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Description
With one last push, you scrambled onto the thick branch, fingernails digging into the damp, softened wood. Rain poured bitterly all around, coming down in curtains where the canopy of the trees could not shield the ground from the menace of the sky. Thunder clapped overhead, and the entire forest lit up for a moment, revealing the pairs of huge, glimmering eyes peering out amongst the trees, fixed on you. A tiny, choked sob bubbled from your throat, and you quickly fitted a hand over your mouth to dull any more sounds that might escape. Tears found their way from your eyes, leaking down your already mucky and rain-spattered face as you pushed your back up against the slick trunk, pulling your knees protectively into your chest.

'Hey.'

You ripped your hand from your mouth as you jumped violently, the only thing stopping you from shrieking being, ironically, shock itself. Sat not more than two metres away from you on the mossy, slippery branch, was another soldier. His leather-clad calves bounced against the side of the branch as he watched your reaction from sharp steely eyes, glinting like coins from beneath his sandy brown hair.

You shut your mouth, and opened it again. All that came out was a strangled breath, and you snapped it shut once more, unable to get a firm grip on your bewilderment. You watched, and the lean man's eyebrows pulled together as he took in the filthy, bloody state of your clothes and the redness of your eyes.

'What happened?' He asked calmly. You took in a deep, shuddering breath.

'I got—' You began, your voice beginning to tremble. 'I got left behind.' The words were half wailed, and a part of you was mortified by how weak you sounded, but being stranded and cold in a forest crawling with predators was more terrifying than you could have imagined.

The stranger blinked, and looked, for a moment, like he wanted to reach out to comfort you. He said nothing, but gave you time to wipe your eyes and regain control of your laboured breathing.

'What about you?' You asked thickly, right after wiping your nose. About to ask him how come he didn't leave with the others, you stopped as you found the answer yourself. His hips were bare, free of any gear.
'Did your manoeuvre gear break?'

His eyes flicked to the side, and you noticed how, for a moment, they looked as grey and old as the rain, gently pouring down around your leafy shelter.
'Yes, I suppose it did,' he mused, half his mouth curving up in a faraway smile.

Your breath caught as you were mesmerised in the moment. His pale brown hair, damp from exposure to the rain, curled gently at his temples. He blinked at the rainy scenery, and you watched his eyelashes. An array of smooth crescents, dark where they met the thin skin of his eyelids and growing paler at the ends.

His details seemed to jump out at you, and you wondered if it was an effect of the wall of solitary rain that surrounded you, or perhaps only the looming thought of your imminent demise and your hidden, desperate desire to experience more from your small slice of life.

'Is there something wrong?' His level voice inquired, and you blinked, snapping from your daydream.

'—Not any more than it already is,' you answered quickly before shuddering, pulling your wet cloak tighter around your body. 'I am cold, though.'

The stray soldier gave a quiet chuckle and swung a leg over the thick branch, straddling it as he shuffled towards you. He was an arm's length away, close enough for you to reach out and touch him. He settled and flashed you a comforting smile. When you met his eyes they looked almost blue, as blue as the sky trapped behind the blanket of dark clouds.

'Give me your hands,' he whispered. The words were clear above the drumming rain, like a whisper into the shell of your ear. Caught in his livid-tinted hues, it took you a moment to lift your hands, meaning to place them in his own. However, a brief glance at his fingers halted your movements. The skin around your own nails was scuffed and dirtied with earth and blood—you could shudderingly imagine the same of your palms. In comparison his were pale and clean, skin smooth and nails free of wear.

'Mine are filthy, I'll just get you dirty,' you murmured and drew your grimy appendices back. His soft features broke into a grin, and you marvelled at how it transformed his face. It sent him years back, where you could imagine him laughing like a boy.

'You remind me of a friend of mine,' he chuckled, shaking his head. You opened your mouth to protest as he reached forward and circled your wrists with his thumb and forefingers, firmly drawing them back towards him. The words died on your lips. His hands were large enough to envelop yours completely, wrapping your digits in dry warmth. All at once, the air around you seemed less damp, less chilled and less haunting. It was as if there was an impenetrable wall between the outside world and you and your soldier. You blinked, and exhaled. The action was effortless, and you breathed in again, relishing in the gentle air that passed into your lungs, the air you and he shared.

The skin of his palms was dry and rough, but the warmth of it was so soft and comforting as he smoothed his hands over yours, you wished the moment could be infinite. His thumbs brushed over your forefingers, and he tightened the cup of his hands around yours. You smiled. It felt like what you imagined delving your hands into sun-kissed sand would feel like. He looked up at you, and his eyes twinkled through the mist of his eyelashes.

'What's your name?' You asked, the words quietly inquiring from an exhaled breath. He blinked, and you watched his gossamer eyelashes merge and untangle again, opening like doors to the tranquil rain clouds swirling around his pupils.

'Farlan.'

'Farlan.' You tested his name on your lips, letters falling gracefully off your tongue. His thin lips smiled, and his eyes inquired silently. 'I'm [Name].'

'Pretty name,' he complimented, and leant backwards, showing off his height and lean build. The pass of a calloused thumb over your knuckles reminded you that your hands were still enveloped and cradled in his touch, sending a heated shock to your cheeks.

Farlan's ashy eyes dropped to the rain outside, and you saw something in them falter and fade a little. You followed his gaze, and squinted hard. The rain had begun to fall thick and fast, clouding the forest around you in dull grey mist and obscuring even the shapes of the trees. You could only just make out the blurred humanoid creatures slowly lumbering through the undergrowth.

You stilled, knowing, as you had since your separation from the troops, that your chances of survival out here were slim to none, especially with your weakened limbs and broken gear. Maybe it was the slow, peaceful drum of rain, or maybe it was Farlan's reassuring fingers pressed along your own, but you did not find the urge to run, to save yourself and escape.

'Farlan,' you whispered, just as a slow breeze picked up. Just as you feared he had not heard you, Farlan turned his head towards you, blinking in acknowledgment. A small gust ruffled his pale locks, messily rearranging them atop his head.
'What is it like, dying?'

A few moments passed in silence before one of you moved.

He ducked his head almost self-consciously, pale hair flopping over his forehead as he peered up at you, his guilty eyes uncannily blue. 'You knew?'

The air seemed to go out of you all at once. You had your suspicions, but to actually hear it from him... There was something oddly upsetting about it.

'I had my doubts,' you murmured, looking off to the side. 'You're too calm. Too clean,' you added with a wry smile.

'You're calm too,' he whispered with the tone of a man who, above all else, did not want to say goodbye.

You met his woeful eyes, now as shrouded and conflicted as the despairing rain that lashed through the trees. 'Only because I'm with you.'

A strangled cry came from the cloudy monsters outside your haven, and a sickening panic lurched through your system, leaving your stomach feeling clenched and your mouth thick. Farlan must have seen the change in your eyes, because his warm fingers tightened over yours, one hand rising to gently flatten against the side of your face.

He leant forward, and pressed his forehead against yours. Your breath mingled with his own and a clammy feeling began in your palms. The proximity was choking, dizzying, and yet you breathed more peacefully than you had in years.

His voice was hushed and low, a humming murmur that seemed to wash through you like the continuous lull of warm ocean waves. 'It's very quick. You don't even feel the pain, I promise.'

Your eyes slid shut at his words, and you sucked in a trembling breath through parted lips. Tightening the fingers that were still interlaced with his, you tried to control your composure. You did not want to open your eyes. Doing so would mean losing yourself in the unfathomable grey skies hidden in his irises, and giving in to your body's mystifying yearning to envelop yourself in his gentle warmth. With a touch of a hand, this lost soul had slipped into your bloodstream like sunlight through water. Despite the density of the rain and the compressing effect it seemed to have on your body, he rushed through your system like pure oxygen.

How lucky I must be, to have you sing me to sleep when my world is at it's darkest.

His hand fell from your face, and his slim fingers found the gaps between your chilly digits.

'And you'll stay with me?'

The corners of his mouth rose, and for a mere moment you caught the twinkle of a hidden star beneath his eyelashes. 'Until the very end,' he murmured, his warm breath leaving a ghosting kiss across your lips.

Description
With one last push, you scrambled onto the thick branch, fingernails digging into the damp, softened wood. Rain poured bitterly all around, coming down in curtains where the canopy of the trees could not shield the ground from the menace of the sky. Thunder clapped overhead, and the entire forest lit up for a moment, revealing the pairs of huge, glimmering eyes peering out amongst the trees, fixed on you. A tiny, choked sob bubbled from your throat, and you quickly fitted a hand over your mouth to dull any more sounds that might escape. Tears found their way from your eyes, leaking down your already mucky and rain-spattered face as you pushed your back up against the slick trunk, pulling your knees protectively into your chest.

'Hey.'

You ripped your hand from your mouth as you jumped violently, the only thing stopping you from shrieking being, ironically, shock itself. Sat not more than two metres away from you on the mossy, slippery branch, was another soldier. His leather-clad calves bounced against the side of the branch as he watched your reaction from sharp steely eyes, glinting like coins from beneath his sandy brown hair.

You shut your mouth, and opened it again. All that came out was a strangled breath, and you snapped it shut once more, unable to get a firm grip on your bewilderment. You watched, and the lean man's eyebrows pulled together as he took in the filthy, bloody state of your clothes and the redness of your eyes.

'What happened?' He asked calmly. You took in a deep, shuddering breath.

'I got—' You began, your voice beginning to tremble. 'I got left behind.' The words were half wailed, and a part of you was mortified by how weak you sounded, but being stranded and cold in a forest crawling with predators was more terrifying than you could have imagined.

The stranger blinked, and looked, for a moment, like he wanted to reach out to comfort you. He said nothing, but gave you time to wipe your eyes and regain control of your laboured breathing.

'What about you?' You asked thickly, right after wiping your nose. About to ask him how come he didn't leave with the others, you stopped as you found the answer yourself. His hips were bare, free of any gear.
'Did your manoeuvre gear break?'

His eyes flicked to the side, and you noticed how, for a moment, they looked as grey and old as the rain, gently pouring down around your leafy shelter.
'Yes, I suppose it did,' he mused, half his mouth curving up in a faraway smile.

Your breath caught as you were mesmerised in the moment. His pale brown hair, damp from exposure to the rain, curled gently at his temples. He blinked at the rainy scenery, and you watched his eyelashes. An array of smooth crescents, dark where they met the thin skin of his eyelids and growing paler at the ends.

His details seemed to jump out at you, and you wondered if it was an effect of the wall of solitary rain that surrounded you, or perhaps only the looming thought of your imminent demise and your hidden, desperate desire to experience more from your small slice of life.

'Is there something wrong?' His level voice inquired, and you blinked, snapping from your daydream.

'—Not any more than it already is,' you answered quickly before shuddering, pulling your wet cloak tighter around your body. 'I am cold, though.'

The stray soldier gave a quiet chuckle and swung a leg over the thick branch, straddling it as he shuffled towards you. He was an arm's length away, close enough for you to reach out and touch him. He settled and flashed you a comforting smile. When you met his eyes they looked almost blue, as blue as the sky trapped behind the blanket of dark clouds.

'Give me your hands,' he whispered. The words were clear above the drumming rain, like a whisper into the shell of your ear. Caught in his livid-tinted hues, it took you a moment to lift your hands, meaning to place them in his own. However, a brief glance at his fingers halted your movements. The skin around your own nails was scuffed and dirtied with earth and blood—you could shudderingly imagine the same of your palms. In comparison his were pale and clean, skin smooth and nails free of wear.

'Mine are filthy, I'll just get you dirty,' you murmured and drew your grimy appendices back. His soft features broke into a grin, and you marvelled at how it transformed his face. It sent him years back, where you could imagine him laughing like a boy.

'You remind me of a friend of mine,' he chuckled, shaking his head. You opened your mouth to protest as he reached forward and circled your wrists with his thumb and forefingers, firmly drawing them back towards him. The words died on your lips. His hands were large enough to envelop yours completely, wrapping your digits in dry warmth. All at once, the air around you seemed less damp, less chilled and less haunting. It was as if there was an impenetrable wall between the outside world and you and your soldier. You blinked, and exhaled. The action was effortless, and you breathed in again, relishing in the gentle air that passed into your lungs, the air you and he shared.

The skin of his palms was dry and rough, but the warmth of it was so soft and comforting as he smoothed his hands over yours, you wished the moment could be infinite. His thumbs brushed over your forefingers, and he tightened the cup of his hands around yours. You smiled. It felt like what you imagined delving your hands into sun-kissed sand would feel like. He looked up at you, and his eyes twinkled through the mist of his eyelashes.

'What's your name?' You asked, the words quietly inquiring from an exhaled breath. He blinked, and you watched his gossamer eyelashes merge and untangle again, opening like doors to the tranquil rain clouds swirling around his pupils.

'Farlan.'

'Farlan.' You tested his name on your lips, letters falling gracefully off your tongue. His thin lips smiled, and his eyes inquired silently. 'I'm [Name].'

'Pretty name,' he complimented, and leant backwards, showing off his height and lean build. The pass of a calloused thumb over your knuckles reminded you that your hands were still enveloped and cradled in his touch, sending a heated shock to your cheeks.

Farlan's ashy eyes dropped to the rain outside, and you saw something in them falter and fade a little. You followed his gaze, and squinted hard. The rain had begun to fall thick and fast, clouding the forest around you in dull grey mist and obscuring even the shapes of the trees. You could only just make out the blurred humanoid creatures slowly lumbering through the undergrowth.

You stilled, knowing, as you had since your separation from the troops, that your chances of survival out here were slim to none, especially with your weakened limbs and broken gear. Maybe it was the slow, peaceful drum of rain, or maybe it was Farlan's reassuring fingers pressed along your own, but you did not find the urge to run, to save yourself and escape.

'Farlan,' you whispered, just as a slow breeze picked up. Just as you feared he had not heard you, Farlan turned his head towards you, blinking in acknowledgment. A small gust ruffled his pale locks, messily rearranging them atop his head.
'What is it like, dying?'

A few moments passed in silence before one of you moved.

He ducked his head almost self-consciously, pale hair flopping over his forehead as he peered up at you, his guilty eyes uncannily blue. 'You knew?'

The air seemed to go out of you all at once. You had your suspicions, but to actually hear it from him... There was something oddly upsetting about it.

'I had my doubts,' you murmured, looking off to the side. 'You're too calm. Too clean,' you added with a wry smile.

'You're calm too,' he whispered with the tone of a man who, above all else, did not want to say goodbye.

You met his woeful eyes, now as shrouded and conflicted as the despairing rain that lashed through the trees. 'Only because I'm with you.'

A strangled cry came from the cloudy monsters outside your haven, and a sickening panic lurched through your system, leaving your stomach feeling clenched and your mouth thick. Farlan must have seen the change in your eyes, because his warm fingers tightened over yours, one hand rising to gently flatten against the side of your face.

He leant forward, and pressed his forehead against yours. Your breath mingled with his own and a clammy feeling began in your palms. The proximity was choking, dizzying, and yet you breathed more peacefully than you had in years.

His voice was hushed and low, a humming murmur that seemed to wash through you like the continuous lull of warm ocean waves. 'It's very quick. You don't even feel the pain, I promise.'

Your eyes slid shut at his words, and you sucked in a trembling breath through parted lips. Tightening the fingers that were still interlaced with his, you tried to control your composure. You did not want to open your eyes. Doing so would mean losing yourself in the unfathomable grey skies hidden in his irises, and giving in to your body's mystifying yearning to envelop yourself in his gentle warmth. With a touch of a hand, this lost soul had slipped into your bloodstream like sunlight through water. Despite the density of the rain and the compressing effect it seemed to have on your body, he rushed through your system like pure oxygen.

How lucky I must be, to have you sing me to sleep when my world is at it's darkest.

His hand fell from your face, and his slim fingers found the gaps between your chilly digits.

'And you'll stay with me?'

The corners of his mouth rose, and for a mere moment you caught the twinkle of a hidden star beneath his eyelashes. 'Until the very end,' he murmured, his warm breath leaving a ghosting kiss across your lips.