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━ END OF THE EARTH xiv. adore you ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈୨♡୧┈┈┈┈┈┈┈
FREYA WAKES UP TO THE SOUND OF SOMEBODY ELSE CREEPING AROUND HER ROOM. In seconds, even through the heavy haze covering her mind, she has her ring pointed at the source of the sound, violet light illuminating a tragically familiar figure. With no light, it takes Freya a second to make out the blonde hair and blue eyes shining back at her, like a deer in headlights.
"Tara?" She mumbles, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes. "What are you doing?"
The blonde freezes in place. "Uh..."
Freya blinks at her, frowning. It could be the lighting, but she'd swear that there's a dark patch on her cheek, almost like a bruise...
It hits her, in a violent flash, and Freya's on her feet within seconds, her fingers tracing the mottled skin of her friend. It's recent, that much is clear, definitely given to her within the past twenty-four hours. She doesn't remember Tara taking a hit to the face in the fight... she did her best to make sure she wasn't hurt, she would've noticed an attack this hard.
This, this is like the bruises on her wrists. This is somebody else hurting her, hurting Freya's friend, and she refuses to sit back and let it happen ever again. She was supposed to be looking out for this, supposed to be stopping it, and she let herself get distracted by her ring.
She feels like she's going to burst into flames when she finally manages to spit the word out."Who?"
"S'just from the fight", Tara says, brushing her hand away, doing her best to pretend that it's no big deal. Freya thinks it'd be a little more believable if she wasn't trembling, shakes passing through her entire body. "S'not a big deal."
"Who?" She repeats. "And please don't lie to me this time."
Tara looks away, glaring at the floor. "I can't tell you."
"Can't or won't?"
"Please, Freya, just drop it!"
"I can't. Not until I know you're safe."
Tara pulls away from her, taking a step backwards. "I ━ I am safe. I'm with you guys, aren't I?"
And Freya ━ Freya thinks of Wally West, of Roy Harper. She thinks of Donna Troy tracking down where she came from, the tears that came afterwards. She thinks of Dick Grayson losing a year of his life to brainwashing, of Koriand'r's past, and she knows, she knows, that none of them has ever been safe. It's always one thing after another, a new threat emerging that's so much worse than the last.
None of them will ever truly be safe, not in this life. She knows this, she's lived this, and she knows that every time those horrors come knocking, every time they threaten to destroy all that they love, the Titans have each others' backs.
