps and your hands were shaking as you slid down the wall to sit on the floor.
Sylus was up in an instant. Familiar red-black mist flicked the light switch on, illuminating the room. Even more Evol gathered around his fingertips as he looked around frantically for whatever threat pulled him out of sleep. But when he saw nothing, the mist dissolved, and he met your eyes. His expression changed from aggressive to concerned, and he slowly approached, crouching down and cupping your cheek in his hand. You hadn't felt them until now, but you realized there were tears on your cheeks.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked urgently, looking you up and down for any sign of injury.
"There-" you choke on your words, your fear melting into embarrassment again, but Sylus looks so worried and you're so tired you can't think up any excuse, so you settle on the truth. "There was a spider."
Sylus doesn't mock you, because of course he wouldn't, and you knew it was irrational to think he would when you were in this state. He didn't look any less worried about you, but you could see a fraction of relief flash in his eyes, because this was something he could take care of.
He pulled his hand away and stood, gently pulling you up with him, only so you're standing, not forcing you any closer to the bed.
"Where was it?" he asked calmly. "Did it bite you?"
"It was- crawling on me," you stammer, looking down at your forearm where you'd seen and felt it. "It- it didn't bite me. But it was big."
"It's alright. I'll take care of it," Sylus assured quietly, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to your forehead before turning back toward the bed.
You leaned back against the wall, wrapping your arms around your torso as you watched him. He carefully sifting through the blankets you'd tugged off the bed, finding nothing before he scoured the sheets and pillows, going so far as to remove them to check for any signs of life. Nothing. He even got down and looked under the bed and nightstand, but when he straightened back up to his full height, he looked even more concerned than he would have if he'd found it.
"I'm... not seeing anything," he said carefully, walking over to where Mephisto was perched, fast asleep (powered down?). He tapped the crow gently and Mephisto came to life, shaking out his wings before cawing and beginning to fly around the room, scouring every surface with a glowing red eye.
In the meantime, Sylus walked back to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you close. Too exhausted to put on a brave front, you let yourself melt into the touch, but your gaze stayed diligently on Mephisto's search and the floor around you two in case anything started crawling your way.
"I saw it," you insisted quietly, even though Sylus hadn't said anything accusatory. "I felt it. It was on me."
"I know," Sylus murmured in response, gently rubbing his hands up and down your arms. "But..."
He paused as Mephisto flew back to him, landing on his shoulder. The crow cawed and shook out all his feathers, and Sylus's movements stopped for only a millisecond before continuing.
"There's nothing in here."
You'd had a sinking suspicion, because it had been big enough that there was no way Sylus wouldn't have seen it when it woke up. But that didn't stop a few more tears from welling up and spilling onto your cheeks. Your shoulders dropped in defeat and you looked down, unable to meet Sylus's gaze.
"I saw it," you whispered shakily.
"I know," Sylus repeated, carefully pulling you back to the bed and guiding you onto the mattress. "You're tired, and stressed, and that Wanderer earlier today upset you more than you let on."
He didn't say it accusingly, just matter-of-factly, and you didn't argue. He climbed into bed next to you, carefully pulling you back into his embrace while red and black mist draped the blankets over the two of you.
"It's okay," he murmured, and it was difficult not to relax at least a little from his soothing tone. "Mephisto will keep watch tonight."
You glanced up at the light, still on, bathing the room in a soft golden glow. Sylus followed your gaze.
"Would you like to keep it on?"
You could say no. Maybe you should. Maybe you should ignore your fear, force yourself to get over it.
But you looked back at Sylus, meeting his soft red eyes, and decided that confronting your fears could wait. You were stressed, and tired, and just wanted to rest in his embrace.
"Yes," you said, your voice barely above a whisper, but your answer definitive. A flicker of pride flashed in Sylus's eyes, as it often did when you verbalized what you wanted to him.
"Alright," he replied simply, tightening his hold and closing your eyes.
You could have stared at him for a while longer, taking in his soft expression while processing the warm feeling buzzing in your heart from his reaction to all this, but you closed your heavy eyelids, too.
"We can talk about it in the morning," he said softly as you drifted off, this time into a true slumber. "For now, sleep. I'm here, and you're safe."