@mollymocking (i’m resurrecting this because i can’t not)
The tiefling twitched in his sleep, eyes shifting rapidly beneath lids which were squeezed shut. His jaw clenched, teeth gritting as he growled something in infernal under his breath, expression contorting into one of pain. Inside his mind, there are flames, screams, and a piercing agony in his chest. A tear made it’s way down his cheek. He was dying, he was–
A beautifully soft voice seemed to ring clear through the overwhelming din though it was little more than a whisper in his ear. He whimpered aloud, turning on his side towards the source of the voice. Before he knew it, the nightmare was beginning to fade, as if being pushed from his mind by the fingers caressing his marred skin.
Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, a name on his lips before he’s even fully in the waking world. “Haleir…?”
“I’m here,” he supplied in response, certainty, surety; something for a reeling dreamer to latch on to in the waking world. The soft back of a hand on Molly’s forehead only served to solidify his presence further, checking for fever before gently brushing back a stray sweat-soaked curl.
Haleir’s voice might have been husky with sleep, but in truth he’d been lying awake beside him for some time. He’d watched the frantic shifting in what should have been a placid expression with ever-increasing concern, and when Molly turned toward him with that pained, needy sound, it snatched his heartstrings up from within their icy prison and yanked. He did his best to press close around the tiefling’s larger form, murmuring to him all the while.
“It’s all right, darling, I’ve got you...you’re safe now.”