Recollection

She doesn’t know why she’s running. Why the world seems so wrong, branches and dirt shoved together messily, clouds surrounding her thoughts. Why she struggles to keep on her feet, a reminder somewhere gripping the shambles of her mind telling her to not fall, to not trip, to not get captured. Why danger flares up whenever she slows, with limbs aching and almost inhales. She hopes that the footsteps behind her fall away but they never do, always ringing in her ears and nipping at her ankles.

The stasis is broken when something grips her arm, just painful enough, and pulls her up, a frightened animal in her place as she thrashes, struggling to leave, to escape. The something smiles, and voices in her head claw away the sight, crying out as they push at the lines of her head, filling up with jittering fear, and jarring shrieks that make her wince.

And then it starts to rain.

Hero awakes to the sound of dripping water. For a few moments, she sits there, in a room cast in dim light, her mind soothed by the rhythmic rustling of the world outside her window and allowing herself to listen.

Fingers trace up to the place where the something had grabbed, and presses, searching for that strange pain from before. There’s something in her head, a stain of bad memories, sticking to her thoughts.

She hears faint footsteps.

The noise startles her, spine straightening and fur bristling. The world is tilting, and she can’t quite figure out what’s wrong, furrowing her brows and pursing her lips. It’s there, the wrong, but her eyes don’t seem to focus, a hazy film spread across sight.

The footsteps grow loud, sweeping away the mist and filling her head with sharp fear, for just a moment. And she is left sitting with echoes of pounding in her ears and staggering breaths. The air around her refuses to enter her lungs, letting her choke on nothing.

“Love?”

Hero stills.

She knows that voice.

She knows it, she has to.

It’s so familiar, the tone, the way the sound slightly wavers in that small word. Her name is on the edge of her tongue, a memory too clouded over to truly grip.

It grasps her thoughts, a foreign emotion leaving her on the edge of an abyss, threatening with terrified snarls. She keeps her eyes down, her lips gluing shut at the prospect of replying. She can’t respond.

Because she can’t seem to remember who this person is.

She doesn’t know her.

“Love, could you please look at me?”

The question pulls her from the brink, making her lift her eyes to the ones above her. She’s greeted with a beautiful beast, the concern startling in those teal eyes.

An emotion claws up her throat, and she’s petrified for this person. She has to remember. Hero digs into her memories, faint and fuzzy and warped, digs and digs until she finds it. Until she can grab it with her paws and hold it tight, because it might be the only thing that she can rely on-

Her name is North.

Feelings of something, stab into her, feverish and vile in its panic and relief. She knows something. A piece of stability, minute but enough for now, where she’s surrounded by things she can’t seem to know and a world so strange but familiar.

“Darling, may I touch you?”

The person- North, she knows the name, is still there, with words of honey and comfort spilling out of her mouth, beckoning her to a place where she might, could be alright, be okay. The promise opens her head, and picks out another feeling, a one of soothing sounds and safety and love, and Hero can’t resist.

She nods.

“My little champion. My wonderful saviour.”

Oh. This-

“My lovely dear. Do you know how much you are loved? Oh, how I wish to take these troubles from you.”

It’s just so strange. This warmth that’s carving itself into her heart, curling around and squeezing just the right way, and the way that familiarity flickers in her head, a candle being relit.

“If only you would indulge yourself, and let me treat you. Will you allow me to do so, my darling? To let me take you and comfort you?”

This North, a beast of endearment and luxuries, whose willing to gather her in her arms and spoil her, whose lips leave fluttery trails every time they press onto her skin. Oh, that warmth spreads from the tips of her ears to every inch of her body.

“Love, can you hear me?”

She’s startled out of the wonder that is the other’s grasp, and stares up into glittering eyes. Pressing herself into the fluffy coat, she only nods. She’s not sure that she can speak, her voice long withered away, and words dissolving from her tongue.

“My dove, will you grant me the pleasure of hearing your voice?”

Smiling lips brush against her ear, a slight scrape of tusks following behind. There’s a slight weight upon her head and large paws holding her tight, and she can only sigh at the position. As soon as she recognises the request, she gathers a sharp inhale. A mild embarrassment lurking somewhere at the back of her muddled mind, she lifts her head once again, and she manages a shaky smile, built on misplaced memories and the want to be stable.

“Haven’t you heard it more times than you can count?”

North’s smile softens with an indescribable emotion, and she presses another light kiss to her head.

“You dastardly creature, I will never get tired of how you sound. Not in a million eras.”

The beast pulls her in even more close, and she’s left with the smell of roses and strawberries. It’s not quite clear, a floating sensation flowing through her body, but she’s never felt so grounded, so content.

She may not quite remember this wonderous person right now, but it doesn’t really matter in the end, because this is just fine.

Hero closes her eyes, and smiles into North’s fur.

And somewhere outside their little cottage, the rain finally stops.