The Ring Of Fire || L.S ✔

17. Home

A difficult lie
covering a dire truth.
Revelation reaped
by breaking the root.

TW: PTSD. But its more just than that. Be safe.
Disclaimer: I cannot emphasize this enough--- I do not condone violence. (unless its for self defense)

Catania, Sicily. Italy.

25 December, 2022

This time, there were no nightmares. Nor did the soft bed sway in the waves. It was the dark kind of sleep with nothing and no one in it. Just blackness which slowly faded.

He could hear the sea- waves crashing on the beach. But it was a distant sound. More prominent was the soft chatter of a girl. The tongue was foreign but Harry could still make out a few lilting words. Sharks, whales, star fishes... she certainly seemed excited.

Then there were the scents- it wasn't all salty, thank god. For the first time in his life, Harry was tired of that smell. Well, more like positively horrified, but he wanted to go with tired. Back to smells. There was a citrussy orange in the air along with a warm toasty sweet accomplice. It smelled like a cozy bakery. And bandages.

Harry was in heaven already. But his muscles were a bit stiff. He needed to turn to get more comfortable. Or at least, he tried to.

A sharp stinging pain flared up in his legs, killing the sleepy buzz and making him wince. Well, that was inconvenient. He wanted to burrow under the soft warm mass next to him.

"Nice to see somethings haven't changed."

"Shut it. I'm in pain!" Harry groaned before slowly opening eyes to two pairs of the brightest blues curiously peering down at him. "Please tell me we got away."

Anastasia's face lit up like the stars as she jumped out of the bed with a shill shriek and ran out of the room screaming. "Daddy's awake!" Both men winced. But Louis' features were quick to soften.

"We got away, love. You're safe."

Harry looked back up slowly and peered up at Louis. He was sitting shirtless next to him. But his torso and abdomen were tightly wrapped up in bandages. In fact, the entire bedside table is covered in medical equipment including a saline drip attached to a stand feeding into his own arm.

But there is also a glass of orange juice and buttered croissant.

"You're hurt?" Harry eyes the bandages in confusion before looking up. His memories still a bit warbled. His eyes still heavy with sleep. Distant shouts and scream of death, a whispered echoing in his ears.

Louis didn't seem to be too worried about himself. But the concern in his eyes just flared up after this question. "I was shot in the back, remember?"

Harry watched, as Louis gently brought his hands down and carded his fingers soothingly through his hair. Harry hummed in approval and closed his eyes. The dizzy buzz slowly coming back muting the echoes. He just felt so warm and comfortable that he could drift off till eternity.

"Harry?"

Harry hummed before trying to turn again. He wanted Louis' body heat. He had missed that soft snug furnace. But once more, the stinging pain made him flinch and hiss. He didn't remember the blood. Only the suffocating agony and the edge of the knife.

"Love, please open your eyes?" Louis was again inching towards panic. Harry really didn't want to deal with that. Bitter taste and racing hearts. Nope, he just wanted to relax on solid grounds, probably in a sweet little bakery, where no one was trying to kill him every ten second. Possibly dreaming of cakes and Pastries. Gods, it had been so long since he had a decent chocolate cake. All sweet and gooey and tooth rotting perfection!