Rift

Chapter 2: Okay

Seeing that the door to her room is open a crack, Colin smiles and softly knocks before poking his head in to see Edith sitting on the bed, her back against the headboard and a book in her hands.

The sound of his knock grasps her attention and she weakly looks over at him where he's standing in the doorway with one arm propped up against the doorframe. He's watching her with soft eyes and the gloom on his face tells her all she needs to know.

"Still no word, huh?" she asks and sets her book down.

Colin sighs and shakes his head, stepping into the room.

"May is still off making her rounds, and she says she should be back sometime in the next day or so. And J's been out trying to find information on where the broadcast came from, but so far she's turned up nothing. No clue when she'll be back, so it looks like we've got the station to ourselves again," he softly chuckles which ends in another sigh.

He walks over and sits on the foot of the bed, watching as Edith scoots over to sit on the edge with her back slouched. He's noticed her starting to look a little more pale and dark circles have begun forming under her eyes over the past month. He doesn't understand what's wrong with her. She's been eating and sleeping well, and she hasn't been doing anything too dangerous. She has occasionally been above ground for fresh air, but still, no improvements to her physical state. And now after hearing the broadcast, he worries for her mental state as well.

Edith groans and wraps her arms around her stomach. "Maybe if we went looking for him, we'd have a better chance since he knows us. I hate not being able to do anything. Regan is out there, Colin. He's somewhere in Eutria."

"I know, doll. But wherever he is, I'm pretty sure he's capable of taking care of himself."

"Colin, this is Regan we're talking about," Edith reminds him.

"Regan has lived how long?" Colin softly chuckles. "And given how confident he sounded in the broadcast, I'm willing to bet he's okay."

Edith looks down and bites the inside of her cheek, anxiously rubbing at the fabric of her tank top.

"I know..." she sighs. "He hardly even sounded like Regan..."

Colin nods and reaches over to softly rub her shoulder. "It has been a while since we last saw him. How long now? Over two months? And given the fact that he was in Aramora, dealing with Sara of all people, it only makes sense that he'd sound a bit different."

Edith's eyes widen a bit and she lifts her head, turning her gaze to meet his. "You don't think she did anything to him... do you?"

Colin tenses and looks away, dropping his hand from her shoulder and taking a deep breath of his own. She feels bad for asking, considering what Colin had to go through because of Sara. But that sudden fear of realizing the possibility that any of that could also happen to Regan is just too much to keep her biting her tongue. The thought makes her sick, which she has already been feeling plenty of over the past two months, since Idyll.

Colin shakes his head slowly, just staring at the ground.

"I guess we'll have no way of knowing until we see him again."

Edith stares at him guiltily for a moment before she slides over on the bed and leans against him, resting her head on his shoulder and affectionately nuzzling against him.

Up to that point, they haven't exactly been 'romantic' with each other. After the kiss back on the train a month ago, he almost felt like they were giving each other some space from that sort of thing. But he must admit how nice these little moments feel. Even if it's just as friends, he doesn't mind. He just likes being near her.