Remington was a mess, anyone who walked past the boy would be able to see that. He had worked himself into a state of near hysteria, his finger nails digging into the palms of his hands as he continued to cry. They had gone a month without any disappearances, and now- a new student was missing, and another was dead and it seemed that they were no where closer to figuring it out, to finding them. What if he was next? Or if one of his friends was taken? He couldn’t fathom the concept of another one of his friends going missing, of anyone going missing.
The young boy choked back a sob, as he gingerly reached up to wipe away his tears with the sleeve of his robes, his arm limply falling to his side once he realized how pointless it was. He wasn’t going to stop crying anytime soon, perhaps he’d never stop crying- at this rate, that seemed like a highly likely option.
Letting out a small sigh, he slowly lifted his head to see who had approached him, his heart sinking as he saw Felix’s face. He felt selfish, making such a big deal of the disappearances, when his friend was missing his sister- sure the Vaillincourt’s were the closest thing he had to real siblings, but that didn’t mean he was in the same position as Felix. Yet he found himself nodding in response to his friend’s question as he slowly found himself moving towards his friend.
“I thought that they had stopped, or something,” he began to speak, his gaze falling towards the ground, “There was a month of nothing, and then he was just gone,” he continued, it occurred to him that his friend would know this but he just couldn’t stop. “What’s next? Or who? It isn’t safe, no one’s safe,” he mumbled as he bit down on his lip.
It broke Felix’s heart to see Remy so distraught. He’d always felt protective over the younger male, and seeing him this way hurt him. As Remy approached him, Felix opened his arms and enveloped him into a hug, squeezing him tightly, hoping that his presence would reassure him. His veela glow dimmed a bit in response to his sadness, but he tried his best to surround Remy with a calming aura instead.
He didn’t know what he could possibly say to make any of this better. Remy was right to be upset, especially seeing as, in Felix’s own opinion, the people that were supposed to protect them had failed them. The Praesumptor struck every month on the day like clockwork. And yet the almighty powers that be of every wizarding community were somehow helpless to stop it or save the ones who’d been taken? No. Felix didn’t buy it. Not anymore.
He kept all of this to himself, of course. Remy was too young to be hearing about Felix’s theories, about his motivation for joining the Bond, about any of it. He deserved to just get to be a kid but even that opportunity was being taken away from him. It made him furious, and he had to mentally fight with himself to not let his inner anger reflect outwards, to startle Remy more.
He made a soothing noise under his breath and stroked Remy’s hair. “Mon chéri, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said, fiercely. Part of him knew that perhaps it was a big promise to make, something he wasn’t guaranteed to be able to keep but he’d failed Estelle. He’d be damned if he failed Remy too. He’d rather die in the process than live to see him go missing too. “I know things are scary right now but they will not be this way forever.”
