fightknife / diego hargreeves.
fear, hunger, despair — each blink brings back the teenage versions of his siblings, number two at the forefront, chasing him through the cold, the dark, taunting him — he hears a knife embed itself in the tree at his back, just missing his ear. ( diego holds em tighter as she sobs into his chest, tears of his own wetting the top of her head ).
survival — he climbs a tree with bloodied fingers, desperate, shaking, as the people of arkaley comb the woods for him. their voices echo in the night air as the collude and conspire. footsteps heavier in the snow than he’d think they should be of predators hunting their prey.
his eyes burn with the effort of keeping them open. there is a soothing shushing coming from somewhere – it takes him a long moment to realize he is its source. ❝ i’m here, ❞ he says, swallowing down the ghosts that haunt her. he needs to be strong. for her. he has to be strong.
diego pulls back slightly, wiping away her tears. he wants to offer her a smile but his lips refuse to do anything other than sit in a grim line, pressing together with concern. a breath. he needs her to know he is telling her so much more than those two little words. he wants to say that no one will get to her, not while he’s around. that he won’t let them hurt her ever again. he wants to jump into their rental car with the intent of razing that piece of shit town and all its people to the ground.
he wants to. instead, a breath, ❝ i’m here. ❞
it’s hard to look at him when she can see the pain, feel it, because it was hers. her burden to bear but it spills over now as she tries to keep it in. she can feel it all as if it was only a moment ago. like she’s still shaking the snow out of her hair and digging foxholes to keep herself warm in the night. if she breathes too hard she’s sure she’ll see her breath clouding in the air. but she is not alone this time. it’s not a hysterically fueled hallucination that feels real until it dissipates like steam, burning her as it fell away. a sickening heavy feeling that is alleviated when he wipes away her tears.
❛ DIEGO. ❜ she says his name, but the rest lodge in her throat because nothing feels correct even as the words are burning a hole inside of her. they’ve been burning inside for years upon years and she doesn’t know how to give them life. how to make them feel as if they’re something more than ash and snow. ❛ ..i missed you. ❜
they’re the only words that hold any power, all she can offer that is not pain. something true. her relationship with honesty has always been less than pristine. a sharp uncomfortable thing in the cavern of her mouth. she almost feels she needs to check her mouth for blood after such a show of vulnerability. her face is hard to read, even now with the tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes ringed red, the heart beat racing like it’s trying to finally beat the mind at something. ( maybe it did this time. )
❛ ----------i missed you so goddamn much. ❜
