tears; au kinda
Though it should have been common knowledge that working with time would be dangerous, it'd never really crossed their minds that it would have an effect like this. After all, Hope was making scientific breakthroughs that most people never would have dared to even dream about. Many of his discoveries had revolutionized the world.
No one had warned them that messing with time would come to this.
Degradation, they'd called it. Lightning though the doctors just made up a word - a fitting one, unfortunately - because they'd obviously never seen this before. Hope had been in the hospital for months without any real kind of diagnosis.
Until now.
Hope just stared at his doctor - the doctor who'd been working tirelessly to diagnose him - as he explained that Hope's line of work had apparently sent his body into a state of confusion. His organs, his blood, everything in his system - except his mind, apparently - believed him to be decades older than he was.
And now, to add onto already grave news, they'd found out his vitals were failing.
There was no recovering from that.
"We're so sorry," the doctor said, keeping his head bowed slightly as though that would ease the blow. Lightning wanted to punch him. Instead, she stared at the wall in disbelief as though she hadn't heard a single word at all, which immediately told her something was wrong. Lightning didn't ignore trouble. She faced it head on.
But apparently even she had a breaking point.
When the doctor left after more technical babble and more stupid condolences, the silence she and Hope found themselves in was, well…grave. She didn't want to think. She couldn't think.
And yet, when she finally turned to meet her husband's gaze, she really saw it - his pale, ghastly skin; his sunken-in, hollow face; his rapidly thinning body and - oh gods, he really was…
"…I'll be right back," Lightning said suddenly and quickly. Too quickly, really - enough for Hope to notice even in the state he was in. She didn't care; she just needed to get away as soon as possible.
"Light…"
"I'll be right back," she repeated, her tone now much more shaky. It was inevitable after hearing his voice - it was so apologetic, so…set, like he'd known all along that this was going to happen.
No. No, no, no.
She shot up and got out of the room without a sound, managing to keep it together long enough to find an empty room a few feet down the hallway. After closing the door behind her, it was barely a second before a deep sob escaped her as she sank down to the floor, back against the door and knees to her chest.
The noise sounded alien to her. She couldn't even remember crying so hard at her parents' funerals, not with sobs that wracked her entire body with pain and leaving her literally gasping for air. It felt as though it was causing pain to her very soul. Endless tears escaped her eyes and tracked own her face, and she didn't bother to try and control them. There was no use.
Why did something like this have to be what finally broke her?