ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 26

ACHIM

Achim was exhausted and bleeding from both shoulder and hand, but he did not care. After setting Naomi gently atop a leaning tower in the shadow of the slums, the dark boy hovered over her broken body with a face that repressed his anguish. They escaped The Beast, if only by the thinnest strand, but at what cost had they come this far.

As the boy looked upon Naomi in silence, his calm demeanor belied a vexing panic. His soul begged for the girl's wellness but her cinnamon-spotted face, once a light and happy hue, had been painted a bloody mess. With eyes barely open and lips left ajar, the sun-kissed girl presented a familiar view of death for one who saw it far too often. Achim grabbed her hands and clenched until he could accept the stillness. He did not know how long he sat there, holding her hand. He did not know how long it would have taken to willingly let her go, but, when Naomi squeezed his back, Achim knew that he did not have to. At least not yet.

"Naomi," Achim cried. He gripped her squeezing palm as if it contained her soul.

"Achim," whispered Naomi. She was feint, almost as if she was not entirely present. "...Your shoulder." The battered Naomi attempted to lift her arm, but, because of the shattered bones, she could only drag the limb along the floor.

Achim stilled her mindful hand with no concern paid to his own mangled form. It did not matter how deep the teeth dug or how grossly the bite wound oozed. His attention had been stolen by her harrowing state. Achim tended to her like moonlight on fresh spring leaves. "Don't worry about that. Just rest," said Achim. "A-as a matter of fact, I've got something for you. It may hurt to set up though."

Achim ripped away a piece of his own clothes and fastened a sling for Naomi's broken arm. Gentle in his care, the dark boy set her limb with as much consideration as he could. Tears soon fell from Naomi's eyes, and Achim, thinking himself a despicable cluts, apologized profusely. Alas, it was not his mistake that led her to shed tears, but her own. Achim understood this only after her fourth apology.

Again Achim rushed to comfort her, in his own way. "You should be sorry," Achim snickered. He pushed hair from Naomi's face as he teased her and hoped to bring levity with a jest. "You said you'd be the one to save me, remember? What kind of savior needs to be saved?"

Even while enveloped in injury, Naomi mustered a smile. It was a small thing, but seeing her be assuaged by his words created a joyful recoil. Achim smiled the biggest smile he had ever smiled and Naomi chirped a pained little giggle.

"No one...No one has ever smiled at me like that before," said Naomi. "No one since Dad." Naomi rested her head in Achim's palm and closed her eyes. "It all feels... so nice," she whispered.

The hand Achim held soon held his and, for a time, Naomi looked like a sacred thing. By her words, the dark boy was painted a color of blush but this moment had no room for embarrassment. They were too close to the edge to be anything but themselves "I'm glad," said Achim. "Just try not to fall asleep, Naomi. Can you do that for me?"

"...Okay," said the slow nodding girl.

Naomi's compliance may have been true, but her voice was undoubtedly weak. Drifting into the dream was an inevitability for her, at least as far as Achim could see. This hard fact left him anxious and particularly so when Naomi wore such a deathly peace. Cradling her close, Achim let her head rest on his heart as he surveyed the happenings below.

He peered out of a hole in their high retreat, and through it, Achim saw a scene in chaos. The recently collapsed saloon spat a pillar of smoke into the slum skyline. People were screaming in a stampede that dashed into all directions. The mob paid little mind to the trampled and the reason quickly became clear. The slum-town structures were so intricately stacked that a singular collapse threatened the whole. The entire block had become unstable, and a cascade of destruction was determined only by whims of the wind. The structures remained standing for as long as Achim watched, but the possibility demanded that the people flee.