you've never allowed yourself to be helpless. not once in your life. anytime you've been knocked down, you've clawed your way back up to health, to full capacity, in ways that for any normal person might have been impossible. but you weren't allowed to be normal, were you? never. duty and honor hang on your shoulders like a mantle. there is no helpless. you are the help.
that night, the two of you end up stuck together because of a stupid curse. its funny, at the time; she's exhausted, and she giggles sleepily and screws up a metaphor so badly that it puts you in almost hysterics, and you hold her in your arms. you've always found it so much easier to sleep when she's there. comforting. safe. warm. home. it feels like you all are coming up on a breakthrough. there are no more secrets between you; the relief is palpable. you find yourself overcome with how much you love her. the transgression was long forgiven, and you close your eyes and make a promise to yourself to defend her from whatever comes tomorrow, no matter what it might mean.
but none of that matters when the morning comes.
it comes with the shriek of a creature - an entity you've seen once or twice, now, a beady eyed, beaked thing. it screams in your face and it grabs her, and you have exactly two seconds to take in the look of absolute terror on her face. you've never been slow to action - you move, you move, and the thing hits you with something. like an electric shock, it shoots down your spine and you're paralyzed.
as it grabs her in its claws and rips her out of your arms, and she screams, and tries to break free, but it busts back the way it came through the vents, and you're left frozen and staring, furious and heart pounding and horrified and lost and
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AQUILA | taken away.