Suddenly a ceiling he could not coherently recognize spanned out above him, his body jolting upright, no longer held back by his restraints.
All that played throughout his mind was his pain, his agony, his fear. His vision was unfocused, blurry, shaken. His pale fingers clutched at the fabric of his shirt just above his stomach fiercely. Even if he was no longer restrained, he couldn’t comprehend that fact, trapped within a delirious state, unsure of what his reality was.
Then...He felt a hand press against his shoulder, his entire body going rigid.
“Don’t touch me!!” He hissed, swatting that hand away with every ounce of strength he had left within him. Panic colored his voice, his hazy vision only making out a form just beside him.
He saw a flash of silver eyes. All he could envision was that dark blue hair, and those silver eyes as the form seemed to be speaking to him, a strange scent tickling at his nose. Different from that strong, chemical scent, tinged with familiarity.
Slowly, the form before him shifted.
Vivid, violet hair, not blue. Two-toned eyes, one silver, but the other that deep, warmth filled red. They looked at him in bewilderment, but he soon began to comprehend these features, his surroundings. Rather than that overwhelming, endless white, he found himself in a rather mundane room. He was neither bound, nor in pain, but sitting up in a bed, the blankets clutched closely to his body.
...Eon. The single name came to his turbid mind, filling him with a sense of staggering relief.
Slowly, his memories began to return to him, one by one, piece by piece. He wasn’t trapped in that bright, yet dark place, and his body sagged before feebly falling back onto the bed, feeling feverish.
“...Hey!” Eon’s voice reached him, familiar, comforting. He had been worried, understandably so as Max had been tossing and turning before suddenly waking with a start. He was in such a state of panic, fear, bewilderment, looking at something Eon himself hadn’t been able to see...But as quickly as Max had awoke, he suddenly collapsed back onto the bed, his eyes glassy with fever. If Eon were to touch his forehead, he would feel the heat permeating from Max’s body. “Bloody hell, you’re practically cooking.” He grimaced, fetching a couple, dampened cloths before placing one against his neck and forehead.
The soaked cloth cooled Max’s heat charged thoughts, feeling pleasant against his skin as he felt himself settle little by little.
“...What happened…?” He finally questioned, his voice raspy, hoarse.
Eon met his gaze briefly before turning his face away.
“We were at that filthy mansion for an inspection, when you suddenly keeled over. You were as pale as a ghost, and that’s saying something, since you’re already so pale.”
...So that was why Max had suddenly experienced such unpleasant memories.
“...I see...And the inspection?”
“...I postponed it for now. Your safety was kinda more important to me.” Eon admitted.
“...Moron...Why would you do something like that?” Max covered his eyes with the back of his hand, wondering just how much more trouble he was going to cause this person before he was satisfied. “...Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Eon’s instant response only pained Max more, but he said nothing else on the subject.
“...So what happened?” Eon dared to ask, breaking the silence, but he was nearly certain he wouldn’t get an answer. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure if it would have been right to pry in the first place. He couldn’t help but recall that look in Max’s eyes. A look Eon had never witnessed before. He felt as though it had been branded into his mind, but before he could agonize over the subject, Max ended up saying nothing in return. Not surprising in the slightest. “...Well, do you need anything? Water maybe??” He questioned, dropping the previous subject entirely as he focused on his concern for Max first and foremost. The rest he would figure out later down the line.
“...Those Demons…” The small voice from Max startled him, just as soon as Eon had begun to walk away, looking back at Max over his shoulder.
“...It was pretty ugly, wasn’t it?” Eon’s gaze fell to the floor. “If I could have avoided it, I would have liked to keep you from having to see that.”
“...Me too…” Max continued feebly, seeming to be agreeing with Eon’s words...Or so Eon had thought, but it soon became apparent that the meaning of those words was something different entirely. “...Did I look that way too?” A dry laugh escaped Max. “...No, even now…” His voice trailed off as he bit his lip, his gaze distancing, towards some place and time Eon couldn’t grasp a sense of. “...No. It’s nothing.”
Eon found himself trying to understanding the context of Max’s words, knowing there was some deeper significance to them...But the subject was quickly shot down before he could discern anything at all from them.
“...Water.” Max spoke. “...I’d like some water, please.”
“...Right.” Eon nodded, leaving the little room he rented to fetch Max a glass of water, several, if he could, before eventually returning with them. Glass of water in hand, he helped Max sit upright, and handed him the liquid.
Max’s body was so light, so seemingly frail...Eon found himself wondering just how many burdens he was carrying upon those small shoulders? He was seized with the need to speak, but before the words could break free from him…
“...Eon.” Max’s voice suddenly reached his ears first, those vibrant, green eyes meeting his own with surprising clarity.
Eon was suddenly seized with the notion that those brilliant, beautiful eyes were searching for something within his own.
Would Max find what he was looking for? He wondered.
“...Perhaps it would have been better if you had never taken me in that day.”
The words that came from Max were much different than what Eon had expected, feeling as though he were struck by them. He didn’t quite understand why, but frustration overtook him, a sense not unlike taking a blow sinking into his core.
“...So you would have rather been at the mercy of the Humans? Or perhaps you would have liked it better if I had killed you?”
“Maybe.”
The near instant response rubbed at Eon the wrong way.
Why was he always so…! No matter how hard Eon tried, Max was always putting up all these walls. Each and every time Eon felt as though perhaps, just maybe, he’d breached just one, Max would construct another, even higher than the last. As though he wanted not a single soul to ever climb over them.
Eon hated it. He couldn’t stand it. Because towards Max, he…
...He what? What exactly lied at the end of those thoughts? The answer slipped away from Eon the moment he contemplated it. As though teasing him.
What was he…?
Once more, those emerald eyes met his own, clear as crystal, uncertainty reflecting within.
Fear. Doubt. Complexity. For the first time, those emotions laid bare within Max’s eyes, plain as day for Eon to see, for him to discern their meaning.
“...You asked me if I thought you’d go away somewhere, if I was scared by that thought...Well...Yeah. I guess I do. I suppose I am scared.” Max wasn’t sure where these words came from. He didn’t know what he was looking for, nor what the real point in doing so was. He knew better than this...And still, he spoke. “The more you’re around me, the more you’ll know. The more you’ll see...The more you’ll suffer. Maybe at someone else’s hands, or maybe even at my own. I’m sure, when that time comes, I’ll be powerless to do anything about it. I’ll be powerless to prevent it.” His hands gripped hard around the glass he held. “...Because I...I always bring death or misfortune to those around me. To myself. If it’s only to lose, I’d rather have not gained anything to begin with.”
He was a fool.
“...So please...Stay away from me. I’m begging you.”
Eon wasn’t expecting the words that came from Max, having exposed his fears and doubts so openly...He couldn’t help but think he looked terribly frail. Terribly vulnerable. Even if all this was only in the attempt to push Eon further away.
...But that was impossible. Max had already become someone irreplaceable to him.
...So that was it.
“...So then what? Say I leave you here, what do you do then?” He questioned, yet despite his words, his tone was soft. “Just keep running away? Pushing people away because you’re afraid of the ‘what if’s’?” Eon held Max’s gaze firmly. “Don’t be a coward, Max.”
“...I’m not-!!” Max was outraged, but he couldn’t deny the statements, ringing with truth. No matter how he wanted to, he couldn’t refute the fact that he was being a coward. That he was trying to escape from his own fears...Max knew that better than anyone else...But he just couldn’t. He couldn’t take that pain again. He couldn’t bear it. If it was just him...He could handle that pain alone. If he could only take it all upon his own shoulders, his own heart.
If only he could just-
“You’re only one person, Max.” Eon’s words cut through him like a sharp knife. Pinpointing both his thoughts and weaknesses with precise accuracy, he tore away at Max’s walls, exposing the pathetic sides of himself.
These despicable, weak sides he wanted no one to see...Why was it only Eon that he seemed to show them to? He never recalled breaking down like this in front of anyone else.
“You...You just don’t understand…!” Frustration burned at the back of his throat, suffocating him.
He didn’t want to lose anymore precious people. He didn’t want to helplessly stand by as their futures and lives were ripped away from them...Simply because they knew him. Simply because they were around him.
“...No more…” He felt his emotions choking him, the back of his eyes going hot. “...I don’t want to be left behind anymore…” He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand furiously, disgusted with himself. This pitiable person that he was. Self loathing overtook him.
Deep down, he truly wished they had taken him with them. That he crumbled along with his beloved city and people. The things he’d sworn to protect, but failed miserably to do so. He couldn’t defend himself, his family, those who depended on him...With these hands, so incapable of doing what he desperately wished to do, what could he possibly hope to save?
Gentle hands cradled his face, lifting his chin, but he was unable to see past his tear blurred vision.
“...I’m not going anywhere Max...I’ve already told you that...And neither are you. Don’t lump me together with anyone who was stupid enough to abandon someone like you...Well, their loss is my gain, I guess.”
Eon’s smile reflected in Max’s vision, seeing everything, no matter how Max tried to hide his pathetic self away.
“...Stupid...What are you saying?” He didn’t understand Eon’s confidence. Not one bit.
“Am I no good?” Eon brushed his thumbs across the corner of Max’s eyes, wiping his beading tears away before leaning in…And Max felt the soft touch of Eon’s forehead against his own.
It was a terribly tender, gesture of affection.
“Is my word not good enough? Can you not put your faith in me??” Eon’s voice was close, low, soothing, echoing within Max’s ears, two-toned eyes just in front of his own.
Max was certain Eon was peering directly into his heart, making him feel terribly vulnerable, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling.
“Well?”
Max’s ears trembled at the close proximity, unable to tear his gaze away.
Don’t. His own voice echoed feebly within his mind. Don’t get any closer than this. He pleaded silently, the words sticking in his throat, unable to refute Eon within this moment. Surely, he would be swept away like this. He would regret his decision later, he was certain, as he flicked back his ears submissively, letting down his walls. For Eon, and Eon alone.
Maybe...Just maybe, because it was Eon, it would be okay.
What a fool he was. He silently cursed himself in the back of his mind for having such a silly notion.
Eon gently continued rubbing his thumbs against Max’s cheeks, relieved to see him so openly submissive. It was unlike Max, but this gesture meant something else entirely. Rather than giving in, he was exposing himself, lowering those ridiculously tall walls of his. A tender sign of trust, and Eon was grateful to have earned it. Surely, he would do everything in his power to never betray that very trust placed within him.
“...Don’t blame me for what happens.” Max’s small voice echoed within his ears, and he couldn’t stop the little smile that crept up to his face.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He laughed, feeling strangely light hearted.
With this...Would it be presumptuous of him to assume Max was finally opening up to him, even if only just a little??
One step at a time, he thought to himself. He was more than content with this progress as it was right now.
For a little while, the two simply stayed like that, silence ensuing...Yet this silence was by no means a bad thing.
“...I’m gonna hurry up and finish that inspection, but I want you to stay behind here, aight?” Eon finally spoke up, feeling oddly reluctant to part with Max, but he wanted to get this annoyance out of the way.
As for Max, he clearly looked as though he didn’t like the thought of being left behind, but Eon wasn’t going to back down on this one.
“C’mon, please? I’ll make it quick, I just don’t want to have to bring you back there again. It’s obvious that cesspool didn’t do you any good.” Eon explained, praying that Max would accept his request quietly.
And thankfully...It would appear he got just what he wished for as Max let out a small sigh, conceding. He was rather docile for once, and Eon wanted to take advantage of that while it still lasted. So, he left, hustling on off in the hopes of getting this over and done with as quickly as possible...Though he was struck with an unusual sense of unease at the thought of leaving Max by himself. Things always seemed to happen whenever Eon turned his back lately. Max was a magnet for trouble.
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