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 He did not have a rosary with him, but let that be one more transgression to ask for God's forgiveness. Huddled behind a massive oak tree, Rictor held his hands together, rubbing one thumb against the other as if he were passing the beads between his fingers. "Creo en Dios, Padre todopoderos . . ." he whispered to himself. Please, Lord, absolve this young man of his cowardice that condemned the people he loved most to gruesome deaths at the hands of monsters while he panicked and ran. Please do not condemn him to the same fate. Shatterstar recognised the kneeling form of his dearest friend and broke off from Madin and Liam. He could trust Madin to protect Liam and themself. But who was protecting Rictor? It didn't matter he didn't have much to protect him with against these monsters. He would not leave him behind. He knelt next to Rictor to try to haul him up, get him out of that huddled position and get him moving. "Rictor, Rictor we have to move." Rictor looked up and started at the ghost before him, but that expression melted into a relieved smile. "You are taking me to Xibalba? I don't want to go, but if that's where you are now, maybe . . . maybe it will be okay. I'm so sorry, Star." Shatterstar grabbed Rictor by the forearms and hauled him up. Did... Did Rictor think him dead? Maybe Rictor could be able to feel his powers and feel him alive. "Feel the Earth. We have to go, now. Liam and Madin are waiting and we have to find everyone else." "They're dead, too?" So this was not actually Shatterstar, was it? Just a psychopomp taking his form, to make it easier for Rictor to pass on. What had he done to earn this kindness, though? Or was it a trick to make his arrival in Hell all the more traumatic? Start his well-deserved eternal torture with a bang. Rictor sighed. If this was his fate, he could at least be a man about it, for once in his life (afterlife?). "Fine. I'm ready..." Shatterstar scowled. "We aren't dead yet." He moved grabbed Rictor's hand and placed it over his heart, hoping the other would feel his heart beat. "We are still living and I would like to stay that way." Always sensitive to even the most minute vibrations, the beat of Shatterstar's heart reverberated in Rictor's own. That was not the heartbeat of a dead man. "Star?" Before Rictor knew what he was doing, he wrapped his arms tightly around his friend, pressing his head against Shatterstar's chest to once again feel life pumping through him. "I'm sorry. I saw you and I . . . I didn't help you. I ran away. I'm so sorry." Shatterstar hugged Rictor back, holding him back and feeling his heart. "That was not me. It was not the real me. Come with the real me and we will escape." "I believe you." Rictor slowly let go and nodded, then followed Shatterstar back to the others. |
