Birthmarks and Bruises

Additional Conflict

The only element missing from the second time round was the initial shock of the events. Daniel kept heaving, as if his body was attempting to throw up but couldn't on an empty stomach.
"Why is the fucking arm still there?" Andrea yelled, kneeling down beside Daniel to attempt to help with his breathing. The boy in question was taking brief, desperate gulps of air, blood forever draining from his cheeks which had acquired the same greyish tint as the severed arm.
He wasn't going to pass out again.

Marcus had pushed his own hysterics aside for a moment to try and calm him.

After that, he wouldn't speak at all.

Daniel wouldn't eat over the next twelve hours, even after dragging him and the rest of the group away from the house- or, slaughterhouse, as Maxine had ever so daintily put it. He complained that everything tasted bland, and powdery.
Felix noticed that the brothers expressed their emotions quite differently, Marcus sobbing at every reminder and Daniel detaching himself from the world- only snapping back in furious outbursts. The first one was at Andrea.
It was somewhat justified, but the last thing they needed was more conflict in this already torn up world.

"Daniel, you need to talk. I'm sorry, but we need to... you know, actually communicate."
Andrea was the first to bring up his absence of speech, concerned, Felix supposed, that Daniel would remain the same even in the case of danger. The boy didn't respond, his eyes welling up instead as he attempted to justify himself. He couldn't think of any kind of answer without his mind being completely clouded with trauma.
"I know how you feel. I get it. But you need to snap out of it for a moment."
Felix winced.
He got what Andrea was getting at, but... again, wording was always important. Daniel had drawn in a shaky breath, fighting back tears with next to no willpower at all. They rolled freely down his reddened face.
"Fucking snap out of it?" Daniel had chuckled bitterly, forcing a scoff through sneering lips. "If you think I can just snap out of it, then you don't fucking understand, do you?" He spat, quivering and rooted to the dirt below him. Andrea had jumped to defend herself, stuck between apologies and backing up her argument. Marcus had been the one to step in, but-
There's still tension. A shit load of tension.
And there had been since.

Occasionally Daniel would make a dark comment meant to poke fun at something which really shouldn't be poked fun at- though, Felix figured this would happen. Daniel was always one to smother his emotions with humour until they went away. Like spraying perfume onto an already bad smell. It helped calm it a little, but it didn't make the original problem any less obvious, nor did it mask it very well.
This was different, though.
A death was not something you could ignore or wait out, this was a forever problem.
It was only a few days later when Felix finally squeezed a somewhat proper conversation from him.
Daniel's eyes were half closed and wore deep mauve bags, his hair messy and greasy.
The redhead sat him down, nodding sternly, hands clasped in his lap.
Marcus was beside him, fidgeting and clearly wanting to be anywhere but amongst the dirt with a serious-looking ginger. The more he thought about it, the less inviting it seemed.
"What the hell is this-"
"Welcome to therapy with fucking Felix, boys."
The brothers hushed, Daniel looking around him for the girls.
"Oh, I asked them to leave us for a while." Felix cleared his throat, hiding a smile. "Yeah, I can't do this. I just want you two to talk about it."
Daniel exhaled in a breathy laugh.
"Felix, I appreciate it, but- I don't think it will help."
The boy chewed his lip nervously, twisting a piece of nearby grass between two fingers tighter and tighter until it snapped.
"Everything's worth a try, right?" He reassured, a sheepish smile creeping its way into his face. Marcus nodded, trying to compose himself with steady breaths.
Of course, Felix was far from a therapist. Moral support was more his thing- but moral support had already failed back at the slaughterhouse.
He thought for a moment, attempting to find an appropriate question to ask as a starting point.
"So, um- how exactly do you feel?"
Daniel blinked at him with a blank expression.
"I'm... sorry, that was a stupid question-"
"No no, it's fine. I just need to think of a not-stupid answer."
Felix understood that. A little, at least. It was difficult, in cases like this, to pinpoint a single emotion- and even if they were to be able to, the feeling in itself would probably be near-impossible to describe.
Daniel concentrated hard on a point in the distance, taking larger breaths as if he was about to say something, then stopping at the last second.
"Daniel, if you don't know what to say then-"
"No. I know what it is, I'm just looking for the right way to put it."
Felix felt himself sink a little, and throwing a quick glance at Marcus, it was evident he was feeling the same. Daniel had never been like this. Emotionally too, of course-
But he had never been this quiet, this tongue tied, unable to speak his mind. Normally the surprising thing was getting him to shut up. Marcus nudged his shoulder, encouraging him to continue.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Daniel mumbled, scratching at a spot of dried mud on his hand.
"I'm sorry, but we really couldn't." Daniel ignored his friend's reply, becoming more frustrated and unclear with every word. "Why couldn't I have any kind of closure? Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince myself that he'd died?" Marcus reached out to embrace him, but he slapped the hand away. "Do you have any fucking idea how excruciating it was for me to tell myself over and over and over-" Daniel drew a ragged breath, furiously swiping at his tears, leaving angry red marks decorating his already flushed cheeks."That whether I liked it or not, Lewis was fucking dead? I am in constant denial of something I never even got to confirm for myself, and I'm expected to just.. take it?" Daniel groaned, scowling and massaging his temple as if it were causing him pain.
"Felix. I know you're just trying to help, but-" brown, glinting eyes avoided his, turning to Marcus. "I really don't think it's best for me. Maybe Marcus would like-"
"No. I'm fine."
An unsettling air filled the atmosphere around them, seeping into Felix and swirling with the dread which had already accumulated in the pit of his stomach. He muttered another apology, dragging himself to his feet and dusting the dirt from his trousers. Felix could see the tears already lining Marcus' lashes as he struggled not to give in to the sobbing again.
The redhead felt the blood rushing to his cheeks, twisting his fingers with a kind of anxious guilt.
"I'm sorry for making you two cry." Felix apologised, feeling the same wave of helplessness wash over him again. Daniel shook his head, finally allowing Marcus' comforting embrace and inviting Felix to join for the most solemn group hug ever hugged. The three stood there, for a moment, before a few uneven pairs of footsteps drew their attention.
Of course, it couldn't be a Snatcher- they had already established they only came during the night, as, much like Andrea, they despised daylight and meeting others of their kind while visible and vulnerable.
No, it was far from a Snatcher- it was a beautiful beast, really. Barely balancing itself due to one missing limb- a buck with two broad antlers, scuffed but bold. A pair of deep ivory orbs pierced deep into them with some kind of misunderstood kindness- threatening at first but welcoming and innocent once you dared to look into them. The beast huffed, water dripping from its chin, which Felix could only assume was from the nearby lake.
"Thirsty boy." He chuckled, scratching underneath its chin.
It was hard for Marcus to suppress a smile. It was lovely to have seen something like this back before everything that happened, let alone now when only certain things hadn't perished. Besides, it seemed friendly enough.
Marcus was the second to stretch a hand out, the buck instantly nuzzling into the palm with a sort of longing affection, whining whenever the boy stopped petting its cocoa-like fur.
Daniel wasn't smiling, at least, not through his mouth. But Felix could tell something had shifted behind his eyes, softening them.
For the first few seconds of watching the deer stride towards them clumsily on three, sturdy limbs, Felix was unsure how the brothers would react. Of course, he never really believed in reincarnation, but...
This felt different. It was a warm fuzz, rather than a chilling shudder.
Maybe it was the coarse-looking fluff which sifted through his fingers silkier than anything he had ever pet,
But something rushed through him for a split second.
It was almost as if he could feel the presence of everything he had lost to get here, hiding between the cracks of their breaking minds.