Indomitable

f.o.u.r.t.e.e.n

A knock sounded, vibrating down through the door and causing Remi's back to tremble. She quickly got up and scooted away from it, moving to the other side of the bathroom and perching herself on the edge of the tub.

It was probably Blue or Bliss, but she didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Besides, they wouldn't understand; neither of them had ever seemed affected by the terrified manner in which people looked at them. They were always either oblivious, or simply didn't care. Nothing phased them, while everything seemed to phase Remi.

"It's me," a low voice muttered, lightly scraping his sharp claws on the other side of the door to let her know who me was.

Killure?

Remi bit her lip. She didn't know how to feel about him--her emotions were torn in two directions. Should she be angry that he could only see her for the monster she could use her powers to become, or should she apologize to him for not trying to see his side of things?

A door wasn't the only thing between them. There was also a world of differences and prejudice.

"Let me be," Remi murmured quietly, but she knew his sharp ears heard her perfectly.

"A'ight, I will . . . but, at least let me say something first," he sounded gruff and uncomfortable in contradiction to his words--as if he didn't want to be speaking at all.

Remi shoved down her feelings and took a few deep breaths, forcing her face to go blank--a mask to hide the turmoil going on inside of her. Once she'd looked in the mirror and was satisfied that her face wasn't giving anything away, she walked to the door and abruptly swung it open, crossing her arms beneath her chest.

There he was.

Standing, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his shiny, black trousers and all traces of his usual smug, arrogant expression gone, he looked at her with those tortured blue eyes of his.

He cleared his throat, scowling slightly. "I . . . shouldn't have said that. I stepped out of line and forgot my place."

Remi's blood boiled, and her mask fell to the ground with a painful clatter that only she could hear. She put her hands on his strong, hard chest and pushed him aside, a lone tear escaping down her cheek. She knew he took a step back for her sake, or else she wouldn't have been able to even make him sway, but she didn't care.

His eyes widened at the sight of her tear, guilt flashing through his eyes.

"You should know by now that I don't care about any of that!" she yelled, throwing a pillow at him and then burying herself beneath the others like a groundhog.

Remi watched through a hole in her shield of pillows as he persistently bent down beside the bed and furrowed his brows, asking, "Then why are you upset?"

It's not like he really wanted to know what she was crying about, anyway. He probably just wanted to make sure she wasn't about to sell him to the Meat Palace, or something.

"Idiot," she muttered, shifting around to hide his face from view. She knew she should stay like that, hiding everything from him. Especially her anger, which was threatening to boil over at any minute. She didn't want to say anything she'd later regret.

But when Killure pried a pillow from her hiding place, allowing a big stream of light to come through, she couldn't help but burst up from her shield of pillows and release her anger.

He was tilting his head to the side, appearing thoroughly confused until he saw the tear that had stained her cheek. He reached for her face, entranced, but she scooted back on the bed before he could touch her.