Lion Sin of Pride (Ban x OC)

Held Together

Leo was awoken a few hours later to the sound of crashing in the hallway outside of her room.

She opened her eyes slowly, not really sure that she wanted to ever open them again after Elizabeth telling her what they had lost. In fact, she now wished that first darkness and pain and cold she had felt really had been death. It would have been preferable to the bitter anguish that now constantly boiled in her stomach.

The crashing sound echoed into her room again and she tilted her head toward the door, now hearing someone, Elizabeth?, yelling something down the hallway. She could just make out the words through the oak door. She'd never heard Elizabeth raise her voice before. "Ban! You're going to make it worse! And stop knocking over the statues! This isn't our castle and we are guests here!"

Leo rolled her eyes. Why was she not surprised to hear that Ban was the source of the loud noises? She heard Ban bellow back to her, his voice growing closer. "Hell, I don't care about this damn castle, princess! I don't care about that damn kid king either! And I don't care about these damn, hideous statues!" Another crash. "L is awake, and when I get in there, I'M GOING TO KILL HER."

The door to her room flew open, crashing into the wall, and Ban barreled in, intense rage flashing across his eyes as he caught sight of Leo lying in the large bed on the opposite side of the room.

Elizabeth appeared in the doorway behind him, looking slightly frazzled, and attempted to grab his large arm as he stalked toward Leo. "Stop it, Ban. She's injured and she doesn't need you to come in here and yell at her!"

Leo raised an eyebrow at the pair as Ban struggled to pry the princess off of his arm, swearing under his breath, and then she said, "It's alright, Elizabeth. You can let him go. I think I know how to handle Foxy after all this time." She flashed him a tired smirk as he met her gaze. "And if all else fails, I'll ram a sword through his stomach. That always seems to keep him in line."

Elizabeth released her hold on Ban's arm and gave him a pointed glare before whirling on her heel and exiting the room, slamming the door behind her.

Ban stood in the middle of the room for a moment, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, his gaze boring into the ground at his feet. Leo was surprised the floor hadn't burst into flames already under his angry, intense gaze.

She pushed herself into a sitting position, adjusting the bedding behind her to prop her up, and managing to keep the groans of pain silent behind gritted teeth. When she was comfortable, she glanced over at Ban again, who still hadn't moved. "Well? Are you going to yell at me or what, Foxy?"

He finally looked up at her, and she held his gaze, even though the intensity in his eyes caused her insides to jump slightly with a hint of nervousness. "What in Seven Hells were you thinking? You almost died! And what I did....." He looked down at his hands, a flash of self loathing flashing across his face before he looked up to her again. "I could have killed you. I should have killed you. You should never have asked that of me, L."

"But I knew you'd do it." She simply threw back at him. "That's why I asked you. I knew you wouldn't hesitate. You'd do what I asked."

Anger flashed in his eyes again and he stalked toward her, his hands once again clenched into fists at his side. "That's what I'm saying, L. You never should have asked me in the first place. You shouldn't have put me in that position to begin with. If you had just watched your own damn back and not gotten in my way..." He got in her face, taking her shoulders in his hands and shaking her slightly, trying to make her understand the level of rage that was building in his chest. "I didn't want you to promise to protect me. I never asked for it. So why the hell did you have to choose me over yourself?"

Leo remained calm as he stopped yelling, his face now just inches from hers. She studied him for a moment and then said in low voice, "You done now?" She could feel his impassioned, anger driven breaths on her face as she held his gaze for a few moments longer. When he didn't attempt to say anything else, she leaned forward and smashed her lips against his. She grabbed his jacket in her hands and pulled him toward her, forcing him to lean further over the bed as she ran her tongue over his bottom lip. She felt him release a shuddering breath as his anger melted away and he responded to her suddenly, pushing her back on the bed, his lips rough and hot against hers.

He ran a hand up her back and into her hair, entwining his fingers into the long dark strands. Suddenly, he gripped her hair and wrenched her head back, breaking their contact. He raised an eyebrow at her and said quietly, "Don't think this gets you off the hook for making me worry, L."

Her dark eyes met his and suddenly, in that moment of contact and silence, she saw everything that he had been holding back. He had watched two of their friends die before his eyes, not to mention that he had thought that he had killed her by doing what she had asked, and the pain, and sorrow, and worry, and anguish, and guilt that he tried so very hard to keep hidden behind those red irises, was suddenly so transparent to her.

"I'm sorry, Ban."

He released his hold on her hair, surprise flashing across his eyes at her simple statement. Before he could say anything, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, ignoring the pain that stretching her arms caused to flash across her abdomen, and murmured once again, into his ear. "I'm so sorry, Ban."

She felt his arms go around her in return and he buried his face in her neck. She felt him take in a deep breath, his chest rising and falling against her and then she felt a warm, wetness against her skin. He began to shake slightly and she tightened her grip on him, hoping that her physical presence might be of some comfort, no matter how small.

Leo didn't know if Ban felt the same way, but she wondered, if she let him go, if the shattered pieces of what was left of her would fall to the floor without him holding them together, and break into a million fragments of what once was.

So they just sat like that, in silence, holding each other together, for a very long time.