White Wings - Rayllum One-Shots (OLD)

Affection <3 Pt. 3

Warnings: Violence, cursing, brief description of panic attacks

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The ongoing melody of the heartbeat monitor seemed to be growing louder and clearer each second, until the melody pierced into Callum's head and he bolted upright, hitting his head against what felt like the ends of thousands of needles.

He winced, trying to adjust to the light as he rubbed his hands against his eyes, squinting as he finally recollected himself: first things first, based on the familiar scent of medicine and the enchanted monitor, it was definitely clear that he was in the hospital.

Secondly- god, his head was in so much pain that he would've believed it if someone told him there was a colony of wasps swarming through his head, hitting against his skull and ricocheting to the ground over and over again. Each and every movement, every new sound and sight he processed seemed to double by the hundred-fold-- it was as if he'd been placed in water that'd been so cold that it grew burning hot.

So... is this something like... brain hypothermia? Callum asked to himself. God, that was a really stupid question to ask the first thing after-

after-

After what, was it again? 

He racked what was left of his head as of now for thoughts, trying to recall something, anything-- the last thing he could vividly remember was running in the fields with Rayla. The sky had been so blue and endless that it could have held all the love he had for her and more, the sun had been shining as if there were no tomorrow, as if it was made for them, and he'd held her hand. But what was after that? What came after that ended up with his-

Callum stared down at his chest, which had been bandaged with so many layers that he almost felt like he was wearing armor. He could barely move the upper half of his body before he stared down at dark shades of crimson that bled through the white. 

How much had he been bleeding for it to still go through what was worth nearly hundreds of layers of wrapping?

His hands grazed over his chest before he sucked in a breath, an unexplainable amount of pain pulsing through each and every one of his veins. The pain felt familiar, which it shouldn't have, but it definitely did--

Dark magic, why was there dark magic? Why- how could he have allowed himself to even go near something as detrimental as that towards his life again?

Within a flash, the memories of yesterday- or the hour before- wait, how long had he been out? -- Viren had been there, Claudia was there, and- was it just him or was the room closing in on him, because it was definitely growing smaller. Why was it growing smaller? The room was plenty big when he first woke up. Fuck, was he dying? He must have been dying, of course he was, he was going to die, alone, in the room without anyone to help because he'd been stupid enough to get hurt out on his own, and-

"Callum!" 

-why had he let himself get hurt? It had been his fault, how could he have messed up so badly?

Callum's chest heaved as tears spilled over his eyes, falling to the hospital bed, and every breath just made the place spin more, and he needed something to do with his hands because now he was just pressing red crescents into his arms and not getting anything done. What about Rayla? Fuck, what about Rayla?  Was she okay? Was she hurt because of him, was it because he had been too careless? He was always too careless, of course she'd gotten hurt, and it was his fault, and-

"Callum, Callum, look at me, okay?"

Two, very warm and comforting hands pressed against Callum's face as his eyes met violet skies, and within seconds, he melted into her embrace.

"Rayla," he uttered, voice trembling. 

"I got you, you stupid human," she soothed without any malice. "I'm right here."

Callum's body was too tired to continue as he nodded slowly, hands gripping tighter around her waist as he enveloped her into a hug. Within moments, Rayla hugged back. "Is it alright if I touch your hair, Callum?"

Callum nodded, a broken sob tearing out of his chest at the sudden touch of love.

Very gently, Rayla's hands gingerly combed through his hair as she whispered encouraging words into his ear. "I got you," she repeated over and over again, until Callum's breathing started to slowly turn to normal before she cupped his face in her hands. A wave of comfortable silence washed over the two, and unsure of what to say, Rayla spoke; "you seem pretty shaken up," she says. Callum sniffed, head pressed against her neck.

"That'd be an understatement," he muttered, but found a soft smile etching onto his face.

After a few moments, Rayla pulled Callum back and looked at him, scrutinizing him as if he was an art piece that she'd been working on. 

"Um..." Callum spoke. "A-are... is there something wrong?"

"Not really," Rayla replied smoothly. "You know, we only just got attacked by Viren and Claudia and almost died, but we're fine, just your regular Tuesday, am I right?"

Callum laughed softly before realizing that Rayla's eyes were bright red. His smile faltered as he reached over to pull a strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey, are you alright?"

She wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffling as she sighed. "I guess so?"

"Come on, Ray. Don't act like you didn't just witness my mental breakdown and say you're fine-- if something's wrong, you- you do know you can tell me something's wrong, right?"

"Right," Rayla repeated quietly. She interlocked her hands with Callum's before scootching closer to him as the springs of the hospital bed screeched beneath her. "Well, uh. Viren and Claudia attacked us, and, well-- we got lucky enough that one of Lujanne's five husbands, a botanist, I think? Was that what it was called? Anyway, he realized something was definitely wrong before calling for reinforcements. He had to leave after, but we- we got lucky."

Callum hummed in response, gripping tighter to her hand. "Is there something else you wanted to say? I can see it in your face."

"You humans and your stupid ability to analyze emotions," Rayla grumbled, because it was true. How could one person read her so well?

"If you're wondering, it's not your fault."

Huh? Rayla leaned over, eyes meeting a forest green. Again, proving her theory, humans were psychics. They had to be.

"It's not your fault, Rayla," Callum spoke. "You did your best to help me, and you're alive. That's all I could ever ask for."

A wave of emotions crashed over her as Rayla took a deep breath. "I know. But I just- I can't help but feel that it was my fault, you know? I was stupid. I could have done something."

"Yeah," Callum hummed. "You could have, or maybe you couldn't have, or many something entirely different happened. But whatever it is, I don't care-- you did your best, and I don't even care if I didn't make it, because you're- God, Rayla, you're alive. And I'm so proud of you, and I can't thank you enough for everything."

The phrase I don't care, as Rayla had inspected after a few months in Katolis was always said with bitterness and hatred. But when Callum said it, when those three words slipped out of his mouth, it was as familiar as three other words Rayla longed to hear. The words were said with love and reassurance, and the next thing Rayla knew, her arms were thrown around his as she whispered a quick thank you.

Even though the world was, well, still bound to be destroyed and Viren wasn't going to quit until everything was in ashes, that didn't mean that all good things had to end.

And now? Moments like these? Yeah, they could both definitely say that this was a good thing.