Falling like Leaves

Jo furrowed her brow.

"Favor her?" they repeated. "What do you mean? I like her like I like you. I just like her for different things."

Sensing that he was probably going to protest that or question what those things were, Jo added, "I can't really describe what the things are. You just have different vibes."

“But she’s better. I’m not sure what a ‘vibe’ is, but she’s… just better. She already lives like you. She doesn’t need you to monitor her. She believes in freedom and fighting and freedom-fighting.”

Heliodor Everett rubbed his temples. “If she was kidnapped with you, she would’ve cried. She would’ve cried out.“

They blinked.

"Wait," they said, looking down at Heliodor Everett in their arms, "do you think I want you to come back to Mutopia with me to monitor you?"

“I don’t understand why you want me to come to Mutopia.” He sighed. “I don’t understand you on that front. But you are constantly monitoring me, monitoring my opinions, my posture, my decisions. Because you have to. I’m a… worthless alis. If you don’t keep me in a chokehold, I will break the rules and rise above what I’m supposed to be.”

He glanced up at Jo. “I mean, you’re much nicer when correcting me. Most in your position would have at least threatened me by now.”

Jo came to a stop.

They knew they needed to put distance between them and their captors, and also that they needed to get back to Estella Fay and Kyle, but Heliodor Everett's comments kept making them freeze up. She couldn't understand him, really. She had been through bad things, too, but it was nowhere to the same level that he had been.

"I'm not monitoring you," Jo insisted. "I'm just...worried about you. I don't like when people put themselves down, and I don't want you to keep hating yourself."

She paused.

"And," they said, "I'd love if you broke rules and became more than what society wanted you to be! That's the whole way of life at Mutopia. We're all outsiders on society, so it's what we do."

Heliodor Everett shuddered. “I don’t understand how you can do that. I don’t understand how you’re brave enough. I have… thought about it, before, but I’m too terrified to commit. I could never actually do it.”

He sagged slightly. “But I’ve always been a coward. It’s what my father loved most about me. I was always too terrified to ruin anything.”

Jo thought it all over. Maybe she was going into this too fast. Maybe Heliodor Everett needed to take it slower than they had originally thought.

"So we can take baby steps, then," Jo suggested. "You don't have to commit to anything. You can just...try. If it works, then it works. And if you don't want to be brave every day, that's okay, too."

She looked ahead of them. They weren't really sure where they were right now.

"I wonder if we're almost where Estella Fay and Kyle are," they said, both to themself and Heliodor Everett.

“How would we know? We’re assuming that gentleman-“ He cringed. “Sorry. Sorry. Not your choice of words. Not your world. Um… person… operates in the same city. We have no way of knowing how long we were unconscious before waking.”

Heliodor Everett sighed. “But no need to listen to me. I’m sure… whatever you guess will be correct. Or at least more correct. I’m usually wrong. Or at least more wrong. Unless I’m quiet. Or out of the way.”

That first part, the part where Heliodor Everett had theorized that they might not have been in the same place anymore, was a very good point. They hoped they were, but that was just wishful thinking. She didn't know it well enough to say if they were in a similar place or the exact same one in a slightly different location.

"That's a good point," Jo admitted. "They could have taken us out of where we were before. If that did happen, I hope Estella Fay and Kyle figured out how to follow us-"

"Jo," a voice suddenly called out, and Jo immediately perked up. She recognized it immediately. Turning the corner from an adjacent street was Kyle. They couldn't see if Estella Fay was with him, but wouldn't be surprised if she was right behind him or up in the air.

"Kyle!" Jo exclaimed, joy and relief flooding her voice. She wanted to run over to him, but she was still holding Heliodor Everett, so she made due with a brisk walk instead.

Heliodor Everett cringed, shame flooding his cheeks. He didn’t consider what it would be like to actually rejoin the group. Jo was kind, sure, but Kyle seemed less patient. He would be upset, surely. Especially when he found out that Heliodor Everett was supposed to be preventing his capture and not here.

“I’m sorry.” He hung his head, trying his best to hide his wounds. It was impossible, his shirt was too stained with blood. “I… I’ve failed. I… I don’t…” He didn’t know what to say. What did Kyle want to hear? What did Kyle expect from him? What would let him survive?

Estella Fay landed right next to Kyle. “Jo! Heliodor Everett! Oh thank goodness you’re both… oh dear you’re bandaged. What happened?”

Kyle only had confusion on his face when he hears what Heliodor Everett said.

"We got taken," Jo said.

"I guessed that part," Kyle said, a little bit deadpan. But there was worry in his voice and concern on his face, so Jo knew he was just impatiently waiting to find out why Heliodor Everett was hurt.

"Our kidnapper—torturer—was looking for-" Jo paused, thinking about Heliodor Everett felt guilty already for something that wasn't his fault. How would Kyle feel, finding out who they were looking for?

"Jo?" Kyle asked.

Jo faltered.

"...He was looking for you," she admitted. "For the one of us that can't die. Heliodor Everett is good at hiding pain, so he thought he was you."

There was only horror on Kyle's face then.

“I should’ve stayed!” Heliodor Everett didn’t care if that upset Jo. He was worried about Kyle getting angry and hurting him. Possibly getting frustrated
with Jo after finding out she prevented him. “I know. I know I’m sorry. Please don’t be…” He swallowed. “I ask for your forgiveness. And mercy. We could stage a suitably fooling recapture and he’d leave you alone until my death.”

Estella Fay was pale, her wings shaking. “Heliodor Everett. I- no.”

Jo would have put Heliodor Everett down by now, but she was honestly concerned he would bolt if she did. They couldn't imagine him not wanting to escape from this conversation like he had wanted to escape from the other ones.

"Why would..." Kyle started. He looked at Jo, somehow even more horrified than before. "If they were looking for me, then it's my fault you got hurt-"

"It's no one's fault," Jo said, quickly, to the both of them. "Well, it's the fault of the guy who captured us for capturing us, but it's not either one of your faults. And no one's going back and letting themself get captured. I'll fight him if he comes after us again."

“And my fault for running right into his trap. Just a… friendly reminder…” Heliodor Everett curled in shame, trying to hide his face and his wounds from view.

”Evvy, you’ve disappointed me.”

“I… I apologize sincerely, sir—“

A sharp grab on a bleeding wound. White hot pain. Agony. Agony.

But no reaction.

Never a reaction.

"Well," Jo said, "it's my fault for running into his trap, too, so then we'd both be at fault."

She paused, looking at everyone present. They looked down at Heliodor Everett in their arms, then up at Estella Fay and Kyle like she was daring them all not to protest.

"But it's no one's fault," Jo insisted, "because the only person who could be blamed for that is the good who took us. He's the guy who decided to kidnap people and hurt them."