Bounded To You (Star-Crossed)

Chapter 20 - Contemplation

CHAPTER 20: CONTEMPLATION

A scream ripped through the night, making Blayth and Leon jump, turning to the bed where Lucius had just woken up, sitting abruptly, turning to Noah's slumbering body and starting to shake him, trying to wake him up, begging him to open his eyes.

Blayth hurried to his feet, getting on the bed and grabbing a hold of Lucius, pulling him back as he said, "Lucius, calm down, it's just a nightmare."

"He's dead! He's dead!" Lucius insisted.

"He's not." Blayth argued, gripping Lucius tightly.

"Let me go!" He said, tugging Blayth's arms away before he leaned over Noah, ear pressed to his chest but no matter what he couldn't hear his heartbeat.

"Lucius-..."

"He's dead!" Lucius sobbed.

"He's alive. You are crying too much to hear his heart." Blayth explained, again pulling at Lucius's arms until Lucius sat up.

"Then why isn't he waking up?! Why?" Lucius demanded, "Please, make him wake up..." Lucius started crying more, wiping at his tears with both hands as Blayth pulled him close, "Please... He can't be dead..."

"He's alive." Blayth assured him, hand against his head.

"I'll get Liam." Leon suggested. Blayth nodded at him.

"Why do you think he's dead?" Blayth asked.

"H-he..." Lucius tried to say but a sob interrupted him.

"It's alright. Come on, enough crying." Blayth muttered, his hand still caressing Lucius's hair.

Leon soon returned with Liam after he'd woken him up, having told him what happened, letting him know that Lucius needed confirmation that Noah was indeed alive. Liam took a seat on the bed next to Noah, a hand against his chest, Lucius's tearful eyes locked on him as he waited with baited breath.

"He's the same." Liam said, turning to look at Lucius, "Alive. Well. Nothing is wrong."

"B-but... h-he... We were burying him..." Lucius said, trembling as his tears kept falling.

"It was just a dream." Liam comforted.

Lucius shook his head, "He's dead... he is... I know it. He-... N-Noah..." Lucius wept, grabbing onto Blayth's arm as he hid his face against his shoulder, his sobs becoming louder.

Liam's features were grim, feeling the urge to beat Noah up when he woke up. He moved closer to where Lucius was, placing a hand against his head before he muttered a spell, then said, "You'll feel better in the morning." Lucius drifted asleep a mere moment later.

Blayth walked in the next day with a tray, bringing Lucius's lunch to his room as he refused to leave. He was seated at the foot of the bed, leaning against the bedpost, his legs pulled to his chest, arms folded as he nibbled on the nail of his thumb, eyes red and swollen.

"Lucius." Blayth said. Lucius sniffled, facing further away as he wiped at his eyes. "You have to eat something." Blayth told him, placing the tray on the bed next to him.

"I'm not hungry." Lucius muttered.

"I ignored it at breakfast, but now-..."

"Not now, Blayth." Lucius said quietly, his eyes returning to Noah.

"You heard Liam. He's fine."

"I can't get it out of my head." Lucius said, "What I saw felt so real."

"What did you see?" Blayth asked.

Lucius pulled the sleeves of his oversized shirt further over his fingers before he muttered, "I was lying beside him. I thought he was asleep. Then Liam came to do his check up on him, but he looked grim. I asked him what's wrong, but he didn't answer. He re-casted the spell. Tried again. Finally he told me that there was no heartbeat. I begged him to try again. I begged him. He said nothing will change it. There was no way he'd come back to life. That he's been dead for a while."