I can't control their fear, only my own.
Setting aside his own mug, he wrapped his arms around Lena to pull her tighter. It seemed to staunch the bleed of his heart, although part of him still broke on the inside. Burying his own head in her shoulder, his eyes and voice were wet with emotion, cracking under the strain. "I'm sorry, Lena. I'm so sorry." For being weak and failing her, for making her feel so helpless, for dying. He couldn't say it enough. He'd screwed everything up, and he'd somehow placed all of that weight on her shoulders. He'd wanted her to support him without question, to trust him to know what he needed to heal. Anything to the contrary rubbed against his raw emotions.
Clutching to her, he heaved a deep breath to clear the dampness from his words. "I don't think you're heartless." If anything, she had too much heart, spreading her compassion amongst the world without prejudice or reward. Yet, he'd made her feel the opposite, and it just proved how broken he was. Closing his eyes against any lingering pride, Zavien confessed, "I just can't look past my own emotions right now. I'm sorry." It sounded like a pathetic excuse, and he shook his head to try rattling free the words that might convey it all. "Everything hurts and nothing makes sense. I just need to clear my head of Stormbreak so I can focus on what matters." He hoped she understood that 'Stormbreak' meant the city and the residing leadership rather than her. She was the thing that mattered.
But just in case she didn't, Zavien pulled back to meet her eyes, holding her face in his hands. "I care about you. And I won't leave you here alone for long." He didn't say those momentous words that she'd balked at before, but they resonated in his chest all the same, hoping to act as a beacon between them in the storm. "Because this, you, us is all that seems to push back the darkness."
Clutching to her, he heaved a deep breath to clear the dampness from his words. "I don't think you're heartless." If anything, she had too much heart, spreading her compassion amongst the world without prejudice or reward. Yet, he'd made her feel the opposite, and it just proved how broken he was. Closing his eyes against any lingering pride, Zavien confessed, "I just can't look past my own emotions right now. I'm sorry." It sounded like a pathetic excuse, and he shook his head to try rattling free the words that might convey it all. "Everything hurts and nothing makes sense. I just need to clear my head of Stormbreak so I can focus on what matters." He hoped she understood that 'Stormbreak' meant the city and the residing leadership rather than her. She was the thing that mattered.
But just in case she didn't, Zavien pulled back to meet her eyes, holding her face in his hands. "I care about you. And I won't leave you here alone for long." He didn't say those momentous words that she'd balked at before, but they resonated in his chest all the same, hoping to act as a beacon between them in the storm. "Because this, you, us is all that seems to push back the darkness."
Zavien
