🙖 SAGE 🙐

~'5'~

Song: At My Worst - Pink Sweat$ ft. Kehlani

🌿 Sage 🌿

It is the desperation that brings me to trust Archer. Definitely not his looks. Okay, maybe it is his looks. Just a little bit. (His hair is a different shade of red than mine, so if you accuse me of 'sweet home alabama' I swear to god.)

"Grab my hand!" He demands breathlessly, his palm reaching out for mine as we both fall to our deaths.

"How is that going to save us from death, you idiot?" I yell back. "If you did all this just to hold my hand, then that's just stupid! You suck!"

"What? Why the fuck would I do that?" He seems genuinely puzzled. "I don't want to hold your hand,"

I resist the urge to facepalm at my own pride and at his stupidity. "Screw that. How is holding your hand going to help?"

"Just... shut up and trust me."

The ground is getting increasingly closer by second, so... I close my eyes and grab his hand, as if it is my lifeline. (Well, if he saves us, then it is my lifeline. Not going to admit that, though.) 

I can feel heat. A lot of heat. Like there's a fire wall surrounding us kind of heat. Oh, dear god, am I going to die like this? Holding the hands of a stranger? Who said he will save me but ended up really just wanting to hold my hands before we die?

Suddenly, the heat is gone. I don't feel the rushing winds of us falling, either. But what do I do? I keep on holding his hand. "What are you doing? Let go."

I want to squeeze my eyes tighter, but instead I open them. I look down to where I am holding his hand, shocked to see his hand is white due to my death grip.

I release his hand, the white slowly fading into a red imprint. "Sorry," I blurt out, unable to tear my eyes away from his hand. I did that. I should be glad I didn't break his bones. 

"Hey. Look at me." He gentles his voice.

"I don't need to be babied."

"I'm not babying you," He retorts. He grabs my chin and tilts my head up, until his eyes meet mine.

Huffing, I let my eyes wander everywhere but his. I stare at the trees around us, the grass on the ground, that one particular beetle on the ground. Ooooh, there's a trail of ants. Wait. Man, how can he teleport? "Look at me," He says firmly. Reluctantly, I do, and cringe a little bit when my eyes water.

It is always the acts of sympathy. I never cry when I get yelled at, when I get hit, or whenever there is violence. Near me or towards me. It's when others ask if I am okay, or when they say it is okay to not be okay, or just anything related to being kind to me that makes me tear up. (Is that a bad thing? Is that a weird thing?)

He doesn't move, just analyzes my features as if committing them to memory. "Just don't cry in front of me. I can't handle a woman crying." He states, brushing my hair away from my face oh so gently.

If he doesn't want me to cry, WHY DID HE DO THAT? That is my breaking point. I wrap my arms around him, and practically jump into his arms, causing his hand on my chin to slip.

I squeeze him tightly, and he responds by hesitantly wrapping his arm around me. Tears roll freely down my face, soaking his shirt. Thunder rumbles, then I see a flash of light from the corner of my eye. Rain pours down on us, like it's following my tears. (Ooh, I might have superpowers that control the weather with my mood! But that's impossible. Or is it? Shut up, me. Why am I even thinking this while I'm crying?)

"If we stay out like this, you're going to catch a cold." Archer bends down to murmur in my ear.

I nod my head, but I don't let go. Maybe in a way, it feels like he is a person that wouldn't leave me, like all the others. Through death or betrayal or force. (Like Luke, who got kidnapped.)