Resurrection {NaNoWriMo}

Chapter 14

                 

He frowned deeply as he felt hands gliding across his head, stroking his hair and face.

"Alias," they whispered, gentle voice caressing him muddled ears. "Alias, wake up."

The world was dark, just as it always had been. Well – not always. In a distant past, he could remember the sensation of warming light tingling against his skin, could hear the bright laughter of his younger sister as she tumbled through the fields behind their house, beckoning him to follow her. His name would float from her lips much like the voice above him now, but Alana's voice had never been tinged with the pain that crept into this person's tone. She was always beaming and struggling to subdue her giggles in his happy memories, in some of his dreams.

He groaned; the sound slipping from his mouth. He hated vocalizing weakness, pain. His body ached alright, but it felt a hell of a lot better than it had before. Before...

Eyelids snapping back, he looked up to a bewildered and troubled Acacia. Her eyes were wide with worry and she clutched him against her. His head rested in her lap, and her hands were woven in a startling fashion through his hair. He blinked for a few beats as they simply stared at each other. Her mouth shaped words, but he couldn't discern them yet.

"Wait..." He struggled to say.

She tensed up, her stress tangible through the bond. His mouth fell open.

"Acacia..." He rumbled out, voice thick and husky. "The bond is..."

She grinned, eyes growing glassy. Her voice was equally unsteady. "Yes, yes it's back. But so are you. You're back. You're okay." She leaned down and peppered kisses across his face, brushing his forehead to his nose, to his cheeks. "You're alive," she breathed cheerfully.

He had become ice beneath her touch, unresponsive to her sudden burst of affection.

She pulled back and giggled at him. "Calm down, silly. It was an innocuous gesture. It's a way to show your relief and care for a person. My people did it..." She sighed. "It seems that memory is still a bit fragmented."

She allowed him to move away and sit up; his hair tumbled in every which way as he looked at her. He moved his arms up and down, flexed his muscles, and fisted his hands open and close, testing his abilities and searching for limitations. He looked up to her in slight awe. "I'm completely healed. I thought the venom would kill me for sure."  He met her eyes as he withdrew his eyes from his torso and arms. "Thank you."

She gaped. "You're thanking me, willingly?"

He shook his head. "You don't have to act so surprised."

"The surprise is entirely genuine, I assure you."

"I am capable of manners, when something moves me. You weren't really competent enough to do that before recently."

Her eyes narrowed. "Pardon?"

Alias sighed, turning his head from her to the dark sky that had briefly lightened, the closest this world would ever come to day. "Do we have to have this discussion now?"

She didn't speak until he met her gaze once more. "We need to talk about what happened in the caves, Alias."

His eyes seared hers, a fierce intensity burning in their obsidian depths. "It is not a pleasant topic for me."

"Please help me to at least understand what happened, how it happened. I'm sure you have questions for me too. If we are to brave this world together, we should start on a good foot."

"I think this is more due to your curiosity rather than propriety." Alias huffed. "But if we are to air all of our soiled laundry, I want to do the questioning first."