sound like the { truth } / ridley, day 7

[Stare]

Ridley was dazed, stumbling through a fog of pain, when she found Delaney.

She was struggling, staggering to her feet and then falling again in a way that made Ridley's stomach lurch with a strange kind of panic. She lurched forward a few steps, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be running in the opposite direction. Forgetting that Delaney was supposed to be her enemy.

"Delaney? What..." There was so much blood. Ridley knew all too well what it meant. Her throat felt tight. "What are you doing?"

“I just fell. I have to get away from here. Can you help me up?”

Ridley couldn't breathe. She stood there for a moment, staring, before she finally gently set her scythe down in the snow and limped over to the other girl. Her heart was thundering and screaming and shattering all at once, but somehow she managed to say, "I'm pretty banged up. Do you think we could just rest here for a bit? Until you're feeling better?"

Delaney tried again to rise before slipping and crashing back to the frozen ground. Blood splattered into the snow. “Okay. Okay. Just until I feel better. Then we have to keep going. We’ll die if we stay here too long.”

Ridley was trembling. She forced herself to remain steady. The lies hurt worse than they had with Charisma and Milo. She'd always known Delaney was good at lying at others, but she'd never thought that in the final moments she'd lie to herself. She'd never thought that she would be around to hear it.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Ridley sank down next to her, lifting her cloak off her shoulders and laying it over Delaney, hiding the wounds. "Just try to relax, okay? I'm right here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Delaney's hand patted the cloak. “Bell thought she beat me. Isn’t that funny?” Bell. Ridley mentally added another name to the list on her wall. Another body to bury. “Nobody can beat me. I’m still here.”

"Nobody can beat you." She echoed, smiling even though she felt as if she was choking. Then, because she had to say it out loud at least once, "You're the strongest person I know. Strongest person I've known since my mom died."

“Oh.” Something was changing in Delaney's voice. “I’m not, though. I’m a total fraud.” She made a sound, like she was trying to laugh, but just ended up sounding the way that Ridley felt inside. “I’m so scared.”

"You're not a fraud." Ridley's tone was sharp, probably sharper than it should have been with someone who was dying. "You're Delaney Youngblood and you're a badass, you hear me? And you don't have to be scared. I'm here. Okay? I'm not going anywhere."

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice fading. It scared Ridley more than she would let show. “I’m tired. You’ll be here when I wake up, right?”

It took a Ridley a moment to collect herself enough to respond. "Of course. Of course I will be. You just sleep, alright?"

Delaney nodded. “You’re the best, Ridley.”

Ridley stayed with her until she was gone, and then she cried for all the lies they had told, all the debts she now owed, and Delaney Youngblood, a warrior of a girl who had deserved so much better.

table credit goes to the fabulous shrimp!
lyrics from got it in you, by banners