DarkStar

9

Elia blinked. The world felt so out of focus. It felt like he'd just been moving, but he was clearly sitting in a chair. He blinked again and swallowed. He was... he was in the forest. The trees grew up from the rich dark earth and he could hear the various worms and insects that nestled amidst the detritus on the forest floor. It was crisp, but warm, and he could smell the ferns that had just raised their fists against the cold, angry to have been made to wait as frost and snow ruled the land during the winter.

His head rose to find the path before him. His gaze fell to one of his hands before rising as well. He felt bigger than he had been. He felt different. He remembered hearing a voice that sometimes he had wanted to say something back to. He didn't know the name of the one who spoke to him but he found that voice to be such a comfort. He had wanted to ask his name. He had wanted to tell him that he had been listening.

His eyes found a darkness before them. It wasn't a shadow, though it was made from them. He knew that kind of shadow. He knew the comfort of its embrace.

"Cisco..." just a whisper from his lips. That one had been promised and made promises. That one was free, but still held him as though some part of him belonged.

"I've brought him. He's here. Please, please tell me that he will wake. Please!"

Elia flinched. He hadn't realized that there was someone else so near. He knew that voice. It was him, the one who always spoke to him. The one who he wanted to say something to.

"I-I'm awake." He took even breaths and smoothed his hair from his eyes with one of his hands. "I'm awake..."

A warm hand gripped his shoulder. He knew this touch. This touch was caring, loving, and always warm and gentle. His fingers covered that hand before he turned his head toward it. This belonged to the one who had cared for him. He knew this touch as well as he knew the voice.

"So you are... Elia, I have waited for so long just to hear your voice." Those words were just a low murmur, as though the one who made them was afraid that some spell would be broken if he uttered much more than that. Elia felt the hand that gripped him shift until the man who had been behind him rounded his seat and knelt before him, carefully keeping hold of his fingers. "I tried Elia, I tried to make things right. I found... I found all of the others and brought them back to their families. You were the only one I could never find anything out about."

"That's right. There were others. That person... I never knew him." Elia got a shiver and another warm hand rose to steady him. "I only knew my mom."

"Your mom, she... she's..."

"She's dead. I remember. She came to find me, somehow she found me and then..." his voice trailed off. Elia knew that this person knew the rest. The infinite regret within his eyes said more than his words ever could. "I had run away, but she came to find me anyway. I see now... it was stupid. She was only trying to protect me because she didn't understand, the darkness is not the danger and the one within it is not to be feared, but free. We both belong to each other and are ourselves, Fae and Wolf."

"Fae..." his fingers tightened the smallest amount as his words shook. "...and Wolf. The one who came to you, was with you... he is the wolf?"

Their eyes met and Elia's momentarily lit with ghost fire. "No. I'm the wolf. My guardian is the Fae, though he is more than that as well. He was a wolf long ago, but something happened so he is no longer what he was. I know that now. I have learned so many things while I was in the darkness, and you. I heard you. I wanted to tell you that I was listening."

Elia watched the man before him take a shaky breath. He studied him. He wore a long coat that swept away from him and lay on the ground. It looked a little big on him, as though it had been picked when the person who bought it had been larger, where this person was almost uncomfortably thin. His hands were warm and gentle, but weathered by time and his wrists disappeared into the sleeves of his shirt and then coat, once more, much the way that someone's might if they had lost a lot of weight and forgotten to buy new clothes that fit. Hair that had been red but now faded to blonde​ and grey shifted in the light breeze. His face was kind, honest, his eyes warm but held a sadness. Those eyes had seen so many things, so many horrible things, it was as though those visions had stolen his life away, and the one who knelt here was a shadow of what he had been. It hurt to see such a good proud man devastated by the course of his life and Elia couldn't help but reach and place his other hand upon a cheek that he was sure, should have been more rounded. Those brown eyes came back to find him, and a smile crossed the lips who had said his name so many times.