You leave the cave without Martin or Paul attempting to come after you or stop you. And part of you is relieved, because if you had to face them one last time, you know you wouldn’t have been strong enough to go through with this. Wouldn’t have been strong enough to turn away from them a second time.
Grief and loneliness stab you violently as you step out into the daylight once more. It’s hard, but you force the tears back. After all, you’ve cried far too much for one day. You need to be strong right now.
But you don’t feel strong as you walk slowly over to Anubis and hold out the box, all without saying a word. Because you know that if you speak, you’ll start bawling your eyes out like a child. And you’ll start begging and pleading and it won’t do you any good. So you let him take the box and then you stand a short distance on the other side of Anubis to Dorian, standing and watching and part of you hoping that Walter and Ray will fail and that you won’t have to say goodbye.
All too soon, you see movement and Ray and Walter leave the cave. Walter has one arm wrapped around Ray’s shoulders and his other is clasped to his neck. Crimson rivulets of blood trickle through his fingers. “He’s hurt,” you whisper.
Ray is shirtless, but carries the clothing in his hand, wrapped around something that’s staining the white material black. He turns to inspect Walter’s wound and the other man gently waves him away, then the two men approach the three of you, Walter casting a glance back over his shoulder and then focusing on Anubis with a frown. “She’s the guardian spirit of this place. Isn’t she?”
Anubis nods and, with a note of sympathy in his voice, says, “But I don’t think she remembers anything of that now. I doubt she knows anything other than suffering and pain right now.”
“Do you know what this is?” Ray holds up his wrapped item.
“A heart. Cleaved in two.” Anubis holds up the box. “Split into two hearts with a poisoned blade.” He crouches to place the box on the ground, then stands and holds out his hands, taking the shirt from Ray’s hands.
“A heart?” you repeat.
Anubis nods as he crouches down and opens the wooden box. What he takes out does look like a heart, but it’s a blackened, charred thing, leaking pus that seeps into the grass beneath your feet and causes smoke to rise from it. He places it on the ground and then carefully uncovers the second one from where it’s wrapped within the shirt.
Walter is looking back over his shoulder again. “Why isn’t she following us?” he mutters.
“The land is actively trying to protect itself from further harm,” Anubis explains. “They’re prevented from leaving the caves at the moment.”
“They?” Ray frowns.
“Martin and Paul are trapped here,” you whisper.
“I’m sorry.” Ray’s voice is low. Warmed through with sympathy.
You say nothing, instead wrapping your arms around your own body and closing your eyes for a second, imagining that you’re safe in Martin’s arms. That you’re with the man you love.
When you open your eyes again, it’s to see that Anubis has a hand placed on each heart. His eyes close and then he suddenly stiffens up, body twitching like he’s being electrocuted. Cuts and bruises begin to appear with alarming frequency over his bare skin.
Dorian crouches down and places a hand on Anubis’ shoulder. A split second later, his whole body stiffens and then his eyes roll back in his head and he slumps to one side, falling.
For the next several long moments, the three of you watch. You don’t know what Walter and Ray think, but this is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
A loud, steady beating comes from the hearts and you watch as they spin with increasing frequency, finally merging into one blur. And then the spinning stops, leaving one heart: red and with not even a hint of corruption.
A rumbling catches your attention and you turn your eyes towards the caves as they sink back under the ground, leaving…leaving….
You stare for a second, unable to believe your eyes, and then you’re running. Running at Martin and Paul. And they’re coming to meet you. And the three of you crash into each other, hugging and touching. Laughing and crying. For a while, the three of you are so tangled in each other that you have no idea what’s going on around you.
And then the sound of a throat clearing draws your attention to Ray. He’s watching you with a grin. “Sorry to interrupt, but as the curse is broken and things are back to, I guess, normal, Walter figured we could all go back to our house and rest up. Get something to eat.”
“Something to eat sounds really good,” you whisper ruefully. A loud grumbling from your stomach seems to agree and you blush, looking at your two lovers sheepishly. “I think my stomach agrees.”
Martin chuckles, looking like a huge weight has been lifted from him, and wraps an arm each around yours and Paul’s shoulders. He nods to Ray. “Yeah. We’ll come along in the car. So long as you’re sure you can fit us all in.”
“It might be a tight squeeze, but I’m sure we can manage.” Ray’s grin widens. “I’ll meet you back at home.” And he hurries off to join Walter.
Before you and your lovers go after him, you pause and you kiss and hug them both tightly, nuzzling into them. “Promise me we can go home after this and fuck each other senseless into the mattress?”
Chuckling, Martin kisses both of you. “I’m sure we can arrange that.”
Finally content and no longer with grief dogging your steps, you hold onto the two men you love as you finally leave the place behind.
The End