ᴅᴇx ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴꜱ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ 「 ˢᵒʳᵘʸ 」

oneshot || the apology

Stina walked into the auditorium at Foxfire. She was so nervous that her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She was deciding to take Sophie's advice, hoping that it wouldn't backfire in her face later.

She needed to finish what she came here to do, and if they didn't believe her it was their loss. This was for her and not them, she would be happy either way because at least she had enough courage to try.

She grabbed the microphone in front of her and cleared her throat, drawing all eyes to her.

"Students of Foxfire, I'm Stina Heks, and I owe you all my deepest apologies. A person told me not too long ago that I can be forgiven if I only try hard enough. So here it goes, and before you judge me and tell me to crawl in a hole and die, hear me out.

"You all probably know the story, I'm guessing? My mother and father are a bad match," She admitted, "You must have heard all the gossip and rumors by now, saying that most of you know who Marella Redek is."

She bit her lip and continued, "All my father wanted to do was be normal, but you all cast him out. And was his want really so much to ask for? To not be scorned, judged, looked at weirdly? The reason I'm alive is because my mother looked past all of your Elven nonsense, knowing that what you did to him was wrong. And though it 'degraded' her, she still chose my father. Everyday it kills him, because she could have chosen anyone, and she chose him.

"So he did all of this for her, to be worthy of her. He thought faking an ability--changing who he was--would make everyone look at him differently. But, you can't possibly fake an ability.

"When I first started here I got the brunt of his action," She laughed, "Everyone wondered out loud if I was going to be talentless, if I was going to be a mess up because of the bad match. I started getting bullied. Hard to believe right? You must think it's a lie, how can a person who was bullied bully someone in return?

"I'm just a broken little girl. Even though I held my head up, for years, all their words just got me." Her voice cracked and everyone was silent, "And when you're bullied, you tend to become sick of it and take it into your own hands. So I got sick of being the victim every time. I turned into what you all wanted me to be, a beast. I wanted revenge for years doing nothing to no one and still being hurt, I stopped cowering like a little sheep. I wanted revenge because none of you knew me, and yet you still did those things to me.

"I was tripped in the hallways, talked about behind my back, backstabbed by my only friend. I could go on and on," She gave a fake laugh, "Stars, Dex made me bald. Biana called me names. Marella spread rumors. And yet I get punished?"

She took a breath, feeling so much better knowing that all of that was off her shoulders.

Stina started to talk again, but then she felt something wet on her face. She brought her hand up and saw she was crying. It made her smile, she hadn't been about to cry in years.

"I'm certainly not asking for forgiveness, because I know that I don't deserve it yet. I have a long way to go before I become worthy, but if you could just try. Because I am trying so very hard. I'm so sorry for what I've done in the past to everyone. And if I ever got the chance, I'd beg Sophie to forgive me."

With that last peg hammered into her statement, she looked up. Everyone sat there in silence, contemplating. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, till she heard someone clap. And she knew it was Sophie.

//

Biana outright laughed.

The whole auditorium was silent, so everyone could hear lose her mind.

Stina was a manipulative bastard, turning this so it was on everyone but herself.

Biana hoped no one did anything. It served her right, Stina was a key reason Sophie's dead after all. No one should be forgiven for that.