[ There's a breath that leaves him when he feels your body give into his embrace. ]
I'm here. [ Those words should not taste like ash in his mouth, but they do. This could have gone down better, had he given himself time to think, to wait, to consider. But what's done is done. He needs to think firmly in the present for now. ] I'm not going anywhere.
[ He'll need to speak to the others... but that can wait. He's going to push all thoughts of this campaign to the side for the moment because the world needs to stop spinning first. ]
[ You say that, and he knows that you mean it. He also knows, however, that regardless of who you are, what you're like, and how hard you try, you're still just one man. There are forces beyond you and him that neither of you can control completely.
You might truly intend to stand by him for as long as you can, but he could still lose you in a blink of an eye. (He could still lose himself, and end up destroying you in the process.)
So he's further reduced to tears just touching upon such thoughts, such ugly feelings. He clings tight to you, tighter than he ever has before, because truly: nothing has actually ever gotten better or slowed down in the least for him for years, and he is, indeed, starting to split apart at the seams. This has just sped up the process. ]
[ And he curls around you just as tight, the backs of his eyes hot and his heart aching because this is not how he had thought it would all go down. His head's a mess but he walked into this with his eyes open and his thoughts on one thing: that he wanted to do what he could, as selfish and as arrogant as that sounds, given that no one had ever put the world on his shoulders.
He'll hold you tight, hold you close, hold you even when you're falling apart. It's the least he could do, honestly, given the stress he's caused you from this whole ordeal. ]
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I don't know what I'll do now, if you're gone.
[ He's never, ever been good at losing people. He could live a thousand years more, and it'll still hurt. ]
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I'm here. [ Those words should not taste like ash in his mouth, but they do. This could have gone down better, had he given himself time to think, to wait, to consider. But what's done is done. He needs to think firmly in the present for now. ] I'm not going anywhere.
[ He'll need to speak to the others... but that can wait. He's going to push all thoughts of this campaign to the side for the moment because the world needs to stop spinning first. ]
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You might truly intend to stand by him for as long as you can, but he could still lose you in a blink of an eye. (He could still lose himself, and end up destroying you in the process.)
So he's further reduced to tears just touching upon such thoughts, such ugly feelings. He clings tight to you, tighter than he ever has before, because truly: nothing has actually ever gotten better or slowed down in the least for him for years, and he is, indeed, starting to split apart at the seams. This has just sped up the process. ]
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He'll hold you tight, hold you close, hold you even when you're falling apart. It's the least he could do, honestly, given the stress he's caused you from this whole ordeal. ]