DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Moonlit snow

Argent d'Nur

The wail of a child made him come to consciousness and being woken unwittingly made him bury his face deeper into the pillows. He wasn't the only one awake, as the movement of the one at his side told him. After a few moments, she sighed and got up, swaying as she shuffled drowsily outside. The creaking of wood told him that she went downstairs and he didn't care much as he waited for her return, the crying of Aether continuing. A few short minutes later he heard the creaking again, but her presence was still missing. He listened, but he could not hear anything beyond Valis trying desperately to calm her son. He got up as well and stepped outside, where he quickly lay sight on Io. She was sitting on the stairs, her head resting on her knees and as he silently sat beside her he watched her dreamy gaze. Only now did he hear the melody, a quiet lullaby shushing the screams bit by bit. What he saw in her eyes, her everso tender smile, made his heart sting. He closed his eyes to listen along, as not much later the coming quietness was broken again by another loud scream. Valen yelled indistinctly and a second later the little boy began to cry once more. The song stopped abruptly and instead, Valis moaned. Before he knew what to do Io took a deep breath, and he felt her find focus, strength, in something else. Her eyes opened again and she got up and stepped down straight to Valis. She took Aether from her arms and as the Slayer came down too Valis rushed to her Grandfather. He came in behind her as Valen rambled random things.
"They are coming! Men prepare-- Shelter... shelter... Women and-- N-no... NO! Demons!"
He moaned as if in pain, and as the woman tried to calm him, and put him back down in the bed again he fought her but only weakly. The Slayer stared at his old friend, gone mad with age and mumble in terror as he had awoken in the middle of the night. He yelled loudly, and as his eyes fell on him his state seemed to worsen. The fever in his wild stare made the Slayer shudder and step back, back into the room where Io was frantically trying to calm Aether whose agitation doubtlessly came from everyone's stress. The sheer noise of everything; the well-known voice of Valen yelling at him while being held back by Valis. He couldn't stand it. Io tugged at his arm and tried to shout over the racket, but it only became more searing noise as he frowned at her. She handed him Aether to go and help Valis, the hollering boy kicking in his grasp. He shut his eyes when he could no longer bear this scene, sat the boy down on the table and hasted through the bathroom to the back and outside. He trudged into the untouched snow, falling to his knees and feeling the cold soothe the embers in his blood before letting out a roar of anguish.

The heavy wooden door needed a good shove to slip from the lock and she carefully stepped down to the ground. The boots that she had quickly put on were too big, but nonetheless, she carried the boy down the path to the little shed. The snow was cleared and trampled down, yet the cold bit harshly in the clear night. The moon was shining peacefully and the white of the snow reflected so it became nearly as bright as day. She had noticed him slumped on the bench next to the door, looking asleep, but didn't care about it right now.
"Hey... we're here...", she whispered to the drowsy child before setting him down in the shed.
"Can you do it on your own?", she asked gently and the boy shook his head scared.
"Okay, come on...!", she groaned as she lifted him up on the toilet.
"Don look!", Aether pouted as she helped him pull down his underpants from behind.
"Okay okay...! I won't look..."
A minute passed until he hollered "Done!".
More quiet chatter, and more groanes from Io as she carried him back inside. She was sweating under her thin layer of clothes that were not meant for outside. He wasn't big or uncommonly heavy for a child of his age, but she felt how weak she still was in comparison with before. She knew it would make her muscles ache in the morning, but she had asked to do this.

As the door closed again he let out a shaking sigh. He did not want her to see him like this. And it seemed like they had everything under control again. They didn't need him.
He turned onto his back and laid his arm on his face to cover it from the bright light of the moon. He grimaced as a thought came to his mind, just for a second.
Why did he come here anyway?
His inner felt like a boiling volcano every time he heard those cries, and it took more will of him than he would ever admit to look into his friend's eyes. And in between all of this he had to take care of Io...
This was a stupid idea. Stupid, and painful. He gnashed his teeth as he let out a low growl, his body tensing at all of these thoughts.
"Slayer!"
His head darted to the voice that had called for him.
"Come on, get up! I need to talk to you.", Io said as she stood in front of him. Her voice sounded strained and low as if she had no willpower left to act cute and feminine. Her dark eyes gleamed in the light and shined colder than the air was. She sternly looked at him up and down as he set his feet to the ground again did not leave any time for him to speak first.
"Get your shit together. I'll need your help tomorrow."
Baffled he blinked in disbelief that it was actually her standing there.
"Do you hear me? I'll need your help tomorrow. I promised Valis that I will take care of everything tomorrow, so she can get some well-needed rest. Get the wood we need for the stove and help me with Valen. I'm not strong enough to hold him up. He probably won't leave his bed much as he's pretty beaten."
He looked at her confused and sneered at the thought of being around them for another whole day.
SLAP
He coughed in shock as the hit had taken the air out of his lungs, and as he gaped up again he saw that it was the tears that gathered in her eyes that made them shine so brilliantly.
Before he had licked his lip and collected his mind she turned and stepped back to the door.
"And come sleep inside, I don't want you to get sick..."
As she said that she did not even look back at him, but calmly put the door back into its look behind her.