Forget Where We Were (reupload!)

Chapter 16

When Alhaitham opened his eyes, the sudden heaviness of returning to a physical form made his whole body ache. He has done this three times now, yet he has not gotten used to waking up.

He looked around, vision disoriented, trying to ground himself with the drastic change in his surroundings. He vaguely saw Nahida and Tighnari waiting for him to settle down.

He had to remind himself every time that he had returned to the real world and that everything that the cursed realm only existed for the purpose of locking away Kaveh's memories, what transpired within those little lockets of dream would dissolve upon getting the fragment back as if nothing happened.

As far as Alhaitham was concerned, it was a fabricated event between him and the cursed realm, and not even the Kaveh of the waking world would ever know about what was said, or what was done.

When the scribe finally started to better grasp his reality, he noticed the mop of blonde hair by the side of the bed. Kaveh was seated on a chair, with his head on the mattress as he slept.

A cup of warm tea was pushed into his hands by the General Watchleader. He took the cup and downed the contents. He knew better than to argue with Tighnari, especially now that he was one of the recipients of his generous care. The ruthless Forest Watcher hated nothing more than a stubborn patient.

After Tighnari took the cup back, he looked at Kaveh's sleeping form, "He barged in here the moment he got the fragment of his memories back. He was sobbing and crying out your name. Not even Nahida was able to console him. He sat here sniffling for hours, holding your hand."

The fennec fox shook his head, "We thought you were in danger at first, but there was nothing wrong with you. I assumed that he remembered that project you worked on and the results of that collaboration, but then I thought he would be more angry than upset with you, but I guess I was wrong. He fell asleep after he got tired of the waterworks."

Alhaitham looked down at Kaveh. He had been crying. This was the opposite of how Alhaitham expected he would react upon knowing the shaky truth of where their relationship had gotten, filled with thorns and unstable ground that could break at any moment. He expected Kaveh to be angry, full of resentment. He expected Kaveh to feel betrayed.

Maybe he still felt all of those things but was only able to cry his emotions. Alhaitham reached out a hand and gently touched Kaveh's golden locks, dragging them away from the older man's face.

"Did he say anything?" Alhaitham asked, running the side of his index finger against Kaveh's cheek.

Tighnari shook his head, "He refused to talk to anyone. He kept telling us that he couldn't talk to anyone else until after he was able to talk to you first. He cried while he waited for you to wake up until he fell asleep. Cyno thought you died when he saw Kaveh bawling his eyes out while holding your hand."

Tighnari and Alhaitham watched the sleeping Kaveh some more. After a while, the Forest Watcher smiled at Alhaitham, "It seems that your work is cut out for you."

"I would not have it any other way. If it's for Kaveh's sake, any work is elementary. The worst that could happen already happened, and I don't think anything can faze me at this point."

As Kaveh started to stir, Alhaitham withdrew his hand. Tighnari quickly went to work, checking his vitals while Kaveh regained consciousness, stretching his arms and looking around with his obviously puffy eyes.

Eventually, Kaveh's gaze landed on Alhaitham, and the scribe immediately noticed that the blond's low lip began to tremble. Alhaitham reached out and took one of Kaveh's hands that remained resting on the bed. Tighnari, having seen the interaction, gave Alhaitham a reassuring nod as he excused himself from the room.