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it's amazing how much - how little - things have changed.
[break][break] they are teleported out of that dastardly prison — each and every one of it's memories chained to the deepest corner of his heart. much like
Zev Harcourt, jayden knows how to sequester the most traumatic memories away, to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze them down until they are merely nothing. just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of life, particles of dust floating along a person's lifestream.
[break][break] but that is not the thing that encompasses him as he channels through the motions of their daily life. returning home, hand in hand with
fern delaney, as it should be.
[break][break] no, it is the sharp echo of a bell, of something
FEARFUL that reminds him of his time with
illeana reyes in palkia's rift. the way that he had watched her weave the world back together, surging through those cracked panes in nothing but bonds of blood.
[break][break] like many other rockets, they return home without avail. jayden turns on his phone to see a thousand texts from
mint frost, each one more panicked than the last. he even sees calls from
Hitoshi Inoue and
bryan delarosa.
[break][break] he should call back, he thinks. he should text back, he thinks.
[break][break] he doesn't.
[break][break] he can see the cracked bowl in the corner of his vision; the way that
CYLLORA cried for release; the way that
VELMOS blood drained from his face as he died in
THEO BECKETT's arms at the hands of
Greyson Connors.
[break][break] he thinks about the way
illeana reyes's shield had shimmered out in front of him, protecting him from the blow of
Melody Miro's attacks.
[break][break] he thinks about how many days had been spent in that prison cell, and how much of it had felt so similar to the way that dmitri had once trapped him in one too.
[break][break] jayden tells fern that they can shower first; he'll handle dinner. something sweet. something comforting. something to warm their bones and heal their heart.
[break][break] but it is not the
prison that jayden worries about. it is not the
prison that effects him. it is the
after.[break][break] how the threads of time could fray so easily, and how their bonds could break apart in the blink of an eye.
[break][break] he thinks about the persistent ache in his chest he'd felt when his patron was gone, the lack of power through his veins when he'd had
TOXIC CHAINS repressing each and everything that he did. freedom of his curse had not been enough to wane his weakness; in fact, it had made it all the more clear when
CHIEN PAO had returned to him.
[break][break]
returned.[break][break] chien pao was gone now. jayden didn't know where it went. but it was not far — that much he knew.
[break][break] still, it made his heart anxious. the same kind of anxious it had made his heart when he had woken up from
DIONYSUS' nightmare, needing to find fern by his side.
[break][break] it is only the sound of a familiar sound that breaks his train of thought.
[break][break]
"what," jayden blinks, suddenly thrust back into the present. blue eyes glimpse over the bruised expression of his lover, their sudden laughter cutting through the room like diamond knives.
"is it too sweet?"[break][break]