SOUND OF GRIEF

Curio hated seeing Octavian in this state. He was completely out of it, drugged up on pain, with a haze behind his eyes he had never seen. Octavian's movements consisted of jolts, as if tiny shocks of electricity was shooting through his body at every slight twitch. It made Curio's brows pull together - would the man be okay? Curio found himself questioning this constantly, eyes darting back and forth between the plain before them and Octavian's pale form. 

He'd lost a lot of blood.

Curio tried not to pay attention to the dark shade of Octavian's shirt, or the dried blood flaking off of Octavian's face. He only tried to focus on the man beyond the pain and trauma, revealing the terrified young man few had a chance to meet. 

Curio whispered to Octavian, his voice guiding his hand towards Octavian's. He reached out, gently palming his hand in Octavian's. He found no resistance, his fingers splaying open as if his touch had activated the action. Even in these dire times, Curio felt his lips curve up. His hands were softer than he expected them to be. 

A scream echoed out throughout the forest. The pair shot up, Curio's hand jolting out of Octavian's. He grabbed a hold of the closest weapon, not even checking if the gun was fully loaded. Just the presence was enough to put his mind at ease. 

"What's going on?" Octavian's head snapped backwards and forwards. Curio merely quietened him, pushing softly on Octavian's shoulders so he fell back into the alcove in the tree. 

"Stay here." 

"Wait!" Octavian cried out, his voice breaking. "Don't leave me." 

He sounded so weak. It was as if a child had replaced the man that he'd fought side by side with, the man he had admired so much. His heart broke. 

Curio nodded. Realising his mistake, he followed it up with words of reassurance. "I never will." 

 "Promise?" 

"I promise." 

Octavian relaxed into the bark. Curio sighed, turning his back to the man. The hairs on his arms stood on end. He crept out into the trees, eyes scanning the area for anything out of place. For anything he'd need to protect Octavian from. 

"Octavian! Curio!" A familiar voice shrieked into the silence. He recognised it straight away, knew that the desperate tone in her voice and strained words meant only one thing. 

Something had gone very wrong. 

He shook off the instant cloud that drowned his thoughts, hitting him with negative outcomes and dictated fates.

"Locusta!" Curio beckoned, uncaring if it drew the enemy to him. In that moment, all he cared about was making sure his friend was okay. That the person he confided in was still around in this world. Octavian had already been hit by the war, and Messalina was in god knows what kind of trouble. At least with Locusta, he could be certain that she'd be okay. Just for now, at least. 

Branches crackled straight ahead. Curio rushed towards the noise, shoving aside the wildlife, paying no attention to the scrapes it left on his arms. His feet pounded the ground as the crackles got louder, until he found the source of the noise. 

Their eyes connected. His heart was caught in his throat - her eyes were red raw, there was a slice in the front of her shirt, dampened with crimson, and she was heaving heavy breaths. He wasn't entirely convinced that it was because of the exercise. 

A sob broke out of her mouth. Her face crumpled, and her body fell towards the ground. Curio was by her side in seconds, careful to place his hands on the covered parts of her body. For once, she didn't shrug away his touch, her hands covering her mouth, as if they could silence her sobs. At the touch, her face was smeared with blood. 

She made a sound that he had never heard her make - this was animalistic, the sound of a animal having lost their children. 

It was the sound of grief. 

It was the sound of soul crushing defeat. 

He patted her back soothingly, halting his movements as she tensed her body. Taking his hand away, he grabbed a hold of her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes. 

"What happened?" 

It was like he had triggered another breakdown. She melted into another fit of tears, them streaming in rivers down her cheeks. Through her cries, she spoke thickly. "He has all of the stones." 

She didn't even need to say his name. It was clear the moment she came into his eye line what had happened, yet he'd just pushed it down, praying it was anything else but that. He didn't want to admit to himself that they could have failed, or that they were forced to live in a world with no chance of redemption. They didn't save this world, and they certainly hadn't saved their own. 

"They turned to ashes!" Locusta broke down, another onslaught of sobs attacking her body. His hand reassuringly patted her shoulder, paying close attention to where her bare hands landed. Her body shook up and down, a storm wrecking at her very being. 

Then, she froze. "Where's Octavian?" 

She didn't need to say anything else before Curio sprinted off in the direction he'd come. His mind whirred with all of the possibilities, and yet he didn't manage to think of this. He didn't manage to think that the brave solider they all admired may have fallen. That he may have died alone, blind and afraid. 

He tried to shake these thoughts from his mind; it only made them stronger. They bounced around his head at the same rate his arms pumped by his sides, spurring him closer to Octavian. Or what was left of Octavian. 

Locusta was hot on his heels, her footsteps uncertain. She crashed through the foliage behind him, with Curio being a mere speck in the distance. 

Curio's feet carried him all of the way back to their hiding place. He never once gave in to his screaming muscles or heaving lungs - the images of Octavian crumbling into ash made all of his pain obsolete. Nothing could compare to the thought of Octavian dying. 

He panted. His eyes desperately flicked around the area, his eyes landing on the hollowed out tree where they'd taken refuge. 

Octavian was perfectly okay. 

He stumbled in his steps, relief crashing into his body. 

"Who's there?" Octavian's voice shook. 

"It's me. Locusta's just behind me." Curio fell to the ground next to Octavian, his hand dragging across his face. 

"Did we win?" 

Curio didn't answer. He couldn't. In the time he was rushing back to make sure Octavian was okay, he didn't have chance to process what Locusta had told him. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to process it. 

His silence was answer enough. 

"Messalina!" Octavian gasped. His hand shot up to his ear where a foreign comms device was nestled.

Pain struck deep in Curio's chest. The irritating seductress who he loved with his whole heart was missing. It was likely that their friend was dead. With a fifty percent chance of her being dead, it seemed almost certain.

Curio hated those odds. 

-

hey guys! would any of you like a valentine's day chapter? i have a few ideas and i know it was yesterday but i didn't have chance to write anything for it.

also we only have 2 chapters left of this book! it feels so weird saying goodbye to these characters, and i can't wait to see them again.

on the note of this book coming to an end, does anyone have any questions about the book/characters/me?

hope you guys have all been well, see you soon!

-thirdwheelchurchill