Post by Kris11 on Mar 16, 2011 17:48:12 GMT 10
Title: Dying Days
Rating: PG
Word Count: 558
Pairing: Aly/Taybur
Round/Fight: 1/D
Summary: Taybur finds himself struggling with a new fear of storms.
Memories of dying days that deafen us like hurricanes. Savior, Rise Against.
Taybur found he could forget it, most days, except for his sudden fear of storms.
He had never had the fear as a child. Indeed, it was his bed his sisters would crawl into during storms in the nights, even though two of them were older than he was. Lightning was hard to be frightened of, even as a child, when there were four of you huddled under the blankets, making games that passed time between each flash and rumble, judging just how far the house would blow if it did get tossed away, and making outrageous stories about what the gods were doing to make the world react so violently.
He was surprised then by his reaction to the first storm after the rebellion was over, to find himself sitting in bed in cold sweats, shaking as he tried to calm his breathing.
It didn’t pass or fade with time. Even months later, he sat in his office, wincing each time thunder cracked overhead, and he was drawn ever back to that storm.
He thought the worst had been over with when he avenged Dunevon’s death. The people responsible were dead, all of them, and he tried to take pleasure in that fact. But, instead, it just reminded him that Dunevon was dead, too.
Lightning flashed outside his window and he tensed, waiting for the crash to follow.
Because no matter how many people died, it didn’t bring him back. It didn’t change the fact that he had spent hours holding on to his body as the storm raged around him, knowing that holding on wasn’t good enough, not when what was precious in the little boy was already gone.
There was a knock on the door that corresponded with the thunder crash.
She didn’t wait for him to answer the door, and didn’t need to. He always locked himself in during these storms, but that never stopped the spymaster of the Kyprish Isles. He looked away as she closed the door behind her, cursing the stupidity of the situation. A grown man, reduced to huddling in the dark because of lights in the sky and-
He jumped violently as thunder crashed.
He had almost forgotten she was there until she settled onto the desk, sitting behind him so she could rest her hands on his shoulders.
He didn’t know when she had noticed his fear of storms, but he was never alone long before she would arrive at his side and sit with him through the night. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her there or not; his embarrassment struggled against the same desperate need for comfort that had driven his sisters to run to his room when the storms began.
The steady pressure of her hands didn’t change as he jumped with the noise of the storm passing overhead. Soon, he could focus on that touch rather than the sounds of the wind and rain. The massage on his shoulders had no connection to the storm that had killed his king, and it took him away from the memories until he stopped shaking, and his breathing relaxed, and his muscles loosened.
Aly would stay with him until the storm ended, just as she always did.
QC by: journeycat
Rating: PG
Word Count: 558
Pairing: Aly/Taybur
Round/Fight: 1/D
Summary: Taybur finds himself struggling with a new fear of storms.
Memories of dying days that deafen us like hurricanes. Savior, Rise Against.
Taybur found he could forget it, most days, except for his sudden fear of storms.
He had never had the fear as a child. Indeed, it was his bed his sisters would crawl into during storms in the nights, even though two of them were older than he was. Lightning was hard to be frightened of, even as a child, when there were four of you huddled under the blankets, making games that passed time between each flash and rumble, judging just how far the house would blow if it did get tossed away, and making outrageous stories about what the gods were doing to make the world react so violently.
He was surprised then by his reaction to the first storm after the rebellion was over, to find himself sitting in bed in cold sweats, shaking as he tried to calm his breathing.
It didn’t pass or fade with time. Even months later, he sat in his office, wincing each time thunder cracked overhead, and he was drawn ever back to that storm.
He thought the worst had been over with when he avenged Dunevon’s death. The people responsible were dead, all of them, and he tried to take pleasure in that fact. But, instead, it just reminded him that Dunevon was dead, too.
Lightning flashed outside his window and he tensed, waiting for the crash to follow.
Because no matter how many people died, it didn’t bring him back. It didn’t change the fact that he had spent hours holding on to his body as the storm raged around him, knowing that holding on wasn’t good enough, not when what was precious in the little boy was already gone.
There was a knock on the door that corresponded with the thunder crash.
She didn’t wait for him to answer the door, and didn’t need to. He always locked himself in during these storms, but that never stopped the spymaster of the Kyprish Isles. He looked away as she closed the door behind her, cursing the stupidity of the situation. A grown man, reduced to huddling in the dark because of lights in the sky and-
He jumped violently as thunder crashed.
He had almost forgotten she was there until she settled onto the desk, sitting behind him so she could rest her hands on his shoulders.
He didn’t know when she had noticed his fear of storms, but he was never alone long before she would arrive at his side and sit with him through the night. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her there or not; his embarrassment struggled against the same desperate need for comfort that had driven his sisters to run to his room when the storms began.
The steady pressure of her hands didn’t change as he jumped with the noise of the storm passing overhead. Soon, he could focus on that touch rather than the sounds of the wind and rain. The massage on his shoulders had no connection to the storm that had killed his king, and it took him away from the memories until he stopped shaking, and his breathing relaxed, and his muscles loosened.
Aly would stay with him until the storm ended, just as she always did.
QC by: journeycat