Betrayal in Elysium [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Death was always a cold dark abyss. The doors of life slamming shut in your face with a big "DO NOT ENTER" sign hanging on the door as the lock slams shut and you find yourself trapped in darkness, like being locked in a closet.

At least, that's how I remembered it.

That split moment before life turned off and death turned on, opening my eyes to the dark murky waters of the river where souls laid to rest in wait for someone to put a coin in their mouth, allowing them passage to their designated resting place. Of course, knowing my brothers, they'd forget to put a coin in my mouth and I'd float here in eternity.

But that's the problem.

The darkness stayed longer than usual. That unnerved me. Thanatos wasn't there to rip my soul out of my body and take it to the underworld, where he'd toss me into the river until I was given a proper burial.

And then I opened my eyes, assaulted by lights before it all faded and I found myself staring up at the ceiling of one of the many hallways in the Labyrinth. I blinked rapidly, sucking in a sharp breath. I shot upright, grabbing at my chest when I saw a trail of faint white-blue dust following my arm in its wake. I stared at it, startled until a sound ripped through the hallway and pierced right through my heart.

A heartwrenching wail that instantly drew tears into my eyes as I turned to see Cain slumped on his knees on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, clutching at my corpse. A scream erupted from my throat in horror at seeing Cain holding my body. My corpse was cold and pale, the sword having been removed from my chest so that blood still pooled out, my pale blue eyes staring into nothingness.

My other brothers stood around Cain, all stunned. Malachi's eyes were watery and his lips tightly pursed as if it were taking everything he had not to cry. Cerberus's teeth were gritted and I was stunned to see wet tears on his face. Theo was biting down, his lips quivering, but he wasn't crying or saying a thing. Charon just stared, trying to take in the fact that I was dead. Dorean was crying, wiping at his face vigorously, snot threatening to spill from his nose. Blaine just stared at Cerberus, obviously trying to comprehend the fact that he had feelings.

All of them were grieving over my body.

My body.

I was dead.

But my soul... I looked down at myself. My skin was pale, but gave off a very pale white-blue glow and every time I moved, there was a glitter of dust left in a fading trail before it disappeared. I swallowed hard, struggling to push myself up. My body felt numb. It didn't hurt or ache anymore. I just... couldn't feel anything. I stumbled over to stand between Charon and Malachi, and the worst part was that neither of them saw me, not even felt me. I gasped, trying to stop the sobs that came tearing up my throat as I looked down at Cain, who cradled my corpse to himself.

Tears poured down Cain's cheeks as he choked and sobbed, pressing his cheek to my corpse's. I couldn't even figure out what he was trying to say. I only caught him moaning my name in between sobs. I'd never seen Cain like this before, never, not even when he spilled out all the secrets of why he had treated me like shit. He had cried and he'd screamed, but now it was like someone had torn him apart. His sobs tore through me worse than any sword. I couldn't stop myself from crying with him and what hurt even more was that he, too, couldn't see me standing right there.

"Cain!" I wailed, but he didn't even look up. He was too busy crying over my corpse.

"Cain," Malachi managed at last, sucking in a sharp breath to compose himself before he spoke, "Cain, we can't stay here. Prometheus could find us. He'll come back for the rest of us." Cain looked up at him with a tear streaked face, gasping for breath from his bawling that had made his voice hoarse as he managed to speak.