Tides: Years of Dawn

When Gawain unbuttoned Crewe's clothes, he roughly guessed what happened to Crewe.Crewe's resistance, crying, anger, and hysteria made Gawain feel overwhelmed and filled with grief and indignation.

But Crewe couldn't say anything, he kept crying.The cry was like a suppressed roar, which was deeply blocked in the throat, making the entire chest swell and ache.

Gawain didn't allow Lemarlock to come in, nor did he allow the servants to come in. He took Crewe into the bathroom and forced Crewe back into human legs with almost half force.

He saw the solidified bloodstains on the inner thigh, and some wounds that he couldn't bear to look directly at, and didn't dare to guess.

All of these are invisible in the octopus form, and Crewe hid him in the animal form, preferring to lose his memory.

Gawain kept asking Crewe who did this, when, where, and what happened.

But Crewe was silent from the beginning to the end. He pressed his head on the side of the bathtub. After a long time, he said softly, as if he had really lost his memory, "...what did you say?"

Crewe's silence was like a rusty blade, tugging at Gao Wen's heart.

Gao Wen closed the doors and windows, and carefully helped him heal the wound that even he didn't want to admit.

He washed him, applied medicine, wiped off the blood and meticulous stains, and wrapped him in a robe.

This was the first time Gao Wen saw Crewe's whole body chi///luo, but at that moment he couldn't feel any emotion.He only felt that his internal organs were overwhelmed, and the hatred that made him tremble ran rampant in his veins.

This is his assistant, his person, his future spouse, the first time he should deliver and grab.But now all the good things have been taken away by others, but Crewe keeps silent about the real culprit who took it all away.

Crewe accepted Gawain's help obediently, and after crying exhaustedly, he closed his eyes.

He knew that everything was over. Perhaps for other families, this was a wound that could be healed, but for the conservative sea monster family, having a sexual relationship meant signing a marriage contract.

The Sea Crocodile Brothers must have understood this, so they used the most direct means to destroy the trust and tolerance between Gao Wen and his assistant.

They don't hate the octopus family, but hurting Crewe can better achieve their goal of revenge on the sea monster.

How unfair this is, but Crewe has nowhere to seek justice.Because the result of vindictiveness is to expose all the crimes, and he and Gao Wen will be covered in mud.

This is not only a humiliation to Crewe, but also a great provocation to the sea monster family.

That night, Gao Wen didn't dare to take Crewe to his bed.He was afraid that Crewe would be stimulated, and he didn't want another person to sleep beside him.He didn't dare to let Lemarlock accompany Crewe, for fear that his younger brother would talk too much and ask questions that shouldn't be asked, which would irritate the victim's sensitive nerves.

So in the end he decided to leave Crewe alone in the guest room, he said he was outside, he didn't sleep, he sat in the small hall and read a book.If Crewe yelled, he could hear him.

But as he was leaving, Crewe grabbed his arm and wrapped his tentacles around him, wrapping him around him.

After deliberating for a long time, Gawain decided to lie beside Crewe in his robe.

Crewe was not asleep, and looked out the window with his eyes open.Gawain didn't fall asleep either, he was afraid that he would disturb Crewe by turning over.

One night without words, one night without sleep.

Time is longer than usual, it seems to be frozen.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed before the sky shone slightly.

When I woke up the next day, Crewe was gone.He walked normally, as if nothing had happened.

Gao Wen stopped him and said nothing to let him leave.The servant felt curious, and Hua De also felt strange.But Gawain didn't explain to them, he just refused to let Crewe go.

He pulled Crue back into the room and held his shoulders, "Tell me what happened, if you don't tell me, you can't leave."

"What happened?" Crewe's eyes were complicated, he stared at Gawain for a while, then shook his head, "I don't know what happened."

Gao Wen was surprised.He didn't know whether it was the severe trauma that made Crewe react like this, or if he really didn't know what he said.

He squeezed Crewe's shoulder even harder, shook it, and said sternly - "You know what I mean, don't play dumb, I can only help you if you speak up."

"I don't need your help." Crewe frowned slightly, proving that he did understand Gawain's words.It's just that his reaction shocked Gawain but didn't understand - he raised his tentacles, stroked Gawain's neatly combed hair, and said - "I can't say it, because I want revenge."

"What revenge do you want? You... who do you want revenge on?" Gao Wen was anxious.Crewe's performance was appallingly calm. It wasn't a real relief to let things go, but a deep, even self-deceiving hatred.

Gao Wen couldn't let Crewe do something illegal, at least he couldn't let him take an irreversible step, because—"Don't forget, you are my assistant, no matter what happens to you, you should—"

"Then kill me," Crewe said.After saying this, his own heart skipped a beat.

He had imagined countless situations in which Gao Wen would say this before, but he did not expect that he would be the first to say it.

"...What did you say, say it again." Gawain clenched his teeth, and the words squeezed out from between his teeth.

The two looked at each other for a while, Crewe turned his gaze away first, and then repeated clearly but tremblingly as Gawain wished—"I said, then abolish me."

Gao Wen let go of his hand.

Crewe's expression was calm, different from the hysteria the night before, but that made Gawain even more frightened.Because Gawain has seen such expressions before, those jellyfish who brought sacrifices to the ocean, those executioners who simply executed criminals, those beasts who were abandoned by Gareth for the first time and stayed in the sea snake's house—— Yes, that's the color in their eyes.

There is no anger, no grief, only a kind of indifference that is close to despair, reflecting the appearance of others without waves.

Crewe left.It was as if he visited the sea monster's house occasionally, but this time he didn't hold a small satchel.

His back is extremely thin, as if he could be swept away by the wind.His tentacles squirmed slowly across the sand, and this time he didn't look back at Lemarlock.

It was from that day that Gao Wen felt that Crewe was very strange.

Maybe it's the lack of contact over the past year that has alienated their relationship, or maybe it's because Crewe hasn't recovered from the trauma. Of course, it's also possible that their entanglement with each other is just a thin line, so it's normal that Gao Wen doesn't understand him. .

Gawain watched Crewe's back disappear outside the door until Hua De walked beside him.

"Father, who exactly hurt him? He-" Gawain wanted to ask his father, but Hua De interrupted Gawain with a raised hand.

"If you decide to help him, don't tell me." Hua De said lightly, "It doesn't matter what others have done to him now, what matters is what he wants to do next, and you will play a role in it." What role."

Gawain didn't understand what his father said at the time, but in the following months he understood that even if he and Crewe didn't say anything, Ward had already guessed everything.He not only guessed the reason, but also guessed the road that Crewe was going to take.

Crewe was Gawain's trouble - Ward had said it from the very beginning - Deposing Crewe was Gawain's most correct choice.

But Gao Wen will not dethrone, so he can only choose to cover up, and even in the end, go along with it.

Wounds make people aware of their own vulnerability and inadequacy.When the skin was cut open, blood flowed out, and muscles were exposed, the pain caused people to cry and gnash their teeth.

But afterward, the wound will form a scar, and the scab formed is hard and thick, even if it is scratched again, it will not feel pain.

Crewe was waiting for the wound to heal.

It's not a one or two day thing, but it's unlikely it won't heal forever.This incident seems to have only happened in Crewe's life, and no one else knew about it.

He silently packed up the school things and returned home, without even letting Saru and Elena notice the clue.Crewe still locked himself in the room, closed the door, and kept silent.

At the beginning of the vacation, he always had nightmares.He dreamed that he walked through that day again, wandering in the same place over and over again.

He was dragged into the room that smelled of decay, and then pinned on the table.Then he came out in tattered robes, and was dragged in again.

He woke up sweating profusely, and covered himself in the quilt again with sweat.The appearances of the sea crocodile brothers flashed in turn before his eyes, the way they bared their teeth when they were ruthless, the way they bared their teeth and claws when they were proud, and every movement and expression they showed when the violence was over and they walked away.

Crewe remembers all of them clearly, and they are constantly replaying in memory frame by frame like slow motion, trapping Crewe firmly, like a hell exclusive to little octopuses.

Sea Folks always say that some things are the last blow that crushes a man.Those who are not overwhelmed by pain, they can become true warriors.

But Crewe feels that not all warriors have not been defeated.They may have been truly knocked down, but that doesn't mean they can't get back up again.

Crewe had a meltdown too, and he's had a lot of meltdowns.

When he listened to the creaking sound of the singing box alone, when he looked at the beach not far away through the window in ecstasy, when he pieced together the broken starfish, but found that no matter how he put it together, there was no corner , and the torn calendars, telling him that back to school was approaching—he'd break down.

It was as if the wind, rain, thunder and lightning had exploded on his head suddenly, and he was drenched, and then struck by lightning and thunder.

He would suddenly go limp, slump on the ground, smash the things in his hand, or cry while covering his face.

But he was able to stop crying in the end.

He would wipe away the tears and ask himself - what just happened?

And give a firm answer - no, nothing, nothing happened just now.

Yes, he was deluding himself.

This is a heart wall, which protects Crewe's fragile heart and isolates true emotions.He added one more brick to the core wall every day, maybe not a day, not a week, but in a month, a whole year, he could always build the fort.

It turns out that everything is simpler than he imagined.

That's right, when he thought that the disaster was invincible, he found that it was not that difficult to get up.Self-deception is not an absolutely bad habit, at least it can keep people normal in the eyes of the outside world.

He still didn't know the day when Gao Wen would abandon him, and he didn't know whether the Sea Crocodile Brothers would publicize his affairs.But before those guesses came true, he had to tell himself - nothing happened, so don't worry about anything.

He went to the cottage on the east side of Bluff Island a week before the start of his final school year.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly wanted to see Tristan and Gareth.

Gareth was sweeping the weeds in front of the house. Seeing Crewe from a distance, he walked forward happily wagging his tail.

Gareth still hadn't learned how to put the snake's tail back, and Crewe blamed himself for not being able to fulfill the method of teaching Gareth to control the mana of the sea people these days.

He made a plate of kelp and ate his supper with two old hunters and a pack of brutes.He said it was taught to him by a dead friend and he made it for the first time and it probably wouldn't taste good.

But the beasts wiped them all out, and some beasts who had mastered a little ability to speak stammered and said, "Well...it's better than, Terry, Tristan, better than him, and better than him. "

Crewe smiled, and when he raised his smile, there was a strange feeling in his facial muscles.

Crewe's hands trembled as he laughed.Tristan smoked the sea smoke, squinted his eyes, and saw the trembling tentacles of the little octopus through the thick smoke.

On the way back, Gareth sent Crewe to the path at the door, and followed him for a long way.

Gareth asked Crew if something happened, if he was being bullied.Although Crewe didn't say it, Gareth could see Crewe's haggardness.That haggardness is not a visible wound like a bruised nose and a swollen face, but a heavy heart and a soul riddled with holes.

Crewe stared at Gareth for a while, then shook his head, and said - no, what difficulty are you talking about?

"It's fine if you don't have one." Gareth scratched his head and found that Crewe had grown to be as tall as himself.

After saying goodbye to Crewe, Gareth walked back.Tristan emerged from a nearby bush, proving that he had followed them all the way to the intersection.

"Did he say anything to you?" Tristan pulled out a cigarette and handed Gareth one.

Gareth put the cigarette in his mouth and sighed, "He said he was fine, did we think too much?"

"That's something more serious." Tristan lit the cigarette for Gareth, took a deep breath, and let it out again. "It means he hasn't figured out what to do, or how to talk to us."

Gareth stopped talking, and he looked back in the direction where Crewe had disappeared.

The stone road meanders in the starry night, with no end in sight at a glance.

TBC