Eloquence

Kakyoin Is an Artist, Without Eyes

Black.

The nights when it grows so dark that Kakyoin forgets whether his eyes are open or closed.

This is worse even than that. He feels as though he has doused his eyes in his darkest India inks.

"Kakyoin. Kakyoin!"

He struggles against the weight holding him to the sand.

Sand - desert, sun stand, water: attacking - his eyes

"KAKYOIN."

He knows that voice, can picture the way those perfect lips form the word. Jojo.

"Kakyoin, can you hear us?"

This voice is as rich and soothing as warm honey. Avdol's.

Kakyoin thrashes against his captor. "Light," he wails, "light. Please."

"Stop flailing. And don't open your eyes," Jojo instructs. "I need to bandage them."

"Please," Kakyoin is still whimpering. "Light. Please. I can't see." Bandages are being wrapped around his head. "Please." Hierophant flickers into being in sheer desperation, though Kakyoin knows that his stand can offer no assistance. "It hurts."

"Hold still, Kakyoin." Avdol again, and something grabs Kakyoin's wrists.

The bandage stings where it presses against his eyes. Kakyoin struggles against the pain, desperate to do anything, just to make it all stop. "Light." His voice is quieter now. "Light." He sobs, breathes in again, does his best to go limp. "Light." The hands pinning his arms in place hesitate, release him. "Light. Please. It's dark, it's dark," he whispers.

"Shhh. It's alright." The hand on his chest moves to his hair, stroking through it. "I've got you, Kakyoin. You're alright." Jojo pulls him into a rough approximation of a hug.

"It's dark."

"I know, Kakyoin. But I've got you."

"It's dark."

"Yes."

Jojo smells warm and comforting and a little bit like the ocean.

Later, Kakyoin wakes up in a coldly sterile place that smells of disinfectant.

He wants... He wants the light back. He wants to be warm again. He wants the gentle scent of the ocean to engulf him again. He wants to be held by Jojo, not by the haze of painkillers.

Kakyoin drifts into fitless sleep haunted by darkness and drowning.

It is dark.