𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐠.

CH,4

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LOVE?" She asked the class. "Tell me your interpretation of love. What does love look like to you? What makes you feel loved? How would you like to be loved?"

She paused her talking and looked at the class of teenagers. "Tell me."

A boy from the back with a nervous glance raised his hand. "Yes you?" She pointed at the boy. "Give me an example."

"What makes me feel loved... is when my mum tells me she loves anytime I go anywhere and who she's willing to listen to me about anything no matter how stupid it is..."

"Good! An example of verbal and physical showing of love. Well done Mark. Who else? Come on, I refuse to believe you all lead loveless lives, there must be someone, they don't necessarily have to be related..."

Another girl raised her hand. "Oya."

"I feel loved when my girlfriend holds my hand, and when she gets me food."

Oda couldn't help but chuckle. "Food seems to be everyone's love language." She clapped her hands together. "Should I give an example?" The class nodded and made sounds of agreement. "Okay... love to me is someone who is willing to compromise, willing to step into your shoes to what makes you who you are and still love you with all your flaws.... I knew I fell in love when for the first time in what's felt like centuries, was when I couldn't fall asleep because for the first time reality was finally better than my dreams, where I would stay awake until my eyes were sore thinking abo-"

"That seems like an illness miss." A boy disrupted, garnering a few chuckled from the surrounding teenagers.

She chuckled as well, her hand twisting the gold ring on her finger. "No, it's true love can quickly turn into an illness, where you are so devoted that you lose yourself in them. Love is a neurological con job. I admit, loving someone is a risk, a risk that you shouldn't tak-."

A knock sounded on the door. It was Dane. "There's a call for you in your office, It's Sersi."

"Can you take over for me?" she quickly asked as she nudged past him and jogged slightly down the hall and into her office. The phone laid on her desk, ringing and vibrating. Sersi, it read on the front. She picked it up. "Hello."

"Ajak." Sersi hyperventilated through the phone. "Ajak." Oda swore under her breath and hurriedly grabbed a sticky note and scribbled down stuff, she grabbed her jacket and folded it on her arm and made her way to Dane's desk and stuck the post-it to his monitor before teleporting out of the building, leaving a flurry of swirling paper behind and a stunned Dane at the door.

The sky was dark and morbid, a clear representation of the emotions that night. Oda landed formly on her feet on the slightly muddy grass. "Sersi!" she called out. She squinted her eyes slightly and saw a figure cladded in a green coat slouched over a still body. Fuck. "Sersi." she called out again, this time more quietly as she moved closer. She fell to her knees beside her, and placed her hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes rolled back into her eyes as a light spasm took over her body as she moved through space. "Arishem." was all she said as she came face to face with the Celestial, levitating in his hand next to Sersi.

"Oda."

The two glared at each other, the animosity and hatred thick in the air threatening to choke. "Arishem, I do hope you're treating Sersi well." she sneered, not hiding the contempt she held for the Celestial positioned in front of her.

"I am telling her of her purpose."

"Her purpose."

"Yes, her purpose. Something you lack, Oda."