Better as Bones

its not okay - IV

Bastet

I walk into a garden. The rising sun blazes gold over the wall's edge. Giant leaves cover the sky, letting through small slices of the sun. An empty fountain sits in the center, with vines and dead leaves all around. I step into it further.

My stomach growls. I can't go find Quarry now. I just left. He needs time away from Breaking Me. He needs to be okay.

I sit down on the fountains edge. My hands hang between my legs as I focus on the ground.

I don't want to be alone right now. But Quarry needed a break from me.

I whip my head up as a crunch meets my ears. Footsteps echo down the alley as a girl walks into the garden. She stops dead as her eyes meet mine.

She's a tiny bit smaller than me, with long black hair and piercing ice eyes. They scan the garden, looking for others. I feel heat build up in me. Not the heat that rose to my face not long ago, ire.

My feet push against the ground as I rush towards her. Our bodies meet in a flurry of heated hate.

"OW WHAT THE FUCK?" She screams, grabbing my hair.

"THORN!" I scream, grabbing their wrists. Thorn pushes my head down between her knees. She kicks up, knocking my teeth with her legs. I yelp, throwing myself back. I grit my teeth and twist their wrists. Thorn shouts in pain.

She was the one who attacked me. They've been trying to kill me. She threw the knife that stabbed Avery. They were the one who told me about the Queen. She...she...

I scream, arching my arm. My fickle stars snap to blue. Thorn's eyes flash. She ducks as I push my stars into her. Winter snow melts into her pale skin.

"BASTET!" She begs, holding their cheek. She lets go. Half of her face is waxy pale. Hypothermia?

I jolt back. I didn't know I could do that.

I grit my teeth and grin as I throw myself on her again.

"Wait—" She gasps. I growl and twist their wrists. My stars brush her body on all sides.

I flinch as she screams.

I let go, backing up. I turn on my heels, my senses on fire. I should leave. I should go.

"Wait, Bastet," Thorn pants. She pushes herself up with one arm. She holds out her hand. "Wait."

I look back at her. I drop to the ground next to Thorn, gasping for air. She turns her head to look at me. She grins.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, shying away as I stare her back in the eyes. I scoff.

"I could ask the same of you," I mutter. Thorn sighs as she rolls her head back to the canopy of leaves above the garden. They hold up her blue dusted hands.

"I'll have to see a healer. You know Avalynn is looking for you," She turns back to me. I frown and look to the side. Avery is looking for me? She probably wants to punish me. I did hurt her. And...her mother.

"Yeah, I don't feel too good about it either," I grumble. Thorn hums. I squint up at the sky. It's almost as if our personalities changed for a minute. I guess, if I even am that person anymore?

I chuckle, scrunching in my face like Milo does his nose. Thorn turns her head towards me, pushing herself up again.

"What?" She asks still in the same voice. I laugh harder, pushing my head into the ground, trying not to cry.

"What are we doing here?" I chuckle, tears rolling down my cheeks. I throw my hands to the sky. "What are we doing?"

Thorn studies me. I can't tell what she's thinking anymore.

"What?" They ask again. I scoff, sitting up. Thorn does the same.

"You're so infuriating! So much of this falls on your shoulders! I hate you so much, Thorn! I mean—why are we fighting still? We might as well stop. You might as well just kill me now! I think that's what Avery would like! I didn't—I never meant this..." I look away from Thorn as I stuff my face into my knees and arms. "I just want to go home."

I can feel Thorn's eyes on me.

"I'm not working for Hadron anymore," She says quietly. I turn back to her. "And for the record I never wanted to kill you." Thorn scoffs at the ground.

"Wow, oh thanks for not wanting to kill me but still trying to! Really helped!"

"You did try to kill me just now so," They say, looking back up at me.

"You betrayed me. That's why I hate you. You messed up so much of my life."

"If only you knew the shit you put me through," Thorn says. "Not that it was your fault, I guess." We lock eyes for a minute. I crack a smile. She grins back. She looks tired.

I fall back down to the ground, spreading out my arms. I'm so so tired.

"What do you mean?" Thorn asks. I raise my eyebrows at her. "You want to go home? You're already in Maylea. And Kyson isn't that far away." I frown. Thorn moves closer to me.

"It's–it's not that. I wanna go back in time. I wanna go back to a place that I never even lived. Like, a memory I made in my own mind. I want a reality that doesn't exist." I scoff, chuckling as tears come to my eyes. I turn back to Thorn. Their nose is close to mine. I blink tears down my cheeks. "That's stupid right? To be homesick for something that doesn't even exist? Tell me I'm stupid. It's stupid."

Thorn throws their arms around me. I gasp as her hands hook around my shoulders. Her arms rest around my neck. She pulls me closer. I can't breathe.

"It's not stupid," She whispers. "That's all I ever want."

I hesitate as I feel her cool fingertips against my shirt. I whimper, shoving my face into the space between their shoulder and neck. I blink away tears, my face heating up and my throat closing. I can feel Thorn's own tears on my neck.

"It's not okay," She mumbles to me, her tears spilling faster on my hot neck. They suck in a shaky breath. "It's not okay."