i don't want to watch the world end with someone else | eden

[alex 🐺]

E C H O L E   R O U X

The scent of death is sweet. Almost like candy. Or maybe rotting waste. The thought comes to her in a flash as she covers her mouth, taking the steps two at a time. It didn’t smell like blood down here—blood’s far too sour and acrid. Echo knew these smells as well as she knew the scent of her mother’s favorite shawl, even if it had been a two lifetimes ago since she had breathed it in. She knew the smell of sweat and dirt like it was her perfume for the first fifteen years of her life.

Now she smells like gardenias and peonies. Like silk sheets and leather. Like cigarette smoke and vodka.

Like Emerson Le Roux.

Eden had been carried off the stage by Eurydice’s hired fucking hands and thrown into the dungeons and Echo had spent the better part of four hours trying to convince one of them (the weakest - there was always a weak one; this one enjoyed his drink too much) where exactly Eden was being held.

She was sure there was some sort of punishment that would come out of all of this. For her or for Eden, she wasn’t sure. Maybe both of them. Maybe Steel. Eurydice twisted the knife despite holding only a wineglass, never a weapon. She moved the pieces despite never sitting at the table. It was all shadow and intrigue and Echo was used to it by now, but it still made her sick to her stomach.

After all, Eden was only a Le Roux when he could be used as a replacement. A call to glory long gone. Save that, he was nothing.

And now nothing rots in a dank cave that wasn’t even fit for the rats that ran along the walls.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

“You know, this is an upgrade from Shadow Cat’s,” she observes from the dark, lines of light breaking across her face, the other half in shadow. She reaches out to grab a bar of the cell but glances behind her where the guard had been standing moments before. He was long gone with a fresh bottle to nurse during the long night shift. Her fingers curl in on themselves, grasping air and not her brother's hand.

She feels combustion in her chest—storm clouds raging against thunder in a torrential downpour that scratches at her throat and makes her eyes shine glossy. She hopes it won't show in the dim light.

They had been safe. They were safe. And this—this misguided rebellion could ruin everything. They could end up on the street, which wasn't even the worst part.

They could lose each other and Echo feared that in losing Eden, she would lose herself, bit by bit and piece by piece.

Clearing her throat and curling her hands into fists, Echo takes a few deep breaths, knuckles knocking against the steel of the cell's doors. 

“You wanna tell me how we’re gonna get out of this one? Let Eurydice throw her fit and then free you in a few days? Who do you think is more patient, brother—you or her? I’m not sure where I would place my bets this time.”

*thread title courtesy of clinton kane

[calla]

E    D    E    N

He's ruined it for both of them, he knows that. One cushy job and one purposeful mistake later; one stupid kid currently in the process of ruining his sisters' lives.

Steel can handle herself, distant enough to keep her place but sentimental enough to still help smuggle him out. Eden loves her because he's grown up loving her and he couldn't stop even if he wanted to. Echo is different though. She's loud and brash and as soon as Eurydice brings this up Eden knows that his sister is going to fly off the handle and end up in the same boat as him.

He has to leave, and he can't take either of them with him. He has to get used to that, because they've never ever been apart, and he has to get used to it quickly. They've been shuffled from one place to the next, one ownership to another, but they've always done it together. It was always Echo in the front and Steel watching their backs and Eden in between them, clutching their hands and trying to keep up. Now they're splitting apart, and even though Steel is likely to stay and work, Eden has no idea what Echo will do.

She's the one he can never predict.

Example number four hundred and twenty-two: when she comes striding through the hall of cells and stops in front of him with a look like she's eaten something sour.

He has a feeling that Eurydice is going to have him killed and he hasn't quite decided what to do about it yet. Maybe that's where Echo came from. Maybe Eurydice told her that if she kills Eden then she'll get to stay in the House. He thinks if that were the case, then he'd let it happen. Or he'd at least try not to hurt her too bad on his way out. It's the least he can do for uprooting them so thoroughly. Because he's not supposed to be the one deciding these things. He's not supposed to want. Look where it gets him - under the cellars, surrounded by stone and rats and lions.

Echo grabs one of the bars and Eden automatically takes the one beside it. Their hands don't touch, but the little 13 on the inside of her wrist matches the 12 on his and that's comfort enough. She hurls questions at him and Eden just stares at her, tries to memorize every little line of her face because this might be the last time he ever sees it and he isn't wasting the chance.

But there's a possibility that if he's out of the picture, then Echo and Steel will miraculously be fine. He doesn't know how plausible that actually is, but it makes sense in his head. If you remove the rot from the tree before it spreads then the rest of it can still be saved. They'll still have each other even if they won't have him.

Echo's staring right back at him now, and Eden knows that she's waiting for a response so he just shrugs, half because he doesn't know what she said, half because he doesn't know how to answer.

She's always been the slightest bit taller. It's a stupid thing to notice in that moment, but it's always been unreasonably unfair.

"Not we." He tells her quietly, and it's a little sad but it's mostly flat. His throat feels like sandpaper. It's been five hours since got punched in the jaw.

He's living on borrowed time and he's short-sighted. He doesn't have a plan because he's pretty sure that it would make the panic worse and he needs to be level-headed for the shitstorm that's about to come his way.

Judging by Echo's face, the first part of that storm might be her. Eden tries to look reassuring, but he doesn't think it's working.

He pokes her 13 to lighten the mood, reaches through the bars to gently tug at her hair. He's her big brother no matter what she says and he'll be fine no matter what she does. The guard rotation will change soon and she'll have to go and then he'll have to figure out the rest on his own, but that's alright. It's about time.