pairing: theo & reader
word count: 1.1k+
point of view: second (you/your pronouns)
Whenever the touch of Death, vicious and tainted, brushes against your soul, you feel like you have been dragged back to that snowy landscape. The same landscape where you became a traveler with a newfound purpose, chosen by Finis and gifted the power of Aelfric. The wind rages, as a blizzard builds up, but everything around you feels soothing. The snow is comforting like a tender embrace. Perhaps, that is the power of the ring, softening the pain and despair.
The sight of snow-covered land flashes in your mind’s eye too many times when you stand before your foes, when you are cornered by monsters — big and small. It flashes behind your eyes when you cover for your allies, when you defend them as they shout in shock or yelp in pain.
Are you, perhaps, too negligent of your well-being? You have certainly been scolded by your friends (friends, you scoff whenever you think about them that way, because they have become something much richer and more meaningful than friends) for your recklessness, the blatant dismissal of your safety. You have heard a few sighs of relief, you have heard words of reassurance and of gratitude.
A magnitude of things happen when you put your family first.
Sooner or later, perhaps, Death would find a way to trick you; Death would surely deceive you, as you underestimate its ability to come closer and closer, to brush hard enough against your soul to drag you out of reality for too long. The snow would greet you and bury you.
And you would let it. You would let yourself be embraced by the snow, feeling the power bestowed upon you by the Flamebringer pulsate in your hand, resonating from inside the ring. After all, if a god has given you power, without so much as giving you a choice, it is perfectly natural that a god can also decide whether or not it is time for you to leave this earth. For as much as it seems unfair, who are you to complain? You are a mere mortal. That has never been something you give much thought — you are acutely aware of your mortality.
The power of the ring embraces you, dragging you out of reality as you faintly feel your skin split apart. The monster in front of you disappears—
Or does it?
You are not sure what you are seeing, as if your soul is in both realms at once. The realm of the living, and the lonely realm of the ring, covered in snow. Your soul is nowhere, too.
Are you alive, still? Is your consciousness just drifting away? Your chest was slashed in two by that beast.
Are you dead, then? You lost too much blood — that much you know, even if it all happened too quickly. Perhaps, that is proof that your consciousness does not truly leave you.
Everything is so confusing.
You can see the snow in front of you, snowflakes falling into your open hand in a graceful waltz. Even then, you can feel the hard ground as if you were laying on it, touched by wild grass and by desperate hands. You are not in the Woodlands, though. Not now, not here.
It’s giving you a headache.
Is it okay to rest for a little while, here in the snow? You sit down, not feeling the cold, and you stare up at the sky. You hum under your breath, hands on your lap, while your body twitches and tingles to a strong grip on your arms, as if someone is holding you or picking you up.
The ring is warm in your hand, glowing faintly.
You close your eyes.
You can rest for a while.
.
. .
. . .
Can the snow ever be warm?
A ridiculous question perhaps, but you have been associating this weird realm of the ring to warmth for a long time. It has to be due to the Flamebringer.
However, there is something more gentle in the warmth that radiates around you. You can hear something crackling in the distance, as if underwater. There is something laying over you, like a heavy blanket a tender parent may place over their sleeping child in harsh winter.
Your fingers twitch, and you feel no snow.
The ring, you think, worried over its fate, never your own. As though hearing your inner turmoil, there is a sharp heat in your hand before it settles down. A weight leaves your chest.
There is something moving behind your eyelids, and opening them slowly reveals nothing but a blurry shape as it leans over a table at the bottom of the bed. The person’s back is turned to you, concealing their identity as you struggle to come to the surface.
You are alive.
That realization, that relief, prompts you to take a deep breath. That triggers an uncomfortable reaction, as your body twitches in pain and you groan into your pillow as you toss your head away. There is another sharp inhale of breath, but you are quick to notice it is not your own, as it sounds desperate.
Something falls but doesn't break. Through your now closed eyes, you see nothing but you feel the warm presence that nears you, grasping your hand tightly. The voice throws you under a wave of familiar fondness, your face immediately breaking into a smile that you can never contain when he is near.
Your weary eyes open, and your free hand inevitably reaches for that cheek, covered in salt. Your thumb brushes the stray tears away, and you are unable to speak as Theo all but scolds you for your recklessness, your sacrifice, your selfishlessness. Through broken sobs, the apothecary squeezes your hand, and his head lowers, escaping your touch.
The bandages around your chest cling to you a little more wherever his tears have fallen, and your eyes are filled with so much love and gratitude, that you cannot help the river of tears that threatens to overflow.
Theo raises his head to look at you, his lips trembling as he waits for you to say something.
How dare I trouble you so? You think, blinking and allowing yourself a moment to weep silently as you stare at him. You’re too kind-hearted.
You whisper his name, and he intertwines your fingers, forcing a smile into his boyish face.
As long as you have him by your side, you know.
The journey ahead is uncertain at times, but he is the port that guides your heart home, the anchor that stops the uncertainty, for it may be the ring that strengthens your spirit but it is him that powers your heart and guides you out of the snow.
