Excalibur {Complete}

7

When I regained consciousness, I was laid up in a bed again. Looking around, I noticed that it wasn't my room that I had been staying in. The curtains were not the dark blue of the ones in my room, the bed was far too large to be mine, and upon closer inspection the decorations of dragons around the room definitely confirmed it was not my bedroom. Tristan's room... It had been a while since I'd last seen his room. In fact the last time I was in that room was when I'd been patched up after leaving Titan. That seemed like a century ago, though it had probably only been a few weeks.

It was sort of odd being in Tristan's room when he'd hardly spoken to me. I didn't think I had irritated him all that badly, had I? Or maybe he just didn't really like me all that much to begin with. Maybe he'd been seriously busy the past few weeks. I supposed it could have been a number of things that were the reason to my not having seen him all that much. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that he probably wanted to avoid me as much as possible. Maybe he just doesn't trust me... They think I'm still a part of Titan after all...

The thought that Tristan didn't trust me at all kind of hurt. What was it going to take to make them believe that I had left that group and had nothing to do with them at all. I didn't want to have anything to do with Titan. Hell, if I could, I would go back in time and slap my past self for staying with Alik as long as I did. I would have left Titan a long time ago had I known anything. I sighed as I started to sit up.

"There you go sighing again. I really do wonder if that's all you do."

Glancing over to the voice, my eyes were wide as I watched Tristan who was leaning against the wall next to the door of his room. He grinned at me and pushed off the wall to come over to the bed. Once he was seated on the edge next to me, he rested his arm on his knee and placed his head in his palm. I struggled to find something to say as I stared at him.

"Are you alright?"

His simple question threw me off guard as I sat there propped up against the headboard of his huge bed. For a moment I didn't answer him. My gaze dropped to the bed sheets as I thought about it. Was I alright? Physically yes, I wasn't hurt. Mentally though was a different story. My body started to tremble as I recalled the events. The only other time that I'd been in the middle of a fight was when I had been running from Titan. This time was different. I had been in the center of it and I had to fight back in order to live.

"I... Chris..." my eyes burned as the sheets grew blurry. I took a heavy breath and couldn't stop the tears even if I wanted to.

Tristan watched me carefully before he reached out and pulled me close to him. My head fell against his shoulder. The warm muscle pillowed my face as I cried on him like a child. His fingers brushed through my hair, that soft, gentle touch was so amazing. It helped to calm me, to fight off the sobs that pulsed through my chest. I stayed against him for a long while until my crying subsided.

"I'm... okay," I uttered softly after a long while. I felt him nod in response. His hands took my shoulders and pushed me up away from his own. I was sad for the loss of touch. Tristan's hazel eyes studied my face for a long while.

"You're sure? How is your back?"

"Fine," I answered.

"Valkyrie..."

"I'm fine. I promise."

Tristan frowned just a bit before he nodded, accepting my words. It was true, after all. My back didn't hurt at all. The gashes were just about healed anyway. The bandages were left there around my waist to help keep the salve that Kilia used on the wounds from being rubbed away. Other than that, the cuts were nearly healed up. Just a bunch of scabbing really. It itched like a bitch sometimes, but Kilia's solutions helped with that as well.