Ascending Legends

[Dragongal]

"Oh, mo chroi," she said, moving closer to him. "I hate seeing you like this." She kissed him. "You're so brave and strong, I hate seeing you so... defeated. Of course, we were the obvious winners, so, you're not really defeated. There's a corpse we have to take care of hanging in a barn to take care of."

 

[BookWyrm]

"I don't feel strong, or brave. I've almost died twice, and you've been captured as well as poisoned. If anything I feel like a failure. How can I protect you if I can't protect myself?"

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn shook her head. "Dayn, listen. Remember in the woods? When I burned my hand and you took care of me? With the necromancers, where you took half of hem down as a wolf, then later when you went ahead and I stayed behind? And with the skinchanger, you stood in front of me to defend me. It's my fault you got poisoned anyway, love, it had nothing to do with you - you couldn't have prevented it. Same with my own poisoning. And who blames you for an insane man going after you?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn smiled despite the tears that had started falling. As he hugged Arryn he buried his face against her shoulder, his body shuddering slightly. He didn't speak for a long while. His body ached and throbbed, and he even felt the shooting pain of the flecks again, but he still refused to say anything. "But.....I mean...I...I....." He trailed off for a few more moments as he tried to find his composure. "Thank you, love."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn held Dayn close, turning and kissing his neck lightly before saying, "Just speaking the truth, mo chroi."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn wanted to return the kiss. He wanted to sit up and press his lips against her own, to embrace her and feel wrap his arms around her. In truth he wanted to forget his pain and make love to her, but at the moment Dayn couldn't even will himself to move. His body was racked with pain as he felt the silver flecks move into his heart. He groaned quietly, the pain causing his whole body to shake. He felt his throat closing in as he tried to speak. "Arryn.........help."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn was immediately focused on fixing Dayn's wounds. She put one hand on the side of his face to help distract him and put her other hand on his chest, trying to see where the problem was. Gods, no. "Okay, Dayn, it's going to hurt for a bit, but I'm fixing it, it'll all be over soon." She took his hand in her free hand, saying, "Squeeze my hand, okay? I know it hurts, I'm working as fast as I can." She tried to urge the silver flakes out of his heart as fast as she could, if not keep them out. The hard part was, once they were that close to being in his heart, there were very few other places for the silver to move to. She worked as fast as she could without risking his life, also focusing on keeping his other systems running fine.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn cried out as the flecks started to halt on their course to his heart, several of them already at the valve openings. Dayn squeezed Arryn's hand, his usual restraint lost in his pain. Blood slowly dripped down the sides of his mouth. This was by far the worst pain he had ever felt. Dayn forced himself to focus enough to speak. "Let..them...pass......its....only....way....to get....through." He squeezed her hand tighter, the pain crippling him. "Once.........through........take care......okay?" Dayn looked Arryn dead in the eyes despite the tears that clouded his vision, his face twisted in pain.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked at him and nodded, "Already almost done, okay? I had to make sure they didn't cut into the walls of the valves as they passed. They're already almost through." She didn't know if he meant take care as in take care of him, or take care of herself... if he thought he was about to die, he underestimated her determination severely. Had she not slown the flecks slightly, they would have hit the walls of his heart and done potentially lethal, likely crippling, damage. "Okay, they're out, it's okay now," she said gently, though she didn't remove her hand on his chest to ensure there were no complications.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn's body tensed up in pain as the flecks passed through his heart. When they had finally moved out he fell forward, laying his head against Arryn's shoulder as he cried. Every fiber of his being burned in pain, and it almost felt like his heart had been damaged, it's rhythm was off slightly.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn held Dayn close, careful not to hurt him. She gently placed her hand on his neck, checking his pulse before trying to ease his pain slightly. "Shhh, it's alright Dayn, its over, and soon you won't feel the pain anymore, it's going to be okay, love."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn didn't have the strength to pull it together yet. He felt a strange, unusually comforting numbness coming over him. His body slowly relaxed into Arryn's embrace. "I feel....numb." Dayn lay against Arryn for a few minutes as the pain continued to pass, the numbness finally ceasing as his heart found it's natural rhythm again. He finally was able to sit back and look at Arryn again, though he didn't have the strength or desire to smile. "I don't care anything about ever going through that again."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn nodded somberly. "We'll get the silver out soon as possible, then. You're only numb because of the palpitations, you're okay, though." She reached out and gently pushed back some of his hair before slowly tracing her fingers down his jaw to his neck, checking his pulse again. "Besides the numbness, you feel okay, right?" Seeing Dayn without a smile was odd, and she didn't like it. It was an obvious sign of just how bad it was. Even when he'd been poisoned, he'd tried to smile.

 

[BookWyrm]

"I feel lightheaded and weak. A little hungry too." He honestly felt like shit, but as he saw the concern written across Arryn's face he tried his best to put it aside. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he gave his best tired smile, if for no other reason than to try and put Arryn at ease some.

 

[Dragongal]

"Okay, just lay back for a bit, mo chroi, it'll help some. If I give you some soft bread, or soup, can you stomach it? I won't give you much, but some." Arryn smiled to him slightly, but still with concern. She was glad to see him putting in an effort to smile, but she didn't like how bad his condition was.

 

[BookWyrm]

"Yes, to both if you can." Dayn moved the pillow around and laid back against the wall. Even such a simple task as that, though, had been rather difficult. He raised his hand slightly, watching it shake for a few moments before laying it back down. He sighed, distraught over the current circumstances. Just a few minutes before he had been holding Arryn, and within seconds he felt like he was dying. "I am ready for this to be over.", he finally grumbled when Arryn had left for the kitchen.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn found her mother, who was awake, having heard Dayn's cries, but had decided not to crowd Arryn. She obliged to help Arryn with the food, and soon Arryn returned to Dayn with a tray laden with two bowls of a thick root soup and a loaf of very soft bread with cups of water for both. Oddly enough her mother had - hesitantly - agreed to let her help with the soup. She sat cross-legged on the bed and set the tray between them, breaking the bread in half and taking a small piece before leaving the rest to Dayn. She looked up at him for approval.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn's smile was genuine this time. "Thank you love, it loves really good. Please, don't skimp on yourself just for me though." He took some of the bread and dipped it into his soup before easing it into his mouth. The feeling of actual, warm food in his mouth was nice. He took the bowl and slowly started to sip on the soup. "You really are getting better at cooking love."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn shrugged, smiling slightly. "Mom helped. She did most of the work, actually. And I'm not skimping, I just... I have no real appetite." She didn't know if it was because of her mana drain, or her concern for Dayn, but she didn't think she could stomach much.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn, obviously concerned, lowered his bowl as he wiped his mouth. "So, how...how are you going to extract the silver? I mean, when I can finally be treated, that is."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn shrugged. "Try to get it in one spot, cut your skin, and... well, get it out. Like i did in the barn... I assume, that parts very fuzzy. It's going to hurt very badly but after that there'd be no silver in your blood."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn winced at the thought of having to go through another bout of that again. "I don't remember much about the barn. Last thing I can recall was you lowering me off the hooks, and then I realize I'm human again. Probably for the best I guess." Dayn was quiet for a few minutes as he finished his soup and some of the bread. He made sure to leave at least half of the loaf for Arryn encase she wanted it, but he managed to finish all of his soup before moving the tray aside and scooting closer to Arryn. He knew she was worried about him, and when she was like this she liked having him close to her. He laid his head down in her lap and smiled up at her, taking her hand and gently rubbing his thumb on her palm. It was a quirk that he had picked up from being around her, but the meaning behind it was special to them, and that is all that mattered.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn smiled down at Dayn, using her free hand to play with his hair lazily. She was glad and proud to see that he'd enjoyed the food, and she liked having him so close to her when he was hurt, as he was clearly learning. Odd that they were engaged and still were learning about each other. "I have some recollection... kind of blurred images and feelings, only when I was healing though. Normally I can't cast anything when I'm like that. Honestly, I've only ever read about removing things from the blood like that, it's extremely advanced, but... now that I've done it, it seems simple."

 

[BookWyrm]

"I'm glad to here that, but even if it was going to be your first time I trust you enough to put my life in your hands." Dayn had a lazy smile on his face as he laid there, enjoying the feeling of her playing with his hair. "It will be nice to be able to shift freely again. Seeing as how I wasn't able to take you on that run, I will make it up to you once all of this is over." He pulled her down into a gentle kiss. "I guess I've got a lot to make up to you. You've saved me twice now."

 

[Dragongal]

"There's no owing, love," she said before kissing him again. "We're engaged, remember? Besides, you helped me when I was poisoned, and when I got burnt, and when I found out I'm still cursed, and when I was going insane."