Enyln followed, running as fast as she could to keep up. They didn't follow. The chaos was a distraction and none of them knew what to do.
Once they where far enough away Enyln crumpled to the ground. Her chest heaving with every breath but the cloth they'd stuffed in her mouth making breathing hard.
Rigel immediately stopped next to her, untying her hands and removing the gag from her mouth, “Enyln, gosh, Enyln, what did they do to you?” His hands ghosted over her bruises -Gosh, Rigel wished they had suffered more- as concern filled every feature of his face.
Enyln reached up hugging him and kissing his cheek, "why did you come back?" She pulled back glaring at him before going back to hugging him again, "gosh that was stupid of you." She mumbled just wanting to be held at the moment.
Rigel was taken aback for a second at the kiss, then slowly wrapped his arm around Enyln tightly, “I love you, why would I leave you to die? I hadn’t even wanted to leave in the first place, that was Meria’s fault. My plan was to run back and swipe you off your feet, but that horse was such a coward,” He jested lightly, but his arms didn’t move an inch from holding her. Safe.
"What ever it was still stupid and you could have died." Enyln narrowed her eyes at him again but her small anger didn't last long. As she felt herself melt into Rigel slightly glad that he came back. "You know you've killed bother their leaders now right?"
“I could care less,” Rigel hummed softly. I’m going to die anyways… He subconsciously pulled Enyln closer to him, just trying memorize her face. So many bruises… Rigel probably looked no better with his extremely pale and hollow face.
"Now!" Enyln shouted pulling back, "you're dying!?" her tone was panicked as she cupped his face in her hands. Worry staining her face. "How do you know? Are you sure?" She bombarded him with questions glaring the whole time.
Rigel looked away, quietly mumbling, “I was vomiting last night, Enyln. And I can’t pretend that my coughing and aches are just coincidence,” He chewed on his lip, unable to meet Enyln’s eyes as he muttered mostly to reassure himself, “It’s okay though. I- I’m happy with what I did and everything. I just wanted to… I just wanted to get to Paradis, you know?”
"Oh." Enyln mumbled her face falling. "On the bright side it takes up to a year to kill?" She looked at him hopeful but sadly knew that only ment more torment. More pain, leaving you wishing that you where dead.
“I don’t-“ Rigel looked at her hesitantly, wondering if he should continually with that sentence. If he should tell her what he was thinking, or if that would just upset her. Rigel looked away again, biting his lip.
Enyln looked at him waitting for him to Finnish, "You don't what?" She asked quietly. Fear, anger, torment. It all showed in her eyes. Fear that she'd lose him. Anger that she hadn't shot his brother that night. Torment because she couldn't watch him suffer. She couldn't watch him die when she loved him so gosh darn much.
“Enyln, I don’t-“ Rigel choked on the words. He forced himself to look her in the eyes as he bit out, “I don’t think I’m going to let myself live that long.” I’m going to shoot myself as soon as you get to Paradis, as soon as you are safe. Rigel wondered if she could figure out the words he’d left unsaid.
"Oh. Of course." Enyln looked down. She was going to have to watch him die. Her dream flashed in her mind again. watching him die. "well…we should get moving then right? So we can get you to Paradis." She knew there was no cure, but she hopped that is place, that Paradis could have a way to help him.
“Uh, yeah,” Rigel mumbled, then forced a small smile in attempt to lighten the topic, “Meria ditched us.” He turned towards the supposed direction of Paradis, then glanced down at the gun in his hand. Rigel had one pack of ammunition in his pocket, but that was it. All his supplies had been left in the cave. Maybe we could go back… No, that’d take to much time up.
"Darn. Well I'm guessing we're both in pain at the moment so that sucks." Enyln laughed but quickly stopped and held her side, "yup. Pain." She said forcing a smile.
Rigel frowned, but sighed and let his shoulder sag as he muttered, “Maybe we can track her…” He started walking down the trail Meria had first stormed off down, and thankfully the ground seemed wet and the hoof prints were apparent. Lucky. They got darn lucky.
Enyln followed behind Rigel not wanting to get in the way. Every step bringing on more and more pain. Growing up she never really bothered with learning how to track. Instead she'd focus on her aim with a bow or gun. Now though, she regreted not bothering with the trade.
Rigel kept walking, aches increasing but he tried his best to ignore the continuous sign of the inevitable. He made it to where he’d last seen Meria, where his puke sat in wretched smelling puddles and he gagged, giving it a wide berth as he said, “That’s where I finally got Meria to stop. She couldn’t be too far.” Hopefully.
Enyln sighed, "lets not wast time looking for her." She knew they'd wast plenty of time looking for a horse that might already be to far away. "And let us focus on getting away from that…smell." Enyln raised her lip slightly.
Rigel nodded his agreement, keeping to the direction of Paradis. Hopefully he wouldn’t lose track of where they were going, now that the sketchbook was gone he’d have a harder time rerouting. Thankfully, Meria had gone forward, by chance. It had been a lot easier traveling on horse back.
Once Rigel and Enyln got a good distance away from the puke, he finally commented quietly, “I had been shivering and vomiting all night.”
"A-are you okay?" Enyln asked softly not knowing exactly what to say. She grabbed his hand to make him face her. Her eyes letting her worry etched into her every feature.
Rigel was taken aback by her concern for a second, just staring for a heartbeat before hastily answering, “I- I’m, um, fine, I guess. I just-“ I’m dying, that’s all. “I guess I’ll have to deal with the side effects now.” Rigel swallowed the lump in his throat, then looked back down at the ground. It was harder when he loved someone. It was harder to think about death.
Enyln felt stupid for asking such an obvious question and quickly felt slightly embarrassed too. She released his hand but didn't look away, "do you need a brake?" Her voice just barely above a whisper. "After all I can't have you collapsing suddenly." She ment it as more or a joke but was still worried about him.
Rigel smiled and let out a light laugh, which dissolved into a cough which he tried to hold in, “We should really be moving while I still can. I want to get to Paradis.” I want to get you to Paradis. Rigel smiled reassuringly at her anyways, taking her hand back and starting to walk again.
"Right. Yeah lets keep going." Enyln forced a smile and followed him. "How long will I take?" She asked but realized how confusing her question must of sounded, "I mean to get there."