Richie had been sobbing non-stop for nearly an hour. No one could console him; he just kept brokenly crying about how he let Eddie down and how he'd broken his promise to protect him. Not only that, but he claimed that he should've been there to protect Stan, that he shouldn't have gotten distracted with his own past.
They had a funeral for Wentworth, burying him in a shallow grave. The other three siblings were also distraught, but their main cause for stress was the loss of their father.
Ben and Bill appeared with Bev and Mike, who had gone to tell them the Lucantians had left. They checked the ports and soon found that their ship had been taken as well. That way they wouldn't be able to follow.
"Come on," Katie whispered after they concluded their small service for Wentworth. "We need to get to our people."
Edwin looked over at Richie, who was sobbing on the ground. There was no telling who he was sobbing for; it could've been for Wentworth, for Iris, for Eddie, or Stan. All they knew was that he was broken and would refuse to move.
"Wait," Edwin said, looking at his brother. "Richie's the oldest. That makes him our new leader. He makes the rules now."
Richie stopped crying and gave them a bewildered look. "Wh-what?" he asked in a broken voice. "I can't be a leader! I've been on this damn island for all of ten hours!"
Katie shrugged, still consoling Avi. "What about the shells, Edwin? Didn't father say he'd choose the new leader not based on age?"
"I don't think he planned on dying this soon," Edwin shot back, forcing a harder sob from Avi. "He probably doesn't even have them."
Katie helped Avi to her feet, hugging her sister tightly. "It doesn't hurt to check. Come on," she said, and she and Edwin vanished into the mouth of the damaged cave.
Richie sat next to Avi, who was crying into her knees. All three of the bonds were next to her, purring and trying to comfort the girl.
"I never expected to lose our father," Avi said quietly. "First our mother, now him."
"Do you remember our mother?"
"Yes. She looked a lot like you and I, not so much Katie and Edwin. She wasn't a good mother, but she was a nice lady. She didn't want to mother us, but she helped us learn. I was nine when she killed herself."
Richie pulled her into a side hug, allowing Avi to cry into his shoulder. It was no secret that she was the youngest of the four, simply based on her size and how she was treated by her siblings. They made her seem fragile and in need of protection.
"Why did she?"
"She knew a war would come eventually. Another one, since she survived the first when we were born. She didn't want to live through that again." Avi scoffed and ran a hand through her hair. "She was a coward. I have respect for who she was when I was a child, but I have none now."
Richie smiled softly. "You should meet the woman who raised me. Her name is Maggie and she's the only one I consider to be my mother, related or not. She protected me for eighteen years," he said, the image of Maggie caring for him as a child flashing in his head.
"I'd like that, after we figure out this damned war," Avi said with another scoff. Most of her tears were dried, but it was clear she was still angry and upset. "We need to take down the Lucantians."
"Agreed."
The rest of the group sat in silence behind them, until Bill spoke up.
"Th-they're not all bad. M-my father would n-never support what has b-been happening. I tr-trust he'll be among the first p-people Eddie sees. He'll help us," he said, standing up and leaning against a tree. "We n-need a weakness."
