Young Writers Society

“But, it wouldn’t be your fault because you only got trapped because I ran off initially, so it’s actually my fault that you got caught as well, making me guilty twice over.” Heliodor Everett felt sick. “Making me a danger to everyone else here. Something that needs to be discarded—“

Estella Fay waved her hands aggressively. “Woah. Woah. Just everyone calm down!”

"I'm calm right now," Jo quickly said. She would have held her hands up in surrender, but she was still holding Heliodor Everett. They couldn't raise their hands without dropping him. "Also, you're not a thing, Heliodor Everett, and we're not going to discard you."

Kyle nodded in agreement.

“You should. You should.”

Estella Fay shook her head. “No. No. No. That’s such a big no, you would need to put in the Americas to have it fit on land. Heliodor Everett, I don’t know what people have told you-“

“The truth.”

“-but you don’t just “discard” people. Something terrible has just happened to you. You’re clearly bleeding and your first instinct is that you’ve done something wrong? When we’re just happy that you’re okay? Heliodor Everett.
Please. Be kind to yourself.”

Estella Fay really had said it in a good way. Jo nodded in agreement, and Kyle nodded again, too.

"Your first priority should be taking care of yourself," Jo added. "And we can help you with that, since that's what friends are for. Friends help each other when they're hurt."

Heliodor Everett looked between the three of them. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand.”

Estella Fay nodded. “Okay. What don’t you understand?”

“How you’re so… kind about this! When I failed! What do you want from me?”

"We don't want anything from you," Kyle said.

Jo would have raised her hand, again, but was still holding Heliodor Everett.

"I do want something from him," Jo said. Without giving Heliodor Everett a chance to question what that something was, they quickly added, "I want you to treat yourself with love and respect."

Heliodor Everett blanched. He didn’t realize it was that important. Was Jo disappointed? Was he slowly wearing her thin, finding all of the weak points in her patience until she snapped?

He swallowed. “I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I… disregarded your requirements. I have spat on your mercy. I-“

“Heliodor Everett, stop!” Estella Fay’s wings fluttered as she picked at a loose thread on her gloves. “Not everything is a command! Sometimes, people are just worried about your well-being and want you to be happy.”

"That's what I meant," Jo said. "I just really hate seeing you beat yourself up, especially now that we're friends. So I'm not commanding you to be kind to yourself, but..."

She gave him a soft smile.

"You deserve to be happy, safe, and healthy," Jo said.

Heliodor Everett covered his face, trying to breathe. “I don’t… I never…”

“Yes. We know. You’ve never heard that before. But that’s not something wrong with us.”

Jo gave a great, big nod.

"It might take some time for you to get used to thinking that way," Kyle softly said. He hadn't contributed much to this conversation after hearing who their kidnapper had really been after, but he didn't want Heliodor Everett to keep beating himself up over things he hadn't ever been able to control before now.

Heliodor Everett swallowed. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to react. His father would want him to politely decline. To say all of the little ways that he really wasn’t anything in the end.

But maybe… maybe he just had to play the long game. The three of them would see. If they wouldn’t listen, they would have to see just how worthless and wicked Heliodor Everett was. He could wait. It wouldn’t take long.

Heliodor Everett was quiet. Jo took that as a sign of victory and started looking for a place to put him down. She wasn't worried about him trying to get away now, especially since he was too injured to. But it helped, knowing that he was starting to see what they were saying.

Kyle silently watched Heliodor Everett. He wasn't as convinced.

"So before we got kidnapped," Jo started, "we were looking for more clues to why we're here. Maybe we can keep looking around now?"

Heliodor Everett just shrugged. He couldn’t look around that well and he was just likely to get in the way.

Estella Fay nodded. “But… together. Close together.”

A pang of guilt shot through Heliodor Everett.

"Definitely," Jo agreed. "I think it helps that Heliodor Everett and I are a package deal right now, since I'm carrying him."

They looked over and gave him a grin.

"And Kyle and I have a textbook case of codependency," Jo added, just to lighten the mood.

"You shouldn't sound proud of that," Kyle replied, but he was giving a tiny little smile then. Mission success.

"I'm not wrong, though," Jo added. "I'm a mess without you. We're basically each other's best friends at this point."

Estella Fay giggled slightly. “So… I guess it’s just me. Not being tied down.” Her smile turned slightly bitter. “Guess I better be careful not to slip away.” She shook her head. “So yes. Close together.”

She looked between the three of them. “Let’s go. Now. Before it gets… dark.”