Guardian

xvi - wait

Austin finally gets her away from the pond late at night.

They don't talk about their fight, they don't talk about her rant earlier, they don't even talk about the duck she killed. All she's said was that the rest of the ducklings needed shelter and he agreed for her sake.

Austin sends Ally up to their room and says he'll bring her some food. He lets out a sigh and breath as he goes through the castle to reach the dining room, where it was quite peaceful.

He enters and immediately Zay is the first to speak, "Where's Ally?"

Austin scratches the back of his neck. "She's upset right now."

"I heard her yelling," Lian says quietly to Austin, looking up at him. "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine, munchkin," Austin says and ruffles her hair with a sigh. "Just give it time."

"Want me to talk to her?" Marie asks, frowning up at him.

"No. She needs some time alone for a moment."

Dinner is silent and they usually engage in a conversation after dinner, but Austin sighs and gets up to go get some food to bring some food to Ally. Only his mom, meets him halfway with a plate prepared already. He smiles a bit. "Thanks, Mom."

"Mhm. Tell Ally she can apologize when she's ready," she says, giving him a look before going back to the kitchen.

—

He doesn't see Ally in bed when he comes in, so he puts the plate down and closes their door. Austin goes to the bathroom door and knocks, "Ally?"

He gets no answer and opens the door. A look of adoration is shown among his face as he finds her sleeping in a bubble bath. He grabs a towel and goes to the bath to poke her aware. "Ally?"

She awakes a few moments later and looks up at him, her eyes bloodshot red from crying. He sighs and extends the towel. "Come on."

She follows his directions and gets up out of the tub. He wraps the towel around her then swiftly moves down to unplug the drain. They walk back into the room and Austin tosses her a night shirt from the chair in front of her vantity.

"I killed a duck," she murmurs softly, standing in the middle of the room with tears falling down her eyes. "That-That duck did nothing to me and I killed it. I took it away from her babies. They're off to fend for themselves."

Austin sighs and meets her in the middle of the room to embrace her. He kisses her head and wraps his arms around her tightly. The ducks brought her peace. For her to do that, he knew she was truly hurt.

"Get dressed and we can talk about it, yeah?" He suggests, rubbing her back as she nods.

He gets in the shower himself and when he comes back, he finds her staring at nothing on the bed. Austin changed into his boxers and pajamas pants before getting in bed with her and kissing her head. "It'll be alright."

"No, it won't," she murmurs. "I-I killed an animal in attempts to hurt you. I could have killed you or any bystanders, like the duck. But I was out of control. That is not okay."

"Ally, it's fine—"

"It isn't. I intentionally tried to kill you. Do you not realize my hand was going full force to slap you with whatever the hell I had in my hand. You would been dead. Just like that duck."

"But you didn't," he says, coming closer to stare at her in her eyes. "You have hundreds of powers, Ally. If you wanted to, you could've killed me. But you didn't. You killed that duck because you were spiraling out, so it wasn't on purpose. I'm not gonna say it wasn't your fault, but now you know you can't go off like that."