Of Calm Calamities

Of Calm Calamities (20)

The shield fell with Zhongli, and then Ajax was running, running over rocks and stumbling from the way his body almost refused to hold him up, but he was running to Zhongli. He was running to Morax, to the funeral consultant that he'd fallen in love with, to the god that had decided to step down, to the man that risked his life to keep Ajax safe, to the love of his life, to his Zhongli. He needed to get there, needed to take Zhongli out of the danger, needed to get him as far away from that tree and those abominations as possible. He just needed to get Zhongli safe.

Nothing mattered to him as he sprinted over broken scraps of metal and overturned stones, his attention on Zhongli and Zhongli alone. The rest of the world seemed to fade out until all he could see was the broken body lying over glowing roots, the body of the one person who'd shown him the light and made him feel safe, the one who'd made him feel on top of the world, as if everything would be fine as long as he had Zhongli by his side. He couldn't hear anything except for his own scream, repeating over and over again in his head, and he couldn't see anything except for Zhongli. Zhongli, Zhongli, Zhongli.

He skidded to a halt just before his body, breathing ragged and eyes wide as he immediately placed his fingers to Zhongli's neck. The first time they'd spent the night in one another's arms, he'd felt Zhongli's heart beating at a steady pace. Now, he couldn't feel it at all. No. He refused to believe Zhongli was dead. He was just unconscious, he was completely fine, he would live and then he and Ajax would be happy together forever, the way that everyone was in those stories that he read to his little sister. He would get his happily ever after with Zhongli, too. He was sure of that. After all the shit he'd been through, it was the least that he deserved, right?

He sank to his knees beside Zhongli, cradling his unmoving body in his arms. No, it wasn't supposed to be like this, they were supposed to just go in and clear it out and solve this stupid problem and then leave and be happy and go on dates and spend hours holding one another in their arms. It wasn't supposed to be like this, Ajax wasn't supposed to be holding Zhongli's still body in his hands, he shouldn't be crying over him, he should be taking Zhongli to fancy museums and restaurants and spend small fortunes to make him happy so that Ajax could see that perfect smile of his every single day, so that he could hear that laugh that would make it all be so very worth it.  

It was only the deafening clash of metal that kept him from slipping into complete hysteria. That's right. He couldn't die here, he couldn't let the ruin guards get him, too. He would protect Zhongli, he wouldn't let the damned machines touch him even if it cost Ajax his life. His mind went into overdrive now that he managed to set himself a clear goal, and the world seemed to slow down around him. As quickly as possible, his hands ran over Zhongli to check for any injuries that he could fix quickly, though it proved to be pointless. Though it was hard to tell through Zhongli's many layers of clothing, it was likely that his ribs were broken - Ajax only hoped that there was nothing worse than that. 

He did, however, find a lump in one of Zhongli's pockets that proved to be his vision. So he was right. Zhongli had taken it from him, after all. He'd worry about that later. His priority right now was to make sure that no further damage came to Zhongli, no matter what it was that he'd  need to do. For lack of a better option, he clutched his vision in one hand while the other held up Zhongli's head. He knew he should stand up, he knew he should fight properly instead of while kneeling by Zhongli, but he couldn't bring himself to leave his side. What if Zhongli was still alive, still hanging on, and Ajax wasn't there for him? 

It took a lot more concentration than usual to summon his hydro power, though the pain that he was met with wasn't quite as bad as he'd expected. Maybe his elemental power had been restored, or maybe he was using the power surrounding him as a source instead of using his own power. He didn't really care, though. If it meant that he could protect Zhongli without having to leave his body, then he was more than happy with it. He pulled on the power as hard as he could before waving his free hand behind him, a wave of hydro energy cutting through the air with more than enough force to decapitate the ruin guard that had been approaching him from behind, the eerie screech of metal slashing its way into his mind.