August pushed open the door to Aspen's room when they reached it. His face was emotionless. "I found Rigel," he muttered, walking over to sit next to Meun. He refused to look over at Aspen's body. He had to be strong for his friends, and he feared that if he took one look at her he would shatter.
Rigel took a step into the room, just breathing. His eyes were glued to Aspen. My fault. He took a weary step forward, fists clenching. She’s not dead. It’s still okay. Every word he could possibly say -all the words he should be saying- were gone. Rigel felt tears coming, which made him look away, blinking his eyes furiously. Not here, not now.
(August is low-key really trying to decide whether he should go comfort Rigel or stay by his boyfriend in the background)
(Comfort Meuuuun)
Riverpaw looked up Rigel for a moment before putting her water down and going over to hug him. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly.
Colden watched all of them from the corner of the room quietly.
(August can’t abandon his boyfriend! XD)
Rigel stiffened and immediately pulled away, and without meaning to, ended up glaring at Riverpaw, “Why should you give a sh-t?” My fault, my fault, my fault. The words were like a drum pounding in his head.
"Be nice to riverpaw she was only trying to help and be nice." Colden said a bit surprised at how rigel yelled at river paw.
Riverpaw flinched away, wide-eyed. She thought about going back to sit down, but her emotions got the better of her, and she punched Rigel in the stomach, probably harder than she meant to. "Because you're my friend, you jerk!" She hissed. "You didn't come here with Aspen, so I figured you were freaking out or something!"
August raised an eyebrow. He probably would have laughed had the situation been different. "Guys, seriously, we all need to calm down."
Rigel took the hit, which hurt more than it should have, but then snapped, “You shouldn’t be! You shouldn’t be my f—ken friend!” He turned away, and slammed his fist into the door. The pain that shot down his fist was welcome. He swallowed, and as he stared at the down he said quietly, “Don’t you see that I kill everyone?”
August reluctantly stood up, waling over to him. "Hey!" He said sharply, reaching forward to grab his shoulder once more in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "You didn't kill her, Rigel. You said she just tripped on her bike. That wasn't your fault. So stop snapping at Riv."
“I killed her, August, don’t you see? I’ve been trying to find her body all day, because I killed her.” Rigel was crying at this point, and then he was sinking to the floor, crumbling in on himself, “I thought it was helping her, I thought I could save her, and now she’s dead,” Rigel said through his sobs, wiping at his face with his hand in attempt to cover it up.
Riverpaw's face softened, and she glanced at August before carefully stepping towards Rigel. "W-what are you…talking about?" She asked, her voice low again.
Rigel pressed his face into his hands as he got out through his sobs, “Kate. She’s dead. I wanted to marry her when we got old enough and now she’s dead. Aspen’s in a coma because of me. Everyone around me is just going to- to-“ Rigel choked, his shoulder racked with sobs which he tried to silence.
"Rigel.." She went down, sitting next to him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I-I'm gonna ask again, and you'd better not push me this time." She gently grabbed his head and turned him, looking into his eyes. "Are you okay?"
“No,” Rigel whispered the truth, then tried to curl in on himself again as if trying to hide from the world. He was too broken for this, he couldn’t handle it. Rigel had spent years mourning Kate’s death. If Aspen didn’t wake up… Rigel cried harder, his muscles tensing.
Riverpaw took a deep breath, pulling Rigel closer to her and rubbing his back. She spoke quietly as she leaned her head on his. "I-it's okay. It was an accident. It wasn't your fault." In all honesty, she was trying to convince herself as well. This was too much like when her sister got hurt, or when her mother…She couldn't think about that now. Right now, Rigel and Aspen were more important.
“It was my fault. I-I convinced her that it would help, I hadn’t even questioned Jack and she died because of it. And if I hadn’t gone out today, Aspen wouldn’t be in a coma,” Rigel said through his tears and sobs. He wasn’t strong enough to lie about it this time, he just couldn’t.
"I-I don't…did you make Aspen go along with you?" Riverpaw asked. "Because, i-if she was there willingly, then this couldn't have been your fault." She still didn't know who Rigel was talking about, these Kate and Jack people, but she at least wanted to know what had happened with Aspen.
She insisted to come, but- “I-I told her-“ I told her lies- “About Kate, and she wasn’t paying attention to the road b-because of me,” Rigel covered his red and puffy face with his hands, just trying to stop. The more he wanted to hold it in, the harder it became to stop crying.
"S-she..Aspen should've been watching the road…" Riverpaw said, shaking her head a bit. "It doesn't matter, she's fine. I-in a coma, but..fine." She suddenly had to squeeze her eyes shut, sighing shakily as she silently questioned when she had even started crying.
Meun had been silently listening the whole time, but after a while he just couldn’t take it. “I-I’m sorry, I need to step outside,” was all he could manage before getting up and all but bolting out of the room
Rigel couldn’t stop crying, but he dared and looked up at Aspen, lying unconscious there. My fault. He needed to tell her the truth. He couldn’t bare to have known the last thing she did was when he lied to her.
Colden listened quietly to it all then looked down when he noticed his phone go off with a text. "Hey, I. have to. Go." He said slowly still looking at his phone then grabbed his helmet and walked out of the room calm and peacefully then ran down the hall and stairs to his bike.
Riverpaw watched Meun leave, and without moving away from Rigel, she looked up at August and nodded towards the door, silently telling him to follow. When Col left, she sighed, looking at the floor and wondering if everyone was okay.