Sam was a little busted up, covered in cuts and bruises owing to the carnage of the previous night, their throat raw with screaming. That was the first time that had happened, by the way, they’d never had to scream so much in one short period of time that it actually started to hurt.
Despite the aches and pains they were out on the streets with everyone else. They hadn’t made it too far from their apartment yet, trekking back and fourth with buckets of water to wash blood down drains, gathering up every bin bag and polishing rag and useful bit of cleaning up kit they could find. The streets of their home town were a fucking mess and the people were just as broken. It made Sam’s heart squeeze painfully in their chest, it made them madder than they’d ever been.
Sure, they’d made some messes in their time, but this was destructive beyond belief. The horsemen were trying to turn a community against itself- and they were succeeding. Sam’s status as a saint was no secret- plenty of people who had rounded the corner to see if they could help with the cleanup on this street had immediately backed away on seeing them- fear or hatred they weren’t sure, but it sucked.
They cleaned with a smile on their face anyway, sweeping debris up into a pile t try and clear the road when someone approached with their question. Sam coughed to clear their throat, but their voice was still scratchy when they responded. “Yeah, I live on this street- total shitstorm man, can’t even reach the end of the road.”
Taking in the appearance of the other person, Elliot wasn’t really surprised to see that they, like many of the people in Athos, were banged up. Squatting down, he started picking up the bigger things that wouldn’t be swept to the side so easily. Choosing to stay and help rather than backing away from the Saint. Had he realized who he had approached, he probably would have steered clear of them, but he couldn’t really back away now.
“You can say that again,” he muttered, standing with his arms loaded up. “If this neighborhood is anything to go by, I’d say Athos is going to be recovering from this mess for weeks, if not months.”
And he would be dealing with the fallout, as a cop. The trust between the normal people of Athos and those called saints had been fractured with the attack yesterday. Perhaps even beyond repair, but only time would tell if it could be used in his favor. But, seeing how their Queen was one of them, he didn’t like their chances.
“Think the royal fucking family even cares? So long as they are safe within their Castle,” he snorted, anger pooling inside him as he walked the few paces to the side of the road and dumped his load on a pile. The streets needed to be cleared before they could really do anything about the debris. The people of Athos had to be able to move freely from one street to another.
