Page 106 of Song of the Abyss

Until she had chosen to put herself in danger. Until she had chosen to take her own life to save so many others. And who was he to stop her from seeking that honor?

Feeling like a broken man, he nodded at the younger one before locking his eyes with the elder. “Fortis, make sure everyone gets out who needs to get out. Gather our people and make it known they are not to kill those who remain alive.”

“I will. Until your brother gets here, they will all be safe.”

He turned back toward the city and felt that ache jagged like a dagger in his chest. He hadn’t realized that it would hurt this much to lose her. If he had known, would he have taken the risk?

Daios went into the murky dust blind, feeling with his hand for the ragged edges of the metal. They scraped at the delicate webs between his fingers, ripping at his nail beds. And through all the pain, he knew that he would do it a thousand times over to have the memories of her living in his chest. He would give anything to touch the golden strands of her hair.

Flames illuminated everything around him. All he could see, however, was the way her eyes crinkled at the edges when she smiled at him. How she had seen straight through all of his anger and instead trusted that he wasn’t a monster. No matter how surly he’d been, no matter how much he’d tried to make her hate him.

Anya had looked at him with affection and love from the beginning. Not as a pet or some strange creature from the sea. But as a man who had seen too much in life, and she knew what that felt like.

There was air above him. Flames that flickered to life as well, but there was still a pocket of air.

His gills felt frozen as he poked his head into the room. The blast had ripped open the metal floor and flooded a majority of the area. The floor had cracked in two, and it seemed somehow the entire room had tilted. Part of it was still out of the water, quite a bit, actually. The flooding seemed to be sucking into tubes that funneled the water deeper into the city. From the faint sound of screams, he had a feeling it was flooding the lower levels, and that there were quite a few people who could not get out.

He should feel some sort of pity for them. After all, he was in love with one of their kind and yet... he felt nothing.

Emerging from the water, he cast his eyes throughout the room that he remembered having walls. At least, that’s what it looked like from Anya’s perspective. There were no walls in this room any more. Just shattered rubble and a ceiling that looked like it was going to cave in at any point.

The floor had cracked open so far that there was a small water pathway he could use to get deeper into the room, so he did. Slowly swimming through the current and avoiding the areas where wires had fallen into the sea and sparked bright hot shards into the air that burned when they first touched his skin.

Hissing, he turned toward a sound as something moved in the distance. Metal crunched and there was the faintest sound of a groan.

If someone had survived, he would rip them limb from limb. Violence would ease the loss of his love. He would coat himself in the blood of their enemies, dripping with it in honor of her sacrifice.

Yanking himself out of the water, he forcefully expelled everything from his gills. Instantly, all he could smell was smoke and burning wires. This place was going to cave in at any second, so he had to find her body and get out.

But first, he would slake his bloodlust.

Grabbing onto the warped and dented metal sheet, he yanked it free from the person hiding beneath it. Teeth bared and lights glowing blood red, he knew he was a looming creature of the depths that would terrify even the bravest of souls.

But it was not an enemy hidden beneath the dark, warped metal. It was a little blonde woman, curled in on herself like she’d just been tucked inside an egg. A gift from the gods, it seemed.

All of that rage seeped out of him in one swell and he couldn’t even hold himself up anymore. The muscles of his tail spasmed. Suddenly, he was right there in front of her. Cupping her face with his hands, one cold and metal and the other warm and alive.

“Anya?” he whispered, his voice shaking because he would swear he heard a moan from this corner. He thought he saw her chest rise with a breath. “Kalon? Please tell me you live.”

Another moan, this time as she rolled her head. There was blood on her face where the lens had shattered against her cheekbone and forehead. More lines of blood dotted through her scalp where Bitsy had been crushed against her head. The little droid wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t sure it ever would again.

Dragging her into him, he leaned against the wall and pulled her into his lap. Looping his tail around her, he created a shield out of his body so not even a spark of heat would touch her skin.

He was shaking. Trembling with her in his arms so hard, he was afraid the movement would hurt her. But then he dragged her closer, pressing her head underneath his chin and squeezed his eyes shut as hot tears trailed down his cheeks.

Rocking her back and forth, he tried to get control over what he was feeling. But these emotions refused to be tamed or named in any way. They were a typhoon of madness and hope and relief and love.

So much love.

All of it shuddered through him as he pressed his lips to her head while she slowly woke in his arms. He’d found her. He had found her before she was lost and he didn’t know what god to thank for sparing her, even if she was covered in blood and even if she was not the same. He didn’t care. If the head injuries changed her, he would keep her safe for the rest of her life.

Just knowing that she breathed was enough for him. Nothing would ever risk that again.

His breath came in short gasps as he curled himself tighter around her. That metal arm didn’t feel right, so he made sure it was farther from her skin so he didn’t accidentally crush her.

Again, he pressed his lips to her hair, tasting her blood in his mouth.

“Wake up, my kalon,” he whispered, though he did not recognize the sound of his own voice. “You have to wake up now, my love. We have to go before this city takes us with it.”

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