[ Yeah. Bitterness is an old friend. Pain is personal. He can't tell Steve how to feel. But he thinks, with enough time and distance, Steve will eventually find the words a comfort.
He pauses. It's a difficult question. When they escaped Thorne, they'd lost people along the way. Their return from the tunnels was the same. He doesn't know what the difference is: death in the caves, disappearances through the portals. But Nero—a visible, bloody death. He supposes that's not occurred before. Not...permanently. ]
It was Dean. [ His voice is quiet. ] When we returned from the mountains, they told me he was taken by a leviathan. Then weeks later—he came back wrong. I thought I'd have to put him down. I nearly did.
[ This is the first time he's spoken of it to anyone. Not every return is a blessing. He's glad Dean is all right, he does not regret that they saved him, but nor is he blind to how much happenstance saving him involved. The Mark. His blood. Ciri's blood. The fucking angel.
Steve's eyes are red-rimmed, and something catches inside Geralt's chest. He turns, not quite reaching for Steve but close enough side by side that their shoulders brush. There's more silence, more empty air, before he speaks again. ]
Would you like to see his domain? [ When Rinwell vanished, Geralt had retrieved one of her owls. It helped. Perhaps Steve will find a keepsake of his own, something to preserve in a place where all traces of him might otherwise vanish. Only a few hours have passed. It should still be standing. ]
no subject
He pauses. It's a difficult question. When they escaped Thorne, they'd lost people along the way. Their return from the tunnels was the same. He doesn't know what the difference is: death in the caves, disappearances through the portals. But Nero—a visible, bloody death. He supposes that's not occurred before. Not...permanently. ]
It was Dean. [ His voice is quiet. ] When we returned from the mountains, they told me he was taken by a leviathan. Then weeks later—he came back wrong. I thought I'd have to put him down. I nearly did.
[ This is the first time he's spoken of it to anyone. Not every return is a blessing. He's glad Dean is all right, he does not regret that they saved him, but nor is he blind to how much happenstance saving him involved. The Mark. His blood. Ciri's blood. The fucking angel.
Steve's eyes are red-rimmed, and something catches inside Geralt's chest. He turns, not quite reaching for Steve but close enough side by side that their shoulders brush. There's more silence, more empty air, before he speaks again. ]
Would you like to see his domain? [ When Rinwell vanished, Geralt had retrieved one of her owls. It helped. Perhaps Steve will find a keepsake of his own, something to preserve in a place where all traces of him might otherwise vanish. Only a few hours have passed. It should still be standing. ]