Everything ached, and Soren briefly wondered what the heck had happened. It had been a long time since something hurt this bad. It was like his entire body was injured, with pain significantly worse in his head and chest. He forced his eyes open and winced at the light streaming into the healing tent.

Oh. Right. He was in the healing tent because the Black Knight had nearly cut him in half.

Rhys and Mist bustled around tending to the wounded. Soren was on his own cot off to the side, although there was something large between him and everyone else.

Oh boy. Ike looked pissed.

He tried to sit up, and Ike put a hand on his shoulder to hold him down. "Don't," he said, voice terse.

"I'm fine," he argued. "I can sit up." Honestly, judging from the screaming agony of when he tried, he probably couldn't. Ike didn't answer him, still glaring, his jaw tense. Soren, realizing he was not going to win this one, reluctantly relaxed as he looked at his lover. "I'm not sorry. I would do it again."

" You almost died."

"And you presumably didn't."

"Stay here." Ike got up and walked out of the healing tent.

Yikes. It had been a long time since he'd seen Ike that mad, and never so mad at him. But he'd been honest; looking back, nothing would have changed. They were both alive, and that meant that he'd made the right choice.

"Here, I will help you sit up and you may drink water," said a soft, deep voice. Soren was surprised to see Mordecai, but it made sense; he was a gentle soul, so helping the healers was actually a very good fit for him. Still when the tiger helped him sit up, he flinched. Not out of fear, no, but pain, and because they'd only ever had so many interactions and their first one had been incredibly awful. "It is all right. You are safe now."

"I know," he whispered, because talking had hurt. "Thank you."

Mordecai gently guided a cup to Soren's lips and he drank it. It wasn't just water, there was a pain killer in it, too. Thank the Goddess. He felt his body become numb and breathed a sigh of relief. He swung his legs off the cot, and Mordecai moved to touch him but stopped his hand. "You should not move," he said gently.

"I need to take care of Ike," he protested, although now that he had his feet on the floor he wasn't sure he could walk. "You don't have to watch me. I know you hate me."

"You do not, and I do not."

Soren felt himself shivering, vulnerable, but still he sighed in protest. "Of course you do. I was awful when we first met. You didn't deserve it. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. You were hurt. Stefan is my friend, he explained. And Ike forgave me for striking him, so all is well." Mordecai fetched him a blanket. "Though, Lethe does still hate you."

He laughed, just a little, which felt weird because he knew it should hurt but it didn't, but it still felt constricted, and huh maybe there was a sedative in this painkiller. "It's mutual, and not because she's laguz. She's just a bitch."

Mordecai guided him back to laying down and covered him with the blanket. He was smiling. "That is an insult to beorc, but doubly so to cat laguz. I would not say it to her face."

"I would," he said, and then the world was spinning and it faded to nothing.

He was awoken later by the sound of arguing.

"You are not waking him up with your angry face!"

"I'm angry, what do you think I should look like?!"

"He saved your life and you love him, you dummy! You can try looking like you're not gonna stab him!"

Soren opened his eyes to see Ike and Mist arguing. Ike glared at her and she glared right back before they both noticed Soren having woken up. Even though he'd just proclaimed his anger with him, Ike quickly ran to him and knelt by his cot, looking him over.

"Ike-"

"Shut up." He nodded to himself before looking at his sister. "Help me tie him onto my back. He shouldn't walk."

She softened quickly before nodding. "Good idea, and safer than putting him on a horse until we know how stable he is." She began rummaging.

"You're joking-"

"No one asked you," he said, voice clipped.

Now Soren was mad at him. "You are the last one to complain about someone getting into a fight they can't win!"

Ike just scowled at him, teeth clenched. He stood up and got Soren onto his back and Mist used gauze and the ties of Soren's robes to tie him on so he was riding him piggy-back.

Soren already felt weak just from the movement, so he didn't protest. Instead he just rested his forehead on Ike's shoulder. "Asshole," he grumbled, just because he could. He closed his eyes, and ended up surprised at how fast he fell asleep. Even mad, Ike was still comfortable.

The tattered remains of the Laguz Alliance continued their march, most quietly. Soren had finally woken up and he mused on just snarking at Ike the entire time, but honestly he was too tired to be clever.

Besides… Ike was still carrying him without complaint. He would just grunt any time anyone else offered to take him. The only one he'd deign to actually answer was Titania.

"I need to feel his heartbeat."

All of Soren's angry emotions just fled at that. Instead he nuzzled Ike's neck and kissed him there, a rare, if subtle, public display of affection and peace offering. Ike gently rubbed his head against Soren's in acknowledgement and continued on the walk, stoic.

"Well, all that was a disaster," Ranulf said cheerfully as they made camp that night. The only ones resting were Ike, Soren, Titania, Ranulf, Lethe, and Skrimir. Everyone else was busy gathering food, setting up tents.

Despite it all, the atmosphere was one of peace, not doom, and Soren felt strangely relaxed even as he was able to sit up on his own for the first time. Ike still insisted on hand-feeding him, though. He forced himself to find it cute instead of aggravating. He also made him drink another bottle of the healing-painkiller-sedative.

"Well we've lived this far, we shouldn't have too much trouble with the caves," Soren mused aloud. "As long as we pick the right directions. And avoid lava."

"You make it sound so easy," Titania said gently, smiling.

"When you say 'the correct direction,' what do you mean? How could we do it incorrect?" Skrimir asked.

"There are three exits to this cave system: the one we're going in, one that ends at Gallia, and one that ends in Goldoa," Soren explained. "Given the Goldoan's love of visitors, I think if we end up out that exit we will be in trouble."

"Well, either is worth the risk," Skrimir mused.

"Agreed - peace, possible hostility, or definite hostility." Well, that felt weird. Validating Skrimir, that is. "Or lava. Those are our four fates."

"Fleeing is the coward's way out, not that you would appreciate that," Lethe scoffed, scowling. "We will return to Gallia in shame. The lava may be preferable." Soren rolled his eyes, and she hissed at him.

"Drop that mindset. Better we return ALIVE than anything else," Ranulf interjected. "Do we have a map or anything of the cave system?"

"No," Soren answered. "The whole thing has never been mapped. We will have to hope we follow the path north."

"Should we expect Daein or Begnion to attack?" Titania asked.

"They'd only send people they don't like," Soren said. It was nice to know his brain was still working just fine, and that nearly getting cleaved in half by the Black Knight did not make anyone doubt his intelligence. Even injured, he was still smarter than these people. "I don't recommend we send the ones we don't like. Lethe can't handle their rejects on her own." She hissed again, and he felt smug. Skrimir actually chuckled, Titania gave him that "seriously, Soren?" look she usually did, and Ike hid a smile.

"Be nice, children," Ranulf drawled.

"All right, so everyone go help set up camp," Ike said firmly. "Except Soren. I'll take care of ours."

"Make my bed extra comfortable," Soren said with a smile, just so in love with this man and damn he was high as a kite.

"A coffin will never be that comfortable," Lethe muttered.

Soren looked at Lethe thoughtfully, unable to come up with any clever retorts. "Bitch," he said, maturely. Skrimir held her back from punching him, and Ike decided to take him to their tent to sit by as he set it up.

"And everything is back to normal," Titania said with a sigh.

"As normal as anything ever is," Ranulf agreed with her.

Soren was not jealous.

No, nope. Not at all.

Soren was sitting under a tree, pretending to look at his ledgers while instead watching Ike and Ranulf flirt. Their tent was half-formed because Ike was so interested in their conversation.

Never mind, Soren was seething in jealousy.

It was stupid of him. Ike was allowed to flirt with whoever he wanted! And why wouldn't he flirt with Ranulf? The cat was obviously interested - most people were - as well as charismatic, worldly, kind…. And not afraid of sex.

All right, that wasn't fair. Soren wasn't afraid of sex. He was just afraid of being vulnerable with someone so much larger than him. It had never gone well in the past, after all. So while he could appreciate the ascetics of Ike's muscles, the truth was that his growth spurt had ruined their sex life.

Anyway, he was being stupid. Ike would break up with him before cheating, and he was allowed to flirt. Soren just needed to be prepared for Ike to ask for permission to sleep with other people.

Ugh. At least the pain in his chest was more familiar now. This was Elincia all over again, except this time it was actually plausible, considering Ike liked men.

"You appear distressed." Soren was surprised when Mordecai sat by him. "Here, more…" He paused, frowning at the bottle.

"Medicine," Soren supplied, taking the bottle.

"Ah. Yes. Beorc language is hard. Thank you."

"It can be hard. I had to learn it later in life as well." Wow, he was relating to a laguz. The world was clearly coming to an end. He definitely wouldn't be humoring this if he were in his right mind.

"It is nice to know Morde — I am not alone. Thank you. But it is not why you are distressed. You were staring at Ike and Ranulf."

He winced. He'd been that obvious? "It's none of your business." He looked back to their conversation. Ike now looked angry and Ranulf had his hands up in surrender.

"They are discussing mating."

Soren almost choked on the medicine. "I don't want to know," he decided. That was horrible. But it did make sense, and made Soren feel even worse.

"All right. Would you like to pet my squirrel?"

"Huh?" Soren looked at him, confused. He was less so when Mordecai picked a baby squirrel off his shoulder (it had been hiding around his ear before) and held it out. "Oh. Aw." He reached out and scratched its ears. It chittered happily. "By the way, I was honest when I meant I was sorry."

Mordecai's smile brightened. "I know. I do forgive you."

"Cute squirrel." Soren must've been high again, because no way should Ike have been able to get so close without his noticing it. He looked like he was irritated but trying to hide it. "Hey Mordecai, thanks for helping us."

Mordecai nodded to him and stood. "Of course. We are friends." He smiled at them both before leaving.

Ike watched him go before looking down at Soren. "Here, let me help you up. Tent is set up, we're good and you need a nap."

"I am just fine," Soren replied, although he felt like cooked noodles. Yep, he was super high again. He was starting to like it. Ike picked him up anyway. It felt comfortable, cozy. There was absolutely no anxiety. "When did you finish the tent?"

"While you were talking with Mordecai. Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"The only laguz I've seen you like are Reyson and Ranulf."

"I don't like Ranulf," he said automatically. He didn't argue the Reyson point. "And yes, I'm fine. He was bringing more medicine. I apologized for being a dick a few years ago. Hey Ike?"

"Yeah?" Ike crawled them into their tent. It was indeed nicely set up.

"If you wanna screw Ranulf you can," Soren said, although he didn't like it.

There was a long, long pause.

"What?" Ike finally asked.

He closed his eyes. "It's okay. I get it."

"No no no you do NOT get to fall asleep after something like that." Ike made him sit back up. "Why would I - why would I want to sleep with Ranulf? This is - this is weird. Is this a drug thing? Like how high are you right now?"

"Very."

"Okay... Well. I'm not gonna sleep with Ranulf."

"Aww. You're cute. It's okay. I'm weird. About sex. I want you to be happy." He was falling asleep anyway.

"I am, promise. We'll talk more in the morning."

When he woke up, he felt just fine again. Not high, no pain. It was fantastic. It was a new day and Ike was still asleep.

When he moved to leave the tent, Ike reached out and grabbed his arm. "Nope."

Oh, scratch that. He'd just been pretending. "Yeah?"

Ike sat up. "Okay. So. You're sober?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. So, first. No charging the Black Knight without me." Before Soren could say anything, he added, "And I won't do it without you."

"Nice fix."

"Second, I think it's great you apologized to Mordecai and I'm honestly really proud of you."

"Thanks."

"And third, now that you're sober you know I don't want to sleep with Ranulf, right?"

Soren sighed. "But..."

"No buts. Soren... I know... I know things aren't exactly... right, lately. With us. In bed. But. But if we never had sex again, I would be okay with that. As long as you're by my side, I don't care."

Soren paused as the solution dawned on him. "Actually. Um. Would you be comfortable... with um, maybe some... help?"

"... What kind of help?"

"Well. When I was drugged, I wasn't wary of you at all. I was completely vulnerable but felt nothing but calm and happy."

"Soren..."

"Next time we're someplace safe... want to try it? I can make something." This was a brilliant idea actually. "I want to try it."

Ike visibly thought until he nodded. "Sure." He squeezed Soren's hand. "I meant what I said, though. Now then, let's get you fed and see how well you can walk. That being said, I'm still gonna carry you through the caves."

Soren squeezed back and tried to smile. "No."

He did.