Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo]

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 22, 2015 21:59:30 GMT -5

Post by * on Jul 22, 2015 21:59:30 GMT -5

The cold, silver metal in between my index finger and thumb push gently a set of peas that are on my plate. Not a single morsel has touched my lips nor even made it pass the point of the edge of the fork. No, instead of eating, I keep glancing up to the screen. Ever once in a while, I'll see her face. I'll see statistics of the tributes in the games and silently whisper out her name. I can't show how proud of her I am and nor can I show everyone around me how terrible I feel that now this family legacy that she had is now put on my shoulders until she gets home. How many days will these games last? How many days will my father look upon me with desire to do his dirty work and pretend to be Rhyme?

"Hurry and get home, Rhyme. Dad needs you to be his shining star." I beg an plead with the contents of my meal sitting in front of me that has for the last ten minutes. Behind me, I can hear the playful giggles of some girls and my attention is turned when Alyssa sits beside me and places her hand on my shoulder.

"Not hungry? Come one, your sister is doing fine. You can watch later on when they do recaps and see who she's dismembered later. Cheer up, chika. We gotta practice later, right? You and me? I got some hot new moves I want to perfect."

I glance at her, lifting my eyebrow and nodding quickly to her, gracing her with a smile and a quick scoop of food to bring to my mouth and already I'm scooping up my tray. "Let's go. I'm ready now. I wanna do something."

"Okay!" She's eagerly pulling me to my feet as I reach down for my hardly touched meal tray. Just as I start to walk, I can't help but notice my brother sitting on the other side of the room and I look toward Alyssa and point to him. "Do you see my brother? Want to go talk to him?"

I'm curious if she would since she is not the type to talk to him so openly. I think it's a tiny bit of a crush and I find it somewhat humorous in all honesty. Her reaction is simply a reddening of her cheeks and trying to brush it off.

"No, I think we should go ahead and leave. Lets go, Ry." I shake my head.

"I'll catch up in a few, okay? I'm going to go tell my brother something real fast. Be back." I skip away, passing through the flood of students and appearing right behind Ruckus, poking him gently on the back. "Keep an eye on Rhyme for m..."

Voices and shouts suddenly catch both of our attention as the screen suddenly pops up with the group that my sister is in. Just like that, the faces switch dramatically between all the tributes and I find myself sitting down, forgetting almost immediately what was going on with my previous plans with Alyssa. My grin appears while watching Rhyme. Three days into the games and she's still going so strong, but something happens. One of the other tributes goes directly for her and the blade bites across and into her skin.

I gasp. I cover my mouth and shaking my head and slamming my fist down on the table. "Don't let them.. get them Rhyme!" I say a little over a whisper. I don't dare look at Ruckus, for fear of seeing fear in his eyes or for him seeing the anger in mine. I keep rooting her on though. I keep pushing her forward with my heart knowing that she's going to make it out alive and come home and take her position back in our family. She has to...

"No." I see the blade peirce her neck. I feel the color drain my face and my hands drop to my sides as I feel my insides shutting down all together. My vision wavers the longer my sight is put upon the glade sticking out of her neck. She's still standing and still fighting. She's being attacked and hurt. She's being targeted. She's being bullied.

"Look at her... I think she's about to cry. Do you see it? Her awful big sister is about to bite the blade..." Taunts are whispered nearest to me and for a moment, my eyes are broken from the screen in front of me. I look harshly to the three girls, concealing their mouths with their hands as they start to walk away.

"Shut up..." I mutter to them. My eyes go back to the screen once more and the pit of my stomach drops out. In the moments that my eyes left the screen to meet with the three girls from dance class, Rhyme starts to fall. In the blink of an eye, I see so much more redness seepingn through the wounds on her body. New wounds that I missed when I looked away.

Slow motion sets in.

Her body starts to fall. Her eyes peirce the camera and all I can see is her looking at me. Looking at what I need to become. What I will be missing out. She can't be dying. She's only playing a trick. She's not falling because of her wounds. She's falling to trick the enemy. Rhyme is too smart and too clever to die. She wouldn't do that to me. She wouldn't do that to Ruckus. She just can't...

"...and down she goes." The words from the giggling girls behind me throws me into another realm. My mind shuts down and I don't even see what's going on. I physically can't see a thing and I mentally just don't comprehend anything. All I know is that I swing my arm around and make contact with the girl closest to me.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD..."

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 23, 2015 12:52:03 GMT -5

Post by grim. on Jul 23, 2015 12:52:03 GMT -5

R U C K U S.

Lunch was rather pointless, i was gripping the side of the table. Digging my nails into the hard wood. My eyes never releasing the harmful rays if the screen. It was day three, she had spent three days in that arena. She was so strong, there weren't any words for me to describe the amount of honor I felt just from sharing the same blood. She entered that arena, and she did it with grace and beauty. I was going to be expected to enter next, no matter the outcome, but I would never enter, I was coward. She seemed to be doing alright, the fight was gruesome, but nothing she couldn't handle, I had seen worse while training.

It wasn't long before Rhythm was at my side, she began muttering something, but my eyes were glued to the screen, and hers were too. The blade of a thrown knife digs into her skin, we watch as her blood...our blood, spills from her veins. She was hurt, there was no denying that. I hear the muffled sounds of Rhythm screaming for her to fight it out, I hear the laughter of some children around us. But none of it mattered, she was being ripped apart...I was being ripped apart. A knife slices through the skin in her neck, and I feel the pain. My other half was dying, I watch her fall, and I fall with her.

My hearing is still muffled while I see her face lose life, while I see Rhyme die...It wasn't until Rhythm had knocked some girl on her ass, that i had even noticed she screamed the words "She isn't dead"...Oh, but she was, and it killed me that I would have to stop this. I would have to step up, because Rhyme was gone, and Rhythm was just too young. I stand from my seat and I walk behind Rhythm. I see her arm attempt to throw another fist, but I catch it, tucking it into my stomach, and wrapping my arms around her shoulders. "She is dead, Rhythm, she is dead, she is dead". I feel tears stream down my cheeks, melting into the fabric of Rhythms shirt.

She begins to struggle, so I lift her from the floor, feeling her feet kick into my knees, her arms trapped beneath my grasp. "She is dead, she is dead, she is dead". I continue to mutter, it quickly turns to a scream. She had to understand "SHE IS DEAD"! I shout. I immediately realize that i was making a scene. I loosen my grip on Rhythm, only to feel her sprint away from me. I run through the crowd, pushing people aside. "Rhythm, Rhythm please." I run after her, feeling my tears moisten my face even further. I was alone...she was alone, our family was going to fall apart...I see a boy, his hair dark, his eyes laid on me. He had caught Rhythm in his arms, holding her back, I quickly run up noticing how much larger he was then me, and I grab my sister from him. I was afraid to look him in the eye, I'm sure my eyes were surrounded my redness. I wipe my cheeks with my hands, and I hold Rhythm close. "Thank you." I say. I begin to try and walk away, avoiding embarrassing our name any further, but the boy seemed to have something to say.

where my demons hide.

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 23, 2015 13:42:18 GMT -5

Post by Arrows on Jul 23, 2015 13:42:18 GMT -5

Loneliness picked away at Rhapsody's skin as if millions of needles were pricking there way deep into his skin sending waves of chilling pain through his hollow bones. The gateways of his eyes fought back the torrential siege of liquid sadness that stung like venom. For so long Rhapsody had relied upon Rhyme as his guiding light. He saw her as the opening to a safe place where he would no longer feel the hellish lashings of his Mother's ruthless gauntlets. However now she was miles away fighting in a game so twisted it made the blood of careers thicken with fear whenever a canon roared fiercely through the scarlet air.

Rhapsody had been forcing himself to try to seem uninterested in the games for his own health's sake, but he was failing. Ever chance he got to even get a glimpse to see the shining star light of Rhyme's eyes he was there watching. Watching her fight and dance and yell and kill. Every attack she threw and received ripped away a piece of Rhapsody's life. Her heart beating was the only thing that kept him from spiraling into decimal defeat under the bitter tyranny of his broken home.

Rhyme was the only one who truly knew the truth. The fact that Rhapsody was a Morales. The product of their father's affair with a woman. The child he could never find no matter how hard he searched through the eerie mornings and the shrills of night. She was the one who kept him anchored to the truth of a real family waiting just beyond his reach. She reminded him of the chance he could have one day to actually know the touch and love of other children. Rhyme's stories of the future they would have together as siblings replayed on constant repeat through the swirling mists of Rhapsody's dreams. In fact, he was just beginning to actually believe he would be a Morales. However the world always did have a way to turn all things sour and to make the prettiest of roses wilt.

Still though Rhapsody never lost hope that Rhyme would win and return home a champion above all. She was already perfect in every way, all she really needed was the crown she deserved. However it seemed that as Rhapsody's heart raced and his body shivered that it may not be so. As the screen flicked and swarmed with the lights of scarlet blood Rhapsody could feel the screams erupting from his chest. Every knife that sliced he skin caused his white knuckled grip to grow whiter and whiter. How was he not suppose to react to his true sibling and one of his best friends being slaughtered? How could his Mother keep him so contained? Because she beats you. Right...

Then the world froze. Rhapsody's mind froze in total confusion as her blonde locks kissed the rolling ground. Blood ran in rivers from her neck as Rhapsody's eyes stared in total disbelief. Tidal waves of grief and sorrow racked against his body in quick succession as the words of sobs could not escape his battered lips. Everything good in the world died when she died. The world Rhapsody had known was thrown into a black chasm of utter sadness. Without Rhyme Morales to lighten the day there would be no day at all. How could the sun shine without its star?

Slowly though the world began to melt around him as his hands gripped Riddle's arm. Screams slammed against Rhapsody's ears as tears that would not fall raged in his eyes. "N... no..." He muttered as his body shook in tremors of denial. His gaze had broken their frozen shields as he watched his siblings fall utterly apart. With each sob and scream another knife drove its way into his shattered heart. He should be there beside them. Sheltering each other from the world that was raging in a storm of hell around them. However here he stood clutching to his only friend as he was thrown back into his solo life. He was alone, but that didn't mean he couldn't help them.

With a startled gasp Rhapsody watched in terror and sorrow as Riddle caught the struggling Rhythm in his arms. Rhapsody felt his body grow weaker as he looked his younger sister straight in the eyes for the first time. Gently he removed his grasp from Riddle as Ruckus thanked Riddle for catching her. For once the three of them stood all together, but they weren't siblings. They didn't know the truth, they couldn't know the truth. He was their brother... but in this moment only just another boy. "I...." Rhapsody's voice broke between his strained sobs. "I am so sorry." He whispered before dropping his gaze to the floor that seemed so much less alive than when its star was shining above it.

Just remember who they are,
just remember who you are,
just remember who Rhyme Morales was.

Graphic by the Breathtakingly Talented Stare

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 23, 2015 17:16:35 GMT -5

Post by Cameo {RIP Charlie} on Jul 23, 2015 17:16:35 GMT -5

R I D D L E.

The chaotic hustle and bustle of the cafeteria warmly welcomes Rhapsody and I as we enter. No judgmental stares of our peers gaze our way to see the new lunch intruders. Instead they’re eyes are glued upon the large projection within this vast room, just like every year at this time. For these few weeks the ones that would rather not turn heads simply by passing through a door, such as myself, are granted their preference…that is unless you’re the unfortunate few that have a sibling upon the screen.

Automatically my attention draws to the young man with debatably dirty blonde or light brown hair gracing above his breathtaking features. His expression is so tense with frustration and a hint of hope, and I can’t help but wonder how it appeared before his sister was taken. Did he illuminate with the glow I know he holds under that sorrow? It was difficult to notice anyone within the large population of this school and district, but now he’s unquestionably recognized by everyone just as both his sisters are. I break my glance from him, feeling guilty over my elongated glimpse. Of course my eyes glaze over Rhythm first though, continuing my obtruding trail of thoughts over the Morales’s.

“Least the negative attention isn't upon you?” I attempt to cheer up Rhapsody to the best of my ability, as we watch a group of girls brutally tease Rhythm. There’s no expressing my dire urge to go defend her, and in more ways then one given I remain observing from afar. But I’ve never even improperly met her before, and stepping into that unwanted spotlight terrifies me back to the little boy I used to be. So I endure doing nothing, only to discover that it pains me even more. She already has to suffer through her sibling fighting for her life, and now some kids are viciously stabbing her while she’s down. That’s when I finally gaze up to witness her sister experiencing the very same thing.

The entire time my focus was in tunnel vision upon the ones that I actually have a chance in protecting. Whether their sister survives is sadly not up to me, but her siblings? That’s hopefully a different story. Already one is suffocating my arm, and I quickly envelope him in an embrace. “We…” I desperately want to encourage Rhapsody to leave with me, shield him from what’s about to happen, but I can’t. A knife pierces through his sister’s neck, and I know I can’t neglect him from seeing this. He’ll see this footage eventually and I’d much rather be present when he does, no matter how excruciating it’s about to become.

My grasp tightens around Rhapsody when Rhyme assuredly plummets. The blood sickens me to the core, causing more anxiety to force our exit. But that’s yet another thing I’m unable to do, because I have a burning need to save all three of them from this. Those girls continue to taunt Rhythm, and a tear begins to sting my eyes. Instantly I’m blinking it away, absorbing it back with refusal to crack. She sprints at them with a forceful attack. My feet hardly have a chance to budge before Ruckus is after her. Even more so I secure my clasp on Rhapsody.

Every eye in the dining hall is stuck upon them, and my heart is slamming against my chest to make it stop. They don’t deserve this. Ruckus desperately attempts to comfort his sister, but how can he while this is seen as pure entertainment from the kids around them? And why can’t I take them away from all of this?

The little one escapes from her brother’s hold and begins dashing through the sea of students. I realize that Rhapsody & I barely made it past the doors. Instincts kick in and I release my dear friend from the comfort he very much needs. But his untold sister is bee-lining it to the door without the support she’s also in need of. My arm wrap around her petite body with gentle sturdiness, “Hold up Munchkin.” And just like that my own brother intuition is ignited.

“It’s going to be okay…” I attempt to sooth while her brother pushes through the crowd to get to us. Guess is the one time my career training actually comes in handy, though she quickly gives up her struggle. Just like that her fight vanishes, and I’m able to cradle her with a light rock.

The second her brother is before us he takes his little sister within his own comfort. My arms feel empty and useless, and regretfully I turn my focus to the uncountable stares that have found us. “Get back to your damn Game! There’s nothing to see here!” I scream at the audience with the intimidation I’ve forced myself gain. My expression is cold, ready to slice any eyes remaining on us. I refuse to return to the boy I used to be. I’m a man now. That is until I bring my attention back to the three Morales’s, where my face softens greatly.

“Let my friend and I walk you two home. I’m sure your teachers will understand.” I more or less offer while my head gently nudges toward the door. There’s no possible way I’m going to risk them running into more undesired encounters without my backup. They won’t even receive another glance if I can help it.

One of my arm returns across Rhapsody’s shoulders to assure him that I’m still here for him as well. But I can’t necessarily assume he’s ready to admit the connection he shares with them. “Come on.” I urge calmly while guiding everyone out.

Last Edit: Jul 23, 2015 20:27:23 GMT -5 by Cameo {RIP Charlie}

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 23, 2015 17:46:58 GMT -5

Post by * on Jul 23, 2015 17:46:58 GMT -5

"SHE'S NOT DEAD..."

I scream toward the girl, throwing my voice to allow everyone in the cafeteria to hear me. I react without even thinking about the whole situation. I just know that the girls were laughing at my sister. Laughing at the fact that she was falling down to trick her enemies. They don't know her like I do. She wouldn't die so easily. She isn't dead at all. Parts of my vision clear enough to know that the girl, whose face I punched is now on her bottom. She's got her hand on her face, blood trickling down her face but it doesn't stop there. One of the other girls that are near her stoop down to cover her from me, and the third one steps in front of them. She also laughed at Rhyme. If she laughs at my big sister, then she's laughing at me and I won't play her game.

She's playing mine.

I don't play fair...

"Ry... stop!" A familiar voice shouts out but my body has been thrust into auto-pilot. Already, I'm rearing back to hit the third girl, the one with the mole aside her cheek and dark brown hair in uneven strokes near her chin. The glasses on her face raise when her eyebrows do and my arm balls up once more.

You'll pay for this...

My hand is touched by someone behind me and a moment of fear is probing my memory. The last time I was bullied by these girls, Rhyme came to my rescue, shooing those girls off. Though, when this person touches my hand, they immediately grab me into a harsh form of hold. I can't seem to move at all. I can't breath properly. Then the ground beneath my feet is taken away and I'm at the mercy of someone that is way stronger than myself.

"Let me go!" I fight against my intruder, keeping my eyes closed and feeling like Rhyme. I have to fight. I can't give up and I can't let them take me. I don't know what's going on, but I can hear the voice over and over again.

"She is dead, Rhythm. She is dead. She is dead.

"No! No! No!" I keep screaming back the moment the word 'dead' is muttered in my ear. The word makes me feel like the world around me is crumbling because who on earth would tell me such lies? My big sister isn't dead. She can't be...

"SHE IS DEAD!"

My ears ring to the sound of the volume. My body tenses up, but when it does, the grip that someone has on me loosens and that was my cue to escape this horrible, and terrible lie. I drop out of this person's arms and hit the ground with my knees first and stumble through the sea of people, hitting a few in the way. My fingers are like vice grips when I use them to push me forward and give me more power to get through the next set of bodies standing in my way. Voices invade my privacy. Their hands on my shoulders trying to hold me back violate my body. Why won't they just leave me alone?

They just want me to feel their terrible lies.

They want me to succumb to the idea that I don't have her anymore. Rhyme Morales is still alive and I will do anything to prove it.

I blink away these horrible, angry tears that have formed in my eyes. I try to push away the tears that formed at the bottom of my eyes with my sleeve, but I run into something hard and arms are, once again, wrapping around my petite body, keeping me from leaving.

"NO!" I scream in frustration but as the arms wrap around me, I feel it is nothing but asafe haven. I feel comforted by these arms and I can't tell why. Even as limber as my legs feel now, this unknown person, whom I can vaguely smell a peppermint scent on, calms me. The fight drains from me.

A small, erratic weeping begins, softly in my own form of denial. Here I am being comforted within the arms of some stranger and when I look up, I notice another guy staring at me and my eyes meet with him, sparking this reaction. Those eyes are stunning, though they hold something deep within them. Ever so slowly, I draw my face back into the man holding me and take in a wif of the pepperment oil that seems to linger on his clothes. That is, until someone comes up and I am pulled back into 'his' arms.

"Ruckus... I wanna go home." I tell him, whispering to him and him alone and keep myself tucked away in his arms and push my face into his chest and wrap my arms around his neck.

"I'm so very sorry." I hear the boys words, whose eyes I connected with. He's apologizing to us for something, but I can only think that at that moment he's once against trying to get me to believe this fantasy where Rhyme doesn't exist.

"She's not gone..." I growl out and into Ruckus's chest, forbidden to look out into this cafeteria and meet eyes with anyone daring to tell me otherwise. "Ruckus... I wanna go home. I wanna see Rhyme."

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Jul 24, 2015 10:12:33 GMT -5

Post by grim. on Jul 24, 2015 10:12:33 GMT -5

R U C K U S.

I hear the boys voice echo through the cafeteria, telling everyone to look away "there was nothing to see". Way was he trying so hard to protect us, it wasn't is job...it was mine. I had to take over, she was my gad damn sister, I couldn't sit back and cower away like I had for so many years. I wouldn't let myself remain weak. I appreciate his kindness, but he had no right to invade our privacy. I listen to his offer of walking us home, and seeing as his friend was obviously in tears for god knows what reason. I figured we could take up the offer. Hell, he can walk us home, but that was all, just give me a few moments to get my head straight.

I feel Rhythms tears soak through my shirts fabric, I can feel her muffled words vibrate into my chest. She was afraid, but I knew my sister was stubborn. She very damn well believed that Rhyme was still alive, and it would take time to get her to realize that she wasn't. I was going to become the bad guy, and I understood that. Maybe having someone like this guy around could be helpful, he could listen to her, show her comfort in a way she wasn't going to want from me. Because whether she liked it or not, our sister was dead, and I wasn't going to let my last sibling left go fucking psycho. I would make her understand that Rhyme was dead, but maybe today I play along with her little fantasy, I was tired enough as it is.

I look up to the boy that offered us the walk home and nod my head. I then begin through the door, walking past the two other boys that seem to have their arms intertwined. Rhythm and I step through the door, my arms hiding her face from the horrible laughter that still rings through my skull. I feel her tiny arms clutch around my waist, and in a way she makes me feel safe. The two boys follow closely behind us, but I'm not sure my company was going to be anything worth wild. Hell you would think that with my sister dying oh, about five minutes ago, they would realize I'm not in the best of moods. But I appreciate them trying to lighten the mood. It just wasn't easy to lighten death. Death was forever.

My feet felt weak as I took every step. I had to pretend like my knees weren't buckling beneath me. I wanted nothing more then to find my bed and let everything inside of me melt free. I wanted the sorrow to be destroyed. But I knew that death scared more then just its victim, but all of those who loved. I refuse to love, I love no one except the girl that I feel locked within my grasp. She is my only love, and i will feel no other love because I cant lose anyone else. I cant do that to myself, even I deserve better. "You know normally I know someones name before directing them to where I sleep". I say in the weakest attempt to bring up conversation, it really just sounded more like I hated ever morsel of his being, though I didn't mean for it to come out like that.

where my demons hide.

Arrows
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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Aug 7, 2015 19:18:32 GMT -5

Post by Arrows on Aug 7, 2015 19:18:32 GMT -5

The freezing winds of utter isolation whirled like tornadoes deep in Rhapsody's soul. Beneath the raging storm of icy isolation a sea of sadness sent tidal waves of grief slamming into Rhapsody's heart. With every sob of Rhythm's that pierced his ears and with every step he took walking slightly behind the group the more minuscule he felt. The more the rays of true realization seemed to beam into his mind. Without Rhyme here to battle away the horrors and without Riddle to comfort him Rhapsody was a ship lost in a dark tide. Once again the thoughts of how they would never accept him even if they knew who he was crashed into his conscience. Rhapsody Morales was once again set drift on a constant current of abuse and loneliness.

A physical breeze scuttled like snakes through Rhapsody's short and torn hair. Within the heavy sanctions of his eyes he could feel the pooling of tears but none would glide down his eyes. He had to play the part. Without Rhyme he stood no chance against evading the wrath of his mother if he stepped out of line again. Rhyme could no longer guard him and love him like a true older sister. Now she was simply a star which had erupted in a cataclysmic super nova. Rhapsody knew that many would forget her but he was not one of those people. He would never forget a single minute detail about her. She was his older sister whether his mother wanted him to feel so or not.

Still though as Rhapsody gazed sorrowfully at the group ahead of him a piecing needle of desperation still drove into his heart. To them he must be an unknown weird boy. To them he was nothing more than dust in the wind. They would not care where that wind would take him whether near or far. Whether to salvation or to desolation. To them he was just a boy, but to him they were so much more. They were his family. A family he had been shackled in the shadows of for all his life tormented to watch silently. They were the weapons for his torture but also the keys to his happiness. They were his life but also his demise. They were the optimal paradox of his shifting life.

Rhapsody's gaze fell once again to the path before him as he just listened quaintly to them. Ease dropping was easier than talking. Hell, it was what Rhapsody was use to. Listen from afar and watch from afar but never engage with them. Don't even breathe the same general air they breathed. Rhapsody couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what his mother would do if she knew he was with them right now. Yet for some reason he didn't care. If she wanted to beat him she could. He had learned to handle them long ago he just prayed she would take off her rings.

Just remember who they are,

just remember who you are,
just remember who Rhyme Morales was.

Graphic by the Breathtakingly Talented Stare

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Ripple Effect (Tribute to Rhyme) [Grim/Arrows/Cameo] Aug 9, 2015 22:59:09 GMT -5

Post by Cameo {RIP Charlie} on Aug 9, 2015 22:59:09 GMT -5

R I D D L E.

Silence carries the four of us out of the cafeteria. Distant murmurs and cackles fail to receive my attention, as I purely focus on getting the Morales siblings from that event. My thoughts have become entirely blank as Rhythm’s last words repeat in my head. She wants nothing more then to see her older sister. The personal death she just witnessed upon the screen, taking place hundreds of miles away yet directly in her heart, refuses to register properly. And if she’s reacting this way already, how will she possibly handle to truth once it’s eventually absorbed? And even more concerning is whether I’ll be able to support them through this, and why I have such a dire instinct to.

Various questions and statements roll past my brain, while nothing successfully reaches my tongue. There’s absolutely zip I could say that would make this situation any better. They just lost their sister for damn sakes. Yet here I am insisting on escorting them home. Least I can strike down any obstacles that attempt to disturb their path. My inner cheek gets a hefty bite from my need to perfect what I speak of next. Unfortunately Ruckus’s stern voice breaches first.

Great assistance to the grieving, make him start the conversation.

A forced chuckle softly escapes past my lips as I try to play his words off as a joke. It could be one, if tone didn’t override true meanings. “Riddle.” My answer comes out in a rough manner as though I’ve misplaced my voice. Gently I bump into Rhapsody to urge him to introduce himself, as we walk side by side. Probably best to not make a fool of myself while I conjure up the smartest way to go about all of this.

Throughout my entire life I’ve always strived in protecting my siblings and small handful of friends. That is, until this very moment where I’m baffled by what to do or say. There’s an automatic impulse to care for my good friend of numerous years, and a painful hold to shield the secret ties he has weaving through all of this. And the ones I can openly express my sympathy with, I hardly know. A magnet like push is working against me, surrounding the two Blondes I’m attempting to walk beside as well. And as much as I feel a need to be here for these newly met strangers, I can sense Ruckus repulsing it.

“I just wanted to make sure you two arrived home without any interferences.” I explain myself with a tad bit of confidence joining my tone. If they wish to have nothing more to do with me once I’ve completed this task, there’s no way I can alter that. As sorrowful as it would be, I only hope that they’re one day close to the unknown relative also walking them home. “I’m very sorry for what happened.” Now that sounds like an apology over their sister, a dreadful message they’ll be receiving quite often in the upcoming days. I refuse to be one of the many. “Those girls had no right to attack you both in there.” Just to be cautious, I avoid mentioning how Rhythm was singled out as the target. They’ve both been through more then enough.

Eventually my gaze averts over to them, and the emotional exterior they both share. It appears that every muscle in Ruckus’s body is tense beyond imaginable, while he does his best to keep it all together. “Want me to hold your sister for a little? Give your arms a break?” I offer lightly, wanting to relief him of any burden that I can. Like anyone else to ever live, I’ve held my fair slice of harsh dilemmas, but never the death of a sibling. For once, I can’t solve everything with my comforting words or protective fists.