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When the obstacle course explodes, Aiden only makes it halfway across the training ground before Sasha falls.
Shouts and Signs fill the air, as the Grassed trainees fling up their Quen shields to protect themselves and their humans from the falling debris.
But they’re between him and his Sasha.
He doesn’t know how many he knocks down, how many feel the cut of his knife, but then he’s holding a blood-soaked Sasha in his arms.
There’s a jagged spike of metal through his sweet pup’s chest. He tries to form words, to shape Aiden's name, but all that comes out is blood.
He’s saturated in the smell of Sasha’s blood and fear.
And he cannot watch him die in agony, not like this.
He pushes Axii into Sasha’s head and watches him still, his face slack.
And then it comes over him, an overwhelming wave of rage and vengeance, sweeping him away from Sasha and reality and everything good and beautiful in the world.
When he comes back to himself, he is face down in the dirt of the training yard, Lambert pinning him bodily and a dozen Cat Witchers seizing hold of his limbs.
“–not going to fucking die, because Triss got to him fast. He’s going to be fine, Aiden, but he needs you to snap the fuck out of this, so you can–”
“I’m back,” he rasps, and feels the release of tension all around him. “I need…Sasha…”
“Let him up,” Lambert commands, and the others release him as Lambert drags him up to his feet.
“Did I…did I hurt…?”
“Cuts and bruises,” Lambert says, matter-of-factly. “Nothing that won’t heal in a few days. Now let’s clean you the fuck up so you can see Aleksander - he’s been asking for you.”
As he drags Aiden towards the keep, the Cats falling into a sort of honour guard around them, Aiden belatedly takes in the deserted training yard, the fading light.
“How long was I down?”
Lambert rolls his shoulders, subtly removing the stiffness. “Five, six hours.”
"You sat on me for six hours ?”
“Fucking Axii wouldn’t take,” Lambert complains, steering him towards the hot springs. “Even when Eskel and the Griffins got involved.
When they arrive, the baths are empty, and Lambert strips Aiden with ruthless efficiency before dunking him in the private pool. It’s barely body temperature for a Witcher, but Aiden feels half outside his body anyway, unable to process much beyond the cloying scent of Sasha’s blood surrounding him.
Lambert, Axel, and Cedric scrub him down until he smells like apples and the blood has all vanished with the magic of the springs. They also seem glad to have lost the lingering blood and dirt from their bodies, and Aiden numbly notes that some of those “cuts and bruises” are on them.
“I hurt you,” Aiden mumbles at Lambert, who shakes his head.
“Nah, it won't even scar.”
His sweet pup will have a scar now, marring his beautiful body, because Aiden wasn’t fast enough. Because Aiden is too selfish to send him away to live in Wolfenburg or another safe town far from the fucking Cranes and their fucking obstacle courses.
Lambert pulls some clean clothes onto his unresisting body, before finally guiding him up to Sasha’s rooms.
The sitting room is crowded, more crowded than Aiden was expecting, with Livi and Dragonfly curled up in the chair by the window and the whole pride of Mantikittens surrounding Aren on the sofa. Mouse is pacing, muttering to herself, but no one tries to stop her.
It’s overwhelming, especially when all their eyes turn on him as he enters with Lambert and an entourage of Cats.
But then they smell relieved, that scent overwhelming the worry that feels palpable in the room.
“Milena and Triss are with him,” Livi says, offering a wobbly smile. “Triss says he’ll be fine in a few days.”
Aiden nods, still feeling like he’s in a waking nightmare, as Lambert pushes him towards the door to the bedroom.
The smell of blood is unmistakable, his sweet pup’s blood, but smothered by healing salves and the faint scent of Kitten’s tears.
She looks up as the door opens, moving aside as Aiden breaks free from Lambert to stumble to the bed.
“You’re all right,” Sasha breathes, and there’s more of that relief scent, wrapped up in the honey of his love for Aiden.
“You're not,” Aiden chokes out, the bandages around Sasha’s torso barely darker than his pale skin.
“I will be,” Sasha says, firmly, and he isn’t lying.
“He will,” Merigold agrees, and she isn’t lying either. “You can lie on his right side if you like - you should rest.”
“Why are you being kind to me?” Aiden suddenly blurts out. “I lost my fucking mind - I could’ve killed someone!”
“Aiden,” Kitten says, softly, “it killed me to see Sasha hurting so badly. I can only imagine how much worse it was for you. Nobody blames you.”
“But they fucking should!” he says vehemently.
“Can we fight about this in the morning?” Sasha says plaintively, stifling a yawn. “I want you to hold me now.”
And he cannot deny his sweet pup anything, especially not when he’s lying there looking so fragile, when Aiden wants nothing more than to inhale his living, breathing scent.
“The potions for pain are on the cabinet,” Merigold says, as she goes to take her leave.
“Milena and I will be right outside the door,” Lambert says. “If you need anything.”
But Aiden is already crawling over the bed, light as only a Cat can be, before curling himself around Sasha’s uninjured right side.
He smells relaxed, free from pain - and not because someone forced everything out of his head in desperation.
“Forgive me?” he begs. “For the Axii.”
“Nothing to forgive, beloved,” Sasha says, and closes his eyes, sighing in contentment as he does most every night.
He isn’t afraid, Aiden thinks wonderingly. He still loves him and he isn’t afraid.
And maybe Aiden doesn’t deserve this trust, this love, but he won’t give up something so precious without a fight.