Apology

Mary stared at Lucius for a few seconds and snapped out of it.

"Lucius!" She yelled, nervously."Why are you sitting up? Didn't I tell you to rest up?"

Lucius silently sat there, staring at his brother's corpse. Then, he slowly looked up at Mary when he heard her call. His eyes were soullessly staring back at hers. Mary shivered and slowly stood up from the corpse.

She knew something was wrong with his gaze. He never looked at her with those eyes before until now.

Usually, he gazed at experiments with those eyes but now...he's staring at me with merciless eyes...I need to run! He definitely wants revenge for killing his brother.

Mary slowly backed away from the corpse, her eyes never left Lucius. Then, she saw Lucius's uninjured eye glances down at her feet and switched back to her. Mary knew he found out.

As she was about to turn around and run. She heard an aggressive hiss and was thrown to the ground by Lucius. She wanted to hit him and run but her wrists were locked to the ground by his hands. She wanted to kick him but both her legs were tied together by his tail.

Mary kept struggling, she knew he would loosen his grip since he was still bleeding, and sooner or later he would pass out or die from blood loss. She kept struggling but instead of losing his grip, he tightened.

How can he still have so much strength?! Shit!... If this continues, I'm going to die first before him. What should I do!? I can't die here, I still need to save my brother.

Then, a drop of water landed on her face causing her to come back to reality. She looked up and saw Lucius, tears were still dripping out of his eyes. Mary could clearly see his injured eye. There were three scratches on his eye, it was deep and blood was still dripping down. His stomach's wounds were even worse, blood was pouring out of his abdomen.

Mary silently stared at him, her eyes meeting his as a couple of tears continued to land on her face.

"Lucius" Then, she said with a soft voice.

Lucius hissed furiously at her, his hands tightening around her wrists. Mary groaned from the pain but she didn't let the pain silence her.

"Lucius," She said again while staring right into Lucius's eyes and continued."I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for killing your brother..."

Mary could feel his grip loosen.

"I just couldn't help it...the thought of an older brother hurting his younger brother, who he was meant to protect. I-" Mary breathed in a deep huff of air and continued."My parents died when I was young and my brother was just a baby at that time. The moment I knew my parents' death, I promised myself to give my brother a stable and happy life even without our parents. So...that's why I just couldn't help myself but wanted your brother to die. I know you will never forgive me for this but...please let me go. I can't die here, I still have a brother to save."

There was a long pause. While Lucius's sobbing was the only sound Mary could hear. They stared at each other and suddenly Lucius turned his head away and released her. He curled his tail and sat on it while Mary rubbed her wrist.

Then, she quietly looked at him and said with a shaky and painful voice.

"Lucius, you're seriously wounded. Don't sit like that...Please lay down. I know you're sad and angry but please don't hurt yourself any longer."

Lucius saw the painful look in her eyes and did what she said. He lay down and Mary sat beside him. She examined his injuries for a while.

"Good thing, he didn't hurt your vital part. But...your blood won't stop if this continues you're going to die from blood loss."Mary said, sadly.

Lucius could feel Mary gripped on his shirt as she speak. Then, he felt something land on his face. He glanced up and saw tears dropping out of Mary's eyes.

"I'm sorry."She sobbed."I'm so sorry! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be in so much pain! You wouldn't have lost your brother! You wouldn't have to get yourself in danger!"

Mary couldn't control her emotions anymore. She was questioning her sadness at first but as she saw how hard he was trying to protect her. She couldn't help but felt tears slowly forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault..." Lucius sat up(his eyes were still teary) and reached out his arm to hug her. Then, he gave a gentle hiss beside her ear as if he was saying "I forgive you."Mary let her tears flow down while hiding her face on Lucius's shoulder.

Mary could feel her back was soaking with Lucius's tears but she didn't care. They hugged and cried in each other's arms for a while until Mary stopped.

She patted his back awkwardly and said with a wavering voice.

"Umm...Are you done yet? Let's head back in. It's dangerous out here."

Lucius slowly left her shoulder and looked at her, he was still sobbing and his eyes were puffy from all the crying. Mary can't help but chuckle. Lucius noticed and quickly wiped his tears away. Then, hissed at her while blushing.

"It's alright. It's normal to cry. You can continue crying when we go inside."She teased.

Lucius blushed even more and hissed at her, loudly. Mary laughed.

"I'm kidding. Now let's go in and patch up your wounds. You bleed a little too much and your wounds were left out in the open for too long. I hope it's not infected."

Mary stood up but Lucius was still sitting down. His body was too weak to carry his weight. Mary noticed and held out her hand.

"You need help?"She offered.

But Lucius only stared at her doubtfully.

"What?" Mary asked, confusedly."Do you not want my help?"

Then, Lucius looked up and down from Mary's head to her toes.

Mary knew what he was thinking.

"Hey! I know I'm weak and small to you...since I'm only half your size but it's better than no help at all, right?"

Lucius looked at her, doubtfully.

"Oh, come on! Just hold my hand already! You can't even stand!"

Lucius smiled while reaching out his hand to touch her. Then, he hissed in pain.

"Be careful!"Mary warned him.

Lucius held Mary's hand and Mary tried to pull him up with all her might but he wouldn't budge. Lucius chuckled, painfully while seeing Mary struggle.

He placed his other hand on the ground and lifted his weight up. He managed to stand up. Suddenly, he stumbled and Mary panicked. She immediately held onto his arm, trying to pull him, afraid he would fall.

Lucius looked at her and smiled. Then, Mary slowly guided Lucius into the mansion. He was slithering, wobbly but at least he was able to take his time to slither into the mansion.