I'm sorry. There will be less agnst as the story goes on! Promise 3 Well, I'm pretty sure. Sort of. Though you might be agnst monsters and want more heartache. At least it's always happy agnst! XD
.
.
.
"Woah." Fitz muttered from somewhere near the door as Izzy sobbed into her pillow. "Hey, hey, it's going to be okay." He quickly whispered as he fast walked to the side of her bed. She turned her face, burying it further into the soft, cloud, half wishing it would smother her.
Fitz sighed, a soft thud on the carpet following it before her wrapped his hand around hers, making her jumped.
"Sorry." He mumbled, giving it a light squeeze.
She shrugged, though he probably couldn't see it from under the giant comforter. As his warmth seeped into her fingers, her sobs became louder and louder until she was sure the whole house could hear her crying.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Fitz gently whispered. "You don't have to, or you can wait if it would help. I'm not going anywhere."
Izzy squeezed his hand in a silence thank you before choking out her words through sobs. "I-no, b-but, my family, my home, I- I don't know who I am, and then- ice! Ice! And Maria, she could be dead. And it's, my fault! And my Aunt, and my uncles- I- who even are they. I, I want to go back! But then, my parents, and they're there, and I'm, here. And I'll never be Sophie!" She shoved her head further into the pillow, a small part of her brain was beyond embarrassed, but the sadness and angry and confusion and fear were too strong. She felt like she was stuck in an endless, ever changing maze made of cold, black ice that she could never hope to escape.
Fitz tried to start several different sentences in an effort to comfort her, but he always ended them much too short. Instead he sat next to her, running a hand through his hair as he sighed.
"Izzy… I'm sorry. When I was younger, I thought if only I was older I would finally know what to say to you to make things better. But I'm just as lost, and once again you're stuck mourning a life I ripped you away from. And I'm still no help. I seem to only be good at putting you in trouble or pain… I'm so sorry Izzy."
Izzy turned her head, facing him, though she couldn't see more than his silhouette through the darkness. "I.." She started, before a sentence stuck out to her, gnawing on her brain like a pesky and unwelcomed rodent. "What do you mean once again. What life did you rip me away before?"
She could feel his hand growing a bit clammy as he cleared his throat. "I…" He sighed again. "Izzy, I could make up some lie that you would probably see right through, or tell you the truth and give you more to cry or worry about, but I don't want to do either. Right now I'm not allowed to tell you, just as I'm not allowed to tell you a lot of things. Yet. I promise I'll tell you later, but right now don't you have enough to worry about?"
Izzy frowned as her eyelashes began to itch. She wanted to know, she needed to know. But… "You promise you'll tell me."
"Promise."
"Alright, I'll let it go, for now." She had a hard time wrapping her brain around the fact that she could have had another, different life. It was too scary and too hard, like she had tiny, jagged glass daggers sitting in her brain where the thought was born. But he was right, she had enough to worry about. Closing her burning eyes, she took a deep breath and carefully pushed them to some dark corner where she could deal with it later.
And then it was silent. Fitz didn't make another sound, and Izzy tried to take deep breaths to calm herself as she ran out of tears. What felt like an hour passed in that heavy, dark silence before Fitz stood up, letting of her hand.
"Would you like some Slumberberry tea? It will help you fall asleep."
Izzy's nose crinkled as she gave a look of disgust and sat up. "It's not a sedative, is it? I really, really don't like sedatives."
Fitz shook his head. "No, it's more like a medicine. It's not that bad, really." He added as her face contorted again. "It's completely harmless. I drink it every night, can't sleep without it."
It was tempting, but… She shook her head. "No sedatives. I've had enough of those to last a lifetime.
A mixture of fear, concern, and rage passed over Fitz's features, but just like the shadows dancing across his features, they vanished so quickly she was sure she had imagined it.
"What does that mean?" He spoke a bit too quietly.
Izzy flicked away an itchy eyelash. "Well, after the car accident, they had to put me in a medically induced coma. But I still remember flashes of it, the way the stuff burned my lungs and throat, and stuck to my tongue." She shuddered, hugging her legs to her chest. "I don't want to be trapped like that again…" She muttered, almost regretting the words as they fell from her lips. She didn't want to show anyone her weak, vulnerable side, but it was hard not to with everything going on, especially around him. She hated the affect he had on her, like she couldn't help but tell him everything, but it was also sort of nice…
Fitz was oddly quiet. She glanced up, almost concerned he wasn't there. But he was.
Rage unlike any she had even seen filled his eyes like poison to a sponge, and the way the shadows sat across his cheeks, his teal eyes almost glowing in the dim light from the moon outside, made him look like some sort of evil, indestructible super villain with a plot to destroy the world. He was looking straight at her, but he didn't seem to actually see her. Forcing down a slight shudder, she rubbed the scars on her arm, not sure how to react.
As soon as she moved, he snapped out of his trace like state. Running a hand through his hair a few times, he mumbled an apology before his eyes glanced a bit too long at her arm. She tried to nonchalantly hide them under the blanket.
He walked over biting his lip in an adorable, belongs-in-a-catalogue way and sat heavily on the bed next to her with a mix between a grunt and a sigh.
"Can I see them?" He spoke with a kind, quiet voice, that was just barely audible.
Izzy held her breath and thrust her arms out before she had a chance to think. Carefully holding up her right arm, she could feel his eyes boring into it. Or so she thought.
"I'm not going to hurt you Izzy." He whispered. She hadn't realized she had her eyes slammed shut until that moment. Shyly opening them, wishing her fear wasn't so obvious, she found his eyes staring right into hers. A shudder ran down her spine as her heart started doing stupid flips, making her want to reach into her chest and yell at it for having the worse timing ever.
She glanced away from him before muttering back. "I know."
He put one hand over her scar, making her jump.
"Sorry, you really don't like having them touched I guess. I shouldn't have pushed you to."
She shook her head. "It's fine. I have to get over it someday. They aren't exactly going away and I can't wear long sleeves forever."
Fitz made a sort of grunt in response as he slowly dropped her arm. He muttered something that sounded a lot like monster.
"I'll go make some Slumberberry tea. You don't have to drink it, but it's nice to have options." He stood up and began making his way to the door.
"What?!" She choked out, dazed and confused and hurt, her heart pounding against her chest even faster as her thoughts spun in her head aimlessly. He couldn't mean...
Fitz glanced back, blinking a few times. "Izzy, I know you don't like sedatives. You don't have to drink it. I just thought, in case you change your mind-"
"You said monster. Who." She blankly said, her head spinning faster.
His eyes grew as realization dawned on him. "No, Izzy, I didn't mean you. I wouldn't never mean you. I meant-"
He shook his head, all but running over to her before wrapping her in a too tight hug.
"Sorry." He mumbled over and over.
This time she shook her head, a blush creeping up her cheeks at how close he was. "It's fine. I assumed. I should have known you would never say something like that. I just- people have said similar things, I guess-:
As hot, wet, salty tears fell on her cheek, she silently cursed herself for crying. She wasn't even sad, just… tired. So. incredibly. tired. But then, as a tiny sob slipped through the air, she realized they weren't hers at all.
"Fitz?" She whispered.
"Sorry." He choked out. "Sorry, I shouldn't be crying. I just- that you had to go through that- I couldn't save you. I should have been there."
She wasn't sure what he was talking about. No, part of her had already realized, enough pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. But she didn't want to know. The truth was, she couldn't handle it, not now. Pushing the truth away, she wrapped her arms around him, her eyes beginning to burn again from lack of tears.
"It's ok. I'm safe now, right? You did that." She whispered as his hug tightened and his tears sped up. Then, he tried to let go, but this time she was the one who hugged him tighter, keeping him in place.
"You don't want me to bottle it up. Well what about you."
He didn't respond, just returned the hug and muttered another apology.
