[Words returned in soft wonder, as gauzy as lesser dreams than this one. Paul discovers his eyes can close, still, so he closes them. He listens to Lazarus' heartbeat, that red-shelled tidal pulse.
He hears it from other voices. He reads it in other hands. He feels it on his back, in his hands, in the myriad throbs of myriad other hearts.]
I know. I see you all. You're there. You're there for me.
[There to watch over, there to absolve, there to cradle him in a dozen arms and soothe him in a dozen voices, and it's all for him. It's not his fault, they tell him, and who is he to say no?]
Am I here for you?
[Under his skin, light traces his bloodstream, dances in flickering sparks at the tips of his fingers and in the curve of his throat.]
no subject
[Words returned in soft wonder, as gauzy as lesser dreams than this one. Paul discovers his eyes can close, still, so he closes them. He listens to Lazarus' heartbeat, that red-shelled tidal pulse.
He hears it from other voices. He reads it in other hands. He feels it on his back, in his hands, in the myriad throbs of myriad other hearts.]
I know. I see you all. You're there. You're there for me.
[There to watch over, there to absolve, there to cradle him in a dozen arms and soothe him in a dozen voices, and it's all for him. It's not his fault, they tell him, and who is he to say no?]
Am I here for you?
[Under his skin, light traces his bloodstream, dances in flickering sparks at the tips of his fingers and in the curve of his throat.]