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 Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:07 pm
First there was nothing but water and darkness and ice, and then a flash of energy, and finally, finally he could feel himself able to push towards the water’s surface.
He still had his arm around Devyn when he was finally able to take a breath again. He coughed and sputtered and gasped. His lungs burned and everything felt like it was being stabbed with knives. But they were out of the water at least.
Sessrumnir instinctively tugged Devyn towards the edge of the pool as he tried to catch his breath, wanting to make sure he had something to hold onto. The pool itself wasn’t deep. If they stood, they would likely only be to their waist.
It took him a moment to realize it was the same room they’d ended up in when Elliot had been badly burned. They were in the pool with lukewarm water, and around them glowed the warm light of Sessrumnir. Thunder could be heard in the distance, but it didn’t seem like it was trying to tear the bricks from the foundation at the moment.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:13 pm
Devyn was dizzy from a lack of oxygen. He wheezed and his lungs fought for air. He hadn’t swallowed any water and yet he was still coughing some up. His exhaustion from the previous day hit him tenfold, and the sensation of needles and daggers was slow to fade. He was so cold that he couldn’t tremble, and the warmth of Sessrumnir felt like scalding water.
It would pass. He knew it would pass.
The time between now and then was just going to be miserable.
He let Michael lead him to the side of the pool, and as soon as he was there, he slumped against the wall. He crossed his arms together and rested them on the flat surface, and placed his forehead atop of them. He forcibly drew in slow, steadying breaths.
The lukewarm water felt like it was boiling him alive but he stayed submerged from his chest down.
A slow breath in. A slow breath out.
Everything burned.
He felt like he had to force himself to keep his eyes open and fight off the darkness dancing at the corners of his vision.
He should have taken a moment more to catch his breath, but instead he rasped, “Are you okay?”
It earned him another wheeze, but he didn’t care. He wanted to hear Michael’s voice.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:57 pm
They were at Sessrumnir. Okay… that was good. Michael felt as though he could let himself try to relax for the first time since they plunged into that icy water. His skin felt like it was too hot, despite knowing the temperature of the water was mild.
He didn’t power down, but he pulled the cape off from his shoulders, and removed the winged helmet and placed them both on the edge of the pool, before moving closer to Devyn again and draping an arm over his back as he laid his arm across the flat surface out of the water as well.
“No, that was bullshit,” he growled and coughed into his arm, but had his head turned on his arm so he could look at Devyn as he rubbed his back.
“Physically, yes,” he added after another moment of catching his breath.
He was mad. They’d had such a nice day and evening, and then Destiny City had to ruin it. If it had been a youma or Negaverse agent, they could have just beaten them up and gone home. But almost drowning was not okay.
“Gonna have to send--... a message to Lucien and Soleiyu to--... warn others--... kids safe--...” he tried saying, but kept having to stop to cough. He hadn’t really inhaled much water, but his lungs burned, and he felt frozen still.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Physically?”
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:15 pm
Devyn nodded well-before he’d even assessed his current state. It was in his nature to brush aside concern but he didn’t intend to keep it at just that. Sometimes he just needed a few seconds to put his mind in the right place to actually communicate.
He should have leaned into Michael, either for warmth or just to acknowledge that he was there with him, but Devyn didn’t move. He wasn’t frozen, not physically, but he knew he’d locked up. It was a strange sensation, not one he was particularly familiar with but he knew he just needed to give it a moment. Better now, where he was safe at Sessrumnir than when he was in any actual danger. It had been a long time since he found himself so intensely stalled.
There were two conversations happening. The one with Michael, and the one in his mind. A hundred trains of thoughts were twisting in his head, writhing like the dark masses he’d seen just seconds ago. He forced his eyes open because he didn’t want to see darkness.
Michael was looking at him. He felt–
Odd. Strange. He didn’t want Michael to look at him. He wasn’t controlling his face very well. He could feel an eye twitching, and he stared at the empty space in front of him. He wanted to move, wanted to turn to Michael.
He wanted to reassure him that everything was fine, even if he hadn’t reached that conclusion yet.
It didn’t register to Devyn that the reason he couldn’t move might have had something to do with how tense he’d become. He was shivering, almost violently, but his insistence on trying to control only held him fast in place.
Ice in his mind, in his blood, on his skin.
He wasn’t coughing, but he wasn’t breathing either. He wasn’t even sure if there was water in his lungs. He knew he needed to move. He knew he needed to break the spell. Just a moment more, though. He just needed a second to pull his mind back in, to focus.
But there had been so many shadows, hadn’t there? Or was it just his imagination? How much of any of that was real and how much was his mind playing tricks on him? Picking and choosing old memories to throw at him, to distort the present?
He forced another nod even when he couldn’t get the muscles in his jaw to unlock. Oh, he was cold. Very cold.
But safe. They were at Sessrumnir. The burning in his lungs was growing again, and the shadows still hovered at the corners of his vision. He wasn’t doing himself any favors by not forcing himself to breathe, but each deep breath felt like scalding water and needles in his chest. He managed short, shallow breaths. In, hold, out. Slow.
He’d thaw. He just needed a moment.
The shadows wouldn’t stop twisting in his mind, like they could pull him back from even here.
The water moved around him differently than before. He knew these waters. His feet touched the ground. He had a solid surface in front of him.
Michael was next to him.
He was fine.
They were fine.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:37 pm
This water was okay for thawing out and getting back to a normal temperature. It was necessary, really. The shock of going from the icy darkness to the hot water of the springs could have been enough to stop their hearts. Probably. Either way, Michael didn’t want to take that risk. He was also grateful that his Wonder knew not to put them at risk as well.
Or maybe it was just responding to his will.
Devyn wasn’t saying anything now, but he was shivering. Michael was shivering too. They’d just left some icy hell and now they needed to make sure they didn’t become hypothermic.
Careful not to slip as he pulled himself up, Michael climbed out of the pool and reached down to help Devyn up as well. He didn’t want him to feel weak or like he couldn’t do things on his own, but Michael absolutely wanted to carry him, especially while he was still powered up and it was a lot easier.
So he made sure Devyn was out of the pool before gathering him up in his arms and held him close.
“You’ve had some bad luck these last couple days…” Michael said quietly through a clenched jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:46 pm
Oh, Michael was so warm. Or, maybe he wasn't, Devyn couldn’t tell. Maybe just being in his arms was enough to snap a bit more sense into him. His jaw was clenched tightly and it took a few seconds more just to pry it open. A bitter laugh had fallen from his lips, but even that shook free some of the ice in his chest and he took a deeper breath.
“Sorry,” he said, but he didn’t sound guilty. He wasn’t going to beat himself up over this. He knew it wasn’t his fault. Probably. He couldn’t stop thinking about the shadows.
He could walk if he wanted to. He didn’t feel inferior in Michael’s arms. He dipped his head back so his wet hair could fall over Michael’s arm and away from him.
It was difficult to feel his fingers, so it took him a few seconds to get enough coordination in his hand to finally withdraw his Henshin Pen. He powered up in Michael’s arms. No longer water-logged or frigid, it gave him a bit of reprieve, but he didn’t move beyond that. He stared at the ceiling as they walked.
His breathing hadn’t yet returned to normal but it was less unnatural than before.
“What was that? …Did you feel anything?”
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:56 pm
Michael clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and then powered down momentarily before powering back up again. Hopefully he didn’t end up getting Devyn too wet in the time it took for him to shift out of the cold, wet clothes he’d been in.
The look he gave Devyn was meant as an apology, as well as a request for patience, which he knew he would get. He wasn’t often in situations where he needed to power up and down in quick succession, so it wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. Devyn, on the other hand, had centuries of experience.
He knew there was something off about their conversation. Not because of anything Devyn was saying or doing, but because it felt as though Devyn was in his thoughts a thousand miles away.
Or maybe years.
“I wish I knew. I hope it was just a fluke and we were the only ones who got caught in whatever that was. It was too dark to see,” he said gently. He believed Devyn when he said something had him, and there was obviously something that pulled him down into the water, but Michael hadn’t actually seen or felt anything physical.
“I didn’t feel any auras, but that doesn’t mean anything. We’ve been having weird occurrences of stuff like that happening for years. Creatures not based in Chaos but also not native to Earth.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:11 pm
Silence followed Michael’s words. Devyn had needed no apology; he was glad to be in Michael’s arms whether he was soaked or dry, warm or frigid. He was just glad to be there.
The water had been dark, but Devyn had been so certain that he’d something. He’d felt it. Even if his eyes deceived him, he hadn’t pulled his own hair, and he had no reason to try to drown himself.
He blinked, but his eyes were closed for too long. He saw a cave, dark, and wet. He was dry now but he could still feel the cold water up to his chest. He heard rushing water.
His heart hastened, but now he was getting frustrated. He needed to focus, he couldn’t just keep slipping into his thoughts like this.
Michael hadn’t felt anything, nor did he seem to have seen anything either.
Devyn trusted Michael more than he trusted himself.
He couldn’t make sense of it. The better option was that it was in his mind, of course. As opposed to some deep, writhing evil in Earth’s core? Absolutely.
It just didn’t sit well with him.
Devyn raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed his face with a bit of force. He didn’t close his eyes, and he avoided the shadows of his own hand.
“Maybe I didn’t sleep enough last night.”
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:22 pm
Michael pressed his lips together as he listened -- or waited to listen -- to anything Devyn had to say in response. There were things that Michael already felt were getting lost in translation. Devyn was being dismissive instead of discussing…
“You slept fine last night. You weren’t imagining things, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Michael frowned. “Talk to me. What did you feel that I didn’t? It was so cold and dark that maybe I just need to focus on the details.”
He was heading towards the springs. It was a bit of a trek from where they were, but he knew a shortcut that would bypass having to go through all the halls. The floor and walls around them seemed to light the way, as was usual when they were visiting.
“I know you’ve been stuck in caves in water before. You’ve told me. I’ve had memories. We were in one together.” Back when they were clearing the Chaos from Alastor. Back when the Chaos tried tricking both of them into failing.
“You’re safe, Dev… I won’t let anything take you from me,” he said after a few moments, his voice soft but determined.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:33 pm
Devyn grumbled under his breath, something not quite a word and not quite a sigh. Michael was right, of course. He’d had a very relaxing night with his husband, and Devyn couldn’t even be cross with him despite Michael’s insistence on further discussing the subject. Devyn was already in the mindframe to discard and dismiss the subject, but now he just sat on it for a moment.
It was uncommon for Devyn to be moody, but he certainly looked the part with his arms crossed over his chest and his gaze locked on the ceiling as they walked. He might have looked as if he were pouting if he didn’t look so focused.
Being safe–really safe was such a strange concept for Devyn. He’d spent so many years unable to lower his defenses or relax. And yet, he trusted Michael when he said he was safe. He felt it.
“I know,” he finally relented, albeit a bit stubbornly. He sighed again, this one less frustrated and more tired. He wasn’t mad at Michael, he was mad at himself.
“I saw shadows.” It sounded so stupid to say, when they were such a common thing. He knew Michael understood what he was talking about, but if he was just imagining them, he felt ridiculous. “A mass of them, I thought. Just a body of blackness, and a thousand tendrils stretching out. Writhing, like some sickly mass.”
It moved like the pressure of the water was the only thing keeping it low.
“I didn’t feel anything.” He hadn’t been powered up at the time, he knew his senses were dulled when he wasn’t borrowing his world’s power. “I just saw it.”
…When his mind was already playing tricks, he felt like his memories were rapidly losing credibility, even for himself.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 9:52 pm
Similar to when they’d been in the water, Michael looked at Devyn with alarm, although it was more fleeting now that there wasn’t any immediate danger. Once he was able to settle his expression, he frowned thoughtfully, looking ahead while also at nothing in particular.
“My focus was on you,” Michael admitted. “But something tried dragging you away from me. That was real. That wasn’t water current or anything you could have done.”
He was a well trained swimmer, and as part of a rescue team, he was required to know how to swim in all kinds of weather. He was confident, despite being a good ten years removed from his training.
“I’m almost glad I didn’t see what you saw. I don’t want to think that I would have panicked, but… seamonsters kind of freak me out. Not the kind that the Reids have on display, but… I’ve seen my own shadows…”
It wasn’t the same. Michael didn’t want Devyn to think he was trying to compare their experiences. But in the depths, some things were inexplicable.
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Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2023 10:06 pm
Devyn caught Michael’s expression in his peripheral, and a brief look of guilt weathered his features.
“I don’t know,” he sighed “Maybe it was a current. I’ve been dragged downstream by logs. It was cold and dark. Maybe my mind just filled in the gaps of what I couldn’t see.”
His head hurt more than it had in a while, like the ice that had pricked his skin before had pierced his skull. Every heartbeat was a painful throb. He was willing to believe he was wrong, even if he couldn’t get the image out of his mind. When he closed his eyes, it was still there.
Devyn sighed heavily and massaged his eyes with more force than he needed.
“I’ve never fought a sea monster. I’ve never even seen one. I’d fight one for you.”
He didn’t want Michael to think of anything worth panicking about, and he didn’t want any of his delusions to dredge up something best left untouched in Michael’s mind. There was no comparison of their experiences that could feel like competition. There was only understanding. What they had been through in their lives, separate from one another, was a solid foundation to understand each other.
Devyn would never chastise Michael for sharing something. There were some topics that were difficult, if not impossible, to bring up without a proper opening. If Michael had found one, Devyn would never think to scold him for it. The mutual understanding was reassuring. Grounding.
He wasn’t shivering so much anymore, but he had moved to rubbing his arms to try and reduce the uncomfortable stinging. It helped, but he gave himself little time to appreciate it because as soon as he felt a bit better, he shifted in Michael’s arms so he could rub his back and make sure he was warming up, too.
If he were being honest, Devyn still felt an odd pressure, like he was deep underwater. He could feel the current moving on his skin, keeping him on edge. His eyes moved to every shadow in the room, just to make sure it was natural.
Just in case.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2023 6:09 pm
It was a little difficult with the way he was holding Devyn, but Michael adjusted his hold on Devyn so he could press a kiss to his temple.
“Let’s never have the chance to find out. But I wouldn’t let you fight it on your own. It doesn’t matter if there were sea monsters or shadows or logs or currents. I won’t let you be taken from me,” he promised, his voice low and quieter than probably necessary. Even in the empty halls of Sessrumnir, Michael wanted Devyn to know that he was serious.
He didn’t want to tempt fate, otherwise he would dare something to take Devyn from him.
But he knew how unpredictable life could be sometimes. He’d lost people important to him. Devyn had lost Percy suddenly. Sometimes there was no way to stop things from happening. Michael might be paranoid and overcautious about things, but given his history, he thought he was allowed to be.
“It doesn’t matter what you saw or thought you saw. It was real in one sense or another, even if it was only your mind willing in the gaps. It’s still something you have to deal with. And something I will be with you for as you figure things out.”
Just like the poisoned caves, this wasn’t something that just happened if Devyn’s mind was making things up. Those fears came from something, and Michael had no intention of letting him fight any demons completely on his own.
“I started out my military service on a submarine. We went down under the water. There were some unexplained noises, unexplained things when under the water. Maybe it was just vibrations or normal sea animals, but I learned then to tell when someone puts a smile on their face and says everything is fine when they don’t want anyone seeing the far off look in their eyes. Anyway… switching to aviation wasn’t exactly the best experience either.”
But that was for another reason that Devyn already knew.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2023 6:13 pm
Michael was being too serious for Devyn to remind him that he liked to fight, and he wasn’t going to ruin that moment by interjecting. He was too tired. He missed scuffles, he missed exchanging blows. He’d been so careful since coming to Earth. Not for himself, not really. He took precautions to keep himself alive but it was for Michael, for Atticus, that he held himself back.
It was in his nature to be combative, no matter how many years he’d spent keeping that part of himself mostly locked up. Alastorian culture demanded fighting–for honor, for fun. It wasn’t all bad. There were parts of his world that he missed greatly, and parts that he wouldn’t be sad to leave behind.
There was so much that he’d wanted to change.
Not like this, though. It felt like he had a blank slate but no one to work with there.
He wasn’t in a good mood, it wouldn’t do him any favors to try and think about the big picture right now.
He adjusted in Michael’s arms so he could put his head on his shoulder. Devyn didn’t need to be carried, but it was only fair. He liked to carry Michael. He couldn’t have double standards about this; if he wanted Michael to open up and trust him he had to do the same. And he did, of course. His pride would absolutely not stop him from enjoying some pampering and attention from his husband.
He missed being able to twist his wedding band on his finger just as much as he’d missed being able to feel the ring that hung from his necklace. He wasn’t going to power down just to retrieve them. He knew he still had them, the water hadn’t taken them. He rubbed Michae’s back again instead.
“I can’t imagine.” He didn’t dislike boats, for the most part. But they were on top of the water. Usually you could see land. The rivers he was most familiar with would not have been too interesting for an underwater vessel, and the flooded caves would not have allowed for anything of size to pass through their narrow paths.
“What a mess. We should just stay on land.”
They wouldn’t. He had an island in the sky to explore, and Michael liked his boats too much.
“...You didn’t even hesitate to jump in after me.” In all the bad that he was still sifting through, that moved to the forefront of his mind. The thought summoned a small smile to his face. “That’s very heroic. Very romantic, too.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2023 6:31 pm
Michael let out a small breath of exasperation, but tilted his head to momentarily press his cheek to Devyn’s head as he rested it against his shoulder.
“Of course I jumped in. As if you wouldn’t have done the same,” he mumbled, and gave Devyn a small, reassuring squeeze.
He knew they would have a lot to talk about once Devyn was feeling up for it. He knew Devyn wasn’t feeling all that great. Michael was still shivering a bit, and looking forward to getting into the heat of the springs. Once they got there, at least.
The air around them was getting warmer and more humid. Sometimes Michael was amazed that there wasn’t more mold or growth on the walls, but he suspected that those who built a huge building over some hot springs had the knowhow to prevent that kind of stuff.
“Let’s not make it a habit of needing to rescue each other,” he said with another sigh. Another squeeze. He felt silly wondering if Devyn thought he was too overprotective. He probably was. But he didn’t want something to happen that he could have prevented.
“Do you feel up for soaking in some more water, or would you rather just dry off and rest?”
They’d gotten to the point in the hall where Michael could easily just head up to their room instead of to the springs.
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