#//No need to match length jhuhgfkhg

[dutybcrne]

@strdstd said : i already lost you once. i'm not going to lose you again. {Dain for Halfdan bc lISTEN-} 『 Meme || Accepting 』

         Being an odd amalgamation that was an ascended human who still retained certain Abyssal affliction was never going to by easy.

Halfdan knew this well, the odd way his Vision had not only refused to cooperate with him at first, but in the way it thrummed uncomfortably ( at best ) whenever he used it. He knew in the way extended usage tended to really hurt, especially the more his emotions tended to lapse and surge.

         Whenever that form tended to take over, in more dire circumstances.

         Like the most recent battle they'd faced, having pushed himself to that familiar, monstrous appearance he'd donned for 500 years because his Vision wasn't enough. Because he had to protect his fellow knights once more ( he was stronger now than before, he couldn't fail them, too! ). Because he needed to stay by Dainsleif's side, backing him up the best he could as always, to hell with how much his body felt like it were being torn apart. To hell with how much it hurt to maintain that body, whether the more the riftwolves would lash at him, or because of that accursed clash of those two energies-

         Teeth grit tight.

         That body had already begun to fall apart on him far too soon, the visage cracked and partially fallen away by the time he'd found himself having to take a knee. To try and catch his breath, act as though he could still run up and about to keep helping like all the others. But of course Dainsleif knew better. Even without the wheezed breaths rattling through his chest then, still were even now, even if most of his face had still been concealed by that shadow husk facade he'd donned, Dain could tell he was reaching his limit. Knew this, as well as he did, but even still...still...!

         "Starlight...!" Still, the ache bore into his heart at the concern. The desperation threaded in his beloved voice, spelled clear in his features as the plea had his lips. More than the disappointment in himself that he hadn't been able to swiftly recover, the burn of his failure- "Dain, I can't just...!"

         I can't just leave you to fight alone again. Please-

         "Just-" If he couldn't handle picking back up the pace after a mere ambush, after using his ace in the hole...how could he possibly think himself worthy of being the captain's right hand. This wasn't a time to be weak, to be inefficient- "Please, Dainsleif, I...y-you can't afford to shoulder more burden on my behalf...!"

         Dainsleif was impossibly overworked as it was. Endlessly nonstop, if Halfdan had to drop out now, with all the other captains and even the Acting Grandmaster themselves spread so thinly...!

         "I just...need a brief breather. Let me do this for you. Please, I don't...I can't let you down again...!"