Guardian | Camp Cretaceous

I Love You

He'd only let her do the bare minimum to treat his wounds after carrying Viper's lifeless body to camp. After, he had grabbed the fire axe, and set about chopping trees for a pyre, ignoring Yasmina when she begged him to regain what energy he had first.

Nothing mattered to him, nothing on his mind but the need to build a pyre.

After hours of chopping, Azriel collapsed to a knee, leaning heavily on the axe, and sobbed. Sobbed like she had never thought he was capable of. She'd rushed over and wrapped her arms around his form—Yasmina tried not to cry, feeling his body tremble against hers. Running her fingers through his hair, her nails trailing a path along his scalp as she tried desperately to offer him whatever comfort she could.

A moment passed before Kenji came over, hesitantly placing a hand on Azriel's shoulder before quietly taking the axe and taking over the work. Maybe for the first time, Kenji genuinely tried helping someone. Another moment later, Ben brought out the other axe, and helped cut the logs to shape, while Darius rolled the ones Azriel had finished back to the centre of camp. Yasmina watched them with newfound respect before softly kissing her boyfriend's shoulder.

"He liked," Azriel muttered against her neck. "He liked flowers."

Yasmina nodded gently, brushing her fingers through his hair. She kissed his cheek. "We'll find some." Even if she hated Viper for hurting Brooklynn and him, Azriel had cared for him, which was enough for her to respect the man.

"Thank you," he said with such genuine gratitude, it made her choke up a little.

Maybe thirty minutes later, Azriel climbed to his feet, lightly touching his wounds before sighing deeply. He grabbed the axe from Kenji, muttered his gratitude and told him that they had enough now. Wiping his sweaty brow, Kenji gave Azriel an almost sympathetic smile before helping Darius roll over the last log. Yasmina went to the girls, Brook sporting a bandage on her cheek where the bullet had grazed her, and Sammy staring at Viper's covered body.

"Sammy," Yasmina called. Startled, the Texan looked at her with feverish eyes. "Can you help find some flowers? He liked them." Slowly, Sammy nodded before pushing herself up, wandering off in a random direction as Yasmina turned to Brooklynn, crouching in front of her and taking her hands.

Snapped from her daze, Brooklynn looked at Yasmina. "The orphanage... Atlas. It's the same thing?" A nod. "He told us on the first day—looked us in the eyes and told us that he'd been kidnapped and trained as a child soldier..."

Nodding, Yasmina reached up and lightly touched Brooklynn's cheek, the bandage. "How's this?"

"It hurts," Brooklynn admitted, lifting a hand and pressing it over Yasmina's. "But... I'll live. How is Azriel doing?"

Letting out a breath, Yasmina glanced over her shoulder. He was stacking logs with the boys' help. "Whatever Viper was, he was still a part of Azriel's team. I doubt he regrets... doing what he did, but that doesn't mean he won't mourn over it."

Brooklynn muttered, "When he shot me, he flinched. I felt it. Like it hurt him to hurt me."

You could never kill the innocents, Azriel had said. "Atlas takes children and trains them to be soulless killers, but he managed to keep his compassion intact," Yaz replied. "I think, maybe, Viper was tired of being used. Maybe he wanted all of it to end, so he... he hurt you, threatened to kill me, to make Azriel kill him." Brooklynn's eyes drifted to Azriel, who was now stacking the final logs for the pyre.

"He's killed a lot of people... hasn't he?"

Yasmina bit her lip. "Yes."

Brooklynn took a deep breath, nodding. "I still love him."