#(a.verse) henry & michael [...] rel.

[runeians]

18﹕ sender  comes  to  receiver  after  being  injured . (for henry!)

HENRY EMILY IS A LOT OF THINGS, AND LUCKILY, ONE OF THOSE HAPPENS TO BE FUNCTIONING UNDER PANIC. He doesn't even hesitate before ushering Michael inside: ignore the fact he hasn't seen him in years, ignore the fact he'd long since sworn not to come into contact with anything else of William's - this is a boy that had once been like a son to him, and he's not turning him away in his hour of need. Because something Henry Emily is NOT is good at pretending he doesn't care. " You're bleeding badly, " he says, blunt, gesturing for the young man to sit while he ducks out of the shabby main room, returns clutching a first - aid kit and towels stacked on top of each other, " a hospital might have been better at this than me, son. "

( Doesn't think about the fact he sometimes feels cursed, trying to help those around him. First his daughter, then his wife. He hadn't even tried to save William or the Afton family and he'd still failed. What makes him think he can save Michael here ? )

( Okay, Emily. Henry sucks in a deep breath, crouches down so he's eye - level with the wound. It's just a bit of blood. Don't be over - dramatic. )

He has to wonder what brings Michael back here. To Hurricane, sure ( had he ever even left ? Or, like Henry, had he felt tied, tethered, here ? ) but also to here. Henry's house. When they'd last spoken, it had been . . . A lifetime ago. Several lifetimes ago. Any conversation he'd had after the diner tragedy had blurred and bled in his mind into one indistinguishable mess, and when he thinks back, he can't quite remember his parting words to Michael. In any case: why has the only remaining Afton boy turned to here, him, now ?

Anxiety stirs like a loose tooth in his chest. But it's not what he has to focus on. There are bigger worries at hand.

" This, " he says, shaking off his own hesitancy, " might hurt a bit. Need to make sure it's clean. Are you with me ? "

Are you with me, following what I'm saying ? Are you with me, coherent, not giving into shock after whatever the hell happened to you ? Are you with me, really back ?

Are you with me ?