Everyone disappeared early in the morning. I woke up, and no one else was here. That left me to be in complete silence, unsure what to do with myself. I tried to read from my book, but my mind was swimming. There wasn't a chance that I could focus on it.
Somehow now I've found myself sitting on the floor looking up at past armor.
"Alex." I can feel a hand place itself on my shoulder. Without paying close attention to the voice, the coldness of the touch itself tells me it's Kandi. "Why are you sitting on the ground like this?"
My face scrunches up in confusion. I show no intent on standing up, so Kandi comes to sit down next to me. I look back up at the armor, snickering at the sight of my brother's blue jacket. He was convinced it was the sexiest thing on the entire planet, but I grew bored with the look when the reminders became constant. His is the only display up there to not be a set of armor.
Then my eyes dart over to Dante's. The combination of orange and blue signifies the main colors of Boboros. I hadn't heard of that village before he told me about it, and it wasn't on any of the maps in Meteli. I've always thought of it as a strange combination, but even Meteli has its strange quirks.
"Do you ever miss him?"
For some reason, I've been focusing on Garroth's the most.
"Of course, I miss him. He's my brother." There's a loud sigh before she looks down at her legs, attention broken.
"Even with what happened?"
There's a brief laugh, but it isn't one of humor. It reminds me of a scoff, but it's hard to determine which it sounds like more. "He's a fucking wimp who sucks at communication," she says. Her tone soon softens when she stops looking at me and towards the old O'Khasis armor. "But in the end, he's still my brother. I'm happy he came to his senses, but it upsets me why. He redeemed himself, but for what? I don't favor Aphmau at the moment, but I have to keep reminding myself that this wasn't really her fault. I guess I feel bad, and I'm kind of. . . angry with him."
I pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs. With a sigh of my own, I rest my chin on the top of my knees. "Despite everything that has happened, and how badly I want to put the blame of everything that has happened on someone other than myself, I can't put it on him. I don't know why." I sit there for a moment, feeling a new wave of sadness wash over me. My eyes close, mind becoming cloudy. "I think he was a fool who was blinded by love, and that became his downfall. He was an amazing guard. . . but love and feeling betrayed by love sent him to his downfall. I'm upset, but I'm not angry. And what upsets me more is the relatability of it all."
She decides to tease me, lifting herself to her feet before extending a hand for me to grab onto. "What? Have you been blinded by love and sent people to the Irene Dimension?"
"No, but I agree that love is shit."
Kandi elbows me playfully, letting the humorous atmosphere linger a little while longer. It isn't until her laughter fades and mine nearly diminishes that she becomes serious once more. "Alex, what's going on with you and my brother?"
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Both of us have started to read from my constellations book. It's filled with Emmalyn's scribbling, and my little notes from time to time. The pictures are always eligible, but the text is marked in the margin until the page cannot fit anything else.
For about an hour now, we've been flipping through pages and reading out loud facts we think the other may find interesting. It was encounters like this that I think started to make me fall in love with him. It wasn't all about the village or business in some form. I wasn't being babied for my age. I was treated like a human being.
He points up to the sky. "Look, it's Aquarius."
I glance down at the book. My eyes squint between connecting the dots together on the page and the stairs in the sky. I tell Vylad I don't see it, so he gently places his hands on my cheeks and guides me to where he found the constellation.
"Oh! And it isn't in the form of a stick figure. That's even better." I turn my head to look at Vylad. He's fairly close to me where our faces are inches apart, but I don't feel the butterflies I once felt anymore. "Those kinds of constellations are creepy."
"So Gemini and Taurus creep you out?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm content with the fish. Though, I feel the need to remind you that you're a goat. Baaaaaaah." He only shakes his head at me, taking a step back. There's distance between us once more. "I think the constellations you'll really like will be next month, though."
Vylad stands up and tells me that it's growing late. Our little rendezvous is coming to a close when he shuts my book. Though, his face looks serious when he starts to walk me back to the safety of the tree house. "I heard about your father. I'm sorry." He doesn't give me much time to give him a response to his words before he begins to talk again. "But that doesn't give you a reason to avoid Meteli. You still have family there, Alex."
"Can you not stalk me during the day?"
"I'm serious. You should've learned with your father with just how quickly time can pass and how much of it we really take advantage of. You have the opportunity to spend time with those you love, but you waste it."
My eyes widen. We're mere feet from the first ladder, and I'm being insulted and treated like a child. "Says you! You played dead! Kandi and Garroth would tell me how much they missed you, and all I could do was have a sad façade and feign sympathy!"
He stops at the ladder. "That's different. Accept what happened. Mourn if you need to. Don't push away your family and where you came from."
I call for Vylad when he starts to walk away, but it's no use. I'm left with sadness and anger.
