Beats and Breaths-Lifelines

Chapter 10

Leo spotted her fingertips right before the sand sucked her in completely He dove, gripping tightly to them with his bad arm. Wincing, he grit his teeth and pulled. The sand didn't give, and he almost pulled his arm out of his socket.

Frederik, the boy he swore to protect, joined in, holding onto his little sister's arm like a lifeline.

He really did look quite different when Leo wasn't a lizard. Had his hair always been that curly?

Things really were moving faster than he could progress. Since when had his legs been that long! How much had he grown as a gecko?! How big could a gecko even grow!

Too late, he realized one thing that certainly had regressed.

Strength, maybe?

The two boys' fingers started to slip.

Desperately, Leo tried to reach for her wrists, which he had heard was the best way to get a good grip. Unfortunately, he missed entirely, and Frederik lurched forward, now the only one connecting the small girl from the separation of life and death.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Leo was supposed to protect them.

That was his whole job!

Leo had always liked little Shan. She was spritely, sweet, and defencive. Not so different from his own little sister, Gazille. He hadn't seen her in so long...She was so young when he left for his mission. For Shan and Frederik.

They were like family now, and how could a loss of a family member be so quick and so unexpected?

It wasn't fair.

What was?

Frederik cried out as his fingers slipped from his sister's. Pure devastation crossed his figures as he tried his very very hardest to hang on to the threads.

But life wasn't fair.

Frederik let out a cry of pure anguish, then both boys rocked back on their heels in silence.

Leo held him back from plunging in after her.

Sloppy tears splashed down his cheeks, and he slapped Leo with the back of his hand repeatedly. He took the beating, his heart numb.

Shan couldn't be gone.

It wasn't possible.

He couldn't believe it.

His one duty, ever, he'd failed! She was gone. Shan was gone, gone, gone.

Leo just couldn't understand why life was so cruel. Which was stupid, because the boy in front of him, the boy who looked so very small now, had only lived with heartbreak.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go! He wanted to cry out to the heavens. He couldn't even comfort Frederik, because the boy didn't even know him. Know him, know him.

But moping wouldn't help.

After the heartbreak, all you could do was pick up the pieces.

Wasn't that his job in the first place?

Why wasn't she dead?

She had felt the life leave her body, and she practically saw Hemm's Realm!

But a stale wind swept over her face, and Shan was sure as sure that she wasn't dead.

Slowly, she began to take in her surroundings. Opening her eyes seemed like too much an effort, so she focused on the hard rock on her shoulder blade, and a patch of something warm and sticky on her ribs, and the sharp, acrid smell in the air.