The Babysitter

Bad News

Indigo's PoV:

This was scary. Not as scary as it had been before, but still.... Lapis's mom might be dead...

But he's going to be okay, right? He never gets worried about anything, and always knows what to do, in any situation.

Lime and Black finally enter the cafeteria. The imposter's expression was unreadable, however Lime's? It instantly told me that there wasn't going to be good news any time soon.

"Lapis..." he called, his voice quiet and shaky, matching the motions portrayed on his face. "I... it's..."

The other adult seemed to notice that Lime wasn't going to be able to deliver the news, so took over, bending down to the blue-suited child with a sorrowful expression. "She's gone... I'm so sorry - we did everything we could"

"Liar!" Lapis snarls, kicking Black in the shin, "you did this... you killed her - you killed her!"

Before anyone could react, he sprinted past them both and raced down the hallway. Whilst Black began trying to explain to the other children, I slipped off unnoticed to follow our mini-leader.

"Lapis?" I softly whisper, walking into medbay where I saw him disappear just seconds earlier.

All I heard was uncontrollable sobbing as I turned the corner. Lapis was sat on the floor by the bed, tears pouring from his face like a leaky tap.

Okay... he helped me when my parents died...

I try to remember what he had done. Placing my hand in the middle of his back, I rest the other on the front. I felt his chest lurching as he rapidly started.... was hyperventilating the right word? I think so.

"Breathe" I say, just like he told me to before. "Nice and deep, long breaths. In. And out."

He still didn't seem to be calming down, so I started doing the breathing myself, and he copied.

"Th-thank you" he mumbles through his shaky breaths that were gradually becoming more controlled.

"Shh, don't talk. Just breathe" I remind him, squeezing him in a tight hug. "That's good"

After a moment of silence, Lapis declared "I should be the one helping you. Not the other way around"

"You've already helped me" I shrug, "it's my turn now."

"Okay..." he smiles, before frowning again. "You don't think any less of me now, do you?"

"Never!"

"Thank you..." Lapis murmurs, considering what to do next. "This is Lime's fault. He should have agreed to ejecting Black"

I nod in silent agreement. As much as I do like Lime, technically he's the one to blame.

"But we can't hurt him" I insist, and Lapis sighs.

"Guess you're right... heh. Well... we should go back to the others now, I suppose-"

***

"Hey, Indie" my sister hisses, poking me to get my attention.

"Yes Lemon?" I reply

"Where were you?"

"Where was I when?" I ask innocently, pretending I had no clue what she was talking about. She sighs, before saying,

"I noticed that you left after Lapis ran off. Was he.... okay?"

Quickly glancing across the room, I notice Lapis hugging Chocolate reassuringly, and giving one of his 'mini speeches' to the rest of the kids, who either cheered or nodded in agreement. He was definitely faking that confident smile...

Yeah, I wasn't about to betray his trust.

"I... he was fine" I lie, "I went to him because I was still upset about mom and dad-"
Technically, I was still upset about that... so it was half the truth.

"Oh" Lemon mumbles, seeming a bit rejected. "You know... you can always talk to me about these things, right? I can help you... that's what older sisters are for"

"Yeah" I nod with a small smile. "I'll tell you first next time"

My sister reaches over and hugs me, I hug her back tightly. "We'll always have each other" she whispers.