The Lost

45- Over

Lucius

The sound was hard to explain. Like someone throwing a stone against a tree. I stepped backwards, hands trembling but still clutching the chunk of wood. Did I really just do that? The person had gone motionless though he was still standing. So had Mike. That blonde idiot stared wide-eyed at Sam, one balled hand frozen beside him, mouth open with shock.
Just for good measure, I went to strike the guy again. No need.

"Oh my g-" Mike breathed as his friend fell into his arms. "Sam?" He had to lean backwards from the sudden weight. Thank fuck, I wheezed. My eye was throbbing now from where Sam had struck me. Mike turned from him to me, his eyes yet wider. That was when he saw the huge branch in my hands. It wasn't that hard to work out what I'd just done. I hadn't exactly been aiming for the back of Sam's head... but that's where I had hit.

"What did you do?" He demanded. The voice was quiet though. Maybe a bit scared. Not of me, but of what I had just done.
I dropped- no, I threw the wood to my feet and it kind of cluttered against a tree. My arms were still shaking from the effort of lifting the huge thing. Maybe my hands were bleeding from the rough bark, but I didn't look and check. My chest heaved for each gasping breath.
Mike stared open-mouthed at me for a good few seconds before managing another, "What did you do?" Stronger this time. Almost a shout. That pushed my teetering temper over the edge.
"What does it look like?!" I fumed back. And without wasting another second, I dropped to my knees and searched for Sam's pocket.
Mike glanced at the back of his friend's head with a soft hiss, "Jesus, Lucius... he's bleeding-"
"Good!" I cried. And it scared me to find that I really meant that. Good that he was bleeding— he deserved nothing less! But still, it was unsettling to think that... that I had really just struck somebody with such... violence.
Mike didn't object to my actions anymore after that. He just held the guy off the floor, fussing about a little blood matting his hair. I had once knocked myself out by running into a doorway back at the school and given myself a monstrous nosebleed— this was no different. Sam would wake up in probably half an hour and be perfectly fine, unfortunately. But he wouldn't have Azure. Not ever never ever again.

I think that although he didn't want to admit it, Mike knew that there had been no other option than this. He hadn't said a word against me after that initial complaining.

I suddenly became aware of a soft crying beside me. Azure. I turned on my knees and searched the floor like a mad person. Had she fallen in all the chaos?
It was almost impossible to find the green among the plants, but there he was. Aspen was laying in the leaves where Mike had been forced to drop him. My god— I hadn't even thought to wonder where he was, where Mike had put him before going after Sam. The boy was there in the dirt, a huddle in the leaves. He had his eyes half open, half closed, face scrunched up in pain and fear. Aspen. My heart was thudding with anxiety for Azure, but I couldn't leave the poor boy curled up on the floor like that. Oh god Aspen- I reached forwards and scooped the tiny body into my hands.

Weight shifted madly within the confines of my hand, blurs of green and yellow. He kicked himself backwards until he had slammed against my fingers and recoiled away from me. A second more and he was yelling out in a strangled-sounding shriek, throwing his one good arm out in front of him. My chest felt awful. All my friend knew was that he was in a giant hand, and who he thought was holding him, I didn't need to guess.

"Ey-hey, it's okay! It's okay!" I let the words spill out. Perhaps the water in my eyes wasn't just from the dust in the air as I looked down at the tiny person. My poor friend was crazed with the terror as he trembled against my skin. Terrified, but alive. Hurt, but here, with me. Safe. My breath seemed to escape as I felt his little body move in my hands. My hands, not that monster that had almost stolen him away. He was in my protection again. With another suppressed exhale, I realised just how close I had just come to loosing them both.