Work Text:
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
“Callum?” Rayla said, voice hesitant.
Inhale. Exhale.
“Please… you gotta wake up…”
Inhale. Exhale.
It’s his own fault for messing with dark magic.
He’s a human.
I’ve only known him for three weeks.
It didn’t matter. None of it mattered.
Inhale. Exhale.
Because despite everything, despite doing something Rayla found morally reprehensible, Rayla
cared
about Callum. He was sweet and kind, if a little dumb. He was one of the first people to treat her as an equal instead of a child. Instead of a liability.
Inhale. Exhale.
Because even after she tried to kill him, after she tried to kill his brother , after her people took his parents away… he forgave her. Not only that, he risked his life for her. Fought a fight that wasn’t his to fight.
He’d used dark magic because of her .
Callum had definitely saved her life.
And now he was-
And now-
Inhale. Exhale.
“We’re almost to Xadia,” she said, voice shaking. “Come on, sad prince. We’re so close .”
She wanted him to get better. She wanted him to live . She wanted to laugh at his awful jokes and see him act like a dork. She wanted to watch the way his nose scrunched up when he was drawing and his emerald eyes sparkle with wonder at magic. She wanted to watch as he stubbornly ignored what everyone was telling him in his quest for primal magic, because deep down, Rayla believed if anyone could figure it out, it was Callum.
Inhale. Exhale.
She wanted to say…
She wanted to tell him…
“I… I love you Callum,” Rayla whispered, cheeks wet with tears.
Inhale. Exhale.
Silence.
“
Callum
!”