◆ Ｅｖｅｎ ＫＩＮＧＳ ｆａｌｌ | ｄｘｒａｎｂｏｌｔ

dxranbolt:

      _{It was s l o w l y coming to him.}

_{Why he felt so obliged to help, why there was that guilt creeping up on him whenever he so much as considered leaving the Dragon Slayer behind. It was because he could sympathize. It was because he’d been down there, in that pit far away from pride and surrounded by a dark, numb feeling of pain. It felt blurred for him, because he’d tried so desperately to drown that feeling with whatever he could find, and his days were recalled as sad and short, useless and a mere string of supposedly wasted second, minutes, hours.}

_{Because he remembered being down as he seemed, he couldn’t move or look away. He had to help.} 

_{It felt selfish, to simply want to prevent such a thing because he could not stand seeing it happen again, if not to himself. He’d left that time in the past, he’d moved on, caught up with the past that seemed to try to drown him in his dust because blaming himself was the one thing he was truly excelling at and forgiven himself for the time being. If he could do such a thing after having thought himself the one component that had led those Fairies to death for nearly a decade, then so could Sting.}

_{The wounds he observed let his heart sink, simply because they had a familiar appearance. Why he hadn’t noticed that part earlier was a mystery to him, though it undoubtedly had something to do with the fact that denial and the wish to forget were strong forces to be considered.} 

_{”..hold still,” came the soft order, eyes shifting towards the other just as he gaze was moved away from the Councillor. Just how he was going to utterly pull Sting out of this was yet beyond him. But he’d try. The words that were soon uttered still struck Doranbolt as too shaken for his own liking, but he could find a trace of courage slowly return to them, and that quietly gave him hope.}

_{While he spoke, he felt a hand drop to his side, fingers curling into a fist. Yes, he’d been there. He could have been the one saying that. The one asking for help, shedding tears and suffering. His jaws clenched to an almost painful extend and he froze in place, his tension growing visible for a moment before his muscles slowly came to relax again. There should be no duties more important than this, he was sure of it. Sometimes priorities needed to be put into a new order. This was one of those times.}

_{“It’s because I’ve been there.
Because I’ve hit the wall,
                                     fallen to my knees,
                                                                   yelled at the sky and
                                                                                                  punched the ground.
It’s because when you feel this for seven years, seven years of self-pity and disappointment, you can’t just watch someone so strong give in so easily.”}

_{And boy, was he convinced that the guild master was strong. Magic or not, there was something bright and shining about him, something that nearly radiated hope, even for someone like Doranbolt. He would not let someone like that be crushed by something small like this.}

_{"…but no. You don’t. It’s natural that when you suddenly decide to run, you stumble and fall. What you have to do now is get up again and start to walk instead.”}

「♕」The Guild Master tensed up for a moment as the other took care of his hand and he relaxed once he felt the gentle gesture upon his injuries. Eyes closed as he listened to him and slowly opened as he looked at him in both awe and surprise. A soft laugh came form the blond before speaking, “could’ve fooled me. Ya seem like ya got it altogether, all collected and shit. You seem pretty….well y'know….” words escaped him as he tried to think of a way to express, but none came to him. He trailed off and turned his eyes away and clenching his free fist as the other wrapped his hand. A slight shake of the head and kept his gaze averted, not wishing to meet the eyes of him. Shame filled his heart and being and did not dare to meet any sort of eyes nor gaze. He was afraid.

His head lifted slightly but did not turn as he heard the other speak about his own similar turmoil. The Dragon Slayer opened his mouth, but again, words escaped him and he fell silent and allowed the other to talk. His voice, despite how strict he was, was comforting, soothing and gentle to his sensitive ears. His following words met his ears and brought a small smile to his face. “….I can’t give up. I…have my comrades to lead. If I fell here now and stayed, who would lead them? But, am I the best person to leads?”

The other finished bandaging his hand and he pulled away and stared at the now wrapped hand and sighed. “Can someone like me, who’s fallen so much, not once nor twice but more, be worthy to lead them? When I keep stumbling?” He asked aloud and kept his eyes down.

Silence passed for a few moments and he spoke, stopping the councilman from speaking. “Seven years. You mentioned that. Why specifically that time frame?” he asked curiously and twiddled his fingers and winced slightly. “….Fairy Tail, didn’t they disappear around then?” Puzzlement crossed his features but his eyes remained fixed upon his hand for they did not dare to move nor look. 

Above thunder rumbled and the sky began to grow dark as if it were a mirror reflecting the situation at hand. Eyes turned upwards just as rain began to fall and he winced slightly as a raindrop hit his face. Eyes closed as he accepted the rain fall and  fell back on the ground, allowing the rain to pour down on him. A sigh passe dhis lips as he spoke, “…we’re here, well and alive, ain’t we? It’s funny, y'know. We try to be amazing and the best at everything when….” He swallowed hard and turned his head down, “when in reality we are weak and we depend on people around us to lift us up. We can’t stand alone, I learned that, yet I still stumble, we all do and we become lost….heh, funny ain’t it?”

He asked giving a bitter laugh. Eyes opened as he stared at the storming sky as thunder rumbled again, “I ain’t one to be all poetic, that’s Ruf's job, but our hearts are all like this storm, y'know? Like the sky. One moment were fine and dandy and then…we turn dark. It all depends on the people, the situations around us that strike and change us. I just wonder…can I really turn back to a sunny sky and shine my comrades on?”

(Source: candorlux-blog)