#syndraxzed

Do not use, trace, edit, without permission ty

with this I PUT THIS ONE TO A CLOSE o3o)9 will work on the clothes one this week :3

It was early in the morning – enough so that it was still dark in her bedroom – but Syndra had not slept at all the past night. Even with the surprisingly comfortable warmth of Zed at her side, she had been woefully unable to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time; whenever she closed her eyes, it was as though the darkness of her own mind was trying to suffocate her. Each time she tried, she would feel again as though she was being smothered by some invisible weight pressing against her nose and mouth; and she would invariably jerk back awake with her hands reaching desperately for her throat just to make sure that she could still breathe. She was no stranger to such panic attacks – after all, they had plagued her from her very first day in the Celestial Fortress all those years ago – but never had they been quite so severe; it was a wonder that she had not woken Zed at all during the past hours, given how much she had been tossing and turning fretfully. His presence – often times acting as a balm that eased her worries – seemed today to unable to dispel the dark clouds of anxiety that loomed over her. Already, she could feel dread gathering like smoke on the inside of her chest. There, it congealed into an icy fear that seemed to take up all the space in her breast, making it hard to breathe evenly. She knew that as soon as he woke, Zed would leave, and she would be alone with her thoughts once more. And despite herself, she quailed at the prospect of spending another day left alone in her lonely castle. As though reading her thoughts, she felt the weight of Zed’s body shift suddenly beside her as he roused himself. She knew that he was readying himself to leave the way he always did – before she woke and before she could protest. Today was different, however, and no sooner had he sat up then she reached out a trembling hand to hold him by the wrist. Her thin fingers did not even wrap around the entirely of his wrist, but she still held on as tightly as she could. “Don’t go,” she pleaded, for once not caring about just how shaky her voice was. “Stay with me. Please.” She swallowed hard. “For just a little longer.” She felt Zed stiffen beneath her fingers, and he did not so much as look back at her. Her heartbeat redoubled itself in panic at his silence, and she bit back a desperate cry of fear. “Please,” she repeated again, this time far more urgently than before. “Don’t leave me alone again.” Her tone was enough for him to glance at her over his shoulder, and for a moment, even he looked surprised at her appearance: there were dark bags of exhaustion beneath her eyes, and she was biting her trembling lip to stop herself from sobbing aloud. For a terrible moment, Syndra thought he was going to pull his hand out of her grip – in fact, she fully expected him to; but then he lay back down on the bed, gently peeling Syndra’s fingers from around his wrist so that he could kiss the tips of them. Slowly, he drew the covers back over the two of them, and Syndra nearly cried with happiness. Pressing her face desperately into his chest to hide her tears, she inhaled shakily, trying to breathe in as much of him as she could. He did not say a word as she sobbed noiselessly into his chest, instead choosing to wrap his arms protectively around her waist so as to pull her even closer to him. After a moment, he even pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head with a tenderness he had never shown her before, and Syndra felt the knot of steel in her chest beginning to soften and unwind. And suddenly, she could breathe again.

He knew only her – the heat of her and the touch of her and the quick sound of her gasps as she dragged sharp nails down his back. It was dark, but he had always found comfort in the darkness and in shadows and now also in purple eyes. He found comfort in her he had never known – pressing their bodies together until there existed no space between them for anything but themselves. His lips found hers again, and in her flesh he found redemption for his sinner’s heart. And when the end finally came for both of them, he murmured her name against her skin like a prayer, wondering at the warmth of her flesh. And everywhere, the sweet smell of lavender.

Syndra stood with her back to the door, determined not to turn around and look at Zed. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides in an effort to hide the trembling in her arms, and her nails cut painfully into her palms. She could feel the blood pooling between her fingers as she glared fixedly at a point in the floor between her feet. “Go, then,” she spat with as much venom as she could muster; her eyes were burning and her chest felt as though it were caught in an iron vice, but she did not let her voice waver. “Syndra-” began Zed, but she did not want to hear it – she had had enough of his excuses, and of his leaving her in the night without saying a word. “I said go!” she shouted, spinning around to face him. Dark spheres were beginning to coalesce in the air around her, and they quivered restlessly. Zed’s eyes flicked to them, and a flash of wariness crossed his face. “If your damn Order means so much, then just go! If it-” She swallowed, and the pain in her chest was suddenly piercingly sharp, cutting off the breath in her lungs. “If it- it means more to you than me, then…” Zed said nothing, and for a fleeting instant where her heart soared foolishly, Syndra thought she saw hesitation in his red eyes. But then his expression hardened, and he straightened. Without another word, he gathered what remained of his things and disappeared through the open door. He did not spare her so much as a final glance before he was gone, leaving nothing but painful silence in his wake. Syndra swayed where she stood before she finally collapsed with her back against the bed, her shoulders trembling as she sobbed quietly into her hands.

SyndraxZed