Archive of Our Own

Kaveh woke to Alhaitham leaning over him and pressing down on his middle.

Gasping, he grabbed for Alhaitham’s side. “Stay down.” His head ached. His joints ached. Blinking, Kaveh tilted his head to the side. They were in a cave. Why were they in a cave? Why was it so dark? And what—

Claws. A roar that shook the earth and sent Kaveh to the ground. Throwing Alhaitham out of the way, pain splitting his side—

Iron sat heavy in his mouth. Swallowing, Kaveh pulled his head back and looked up at Alhaitham. There was blood smudged on his cheek. A bad cut sat above his left eye, red running down his temple. Reaching up, Kaveh tried to wipe the blood away. His fingers were bloody. He only left more red on Alhaitham’s skin.

“You’re hurt.” Kaveh murmured. Glancing at him, Alhaitham swallowed. Turquoise eyes narrowed. The pressure on Kaveh’s stomach increased.

A pulse of pain shot through him. Gasping, Kaveh dropped his hands and grabbed Alhaitham’s. Under his fingers, Alhaitham’s hands were slick and hot. There was a steady, spreading heat over his stomach, dripping down his sides and pooling beneath him. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

"Where’s Mehrak?” He asked.

“I sent her to get help.” Alhaitham replied. Swallowing, Kaveh stared at the ceiling and thought through what to say next.

“Where is the wound to?”

“Solar plexus.”

Kaveh let out a breath. Dropping into Fontainian, he swore. Eyebrows knitting together, Alhaitham glanced at him. “Don’t lecture me on language, Alhaitham.”

“You can swear in Sumeran if you want. I don’t mind.” He turned back to Kaveh’s injury. “But you may want to save your strength. This is a pretty deep wound. Do you remember what happened?”

“I shoved you out of the way. Consecrated Beast?”

“If it was, it isn’t one anymore. It might not have been, maybe never could have. Who knows.”

“Wow. Even got the—” Kaveh cut off before he could manage to continue the joke. Groaning, he found Alhaitham’s hands again and squeezed. When he opened his eyes again, Alhaitham’s face had that panicked expression most people couldn’t identify. Coughing, ignoring the growing taste of metal in his mouth, Kaveh finished, “the Haravatat speechless.”

“It happens sometimes. You’re usually the cause of it.” Alhaitham said, cracking a fragile smile. In his eyes, there were actual tears welling up. Kaveh stared at him.

“Alhaitham, I’m going to be fine. Tighnari and Cyno are going to show up with Mehrak, everything’s going to be fine.” He replied.

“Kaveh.” Something sounded wrong with Alhaitham’s voice. He’s scared. Kaveh reached for his hands. Panting, Alhaitham forced out, “I can see your bones, I can see organs. This isn’t a normal injury. I don’t even know if I’ve made things worse or not.”

His voice cracked. Staring at him, Kaveh said, “It’s going to be okay, Alhaitham. I’m going to be fine.”

Taking a shaky breath, Alhaitham slammed his mouth shut and clenched his jaw.

+

Kaveh was bleeding through the bandages.

Of course he was. They were sloppy, and desperate. Alhaitham had ripped off sections of his own cape when they ran out of proper wraps for the injury. Or, well, when he ran out of proper wrappings. Mehrak's supply had been dangerously low. Kaveh had been unconscious. Even if he makes it through this, I might lose him to the infection.

I can’t lose him. Please, don’t make me lose him, Alhaitham begged, murmuring the words in his mind and aloud, in every single language he knew. Under his hands, there was just—there was so much blood. It was everywhere. He hated it. Just let him live. Please.

He couldn’t lose Kaveh. He couldn’t. If he did, then he would never be able to live with himself. He could see it now, wasting away in the position of Acting Grand Sage until he wore away into nothing. Kaveh was the only reason he would leave the position in the first place. The only reason he could do anything.

Sure, they had fought for the longest time, but Kaveh was the best thing to have happened to him since his grandmother. He was everything Alhaitham was not and that he could never be. He was idealistic and alive in a way all of Alhaitham’s studies could only barely begin to describe. He and Kaveh built one another up like iron on iron.

And the worst part? Alhaitham should be comforting Kaveh, should be reassuring him. And Kaveh, in his endless love and abundance and everything that was him, was trying to reassure Alhaitham instead as he bled out in a cavern. As if he hadn't sacrificed enough in his life, as if he hadn't been the one taking the blow instead of Alhaitham. It should be me lying there, and it's not.

“You know those Fontaine chocolates? We need to have those when we get back. I wasn’t bringing it up because I was thinking we should save it for a special time. You know what? Forget saving it for a special event. We should eat them.” Swallowing, he stared up at the ceiling of the cave. The thing had been able to tear right through stone. Even if he had Tighnari’s skill with identifying...creatures, wounds, any of it, Alhaitham didn’t think he’d be able to figure out how much damage it had done to him. It was…it was bad.

Kaveh was going to bleed out, and it was going to be Alhaitham’s fault. He was never going to see Kaveh again, he was never going to wake up and have Kaveh at his side in the bed. He was never going to make coffee for two people again, he was going to—he needed—

He needed to breathe. He needed to focus. Tighnari and Cyno would get there soon. They would. They had to.

Kaveh would be fine.

He would be fine, and he would come home, and he and Alhaitham would wake up and everything would be okay. It had to be. Everything was going to be fine. It had to be fine.

“Alhaitham.” Kaveh’s voice drew his attention. Looking at him, Alhaitham met his gaze. There was so much blood on his hands, on Kaveh’s chest. On his neck. “It’s okay, Alhaitham. I’m going to be fine. I promise.”

Slowly, with trembling fingers, he reached up to touch Alhaitham’s cheek. There was blood painting his skin. When he drew his hand away, he left blood behind on Alhaitham’s face. It burned.

“You’re shaking.” Kaveh whispered. Blinking past the blurriness in his vision, Alhaitham shook his head.

“I’m fine. I’m—I’m okay.” Come on. Focus. He paused. When he added more pressure to Kaveh’s injury, he saw his face twist. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. It’s going to be okay. I promise, it’s going to be okay. I—”

“Alhaitham.” Kaveh’s hands found his again. Taking a breath, Kaveh continued to speak. There was blood on his lip, running down the side of his face. “When—I have a will.”

“Stop. Don’t.” Alhaitham forced out, voice strained.

“No, you listen to me. Alhaitham. There’s a will. In my desk. Top drawer, use your—your key. It’s been—Cyno and Tighnari know about it. They witnessed for it, the signing. All the—any Mora from my designs—” He cut off, crying out in pain. Panicked, Alhaitham glanced down at the injury. There was so much blood. He didn’t even know where the wound itself was. There was just blood, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Was there poison? Consecrated Beasts had poison, didn't then? But then, this might not have been a Consecrated Beast, this could have been something else. What if he was just making things worse? 

Kaveh cried out again, cutting the sound off by clamping his mouth shut. His lower lip had split, maybe from the strain, maybe from him biting into it to quiet himself. A bead of blood ran down into the corner of his mouth.

“Kaveh, please. Just hold on for me.” He begged. Looking at him, Kaveh reached up, brushed his fingers under Alhaitham’s eyes. “Please.”

“Any Mora—” Kaveh started again. He was fighting to get the words out. He was fighting to choke past the pain, the blood, “from my designs goes to you. Spend it how you want. Every—it’s—it doesn’t matter to me. Don’t turn Mehrak off. You’ll need her, she’s got protocol for—for this sort of thing. She’ll take care of you. Uh, use those special candles, the ones I keep tucked up in the cabinet. The chocolates, too. Eat them with, like, Cyno and Tighnari and Collei and everyone else. Have fun with it. And don’t—”

“Kaveh, stop talking. Save your strength. Please.” When had his throat gotten so tight? Was something wrong with the air where they were? “Please. I can’t lose you.”

“Alhaitham—it’ll be fine.” Kaveh flashed him a smile. How was he the one comforting Alhaitham? It should be the other way around. “Just don’t hide away, okay? I don’t—I don’t want to see you for another twenty years at least. Maybe more. Make it forty years. Sixty. Somewhere in that range. Just, like, find someone who gets you—”

“I already did, Kaveh.” Alhaitham watched him smile. Clutching his hands where they were pressed to the injury, Kaveh held his gaze. “Don’t leave me, Kaveh. I’m begging you—”

Kaveh wasn’t looking at him anymore.

+

They found Alhaitham kneeling over Kaveh’s prone form, hands pressed to a massive wound in his stomach, both of them covered in blood.

Grabbing Collei around the middle, Dehya skidded to a stop. “What—Dehya! Stop it!” Squirming, Collei tried to drive an elbow into her stomach. Glancing back at them, Cyno nodded to Dehya.

“Collei, stay back there. That’s an order.” Tighnari ordered. “Nilou and Layla, you, too. Candace, need me?”

“Probably, yeah. Cyno, help us out with Alhaitham.” Candace ordered. Making her way to Kaveh’s side, she placed her hands over Alhaitham’s. “I’m not the best healer in the world. But I think I can stabilize this. Cyno, can you pull Alhaitham away?”

Nodding, Cyno pulled his friend back. Alhaitham went willingly. Something’s happened that we don’t know about. Dehya realized. Carefully, she guided Collei to go sit down as Tighnari and Candace worked over Kaveh’s limp body.

Dehya had seen dead bodies before.

Kaveh wasn’t dead yet.

He was pretty damn close to it, though.

When Cyno sat Alhaitham down on a nearby jut of rock, Dehya got a better glance at him, his expression. He had an odd, blank look on his face. He’s in shock. “Layla, do you happen to have a blanket on you?” She hummed and looked at her. Nodding at Alhaitham and Cyno, Dehya held her gaze.

Looking from the two men and back to Dehya, Layla nodded. “On it.” She pulled a blanket from her bag and strode over, offering it to Cyno. They spoke quietly. Then, moments later, the blanket was around Alhaitham’s shoulders and Cyno was on his knees in front of the Acting Grand Sage. He started out trying to get his attention. When that didn’t work, though, he and Layla started to try cleaning the blood from Alhaitham’s hands.

It wasn’t going to do much. There was blood on his face, on his clothes—honestly, Dehya was used to blood and the amount spattered on the man was enough to make her feel lightheaded. Turning to Collei, she spotted the girl’s face paling. “Hey, kid. Focus on me.” She dropped down into a kneel of her own, waiting until Collei looked at her. “What’s got you spooked?”

“I just—didn’t realize there was that much blood, I guess.” Collei mumbled. “But…Kaveh’s going to be fine. He’s Kaveh.”

Eventually, Candace called for Dehya. When she came over, Kaveh was still breathing. He was also very, very pale. There were haphazard bandages strapped over the front of his body. Turning to Dehya, Candace held her gaze. “We need to get him back home. You’re stronger than most of us and Tighnari and I need to keep an eye on his vitals while we run. Do you think you can carry him back to Aaru?”

“I’ll carry him back to Sumeru City if you need me to.” Dehya replied. “Let me know how I can pick him up.”

That was how she ended up with a bloody Kaveh in her arms, maybe still bleeding out, and Tighnari and Candace running by her.

She knew, logically, that Mehrak was there somewhere. Collei and Nilou probably were, too. She had no idea about Alhaitham, Cyno, and Layla. If Alhaitham was still in shock like he had been when Dehya had last seen him, then he probably wasn’t going anywhere soon. He looked like some of the other Eremites who’d been told that their lover had been killed.

Oh. She glanced down at Kaveh for a moment. In her arms, he was shockingly light for a man his size. Worse, he didn’t even seem like himself. He was too pale, too quiet, too small.

Alhaitham wasn’t quite himself, either. Although…I wonder if I’m the only one who that’s a surprise to. It hadn’t been a shock to them. If it was, then they were very good at hiding it. But in all honesty, Dehya had been convinced Alhaitham and Kaveh hated one another.

Quietly, Kaveh let out a groan. He didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure if he was really conscious, and she didn’t have the heart to look down at him. “Hold on, Kaveh,” she said, careful of her steps. There was only so much she could do to minimize the pain, though. “I know, I know, it hurts. Just—hold on. Get some rest. You’re going to be fine.”

He let out another little moan of pain. Then, his head dropped back. Shifting her grip, Dehya got his head into the crook of her neck and shoulder. At the very least, it would be more comfortable than his head banging around as she sprinted. Her eyes darted to Tighnari’s face, then Candace’s. Neither of them looked very hopeful.

Hopefully, they could get to Aaru in time.

+

Kaveh woke up in Aaru with someone’s fingers on his neck.

His first thought was ow. His second thought was a string of swearing because everything hurt. The first coherent thought he had that wasn’t either of those was did I survive whatever that monster was just to get strangled by someone else?

And then he realized that, no, he was not being strangled. They were checking his pulse. The air was hot and dry. His hair was damp. The clothes he was wearing were not his own. All facts. Another fact was, hopefully, that he was alive.

“There you are.” Candace. That was Candace. Slowly, Kaveh tilted his head to the side and cracked open his eyes. Reaching up, Candace brushed a strand of wet hair from his face. “You gave us a pretty good scare, there, Kaveh. Care to explain what happened?”

“I—” Both of them winced at the rasp of his voice. Turning, Candace fetched a water bottle and then held it to his mouth. She pulled it away before he had done much more than wet his throat.

“We’ll get you more water slowly. I just want to make sure you can keep it down first.” Candace explained. Nodding, he glanced around. Other than them, the room was empty. Strange. “I sent everyone else out to go find some shade and eat. Alhaitham was having issues, so I had Cyno and Tighnari make sure he eats.”

“Thank you.” Looking back at the ceiling, Kaveh said, “There was…a monster. I don’t know what kind, but it kind of looked like a Consecrated Beast? Its claws could…shred through stone.” He laughed weakly. “I’m sorry, that’s—that’s absurd. I don’t know what was blood loss or not.”

“Sounds pretty close to what little we’ve gotten out of Alhaitham, and what we saw in the area, though.” Candace replied. “Well, I’ll keep you until I think you’re strong enough to leave. Alhaitham is probably going to want to come in here when night falls. Do you want me to keep him out?”

“No, let him stay. I want to see him as much as he wants to see me.” Kaveh replied. “How is everyone else? Did anyone get hurt?”

“Only you. Alhaitham’s worst injuries are probably up here.” Candace tapped the side of her head. Then, she offered Kaveh more water. “Just take your time, get some rest. I know someone in Sumeru who you and Alhaitham can speak to. Multiple people, actually. It would help.”

“Thank you.” Kaveh whispered.

At some point, he dozed off. When he woke, Alhaitham was by his side, crawling into bed next to him. Kaveh moved the blankets aside. “Kaveh.” Alhaitham whispered softly. Slowly, he settled beside Kaveh.

Reaching out, Kaveh settled a hand against Alhaitham’s cheek. He leaned into the touch, tilted his head to kiss his palm. “I was serious about the will thing. Everything I have goes to you, Mora-wise. It may not be much—”

“It’s more than you think. I’ve been using your rent to pay your debts for years.” Sniffing, Alhaitham took a shaky breath. Kaveh ran his thumb under his eye again, wiping away a tear. It looked like silver in the moonlight. “And I’m not sorry about that.”

“I’m not sorry for taking that hit for you.” Kaveh replied.

“I can’t say I’m not angry about that. But I understand why you did it.” Swallowing, Alhaitham said, “I don’t think I would have the strength to survive like you did. You lost almost three liters of blood.”

Oh. That was pretty bad. That was near-death kind of blood loss. “I was serious about the chocolates, by the way.” Kaveh said, changing the subject. They could talk to Candace’s therapist friends and work through everything later. For now, Alhaitham needed some cheering up. “We should eat them before they go bad. What’s the point in saving those for a special occasion when we have our lives, anyways?”

Alhaitham smiled tightly. There were dark circles under his eyes. Carefully, Kaveh propped himself up. The stitches in his stomach were tense, but they weren’t pulling or breaking. So, when Kaveh placed his hands on either side of Alhaitham’s face, he wasn’t risking anything. Alhaitham’s hand went to his side, supporting him.

“I love you.” Kaveh whispered, kissing his forehead. Then, the ridge of his left brow. He repeated himself, “I love you.”

He kept on repeating himself, lathering kisses on Alhaitham’s face and telling him again and again and again. Arms shaking, Alhaitham dragged him into a hug with his arms around his neck, burying his face right where Kaveh’s neck met his shoulder. In the morning, Alhaitham would have a headache and Kaveh would run his fingers through his hair as he insisted that he was fine.

When they got back home, they would eat those fancy Fontaine chocolates, and burn those special candles, and Alhaitham would kiss him and tell him he loved him the same way Kaveh had that night.