[ Levi closed the gap immediately, still wide eyed and quiet he gripped Isabel by her narrow shoulders. It was a small confirmation, but an important one all the same; she was a solid form in his hands, and very much alive. When Mike came back, Levi had quietly convinced himself that the his being missing in action was for once not a cruel mercy on the part of whoever was left with the task of counting the dead. He had never seen Mike's body, had never been forced to watch his life be snuffed out in before his eyes.
Six years; six years and Levi had done everything short of giving his friends a proper burial and instead left them behind to forever sleep under an endless horizon. And yet here she was, smiling and smelling like the salt of the ocean. He didn't ask her if she was hurt- it was pointless. Or when she had gotten here- she wouldn't have cared to remember the specifics, she never did.
Instead he pulled back, a bottle pulled out of his work bag. Plastic cap twisted off harder than necessary and tossed into the sand without care and the bottle shove at Isabel. Levi would not, would never, dwell in the past. Especially not his own. There were too many horrors lingering in his closet for him to fell inclined to indulge opening it. ]
Drink. [ He said, evenly, against his tightening throat. ] You shouldn't swallow salt water.
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Six years; six years and Levi had done everything short of giving his friends a proper burial and instead left them behind to forever sleep under an endless horizon. And yet here she was, smiling and smelling like the salt of the ocean. He didn't ask her if she was hurt- it was pointless. Or when she had gotten here- she wouldn't have cared to remember the specifics, she never did.
Instead he pulled back, a bottle pulled out of his work bag. Plastic cap twisted off harder than necessary and tossed into the sand without care and the bottle shove at Isabel. Levi would not, would never, dwell in the past. Especially not his own. There were too many horrors lingering in his closet for him to fell inclined to indulge opening it. ]
Drink. [ He said, evenly, against his tightening throat. ] You shouldn't swallow salt water.