a million dreams are keeping me awake

[Elena]

take this burden away from me
and bury it before it buries me

She cannot bear to tell him the way her heart splits at seeing him again. All she can do is stand before him, blue eyes pained, and hope that it’s clear that she is here with him. That she made a choice for him, for her daughter, their daughter now, for a life and a family that she has always wanted and somehow still feels impossibly out of her grasp. She hopes it is clear that she would not be here, would not be here with Elliana, if she did not believe in him whole heartedly. Because while Tenebrae was as fleeting as shadows, Azrael was always as bright as starlight.

And hope blossoms in her—
If only because he was able to plant it within her.

Each pin prick of his emotions is read by the empath. And she practically crumbles on the spot when she can find no fleeting emotions of hatred, resentment because he of all people deserved to feel those things towards her. She wants to tell him to hate her, to despise her, to never forgive her, but he quiets her thoughts as she is pulled closer to him, and only then does her heart still. Elliana moves between them, not to separate, but to find how she fits between the two she will call her parents. And the fit, they find, with Elli in the middle, is perfect.

Together.

It easy to let everything fall to the wayside in this moment.

In this bright and shining moment, the pain and the fear and the agony strips away, curling from her like the edges of bark peeling from the tree. She is left new in its wake, molded into something restored by the way his heart beats against her, and she wonders how she would have survived without him. He has shielded her heart. He has fortified her spine. He has helped her make this a family, has become such an essential core in both their lives now.

Her eyes brighten slightly, the tears washing away, leaving her face soft and clean.

“Together, a family,” she murmurs, pressing her head into his embrace once more. And together, they settle in, because Elena is still not ready for the outside world, although it does not seem so daunting with him beside her. They settle in and Elliana closes her eyes, but Elena’s stay blue and open for a moment longer. “Promise me,” she says, her heart trembles only once as she moves closer to him before stilling, as he was always so easily able to do. “Even if you ever want to leave me, please do not leave her.” And she folds her head against him, hoping she would see him again as she closes her eyes, hoping if he chooses to dream walk he would pick hers to wander in.

so take away this apathy
bury it before it buries me

@Azrael