The hard grip on his arm jars Ben out of his haze, is enough to pause him in his tracks, guts twisting with fear. But his decision to stop is not an indication that he believes Cole, yet. The truth is he doesn't know what to believe. Cole is still just a stranger: not somebody he knows he can trust. What if this is all some trick? Some new manipulation? And Five's voice is so small and pitiful.
He asks himself what Cole could stand to gain, lying to him. He had seemed to really mean it, earlier, when he talked about needing to help those who are suffering. And if it were really Five calling out his name like that, there's no way he's anything but suffering...
It's only then that Ben remembers hearing something about trick sounds and sights in the shift. Things that led people astray. Made it so they never came back.
Ben stops trying to pull away from Cole, stands still as the dust and wind whirl around them, almost like hands tugging and shoving at him, battering him invisibly. The horrible thing is that, even once he makes the decision to stay still, decides that the voice must be only in his head, he doesn't stop hearing it. After a little while, though, it is no longer calling out his name, just sobbing, hopeless and gulping and desperate. The way Ben must have cried so many times by himself, in that lifeless future, where he had been stranded.
He stays beside Cole until the wind and the dust begin to settle, but his heart feels like it is breaking over and over again in his chest, and it isn't in him anymore to try to shield Cole from this. There's no wrestling this down, no making it numb.
i *JUST* saw autocorrect changed Ben to been in my last tag..... the betrayal....
He asks himself what Cole could stand to gain, lying to him. He had seemed to really mean it, earlier, when he talked about needing to help those who are suffering. And if it were really Five calling out his name like that, there's no way he's anything but suffering...
It's only then that Ben remembers hearing something about trick sounds and sights in the shift. Things that led people astray. Made it so they never came back.
Ben stops trying to pull away from Cole, stands still as the dust and wind whirl around them, almost like hands tugging and shoving at him, battering him invisibly. The horrible thing is that, even once he makes the decision to stay still, decides that the voice must be only in his head, he doesn't stop hearing it. After a little while, though, it is no longer calling out his name, just sobbing, hopeless and gulping and desperate. The way Ben must have cried so many times by himself, in that lifeless future, where he had been stranded.
He stays beside Cole until the wind and the dust begin to settle, but his heart feels like it is breaking over and over again in his chest, and it isn't in him anymore to try to shield Cole from this. There's no wrestling this down, no making it numb.