@moramiseri wanted [ failure ] - for my muse to know the time and cause of your muses death, and fail to prevent it - (Landon/Rafael)
His hands are shaking. He doesn’t know how he ended up back at the school, his clothes in tatters and very much alone. He can hear people talking to him, at him, but his brain can’t make sense of what those words are. His wolf senses concern and urgency, and he hears her cut through all of the noise, demanding to know where Landon is.
His memory is a blank canvas and that scares Rafael because the last thing he remembers is leaving campus with Landon and MG, while Kaleb and the others went to track down a monster in Maple Hollow. But they’re all back now and looking at Rafael with a mix of pity and annoyance, which means he is missing time again.
The day passes agonizingly slowly and bits and pieces start to come back to him. By the time the sun has set and they are out in the woods looking for their friends, Rafael remembers. They come across MG, the scent of stale blood and death thick around him and he can still smell Landon on him and he has to turn away, to be better than what everyone always expected out of him.
When he finds Landon’s body, a sob tears from his chest, and he falls to his knees beside his brother. His eyes are still open in fear, and Rafael’s lungs burn. The chains that kept him locked to the tree as his bones shattered and reformed are now in pieces, scattered about the clearing. Too little too late.
“I’m sorry, Lan,” he whispers into his chest, gathering him into his arms. “I’m so sorry. Fuck,” he cries out. When Hope joins him, her grief bowls him over and he can only look at her apologetically. He was right there. He could have stopped this.
