[locked and backdated] and all my bridges burned

[branbach]

Not for the first time in his life, Bran woke up to the fading sound of music--delicate and silvery, insistent, beckoning, filled and filling with profound, sorrowful longing.  The first time he remembered hearing it he was twelve, standing on top of a mountain with Will and the Drews, and had felt, inexplicably, as if something very important had

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[abbysciuto]

Abby hadn't been going anywhere in particular. She was really just searching for more mint since she was using up her available supplies fairly quickly.

When she saw Bran collapse to the ground, she immediately went over and dropped down next to him and gathered him into her arms.

[branbach]

It's not the first time Bran's cried on Abby since he came to the island, just the first time he wasn't stuck in a child's body. He curls against her, sniffling in her shoulder.

[abbysciuto]

Abby murmurs those soothing nothings that people tend to say when someone they care about is crying. No one ever really knows what they say, but it sometimes helps.

[branbach]

Bran lifts his head, sniffling still, and drags an arm across his eyes. "I am not strong enough for this," he whispers miserably.

[abbysciuto]

"Yes, you are," she whispers back. "We never know how strong we are until it's tested...and then we come out the other end just fine."

Or we end up in a psych ward, but let's not contemplate that outcome.

[branbach]

Or just stay in bed for days at a time, waiting for it all to go away. Bran sniffs, swallows. "I don't want to," he says, almost petulant. "Was it that bad, being happy for a while?"

[abbysciuto]

"No, there's nothing wrong with being happy, not inherently. But this place is fucked up. We know this," she replies ruefully.

[branbach]

Bran rests his chin on his knees, looking blotchy and ruffled and miserable. "I woke up and he was just gone." It doesn't occur to him that Abby might not know who he means; she's the only human being he's seen in the past week and subconsciously he must know she'd have figured it out. "I can't keep finding people and losing them, I can't."

[abbysciuto]

"We're not meant to create connections and have them destroyed like this, but the alternative is not to make connections at all, and that doesn't work either," she says softly.

She had, in fact, figured it out from the lump of Bran she'd seen last Tuesday.

[branbach]

Bran blinks his eyes rapidly. "The last time I thought someone had gone," he says, his throat scratchy and dry, "I was wrong. He came back. I wanted to be wrong this time, too."

[abbysciuto]

"What makes you think you aren't?" she asks simply, playing devil's advocate as usual.

[branbach]

"It has been a week," Bran says simply, softly. "And he hasn't come back." There is a faint light up hope in his eyes, and that is as worrisome as the despair; all he needs to do is go running off to search the island for traces.

[abbysciuto]

"Ah. Yeah, you're right. He might be gone. I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said softly.

[branbach]

"He's not really the sort to go out enjoying nature," Bran says miserably. "Even less than Will. And he would have said."

[abbysciuto]

"Yeah, he would have," she agrees again.

[branbach]

Bran makes an unhappy noise and buries his face in his arms. "I hate this."