Pansy ▲ Daniel Atlas

✧ 2 6 ✧

"I'm done," Henley huffed sadly as she waltzed into my room, falling onto the bed Daniel and I shared, "I can't do this anymore."

I frowned and sat beside her on the edge of the bed as she buried her face into my pillow. I ran a hand down her back, "What can't you do anymore?"

"This," She waved around at the room, her voice cracking as tears welled up in her eyes, "I can't sit here waiting for The Eye to make their move that may never even happen. I can't sit here watching my life roll by."

"Henley," I began, not knowing what to say to comfort the girl or convince her to stay as her body shook under my hands, the sounds of sniffles becoming muffled by the pillow. "You know I'm new to all this magic stuff...but from what I've heard, The Eye have a plan. And while I can't promise that they do, I think you'd regret leaving here not knowing what could have been," It was silent for a moment with her contemplating what I'd said and me contemplating what I could say next. "I think you'd miss this, Henley, I really do and I don't want you to leave only to regret it. I don't want you to leave the family you've made here and I don't want you to leave your dream behind...But I do want you to be happy. So, if leaving is what you think will make you happy, then you know I won't stop you and that I'll support you."

She's stopped simpering, though I kept rubbing her back soothingly. We sat like that for an inconceivable amount of time; her thinking whilst I sat beside her. After who knows how long, she popped her head up from the pillow, and with sad, reddened eyes and a rasping voice she told me, "I need to leave." I nodded, sending her the tiniest of smiles.

"When?" I asked and she took a shaking breath.

"Now," She said, "I need to leave now." I couldn't say I was surprised by her actions. I'd noticed Henley's drop in mood the past few weeks, and whilst I asked and she said nothing was wrong, I knew she was thinking of something. So her 'sudden' need for departure did not feel all that sudden.

"Would you like help packing?" I queried.

"Please." We both stood and I followed her to the guest room. There was so much unspoken tension filling the air. Neither of us wanting her to go but both of us knowing she needed to, for herself. After packing silently for a few minutes, she straightened up. "I need to tell the guys..." I nodded, sending her a small smile of encouragement. She took a nervous breath before nodding to herself and leaving the room, leaving me to finish packing.

I brought the suitcase out to the main living area, where Jack, Daniel, Merritt and Henley were already finishing up sharing their goodbyes. After finishing up a teary-eyed hug with Jack, she turned to me.

"You ready?" I asked and she nodded, making her way to the door with all of us following closely behind her. She must've texted a taxi since there was one already waiting on the street in front of the house. Henley pulled me into a tight hug, one which I gladly returned, "How am I going to survive without you, Reeves?" I mumbled into her jacket and could feel her chuckling against my chest.

"You've dealt with Daniel Atlas alone, Ellie," She replied as we parted, "It should be a piece of cake with Jack and Merritt to back you up." A loud honk sounded throughout the street, causing the Horsemen and I to turn our heads to the impatient driver. "I should get going." She murmured, grasping her bags as we nodded solemnly.

The driver met her outside the car, taking her bags and putting them in the boot. Henley walked around to the passenger door, pausing before she got in. She looked up at us with tear-filled eyes. She waved up at us as the driver got back into the car. The four of us waved back and kept waving as she got in and was driven out of our sight.

"You okay?" Danny asked, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind me considering he was a couple of steps above me. I gripped his arms and nodded before stepping up and wrapping my arms around him, relishing in his warm and comforting embrace.

A/N:

Again, I'm so sorry for not updating for so long, I've been dealing with setting up Uni and trying to decide if I wanna go straight to Uni or travel and getting a job and all that!

But I've gotten back into writing Pansy and I hope yall would be happy to know that I'm currently writing NYSM2!!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter even tho it's only a bit of an explanation as to where Henley went instead of her just disappearing :P

x Clara