Hyacinth || dreamwastaken

32

Time passes quickly once you're no longer soulmateless. Or maybe it's the whole not starving thing that makes time move quicker. I haven't really figured it out yet. Either way days have passed since I got my three dashes with Clay. The tension in the group is still high. The heat holds heavy between us all. The blazing heat mixed with the thick air makes travel all the more miserable.

Sweat beads drip down my face. It feels like someone's turned on a faucet above my head letting one droplet drip every so often. Except the drops aren't refreshing. They're... sticky and hot.

"Guys, it's grueling out today. Maybe it's best we don't travel. It's only going to drain us. We need to savior as much of our energy as possible. We have hard tasks ahead of us." Clay speaks but no one reacts. A man once so powerful, a man that demands to be heard, isn't.

The five men who have joined our treacherous journey continue on. They don't halt at our concerns. Clay glances at me, and I look away. My head drops as a bead of sweat drips off the tip of my nose onto the soil beneath our feet.

"Not even lover boy will listen. It seems as though even the untaintable have been left corrupted by the government, huh?" I saw low. I can't bear to look at Clay. I don't want to see the disappointment my words bring to his face.

I thought that when I found my soulmate that my life would become rainbows and butterflies. But it only seems as though rain clouds hold heavy around us. One swift cold breeze hitting a warm one and the clouds will open up a hell upon us. Or maybe at this point a rain storm would actually feel like heaven in this heat.

"Nick has become me." Clay places his hand on my shoulder. "He is now the voice of reason. He knows the soulmate world better than I. He will be trusted way before I will be. He's giving me the treatment I gave you." Clay sighs. "He's giving me a piece of my own medicine. You're just collateral."

I finally take a look at Clay. His eyes are trained on our five friends who are many feet in front of us. "I'll be collateral if it means I keep you by my side." I reach up and caress his cheek. I expect him to feed into my touch but he doesn't. He's too lost in the pain he's given me I assume.

"Dream." I say softly. His eyes dart toward me. He knows I only use that name to get his attention. It always comes out feeling like acid is burning me from the inside out. But not because I loathe his alter name. At least not anymore. It just isn't who he is to me. He is Clay. He will always be Clay, with a side of dickwad.

"It's okay." I smile slightly at him. I have to force myself to even form the smile to begin with. But at the end of the day, as long as he's by my side I know that I'll be safe.

***

George sits oddly close to Clay. For the first time I see Clay back away from his forbidden lover's touch. He moves closer to me. I watch George's face shift from having warmth to a complete coldness. It's blood chilling watching the life drain from his face.

It's up to me to shift this. "Hey Clay, do you think you and George could go get us some water? My bottle's almost empty. I'm sure most everyone's is." I paint a warm smile to my face as I glance in George's direction.

"You don't want to go?" He instantly pokes. He doesn't want to leave me alone with his new found twin. But Foolish, Techno and Phil are around. I will be safe. Even if they've all been a little tainted by the government.

"I've gashed up my toe. I don't want to risk hurting it even more." I place a soft kiss to his cheek. "I'll be fine. I don't need you to always protect me. Even though you seemingly always have since the moment I stepped out of my pod."

Clay shrugs his shoulders like it's been no big deal. Except, it is a big deal because he does it for everyone. He's driven himself mad for years. I understand his powers help him, but just because they're there, doesn't mean he has to put them to use twenty-four-seven.