Raise me up, up through the ashes

[not_heavens_adam]

Who: Johnny Rayflo and Anyone~
Where: In the plaza
When: Aug. 14th
Style: Action
Status: OPEN~


[As if waking up from a nightmare, Johnny gasped, eyes shooting open and darting around as if expecting there to be danger. What his eyes found, however, was the familiar scenery of the plaza in the bubble. The island...he’d been on the island, fighting that thing with Otoha. It came back to him in a rush, the tension, the feeling of something piercing his heart and his mind shutting down as his body fell apart...]

So that’s what that feels like.

[He sighed. As his heart rate calmed, he stood from his kneeling position, and brought a hand to run through his sopping hair and worked on wringing it out. The last time he’d found himself like this was a year ago...at least, this time, he wasn’t wearing that heavy-as-hell opera costume.

As he pulled his hands away from his hair, he realized they were shaking. He was shaking.

He’d died. Really died. He was fairly certain he’d died back home in that fight against Barry...but he couldn’t remember and Chris had said he didn’t. But the fight on the island, he remembered that, every second of it, including his death. It had scared him. It was the strangest feeling, after seven hundred years of living and a part of him always looking for a way to die, he didn't want to anymore.

So this is what it felt like to want to live.]

Comments

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai knows that feeling. That moment when your body dies and you are brought back. That feeling of wanting to live after spending your lifetime longing for nothing but death. He knows it all too well.

And when he walks into the plaza and sees Johnny, those feelings rush back at him as if they were yesterday. Even if he wasn't there when the vampire died, somehow he knew exactly what Johnny is feeling and thinking at that moment as he stares at his hand.

But what Fai is feeling..relief, happiness..so many emotions bundled into one as he stares at the familiar face. He doesn't realize it but tears are spilling out of that one good golden eye. He had failed to protect someone important in that fight, but hadn't realized it until much later when he had been told.

He drops the bag he was carrying but he can't move. He's rooted in place.]

Johnny..

[not_heavens_adam]

[Johnny glanced up when he heard his name and his eyes fell on the other vampire. Immediately, he took in everything about him, checking the other man over for any sign of injury, he knew Fai had also been in that fight, but all he found where the tears...which sent a lance through his chest.

He stepped forward, reached out to Fai, and smiled as if to offer for him to come closer.]

Yo~ Fai....what's the tears for?

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai had healed. It had taken time and Otoha's blood to get him back to being able to even walk on his own. He had his own accelerated healing to thank for only being down for a short time in comparison to what it could have been.

Fai still couldn't move for a moment but finally he took those steps closer. He moved slow, trying not to show just how much he had worried and wondered about the other vampire and when he might return.

Just as he had held Johnny when he cried, Fai needed to be comforted by those same arms. Collapsing against him, Fai wrapped his own around Johnny and buried his face in the others chest. He was going to hit him later..he just had to collect himself.]

Welcome back..

[Welcome back to the bubble..to life..to everything.]

[not_heavens_adam]

[Johnny wrapped his arms around Fai securely, one of his hands going to pet blonde hair.

Those tears were for him...he'd only been trying to protect Otoha, he hadn't thought about what his death might mean to someone else...and suddenly he felt really bad. Not for what he did on the island, he would always protect the people who mattered most, but for all of the times he nearly got himself killed for stupid and meaningless reasons.

What he'd deemed to be a selfish thought--that someone might miss him-- it turned out the opposite was just as selfish. It made him smile.]

Thanks. Sorry I left, I promised to look after you and then I went and vanished for...however long.

[behind_my_smile]

Almost a week..[Or had it been a week? Fai hadn't counted. With the fighting and then his own fatigue he hadn't been able to keep track of time.]

[Fai's voice was shaky and he found it was hard to summon up some of that old false cheer as he held his friend. How much loss had he suffered through in his lifetime? To be in a world that could make that suffering be so brief..it was a wonder.]

Otoha-san watched over me. [And gave him the unfortunate news. He had done his best to not break down like this when he had heard. He could tell that Otoha was in a fragile state as well.]

[not_heavens_adam]

[Nearly a week....so long. He continued to run fingers through Fai's hair, hoping to soothe the younger man as best he can.]

That's good.

I'm sorry if I made you worry.

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai lifted a hand and balled his fist so that he could give Johnny's chest a bump. There was far less strength behind it then he would have liked but even he was still recovering.]

Idiot..You made a lot of people sad. Don't ever do that again. Don't apologize..just promise to be more careful.

[Fai knew that the creature had been tough and even he was surprised he had survived some of the attacks. He hadn't been surprised there had been casualties. He just didn't want to see Otoha upset, or anyone else..or be upset over losing someone again.]