Hours.

She had been lying in bed for hours.

How many hours?

Hours.

Her maroon eyes had not moved once over the course of those unnamed hours, staring up at the ceiling yet not seeing anything. Her mind was blank, and yet it was thinking too much. She just felt… empty, despite the fact that she also felt like she was feeling too much at once.

There had been knocks on her front door. Numerous times over the span of those hours, and yet, she had not responded. In any way, shape or form. She had even heard her friend shouting through the door from outside, asking if she was okay. Irelia, her name was. She didn't deign a response and after a while, the knocking and the voices stopped. But the voices in her head didn't stop.

That had been hours ago. The sunlight had filtered in through her window and had already gone away, she realized, as she finally noticed the silvery light leaking in through the slits between the curtains on her large window right next to her bed. The only source of light within the dark confines of her bedroom.

And then, she felt his presence. Felt it, long before she heard the knock on the door. The softest of knocks, and yet it was like a waking sound within the addled darkness of her mood.

"Akali." His deep voice was on the other side of the door, quiet and calm as always. She didn't respond, but she knew he could sense her just as she could sense him. He knew she was okay.

The silence stretched before he said, "You need food and water, love."

Food. Water. Right…

Her stomach felt hollow, but not as hollow as her entire being felt. But the small rational part of her mind was roused out of whatever trance it had been in as she began to force herself into action. Her hands moved, arms bracing, as she pushed herself off her bed, swinging her bare legs off the side. Her toes touched the carpet under her bed first before her entire feet did.

She stood up and walked across the room to the bathroom door, pausing as she passed the mirror that was on her wall.

Akali looked about as miserable as she had felt all day. Her skin, normally a fair color, had a sickly kind of pallor to it. Her eyes were sunken, with dark circles making it look like she was a walking corpse, her maroon eyes seeming to be devoid of life. Her long dark brown hair, which reached down to her waist, was lank and lifeless, tangled and messy and utterly pathetic. She was wearing nothing but her underwear, and her body looked just so…

She saw every scar and mark on her skin, shining in the low shimmering moonlight that was wafting into her room, stark against her pale skin. She felt so… disgusting. Revolting. Utterly ugly.

She didn't realize when she had started crying, but the tears started coming, and then she was a sobbing mess on the floor, barely able to look at herself as she wrapped her hands around herself, fingers digging into her shoulders.

The doorknob rattled, but the lock held firm. And then, there was a whooshing noise as the temperature in the room seemed to fluctuate, the light in the room darkening for a moment before returning to normal. And then, she felt his warm body covering hers as his hands wrapped around her, and instinctively, she turned around and hugged him.

She buried her face into Zed's chest as she cried, the tears coming more freely as her sobs broke from her throat in pathetic little sounds. But Zed simply held her close, tightening his hold reassuringly on her as one of his hands went to the back of her head, stroking her comfortingly as he whispered, "It's okay. I'm here."

She cried, and cried, clutching his shirt tightly between her fingers as she let all of her pain and emptiness bleed out of her. Zed knew what she was feeling right now. She sometimes had episodes like this. This… sadness.

"I'm here." He said again, his voice low and steady. "I'm still here, love. I'm not going anywhere."

This continued for a long time, or so it seemed to Akali. She let out all of her overflowing emotions, while Zed simply held her and whispered reassuring things to her, his hand a constant motion on the back of her head, slow and gentle. Her sobs slowly quieted, her breathing still ragged as she leaned back away from Zed, slowly, not looking at him, ashamed.

He saw through that, however, as he always did. He had always been extremely perceptive.

"Hey… Look at me." He said, his hand coming to her chin as he gently coaxed her face around to look at him. Her maroon eyes met his dimly illuminated crimson ones, the coloration and the glow a familiar sight for her, despite the intimidating factor that others saw in it. Right now, his eyes held a softness that was only reserved for her, as did the rest of his scarred face. His black hair, despite being much shorter than he had it a few years ago, was getting long again, shaggy and choppy.

"Akali." He said, his voice quiet but firm, as she looked at him, swallowing as she tried to quiet her breathing. "Do you trust me?" He asked. She gave a small, mute nod. His hand reached up, his thumb brushing one of her stray tears away as he said, "You're not ugly, or disgusting. You might feel that way right now, but you and I both know it's not true."

She wanted to believe him. She knew he was right, and yet the haze surrounding her mind made it hard for her to believe this simple truth.

"You're an amazingly strong person." He said, his eyes filled with emotion, emotions that had developed for him over the years they had been together. "And the most beautiful person in my life, and the mother of our children." He said, his red eyes narrowing infinitesimally as his thumb now ran over her lower lip. She couldn't hold his stare as her eyes shifted away, looking off to the side, still feeling disgusted with herself. With this weakness…

"Akali." He said, and she looked at him again. "I love you. And I will never leave you. Ever." He said, his face closer to hers now. "Do you remember what we said to each other?"

She nodded.

He waited.

She stayed silent.

"Tell me." he said.

She swallowed. "Now… And forever." She whispered, her voice hoarse.

"Now and forever." He repeated. "Always." He added.

She felt like crying again, but this time due to another deluge of emotions that came into her, filling her with a strange kind of warmth as Zed said once again, "I love you, Akali."

She finally managed to crack a small smile as she whispered back, "I love you too, Zed."

A second later, the distance closed between them and their lips met, in a soft kiss. Tears broke out of the corner of her eyes, but this time it was out of love and happiness.

She was going to be okay. They all were.

It was going to be alright.

..

A/N

This is dedicated to someone special.
And also dedicated to everyone who feels like they're not special, or good enough. You are good enough. You are beautiful, in your own amazing ways. You just need to see it within yourself.

I am sorry to the rest of my faithful readers who were expecting this to be a return by me. I'm afraid I will not be returning to writing my fanfictions, and this is simply a one-off thing. Thank you all for the years of support.

~ Wings