~Enchantress~

~8~

Song: Africa, by: Weezer

~~~

Friday

"Makani... can I ask you something?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course you can," she turns to Dom, giving her full attention.

"So... I know we already kinda talked about it on the plane. But, so what had happened to your mom... was really just a disappearance?"

Makani's face drops a little and she promptly turns her head out towards the sea. Her dark sunglasses were blocking her teary eyes and she tried her hardest to not get emotional as she always has every time she talks about her mother; Even though she could already feel her lip slightly trembling.

"She was doing research... I mean, this clan was her entire life and she was trying to find a way to prevent you having to get involved. Y'know, before he inevitably came back."

Dom's mouth in a straight line, she continued to uncomfortably listen, suddenly feeling guilty. Guilty because she knew Makani's mother and she knew that she was the kind of selfless person who would risk her life for any of the kids that surrounded her and her family, especially Dom or Tomas.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to-"

"Don't apologize," she blurts out, louder than she intended.

Dom remained silent. Not because of the small outburst from Makani, but because she had no comforting words for her. Her mother dedicated her life to saving hers, and her daughter's. A life for a life. A life for multiple lives.

"Don't apologize," she repeats.

In barely a whisper, she starts, "I don't want you to feel... I don't want you to feel like anything is your fault. How could you have known?" She looks at Dom, tears falling off her chin.

"You guys told me to stop feeling like it's my fault everything now is happening, and I want you to not feel like my mom disappearing is on you. Her being gone...helped me, in a way?"

Dom's face contorts in confusion and she scoots closer to Makani. She pulls her legs close to her body, hugging them as she looks intently at her friend. "What do you mean? Your mom disappearing destroyed you."

"Well, it did. But... if she had never left, I wouldn't have gotten so close to you guys, I wouldn't have dedicated so much time to my magic, and... I don't know... There's just a lot of good that came from the bad, and I think it'd be crazy stupid to ignore that."

Dom remains silent and simply leans onto Makani, laying her head onto her shoulder. Slivers of the sun peeked through the leaves from the palm tree above them, shining down on their feet. The sand tickled the grooves between Dom's toes as she wiggled them further into the grains. .

They both took a moment to smell the ocean breeze that was wafting in the air and to enjoy each other's company. Makani couldn't help but continue to let the silent tears drip down her face and onto Dom's hair. She hadn't felt like this in a long time, the aching feeling of the unknown had always been her largest emotional hurdle.

One that years of therapy or surrounding herself with supportive people simply couldn't shake. As the time went on, the hurdle kept getting higher and higher and Makani felt as though she were losing the momentum to jump that high.

The anxiety of her best friend and boyfriend being left behind in the shadows always ailed her, especially as they got older and were growing further and further away from ever knowing the truth.