Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XLVI. JAE ❆ ❆

Jae hears the sound of Chiro crying and he's very upset about it.

This is no time for a breakdown!

But he feels bad as soon as he thinks that. Your friend is hurting, Jae. Ruisea can wait.

"Chiro?" He climbs back up a few steps and stands by him — the other boy's curled up on the rock, sobbing miserably, too close to the edge for Jae's comfort.

Chiro doesn't respond, though, he's just crying. Crying endlessly.

"Chiro!" Kumari too, scurries up the steps, reaching out to him with both arms, perhaps thinking of putting her hands on Chiro's back and rubbing, or trying to peel his face away from the ground, but then she gasps and whines and pulls away, bumping back up against Jae, nearly tripping.

"What—?" Jae's confused, holding onto Kumari. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"He's so sad," Kumari turns, holding onto Jae tightly. "I touched him and felt like— felt like. Felt like..."

"Felt like what?" Jae asks, softly as he can.

"Dying," she mumbles, not seeming happy with her own answer.

Jae furrows his eyebrows, taking Kumari's hand in his and dragging her along, back to where Chiro's still crumpled up on the ground.

"Hey buddy," Jae kneels, and puts his hand on Chiro's back.

And suddenly there are voices.

Hundreds of voices — telling him he's worthless, to just die already, that he's a burden and nobody wants him, that Kumari and Jae don't want him...

Wait. I am Jae. These are... This is what Chiro's hearing.

He grits his teeth, and letting go of Kumari's hand he grabs Chiro's shoulders and pulls him away from the ground with such force that Chiro lets out a large gasp, and Kumari yelps, "Be gentle, Jae!"

"Chiro, listen to me!" Jae says as loudly as he can in his ear, to drown out the voices. Chiro's gold eyes land on Jae, and he knows he's made it through at least somewhat. "It's not true. Whatever they're trying to tell you is not true. You have to snap out of it."

"I," he's hyperventilating, can barely talk. "C-can't. They won't... Leave me a-alone!"

"I'm going to help you walk down the mountain, okay? Chiro. Chiro listen to me, can you do that? You don't have to walk, just lean on me. Can you do that?"

"I don't know," Chiro hiccups, face an absolute mess, cheeks wet, eyes as red as his hair. "I don't kn-know."

"Well, you better try— Kumari, hold onto him from the front. Keep your eyes on me and I'll make sure you don't trip, okay?"

Kumari nods, and Jae repositions himself so that his arms have hooked themselves under Chiro's shoulders, and Kumari holds onto Chiro's waist. His feet are still on the ground, but essentially, Jae intends to carry him.

They walk down, once more, slowly, leading Chiro down the stairs, who's still sobbing and whining. He gasps out what Jae can only assume is a shaky curse in Qilucan, wails echoing all around the mountain.

Chiro's resisting, trying to kick away and pull out of their grip, nearly hurting Kumari while trying to get out, but Jae squeezes him tighter, and he yelps in pain, stopping.

"Let g-go of me," he demands. "I'm just a burden! Let me d-die and you won't have to deal with me anymore...!"

"Chiro, I'm going to haul your carcass to Ruisea if I have to," Jae growls, not wanting to be aggressive but seeing no other way to get through to him. "But I am not leaving you behind."