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Interlocking
Chapter Twenty Four: Need
"'I need to go to her,' he cries heatedly." - Krem and Harding find each other in a world torn apart. A story told in brief glimpses.
Warmth.
Warmth and pressing air and the heavy lull to her lids as she tries to open her eyes.
And then pain. Sharp and overwhelming and pulling the gasp along her throat like her lungs are clenching around needles.
The pain is enough to bring her vision swimming blurrily back to her, enough for the tears to spring quickly to her eyes. Enough to grit her teeth and try to reach a trembling blood-slicked hand to her gut.
Somewhere near there are flames. She can feel the heat threateningly close.
Somewhere farther there is a scream. She blinks in pain-riddled confusion.
Her muscles quake in terror, her head falling back as she cries out to the searing throb that starts just below her ribs and then spreads to overtake her.
She starts to cry.
She starts to cry when her vision begins to blacken and she realizes it's blood she feels against her palms, sticky and hot and so much.
She starts to cry when she thinks of how she never said goodbye.
Harding loses consciousness, Krem's name lost and unheard on her lips.
The first thing Krem feels is the fear, bone-deep and heavy and sounding like the ragged cry of her name. He moves toward the wall without realizing. He is shaking and cannot seem to stop, cannot seem to want to stop. He sees nothing but red for a long, terrifying moment.
Bull grabs his arm and holds him. "Krem!" he yells above the battle.
Something snaps inside him then.
Krem whirls around, his eyes wild and frantic on Bull's, his breath tight and quick as it thuds recklessly inside his lungs. "I need to go to her," he cries heatedly. He cannot recognize the voice that leaves him. It is tinged with a panic and fear he does not recognize in himself. He swallows thickly, his mouth dry and trembling. Inside, he is screaming.
Bull furrows his brows and something in his face tells Krem that he saw Harding fall as well. The massive Qunari levels his hard gaze on his lieutenant and speaks lowly between them. "You need to hold the courtyard."
The first inkling of rage begins to bleed through Krem's panic. He purses his lips as though to speak but nothing comes. Behind Bull, Krem can see the worried and silent stares of the Chargers. Cullen and his guard are already gone.
Krem clenches his teeth and pulls his arm from Bull, his maul weighted and calling in his grip. "She could be dead," he growls, the words finding their way to burrow deep and tear into his heart. His teeth grind. His breath catches. His chest hurts. It hurts more than he ever thought it could and he cannot breathe.
Maker, but he can't fucking breathe.
His skin alights with tremors.
Bull does not back down. "Then there's nothing you can do for her."
Krem is silent. He doesn't think this twisting in his gut could be more painful, doesn't think he can stop himself from dropping to his knees if he even thinks her name.
Her name.
Bull turns to the Chargers, his battle axe hoisted in his hands, ready for blood and flesh and ruin. "Hold the courtyard. Until the last," he orders, looking to each of them in turn.
Krem cannot stop shaking for the life of him. Distantly, as though from another time, he can recognize the tang of ash and blood, the loud howling of demons, the booming crash of battered stone as the fortress is laid to siege around them.
None of it matters. None of it matters if she is lying dead and unseen somewhere he cannot reach her.
"Krem."
Bull's voice brings him back to focus and he looks up at his commander. Looks up at this brother who has led him through the dark and deep and desperate. Who has walked with him through days that promised death. Who has shown him the haunting light of purpose and loyalty and a life fulfilled. Who has never promised anything but the whole of himself, fully and undemanding and without reservation.
Who has asked of him the same, and nothing less.
Bull's eyes are dark and unflinching when he addresses his lieutenant. "Hold the courtyard. That is your duty. Many lives with depend on it, Krem." His gaze softens with something that Krem cannot recognize, a halting light that speaks of times he never knew the warrior. Bull swallows tightly. "Maybe even hers," he finishes.
Krem opens his mouth to speak but there is nothing there save for raw and empty cries. So he stays silent. He shuts his mouth tightly and closes his eyes, tries to reign in his breathing, tries to stop the unending shaking that wracks his body. Tries to think of duty and need and lives in the balance.
Anything but the sight of her eyes, unblinking and bloodshot, peeled toward the smoke-filled sky in a thankless and pointless end.
He releases a slow, agonizing breath, opens his eyes to Bull before him.
"You'll see each other when it's over." Even Bull wonders if it is a hollow promise. But he thinks Krem needs to hear it. He thinks he needs to hear it from him. He wipes a hand across his mouth and nods. "You know what you must do."
Krem tries to nod, tries to steady his grip along his maul.
Bull gives him one last look before he turns to the Chargers and nods silently. Then he is gone, running up the stairs that will lead him back to the Inquisitor.
Krem licks his lips, feels his heart pounding forcefully against his ribs, feels his feet heavy and immovable and rooted in sinking dread. He thinks to Harding's words the night before. Her promise that they will see each other when the battle is over. The way Bull had unknowingly echoed the sentiment. The way that thought is the only thing keeping him from breaking, painfully and loudly and with the steady echo of his cries amidst the keep's walls.
Krem looks to the ruined gates leading into the second courtyard. Slinking through shadow and filth are bright-eyed demons with blood-drenched claws. Something stirs inside him. Something hot and unquenchable and begging for blood.
Something that drowns the fear in dark need.
Something that makes him brutal and dangerous and ready.
Yes. Krem knows what he must do.
Author's Note: Special thanks to AnimeFanReader01 and wyles77 for pointing me in the direction of some wonderful artwork for cover photo options. And thanks to those kindly wishing they could draw for this story. Those thoughts are what keep this piece alive, and keep me so happy writing it. Also thank you to nugdorable for your review. Since you were signed in as a guest I couldn't respond personally. :( But very glad you're enjoying the story. Happy reading guys!