"No!" Soren shot back with a trembling voice, a mix of fear and anger. "You should be listening to me! You always do this, you always decide things on your own!"
"What?" Elias snapped despite the chaos around them. "I should be the one saying that?"
Even here with danger pressing close, they argued because fear didn't always show as silence.
Around, as shadows shifted, footsteps drew nearer making Elias stiffened with his muscles taut, pain and cold forgotten for the moment. He then pulled Soren closer behind him while bracing for what was coming as their argument fell silent.
Because both of them knew there was no time left.
Elias' heart was hammering in his chest as he gripped Soren's hands while intertwining them with his own, just as he was about to whisper that he would protect him when laughter rang out, mocking and cruel, and the attackers suddenly closed in, surrounding them.
"Look at these two here!"
