Collision

chapter 25: tartaros

*warning for fairly some explicit violence mid-chapter xx*
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Considering the fact that Louis' entire body is still hurting and his heart is still casting its shadow down by his feet, he'd say he's doing pretty good.

His hands are trembling like shaky leaves as his fingers grasp the twigs of his giant creation on his way up, heaving his body further and further towards the bright blue soon within reach. Harry's already facing the portal, stopping to sit and wait for Louis to get up there. There's a light in his features that hasn't stopped radiating in Louis' direction ever since Louis made the first sprouts of the stalk emerge from the ground, something a lot like awe, like admiration, like everything Louis' ever wanted but really doesn't need right now.

There's no self-indulgence about his plan. Louis doubts he can even feel like that anymore. At this point he's not sure he can feel anything that isn't fabricated in its core, shallow displays of emotion for the sake of making a conversation flow or the corners of Harry's mouth perk up a little.

This is about surviving. It's about getting him and Harry out of here so Harry can start over far away from his mother and Louis can finally settle somewhere that doesn't remind him of the way his soul's been broken into tiny, fleeing fragments or the way his back is bare and feet too heavy. Because this place does. It's roaring with its blandness, darkness reducing Louis' vision to greyscales and it keeps pouring into him, biting into his flesh, and the chances of Louis ever enjoying things again feel slim and insignificant as it is, but if he doesn't get to feel rays of sun play of his face for the rest of his existence, he knows those chances will be completely non-existent.

He's doing it for that tiny shred of light. He's doing it for the last, whispering piece of hope he's somehow still managed to keep inside him.

So he pushes the pain and the realness of the situation back just like he's tried to do this whole time, despite it pressuring his walls, threatening to spill through any possible crack that might appear in Louis' façade if he allows himself a moment of real consideration.

As soon as Louis reaches the top of the plant, Harry takes his hand and his grip is soft and careful as they step through the portal together. Louis immediately feels the shift in the air when they enter Tartaros again, from grey melancholy to prickling unease, but this time, he lets out a sigh of relief. The feeling of accomplishment soothes his senses for just a moment.

Being in Tartaros doesn't quite cloud his senses as much as it did when he arrived here the first time, and he wonders if that's because he's on the same wavelength in terms of happiness as most creatures living here are now.

"You okay?" he asks Harry, and the disbelief on Harry's face is obvious as he nods slowly.

"Yeah, of course," he raises his eyebrows and watches Louis carefully. "Are you?"

Louis smiles hollowly.

"If you asked Gemma to help to get us out of here now, do you think she would help us?" he moves on, disregarding Harry's question.

"Yeah." Harry swallows. "Yeah, she would."

"Good. We need to find her. Now."

Louis makes a move towards the heavy, wooden doors separating this room from the rest of the temple, but Harry puts an arm out to stop him immediately.

"We can't leave this room, Louis," he says in a hushed tone. "We can't get out of the temple without walking past Mo-Eris."

Harry grimaces at the slip-up, and Louis feels a small ping of pain in his chest.