What Wouldn't I Give

[Nox]

But you will. echoed in Nox's head. He didn't know if it was his own errant thought. Or some voice he didn't know about. It didn't matter he wasn't going to listen to it. Raffe was here now, and now is what mattered. The future wasn't guaranteed. It was something he had learned young. Even before watching his mother die right in front of him by unseen claws, even before that moment changed his life forever. But every moment changed your life forever, even this one as simple and sappy as it was. It would change the way things were.

Nox let those words sink in. Forced himself to think about what it meant. "I'm counting on that." he whispered, Raffe wasn't going anywhere. Which was more true than anything. He was at Kallisti first, his family first, his home first. Nox couldn't help the terror and the darkness that came next. The feeling of loneliness. But Raffe wasn't gone, he was here. Nox pressed his lips against Raffe's again, more hungry more needy this time than the last. He needed to remind himself of the things he had, not the the things he lost. He was alive and that was what counted. He was alive.

There was shouting down the hall. "What do you mean it's gone?"