The horror is fed, and it grows into a tremendous monster that swallows his mind whole. For a good solid moment, he is unable to process what transpired. His eyes widen. His pulse hastens. His mouth comes unhinged. He drops the cube.
That's when Cress begins to shake, delicately at first, but then his body is arrested by tremors so powerful they bring him to his knees, and he's not even strong enough to keep them from sliding out from beneath him. The scene plays over and over again, none of the times seeming real enough to comprehend. But the room is deafeningly silent compared to the carnage that made his brain go on repeat. It echoes mercilessly until it fades into white noise. Staring so hard and long at the very real image of Chili sprawled over the floor and unmoving like that brings him to snap.
"Ch...CH...CHILI!!"
A wild wail follows. He grips onto his skull, the portal device slamming against the side of his head while his free hand digs into his hair. No. No no NO NO! "This cannot be! I refuse to believe! I didn't do it, I, I..." His utterances are fragile as ice and sound like he's trying his hardest not to slip up and let loose another torrential scream.
"I KILLED MY OWN BROTHER!" Now he's in hysterics. He tugs at his locks and withdraws into himself like a scared crab in the sand, curling his legs in as though he can hide from the incident altogether, or maybe curl up back in time and redo it, be more careful, maybe even say a final sorry for being mad at him in the first place... It was his fault! It was all his fault!
"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, OHHH I'M SO SORRY!" He flings himself at the see-through barrier and presses into it, claws at it, nails scraping the surface until there's nothing he can do to destroy it, and his fingertips slide down torpidly, never leaving the partition. Tears slide down his face at the same speed. His hyperventilating mixes with the pathetic sobs that rise from his throat. All he wanted was to hold him one last time, and he couldn't even have that. Maybe see if by some fluke he was actually alive. Or maybe he wanted to be shot down too. In his heartbroken delirium he vastly preferred the latter notion.
no subject
He killed his brother.
That's when Cress begins to shake, delicately at first, but then his body is arrested by tremors so powerful they bring him to his knees, and he's not even strong enough to keep them from sliding out from beneath him. The scene plays over and over again, none of the times seeming real enough to comprehend. But the room is deafeningly silent compared to the carnage that made his brain go on repeat. It echoes mercilessly until it fades into white noise. Staring so hard and long at the very real image of Chili sprawled over the floor and unmoving like that brings him to snap.
"Ch...CH...CHILI!!"
A wild wail follows. He grips onto his skull, the portal device slamming against the side of his head while his free hand digs into his hair. No. No no NO NO! "This cannot be! I refuse to believe! I didn't do it, I, I..." His utterances are fragile as ice and sound like he's trying his hardest not to slip up and let loose another torrential scream.
"I KILLED MY OWN BROTHER!" Now he's in hysterics. He tugs at his locks and withdraws into himself like a scared crab in the sand, curling his legs in as though he can hide from the incident altogether, or maybe curl up back in time and redo it, be more careful, maybe even say a final sorry for being mad at him in the first place... It was his fault! It was all his fault!
"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, OHHH I'M SO SORRY!" He flings himself at the see-through barrier and presses into it, claws at it, nails scraping the surface until there's nothing he can do to destroy it, and his fingertips slide down torpidly, never leaving the partition. Tears slide down his face at the same speed. His hyperventilating mixes with the pathetic sobs that rise from his throat. All he wanted was to hold him one last time, and he couldn't even have that. Maybe see if by some fluke he was actually alive. Or maybe he wanted to be shot down too. In his heartbroken delirium he vastly preferred the latter notion.