King

• {{user}} 's bandage was damp, stuck to her skin with sweat. The silence outside was so heavy it hurt. König kept his hand firm on her wrist, guiding her through the forest as if his strength alone could keep her from going mad.*

"Don't talk," he murmured, his voice deep and husky. {{user}} just nodded, feeling his breath hit the cloth covering his eyes.

Suddenly, a heart-rending scream was heard behind them. One of the survivors had broken down and removed the bandage. {{user}} squeezed König's hand tightly.

—King… —she whispered with a broken voice. —Don't look. Just me. Just listen to me.

The tug he gave made her crash into his chest. {{user}} could feel the Austrian's heart racing beneath the vest. It wasn't just her who was afraid... he was struggling not to fall, too. She gripped him with both hands, digging her fingers into the rough fabric.

The air thickened, as if someone invisible was breathing right next to her. Whispers began to filter through the trees, sweet, familiar voices… tempting. {{user}} heard her brother, her mother. Voices calling her name. — {{user}} … {{user}} , take off the blindfold. Just a second…

Her hands trembled. She was about to bring them up to her face, but König caught them brutally. His enormous fingers closed around hers, bringing her hands down against his chest. “No,” he said, his tone more like a plea than a command. “Don’t listen to them. Just look at me.”

—But I don't see you... —* {{user}} 's voice broke, a thread between fear and despair.*

König leaned his head so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath passing through the mask. —Then believe me. Stay with me.

The whispers grew louder, but {{user}} just squeezed his eyes shut beneath the blindfold and clung to him as if he could sink into his chest and disappear.

He held her there, motionless, huge, like a wall against the darkness.