Underground

41

Estelle
Blood was the first thing I see after he falls. Blood on the tree he was standing by, blood in his hair, and blood on the ground.
"Michoon!" Yeeva runs to his corpse, crouching next to it.
Leeciy is as wide-eyed as me, flecks of blood spotting his face.
"This was your fault!" She screams, pointing at me.
"What?" I breathe.
She pushes her hand at me and I go flying.
My back hits a tree and a shot of pain echos.
"I can rupture your heart right now." Yeeva smiles evilly.
"Stop!" Leeciy shouts.
I raise my hand, which immediately flies right down to my side.
Leeciy grabs her arm. "This is no time for vengeance!"
"Shut up!" She screams.
He flies also, skidding across the floor.
Blood flows from Yeeva's small nose.
"Stop!" I cry, mostly in pain. "Please."
Leeciy stands, wincing in pain. "Yeeva."
"You killed my brother." Her voice wavers with emotion.
Leeciy walks forward. "Yeeva, this is about survival!"
"My brother didn't survive!" She screams.
"Which is all the more reason that you survive!" He yells.
"Do it for him! Survive for him!" I yell.
She pulls forward, slamming me back to the tree.
I cry out painfully.
"Estelle!" Leeciy says, walking over.
Her arm forces him back to the ground.
"He was my best friend!" She crys. "My only friend."
Once again, she pulls me forward and slams me back, and then again.
At this point there's blood flowing from her ears, nose, and eyes.
Leeciy stands and runs at her.
She grunts and pushes him back, collapsing from exhaustion.
***
We get back to the labs where August and September were waiting anxiously.
I open the car door and walk out. September runs and hugs me, squeezing tight.
I, once again, cry out.
"She got thrown against a tree, four times." Leeciy explains, grabbing an unconscious Yeeva from the back seat.
"There's a corpse in the back." I say. "August! Come here!"
August jogs over.
"She got thrown against a tree four times." September says.
August gapes.
"Michoon, he shot himself, help me carry him in." I say.
I pop open the trunk and there lays Michoon, head wrapped in Yeeva's orange jacket.
"Oh my god." August breathes.
"It was horrendously messy." I sigh, starting to lift his shoulders. August grabs the feet and we lift him in.
"Dead bodies are heavier than live ones." September quotes as we walk inside. "I learned that on my favorite show."
Sunny, the receptionist, looks over at the body and just sighs.
I give a tight smile as we make our way to the elevator.
September presses a number and we go up.
Nigel and Jackson were waiting with a stretcher for Michoon.
"Yeeva is in the furthest room down the hall."
I nod.
"Careful." August murmurs.
I nod, pushing open the door.
Annaliesee was standing in front of Yeeva, talking her ear off.
Deirgein, A crystal-former sat in the corner, nose deep in a botany book, Leeciy looking over his shoulder.
Yeeva turns and sees me, ready to attack.
"We're going to give Michoon a proper funeral." I say.
"Burn him." She orders. "He always liked fire, so just burn him."
"We'll have a ceremony that ends in burning." I say.
Yeeva was a similar age to September, but she was a little taller. "Who's that little guy?"
"He isn't your business." I snap, my hand finding his shoulder reassuringly.
"He's your son?" She asks.
I shake my head. "He isn't."
"Estelle, can I look at your back?" Leeciy says, glaring harshly at Yeeva.
"Yeah." I answer.
He gently leads me to a room with a cot.
I unbutton my flannel, which leaves me in a tight tank top.
"She's a common enemy." Leeciy says. "I probably hate her as much as you."
"I can't believe he killed himself." I breath.
"Everytime I close my eyes, I see it." He scoffs. "We should have just left them be. I shouldn't have brought up the ways they could die."
"It helped, in Yeeva's case, I would want her in my army." I chuckle.
"She's pretty feisty." He says.
I lay on my stomach, letting the feeling of his thin fingers sliding up and down my back soothe me.
"Do you think any other Pangaeans are going to kill themselves when we offer them help?" He asks.
"It was more her trying to leave than us helping out." I say.
"Bone bruising, but nothing too bad." He says. "Erich could probably fix that up."
Erich was our fluent-in-French, healer. He picked up on English in a month then learned French.
"How 'bout you?" I ask, sitting up to look at him.
"I flew, and I rolled, I have cuts and things all over my arm. I'm going to need stitches." He explains. "Erich alone can't fix that."
I nod, grabbing my flannel.
"We're halfway through the wall of Pangaeans, only seventy-some left." Leeciy says.
I grin. "Good."
"It really depends if Titanios sees more." He sighs. "He's a psycopath."
"He's been around for well over two-hundred-years." I say, standing. "Give him a break."
"I'd rather break his spine." Leeciy murmurs.
The first time he met Titanios, he was called a cowardly bastard who would be better off in the underground.
"Look, I get it, he insulted you, but he's one of our only sources." I say.
Erich walks into the room silently, putting a hand over my eyes, his cool energy flowing through my veins.
He walks out after, tipping his invisible hat to Leeciy.
Erich's healing dismissed my pain but makes me feel stiff.
"We should get back, so I can close up my wounds." Leeciy says, walking out of the door angrily.
I follow him, walking straight to August. "All better." I grin.
He grins down at me, before leaning down. "Yeeva's a blood-wielder."
"Oh, that explains a load." I say softly. "Can she control you?"
"Slightly, not September." He says, glancing fondly at his younger brother.
September was standing next to Annaliesee, who befriended him a while back.
"I'm happy he's adapting to this lifestyle." I say. "A load of things must've changed."
August nods.
Yeeva bursts out of the examination room. "I'm ready to burn my brother."