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Félix feels the moment all warmth leaves his body and leaves him frozen, staring at his cousin’s limp body on the ground.
On Adrien’s hand, a noticeable crack has formed on both of the twin rings.
Félix heard them crack. He knew the sound— it haunted his nightmares. Adrien had crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut the moment they did.
Félix can’t breathe for a moment. Can’t do anything but stare in horror, old memories rising to choke him, now brought to life in a way he never wanted to happen.
His inaction only lasts a moment before he’s surging forward. Gathering his cousin up in his arms, he furiously blinks away his tears as he drags Adrien onto his bed.
“Du— Duusu.” He gasps, a plea, a prayer. “Find Nathalie. Now.”
He barely even sees Duusu at the speed he moves. He’s a blue blur that zips away without another word, and Félix almost immediately mourns his absence.
Adrien is completely limp. He doesn’t look in pain, just painfully neutral and blank. Like a mannequin or—
Félix has to double check his rings. Damaged— cracked— but not severed. Not broken.
Adrien wouldn’t even be here if they were broken. He would be a feather, and Félix might be able to fix that too but he doesn’t want to find out. He hopes he never has to find out.
Adrien isn’t dead. He’s not going to die— Félix will make sure of that. He’s just…
Just… In a very deep sleep.
It’s a foolish comparison but Félix can bear the thought a little more if he thinks about it that way. Adrien is merely sleeping and just needs help waking up. Like in Fairy Tales— the ones that all had happy endings, or at least, the versions his mum and aunt read to them did.
In those stories where someone fell into a deep sleep, there was always a grand hero to rescue them. A prince, a knight in shining armor, a magical being of some kind to come save them, help them, and break the curse.
Félix doesn’t think he qualifies as any of those things. He just knows he can’t let Adrien fade away or he’ll lose a part of himself he can’t get back.
When Nathalie enters the room, it’s a blur. Félix can barely see her through the flood of tears pouring down his face and dripping off his chin. She speaks but he can’t seem to process any of the words.
What he does understand is the way she gently takes the rings from Adrien. Some part of Félix wants to lunge at her simply for touching them but he holds back. He reminds himself that she’ll fix them, no matter what.
Nathalie leaves with the damaged rings. Duusu lays on his shoulder. Félix is glued to Adrien’s bedside, unable to move even an inch away from where he sits.
Adrien is sleeping. He doesn’t look in pain but Félix can’t decide if that’s worse or not. At least if he were, Félix wouldn’t be clinging to his jacket like he’s going to fade away at any second.
It’s just like the stories, he tells himself. They always wake up at the end, even if it takes a while.
That’s fine. Félix can wait. Someone should be here when he wakes up. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, Félix won’t let him go through this alone.
Duusu nestles into his hair with a sad chirp. Félix forces himself to keep breathing.
For the princess in the story, it had been like no time had passed at all. She was cursed to fall into a deep slumber but when she awoke, everything was fine. She had no memory of the time that had passed in her absence.
Félix wonders how her family felt. In the time that she was asleep, cursed but still able to wake up if the right condition was met, did they doubt if she would? Did they wonder if she would sleep forever, never able to meet the requirements to break the curse? Did they put on a brave face for those around them but despair in private?
Did they ever wonder what they could’ve done differently? Did they ever wonder if they could’ve stopped it from happening if they had just been honest with her about the curse?
Félix does not know how long he sits there by Adrien’s side. He knows it gets darker out but it’s as if he’s stopped existing entirely for a moment. A moon that cannot shine because it only holds the light that the sun reflects.
What he does know is that the moment Adrien’s eyes flicker open, he stops breathing altogether. He goes completely still, wondering if he is dreaming, and waits.
Adrien’s eyes furrow and flicker to him. There’s a question on his tongue but it seems to die immediately, replaced with a wide-eyed look of alarm.
“Félix?” Adrien whispers. “You— you’re crying.”
“So I am.” Félix croaks. For the first time since Adrien collapsed, he reaches up and wipes them away from his face with a wobbly smile. “Are you feeling alright?”
Adrien sits up, blinking spots out of his eyes. Félix knows the feeling well. “I feel like I should be asking you that? What happened? Why did I just…” He trails off.
“I’ll tell you later.” Félix promises. No more putting it off— this can never happen again. “Just… Give me a little while to collect myself.”
“Okay.” Adrien hesitates for a moment, then opens his arms for a silent invitation. Félix doesn’t hesitate, latching onto him in an instant.
The thoughts of Fairy Tales and sleeping curses finally fades away to the back of his mind, and Félix allows himself to enjoy the fact that he got a happy ending to his tale for once.