#dm eclipse

He watched it happen as if in slow-motion. You were there so suddenly, without warning, appearing in his peripheral before he could even think to shout out a warning. The yell of his name in your voice. The bright flash of a plasma rifle, the way your body was thrown backwards, catching the blast that was meant to end his life.

He watched you fall like a puppet whose strings had been cut, left unsupported as you dropped to the ground with a sharply cut-off cry of pain.

He'd told you to stay back. The battlefield was no place for a little human with no combat experience. Fighting off invaders was something he was used to, not you. He should never have allowed you to accompany him when the call for help came in, he should've made you stay behind on the Capital Ship where it was safe.

But no, you insisted. “I can offer moral support!” you'd teased with a bright grin you knew he was weak for in an attempt to break his resolve. “Safely from the sidelines! You won't have to worry about me.” You knew he already had trouble denying your insatiable curiosity, often giving in despite the repeated warnings of his advisors to not tell and show you too much of their home and way of life.

Eclipse knew he shouldn't, they'd all learned the hard way not to trust outsiders at the cost of many lives, but how could he resist when you looked at him the way you so often did? And then you'd pleaded with him in his own tongue, and even though you'd butchered most of the words with your human accent Eclipse couldn't fight back his own amusement. His siblings had been trying to teach you at your request, your wish to learn in the hopes it would make it easier to earn the trust of the people. Their language wasn't an easy one for outsiders to pick up, but still you were determined. You worked so hard, tried your very best and it was nothing short of commendable.

And so he'd said yes.

He'd trusted you to keep yourself safely out of harm's way – just like you'd promised him – and now look at what had happened. Despite it all you had jumped in to save his life at the risk of your own and in the end, the only one he could truly blame for you getting hurt... was himself.

With a roar Eclipse turned on your attacker, rifle in hand and squeezed the trigger, blasts of blinding plasma bursting out of the barrel to slam into the body of the one who had shot you. He kept the trigger pressed until the weapon in his hands turned too hot to the touch, until his enemy was reduced to nothing but a smoking pile of atoms on the ground before he threw it aside, not caring where it landed.

He was at your curled up side in an instant, hands shaking when he reached out for you and oh so carefully gripped your shoulder to roll you onto your back. Smoke billowed from the burned edges of your shirt, framing the blackened flesh of your shoulder as bright red blood oozed from the grisly wound, soaking in the ground beneath. It was deep and it was bad. Very bad.

“Why did you do that?” he snapped as he unclasped his cloak with hurried movements. “You promised you'd stay back!”

“O-oops?” you wheezed and despite the clear pain you were in, you raised a shaky thumbs up and grinned. “Worth it t-though.”

“Stubborn.” Eclipse hissed as he carefully wrapped the thick, velvet-like material around your smaller body, uncaring of the blood that soaked into the expensive fabric. Balling up one corner he pressed it firmly down onto the blistering wound, ignoring your pained cry as he grabbed your opposite hand and guided you to keep pressure on it. “Are all humans like that or is it just you?”

You didn't give him an answer right away and he wasn't expecting one, listening to you biting back a whimper as he moved his hands under you and as gently as he could, lifted you off the ground.

“B-both?” you wheezed as he rose to his feet with you cradled against his chest, safely in his arms. “Stubborn is humanity's middle name, but...”

Eclipse glanced down, brows lowering in a soft look of growing concern as you pressed your face against his shoulder and squeezed your eyes shut. Wetness gathered along your lashes, your trembling lips parted as you took ragged breaths.

“... it's k-kinda my specialty too... Saved you.”

Teeth grit Eclipse turned on his heel and hurriedly marched back to the scouting ship they'd used to get here. Behind him the battle raged on but he knew his men were capable enough to finish the invaders without him and leave no prisoners. He wouldn't accept a different outcome.

“You did.”

You were shaking in his arms, he could feel the tremors shoot through your smaller frame even through the thick fabric of the cloak you were bundled in.

You weren't going to die. He wouldn't allow it. In that sense he was stubborn too. You'd disobeyed his clear orders, something he wouldn't tolerate under most circumstances... but you had done it to save his life. You. A stranger. An outsider.

An alien.