Dragon Falls

Chapter Four

Sephor swung at Kia instinctively, his arm and hand passing overhead before Kia even had a chance to react. He heard Sephor's claws scrape along the tiled wall behind him and shivered in honest fear before he looked up to find the deep gouges that his claws had left behind. They had sliced thru the tiles like a warm knife thru butter, and Kia felt exceptionally lucky that it had not been his flesh instead.

His eyes whipped around to look at Sephor when he heard a low, keening sound. The sound was barely audible as he lay curled in on himself in the far corner, trembling. Kia knew he had recognized that reaction, and once he saw Sephor in the depths of a full-blown PTSD episode, his own fear took a back seat. He knew that something he had done or said must have triggered it, and couldn't help but feel guilty. He needed to get him calmed down somehow, and touching him was a big 'no,no'. 'What the hell do I do?' He thought to himself, worried more for Sephor than himself at that point.

He wasn't stupid enough not to be concerned about possible injury, but he also knew that Sephor was just as likely to harm himself before he could come back to his senses. Kia cursed his current weakness, along with his still sleep-muddled brain, as he struggled to think of a solution. Eventually he realised that the only thing he had was his voice, and he wondered if it would be enough. He could only hope to sooth him somehow though, so he began a soft, slow stream of words interspersed with quiet singing.

He was encouraged awhile later when Sephor's trembling stopped, and he realised that he hadn't heard that low keening wail for some time, but Sephor still seemed a million miles away. So he continued with his soothing mantra until he was forced to take a break by a throat that had grown as dry as the desert at high noon. It didn't help that his vocal cords had begun to crack from overuse either. He didn't see any new changes in Sephor's condition, and was begining to wonder if his voice was having any more effect. "I can't take much more of this..." He muttered to himself, disheartened, his voice barely audible, "I just wanted to take a bath and go back to bed..." He whined, voice still soft, but after a moment's pause, he just snapped, "Oh, hell! Snap out of it already damn you!!" Kia shouted, but instantly felt guilty for his outburst, knowing it wasn't Sephor's fault. He was simply stressed and frustrated, his own illness having grown steadily worse over the course of the day, and so he berated himself for his lack of self control while worrying if he might have made the situation worse.

Sephor had jerked at Kia's shout, curling into himself even more as his trembling returned, all of which seemed to confirm Kia's fear. He began to apologize profusely as he resumed his monologue, only to have Sephor begin to relax and uncurl a few minutes later. He started looking around in a daze, as if he was waking up from a confusing and unpleasant dream.

"Kia?" Sephor asked quietly after hearing his voice, still confused. "Yes. I'm here." Kia replied, his voice wobbly from both overuse and relief. Sephor sat up slowly, his muscles shakey and weak after coming down from their adrenaline high. He took a moment to try and clear his head after leaning back against the cold wall, hissing slightly at the sensation of the icy tiles on his spine. But when he finally looked up and noticed the damaged wall his face grew dark with guilt before he even dared to ask, "I did that, didn't I?" His voice had been quiet, barely questioning, and not really requiring an answer, but he got one anyway. "Yes." Kia stated simply, and it was as if his answer reminded Sephor that he was really there. His eyes snapped to him from where they had been staring at the gouges, and he lunged forwards to check Kia over for injuries. "I'm fine, Sephor." Kia told him, voice still calm and collected, "You only swung that once, and it missed me by a mile." Sephor dropped down onto the floor as if he were a puppet with cut strings, leaning back on his hands to stay sitting up, and the gloom had settled firmly onto his face. "It was my own fault, not yours." Kia said in an understanding tone, trying to comfort him, "You weren't yourself. I should have recognized the symptoms and not touched you, if they had registered sooner I wouldn't have..."