⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐍 ᵃ ˢᵗʳᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ᵃᶠ

𝟎𝟏𝟎

TEN

-- THE WATER BOWL --

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

SILENCE. MATTY shoves wyatt off of him and rushes to the edge of the cliff, looking down. he's expecting to see nothing but ripples in the lake, expecting his heart to drop, but...holly is hovering there, fifteen feet below him, and matty just stares.

wyatt and haru come to his side, and wyatt's jaw drops. "how is she doing that? how is she not dead?"

matty shakes his head just as holly starts to float back up to the top of the cliff. matty scrambles back as she reaches the ground, landing unsteadily on her feet. she turns and meets his eyes. "um...what just happened?"

matty turns around slowly, and there he is. sev, nose bleeding, arm stretched out in front of him, breathing heavily. matty hears holly gasp from behind him, and she breathes, "sev."

wyatt and haru are gaping at sev. wyatt speaks first, "did you do that? did you save her?"

matty's face slowly lifts into a grin. he turns back around to face wyatt. "yeah, he did, loser. are you gonna break my leg now?"

wyatt stammers, "i— how— what—"

the four of them fall silent as sev lifts his hand again, turning towards wyatt and taking a step closer. wyatt's eyes widen and he stumbles back, tripping over his feet as he backtracks to the path he'd come from. "wait, no—"

sev tilts his head sharply and wyatt cries out, reaching down to clutch his leg as matty hears a satisfying crack. haru's eyes widen at sev as wyatt shouts, "you freak! you broke my leg!" and matty watches as the two bullies hurry back down the path away from sev as fast as they can with wyatt's broken leg.

matty, still grinning, takes a few steps after them and calls, "yeah, and stay gone! he's our friend," he pauses, wincing, "and he may be...slightly mentally unstable, but he's awesome!"

holly smiles to herself, but then hears a thud from behind her. she turns around and sees sev lying on the ground, blood dripping from his nose. "sev? sev, are you okay?" she crouches down beside him as matty walks over.

"i..." sev's face drops into a frown. "i'm a monster." holly's eyebrows furrow. "i opened...gate...sorry. i'm sorry."

holly meets his eyes, shaking her head. "no, sev, you're not a monster. you saved me! just now, sev, you saved me."

matty nods from beside her. "yeah, and we're going to fix everything, okay? but we need your help."

sev looks up at them, and after a moment, he nods slowly. matty claps his hands together and stands up, starting to walk away. holly stays, though, and smiles at sev. she sighs, "god, sev, we thought we were never gonna see you again. we were so worried."