Ruby slumped against the deck rail. God, why did she have to be so stupid? She hated herself for snapping at Theo and Caramelinda earlier. They were grieving too, it wasn't their fault Jet was gone. Of course she had to go and make things worse...this was the one time they most needed to stick together, and she'd just gone and fucked it all up.
But none of that mattered. Nothing at all mattered except that Jet was gone. Jet was gone. Her twin, her other half, her platonic soulmate. The one person in this world who had been with her through everything, had supported her in everything, and now she was just...gone. Ruby sank to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and holding her hands over her ears in a desperate attempt to drown out the aching hole in her heart.
Theobald sat on the bed in his cabin, staring blankly at the wall. It was over. He had failed. Jet was gone and it was all his fault, it was his job to protect her, she'd been killed and he wasn't there and it was all his fault and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. And he just had to...live with that, somehow. First Liam had lost the one thing that mattered to him, and Theo hadn't been able to stop that. Then Lapin died right in front of them, and Theo couldn't stop that either. And now...now Jet was gone. For the past eighteen years, his life had revolved around protecting her and Ruby-
Ruby.
Theo fought against the grief weighing him down and sat up. His job wasn't over yet. He had one more person to protect, and by the Bulb, he wasn't going to lose her too.
Theo headed out to find Ruby.
He found her huddled on the floor of her cabin, holding a half-empty bottle of wine. Where she'd got it he didn't bother to ask.
Ruby didn't look up as he silently let himself in. "I'm eighteen," she said dully, her eyes not leaving the floor.
"I'm not here to stop you," Theo replied quietly, sitting beside her. "I just...thought you could use some company."
Ruby nodded, finally looking over at him. His eyes reflected the enormity of her own grief, and she shuddered involuntarily at the weight of what they had lost.
Quietly, Ruby handed the bottle to him and leaned against his shoulder.
And there they stayed for the remainder of the longest night of their lives, passing a dwindling bottle back and forth- and feeling, for just a moment, like maybe they weren't quite alone.
