Work Text:
It/it was/was going/going wrong./wrong.
It wasn't working.../It wasn't working!
He / He
needed / needed
to / to
run / fight
We split. / We split.
He sank into the darkness, the depths, down and down and down (he found something there) (or it found him).
Blue roses on golden branches, he was still connected to himself and he made his connection a trellis, and while he sold his memories for time he bargained - the connection would be strengthened by root and branch and petal, and whenever he reached the world so would the blue petals and golden branches that cradled him.
The first time, he found that it was simpler to be in the world than it had been before they split. No struggle to build social connections (he had already done that), no questioning whether his impulses were appropriate (he wouldn't be here if they weren't) - just clearcut simplicity. Fears were to be destroyed. The important one was to be cared for. (But the important one pulled away - had he done something wrong? He'd thrown away his weapon but it didn't seem to help, and his uncertainty pulled him back to the surface.)
The second time, the threat could not be fought. The important one was endangered by something stronger than him. He raised his hand, and held the trellis steady, and asked - and was answered.
He reached to the important one - he couldn't talk, he was the one who had a voice, but he needed to communicate with her, he needed to -
Her hand reached out. He collapsed into the dark.
The third time, he surfaced to the tiresomely familiar feeling of being the butt of the joke. The weight in his chest was familiarly unfamiliar, and easily ignored. The important (cherished) one was clinging to him, either trusting him or trusting her own ability to survive him if she needed to.
The world was simple. Doubts were to be destroyed. The cherished one was to be cared for.
The house recognised him as kin (split into two, the one that was unfound, ignored) and accepted his redefining the ceiling as floor.
He did what he existed for.
He fought.