Of Dusk and Dawn - 366 Days of Romance and Tragedy

Godric x Salazar

~~o-O-o~~

1. Open

Wind flows in from the window, chilling me with its icy touch. Across from me, Helga sits. Her hands are crossed delicately in her lap and her eyes are staring absently out of the window. The only sign of her unease is the relentless tapping of her foot against the carpet.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" she asks after a long while. Looking up from my paperwork, I grace her with a smile. It's fake, but that's all I can do for now.

"Salazar's going to be fine," I lie, "have you ever seen him fail?"

"No," she admits after a moment, "but things can always go wr-"

"Not with Salazar," I tell her gently. There's a crease in her forehead and frustration flashes in her eyes.

"Things always go wrong with Salazar!" she bites out. For a moment, I'm taken aback. Helga is the nice one. She doesn't snap. She must be more worried than I thought.

"Helga," I say tenderly. She looks at me, as if daring me to lie to her. Fortunately for her, I can't bring myself to do so. Instead, I sigh and look out of the window.

"Look," I begin. "I don't know if everything's going to be okay, but all we can do is trust Salazar. We have to trust that he'll be okay and that he'll bring back what we need."

Tears form in her eyes, and I get up from my chair to hug her. She sniffles and bows her head, her lithe shoulders shaking.

"I just want him to be okay," she confides. I rub small circles on her back, hoping that will help her calm down.

"It's going to be okay, Helga," I tell her. "In all the time that I've known Salazar, I've never seen him fail."

Helga opens her mouth, as if to respond, but the door abruptly opens.

"Godric!" Rowena calls urgently. "Salazar was…!"

Everything in my head goes blank. Between Helga's screams and Rowena's panicking, I'm lost.

~~o-O-o~~

"This is where you found him?" I ask, Helga and I following Rowena. The normally icy witch nods, a flicker of concern flashing in her eyes.

"You don't understand, Godric," she tells me. "His eyes were lifeless and his skin was ashen. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought him dead."

"He's not, though?" Helga asks. At Rowena's nod, the shorter witch picks up the pace.

"Come on," she orders. "Salazar's not going to heal himself."

Nodding, Rowena and I hurry to acquiesce her. Gone are the tears that once graced her cheeks. Helga stands proudly in front of us, confidence glinting in her eyes. We turn several corridors and finally end up in the foyer. There, on the ground, Salazar lies. Like Rowena said earlier, his skin is a pale gray and his eyes are half-lidded. They flutter every so often and his chest sluggishly rises and falls. Helga doesn't miss a beat. She rushes to his side and frets over him, wandlessly summoning her medical kit. She sets to work, barking orders every so often. Rowena, ever the knowledgeable witch, has appointed herself as Helga's assistant.

At this point, I'm useless. I have no real background in healing. Rather than helping, I settle on Salazar's other side, gently holding his hand. I want him to know that I'm here, want him to know that, even though I wasn't on his mission, I'm here now. As if hearing my thoughts, Salazar squeezes my hand slightly, his half-lidded green eyes connecting with mine.

"Stop thinking unnecessary thoughts."

Salazar's words from the other day come to the forefront of my mind. Like then, he stares at me, his gaze heavy with intention. Merlin, how I want to. I want to stop thinking about the possibility that I almost lost him, want to stop thinking about how his hand had been open, as if waiting for me to grasp it.

I want to, but I can't. I almost lost him, lost this. It's killing me on the inside.

It's here, among Rowena, Helga, and Salazar's almost dead body, that I make a pledge.

"Never again," I vow quietly. Salazar looks at me, his eyes filled with sorrow. He knows what I'm going to say, knows how serious I am, and he wishes that I won't do this. For once, I can't do as he asks. "Will I allow you to reach this state. I can't lose you."

He closes his eyes, resigning himself to my declaration. He knows that I'll put my life on the line to protect him, knows that I'll be overprotective, knows that I'll do anything to protect him.

As they say, love can sometimes be the worst obsession. Unfortunately for Salazar, this obsession will not end. Around us, Helga and Rowena work quietly, each of them considering my words. We all know how this will end: …with my dead body.

I press a kiss to his temple, sealing our fate. A tear, innocent in nature, slowly falls down Salazar's cheek.

I ignore it.

Word Count: 855