｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

｡･:*:･ﾟ★"Not angry, I could never be angry with you.":*:･ﾟ☆

Lilith

"Lilith." The urgent, deep tone has something in the back of my mind waking up. Like a memory. "Lil."

I want to answer but I can't feel my lips. Feel anything more than the warmth suddenly pressing against my forehead.

"Fuck." That warmth slides down the side of my face, curling around the back of my neck. "For fucks sake. Eldi?"

The anger in the tone has me desperately wanting to apologise. I know I've done something wrong, I've screwed up – bad – but I can't seem to tell them. Can't say sorry. The best I get is a low whimper that means nothing.

"Hey." Softer. The voice is so much more gentle now.

That's good. I don't want to upset them. It's my fault, they shouldn't be suffering for it. That warm pressure I felt appears again, on the side of my cheek. I lean into it, the soothing warmth delicious against my cold skin.

I feel myself shift, being moved and warmth wraps around me, englufing me in something soft that smells so familiar.

"I need you to open your eyes."

I want to... but I'm tired. So tired.

"For me. Please, Eldi."

I think I would do anything to hear that comforting tone, so different and calming. My eyes flutter, fighting to open and see. Green spots flicker before me, floating in a sea of white.

"I need you to wake up."

A sigh escapes me, for a second that heavyweight leaves me.

"There's my flame." Relief coats the even softer voice. And I relish in the care. It's going to be okay now. My vision flickers and swims as I fight to wake up.

"Sweetheart?"

I flinch.

Where the hell are you going Sweetheart? After everything, this-

Panic claws at my throat, only Sebastian calls me Sweetheart. It's his name for me. I try to move. My hands reach up to claw at him, fear making me shake when he only catches my flailing arms. I desperately tug, trying to get away from him. My head violently whips around, desperately searching for something, for anything, an escape, an excuse, someone.

"It's me." He pleads. "Eldi, it's me."

Eldi.

No one calls me Eldi except-

"Xavier." I croak, movement ceasing.

I blink some more, taking in the man before me in his hazy state. Images flash before me as my eyes flicker. Brown hair. A sharp jawline. Concerned green eyes that are staring at me with such trepidation. But it is Xavier.

"Seba-" I trail off, slowly looking around before my gaze reconnects with his. "He was just here- "

"It's just me." Xav whispers, voice gentle and soothing. "Sebastian isn't here."

He's not here. He's not here. Shaky breaths tremble past my lips, he's not here. He was never here.

"Lilith- Lillian." Isaac tries to regain my attention but I can barely focus, my brain short circuiting. "Do you want me to call Wednesday or- or Sebasti- "

"No!" The desperate cry leaves my lips before I register what I've said. I jerk forward, trying to get closer to Xavier, to plead with him but my vision swims and I sway backwards.

"Okay, okay." I hear him murmur but I can't focus past the white dots once again floating before me. I try to blink them clear, but before my eyes can adjust again, I'm moving. Being lifted into the air with such slow, gentle care that I hardly notice the change at first. Until we start moving. It's enough to make both my head and stomach spin again.

"Make it stop." I whisper under my breath.

"I'm sorry." The words rumble against my side. "I will. I will, I promise. Just hang on a little longer for me."

Yeah, I can hang on. I nestle down further, leaning into the warmth against my side as exhaustion threatens to take me once more.

"Keep your eyes open."

Miraculously, I manage to do so but it takes me far too long to register that my head is resting against something hard and hot. Something that has a heartbeat echoing through my head. A chest.

Awareness begins to seep in and gradually my vision begins to clear. Sighing, my gaze slowly roves around my surroundings, pausing on the dark shirt I'm cradled against. Swallowing heavily I slowly look up at the sharp jaw above me. At the familiar dark hair.

"Xavier." I whisper distractedly, so it was him and not Sebastian.

His gaze immediately darts down to mine, green eyes full of relief stare into mine. "We're almost there."

I'm in Xavier Thorpe's arms.

A faint recollection of what happened begins to form in the back of my mind. I must have blacked out from the poison, but it should have killed me. But I was hallucinating. There was a creature and I was hunting. A wolf. Blood and a horrific warmth filling my mouth as bone crunched and- shit. The panic about Sebastian when I woke up. He saw that. I swallow heavily and take in the position I'm in. Xavier's right arm is under my legs, hands resting against my thigh while his left arm is wrapped around my back – curling me against him.

Before I can fully take in the comfort and safety of being in his arms, he's putting me down and my vision swims for a moment.

"Lay back." He murmurs, gently pushing on my shoulders till I comply.

I nestle into the plush material beneath me, hands reaching out to smooth against the thick comforter as my back sinks into the soft pillows behind me that are now propping me up. Confused, I gaze around and take in the familiar studio filled with painting of animals, architecture and anything that came to-

Xavier's hand brushes a few loose strands of hair from my face and my attention drifts back to him when I realise how close we are. He's close, really close. Perching on the edge of the bed as he stares at me with an expression so opposite to his calming touches.

"Do you feel sick?" There's a sharp edge to his voice underneath the worry.

"I feel fine." I try to force a smile, hoping to convey a strength I'm certainly not feeling but it clearly doesn't work if his frown is anything to go by. "You're upset." I observe. Which I probably shouldn't have said out loud, but my brain is still fuzzy and I'm worried he's angry with me. "You're angry with me."

"Not angry, I could never be angry with you." He states, something shifting in his eyes. "Just worried. What happened?"

"It burned to breathe." I think back to the plant, the weird look to it. It wasn't a pure poisonous plant. Then darkness and a vague awareness. A desire to hunt. To kill. "I was dreaming."

I smack my lips, wincing at the dryness. Instantly there's a clean cup filled with water brought to my lips, slowly tilting to allow me to drink. I drank it down quickly but it was tugged away.

"Slowly." He reprimands and I blush in embarrassment. "You'll make yourself sick."

I reach a hand up to try and take the glass but my eyes are already fluttering shut, the limb falling back to the comforter uselessly.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Stickiness clogs to my skin and I cringe. It's dried to my arms and I feel it crumble off, flaking away. I whimper, feeling some of it thicker than other areas. It's awful and irritating my skin. My soft murmurs of silence by a soothing voice, whispering meaningless words that are only meant to carry a comforting tone.

I settle down and drift into silence at the familiar voice. Some instinct in me is soothed and when the weight I now notice that is sat next to my side shifts I desperately reach out an arm. A hand grasps mine. My brows unfurrow as I relax, feeling the person stroke my hand gently.

"... and the princess was feared and loved by all. The last of her kind and loyal above all else. Loyal to her people. But not in the way her mother wished her to be, but in the way she should be. The princess cared for all those she deemed under her care, not just those defined by blood. She created a pack, a tribe, a fam-..."

The story drifts off to end and the words lull me back into a deep slumber plagued by dreams of princesses and knights and magical creatures.

"... he loved her above all else, the princess, but they were from warring houses. She was promised to another and he to a creature of the sea..."

There was a wolf, wasn't there? But there was something wrong. Not with it; with me. I felt wrong, I felt ill. My mind was foggy and cloudy. Pure instinct fuelling my acts.

"... but she protected her sister above all else and it tore their family apart. The four's little slice of heaven and friendship broken beyond repair..."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Soft humming of gentle tone slowly wakes me up, the sound compelling me to wake as I feel a soft damp material swipe across my skin. My eyes hesitantly flutter open, cringing away from the light that's quickly turned off.

"Lilly?" A gentle voice trills, and I desperately fight to wake. To greet them back. "You need to wake up."

My eyes open immediately, white spots flickering across my vision as I take in the area around me. The sound of metal tinkling has my attention drifting to the girl beside me as she re-ties her necklace.

"Hey." Bianca murmurs to me, eyes soft and face filled with worry. "You had us worried there."

Us?

Xavier didn't leave your side.

My gaze darts to the small candle next to a large painting of a wolf with amber eyes.

I take in the familiar yet foreign shed. The place I had lived in when I ran away until Xavier found me hidden here. He'd helped me clean it up and then asked permission to turn it into a studio. Days later I had been introduced to Bianca who had sirened her way into a bed, wardrobe, clothes and even a bespoke shelving cabinet.

That's where I am now. Sat on my old bed at the end of Xavier's studio. The walls around me are covered in the fresh drywall we had painstakingly put up over the insulation Bianca insisted we buy. The walls are painted in murals of the sky at different times of day.

I'm curled on the bed pressed snug into the left corner, gently nestled into a den of covers and blankets and pillows and the various throws I had accumulated over the months I had stayed here. My wardrobe and shelves filled with metal trinkets to the right have been left untouched-

No, not untouched. Dust doesn't line a single shelf and the metal has all been polished and waxed with such care.

The sound of a paintbrush has my attention dragging back over the large thick curtains draped in from the ceiling to section off my room from Xavier's studio. Silently, I turn back to Bianca who is sitting on the edge of my little nest with a worried smile.

"Hi." I whisper.

"Hi." She mimics softly as though not to startle me. "How are you feeling?"

How am I feeling? God she sounds like a therapist.

"Better." That's a bit of a non answer. "Confused maybe."

She nods.

"What happened Lilly?" She murmurs, eyes brimming with unshed tears. "When Xavier phoned me it- it sounded bad."

I don't think I've ever heard her falter like this. Not since that night.

"I'm not entirely sure, Bee." I answer, voice exhausted. "There was a plant, a gift from Thornhill, Drekaba-i."

"Dragon poison." She demands, and the paint brush stops. "Seven Hells! Why in god's name would she give you a plant forsaken among the kingdoms."

"I don't know." I shake my head, snuggling further into the- into the dark grey jacket wrapped around me beneath the covers. "I-"

"Bianca... Where the hell are my clothes?"

A/N: Guesses on Sebastian?