Eight Intertwined

25 - Viper

"Zeph... It hurts..."

Each passing second felt like another stab to the chest for Zeph as he looked down at Nina's weakened form. She was on the verge of falling asleep, and everything about her screamed that she was sickly. Her eyes could only remain at half-mast, but she was in too much pain to even dream of fully drifting off into slumber. No matter how long Zeph sat there and held her hand, it never seemed to be enough. He had lost the words for this dreadful sensation ages ago, leaving his chest tight and his insides twisting. 

"It'll all be alright, Nina," Zeph whispered instead, gripping her hand just a little bit tighter. "Alf'll be back any moment now. He's never let us down." He had been telling Nina this ever since Alfyn departed, and it was impossible for him to say if he was repeating the words more for her sake or for his. 

"I... I know..." Nina murmured softly. She glanced in the direction of the door, a silent check for if Alfyn had arrived yet. Once again, she was met with an empty door. 

"When Father died and left the two of us alone, I didn't know what to do," Zeph admitted after a moment of heavy silence. "The truth is... I didn't think I'd be able to raise you and protect you on my own. But Alf was always there to lend a helping hand. When he told me he wanted to study together and become an apothecary himself... He gave me the strength to carry on. He's always so humble, apologizing for being a burden on me... But the truth is, I'm the one who's been relying on him this whole time. If only I could be more like him..."

When Zeph looked down at Nina, he found that she had slipped into slumber while he was talking. He smiled to himself, almost relieved that Nina hadn't heard his words. He rose to his feet after setting her hand down gently beside her body on the bed. He moved towards the door and opened it, and when he did, he was surprised to see none other than Alfyn himself. "Alfyn!" Zeph cried out. 

Alfyn was a few feet in front of the rest of the group of travelers, and the vial of venom from the viper was grasped tightly between his fingers. "Did you miss me? Sorry it took so long," Alfyn told Zeph with a conversational laugh. 

Zeph threw his arms around Alfyn a moment later. "Oh, Alfyn! Thank the gods you're safe..." he whispered into Alfyn's shoulder. Alfyn was surprised for a beat before he returned the gesture of open affection. When the two men pulled away, Alfyn pressed the vial of venom into Zeph's fingers, earning him a shocked reaction from his companion. "The venom... You really did it!"

"I trust you can take it from here, eh?" Alfyn asked with a light grin. 

"I'll get started at once!" Zeph confirmed with a nod. He started walking back toward the house a moment later. 

"Hang in there, friend," Alfyn instructed of him gently. 

Zeph nodded and walked into the house from there. The door tapped shut behind him, and Alfyn let out a sigh. He turned back towards the rest of the group, realizing belatedly that they had been watching the entire encounter. Ophilia had a gentle smile on her face from Alfyn's embrace with Zeph, but he shook it off, seemingly doing his best to not seem bothered by her silent love for his show of affection. 

"Man, I'm beat," Alfyn started. "Think I'll head home and catch a few winks." He glanced up at the afternoon sky, uncaring as to the fact that it was still technically the middle of the day. He started to walk back in the direction of his home where it was waiting for him on the other side of the bridge that ran through the center of Clearbrook. 

"Perhaps we could book a room or two at the hotel for the night," Ophilia suggested as she glanced towards the other four travelers. "I think that Tressa needs to rest after what happened during that battle. We could all use a moment to breathe, honestly."