Heart Pangs

Chapter 52 - Turned Over

"Why the fuck—"

Camille's fists pummel every inch of Lux.

"—would you let them take—"

Every open bit of him that she can reach she hits, punches, and kicks at.

"—Benji?"

The end of her last word comes out as a sort of hysterical scream. Yet still she continues her assault.

Lux doesn't stop her. Most of her blows don't hurt much, and he thinks she needs to get it out of her system. Besides, it's not like he doesn't deserve it.

"Camille," Lux says quietly when her assault starts becoming fatigued.

She ignores him.

"Camille!" he repeats more forcefully.

When she continues to ignore him, he snatches both her hands mid-swing.

Her mouth curls in frustration.

"Camille, please," he says before she can protest. He crouches so he's at her level. "Please, this isn't helping."

She glares at him, and for a moment, he thinks she might spit in his face. Then the fight goes out of her completely. Her hands slip from his grasp as she sinks to the floor. She sits, curled into a ball, head tucked between her knees, and heaves a long sob.

Lux doesn't move. He doesn't think she'll appreciate any attempts to comfort her, but he also thinks simply walking away won't be appreciated. After a moment or two of debate, he settles for lowering himself to the ground and sitting cross-legged across from her.

"I thought he was dead," Camille murmurs into her knees after a few minutes.

"What?"

Camille looks up at him. "When he didn't pick up," she clarifies, "I thought it was because he was dead. I thought you had consumed him."

Lux's eyes widen. "Camille, I wouldn't. You know that."

Camille only peers at him with distaste.

"I thought Cecil was going to have me again," she goes on. "And then when... when he consumed me, I thought I was never coming back out. I was in there for hours. I thought no one was coming for me."

Lux swallows. "We came as fast as we could. In fact, Benji refused to go anywhere too far from you just so we could be here quickly in case something like this ever happened."

Camille pushes her wet hair out of her face. "And now he's gone."

"We'll get him back."

Camille lets out a biting laugh. "How? Same way you got me back? I don't think that will work twice."

"No," Lux tells her patiently. "I struck a deal with Bakula."

Camille's angers turn to suspicion. "What kind of a deal?"

Lux hesitates.

"Felix!" Camille snaps. "What kind of a deal?"

"You're not going to like it."

"Tell me."

Lux takes a breath. "I told the Supervisor that I'd be able to get him the leader of Epomis."

Camille's cheeks are already burned from the acid yet somehow her face manages to turn even redder. "You what?"

"If we can give the Supervisor what he wants," Lux explains, "he'll return Benji to us. That was the deal. We have 72 hours."