(Evil laughter, I love Harpy Eagles!)
He hissed angrily at her as she grabbed him by the shoulders, then paused when he realized they were going up. He stared at the ground until they broke through the branches, then coiled and hissed as the moonlight hurt his eyes.
The higher they went, the more he did to hide from the moonlight. It wasn’t really burning him like Valiel’s light magic, but it was definitely blinding him.
After a while, he started going into a frenzy, wriggling and blindly lashing out at her. He also started to shriek and howl, initially in anger, then in panic as his eyes slowly started to sizzle, even while closed.
Valiel's voice mixed with the eagle shriek. "Let him out and I'll spare your eyes." She kept flying, knowing she was likely doing damage she'd be responsible for later, but… Phalakros was worth it.
He howled defiantly at her, tar pouring from his mouth. He continued to try and hit her, but he couldn’t focus enough to even aim his arms fully upward.
A few minutes later, his howls became louder and more panicked. Tar started to fall off of him in waves, starting at his eyes. He desperately fought to remain in control, but the more he fought, the more tar came away.
Moments later, large patches of his body was free of the tar, revealing awfully pale skin and scales. He howled a last time before falling unconscious, the rest of the tar quickly falling away. Phalakros dangled in her grasp now, seeming mostly unharmed despite the battle that had just happened.
Valiel immediately dropped out of the sky, flapping to slow them as they approached the trees. She landed and shifted to her human form, which showed all the damage. Exhausted, burned, clawed, drained, and her shoulder had started bleeding again.
But. She had Phalakros back.
She cradled his head in her lap, looking down at him gently, breathing hard from all the combat.
"Phalakros?" she said softly, not wanting to startle him.
Phalakros didn’t stir, even when Valiel spoke. His pale skin was a bit cold to the touch, but his breathing was steady if shallow. He seemed to just be deeply asleep. A few minutes later, he twitched, as if dreaming.
Valiel shifted to the wolf form, and focused on licking her wounds while he slept. She kept an eye on his breathing the whole time.
When he twitched, she stretched out next to him, her warm fur making contact with his side, trying to comfort him.
His breathing remained steady as he slept, slowly returning to a normal sleeping rhythm. When Valiel rested against him, his hand gently slid up her side before resting in her fur. His dreaming did seem to ease afterward.
A few hours later, as the sun started to rise, Phalakros finally opened his eyes. He looked around in a daze, not quite remembering where he was just yet, or what had happened.
Valiel was asleep, having drifted off at some point. She had stayed in the wolf form, since the fur seemed to be helping him somehow.
However, her wounds were readily apparent, as she hadn't bothered to treat them other than licking them clean.
Phalakros turned his head and froze at the sight of the wolf. But, he quickly relaxed when he recognized the wolf’s scent as Valiel. He then noticed the wounds, his eyes widening in shock. What had happened? Had he passed out during the ogre battle? Had someth…
Phalakros paused as he finally remembered a nightmarish dream he’d been having. But, after a moment of comparison, he realized that it hadn’t been a dream at all. He had been attacking Valiel!
Maroon tears welled in his eyes and he carefully sat up, trying to avoid waking Valiel. Afterward, he noticed his bleached color, and his entire body started to shake as he fully comprehended what had happened. His dark side, that thing he had been trying to avoid for much of the night, had gotten out.
Phalakros whimpered and curled up, his head in his knees. He was truly crying now.
The movement shook Valiel awake, and she lifted her head.
He was awake, and crying.
She immediately shifted to her human form, gently pulling him into her lap, trying to hold him.
"Hey, hey, you're ok, it's alright, everything is alright." She said softly, trying to push calm but not sure if she had anything left in the tank. "When did you wake up?"
Phalakros flinched when Valiel pulled him into her lap, having not yet realized that she was awake. He didn’t object to her actions though, and leaned into her as he continued to cry.
“I… O… Only a few min… minutes ago. I… Forgive me! I…”Phalakros trailed off into more tears. It was too soon for him to talk about that side of him yet. Too soon to explain the horror that it was.
Valiel waited a moment to see how he'd react, since the last time he hadn't wanted to be touched, but when he leaned in, she pulled him closer.
"Phalakros, you don't need forgiven." She said it with such sincerity, there could be no doubting her honesty. "I'm ok, you're alright, the sun is out, and everything is going to be ok."
She was struggling to fit his nearly 7' frame in her arms, but she did her best to hold him through his shaking and sobbing.
Phalakros barely noticed when she pulled him closer. He tried to argue against her words, that he was to blame for her wounds, that nothing was okay, but her tone left him unable to do so. He wasn’t sure what to do about that.
Without really thinking about it, he stretched out his legs, allowing Valiel to better hold him. He then curled his arms against his chest, trying to resist the temptation to pull at his hair.
When he stretched, Valiel was able to cradle his upper body much easier in her lap, and she began gently wiping his tears. She noticed his arms curling against his chest, and wasn't sure what he was doing, but she leaned her weight on them anyway. She wasn't very heavy, it was just more of a comforting pressure.
"Are you hungry?" She tried to get him to think about other things, desperately wanting to do anything to get him to feel better.
Phalakros paused when Valiel wiped his tears, seeming a bit confused by her actions. When she leaned against his arms, it soothed him somewhat, and his crying slowly stopped. Though, he still shook.
“I… I know not,”he answered quietly, not meeting her eyes.
He was answering, that was good. Valiel smiled at him. "We'll work on some food, but I'll need your help." She kept her weight on his arms, but moved her hand from wiping his tears to stroking his hair gently. Anything to keep him calm.
"Are you hurt?"
Phalakros nodded at her words, trying not to get upset at the reminder that he’d hurt her. When she moved her hand to his hair, he practically melted into her.
“I… N… not truly. ‘Tis only the after effects of…”he paused, whimpering a little.
“Mine… mine pale hue is mostly all of it. Though, I suspect I may have… nightmares for the next few days,”he added after a moment.
She nodded at him, smiling at the way he relaxed into her. "Ok, we'll work on the nightmares. You're sure your body is ok, other than paleness?" She wanted to make sure he wasn't hiding anything. He definitely seemed like the type not to reveal what was hurting him.
Valiel didn't mean to bother him with the reminder, but… she was going to be out of commission as a hunter for a little while.
Phalakros nodded,”I am… I am sore, especially mine arm. Mine eyes hurt as well. Yet, I am not wounded.”
His shaking slowly started to ease, but Phalakros didn’t move from his spot. It was strange the way he stayed still, like he was holding something important back. It seemed to be bothering him pretty badly.
Valiel nodded, checking his eyes and sitting up to look over his arm. "That makes sense… you seem to be ok otherwise." She was satisfied he wasn't hiding an injury, and started to let go of him as his shaking began to subside, but when he didn't move, she was concerned.
"Phalakros… what's wrong?" Her smile faded to a worried look, and she leaned her weight back on his arms.
It was comforting him, sure, but it was also comfortable and… Valiel was in pain. The closeness was helping her cope.
His eyes were a bit red, but it was partly caused by his crying. There also seemed to be a sort of bruise on his elbow, but it was minor.
He tensed as she started to let him go, hesitating at her question. But, when she leaned back into him, he relaxed somewhat. Tears then started to well in his eyes again.
“I… ‘Tis a frightening sensation. I feel like an outsider to mine own self. That… ‘thing’ takes over, and wishes to consume me, yet it cannot. ‘Tis… a remnant. A… piece of the creature that Lucitius pulled from me and killed. It… was changing me, and… left that… dark being in me. I… I cannot escape it, and I fear one day I will never come back. It… Every time it takes over, I feel like I lose something. It… has only come out twice, including this time, yet… I feel as though I have been trapped for an eternity,”he whimpered, a few tears sliding down his face.
She raised her hands, holding either side of his face, trying to focus him.
"Well, you're here now. And-…" She hesitated, thinking what she was committing to, then said it anyway. "And I'm here to help you get back if it happens again." She looked him in the eyes, her icy blue ones softening at the eye contact. "I got you back this time, didn't I?" She tightened her hands gently. "And I'm not going anywhere, so neither are you." In her mind, the first step in dealing with all the trauma he'd just laid out was convincing him he wasn't alone, and she wouldn't let him be.
Phalakros avoided looking at her as she held him, but when she vowed to help him, he met her eyes with his own wide, green eyes. He blinked, surprised by her words.
After a few moments where he just stared at her, he gently freed his arms, moved her hands, and hugged her. He breathed deeply a few times, relieved by her words. The tension in his body faded slightly.
Valiel tucked herself against his chest when he hugged her. It was a better reaction than she'd been expecting.
She was also surprised at how her heart warmed when he put his arms around her. She hadn't expected that reaction from herself either.
Phalakros held her a bit tighter, though not tight enough to hurt her. It cheered him up a bit that she wasn’t pushing him away. He’d had a couple bad experiences of being abandoned by those he’d trusted.
He also discovered how content he was in her arms. He wasn’t sure why, but, for now, he didn’t let it concern him, instead just savoring the moment. Without thinking about it, he nuzzled into her shoulder, closing his eyes.
