He reminded himself not to fight back, the whole experience would be over quicker that way. He squeezed his hands together tighter, trying to focus on the pressure instead of Astral. The movement brought back a fresh sting of pain from his bruised knuckles that he refused to acknowledge. He was hoping Astral would just stop with the injuries on his head.
Astral noticed, though. Of course he would. He let his hands lower, placing them gently on top of Simon's. He healed them.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. Mia was still panicking, her shoulders going up and down as she breathed.
Simon opened his mouth to say something back, but thinking of nothing, and having no words escape his lips anyway, he closed it after a few more seconds. He still kept his eyes focused on the floor, knowing better than to say all the things he wanted to. That he knew the god hadn’t been sorry back then. That he could remember the look of pride in Astral’s eyes.
Astral took his hands from Simon finally, moving to stand. He knew he wasn't wanted. Mia could finally move again, breathing heavily as her head hung. She kept herself between Astral and Simon, glaring at the god.
Simon carefully reached out to grab Mia’s hands, holding them between his two still shaking ones. Besides that, nothing. He just wanted Astral to leave.
Mia turned from Astral then to face Simon, holding his hands in turn. She doubted he wanted to go back to the bedroom…
Astral watched for a moment, quiet. What Simon needed was rest… and he wouldn't get it out there. It was a split moment decision as he took only a couple steps towards them before reaching out and picking Simon up.
Needless to say Simon didn’t like that in the slightest and went into fight or flight response almost instantly. “L-Let me go!” He was already pretty much screaming, trying desperately to free himself from the god’s arms. He started hyperventilating, his thoughts already going off the deep end of what might happen to him.
Astral couldn't have Simon screaming the entire way back. So, he raised his hand, pulling it firmly over Simon's mouth. He did remove it after a moment, but that didn't mean much. He'd taken away Simon's ability to speak.
"I'm not going to hurt you," He said softly, holding Simon close to his chest and restraining him.
Mia was on her feet in a moment, trying to get Simon out of Astral's hands.
"S-Stop!!"
Astral’s words barely even registered in Simon’s mind, and even then they didn’t mean much to him. He’d already had enough broken promises. He was trying so hard to scream, to get any sort of sound out to make Astral listen to him, to make this stop. He very quickly began to cry as he became more and more panicked. He was still trying his hardest to get away from Astral, scratching and pushing at him.
Astral took Simon's wrists in his hand, forcing the man to stop fighting so much. The god was just too strong. He frowned down at Mia, and soon she was just as frozen as before, her mouth sealed shut.
Astral's influence seeped into Simon's body again, making it sluggish without affecting Simon's mind. Taking the fight out of him.
Simon was terrified, and despite barely being able to move, he still shook with fear. He should’ve been expecting this to happen again but he wasn’t ready. He couldn’t handle going through that again right now. He silently stared up at the god, his eyes pleading with him. But he doubted Astral would look or even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
Astral let go of Simon's wrists, shifting his hold to be able to have the mortal closer to his chest. One hand rested on Simon's head, the other running up and down Simon's back.
"I've got you…"
That’s exactly what he was worried about. He was still crying, the tears seeming nowhere near coming to an end. As soon as Astral let go of his wrists he tried to start fighting again but his body wasn’t complying. The tears fell even quicker at that. He wanted to scream and scream until there was no air left in his lungs, but he couldn’t make a single sound. Astral’s hand on his back made him want to puke. He just wanted to be left alone.
Astral held Simon to his chest, and it wasn't long at all until he opened the door to the bedroom. He carried Simon to the bed, setting him down.
"You're okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Astral said again as he put the blankets up around Simon.
Simon clearly didn’t believe him at all. Being back on a bed definitely wasn’t helping either. Normally the blankets would make him feel better but even that only made him feel worse. At this point he wasn’t sure he could stop crying even if he wanted to. So he sat there, unable to move besides shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Astral watched Simon for a moment before lifting his hand up. He didn't like how scared Simon was, and he couldn't understand why it was directed at him. He put his hand on top of Simon's eyes, pushing them closed.
"Sleep…"
No, no, no! He didn’t want to sleep, he just wanted to be left alone. He desperately wanted to be able to make any sound of protest, but instead could only cry in frustration. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want any of this to happen.
Astral let his power slowly flow into Simon, ebbing him to sleep. It would help, the god thought. Simon would feel better with more rest. The god gently wiped Simon's tears away, letting up the power keeping Simon silent and still just as he was fully falling alseep.
Simon was asleep now but he most definitely wasn’t happy about it. His last waking thoughts spent worrying about what Astral would do to him. Whenever he was allowed to wake back up, he’d be back to the same state he’d been in when he first woke up that morning.
That wasn't good, because there was one thing Astral had left inside of Simon-
He wouldn't be able to hurt himself. Not even a single scratch, his body would stop him from being able to do anything.
The god stood, leaving. Simon would wake up when he'd had enough time to calm down.
Simon woke up a few hours later, just as terrified as when he’d gone to sleep. He didn’t necessarily feel any different physically from when he’d been put to sleep. But he also knew that didn’t mean anything. He sat right up in bed, looking around the room.
Mia had made it back into the room. She hadn't tried to lay down on the bed, resting her head against the side instead. She'd passed out herself, drying tear tracks on her cheeks. Astral was nowhere to be seen as least.
That didn’t help him get any other answers either, but at least she was there, that helped a bit. He was thankful that Astral wasn’t in here. He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his head on top of them and starting to cry again. He did his best to stay quiet, not wanting to disturb Mia. He hated this…that he had to wake up not knowing if he was okay.
Mia shifted some, though. She wasn't very far into sleep, and she could hear what little of crying that she could. She sat up some, rubbing her eyes some.
"Simon..?" Mia trailed off, looking up. "Did… Did he..?" Did he do anything to Simon?
Simon didn’t look up, starting to cry harder at the question. “I-I don’t know!” He’d been hoping Mia would have some answers. “I don’t know anything!” He cried out. He hated that it even had to be a question. He hated more that he didn’t have an answer.
Mia shifted to stand, not sure what she should do. She hadn't been able to move until Astral had already made it back to the living room. He hadn't taken long, but… who knew, with him. He could have done whatever he wanted in that time.
"I'm so sorry…" She wished she could just tell Simon everything was okay, that he hadn't been hurt.
She didn't want to lie, though…
It only took another moment for Simon to break down into sobs. “I just want him to leave us a-alone!” He sobbed out, barely understandable. “H-hasn’t he done enough already?!”
"I… I know…" Mia trailed off for a moment. How could she comfort Simon? Give him false hope? Things were only going to get worse from here, it showed on her face.
Simon glanced up at her, definitely looking like a wreck. “I-if it’s okay with you, c-could I have a h-hug please?” He asked softly.
"Of course," Mia said softly. She moved onto the bed with Simon, wrapping her arms around him. "Of course, Simon, I'll never turn you down when you need one." Mia held Simon gently. She wanted to say she was protective, but… she had tried before, and it hadn't worked. She couldn't save him, and she hated herself for it.