Some Days it doesn't pay to wake up... Who: Harry and Elaine Where: Her rooms What: Harry dreams, and wakes with evidence of the dreams. When: A few days ago Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for trauma, pain, and medical issues Status complete
Harry groaned in his sleep, shuddering as dreams took him again. Dreaming of darkness and silliness and pain, he dreamed of a talk show, and of a quest for the shroud. A very important shroud, and the others who were after it. A word escaped his sleep as he remembered them, the Denarians. His mind had glossed over details before, and now it spread them across his mindscape in full detail. He shuddered as he faced them in combats and constructive ideas, and the damnable Ortega and being double crossed. And Susan! He wanted to curse his dreamself, but all he did was whimper.
He remembered that ending, that adventure done, and thinking all was well, and the car rolling close, and the coin spinning out, and snatching it up. And cursing his other self.
Whispers uncoiled in his mind, then faded, and he felt a foreboding.
Then time flashed by, and he was dreaming of another fight, of meeting his half brother and others, and Lara and Inari, and porn and oh my...
He dreamed of intrigue and death curses, and entropy, and he dreamed of pain as he shielded those he cared about, those who were under his protection.
Burning enveloped him, and his hand felt like it was about to burst into nothing, And then... he woke crying out, rolling away from Elaine, trying to clutch and yet not touch his hand, which hurt so badly.
“Elaine!” His cry was ripped from him as he thumped to the floor.
“Harry?” Elaine gasped as she sat up, her hand groping for Harry and finding nothing but empty space and rumbled bedclothes. She rolled toward his side of the bed and peered down at the floor. “Are you all right?”
Harry jerked more awake, and he shuddered as pain lashed across him, from his hand, and he stared, horrified, at the burnt flesh he saw there. “Dreams...” His voice was husky, pain filled, and his body was wracked with a shudder.
Elaine was out of bed in an instant, kneeling beside him to examine his hand. She didn’t touch it, of course, but she did extend a hand--and her magical senses--toward him. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Was shielding some allies and kids from fire. A lot of it, and I did it, but the air shield didn’t stop the underside of it from heating up while the fire burnt out. And so my hand took the brunt of it.” He shuddered. “In the dreams, of course.”
Elaine sent a wave of healing energy to Harry’s hand and arm as he spoke. She could only imagine the kind of pain he must be in right now, and it made her want to cringe. “Apparently not just the dreams,” she said. “Do you need to go to the emergency room?”
Harry stared at his hand, and then looked at her as her power soothed him, and made the nerves at least stop screaming at his brain. He shuddered, one hand finding one of hers and squeezing as gently as he could. “I don’t know. In the dreams they couldn’t do anything. The damage was too bad, down to the nerves.” He swallowed. “But it also got better, in time. Something to do with the magic. The details are hazy in my mind, though, as to how.” He shivered.
Elaine moved close, pressing her body to his for warmth--or perhaps merely for comfort, knowing that this was a shivering of the soul more than of cold--and touched a certain pressure point at the crease of Harry’s elbow, sending her intention a little deeper, channeling the energy toward his hand from that point. “Perhaps I can help with that.”
He slid an arm around her, and hugged her, kissing her side as she pressed and nodded. “I’m not too proud to take what you can give.” He shivered at the sensations coursing through his body, and tried to relax against her, to welcome her touch and her healing. He could feel something coming from that point, but his mind was yet racing fast and his heart with it. “Having trouble relaxing.”
Elaine could sense that Harry was still unsettled, and she held him close, stroking his hair. She shifted a tendril of awareness to the pendant that hung between her breasts, and it began to glow with wizard’s light. It was a pentacle, not exactly like Harry’s--since his and Thomas’ had been given to them by their dream mother--but similar, and it had apparently come to her in her sleep.
“Can you move yet, to get back into bed? You might be more comfortable.”
Harry nodded, and rose, trembling, legs shaking. “Yes, I think so. With your help?” And with her help, he did, slumping in bed and laying flat on his back, hand cradled on his chest.
She tucked him in, ducked out for a moment to grab some dressing supplies and medicine from the bathroom, and then crawled back into bed next to Harry. She set everything aside for the moment, and lay down, wrapping her arms around him gently as she kissed his cheek. “You’re safe now, Harry. I’ve got you.”
He snuggled as close to her as he could and relaxed, and did what he had not been able to do in that dream world. Cried. The pain was like nothing he had ever felt and in this world, he was far less alone than he had been there. And far less stupidly proud, too.
He hugged her and cried and let himself curl close to her, and just let go for a few minutes, knowing he was safe.
“I pity the other me. I always have. He was never safe. Ever. Things landed on his shoulders and never lifted, and he never really had anyone like I do. I pity him some.”
“Maybe he’s learning from you as we speak, just like you learn from him,” Elaine suggested, breathing out a whisper of will to cocoon the both of them in a protective, healing bubble of energy. A magical bacta tank, so to speak. She filled the shield with peaceful, restful, nurturing thoughts, weaving the spell around them like a downy quilt, or a favorite sweater. She captured Harry’s tears with her thumbs; wiped his cheeks, and touched the salty liquid to her lips; her voice full of empathy, love, and compassion.
“Maybe he will find his other half yet. But you can’t worry for him right now. You have to let yourself rest, so your body can heal.”
He settled down as he felt her energy surrounding him and he tried to reach out to add to it, but he felt an odd taint and shut it down, fast. “And the other thing I dreamed of... Denarians, and catching a Denarian Coin to keep a kid from doing so.” He shuddered.
“I know, love. I know. I’m trying. Just so much boiling in my mind, outside the pain, even.” He tried to relax, then, again, and push it aside.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, stroking his brow. “Or do you want me to just try and lull you to sleep? After I get some antibiotics and painkillers into you.”
“Just the dreams, mixing and matching. I dreamt, two, I think, different time periods, two things, going on.” He sighed and snuggled closer. “I met Thomas again for the first time in one, and then his older and younger sisters. “ He shook his head. “It all feels surreal.”
He nodded to her. “Not sure i know what to say, really, but I definitely want the lulling and the medicine.”
Elaine stretched out a hand, using her own version of Harry’s wind spell to levitate the bottles of anti-inflammatory painkillers. She poured several of them into her hand, and offered them to Harry--propping his head up gently with another pillow and some more magic to cushion the movement, so that she could put a cup of water to his lips. She knew he’d probably need more than just ibuprofen and a couple of leftover amoxicillin, but it was the best she could do on short notice. Once she got him resting, maybe she could think about making some phone calls.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. Just let me take care of you.”
He took the medicine and the water, and lay back, shivering, as he held on to her with his other arm. “Thank you.” He smiled softly. “I love you, Elaine.”
He had really gotten lucky.
"I love you, Harry," she murmured, draping a leg over his, for closeness. "I always have." She stroked his arm, letting her hand hover over his, projecting cool comfort. She twirled the memory ring on her finger, and triggered a memory of running her hands under a splashing fountain. She'd saved the memory on impulse while shopping with Cora, and now she knew why.
"There's a place I go, in spirit, when I pick up more than I should carry. A place I can rest, and heal. It's a place I found, even before I tapped into the dream magic. I'd like to take you there with me, if you're willing to let me guide you there."
The touches, the words, they all helped a little, helping him try to relax, and to try to untense, despite the pain. Her touches and her soothing magic felt good And he could feel some of the pain starting to bleed away. The memory filled him with a soothing sense that battled the pain very well, and he groaned.
“Of course. I’d follow you anywhere, Elaine. Anytime.” He kissed her hair, her cheek, and he nodded.
She spoke softly, her voice low but melodic as she described this place in her minds eye, how it felt, and looked to her. As she guided him through the visualization, she reached out with their secret spell and touched her mind to his. "This is my secret place," she whispered, "and now it will be ours."
His love surrounded them as they settled into that place, and he looked around in wonder, and hugged her. “Amazing woman.” It was as beautiful as she was, not surprisingly, and he felt utterly welcome there.
“Love of my life,” she answered, holding him close. “Be welcome here, always, and in all ways.” She could see in his eyes that he had made himself at home already, but the words were important. They resonated through her being, and she drew his face to hers to seal them with a kiss.
He kissed her, passionately, and smiled softly as he pulled back. “I love you., I’ve always loved you. I always will.” He kissed her again, encircling her with both arms, and cradling the hurt one on the other side of her. “Being with you makes everything else perfect.”
Elaine let herself melt into that kiss, body melding against his, gentle sounds that suggested running water and summer breezes whispering around them. It truly was a beautiful moment, and she knew they would share many, many more.
Somehow, eventually, he slept there with her, and dreamed. He dreamed of magic, and of new discoveries. He dreamed of facing new threats, and darker times, and voices in his head.
And with a suddenness, he woke, again, in the waking world, gasping for air, curled next to her, Hands protectively curled on his chest, feeling better, and completely healed when he peered down at them. That was due to Elaine, he knew. With her, there were no shadows. With her, it was better.