If I should die before I wake [Closed]

[birthmural]

When he had been sedated and placed into the pods, Daimon Hellstrom's heart felt as though it were on fire. When he woke the pain had spread to his entire body. He had been released into one of the halls but he couldn't stand again. He didn't even have the strength to stay on his hands and knees and collapsed onto the floor.

"No." He whispered.

Daimon heard Stacy's gentle, encouraging voice in his head but not listening. He couldn't make out the words.

It was impossible to focus on anything but the pain. He couldn't remember where he'd been before now. He tried to clear his mind and focus but it was useless.

"Months," the word kept running through his mind. Why?

You're dying. And with the realization came other memories. His weakness, his chest pains, all symptoms he had ignored for as long as he could until he saw Dr. Hussain. Somehow, he knew he was dying. He could feel it but until she said "less than six months" he hadn't realized how quickly it was all happening.

Now that time was gone. He had spent it in the pods as Stacy tried in vain to heal him.

Daimon clawed at the floor but even his attempts to crawl failed.

Not yet. God, please not yet. Patsy. Let me see Patsy one more time.

Comments

[couldputitback]

Stacy did care for her crew. Which was probably why Daimon had been placed just outside of the medbay. Doubly lucky as Faiza had just been on her way in for the day.

"Mr. Hellstrom?" She hadn't seen him in months. Not since she'd made her pronouncement about his life expectancy. She crouched beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Hellstrom, it's Dr. Hussain." Announce herself since he didn't seem to be all that well.

[birthmural]

"...Doctor." At her touch, Daimon turned to face Faiza. His eyes were open but unfocused. "I can't..." stand, he tried to say.

Sweat trickled down his face. His shoulder was covered by the plantsuit but if Faiza touched Daimon's skin she would be able to tell he was running a fever.

[couldputitback]

She could definitely tell. She still raised her hand, pressing it to his forehead. "No, I imagine you can't." Didn't matter what he couldn't do. With a fever like that, there wasn't going to be much he could do. "Wait here a moment. I need to get an anti-grav stretcher."

She couldn't get him into the medbay on her own otherwise. He was just too big for her to move on her own.

[birthmural]

Daimon reached to grab her hand.

"Don't."

The son of Satan spent most of his life in solitude. He chose to keep people at a distance, both for his sake and theirs. But as his strength failed, as fear and doubt filled his mind, he knew one thing: he didn't want to die alone.

[couldputitback]

Faiza stopped as he caught her hand, pausing a moment before settling beside him again. "I can't get you inside on my own," she told him.

[birthmural]

"Please..." There was something in his voice that Faiza hadn't heard even when she had told Daimon that he was dying. There was fear.

"Please." He repeated.

Daimon's hold on her hand tightened for several long moments. Then his eyes focused and for the first time he both saw and heard her clearly. He let go.

"Hurry."

[couldputitback]

"They are near the door." The fear did get to her, but she had to remain calm. He needed her to be calm. "I'll only be a moment." She pressed her hand to his shoulder before standing, ducking into the medbay. She was back in only a minute, carrying the stretcher and put it down beside him. "Let me roll you onto your side and get this under your back first. Then we'll get you inside."

[birthmural]

Daimon nodded. He did his best to move- it was easier to shift his weight than to support it- but he still couldn't do it on his own.

"Thank you."

[couldputitback]

Luckily, he didn't have to do it himself. Helping Daimon shift himself onto his side was a lot easier than trying to lift him herself, especially if he could help her a bit. Then it was just a matter of getting the stretcher beneath him and helping to roll him onto his back.

"There," she said, patting his hand as she put them across his stomach. "Just another moment and I'll have you to bed." Where she could at least monitor his condition. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be good. Shaking herself, she moved to the controls, turning on the anti-gravity to lift the stretcher so she could direct it inside.

[cheeseandcrackers]

In the time that Daimon had been gone and Patsy released, Patsy had managed to keep herself busy, with the making of new acquaintances, and going off-shore on magical adventures.

The moment that she'd heard that Daimon had been released, though, and that he'd asked for her, she'd made certain to go be by his side. Something within her was very drawn to that man.

A woman named Faiza - a beautiful doctor, really, and one who Patsy understood was from somewhere in the timeline of her own world - had summoned Patsy, and now she was here, mask off, by Daimon's bedside.

And he seemed rather out of it.

[birthmural]

To be more precise, Daimon was drifting in and out of a fever dream. Although Faiza had done her best to ease the fever, he was coated in sweat.

When he opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was her red hair. The rest of her features came slowly into focus.

He lifted his hand in an unspoken invitation for her to take it.

[cheeseandcrackers]

Patsy gingerly took Daimon's hand in her own and gently squeezed it, attempting to telekinetically will warmth and love into his hand. She knew that doing so was impossible, but...

Well, she had to try.

"Hi sweetie," she said softly. "How are you doing?" She knew how he was doing, and this was mostly an attempt to help Daimon start speaking. To get him a little bit active.

[birthmural]

Daimon tried to squeeze Patsy's hand back but he couldn't. His hold was too tenuous and he was too weak. The spirit is willing, he thought.

"Dying." There was no ignoring that truth anymore.

"I'm sorry." He could feel her love. It couldn't comfort his body but it filled his soul, the one that truly belonged to him.

"I wanted- to give you so much more."

[cheeseandcrackers]

Patsy shut her eyes tightly. That was a truth that she refused to believe. They were superheroes. They were superheroes on a ship made of meat and who knew what else, travelling through space, picking up citizens from universes of all kinds to fight a hugely epic battle. In many of those universes, people died and came back from the dead.

And Daimon Hellstrom was the freaking Son of Satan.

Holding back tears, Patsy said, "Stop it. You are not dying. I won't allow it. Not you. Not like this."

[birthmural]

"Patsy." He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her, to kiss her tears away, but he hadn't the strength. He couldn't even hold back his own tears. "You can't change this."

This is my choice.

For a moment his dream overtook reality. He could see the statue of Michael clearly. He felt the evil resting there instead of his own body. Let that evil die. Let it die with me.

[cheeseandcrackers]

Patsy reached down and unhooked her cat-eared cowl from her bright blue sash. She gently used it to wipe away Daimon's tears. "I can. It's just that you probably won't let me," she said. "You'd rather find some way of protecting me instead."

[birthmural]

Daimon knew the gesture was meant well and loving but it only made him feel ashamed. He couldn't hide his tears. He couldn't wipe them away. This was what he was reduced to. He always thought he would die fighting against his father. He didn't know it would be against himself.

"I'm protecting everyone." Daimon shivered. The fever burned his body but he was still cold. "Including- my soul." His true soul. It was his true soul. He was not the monster, not the shadow. That had never been him. He was free of it now.

At the Statue of Michael the Archangel

[birthmural]

Since the separation from his darksoul, Daimon Hellstrom had spent much of his time reinforcing the seals binding it in place. He thought it was fitting that it should be trapped in the statue of Michael the Archangel, who had always inspired Daimon in his fight against the Adversary.

Unfortunately, as his own life weakened, so too did the seals. Still, they were powerful enough to contain the darksoul. It could not break free. Not on its own.

When Patsy came close enough, it reached out.

Dear Patsy, it has been a long time.

That was Daimon's voice in her head but it was low, warped, and utterly evil.

I am hurt that you would ignore me after our intimacy. Try as I may, I cannot forget being inside of you.

Re: At the Statue of Michael the Archangel

[cheeseandcrackers]

"Okay, raise your hand if you think that was gross," Patsy said, raising her own hand as she said that. She stepped up to the statue of the Archangel and looked it right in the eye, not really knowing if the darksoul was using the statue's eyes for eyes of his own.

"I'm here to talk." Technically, she was there to free him, but she didn't think it would be wise to play that one card just yet.

[birthmural]

The eyes were useless. The darksoul on its own could not see, smell, or taste. It simply was and it could feel Patsy's presence.

Ah, you have missed me. If you are here to talk then you must tell me. How is Daimon? Not well, I presume.

[cheeseandcrackers]

"No," Patsy admitted after a long moment. "He's not doing as well as I hoped he might." That was, of course, putting it so very lightly. "But I'm sure you didn't need to presume what you knew to be the obvious."

[birthmural]

I do. I know why you're here. He is dying.

[cheeseandcrackers]

"Yes," Patsy said. "And as much as he will hate me for this - and he will hate me for this, I don't doubt that at all - I need your help. To save him."

[birthmural]

Ahhh.

The atmosphere in the Vatican darkened as the Darksoul's sigh reverberated through the building, almost physically palpable.

Sweet Patsy, so kind, so selfless, so naive. What would you not do for love? Perhaps I will be inside of you again after all. I have missed the pleasures of the flesh.

Do you know how to release me?

[cheeseandcrackers]

Patsy set her mouth in a grim, annoyed line. She just stared at the statue for a long moment. And then she gently huffed out a sigh. She wouldn't give the darksoul the pleasure of getting to her. Not at all.

"Yes." But all of everything that she felt was contained in that one, single syllable.