an everlasting caress (on hold) (#2)

Buckle Up (19)

Avathara

      "You avoiding me?"

      Avathara looked up, keeping her hands folded in her lap. She heard him coming, but decided it was time to put her big girl pants on. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other in two weeks. In that time, they both must have been recovering. She knew she was still trying to heal and wasn't back to her prior condition, not even close.

      He looked pale. His veins were extremely visible, like they were ready to rise above his flesh any second. He didn't exactly look weak, but he did, in his own way. "Not talking to me either, huh?"

      She kept her eyes level with his. Anything else he would not accept. "No. Well, yes, I was avoiding you. How are you, Klein?"

     He scratched his bearded jaw. There was amusement in his eyes. There was also an exhaustion he was trying his damnedest to conceal. "Well, I've felt better. I'll be honest about that." He shook his head. He must have noticed her despaired look. "Avathara, I'm fine. You gave me a run for my money," he gave a small smile, "I'll give you that, but I'm alive."

     "I'm so sorry, Klein," her voice was brimming with thinly-veiled hysteria, "I couldn't stop it. I didn't mean to hurt you. If you would have died... I just be in jail right now."

     Klein slowly crouched so that they were more equal in stature. "I understand what happened--Aeress explained it to me. I do not blame you. There is nothing to forgive, but I see the guilt on your face, and whatever crime it is you think you've committed, I forgive you for it. Are you listening to me?"

     She nodded, but her confirmation was a lie. "You aren't angry with me?"

     His smiled returned. "Angry? There isn't a being on this Earth who cold hold a grudge against a face such as yours!"

Flashback...

     She crept into the room, meaning only to have a glimpse of his sleeping form. She should have never assumed that Klein would be the only one in the room. That was her first mistake.

     A chill ran up her back, a sensation meant to warn of impending pain. While she wanted to run away, to hide from the woman kneeling at his bedside, there was a voice in her head, one which whispered in its insidious voice: stay, be punished.

     Kallista's sniffling paused once she realized she was not in solitude next to her unconscious twin. Avathara tensed as the woman came to a her towering height. She turned, leveling her eyes down upon the one responsible for all of this.

     Her lips barely moved. Her face was tight with fury and disgust. "What do you want, Luna? Come to finish the job?" The red in her cheeks and eyes represented more than worry and fear this time, it represented the violence which begged to be released.

     Avathara could not open her mouth. The tears were welling, piling on top of her toppling shame. "No," she croaked out, "of course not. I only meant--"