It felt like lifetimes ago that he’d been internally complaining about being here with him and not being allowed any physical contact – now he reached out and grasped Cash’s hand without the slightest care. It didn’t matter any more; no one would think anything of it, no one would so much as notice amidst all this. And Theo was worried, honestly worried, that if he didn’t hold on tightly enough, they might get separated or that Cash wouldn’t follow him.
He seemed untethered enough, his face pale, eyes wide, fingers slick with the blood on them – Theo kept seeing that wild expression even as he turned ahead and steered them out of the ballroom, avoiding people and bodies and the blasted glass from the windows as best he could.
He wasn’t sure he trusted the staircases to hold steady, they couldn’t go outside, apparating wouldn’t go well, not in this weather or in Cash’s current state – so he moved through the building, not knowing where they were headed but looking for somewhere less windowed, a little more safe. Even paying attention as he was, he stumbled a few times, knocking into the corners of furniture, his free hand using the walls as a guide, and finally turning into a darkened room that seemed quiet, and slightly better sheltered.
Theo let go now, only to cast Lumos, conjuring a weak haze of light for them both. He looked at Cash in it, not knowing what to do that could be a comfort. And Cash wasn’t close with his family, maybe, but he had lost people before. Theo didn’t know who or how or why, but he knew that much. And there was a prevailing precariousness about Cash as a person – like he was always somewhere on the edge, balancing on the brink of things. Theo could say he was sorry about his sister, but what difference would that make, what would that change? “I think we’ll have to wait,” he said, tentative, “‘til the storm stops.”
He seemed untethered enough, his face pale, eyes wide, fingers slick with the blood on them – Theo kept seeing that wild expression even as he turned ahead and steered them out of the ballroom, avoiding people and bodies and the blasted glass from the windows as best he could.
He wasn’t sure he trusted the staircases to hold steady, they couldn’t go outside, apparating wouldn’t go well, not in this weather or in Cash’s current state – so he moved through the building, not knowing where they were headed but looking for somewhere less windowed, a little more safe. Even paying attention as he was, he stumbled a few times, knocking into the corners of furniture, his free hand using the walls as a guide, and finally turning into a darkened room that seemed quiet, and slightly better sheltered.
Theo let go now, only to cast Lumos, conjuring a weak haze of light for them both. He looked at Cash in it, not knowing what to do that could be a comfort. And Cash wasn’t close with his family, maybe, but he had lost people before. Theo didn’t know who or how or why, but he knew that much. And there was a prevailing precariousness about Cash as a person – like he was always somewhere on the edge, balancing on the brink of things. Theo could say he was sorry about his sister, but what difference would that make, what would that change? “I think we’ll have to wait,” he said, tentative, “‘til the storm stops.”
