things you said but not out loud (Halallax /Carrie)
Send me a number and a pairing and Iāll write a drabble
Carrieās voice, soft and concerned- always so worried about him, always so caring- breaks through his reverie, and Hal tears his eyes away from the city before him to look down at her. The lump in his throat steals his words away as they tried to leave his lips, but it canāt stop his answer being written in his eyes.
The Coast City before them is tall and gleaming, whole and intact, but at the same time, itās all wrong. Perhaps its just a quirk of the multiverse, just another difference in the endless string of them, between this world and his, but though this place bears the name of his home, itās nothing like it. The streets are unfamiliar, the landmarks are all wrong. It still leaves an ache in his chest, but itās just-
Carrie reaches out to touch his arm, that ever present concern in her eyes, and Hal slowly turns towards her, resting one hand on her shoulder, not quite slumpingĀ but instead folding like paper crumbling in on itself, leaning forward, resting his forehead against the top of her head, eyes closing until all he can see is the gold of her hair and not this fake city that isnāt his home-
This isnāt my world,Ā he tells her without speaking, I donāt fit in here.
He can feel her hands rubbing over his back, soothing lines that ease the grief a little but cannot do anything to change the truth that both he and even she knows:
Iāll have to go back some day.
He likes this world well enough, but it isnāt his. It has no hold over him. The only thing that does, the only thing that he stays for- is her. And it feels too much like running away, too much like hiding from his responsibilities-
But he doesnāt want to leave yet. Doesnāt want to let go of this tiny little pocket of peace heās found.
But he has to, eventually.
The words, unspoken, linger in the air before the wind catches them and blows them over the city that isnāt his.