Owen Changes His Mind

7. Love Hurts 1/3

When it occurred to Apo a few days later that he hadn't gotten the food and water he'd packed to Owen, he panicked a little. "My backpack, what's it doing here!?" He asked Soup, who had bandaged his shoulder. Apo's throat was on fire.

"Hmm? Well it is your backpack, isn't it?" she asked, flipping through a book she'd been looking at. "Shouldn't it be next to you?"

"No," Apo rasped, "it's for Owen. So he won't starve."

At this, Soup carefully shut the book and assessed him. "The same Owen who tried to strangle you?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, yeah," Apo fidgeted and tried to clear his throat. "Rasbi was making sure he didn't get food or water, and no one seemed to want to risk it, and she was even there to kill him, which would be wrong, so-"

"Apo." Soup interrupted. "You're trying to save the person who literally tried to kill you, not once, but twice, if Rasbi is to be believed. She said what happened in the maze was self defense." She paused to catch his eyes. "It would make sense for you to feel the same as Rasbi."

"Is - did she- did they-" he twisted the blanket covering his body with his fingers, then winced as he felt the injured shoulder muscle try to bunch. "Oh god-"

"Easy," Soup commanded, "be easy. They're both still alive. For now."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Jeez Apo, it just means that the maze is a dangerous place, anything can happen, and-" Soup cut herself off when she saw his expression. She took a calming breath and started over. "Apo, Owen is alive. Rasbi's taken to keeping to herself. Guts has been feeding him. They've been very careful to keep him alive, but they've hardly been out of their house recently. We're all feeling it. We're tired. Everyone in the clearing is just... tired."

Apo closed his eyes in relief. There was still a chance.

"You have bruises on your throat," Soup observed. "I wouldn't try to see him just now if I were you."

"That's not your decision to make," Apo breathed, eyes still closed. But a worm of doubt crawled into Apo's heart. Owen had threatened to kill him twice, now. What if he never stopped?