《Flyleaf》Trollhunters/Merlin

《 Chapter Thirteen 》

"Apologies mean the universe, if only a person means it."

Esmerion screams.

It isn't the pain that grips his throat. Nor is it the sudden rush of magic returning to himself. No, it is the guilt, the knowledge of the things he has done. He screams because the beast is within him, forever and always.

Draal watches from afar, gripping his open wounds with a firm hand. The Trollhunter is beside him, a grim look in his blue eyes as he rubs the back of his amulet with a thumb. Draal doesn't need to look to know that Jim Lake is haunted by something, or someone. He's capable of making a guess that paints a grim picture of what happened in the Darklands.

The screams are agonising, physically painful to listen to as they echo throughout the forest. They make Draal flinch, hearing such sorrow and guilt in his partner's voice that it makes him wish to join in with a cry of his own.

Silently, among the wreck of the Gyre, Claire Nuñez cries, relieved for Jim's return but also scared. Her friend, Tyler, or Esmerion as Draal had consistently told them, had attacked her in the Darklands. He had meant to eat her, and she had seen it in his eyes, the savage craving that replaced the warmth.

How wrong it is to fear the one who once treated her so kindly, she feels, how wrong to think of him as someone else. Yet all the same, she fears him. Fears the beast she might see inside and fears the gleam of hunger that haunts his eyes.

And so she cries, hidden behind a Gyre ring until someone pulls her out.

Nomura is in a similar state, only she sheds no tears. Instead, she forces her attention upon the task of creating a splint. But her mind is occupied with flashing memories, images of the beast running towards her, of the beast ready to prey upon them, only her mind replaces the the feral creature with the boy with innocent eyes and a curious expression. She cannot remove the knowledge of who he once was, despite knowing who he is. And so, it is in her mind's eye that the boy with no memories hunts her.

Ever the wise one, Draal takes a step towards his partner, an action that urges the others to halt his movement. He gives them a side long glance, his eyes echoing with a determination he has not borne since the day he challenged the Trollhunter. They can see it too, Blinkous and Aaarrrggh, they can read his expression and how it tells them that he will not let them stop him.

Once more, Draal takes a step forward, taking another and another, slowly approaching the still-screaming male. He is cautious, for he is not sure whether his partner has regained his mind, but he does not stop. He cares far too much to leave Esmerion to suffer, feral or otherwise.

When he takes a seat on the grass beside him, Esmerion's screams die off on a sudden broken chord. Draal is quick to catch his limp body as he topples over with exhaustion. Worry creases his stone brow as he delicately pulls his partner to his lap.

Esmerion's brilliantly hued eyes are glazed, dulled of any spark of adventure or joy, almost dead while he shifts his gaze to Draal's face. His movements, too, are lifeless as he weakly lifts a hand to examine the Troll's injuries.

"I didn't want to-" his voice cracks, Esmerion's bloodied fingers ghosting over Draal's wound. "I couldn't-"

"I know," Draal carefully takes his partner's hands in his, hushing him softly. "I know."

"N-no, ye don't," his voice trembles as his body does, his eyes glistening with haunted horror. "Ye don't know, Draal. I couldn't do what ah 'ad done back then an'—"

Carefully, so that he doesn't crush the already so fragile male, Draal cradles him to his chest, ignoring the sting of his wounds in favour of giving comfort. He is already so agonisingly aware of the pain Esmerion has endured in the short weeks of his disappearance. His partner did not deserve his misery, even if he believes for all the world that it is otherwise.