Ocean's Breath Plateau When I'm no longer useful you would secretly throw me away

The suddenness of her disappearance had hurt, but never had he been given a chance to properly feel it. So much had happened, one bad thing right after the other, that it’d been pushed into the recesses of his mind. Now that he was there with her, however, everything resurfaced and hit him like a sack of bricks. She had been his friend—despite how awful he’d been in the beginning, and how much he had despised her, they had become friends in the end. Kendra was, perhaps, the first friend he had ever made, which had made her departure hurt even more. He couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like had she never left the woods, but his mind wouldn’t provide for him any visual aids. Perhaps she had been meant to leave, maybe they both had so that they could grow as individuals. It was an idea, but one that he’d ignored in favour of focusing on her reason for having left so long ago.

As it was explained to him, he’d been able to understand, but that hadn’t lessened his pain. Still, the better half of him knew that it wasn’t her fault, and so he’d tried to swallow down his emotions. “You could have told me how you were feeling,” he’d said, the attempt at keeping his voice even failing. “I could have helped you, I could have been there for you—you could have at least told me you were leaving before you actually did…” The fact that he hadn’t really been around back then hadn’t even crossed his mind. He couldn’t remember where he was at the time, and so he’d made the wrongful assumption that he’d been right there in the woods, waiting. Of course, that wasn’t the case, but one's memory was a fickle thing.

A sigh blew passed his lips as he listened some more, partially distracted by the feeling of her body against his own. With a shake of his head, he told her, “You shouldn’t have to live off of fish and crabs. You should be eating the best of the fattest carcasses.” He’d give anything to be able to give her just that, but Xan was no fool. Arrogant, yes, but not stupid. To target any large game by himself would be a suicide mission, and he wasn’t about to let himself be killed off and leave her to fend for herself again. “You won’t leave again, right? If… if I stay here with you, I won’t wake up to find you gone someday?” he asked, needing the answer far more than he thought he did. To help her, to get her back to looking how she once had, was something he wanted to do—but he didn’t want to be left behind again whilst doing so.