Melkor was used to the long emptiness of the Void, but that did not mean it was any easier to bear. He had explored it long, after all, in the time before Time, when he had searched fruitlessly for the Flame Imperishable.
But now, there was a change. Doors that had long been sealed shut opened–just briefly–not long enough for him to even react, to attempt to escape. Not that he believed he could yet prevail against his brethren; he knew he had not yet fully recovered his full strength.
He went to investigate just why the Doors had been opened, and found the tattered remnants of a golden soul. If he still had a corporeal body, his breath would have caught as he recognized it. It was reeling, parts of it missing, as it fought to recover enough to return to self awareness. Melkor knew what that felt like.
He gently gathered the soul into an embrace. While he was accustom to the nothingness of the Void, and had been before his exile here, this maia certainly wasn't. He could remember the disorientation the Void had caused when he had first been thrust here, trying to recover from his humiliating defeat. His presence would afford his little maia some stability during his recovery.
Melkor had never been particularly patient, but there was nothing else to do in the Void but wait. Slowly, the maia in his arms healed, until finally he blinked up at the Vala and recognized him.
I tried, Mairon said quietly to the lord he had never ceased to follow. Melkor gently ran a hand down the side of his face.
I know, he replied.
Not my usual take on these two *at all* but this bunny would not be denied.