Faithless Memories

Murdered

Chapter 60

Kris' attention was drawn when Zack closed the distance. The look he was giving her nearly broke her heart. She could tell he was hurt by the fact that he felt that she had been keeping things from him. His question only made it worse. "Kris, I've been trying to put it all together since yesterday, and I think... I think I know what happened. Why didn't you tell me? You died, didn't you?"

Kris felt herself start to shake as his innocent question caused a landslide in her mind. She barely heard Genesis curse from across the room as she backed away from Zack with terror in her eyes. It was hard for her to stop seeing the image of another boy that she had once called brother instead of the gentle giant that was reaching for her.

She screamed when he tried to grab her to keep her from tripping as she backed up. His eyes widened as she shook her head at his actions, and she almost fell. Thankfully, Genesis had already made it to her side. She didn't react to his arms around her any better at first, but his embrace was loose, despite her thrashing against him, and his voice was calm. One of his hands was brushing against her hair, and the other was against her back.

It was several minutes before his actions finally paid off, and her thrashing calmed to sobbing. Once he was sure she was back to herself, he picked her up and carried her back to sit with her in one of the chairs and ignored the looks from all the others in the room, except for Zack. He caught the Puppy's eyes and motioned him over.

Zack was still stunned by what had just happened and still wasn't sure what to think. He was hurt by the fact that his sister was seemingly terrified by his touch, but somehow Genesis had been the one to calm her. It made him even more confused when the man obviously wanted him to join them. He was hesitant to walk over there. He didn't want Kris to go off again, but when her cries slowed, he made his way over. Though he did stop a far enough distance away that she could feel safe, he hoped.

There was still a tinge of fear in her eyes when she looked up, and that hurt him more than he had words for, but she held out a hand. He realized she was waiting for him to take it, and he watched her eyes as he got close enough to wrap his much larger hand around hers. Tears filled her eyes again as she watched it before she looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Zack. It isn't you."

His expression still showed his confusion when she pulled her hand away. "You said that before. What is going on?"

Genesis looked like he was about to speak up, but Kris shifted so she could face her brother better. She didn't leave the safety of her lover's arms, though. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before she opened them. There was enough terror and sadness in them to nearly knock Zack off his feet. When she spoke, he almost wished her words could have knocked him out. At least then he wouldn't have been able to feel so much pain.

"Zack, I didn't just die. I was murdered. The reason you found me the way you did was because the man that did it had me for months beforehand. Honestly, I don't know what bothers me more, the fact that the boy I grew up with and called brother killed me, or the fact that I begged him to."

Genesis' voice softly saying her name as he pulled her closer once again was the only sound in the room for several minutes. Kris couldn't watch as Zack looked at her with dawning horror. He now knew why she doubted him, why she was reacting to his touch the way she did, and as much as it hurt, he understood. He wanted to fix it. He wanted to assure her that it would never happen that way again. He wanted her to know she would always be safe with him, but he didn't know how to do any of that without making her remember what had happened before.

Angeal did not look to be reacting any better. He was frozen in place with shock, as were Genesis' parents and even Hollander had stopped trying to get loose when the whole debacle started. Genesis' mother had begun to softly weep as she came to understand just how broken both her son and the woman he loved were. Her only consolation was the fact that they each seemed to draw strength from the other.