The Cinder

Rosanne {3}

I wasn't sure I had heard Diego correctly.

"Brandon?" I asked as I stood from the bed and turned to face him.

Even speaking his name out loud sent shivers down my spine.

The memories pounced on me fresh as the raw wounds.

Brandon was one of my allies in the Pinnacle Race. Just like Lucy.

I hadn't known he was alive. Never thought of the possibility.

"Yes. You know him?" Diego stood up as well. Watching me way too closely.

Like he was expecting me to lose it.

"He.. he was my friend. I thought he didn't survive."

"Why do you think so? Did you watch him die?"

I shook my head vigorously.

It made sense then.

"No I didn't. He was struck by lightning in the last level. We, me and Delos, carried him to the tower."

And then with all the horrors that followed, I had forgotten all about Brandon.

Forgotten he was alive when I had smashed the Lotus Trophy box.

"Rose.. " Diego hesitated. His fingers came across my cheek, brushing away the strands of my hair.

He cleared his throat. "Do you think you could tell me? About what happened there? After Jared was injured, I mean."

I knew I needed to tell him. I owed to him after everything he has done for me.

Since the attack, Diego has rarely left my side.

He supported me throughout my breakdowns, took all the rage of my nightmares and protected me as well.

He wouldn't even let Jared scream at me when I had lost my cool at my home-welcoming party.

The worst were the days when I'd miss Delos and cry for him. Diego spent those days with me as well.

Knowing what Diego felt for me (and what I felt for him also) I knew it was best to maintain some distance in between us.

But D was having none of it. He would let me run a truck over him if it meant I'd feel better.

The guilt was consuming me. Of how unfair it was to him. To Delos.

Even after what Delos had done, I couldn't stop loving him.

A part of me would always love him. We had been through so much together.

But now that I look back, my twenty-year-old self tried to argue with my naive sixteen-year-old self that maybe it wasn't true love.

How could it be if it ended so catastrophically?

Yes I loved Delos, no doubt about that. But maybe I wasn't in love with him.

We were teenagers, attracted to each other. We were thrown into hell together. He saved my life countless times just as I did.

Maybe that's what brought us together.

The desperation. The need for survival.

Some kind of survival guilt syndrome.

Or maybe you're just trying to reason with yourself so you could find a way to be with Diego.

That might be true as well.

I had loved Delos once and now I was undeniably attracted to Diego.

It was such a complicated mess.