Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Forty-One

Then I see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
Pieces ~ Red

Tyler

The darkness felt heavy on my tongue as it trickled deeper in. Coating every artery and vein. Pushing against every organ. Pulling me apart as if I was nothing more than numb limbs and a dying brain.

I wasn't struggling against it though. I didn't cling to life as I drowned underneath the crashing waves of death. It didn't hurt. At all. In an odd way, it was soothing. The darkness felt like a presence I'd had with me for a lifetime, but it was only now that I was allowed to be engulfed by it. It was a gentle lull into nothingness. For once, it was peace that I felt. Not resentment, revenge, or even sorrow - just peace. It was a rare feeling, but one I deserved. I'd done my duty. I'd played my part as best I could. What else was there for me to do?

Time was at my feet, silently stepping back into a void where I couldn't follow. Time would go on, the progression ticking on and on long after I'd been forgotten. That was the inevitable truth. It wasn't as if I was giving up... just giving in. I had nothing to add to history.  It was time for me to move on.

Into darkness.

The other's still had a part to play. There was a satisfaction knowing that. They could - and would - do so much more. I hoped they would remember me sometimes. Perhaps they'd see me in the sparks of embers, or hear me in the crackle of a flame. Perhaps they too would forget me soon enough. Somehow, that was okay. It was a reassurance to know-

In the darkness there suddenly light - the glistening of tears.

"You can't leave me. Not like this- Tyler you said- you said you wouldn't. Not again. Please just..."

His tears, like drops of molten lead, rained down on me. It gushed over my skin. It thundered down every blood vessel. In torrents the tears burnt a passage to my heart, and buried itself deep within my heart.

And it made my heart start to beat again. 

Troye needed me.

No he doesn't. He'll find someone else. Of course he will. When someone has a heart as pure as him, how could anyone resist?

But I wanted to be his. And I wanted him to be mine. I wanted it to be us - if that was allowed. The darkness could tell me otherwise, but I knew it was possible. Anything was possible when it came to him.

I choked out the blackness. My body shuddered awake. Coughed and spluttered as Time kept maundering away. I started to chase it. Faster and faster. It didn't run away. It just ticked by leisurely. Waiting but walking all at once. Sweat soaked me. But I felt a new energy within. I ran on. Closer. Closer. I reached out- I seized Time - in my hands.

Like an old friend it held me, close, and sighed.

Light flooded through me.

I was alive.

I gasped. Swallowed air. Gasped again. Gagged. Breathed. Wriggled my fingers. Rolled my shoulders back. Tensed all the muscles I could think of. I felt pain. I felt agony. I felt alive.

No one was around me. A dull noise sounded in the distance. But I couldn't make sense of it. Not when my body was blazing. When there was smoke enriching my nose. When I was on fire.

I touched my forehead. Sticky and wet. The gunshot wound was there. But my hands were on fire. And it seared at the wound. I screamed. At least, I thought I screamed. But I couldn't think how to make a noise. Not when I was rising from the ground by a force unknown.