Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 19: So Much Unsaid

Never before has Reela been so fucking happy to see that fat orange lump that Regan calls a 'cat.' She knew that Regan had taken Romeow with him when he left, because he never goes anywhere without him. But she can't believe she never stopped to wonder where the cat was amidst all of this.

She races over to the table where Romeow is laying, and at first she smiles down at him, but it slowly fades when he doesn't get up or move. His eyes are open, but empty.

Fear twists into Reela's face as she shakily rests her hand on the cat's side. As she's feeling for either a pulse or breathing, Jules sighs and steps up beside her, gently brushing her hand over her back.

"He's alive, but..." she shakes her head. Reela feels Romeow's chest slowly rising and falling and there's a faint pulse of his EPC, but he still doesn't move. He blinks a little every now and then, but that's it.

Reela runs her hand up to scratch the back of his head, but he doesn't respond to her touch with anything more than a blink. Before she can let her eyes tear up too much at seeing Romeow like this, she quickly turns her searching gaze to Jules, hoping the find instant answers by just meeting her eyes.

"Why is he... like this?" she shudders and Corb walks around the table to stare down at Romeow as well. Jules crosses her arms and sighs mournfully.

"Short answer; I don't know," she shakes her head again. "Long answer... The more painful one to think about..." she steps over to lean forward on the end of the table. "This must be the same state that Regan is in, wherever he is... Not dead, but..." her eyes gloss over as she stares at the emptiness in Romeow's eyes. "...a husk."

Corb winces and steps back, scratching his neck. "Shit... I don't know about you, but that almost sounds worse. I think I'd prefer to be dead."

Reela stares at Romeow and her heart begins trying to break out of her chest. The thought of Regan – wherever he may be – being in the same state that Romeow is in makes her want to close her eyes and pray that when she opens them, she'll wake up from this nightmare.

But she can't close her eyes. If she does, she might accidentally picture her dad with the same vacant eyes as his soul-bound cat.

"...How did you find him?" Reela blinks faster and quietly sniffles, letting her know that she should probably look away from Romeow again to find out what plan Jules has that is going to let them fix all of this.

Jules meekly chuckles. "Technically, I didn't. This was what I meant when I said I gave my brother an out, but he wasted it... I gave him the shard, but..."

Corb holds up his hand. "He gave it to the cat! Final answer," he states proudly and crosses his arms. Jules flashes him a deadpan glare.

"Very good, Corb," she sighs and looks at Reela. "Judging by the shaken state he was in when he appeared at my door a couple weeks ago, I'm guessing Regan sent him off with the shard in a panic. A last minute decision," she says.

Reela slowly nods and wipes the few tears from her eyes. She can have a cry about all of this later. Right now, she needs to focus on figuring out what happened and what to do about it. "A couple weeks ago was when the shipwreck happened," she adds. "If the ship was under attack, that seems like a cause for panic to me."

Corb shrugs and both Reela and Jules can see how hard he's trying to enter serious-mode. Todo is easily the better one for eloquence and decisive thinking when it's needed, but Todo isn't himself right now so that leaves Corb to try his best to keep up on his own.

"But... why wouldn't he have used the shard for himself? Why send the furball away?" he questions and Reela softly chuckles.

"I'm guessing because Regan knew the ship would be attacked and wasn't just going to abandon Naomi and Nisha," she says and swallows back the lump in her throat. If only Regan weren't such a decent person who actually cares about his friends. Naomi and Nisha survived the wreck and they weren't taken while they were unconscious on the shore. If Regan had used the shard for himself, he wouldn't have been there when whoever attacked them came looking for him.