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And so, as patiently as they could, they had waited; it was the same routine every day - wake up, wash up, meet her friends at the edge of the forest, wait. With the student body uncontactable for some reason, and still no official word from the school about how the students were faring, all they could do was wait.

And then there was also the issue of what happened to Riley...

"... Jericho, Mot!" She scrambled up from the ground, wide-eyed as she stared at a large group of people - students! - being ushered out the forest; however, before she could approach them, she realized that they were being ushered by unfamiliar adults... The Bogeymen. If they were here, things must had been worst than they looked; what exactly happened? Why did some of the students looked so... Injured?

"Wait, what's that...?" There was something tall and grey being moved away from the group of students by the Bogeymen...

Mot liked and didn't like that he now had company waiting for the students to return. Solitude had been sending him down a dark road, but being with others was difficult. He still felt anxious, unsure. Unsure of Hel's fate, his own inability to do anything for her when she needed him. The guilt rung painfully still.

When signs of life finally showed down by the forest, Mot's heart rate picked up, searching for his one love. Hel.. was she okay? Was she there?

But something else caught his eye. Something Lizzy and Jericho saw before he did.

What was that statue.

Mot's heart, that had been beating so anxiously, seemed to thump so painfully against his chest he thought it might cease altogether. "Wh...what... what is.. that.." Mot asked shakily, his voice wavering.

It couldn't be...

He did manage to move a little closer, but not before he was shoo'd back. Jericho stared through the crowds, at the statue, completely frozen for the moment. Too many things were rushing through his mind at that point. Far too many things. But, he did hear Mot's question. And the dragon had an inkling of an idea, but he needed to know one thing.

"... What happened to Red? At the very end?" he asked quietly, sounding distant.

His mind was working hard to not let everything come crashing down onto him at once.

"No... B-but... How... Why..." Her vision was becoming hazy as tears started to well up in her eyes, all the repressed fears and hopelessness boiling over as she stared at the grey statue; she looked so lifeless, yet she was half expecting the mindflayer to burst out of that grey shell at any moment. Death... They had taken it lightly, hadn't they? Halloween cannot die? Yes, Halloween can die - she had seen it in the Trials. She had seen it with Red, she had seen it with Riley.

Briefly, she wondered if Riley was in as much pain as Red was in when she was taken from them; that thought caused her nothing but heartache, and she clutched her chest, taking deep, sobbing breaths.

"We... We need to..." She felt lost, and everything was spinning as the tears just kept streaming down her face, "A-ask. We need to ask them. The students..."

Mot had to fight from losing himself to despair. Fight himself not to run at the boogeymen and beat them for answers. No matter how mad or upset he was, not only would his anger help.. his twiggy frame could never take on a boogeyman.

But Riley is gone. She isn't coming back. Lizzy's quiet plea, Jericho's heart wrenching cry... Composure was not something Mot could fathom anymore.

"Jack..DAMNIT!" Mot yelled out. He simply wanted to destroy things. Anything. This horrible emotion was too much. The loss was too much. Memories of Riley, the happy ones, were faded out with the sight of her stone corpse. His heart ached for her to just be okay. Why couldn't she be okay.

Come back, Riley.
Just... Come back through those woods.
Come back...
Please....

His anger was not directed at the boogeymen. They were the last thing on his mind. Mot could simply not cope with this loss. Never had he felt a loss like this. Something so out of his hands. So helpless to do anything about it.

He'd failed to do anything. He wasn't there. Wasn't there for Riley. He failed to help Hel. He was always failing.Mot swayed in place, almost seeming like he'd fall, until he simply burst into tears, turning and fleeing from the scene.
All he could do was run. He couldn't stay there and watch them take her away. He couldn't even wait for Hel to show up. She was in quarantine anyway, right? What could Mot do about it? Nothing... Nothing he did would ever bring Riley back.

All his happy memories of Riley began to filter through his mind, tainted by the feeling of loss that no new memories would be added ever again.

She was one of the first people he'd met. She'd welcomed him so warmly when he was nervous at his first day at school. She danced with him at Prom, even though he chose a style unbefitting of the King she was. She played along. No matter how proud or important she seemed to be. She was never above being silly with her friends. Never...

Never again would he hear her.

That knowledge broke Mot's final straw.

It was too much for him. Tears streaming down his face, Jericho broke away from Lizzy before turning to try and run. He needed to get away from here. The pain was practically unbearable. The dragon threw off his cloak and spread his wings and launched himself towards the sky, but found that he didn't really have the strength or will to really fly. Moments after he leaped into the air, he crashed down hard several feet away.

He should have gone. He should have been there. He was supposed to watch her back. Make sure she was alright. Now she was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. The voices. They were blaming him for this. He was certain of it. The dragon could never really understand what they said, but he had little doubt that their murmurs were anything but filled with persecution.

In his heart, he had already known the answer before. If she was truly gone. But to have seen her stone self like that? It was too much. That was all that was left of his best friend. The last time he had seen her was a week ago. One week. During that time, he hadn't even sent her any texts. And now it was all too late.

"We're the worst...." he sobbed into the ground.

He never had a chance to say goodbye.

"JERICHO!" Lizzy had ran after the dragon, grabbing the cloak as it fell, "Wait!" She slid to a stop near him, tripping over uneven ground as she fell beside him, quickly using the cloak - now covered with dirt - to cover him up; there were Bogeymen around. They could not risk even one of them seeing his grey-covered wing tips... What if they decided to take him away too? Losing Riley was bad enough; she didn't want to... Lose another friend.

"Please, we need to-" When Mot joined them, she was initially glad, although a part of her was still upset and just a tad angry at the reaper for abandoning her when she needed him. All those emotions faded immediately, however, at hearing what he had to say; she didn't even process the apologetic way he was looking at her. Instead, those words just made her sob harder.

Who's to say it could have been any different? We couldn't help Red either.

She wanted so much to argue against that. She wanted to yell 'NO, THAT'S NOT TRUE!' but she just couldn't. That would be irresponsible, right? She didn't even know if there was a cure for this, but if she kept silent... If she agreed with Mot... Then... Then Jericho's condition would... That would mean that one day... He would succumb to...

"T-that's not... Not t-true," Her voice was soft, barely a whisper as she looked down, refusing to meet any of their eyes, "Th-there's a cure... There... M-must be one... And we'll find it... We... We need to..."

Way to go, Mot.

He'd never known the details. He didn't know what had been happening to Jericho and Riley lately was a disease. His careless words had been spoken without knowing the full truth.

So what happened wasn't situational? It was the result of an affliction?

Mot shut his mouth, not even allowing himself the privilege to cry. He didn't have a right.