[He doesn't react at first, just continuing to breathe heavily until he suddenly clutches his right arm, the arm he had been using to channel his dreamotion and nightmare energy, which slowly starts to blacken, chips of dark frost slowly spreading.]
[She counters it immediately, and while her dreamotion is still on the mend, she wraps her hands over his arm and lets it flow unbidden, regardless of how much she needs to push out to get it. She'll try to melt it away, her flames—small as they are—spreading over him as she brings her lips to press against his forehead. There are tiny, dim buds of starflowers that grow along the vines, their petals quivering as they try to bloom.
She gives him another shake, firmer this time, the panic finding its way into her voice now.]
[At first there's no response, but the moment her dreamotion reaches him and tries to counter the nightmares spreading through him, there's a louder pained scream as if he's burned instead, and it's enough to send the dogs who had already awoken barking and rushing over.]
[The flames immediately dissipate when she hears that scream tear out of him, and Tifa leaps back, that panic finally setting in. The dogs are barking and leaping up onto the bed, which does nothing to help put her at ease. If anything, it just makes it worse, and there's a conflict in the room—a war between the heat on her side that suddenly spikes and the cold on his, neither of them winning or losing or giving in.
The flowers that line the bedframe wither away, their light fading and leaving the two of them in the dark, with only the light of the moons, and even that feels as if a shadow has fallen over it.
She has no choice now, and it takes her a moment to pull herself together and blink back the burning tears in her eyes before she's shaking him more vigorously, and shouting at him, and she only presses her dreamotion—weak as it is—into him further as the dogs growl all around them.]
Eustace, you need to wake up!
[If she has to dive in there to get him, then she will...
For now, she leans down and descends her lips over his, hoping that somehow, she can get through to him.]
[While Tifa is desperately trying to wake him, within his subconscious Eustace is in a battle of wills, though it's a strange one. When he felt the nightmares trying to overwhelm him, he expected to feel that dark self of his laughing, an entity he hasn't seen or heard in quite some time. In fact every time he used nightmare energy he felt more controlled, as if perhaps upon accepting that part of him, there was a coexistence that allowed it to be quiet.
Yet, it wasn't that at all.
No, if anything he felt it try to push him, as if trying to help him push back against this strange darkness that tried to overwhelm him in his dreams. A dark force that felt so foreign and yet so familiar, one that sent cold chills every time those shadows even so much as brushed against him.
And from within he could feel and hear Tifa's attempts to reach him, yet for whatever reason it only hurt rather than soothed. He had absorbed a lot of that Ice Queen's nightmares... Did he take in too much? Is this a side effect? Had he reached a state where even dreamotion would harm him instead?
All he knew is he had to fight it off and it isn't until Tifa kisses him that something manages to break through. A rush of strength that allows him to free himself and wake up gasping.
However, that black frost continues to spread, now reaching up to his shoulder and inching down his chest.]
[The moment that he wakes up, Tifa's arms are around him. She can see—and feel—that ice that's creeping up his arm and into his shoulder and chest, and fear grips and squeezes her heart... but her relief is what keeps it from plummeting, because at least he is awake, and aware, even if his lungs may be struggling for air. She takes him and holds him as tight as she can, pulling him close into her warmth, her hand cradling the back of his head.
It's terrifying, how much this reminds her of back then... and her body is shivering against the ice and her fingers are shaking as they comb through his hair, but she remains steadfast, whispering into his ear.]
[At first he presses to her, as if wanting to cling to her. Seeking out that warmth, one that he's grown to not be able to live without. But when he feels that nightmare creeping towards her, he flinches and pushes her back.]
[She falls back from him from the push, her focus far too preoccupied with trying to force as much of her warmth over him as possible that she doesn't notice the way that it starts to move towards her, too... not until she feels the light bite of it against her skin, gone as quickly as it had come but certainly not unfelt. She winces, trying to hide that look of pain—it isn't hard when another sort of pain grabs at her heart that hurts far more than the one that's fading from her arm and across her chest where their bodies touched.
She stares at him with glassy eyes, confused, a hand reaching out to steady him, but she hesitates.
This is just like before...]
Eustace, just talk to me, what...? Was it a dream?
[And just like her hand as it finally reaches out to grab his, her voice quivers like a leaf.]
[At least awake he has more of his bearings, but that cold burn that continues to spread up his arm and down his neck almost makes him use it.]
Just—stay there—
[He hates it, but he pulls back his hand away from now.]
It's—different from—just—ugh!
[Another pained groan as he clutches his arm before he makes a drastic move and suddenly uses his own dreamotion and shoves it against the frost forming on his arm.]
[She's absolutely frozen in horror, watching as that ice spreads over his arm as if it means to encase him... like it had her that time...
And in spite of his warnings—]
No.
[—she moves back in, her arms wrapping around him stubbornly.
She shouldn't be so afraid. This is the second time that they have been through this, the first so much worse, but she is. She has been since he grabbed her hands in the dreamscape. But if she has to feel some of that same burn that he feels, then so be it. She will brave it if it means protecting him from it, or helping to fend it off, then she'll take all the ice that comes at her.]
Yell at me all you want. I'm not making that mistake ever again.
[The moment she touches him, inexplicable pain convulses through him, and he reels as he feels what feels like a scorching heat and burning chill at the same time.]
That snaps her back, her gasp audible, and the tears that had been burning the edges of her eyes now suddenly erupting and streaking down her cheeks as she stumbles back, forcing herself up and off the bed so quickly that she almost trips over Bri, who whines and falls back, all of their ears pinned down in fear at Eustace's voice.]
I...?
[She wraps her arms around herself, everything suddenly feeling cold. And not just the room. Her body feels like it's on fire on the inside, that wretched heat coming to a boil in her gut, but her skin prickles with the chill that continues to spread.]
... I didn't mean to. I'm...
[The words get all tangled on her tongue as they stumble out of her.]
[He gasps when she finally lets go, but knowing how hurt she must be from that pains him more than what he's physically experiencing.
Yet it's that physical pain that will overwhelm him for the moment as his hand grips the wall, dark frost climbing up the bark as everything continues to grow colder.
He has to stop this. And he has to do this on his own. At least... At least until he can have Tifa back with him. He never had a negative reaction to her before, so the only thing that changed was taking in that stupid Ice Queen's energy. That's as far as his thoughts can go before they're sent in disarray by that biting chill that threatens to overtake him.
But if the usual dreamotion can't help him, then he can only rely on his own nightmare energy to push it back. So once again he grits his teeth, and allow his left arm the arm that was so unaffected, suddenly crackle with black lightning as a sheet of dark blue frost engulfs it, almost like an armored glove. He would find it strange how it doesn't hurt like this were it not for the situation, but it is encouraging that it at least doesn't make it worse.
With his hand, now looking more like claws, digging into his blackened arm, he once again forces all of his own energy into it, the black lightning arcing over it as if trying to electrocute it out.]
[Her voice, already so small that she's not even sure she'd said his name at all, dies away the moment she sees the full extent of his arm with the ice and the lightning, the sound of it crackling startling her. Hearing the whining of the dogs, she gently shoos them all out and shuts the door behind them, their low growls and barks drowned out by the sound of Eustace's dreamotion in the otherwise silent, still room.
So still that Tifa is almost afraid that if she moves even the tiniest bit from where she is, takes even a step closer, she will hurt him. That if she so much as breathes again, she will break him.
All she can do is watch helplessly, her hands trembling as she holds them up in front of her. In surrender? An offer to help? She doesn't know anymore.
What she does know is that she can't hold him. Can't help him...
Can't do what she wants to do—needs to do because she promised him...
Besides the crackles of lightning and the looming feeling of the dramotion, the only sound that breaks this eerie silence are Tifa's quiet, stifled sobs.]
[Slowly, bit by bit, he's pushing back that invasive energy that tried to overwhelm him. Slowly, bit by bit, he can feel that darker side of him laughing and whispering how much he needs this dark part of him to be stronger. He ignores it, but he hates to admit that it's right, especially when it's clear it's working.
But he still refuses to completely succumb to it, either—that'll he'll remain in control.
...And he'll control whatever the fuck is inside him right now, too.
It'll be a stressful time for the both of them, but that strange chill will slowly recede, as if he's now drawing back into him, until at last he falls forward onto the bed, that black lightning crackling around him like static as he gasps for air before he looks over at Tifa, once again hating how he put her through this.]
Tifa... It's...
[He wants to tell her it's okay now. Wants to tell her that he wants her to come to him, hold him, warm him with her dreamotion and love that he desperately needs right now. But his strength fails him and he coughs as he completely collapses.]
[She stiffens when he looks at her, looking and feeling like she had done something wrong. Had she moved? Had she breathed? Those pangs of guilt when their eyes meet and she can see the pain within them are strong enough to send a sob tumbling out of her, but she can't bring her feet to carry her to him. No matter how badly she wants to hold him and promise him that she will keep him safe, she remains paralyzed.
...
That is, until he collapses, and all of that goes out the window for all of two seconds. She rushes forward, tripping over herself when she remembers his voice, his words...
"You're burning me—"
She hits the edge of the bed to stop herself, coughing when she loses some air in her lungs, and drops to her knees.]
[It takes him a bit to catch his breath and his senses, and he winces as he now feels the aftereffects of having to use so much untapped nightmare energy.]
It's...fine... It's different...
[He forces himself to look at her before holding out his hand to her.]
[A small shake of his head before he musters the strength to grab her hand and pull it to his face.]
Trust me.
[And instead of the blistering cold, she'll feel his warmth—even with his hand the way it is. There's still some of that chill, but it's a stark contrast to what it was before. A bit more him. And likewise, just her touch already gives him the warmth he so desperately seeks, eyes closing as he sighs.]
[He'll feel her tense the moment he reaches out to grab her hand, her fingers curling into a fist before he lifts it to his face. Only then will they unfurl, just enough, to touch him. Tifa still winces the moment her fingertips press to his skin, and she breaks with another sob, the fear clutching at her the same way that ice clutches to Eustace.
Her own personal nightmare, and it's lying on the bed right in front of her. A nightmare that she cannot wake up from.
The man that she loves—her husband—in so, so much pain and she has no idea what to do to to make it go away.]
Eustace, please tell me what's going on...
[She still can't quite bring herself to reach out to him on her own, but that hand that he holds stays where it is, even if every bone, every muscle in her is pulled as tight as a bowstring about to snap.]
[Not that he doesn't want to, he's just not in any condition to. Already he can feel his consciousness fading, grip weakening as he leans more heavily towards her as slowly the frost and lightning start to recede and dissipate.]
[She watches his face a moment longer, not daring to tear her eyes away lest she miss the first sign of pain, especially as she lets her hand relax against his cheek a little more, still pressed under his.
He says to trust him, and she does. Unconditionally. But she's stuck now between being too afraid to move any closer, and wanting to believe him when he says it's different, especially as she lets her gaze wander down to his shoulder and his arm, where that ice still lingers even after he's reached out to her.
As if all those nightmares she was afraid of have come back to taunt her.
Her other hand comes up, curling over the edge of the bed, and she lifts herself from her knees, a light sniffle leaving her. Slowly, she pushes herself up with a groan, and brings herself to sit at the edge of the bed where she watches him a little longer.
... Before she leans in and drapes her body over his, resting her weight on him as she brings her other arm to wrap around him, cautiously and hands still shaking, and closes her eyes...]
[Although now unconscious, his body will naturally lean into hers, and just her presence alone is helping to calm the stimulated energy, more and more of that frost and electricity disappearing. It'll be a slow process—he had used a lot after all—but at the very least his breathing will calm until it will seem as if he had just fallen back asleep.]
[She's never hurt him before, not with her dreamotion, and certainly not like that. It was always something that could heal him, heal them both, never harm. She thinks of their starflowers, even the ones that are withered along the headboard of their bed, and how bright their glow normally is. Of the little stars that always dance around them. Of the warm flames that kiss his cheek and his nose when he gets a little cold, or that blanket of warmth that comes over them when they're together.
How could it be used against him like this? What did she do wrong? Or rather, what is she not doing that could help make this go away? It's a hard question to ask when he doesn't answer... or when he might not even have the answers at all.
All she knows is that she's never been more scared of touching him, and of hurting him, than she is in this moment. He can beg her and plead with her to hold him until he can no longer speak, but she's not so sure that will change a thing.
Still. If it's what he wants... no, what he needs, then she is willing to push all of that aside. Stamp it out as she always does and be the pillar he needs to get through whatever this is.
So, when she feels him relaxing more and more, that darker, colder energy beginning to dull, she will finally loose that breath and carefully reach a hand out to brush it through his hair. Her eyes open so that she can watch over him as he sleeps, scanning his features for more signs of change, or of another nightmare coming for him. She had meant it when she said she would dive in to pull him out if she had to, and that hasn't changed.
Eventually, she moves, bringing herself up closer to him, shifting so that she's beside him rather than draped over him, so that she can more properly wrap her arms around him and pull him close, that hand on his cheek now cradling the back of his head and burying him into her neck.
Quietly, she whispers into his ear, wondering if he can still hear her voice.]
Just stay with me, okay? Don't go back to that place...
[That darker, scarier place where they had pulled themselves out of once before...]
[Deep in his subconscious in a place that's not quite dreaming but yet familiar, Eustace feels the different energies within him. Dreamotion, nightmare energy...and another. It's faint now, as if subdued, and he can sense his own growing as it continues to absorb it into its own. Had it been some kind of reaction? A last ditch effort to not be taken?
He doesn't know.
He's not sure if anyone would know, either, but...for now he allows himself to drift towards the flickering light that feels as if it could be snuffed out with just a breath. A little light that he can feel to be Tifa's hesitation and fears while trying to remain strong for him. Carefully he holds it close to his chest before he feels a presence and looks up to see himself—his "other" self—standing in front of him.
A self he still has yet to figure out if it's something else entirely or really is just a manifestation of his darker self. When it smiles with its red eyes gleaming, he can only hope it's something else, but—
Rejection is futile, you know?
That voice reminds him that it's not. That it really is just another form of himself that he while he's come to somewhat accept, he still loathes it all the same.
I kept warning you... Can't keep me buried forever. Should be thanking me or you would have been noctaere bait.
The smugness grates on his nerves, but Eustace just stares coldly at it. Because as much as he loathes it, he can't refute it. If he hadn't developed his skills as much as he had...
It's not so bad is it? This power? But...
His other self clicks its tongue as its gaze drifts off somewhere, and although Eustace looks over all he can see is darkness...and feel a cold wind.
You got something here. Better figure it out before it's too late.
With that his other self disappears into the darkness, and Eustace can only stare in confusion before he turns his gaze once more to where the other had been looking.
Something else? Did it mean from what he absorbed from the Ice Queen?
At that moment, there's a sharp prick of his neck, and its enough to rouse him, stirring in Tifa's arms with a grimace.]
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flamekthunder) wrote2025-04-07 09:12 pm
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She gives him another shake, firmer this time, the panic finding its way into her voice now.]
Eustace. Can you hear me?
[Stay calm. Don't scare him.]
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The flowers that line the bedframe wither away, their light fading and leaving the two of them in the dark, with only the light of the moons, and even that feels as if a shadow has fallen over it.
She has no choice now, and it takes her a moment to pull herself together and blink back the burning tears in her eyes before she's shaking him more vigorously, and shouting at him, and she only presses her dreamotion—weak as it is—into him further as the dogs growl all around them.]
Eustace, you need to wake up!
[If she has to dive in there to get him, then she will...
For now, she leans down and descends her lips over his, hoping that somehow, she can get through to him.]
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Yet, it wasn't that at all.
No, if anything he felt it try to push him, as if trying to help him push back against this strange darkness that tried to overwhelm him in his dreams. A dark force that felt so foreign and yet so familiar, one that sent cold chills every time those shadows even so much as brushed against him.
And from within he could feel and hear Tifa's attempts to reach him, yet for whatever reason it only hurt rather than soothed. He had absorbed a lot of that Ice Queen's nightmares... Did he take in too much? Is this a side effect? Had he reached a state where even dreamotion would harm him instead?
All he knew is he had to fight it off and it isn't until Tifa kisses him that something manages to break through. A rush of strength that allows him to free himself and wake up gasping.
However, that black frost continues to spread, now reaching up to his shoulder and inching down his chest.]
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It's terrifying, how much this reminds her of back then... and her body is shivering against the ice and her fingers are shaking as they comb through his hair, but she remains steadfast, whispering into his ear.]
... I'm here.
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No—don't—!
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[She falls back from him from the push, her focus far too preoccupied with trying to force as much of her warmth over him as possible that she doesn't notice the way that it starts to move towards her, too... not until she feels the light bite of it against her skin, gone as quickly as it had come but certainly not unfelt. She winces, trying to hide that look of pain—it isn't hard when another sort of pain grabs at her heart that hurts far more than the one that's fading from her arm and across her chest where their bodies touched.
She stares at him with glassy eyes, confused, a hand reaching out to steady him, but she hesitates.
This is just like before...]
Eustace, just talk to me, what...? Was it a dream?
[And just like her hand as it finally reaches out to grab his, her voice quivers like a leaf.]
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[At least awake he has more of his bearings, but that cold burn that continues to spread up his arm and down his neck almost makes him use it.]
Just—stay there—
[He hates it, but he pulls back his hand away from now.]
It's—different from—just—ugh!
[Another pained groan as he clutches his arm before he makes a drastic move and suddenly uses his own dreamotion and shoves it against the frost forming on his arm.]
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And in spite of his warnings—]
No.
[—she moves back in, her arms wrapping around him stubbornly.
She shouldn't be so afraid. This is the second time that they have been through this, the first so much worse, but she is. She has been since he grabbed her hands in the dreamscape. But if she has to feel some of that same burn that he feels, then so be it. She will brave it if it means protecting him from it, or helping to fend it off, then she'll take all the ice that comes at her.]
Yell at me all you want. I'm not making that mistake ever again.
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[The moment she touches him, inexplicable pain convulses through him, and he reels as he feels what feels like a scorching heat and burning chill at the same time.]
TIFA YOU'RE BURNING ME!
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That snaps her back, her gasp audible, and the tears that had been burning the edges of her eyes now suddenly erupting and streaking down her cheeks as she stumbles back, forcing herself up and off the bed so quickly that she almost trips over Bri, who whines and falls back, all of their ears pinned down in fear at Eustace's voice.]
I...?
[She wraps her arms around herself, everything suddenly feeling cold. And not just the room. Her body feels like it's on fire on the inside, that wretched heat coming to a boil in her gut, but her skin prickles with the chill that continues to spread.]
... I didn't mean to. I'm...
[The words get all tangled on her tongue as they stumble out of her.]
I'm sorry.
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Yet it's that physical pain that will overwhelm him for the moment as his hand grips the wall, dark frost climbing up the bark as everything continues to grow colder.
He has to stop this. And he has to do this on his own. At least... At least until he can have Tifa back with him. He never had a negative reaction to her before, so the only thing that changed was taking in that stupid Ice Queen's energy. That's as far as his thoughts can go before they're sent in disarray by that biting chill that threatens to overtake him.
But if the usual dreamotion can't help him, then he can only rely on his own nightmare energy to push it back. So once again he grits his teeth, and allow his left arm the arm that was so unaffected, suddenly crackle with black lightning as a sheet of dark blue frost engulfs it, almost like an armored glove. He would find it strange how it doesn't hurt like this were it not for the situation, but it is encouraging that it at least doesn't make it worse.
With his hand, now looking more like claws, digging into his blackened arm, he once again forces all of his own energy into it, the black lightning arcing over it as if trying to electrocute it out.]
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[Her voice, already so small that she's not even sure she'd said his name at all, dies away the moment she sees the full extent of his arm with the ice and the lightning, the sound of it crackling startling her. Hearing the whining of the dogs, she gently shoos them all out and shuts the door behind them, their low growls and barks drowned out by the sound of Eustace's dreamotion in the otherwise silent, still room.
So still that Tifa is almost afraid that if she moves even the tiniest bit from where she is, takes even a step closer, she will hurt him. That if she so much as breathes again, she will break him.
All she can do is watch helplessly, her hands trembling as she holds them up in front of her. In surrender? An offer to help? She doesn't know anymore.
What she does know is that she can't hold him. Can't help him...
Can't do what she wants to do—needs to do because she promised him...
Besides the crackles of lightning and the looming feeling of the dramotion, the only sound that breaks this eerie silence are Tifa's quiet, stifled sobs.]
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But he still refuses to completely succumb to it, either—that'll he'll remain in control.
...And he'll control whatever the fuck is inside him right now, too.
It'll be a stressful time for the both of them, but that strange chill will slowly recede, as if he's now drawing back into him, until at last he falls forward onto the bed, that black lightning crackling around him like static as he gasps for air before he looks over at Tifa, once again hating how he put her through this.]
Tifa... It's...
[He wants to tell her it's okay now. Wants to tell her that he wants her to come to him, hold him, warm him with her dreamotion and love that he desperately needs right now. But his strength fails him and he coughs as he completely collapses.]
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...
That is, until he collapses, and all of that goes out the window for all of two seconds. She rushes forward, tripping over herself when she remembers his voice, his words...
"You're burning me—"
She hits the edge of the bed to stop herself, coughing when she loses some air in her lungs, and drops to her knees.]
Eustace, I can't... What am I supposed to do?
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It's...fine... It's different...
[He forces himself to look at her before holding out his hand to her.]
Need... I need you... Now...
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... No, what if I...?
[She shrinks back, less scared now of the nightmare energy and more terrified of what she might do to him if even just their fingers touch.]
I don't want to hurt you again.
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Trust me.
[And instead of the blistering cold, she'll feel his warmth—even with his hand the way it is. There's still some of that chill, but it's a stark contrast to what it was before. A bit more him. And likewise, just her touch already gives him the warmth he so desperately seeks, eyes closing as he sighs.]
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[He'll feel her tense the moment he reaches out to grab her hand, her fingers curling into a fist before he lifts it to his face. Only then will they unfurl, just enough, to touch him. Tifa still winces the moment her fingertips press to his skin, and she breaks with another sob, the fear clutching at her the same way that ice clutches to Eustace.
Her own personal nightmare, and it's lying on the bed right in front of her. A nightmare that she cannot wake up from.
The man that she loves—her husband—in so, so much pain and she has no idea what to do to to make it go away.]
Eustace, please tell me what's going on...
[She still can't quite bring herself to reach out to him on her own, but that hand that he holds stays where it is, even if every bone, every muscle in her is pulled as tight as a bowstring about to snap.]
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[Not that he doesn't want to, he's just not in any condition to. Already he can feel his consciousness fading, grip weakening as he leans more heavily towards her as slowly the frost and lightning start to recede and dissipate.]
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He says to trust him, and she does. Unconditionally. But she's stuck now between being too afraid to move any closer, and wanting to believe him when he says it's different, especially as she lets her gaze wander down to his shoulder and his arm, where that ice still lingers even after he's reached out to her.
As if all those nightmares she was afraid of have come back to taunt her.
Her other hand comes up, curling over the edge of the bed, and she lifts herself from her knees, a light sniffle leaving her. Slowly, she pushes herself up with a groan, and brings herself to sit at the edge of the bed where she watches him a little longer.
... Before she leans in and drapes her body over his, resting her weight on him as she brings her other arm to wrap around him, cautiously and hands still shaking, and closes her eyes...]
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How could it be used against him like this? What did she do wrong? Or rather, what is she not doing that could help make this go away? It's a hard question to ask when he doesn't answer... or when he might not even have the answers at all.
All she knows is that she's never been more scared of touching him, and of hurting him, than she is in this moment. He can beg her and plead with her to hold him until he can no longer speak, but she's not so sure that will change a thing.
Still. If it's what he wants... no, what he needs, then she is willing to push all of that aside. Stamp it out as she always does and be the pillar he needs to get through whatever this is.
So, when she feels him relaxing more and more, that darker, colder energy beginning to dull, she will finally loose that breath and carefully reach a hand out to brush it through his hair. Her eyes open so that she can watch over him as he sleeps, scanning his features for more signs of change, or of another nightmare coming for him. She had meant it when she said she would dive in to pull him out if she had to, and that hasn't changed.
Eventually, she moves, bringing herself up closer to him, shifting so that she's beside him rather than draped over him, so that she can more properly wrap her arms around him and pull him close, that hand on his cheek now cradling the back of his head and burying him into her neck.
Quietly, she whispers into his ear, wondering if he can still hear her voice.]
Just stay with me, okay? Don't go back to that place...
[That darker, scarier place where they had pulled themselves out of once before...]
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He doesn't know.
He's not sure if anyone would know, either, but...for now he allows himself to drift towards the flickering light that feels as if it could be snuffed out with just a breath. A little light that he can feel to be Tifa's hesitation and fears while trying to remain strong for him. Carefully he holds it close to his chest before he feels a presence and looks up to see himself—his "other" self—standing in front of him.
A self he still has yet to figure out if it's something else entirely or really is just a manifestation of his darker self. When it smiles with its red eyes gleaming, he can only hope it's something else, but—
Rejection is futile, you know?
That voice reminds him that it's not. That it really is just another form of himself that he while he's come to somewhat accept, he still loathes it all the same.
I kept warning you... Can't keep me buried forever. Should be thanking me or you would have been noctaere bait.
The smugness grates on his nerves, but Eustace just stares coldly at it. Because as much as he loathes it, he can't refute it. If he hadn't developed his skills as much as he had...
It's not so bad is it? This power? But...
His other self clicks its tongue as its gaze drifts off somewhere, and although Eustace looks over all he can see is darkness...and feel a cold wind.
You got something here. Better figure it out before it's too late.
With that his other self disappears into the darkness, and Eustace can only stare in confusion before he turns his gaze once more to where the other had been looking.
Something else? Did it mean from what he absorbed from the Ice Queen?
At that moment, there's a sharp prick of his neck, and its enough to rouse him, stirring in Tifa's arms with a grimace.]
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🎀