CHAPTER 380: DARIUS, YOU ARE LATE AGAIN...

Author’s note- Yeah, we are in present now, and if you are soft hearted, might get your tissues.

Xion jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.

He couldn’t see, but he could feel the softness of the sheets tangled around his limbs.

The scent of cedar lingered in the air, and like a person on the verge of suffocation, he greedily filled his lungs with Darius’ scent.

Soren. It was Soren who knew his real form. What happened then?

His chest heaved as he tried to recall the rest, but those memories eluded him.

Thud. Thud.

His brain was filled with static, as if needles stabbed into his temples, trying to drill through the bone and pierce his insides.

"It hurts..."

I need to know what happened next. It was important, far more important than his body screaming for reprieve.

Despite the terrible ache, he shut his eyes. "Sleep... I need to sleep."

Xion tried. He tried so hard. However, it was all useless.

Despite his eyelashes sticky with hot tears, he kept them closed, fervently hoping that the darkness would eat away at the silence and force his mind to at least see it all.

His fingernails clawed uselessly at the bedsheet as he buried himself deeper into the pillow.

Everything became so disoriented, so tangled in pain and memory, that he couldn’t tell when — or exactly where — he was.

Or perhaps he was still in that cold prison, being beaten for making a noise.

The words in his mind contorted until he found himself missing Darius.

Hold me, Darius. Xion wanted to beg through his gritted teeth.

If I have to suffer this pain, then let me do it in your arms. Let me mourn while you kiss my tears away. Please, please, my love. Find me.

The chill in the air rushed through his wet clothes into his skin. Like snakes, it slithered into his very heart, poisoning his veins.

The night felt just as terribly long as the wait he had endured for his pretty human in that prison.

Will Soren come this time as well?

Panic engulfed him. His whole body trembled so violently that the blanket ended up on the floor.

The small frame could only curl into himself, trying to fend off the infinite cold and the ache thrumming inside him.

"Darius," Xion said the name like it was his only way to live. "Darius..." Don’t let Soren find me. Don’t let him touch me again.

The sickening rust clawed at his throat. But Xion was too far gone to even notice it.

Or maybe he thought it was the result of his grinding his lips between his clenched teeth. But that biting was also proving to be inadequate to hold back his sobs.

Blood dribbled from his mouth, then his nose... until it also traced down from the corners of his eyes like crimson tears.

Every drop of red drained from his body was the result of his foolishness.

I am sorry. I am so, so sorry for being stupid. I am sorry for not noticing anything. For leaving you...

The crimson morphed into suffocated, ragged coughs that shook his frame.

Everything is so peaceful with you, Xion thought deliriously. Darius, please come and make it bearable. Make it warm again. Even if I have to die, at least let me die in your arms.

Please, please, I won’t be stupid. So, don’t send me to Soren.

For a brief second, the pain seemed to dissipate. The time halted, allowing Xion to gasp into the bloody pillow and sheets.

I can bear this, he thought, trying to open his eyes, but all he saw was red.

Green. I want to see green and silver. Not red.

"Darius," using all his strength, he yelled. "Darius!"

But how would Darius know where those kidnappers kept him? He should leave.

Yes, leave. He needed to leave.

He pushed against the mattress, forcing himself upright only to collapse right back down.

This pain was so much better than before, and if he compared it to the beating he felt in that prison and then at Soren’s house, this was even considered mild.

Despite how his joints seemed to protest his sudden movements, he pulled himself up again.

His feet touched the ground, then, without any strength to hold him straight, he plummeted down along with the table and ink pots, splintering on the floor.

Luckily, the fallen duvet was thick enough to cushion his fall.

Just as he tried to crawl forward, everything burst.

If earlier was painful, now was a nightmare full of misery.

Perhaps it was the way blood gushed from his mouth that made Xion feel as if his heart, too, was clawing through his throat to escape.

Was this the punishment for my sins? He, an angel, had abandoned his duties to be born as a human just so he could stay by Darius’ side.

So this was it. Dying without even seeing his lover for one last time.

Ah, he couldn’t even see in the first place.

There was a cracking sound of opening doors.

"Xion..."

A voice that he could recognize even when he was being torn apart from inside greeted him.

Finally, Xion opened his eyes. His blood-matted lashes refused to let in even a glimpse.

Yet his lips still curled up.

"Darius," he said, and nearly winced at how horribly raspy it sounded.

This was not how he wanted to call his lover.

"Darius..." You are late again.

The next stream thrashing wildly in his throat allowed only one word to escape before he went silent.

It took a second for Darius to register the sight in front of him. Xion was awake and drenched in blood.

He ran.

There was heavy breathing as he rushed to the fallen Xion’s side. His eyes were filled with desperation as he knelt on the ground, not caring how blood had started to soak into his robes.

"Xion, what happened- You.... "

There was no response.

"No, no. Don’t speak. I’ll call Allen right now..."

His fingers trembled toward Xion’s neck, searching for a pulse.

"Be alive, Xion. You have to," he muttered, pressing down, searching for his heartbeat.