Show Yourself (Sfaira Mageias Series #3)

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Agreements

How long have my arms wrapped around him? How long have we stayed like this? How long does it take for him to realize that he should come back to us?

He started sniffing, which sounded like tearing a fine paper in half. "I-I can't come back."

Stop lying.

"Even if I want to come back—I can't; I'm not going anywhere, Geon."

Stop making excuses.

"Let me go. Stop squandering your time here: it's not worth it, and it'll never be worth it. An elf like me is not worth any rescuing."

My friends are worth risking my life for, and that includes you.

He turned his face a little to his shoulder: he peeked at my face, gripped my forearms. "Geon," he whispered my name. "Unwrap your arms around me." I buried my face still. "I've been liberated, so please, don't tie me up again; not the shackles, nor the rattling chains."

Don't speak like that. You're squeezing my heart even more.

"Geon—"

"Mou yada." my shoulder started shaking; I crumpled the parts of his haori where my hands reach. "Iyada yo, yada, yada, yada."

We've come this far, and he wants me to let him go? I'm not that psychotic to grant him the privilege to turn his back against us again. We came here to retrieve him, dammit!

"I'm not letting you go; if you want to leave, then take us with you; don't you know that it pains me to watch someone's back as they disappear, little by little, from the light? If someone or something's weighing you down, then we'll cut it for you; if you're having blues, then we'll sing you songs and force you to sing-along; if you're having tantrums, then we'll be your clown to brighten up your day. Take us with you, Zeto."

"I can't." I bit my lower lip: blood cascaded to my chin. "I can't take away your freedoms, can I?"

"Who said you're taking away ours? We're your friends, Zeto: friends help each other out. We may or may not be your ray of sunshine, however, we can serve as your Moon to comfort you as you stare into the unknown."

He zipped his lips for a minute; his sniffing and hiccups served as indications that he's still with me.

After a minute: he started chuckling like he remembered an embarrassing memory. "We're boys, yet here we are: showing our weaknesses, crying like babies—damn that Sloane, she's gone, yet... yet it feels like she's here; the fact that I never did get the chance to join her in a single meal, nor fulfill my promise of drinking juiars with her until we both act derange—singing, dancing, shooting clouds?" he chuckled, yet it was painful for me to hear. "Made it more excruciating for me to bear."

I started loosening my arms around him; his right hand traveled to his bare-chest. "This ticker of mine has been pounding, throbbing, drumming like mad drummers from a festivity. The beat is wild that it's making me lose my mind; its overwhelming rhythm is taking my consciousness away, and I... and I start losing myself—who am I... is the question."

"Zeto..." mou ii.

"Say it, Geon: if I were to grant you a wish, what is it?" is he trying to lift the mood, or is he trying to put weight into the situation?

I don't need to put numerous thoughts about it. "There are multitudinous wishes I desired to be granted, however, at this moment: I wish you to tell me everything."