It feels like time stops as he sits there; he always thought it would happen when he was dying- and maybe it’s fitting because it feels like he is. Despite the faint warmth of Tom a foot or so away from him, he doubts anything will ever be the same again. As he sits, his life flashes before his eyes, and he wonders if perhaps it’s some cruel form of self-torture to prolong his suffering until Stephan finally puts a bullet in his head.

He watches as Matt’s eyes close for the final time as he accepts his fate, watches as the man behind him -Ivan- lifts his gun, watches the wide and sadistic smile upon Stephan’s lips, and then suddenly Ivan’s head is on the floor.

His body slumps to the side and hits the ground with an unpleasant thud, and Stephan’s wide eyed gaze turns upon Tord, meeting the Norwegians gaze with undisguised fury.

“What did you do?” He snarls, and Tord fumbles for a response.

“I- I didn’t do anything!” He stutters, and Stephan pulls his gun out and aims it at Matt’s head.

The redhead flinches away, Tord screams, and then the gun is shot out of Stephan’s hand. He whips around, and his gaze focuses upon someone Tord can’t see, standing several feet behind the brunette.

“You!” He growls, and Tord almost cries with relief when Patryk’s voice sounds from behind him.

“Get away from them, or the next one is in your head.” He warns, and Stephan arches a brow.

“Oh? Are you sure?” He smirks, gesturing to the few dozen men surrounding him. “You’re outnumbered, boys.”

At that, Paul smirks.

“Are we?”

Tord barely blinks, catching the barest hint of a white blur, and suddenly the only person standing between him and Matt, is Stephan himself. His chains take a bullet, courtesy of Paul, and he scrambles to his feet.

While part of him wants to throttle Stephan, the other part of him drives him to Matt, hands twisting into the redheads tattered sweater and practically dragging him away, tripping and collapsing across Tom’s lap.

“What’s happening?” Tom asks. He flinches at another gunshot, and then his chains are snapped and he’s got his arms around Tord and Matt.

Matt’s chains are last to break, and the trio scramble to their feet and quickly backward toward Paul and Patryk.

“What’s going on?” Tord demands, voice trembling, and Patryk grips his shoulders while Paul keeps Stephan at gunpoint.

“Take this.” He pushes a gun into his palm, and makes sure to meet his gaze. “You need to be strong, I cannot explain everything to you Red Leader but please trust me, trust me and take this and get us out of here.”

Tord stares at him for a moment, and there’s silence between them, and then he nods. He nods, his face sets, and he turns to face Stephan.

“You filthy son of a bitch.” He snarls.

Stephan smirks at him.

“What’re you gonna do? Kill me? That won’t bring him back.”

“No.” He agrees. “It won’t.”

He lifts the gun, presses it to Stephan’s temple, and pulls the trigger.

There’s a tense few moments before his body crumples and hits the floor, and a ragged and strangled breath escapes him as he staggers a step back. A hand touches his shoulder and he whips around, wide eyes meeting Tom’s gaze.

“I-“ He chokes, and shakes his head as he stares at him. “I’m sorry.” He manages to choke out.

Tom shakes his head.

“It’s okay- we need to go, please-“

That snaps Tord out of his, and his expression steels again.

“You’re right.” He steps forward so he’s at the front of the group, and takes a deep breath. “Stay behind me.”

~~~~~~~~

It takes them a while to get close to the exit, and eventually Tord instructs then to wait for him so he can scout ahead. He walks for a few minutes, and once he’s alone he slips out the door and sags against the wall.

The fresh air helps clear his mind, but he doesn’t get all the answers he wants from his head clearing; how the hell did they get out of that? What the fuck was that white blur- how did Paul and Patryk find them?

He stiffens when the door opens next to him, and Patryk slips out. He relaxes and grunts, and Patryk frowns.

“Are you okay? Why aren’t we leaving-“

“No I’m not okay!” He explodes suddenly, leaping to his feet and startling Patryk to the point that the man leaps a foot into the air in surprise. “What the fuck is going on- what aren’t you telling me? How the fuck did you find us and what the fuck happened to Stephan’s henchmen- am I going crazy? Losing my fucking mind?!”

Patryk shrinks away.

“S-Sir, I-“ He breaks off when Tord starts rambling again.

“Don’t ‘sir’ me, Patryk! Tell me what the fuck is going on!”

Patryk’s wide and frightened gaze flicks slightly to the right, at a point behind Tord, and the agitated Norwegian whirls around, intending on hitting the first thing he can.

He freezes, however, his entire body going cold in a single instant. He thinks his heart stops beating.

“Tord..” The gentle voice says, and Tord staggers back a step, his arm dropping limply to crash into his side.

He can’t even say a word in response, head spinning as everything goes black and he collapses toward the ground.

~~~~~~

He wakes hours later, on the couch in the living room of their home. He wonders idly in the back of his mind who fixed the couch,  but more of him wants to know how the fuck they got home.

His brain drags up a memory, reminding him of how he had lashed out at Patryk, but his mind quickly rejects that memory and shoves it away, filing it away as a trick of the light. He couldn’t have seen what he thought he had.

He stands, tugging his sweater into a more comfortable position, and staggers out of the room, legs tingling as blood properly flows back into his limbs.

“Paul?” He calls, propping himself up in the kitchen doorway and peering into the room. “Patryk?”

“They’re not here.”

He goes rigid.

His heart stutters, breath coming in rapid pants, and the voice comes closer to him this time.

“Please don’t faint again.”

He takes a few brisk, staggering steps toward the sink and turns it on, splashing cold water into his face as fast as he can.

“What are you doing?”

He chokes on air, trembling as he shuts the tap off and hangs tensely over the sink, unsure if he’s going to faint or vomit.

“Trying to wake up- this isn’t real-“ His voice distorts, choking on a sob, and his knees give out, sending him to the floor. “I can’t-“ He breaks off on a choked wheezing noise, and suddenly there’s arms around him.

His chest tightens and he almost shrieks, body shaking to the point he thinks he’s actually having some kind of stroke and is about to die. A pitched and ugly wailing noise escapes him and he attempts to writhe away from the arms, terrified of the contact, but the man holds him tight.

“Shh, Tord. I’m here, it’s me.” He whispers gently, stroking his fingers through the trembling mans hair, and Tord screams.

He can’t help himself, he can hardly breathe except to scream and cry. He struggles and protests, but the man holds him tight and gently whispers reassurances in his ear.

“No- this isn’t happening- I’m crazy- I’ve lost my mind-“

“Tord, I’m here, it’s okay-“ He breaks off and spins them around suddenly so they’re face to face, hands gripping the mans cheeks. “Christ Tord, will you please just look at me?”

Tord, whom had slammed his eyes shut as soon as he was moved, shakes his head determinedly, struggling to quiet his sobs.

“I can’t.”

“Please.”

“I- I can’t- please, I can’t-“

“Tord..” His voice is tender, and Tord whimpers, cracking a single eye open.

His gaze lands first on an unmarked throat, and looks up toward beautiful, brilliant green eyes. His heart breaks in his chest, and he almost chokes at the look of love in those familiar eyes.

“Edd.” He chokes, and the brunette smiles brilliantly at him.

“There you are.” He whispers, and Tord’s expression twists.

“I’m sorry.” He chokes out as he lurches forward and wraps his arms around Edd’s shoulders, unable to choke back his soft sobs as the brunettes arms encase him.

“It wasn’t your fault.” He murmurs. “I’m so sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“How- how are you even alive?”

Edd chuckles sheepishly and shrugs.

“Superpowers.” He admits, and Tord pulls back to meet his gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were alive?”

Edd hesitates to answer for a moment.

“Don’t misunderstand, I did die. My powers fixed my neck and brought me back. I didn’t tell you because, to be honest, I didn’t even realize you were still in the house. I thought you were with Tom and Matt, so I went straight there.” An embarrassed flush covers his cheeks at that, and he grimaces guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

Tord shakes his head.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, I-“ He breaks off, and exhales shakily. He shakes his head to himself, and then lurches up and connects their lips.

Edd doesn’t hesitate to kiss back, gently cupping Tord’s cheeks, and he only pulls back when he feels tears hitting his fingertips.

“Oh, honey.” He murmurs gently, pulling Tord into his lap where they sit on the kitchen floor. He pushes his face into Tord’s hair before pulling the Norwegian closer so his head can meet Edd’s chest. “I’m here. Shhh, I’m here.”

Tord is unable to stop the meltdown and simply weeps, blubbering apologies as he clings for all he’s worth to the man he’d believed with all his heart was gone forever. He listens as he weeps, to the steady beating of Edd’s heart, and feels part of his own knit itself back together, but the tears don’t stop.

Edd doesn’t know how long they sit there, holding each other without speaking, until Tord finally asks where the others are.

“Paul and Patryk took them on a walk. They’ve both had their meltdowns, and we thought it would be easier on you if it was just me here.” He explains, and Tord nods, tightening his grip on Edd’s hoodie. His breath shudders as he struggles to calm down, pushing his face harder into Edd’s chest.

“I’m sorry I brought all of this to you.” He whispers. “I’m sorry that all of this happened- I’m sorry you died because of me-“

“Tord.” He says firmly, and the man manages to raise his gaze. “I didn’t die because of you.” His voice is softer now, eyes holding nothing but love and forgiveness. “I died because of Stephan. He’s gone now, he can’t hurt us anymore. We’ll be okay.”

Tord sniffles and looks away.

“Promise?” He whispers.

He hates himself for asking such a childish question, but he needs to hear it. Needs to hear Edd promise to him that they’d be okay from here on out.

“I promise.”

He exhales softly and nods his head slightly.

“Thank you.”

Before Edd can reply, they hear the front door open.

“Edd?” Matt’s voice calls out, and Edd squeezes Tord in reassurance before replying.

“In here!” He calls, and a moment later Tom and Matt appear in the doorway. Their expressions immediately brighten, and Tom is first to move.

“You’re awake!” He cries, rushing across the room and embracing Tord.

“Hey.” He whispers, arms wrapping around the brunette to firmly squeeze him, gaze falling upon Matt. “Are you okay?”

“We’re okay.” Matt confirms, crouching to join the hug. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two days.” Edd is the one to reply this time. “We fixed up some of the house, and got rid of the um..” He coughs. “The bloody sweaters.”

Tord nods, squeezing he duo in front of him once more, grimacing when tears prick his eyes.

“I’m happy you’re all okay. We’re together again. We’re okay.”

“We’re okay.” Edd confirms, lips pressing gently to Tord’s cheek, and Tom and Matt echo the sentiment.

He exhales shakily and for the first time in a long time, he feels safe. Happy. Like they’ll be okay.