[private] but only you have shown me how to love being alive, ether

[Briseis]

i need you like a heart needs a beat
but it’s nothing new --

Their home was often quiet, and at first she did not notice the hush as it began to settle. The fog that snaked its way through the trees was not a cause for alarm, and Briseis did not slow her pace as she made her way to the heart of Taiga. For as long as they have been here she and Ether have always called the darkest parts of the forest home—a place where the shadows were abundant, and few others had interest in exploring. Here, the redwoods grew so thick that the moonlight never touched them, and even the sun struggled to make its way beyond the networking of limbs that criss-crossed over top of one another. She had grown accustomed to the dark, even if she had not been born for it; her heart and soul belonged to a part of it now, belonged to him.

She expected the fog to begin to thin the closer she got to their home, for the trees and the shadows to overpower the silvery mist, but instead it only seemed to thicken.

Fear begins to prickle along her spine, and in the eerie hush that settles she swears she can hear her own heartbeat begin to echo off the trees. The sense that something is wrong stirs an age-old desire to flee, her bones and muscles calling back to a time when she would run until her legs ached and lungs nearly bled, as if she could ever outrun her nightmares.

But she thinks of him and she stills, and somewhere over the fearful pounding of her heart she reminds herself that she is not alone, and she just needs to find him.

“Ether?” his name is a tentative whisper, searching for a shadow that might produce a familiar pair of glowing yellow eyes, but everywhere she looks there is only the ever-thickening mist. Willing the panic that she can feel swelling in her chest to steady, she continues forward with cautious steps, calling out Ether’s name into the hazy dark.

-- briseis.

[Ether]

I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
and still you're mine

Their idyllic existence in the darkest reaches of the Taigan forest had lulled him into a sense of security. The quiet peacefulness of this place had so rarely been interrupted that he had nearly begun to forget all that came before. Nearly.

He should have known it would not last. Perhaps he even had known, but simply refused to accept it. With Briseis, it is far too easy to pretend the world cannot intrude upon their happiness.

But the world loves to prove him wrong.

Ether is no stranger to darkness, nor is he to mist. But this new fog that settles over the forest is different. At first, he barely pays any heed to it, but as it thickens between the trees, it becomes impossible to ignore. Even with his preternatural ability to see through darkness, he cannot pierce the heavy veil of the unnatural mist. Unease begins to grow inside the cavity of his chest as the truth of the situation finally breaks over him.

Whatever this is, it is not a natural occurrence.

Fortunately it does nothing to dampen his ability to step through shadows, and with the darkness it has drawn down upon their home, there is nowhere he cannot go. Still he curses it, for it muffles sound as assuredly as it blinds sight, and it isn’t until he has searched what feels like half the wood that he finally hears the faint syllables of his name.

“Briseis!” Her name is a desperate plea on his lips as he steps once more through the shadows. She is far closer than he had anticipated, and he nearly collides with her as he bursts through the fog far faster than he should. With a nimble twist, he wraps himself around her instead before drawing her against his chest in an embrace.

“You’re safe,” he whispers against her skin, as much for himself as for her. Though his chest is still and his lungs are quiet, his relief at having her against him once more is palpable.

Ether

@Briseis