WHO: Elias Salazar WHEN: Very early morning of October 3 WHERE: His bedroom and bathroom SUMMARY: Eli dreams about waking up in a cave. WARNINGS: Car accidents, some discussion of Tony's being held hostage
With a sharp intake of breath, Elias sat up straight in his bed, going from deep sleep to awake in the matter of seconds. One of his hands flew to his bare chest, feeling both the rise and fall as he continued to take in air through shallow gasps and the raised skin that was there. Though he had felt it countless times in the twelve years since the car accident that left it marred, he still felt a panic race through his blood.
A second later and he was throwing back his blankets, then nearly catapulting himself out of his bed and toward the adjoining bathroom. He glimpsed Jarvis at the foot of his bed, barely opening one of his eyes to see what his owner was doing in an all too familiar nonchalance. Elias might have been offended at the lack of concern from his dog, but he was too busy flipping on the light in the bathroom and leaning against the counter to peer at his shirtless reflection.
There was no physical change, of course. His fingers gingerly pressed along the edges of the scars, red and barely faded despite the years that had passed. They were something he had grown used to, though had caused him plenty of confidence issues when he had been younger. It had been a "damn miracle", as the doctor had put it, that he hadn't been more hurt when the car had struck the passenger side door when he and his mother had been driving with a backseat full of groceries, but the injuries he had sustained had left lasting marks. It took him years to be willing to be seen without a shirt on while swimming or in general; even now, he would find himself hesitating or straying from certain cuts of shirts. It was silly, he tried to remind himself, the reminder often sounding so much like his mother, yet it was ingrained.
Now, though, he wasn't seeing the remnants of wounds from glass and shrapnel. Instead, all Elias could see was the electromagnet that Tony had just woken up to discover was embedded into his chest and was being powered by a car battery.
As the memory bubbled to the surface, Elias's shoulders slumped and his head fell forward, breaking his gaze with the mirror. Both of his hands gripped the edge of the counter, his nails digging into the tile. His eyes closed and he could see the inside of the cave, feel the shallow breaths of panic that only sped up as realization of his circumstances dawned on him. He could feel the sharp tug in his chest as he tried to get up, hear the voice telling him not to, then his fingers following the thick wires from the car battery to where they were attached to the magnet in his chest.
Elias had watched every single one of the Marvel movies, many of them multiple times. It had been an easy way to bond with his younger half-brother, especially as Luca became more interested in comic books as he marched through his teens. Because of this, he knew what he had to look forward to and just how much of a struggle it was going to be.
As his thoughts spun in circles around that very thought, he felt a warm press of a fuzzy head press to his knee. Looking down, Elias found Jarvis, looking up at him with wide eyes that were either filled with concern or hope that they were going to go for their morning run early today. Whichever it was, the presence of the dog seemed to right him, making Elias feel as though his feet were once again on solid ground. The memory hadn't faded and he knew from the earlier ones that it wouldn't, but he didn't feel so overcome by it, at least in that moment. He would take what he could get.