Bounded To You (Eternity)

Chapter 3 - Fading Will

CHAPTER 3: FADING WILL 

Water droplets slid against Noah's arm, gliding slowly against his skin as his eyes followed them until they fell, with a low dripping sound, back into the tub that he'd been soaking in for the past hour. Nothing felt real anymore, not even the water against his skin. Reclining back against the edge of the tub, his eyes gazed at the ceiling above him, wondering what he was going to do afterwards, with his heart still aching even though the rest of him felt so numb.

Lorena had managed to drag him from the docks, but he could feel himself wanting to go back to the side of that river. He wasn't sure what that urge was about, but he couldn't resist it for long. He wouldn't even have realized that he'd been there all night if Lorena hadn't used it as a reason for him to go to their house and get some rest.

She told him that a bath would make him feel better, but nothing changed. He was still feeling the emptiness, the same hollowness inside of him since Lucius's soul departed from the world he now resented. Everything in him wanting nothing than to be with his Lucius. He felt this desperate need to be by his side, to hold him, to hear his voice as he tells him he loves him.

A reason why he'd been so distracted in his own thoughts lately, where he'd try and remember every time he'd been with Lucius, trying to keep his voice alive in his mind. He felt like he was on the verge of insanity, as he barely was able to hold back the tears that his broken soul desperately wanted nothing more than to shed, hoping for any way of riding itself from the terrible torturous pain it's been enduring.

Bracing against the edges of the tub, he dragged himself to his feet, stepping out of the now cold water and drying himself. He couldn't think of staying in the house anymore. He wanted to return to the bay of the river that now held whatever remained of his beloved.

Once he got his black leather pants on, he turned to the full length mirror, just then seeing his now short hair, and how different it made him look. He could hear Lucius's voice in the back of his mind scolding him for stupidly cutting it, but to him it was such a small thing that he'd done to have a part of him remain by Lucius's side.

As he was about to turn away from the mirror, his eyes spotted something against his skin. He took a step towards the mirror, just then realizing what it was that was marring his skin. His throat constricted as he brought his fingers to trail against the bruise that was on his collarbone. A small purplish bruise he now remembered clearly when he'd gotten.

Swallowing thickly against the lump in his throat, he stepped back as his body shock violently with the longing that suddenly was so overwhelming that he couldn't stay on his feet any longer, collapsing to the ground as a sob retched itself from between his lips, his breathing ragged as he held tightly to where the love bite that Lucius had left on his skin was.

It was as if a dam had been thrashed down with a powerful blow. He couldn't hold his emotions at bay any longer, his heart being crushed with the great love it held in it. Even thought it was breaking, he wouldn't want to get rid of the love that caused his heart to ache so much. He loved him, with everything in his heart, with his whole being, and he could feel how painful it was, as if he was about to die from how much anguish it caused him.

Trembling he fell forward, covering his face with both his hands as he sobbed his aches away, collapsing onto the ground until the back of his hand were pressed against the cold wooden floor.

***

"Lorena, what are you doing?" Lazarus asked, spotting his daughter sitting next to the bathing chamber's door, her legs hugged to her chest and her face hidden against her knees.