Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

43 Trust (Part 4)

"I..." she started, but couldn't finish.

This wasn't her. Who was this strange, inept girl? Where had that proficient warrior run off to?

She'd never thought she would ever venture into this territory again. The last time she'd felt this way had been with Deiyu, and that relationship hadn't gone as she had once hoped.

Reo waited patiently for her. She decided it was like making amends with a teammate for an improper wrongdoing. She tried again.

"I wanted to apologize," she said, clearing her throat, "for my...indiscretion yesterday."

Reo's eyebrows drew together in confusion. Then, she watched as realization dawned. His face melted to surprise, before drifting to reticence. His eyes fell to the small campfire again, and he gave a cool, nonchalant shrug of his shoulder.

"It's alright," he said, too quiet that she knew it wasn't, in fact, alright.

He had been afraid from that kiss, she remembered, and she had felt that terror as cold as a night wind. Here she was, afraid of the sun warrior betraying her, when in actuality, she had instigated his betrayal of Sera's trust. Maeyune cringed at the hypocrisy she had committed.

"You are with Sera," she went on, "and it was entirely wrong of me to have behaved the way I did. I'm sorry."

Reo didn't answer for a long time. She didn't think he would, until he murmured, "Sera's not the reason why I had to push you away."

Maeyune wasn't sure what to make of that, but she waited for him to continue. His eyes remained on the fire as if the words he was looking for were inscripted on the flames.

"What happened between us," he said, his voice soft, "I thought it wasn't real, that it was our energies reacting together. I thought it was something happening between Yunra and Shivra that we couldn't control, so...I was afraid."

His gaze lifted to hers. She blinked, then blinked again, attempting to analyze that information. She remembered the way silver and gold had meshed in the air between them, entwining like compatible partners.

"It was our energies," she said. She had never sounded so hesitant before. "It was real. At least, it was real to me."

There.

It was as much a confession as she could muster.

Her voice had gone quiet, and she thought he hadn't heard her. But something dashed across his face--shock, perhaps--before it disappeared again into uncertainty.

"I felt your energy overpowering mine, so I thought--" He didn't finish. His eyes widened, and he appeared as if he had spoken the wrong words by mistake.

Maeyune took notice. Her brow furrowed with concern. "You thought what?"

He didn't answer, and again, he searched the fire.

Maeyune's thoughts simmered. Overpowering him? What did he mean by that?

If Sera hadn't been the reason, then what else could it have been?

Overpowering, luring, enchanting....

The words were past her lips before she could thoroughly register them herself. "You thought I beguiled you," she whispered.

She had assessed him as a good liar, what with his arrogance and charm. But it surprised her when he looked up at her and did not lie, did not even try to deny it.

It was true.

The bolt of remorse inside her molded into humiliation. A curtain opened wide in front of her eyes, and in that horrible, heartbreaking moment, she was all-seeing.