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It had been days now. It felt as if you had been walking and sleepwalking in a vacuum - you could barely register anything apart from the silver-haired man lying unconscious on the bed in front of you, just as he had for the past few days.
Sylus had been injured before, yes. You had helped him out once in the shower, leaving him to extract bullets from his own body before you turned back around and patched him up again. Heck, he had even taken a bullet to the chest when you first met him. His hand had held yours as you gripped your gun, bringing it down with intent and purpose from his forehead to his chest. And you never quite forgot the recoil when he nudged your finger on the trigger and fired it at himself. And somehow, he was still able to quickly heal his own wounds. He seemed virtually indestructible. Danger was an integral part of Sylus' life in the N109 zone, and you knew that.
And yet.
And fucking yet.
You never saw him like this before.
In every single gun fight, regardless of how outnumbered he had been, he always came out of it. He'd always walk towards you, sometimes tossing you the gun he had borrowed while flashing that irritating smirk of his as if saying "see, kitten? I always come back".
Not once had you ever seen him flat on his back without eventually getting up.
Until now.
You had gotten careless in the last skirmish. You didn’t see that the gang boss had brought along modified bullets that also discharged a lethal electric shock upon contact, and you definitely didn’t see him aim his shot at you until it was too late. The next thing you heard was a bang, and Sylus was right there in front of you in a surge of red mist. The gang boss was gasping desperately for air as Sylus closed his grip around his neck using his Evol. The electrical shock ran through both of them and they both collapsed unconscious on the hard floor.
Everything had been a blur since.
You vaguely remember enlisting Luke and Kieran’s help to carefully extract Sylus from the site, rushing everyone back to the safety of his home. You had administered CPR as soon as you could and dressed any burn wounds you could find all over his body, mustering whatever survival medical training you learned. Your Hunter’s Watch did its scanning, showing that his vital signs are present, but weak. Luke and Kieran did their best to help you, even offering to take over for you every now and then so you get some rest.
But you refused every time.
Because nursing him and taking care of him was all you could really do.
You scanned his vitals. Checked his bandages. Replaced them when you need to, or sometimes when you don’t actually need to. Made sure his body was kept warm in that blanket. And then you’d sit there, staring at him, almost as if willing him to wake up would do the trick. And when it didn’t, you’d start all over again. Rinse and repeat.
And then, it came out of the blue - a gentle brush of his fingers against yours as you replaced a bandage on his hand. For a second you thought you imagined it yourself. And then you looked at him, his half-closed eyelids revealing those garnet eyes that you had grown to love. You didn’t imagine it after all.
He was finally awake.
You hunched over him, urgently calling his name and checking if he was really okay. He gave a slow nod, and then you hear a single word that you thought you’d never hear again.
”Kitten..”
All at once, your body felt weak. You had focused all your efforts in taking care of him and you never let yourself cry, but all the tension and adrenaline that has kept you going over the past few days finally broke and flowed freely from your eyes and down your cheeks. You immediately fell on his neck, hugging him and crying as you apologised, lamenting that you almost lost him because of your own carelessness.
You felt him draw your head close to him, and then a soft kiss on the side of your temple.
”But you can’t lose me, kitten,” he said, “remember, you said it before. We share a curse. We are bound together in life and in death… no?”
Of course he remembered.
Of course you remembered.
You remember the symbolic gem bracelets that you both got from a recent mission, and saw them lying together on the nightstand by his bed. All at once you felt a fresh stream of tears fall from your eyes as you turned towards Sylus, pressing your lips against his. His lips felt a little parched and weak, but still you felt him return the kiss as he started to strengthen his grip on you, drawing you a little bit closer as if you were the last thing firmly anchoring his existence in this world.
“.. and you,” came his query, weak but with concern, “you’re not hurt, are you?”
You fought the urge to rebuke him for worrying about you when he was the one lying on the bed and nodded against his lips.
A stupid thought came to your mind and you almost snorted at yourself. When Sylus gazed at you in curiosity, you decided to come clean - you were thinking that you would do anything at this point to see him smirk at you again just like he did before after all his fights. It had irritated you before, but now…
You saw Sylus smile weakly, suppressing his laughter in his weak condition as he petted you on the head.
”Then keep me company until I’m better,” he murmured, “I’ll make sure there’ll be more where that came from.”
He then gently tugged you close on the bed so that you almost lay on top of him. You carefully positioned yourself beside him to not aggravate any injuries and lay down, softly grasping his hand. A faint warmth emanated from his hand to yours and you sighed, your heart feeling at ease for the first time in days. You turn to look at Sylus, only to see him press a kiss on your forehead.
“Go on. Rest,” he said, entwining your hands together to keep you rested together with him, “I’ll be here. As always.”