y: tears
He’d been keeping it in since they’d both come back from the Underworld, for her sake. He didn’t want to worry her, especially not after all they’d been through.
But when she turned off the lights for the first time, shrouding the both of them in an inky darkness, he couldn’t help the involuntary shudder.
He wasn’t scared of the dark because it was dark. He was scared because he knew the dark, and the dark seemed to know him, too. He’d flirted with darkness all too often in his past, then immersed himself in it in his present.
And then.
The darkness had seemed to laugh at him, taunt him, in Hades’ lair. As much as he’d tried to forget it, he remembered every minute he’d spent down there. Every ribbon of pain searing his body, every time he’d squeezed his eyes tightly shut only to find the darkness waiting for him there too. Most of the bruises had healed – Emma’s magic and Belle’s ointments had worked like a charm. But the memories and experiences of his torture left a stain on him he feared would never fade.
He felt the first tear slide out before he could catch it, and then another. And another.
Even though there was no light in the room, she still knew something was wrong.
He felt her warm hand slip into his. “Killian?”
He didn’t trust himself to speak with the ocean of emotions throbbing just underneath his throat. So he just leaned onto her shoulder, buried his face into her curls, and let everything go.
When the last sob coursed through his body, and he was finally able to get his hands to stop shaking, he grew still, biting his lip, too afraid to move.
But she wasn’t.
She cupped his chin in her hands and brought his face up to hers. The moonlight illuminated her silhouette just enough for him to see not only concern, but understanding reflected in her eyes. Silent tears streamed down her face as she pulled him closer and somehow knew exactly what two words to say.
“I know.”
Killian Jones + Y
Published
It All Starts With a Dance 