[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason moved to lay a bit flatter on his back as Nat draped her arm over him and her head pressed to his shoulder. Bringing his arm around to brush his fingers through her hair, he listened to her worries. He had already known she wouldn’t be prepared for the pain of the day and the only thing he could really do…was support her as best he could.

As she continued, Cason’s head seared with that same battery acid feeling he had explained to Esme the night before, “I know today is going to be rough. But I’ll be there, the whole day. If it gets too much, I’ll be there and we can go for a walk…”

He knew it wouldn’t be much comfort, or at least he didn’t think it was very comforting. But at the same time, what Nat seemed to need was someone to tell her that everything was going to be okay, even when it felt like the worst day of all of their lives. What little he knew of Mika, he knew she would want at least that…for them to be okay.

At the question of whether the fear of a final goodbye was stupid, Cason frowned deeply and tilted his head down to look at her face properly, “No. That’s not stupid at all. You guys were close, closer than either of you would like to admit. One of the things I’ve learned about humans, and vaguely remember from being a human…is that relationships tend to be deep. Losing someone you care about feels like drowning, I have to assume. The emotion that Duke was showing last night when I had to break his arm to talk him out of suicide…”

Cason paused and took a deep breath, wincing a bit at the pain in his forehead, “I wouldn’t have been able to imagine that level of pain and hopelessness if I tried. So, no. The fear of saying goodbye seems mild. Just…don’t run off. I’ll go with you.”

[h3] Anna [/h3] 

Anna nodded her head in understanding as Sam explained that he was still feeling heavy, even though he got some rest. Of course that was the case. Anna hadn’t known Mika nearly as long as the rest of the group, aside from Cason and Esme, and even her chest hurt even thinking about the events coming. When Sam reached down and toyed with her hand, she glanced down at his hand, but let him just express his fears for the day.

“Well, you need to handle your own emotions today, too, Sam. Both our hearts are hammering. I can see my pulse. Between that and the…situation, you have to remember yourself, alright?” Anna did her best to not lecture Sam, especially about the demon blood, but she had to be honest about her own worries…for him.

Anna turned her eyes toward the back window of the car as she heard Duke yelling for Esme. She narrowed her eyes in confusion, until Sam asked if they should go help. After thinking about it for a second, Anna shook her head, as Duke stopped yelling and she heard Esme calling out for Duke off in the distance.

“I think Esme found him, actually.” She said softly, turning back to throw her legs over Sam’s. She picked his hand up and took a deep breath.

“What do you need? I want to help you get through today.”

[h3] Duke [/h3] 

Duke was beginning to tear up, his soreness telling him that even if he wanted to, he likely wouldn’t be able to run off and find Esme. He definitely couldn’t fight through anything for her in the moment. He was helpless and if she had gone somewhere or was taken…his hands were tied.

Then he heard it, Esme’s voice. It wasn’t loud, but as he turned toward the sound, a wave of relief washed over him that caused both his shoulders to visibly fall. He relaxed his hands, and sighed, sniffling before he began limping toward Esme. Just the sound of his nickname leaving her lips was enough to send his heart racing somewhere into the field where he couldn’t catch it if he tried.

“God, don’t ever do that again…” Duke sighed as he finally made it to where Esme was sitting, stumbling in the grass before hitting his knees in front of her. He didn’t give much of a warning, crawling to where he could cage her in, and lay her back. After he looked over her face for a moment to make sure she was all in one piece and fine, his heart picked up again and he leaned down, kissing her deeply. 

As heartbroken as he would likely be later that morning, for a moment, he had a win. Breaking the kiss briefly, he pulled his head back, still not aware that he was bleeding from his neck and one of the places on his cheek, “Why were you sleepin’ outside?”