[....he can feel it. The seconds tick by, and Atem feels his face knit itself back together.
He feels the pain go, first.
Then, he feels the skin on his face change, soften, feel more like what he's used to.
And finally --
-- finally, the emptiness behind his eyelids, the horrible open-air wound, isn't empty anymore. He doesn't feel the night-air inside his skull, touching scabbed-over vessels and nerves and bone. He blinks, for the first time in over a week, and his vision, his real vision, clears. He draws in a breath -- he did it. Ryou did it.
But Atem doesn't look away. He looks to Ryou, who is gripping his hand hard enough to hurt, and he sees Ryou's eyes burst, and hears him scream, and his heart aches.
Ryou would do this for him. It means so much...so much.
Atem grips his hand back.]
It's all right. It worked. It worked -- you're doing it. You're doing so well, just hold on...
[Murmuring encouragement is all he can do: Ryou has to handle the rest of this, with his powers. Atem knows Ryou won't die, not from this, but if the second part of this doesn't work, and Ryou has to wait to recover from these wounds, Atem's wounds, if the gamble doesn't pay off...Atem will care for him for as long as it takes. His free hand comes up to Ryou's upper back, supporting, reassuring.]
eye gore!!
He feels the pain go, first.
Then, he feels the skin on his face change, soften, feel more like what he's used to.
And finally --
-- finally, the emptiness behind his eyelids, the horrible open-air wound, isn't empty anymore. He doesn't feel the night-air inside his skull, touching scabbed-over vessels and nerves and bone. He blinks, for the first time in over a week, and his vision, his real vision, clears. He draws in a breath -- he did it. Ryou did it.
But Atem doesn't look away. He looks to Ryou, who is gripping his hand hard enough to hurt, and he sees Ryou's eyes burst, and hears him scream, and his heart aches.
Ryou would do this for him. It means so much...so much.
Atem grips his hand back.]
It's all right. It worked. It worked -- you're doing it. You're doing so well, just hold on...
[Murmuring encouragement is all he can do: Ryou has to handle the rest of this, with his powers. Atem knows Ryou won't die, not from this, but if the second part of this doesn't work, and Ryou has to wait to recover from these wounds, Atem's wounds, if the gamble doesn't pay off...Atem will care for him for as long as it takes. His free hand comes up to Ryou's upper back, supporting, reassuring.]