The Pain and the Promise

     The pain is a lot to bear. 

    Arthur comes into my room to see me crumpled on the floor, my phone dashed on the other side. He rushes to get me to sit up. "Ani. Ani! Look at me. What-?" Before he can ask the rest of his question, he sees the red in my eyes, the darkness of my tears, and the scratches against the sides of my neck. "What happened?"

    "He said he would come, didn't he?" I whisper, "He said he couldn't wait."

    "Who-?"

    "Your fucking Otito!" I scream, throwing a frenzied hand gesture to my phone. My heart shatters again as I think about my pain again. Arthur goes to my phone and unlocks it. The messages pop up instantly from his Otito, D.I.A. Arthur scrolls to see the last messages from him: [Oh. Sweet. My office. Drop it off at my office for sure. Can't wait!!! Thank you sooooo much, Ani!] He scrolls down more to see my last message and reads it. I can feel Arthur's rage and curl up tighter. "He never came." Arthur's words hit me like a brick wall, just like the hundreds of times I realized it earlier in the day.

    "I-" I try to respond. All I hear is a growl from an angered inner panther form. I shudder and cry. He turns to me. I can see the pain and anger on Arthur's face. "Arthur, I-" I try again. He shushes me and rushes back to me. He picks me up and carries me to bed. He keeps shushing me as he puts my blankets over me and strokes my hair back. "Don't worry, Ani. I will take care of this." He stands up straight and closes his eyes. "Falkenroth."

    "Ambassador." Ulric greets as he comes into view. "What did you-? Ani!" Ulric almost climbs into bed with me, but Arthur holds him back. "What-?"

    "I'll explain as we go get Samuel." Arthur growls. I know neither of them are mad at me, but the angers radiating off of them frightens me. "Elyon and that friend of hers should be here soon to help her sleep."

    "What about Sirlari?" Ulric asks. "I heard her earthen healing energies are-"

    "She's coming with us. Her Otito knows about- him." The way he seethes at the last word startles me. "Rachen and Elyon will be the most help right now." As soon as their names fall out of his mouth, I feel Elyon hold me and Rachen's small dragon form curl up on my body pillow between my head and chest.

    "Take care of her, you two." Arthur commands the deity and dragon. He nods to Ulric and moves close to me. He kisses my head. "I promise that I will do what I can to take your pain away." I barely react with a gulp of nervous resignation and watch Arthur and Ulric fade away. I bury my head into my pillow and wearily drift off to sleep with sobs of pain.