@riversent said : “you’re home. you’re safe.” / * POST - TRAUMA STARTERS , ACCEPTING .
THERE IS ALWAYS BLOOD . always sanguine rivers rushing forth from split skin , agape throat stretched like cruel smile , a bitter goodbye [ so long , honey , it was sweet while it lasted , wasn’t it ? ] . edges remain softly indistinct , blurred at peripherals , but faces are painfully clear : his , those lines etched into his skin that she’s come to love made faint with dazed surprise as he dies , as scar along throat is reopened , & the countess , deathly white as she turns blade to her fondest creation . claw strikes skin , a swift cut her only granted mercy , & roses bloom along sliced & torn fringes of flesh . dying feels a lot like suffocating ––– choking on your own life until lungs shrivel & ichor pools .
then , struggling for last breath , blood is replaced with light sheen of sweat ‘gainst skin & quiet darkness . hands travel tentatively to throat ––– confirming life , making certain nightmare was only that . no slashed throat , no blood , no death . nothing but blackness , confine in tangled sheets , & vague awareness of the body next to her own . still chest is wracked with heavy breath , still face is wet with tears of sobs , still palms quake with fear : the uncontrollable coming down from all - consuming panic .
his arms come out from the shadows of the night , wrapping ‘round where she lay beside him . you’re home , you’re safe ; concern undeniably bleeds through hushed assurances , pressed to her skin though they may be . embrace acts as a compression , a grounding reminder of where she is , where she belongs . his body melds to her own in perfect fit , as two halves of the same whole . appreciation is mute , but it pulses to the very marrow of bones ––– she might’ve said i love you , but she’s terribly afraid it would only come out as i can’t watch you die again .












