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Zam was running. He didn’t know where to, but it had to be away. Away from his castle that was once his safe haven but was now his purgatory. His living hell. He was tired. But he couldn’t stop running or he’d die. He’d die slowly and painfully and it would hurt and Zam didn’t want to die again. He’d lost enough hearts this season, and he was so tired of it. He was tired, but he could not stop. If he stopped he’d die, and didn’t want to die, but he would, he would, he would. He always seemed to.
A sword stabbed through his shoulder. Zam screamed and stumbled. He was kicked to the ground and the sword was pulling out of his shoulder with a spurt of dark yellow blood. He rolled over to face the player above him. Mapicc was grinning down at him, the hellhound demon hybrid laughing at the colorati below him. He raised the sword, then stabbed down at Zam’s heart.
Zam woke up with a scream. There were two sets of arms around him, which he quickly scrambled away from. He was out in the open, he was exposed, he had to hide. He wasn’t safe, he had to hide or he’d die. Zam practically leapt off the bed he was in and half ran, half stumbled out of the room and down the hallway. He quickly came into a large room he should have recognized as the main room of the Eclipse Federation base, but right now in his hazy, frantic mindset, all he could think was that it was too open, too exposed, he couldn’t hide there, so he had to leave it. He staggered down another hall and into an unlocked room. A storage room.
This was good. He could hide here.
Zam tucked herself into a corner, curling up into herself as much as she could. Be small, that keeps you hidden and that keeps you alive. She wasn’t safe. Not yet. She could never be safe. Never, because wherever she was, Mapicc would inevitably find her and then he’d kill her. She could never be safe, never, never, never, Mapicc would kill her and it would hurt, and-
Someone opened the door to the fairly small storage room, bathing Zam in light. She looked up at the horned, silhouetted figure. They paused for a moment at the sight of her, curled up in a corner with tears she didn’t realize were there streaming down her face. Then they called out to someone else who was somewhere else in the base.
“I found him!”
They waited for the other person before entering the room. Zam squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear the two walking. One was quiet in their steps, hardly making a sound. Ro walked like that. But Zam couldn’t remember who had ram horns, and Ro nor Mapicc had those…right? The other person had nails that clacked on the stone floor as they walked. Mapicc had nails that did that.
It could be Mapicc, coming to kill him. Zam could be about to die. He pressed his hands over his ears, crying as silently as he could. (Mapicc hates when he's loud. Pathetic.) He was going to die and it would hurt and then Mapicc would hunt him down after he respawned and kill him again and again and again-
The footsteps stopped.
“Zam?”
A soft and achingly gentle voice. Not Ro. Not Mapicc. Zam grew slightly less tense but didn’t open his eyes or move his hands. He could still be in danger. Safety was a luxury he couldn’t afford to own, not when it made him lower his guard, which made him vulnerable, which got him killed.
“Zam, hey, can you hear us?”
A different voice. Softer than the other. It sounded almost fluffy in a way. It was something about the tone. It radiated safety and comfort. Zam couldn’t trust it. But he could respond. Surely that was okay?
He nodded.
“Okay. Okay, that’s good. Do you know where you are?”
He shook his head, then the first voice asked, “Do you know who we are?”
Zam hesitated. He should know. He felt like he did. But he couldn’t trust his brain right now. He shook his head. The voices hesitated. Then the second voice spoke again.
“It-it’s Vitalasy and Subz. Your teammates. Remember? Subz recruited you to our team, the Eclipse Federation, a little over a month ago.”
Right. Vitalasy. Subz. Subz had found Zam, bloody, bruised, and shaking, and invited him to join their team. Zam felt safe around them. Far safer than he ever did with Mapicc and Ro. Mapicc wasn’t hunting and terrorizing Zam anymore. He was safe. Genuinely safe. He removed his hands from his ears and opened his eyes.
Vitalasy and Subz were crouched in front of him. Vitalasy’s fox ears were pinned back in worry and his tail was tucked. Subz’s ram ears drooped slightly and his eyes were worried, but other than that he didn’t seem too concerned. He certainly didn’t radiate worry like Vitalasy did, but he showed it in his own way. Another thing Vitalasy radiated was that he did a very poor job of hiding when he wanted to hug someone. Which Subz picked up on.
“You want to hug him, don’t you.” Subz gave Vitalasy a dry look that suggested to an outsider perspective that this was a common occurrence.
“...very much so, yeah.” Vitalasy gave Zam the most pathetic puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen. “Can I?”
Zam smiled a little and nodded. He barely had time to react before Vitalasy practically leapt at him, hugging him tightly. He nuzzled the top of Zam’s head as his decently large tail wrapped around them. Zam hugged him back, his own tail wrapping tightly around one of Vitalasy’s legs. They stayed like that for a moment before Subz cleared his throat.
“As touching and adorable as this is, it is in fact still like, one AM. So can we do this in bed, cause I’m tired.”
Vitalasy grinned at Subz. “You just wanna get in on the action yourself, darling. But, fine, I suppose we could relocate.” He sighed dramatically before pulling away from Zam to scoop her up and carry her bridal style. The colorati yelped before relaxing in the Enderian fox hybrid’s arms. She really was tired. Her panicked adrenaline had faded, leaving Zam just exhausted.
They walked in silence back down the dark halls of their base to their shared bedroom. They each had their own room, technically, but they all slept in Vitalasy’s. Zam had originally slept alone until after a week of just straight nightmares, Subz had insisted he sleep with them. He wasn’t complaining. He didn’t really like sleeping alone, anyways. Being together was less dangerous, safety in numbers and all that.
Vitalasy set Zam down, then frowned at the various blankets that had been strewn across the floor in Zam’s previous frantic leaving of the room. He gathered them up and arranged them on the bed.
“You and your nests, Vi.” Subz muttered playfully.
“What? It’s like, instinctual or something. I know a few other Enderians who do it too, so it’s not just me!” Vitalasy whined, then flopped on the bed, in the dead center of the nest. Zam climbed in after him.
“Scoot over, you big fox,” Zam complained, pushing Vitalasy over. “Nest-hogger.”
“The first thing you say after dissociating after a nightmare is calling me a nest-hogger.” Vitalasy deadpanned, but scooted to make room. “You really know how to make a guy feel special, Zammy.”
Subz laid down next to Zam, sandwiched him between the two of them. “If you guys keep talking, I’m gonna strangle someone.” he muttered, then hugging Zam from the front, burying his face in his chest, careful that his horns didn’t poke Zam’s chest.
Vitalasy grinned, but to his credit, didn’t talk again. Instead, he hugged Zam from behind, easily spooning him because Vi was seven foot eight inches tall, making him one of if not the tallest person on the server. He kissed the back of Zam’s neck, then mumbled, “G’night.”
“Good night.” Subz said, tilting his head up to kiss Zam’s shoulder before burying his face again.
Zam felt his face go hot a little before he relaxed entirely. He was warm. He was safe. And he was surrounded, literally, by people that loved him. That was the thought that tipped him over into sleep. Darkness encroached on his mind and his eyes slipped shut, content and comfortable for the first time in months.