The Return | Cricky

Chapter LXIV: The Stable

It was late, and Ricky has a tendency to sleep a lot when he's depressed. Knowing he was more than likely sleeping, I didn't knock, slipping into his room quietly. Not too much had changed, but I did notice a few plants in different pots than I'd remembered. Some things here and there were missing, too, but otherwise his random fits haven't damaged this room too badly.

My love looked to be asleep. Fuck, it felt amazing to smell his scent again. It wasn't that allure of the demon lord that managed to entrap me, but it was still Ricky. The moonlight peered in through the window, decorating his black hair with silver highlights and illuminating his porcelain skin. He was so damn beautiful. I carefully sat along the edge of the bed and woke him gently. He wasn't scared — He knew my touch well. His eyes cracked open, a sleepy smile coming to his lips. He didn't say a word, only sat up and brought our lips together.

I wrapped my arms around him tight, silently reassuring him that I wouldn't leave again. Time in the dirt is meaningless and blurry. It hasn't felt nearly as long to me as it did to him. I can't imagine how awful the separation has been on him. Ricky balled his fist around the fabric of my shirt, muttering, "Don't leave again. Ever again."

"I promise I won't, Baby." I whispered, damn well knowing it was a lie. Someday soon, I would have to journey far away from him to continue the path I'd set out on, but just for now I would stay. It's clear to me already, our time apart has done some significant damage. Ricky's so thin, I was scared I would break him. Unfortunately, Ville would never pressure him into eating. He didn't really believe in tough love. I can't say I'm the same way. As much as I wanted to go down to the kitchen and make him a proper meal immediately, I didn't want to upset him by leaving.

"You were gone for too long." He said. Ricky moved his head back from my shoulder to look me in the eyes. Oh, that beautiful ocean blue, how I've missed them. I leaned in to kiss between them, but he pushed me back. I looked upon him in confusion and he stared back at me like I was a damn stranger.

"Ricky-" I reached towards him as he began scurrying back on his bed. This was hauntingly familiar to that fateful day at the sanctuary, when his PTSD had forced him into a state of amnesia. It was the same fear and panic then that painted him now. "It's just me-" The words were ripped straight off my lips as I was suddenly thrust across the room. The striped leaves of a plant beside the dresser had leaped forward, taking hold of my limps and dragging me away from him. I thrashed against them, somehow managing to break free. "Ricky, it's me!"

The trembling of his little body and the tears gushing down his cheeks was the last thing I saw before the vines over his bed darted towards me like the vicious tentacles of an octopus. My fighting instincts weren't the same around Ricky. I didn't want to scare him, and I was often too relaxed to be so reactive and rigid. I guess you could say I let my guard down around him a little too much. His vines sucker punched me right out the window, hurling me down several stories until I crashed through the ceiling of the horse stables.

A fall like that would kill a human, but it merely shattered all of my bones and placed me in horrific pain. It doesn't matter. If I lay here long enough, my body will repair itself. Until then, I get to feel the sweet agony of pain equivalent to death while contemplating why the love of my life tried to kill me. Well, I thought that's what I would be doing, but the scream of a stable hand told me otherwise. The young girl bolted out into the snow in hysterics, shouting to the guards about my unusual entrance. Within seconds Kuza was teleporting down here to investigate the commotion. He seemed taken back to see me splayed out in the dirt like a stray cat off the side of the road.

Before he could conjure the right words to say, Ryan and Yuki had caught up to him. They put two and two together when they noticed the hole in the roof and the broken pieces of wood surrounding me.