Skill: Heartbroken 1/5

slightly forward dated to 7/26

He can still taste her blood in his mouth.

Funny how he still hasn't cried. He mostly feels hollow, empty, cold. And occasionally the taste of blood comes back. He can't go back to Elysium now, not with what he's done to Valeska. She will carry scars forever, and he'd remember who placed them there. His dreams of standing among the Blessed, burned up with the gnashing of his teeth.

It's his birthday. A full year old. And he can't go home, because home is destroyed. And he wants to blame Valeska, even if he knows the truth.

Mom and Dad aren't even here to wish them Happy Birthday. And they would, he knows. They would have celebrated it. They would have made everyone celebrate it with them. Dimitri could have come back for it, and maybe they would have all had a group hunt.

Maybe....

He stares out at the waves. He's never seen the ocean before, and it's miserable knowing that this is the edge of the world. No one leaves Mythris unless they die or disappear. He breathes deep, staring out into the water, then drawing in a deep breath.

When he lets it out, it's with a scream of rage: the first sound he's made since telling Dimitri and Spider that Mom was dead.

He followed Pinesprings, because what else was he supposed to do?

He'd buried Mum and Pa, and he'd followed, Verbena on his heels. His entire being ached, hurt so badly he could feel the sadness in the marrow of his bones, and he was sore from crying over and over and weeks of travel without proper care. Benny, bless her heart, was the only reason he was still alive, but she'd been pushed to her limit in fending for them both by herself. She needed a break, time to rest and recuperate.
The Nightshade Berries needed to grieve, but Pennyroyal was even further distraught upon realizing Spiderlily was not, in fact, at Avon with Spider as he'd assumed she was. She was out there, alone, possibly lost or hurt or dead, and she had no idea that their home was abandoned, their parents gone.

But Benny needed rest. Pennyroyal couldn't take that from her, but it tore him up inside to sit around, to cry more, to wait.

To hurt.

The ginger boy didn't mean to follow Pines this time, but he was out padding along a path he didn't recognize, not paying attention, head hanging and gaze unfixed. He had a haunted air about him, frazzled with tiredness; too doleful to rest, too plagued with nightmares to sleep, too useless for anything else.

It was the scream that brought him back to earth, ears swiveling and pinning when he realized it was his twin.
It doesn't sound afraid, or in danger, or summoning help. It just sounds... well, like Penny feels. Angry, and sad, and lost, and alone; unsure of his place in the world, unsure what to do or where to go next. He couldn't not return to Elysium, if its people returned to the Respite; Nemean and Fleetwood, they'd lived, breathed, and died for the place, for Valeska, for the Five. The least he could do was go back and honor their life, to do something with himself that would make them proud.
Maybe he could do something simple, like pup-sit, or help the herbalists gather. Really, there had to be something he could do.

It was hard to think of chores and his ongoing problems with education when he was wallowing in guilt.

Seeing Pinesprings didn't lighten the burden.

He could only wilt, and slink over, and plop himself silently to the ground next to Pinesprings. He doesn't even have a scream in him, but the tears start leaking from his eyes unbidden. He didn't know if his brother was even ready to talk, or if perhaps he'd just stalk off to be alone, to leave Penny laying here alone -- but if that happens, he prepared himself, he'd try not to cry harder. They all had to process their own way, and while Penny just wanted held, hugged just like Mum used to, he recognized that Pine was... more angry.

Was he angry at Penny?

The thought made him wilt further, chin plopping against the ground.