Juniper listened to Steve’s wholehearted reassurance that they would finder her sister, but she new the morbid truth. There was no finding her, she was gone. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if she could handle seeing her sister hurt, bloodied, or battered, it would have been too much. But she was gone, and that pain was insurmountable.
“I.. I don’t know.” she sniffled, staring at the ground.
Her legs felt like Jelly, and she wasn’t entirely sure they were strong enough to carry her weight. She wanted to be strong from him, but all of her energy had been drained from every inch of her body. Still, she attempted to stand and gave him a sly nod, signaling that she was willing to try,
“Just, don’t leave me.” she said, sounding more fragile than ever before.
Juniper wasn’t the clingiest of persons, in fact she considered herself more of an introvert than anything. But this moment in time she needed someone next to her more than anything. She regarded the sun starting to fade into the horizon, knowing they only had a little while longer to connect with the remains of their friends before it was too dark. So she willed herself to move her feet, over and over again mentally telling herself to keep going.
“It’s getting dark, we need to round everyone up and find a place to sleep tonight.” she states, looking around.
Steve truly couldn’t imagine the pain Juniper was suffering from, and as much as he hated to pull her away from this scene and allot her the time to grieve, he knew that the sun would go down soon, and it simply wasn’t safe to be caught out after dark anymore. Nobody could predict what enemies still stood in their path, and they would need the advantage of a group or of the dying light to help them through.
Steve was expecting a fight, some sort of grief-fueled argument, but was rather surprised when she decided to follow him, only requesting on thing of him. “I won’t leave, you have my word on that, Juniper.” Steve needed Juniper to understand that he was never the kind of man to walk away from someone in need, especially not when they’ve faced more trauma in a single day than most people experienced in their lifetime. For a reason he couldn’t fathom, he knew that he’d never leave her side as long as she wanted him there. He needed to know she was safe, and he wanted to be the one to keep her safe.
“Sounds like a good plan. If we’re fast, we can reach the castle before all the light is gone. I’m sure most of the team had the same idea, so if we can manage to get there, we can all figure out what comes next. Sound good? I’ll even let you ride on my back again.” Steve wasn’t sure if his humor would be well received, but he hated to see her so upset, and he would do anything to make her at least a little happier.