The Betrayed won't Lie Low (discontinued)

Chapter 14

The first thing Nyx saw when she arrived at the roof was her crumpled sister.

"Laurelyn?! Laurelyn! Are you okay?!" she yelled uncharacteristically as she ran to Laurelyn.

Laurelyn was gazing at the patch dark sky in front of her, almost nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

It was starting to snow again, white flakes against the darkness.

Nyx panted. There was no one in sight, and she could smell that the enemy had left.

"Laurelyn! La - "

"Yes, I'm fine." Laurelyn rolled her eyes.

Nyx breathed a sigh of relief. Then she tensed up again.

"Who attacked you?! Who can hurt you so badly?!" she cried as the smell of blood reached her nose and the crimson shone before her eyes.

"The Hunter," Laurelyn said, her voice steady and calm.

"What?! He... he came for our princess, didn't he?!" She was panicking.

"He did."

Nyx hissed. "Screw him!"

She could see Laurelyn's sadistic smile and the cunningness and trickery in her eyes, and she didn't like it one bit. The last time she had seen it, their enemy had ended up killing her only friend, even if they had killed him in the end.

She didn't want anything like that to happen ever again.

"Nyx, it's fine. Nothing like last time will happen; you're barking up the wrong tree."

"Very funny."

"Sorry. That wasn't intended," Laurelyn sighed, "but really, Nyx, it's okay."

"...Laurelyn... it is not."

They were silent for a while as Nyx helped Laurelyn up.

"As soon as all this is all over, we can get back to laughing at how Xander fails his life," Laurelyn said.

Nyx cracked a small smile. "I would like that."

As Laurelyn limped to the hatch, leaning on Nyx, they met Xander, who was just climbing off of the ladder. It seemed he had been looking for them.

His dark brown eyes widened. "Nyx, L-Laurelyn."

"Xander," Laurelyn shot.

"I-I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I was just... tense from seeing her unconscious and I should never have spoken to you in that way. I - "

"Gosh, you sound like an idiot," Laurelyn chuckled, cutting him off. "It's okay, stupid. I'm not mad at you."

It was like the swirling turmoil of emotion had been tossed away by his few words.

"Really?" Xander gasped out.

"Yes, Xan'."

Xander smiled slightly, but then grew stiff as if remembering something. "Are you alright? I smelt the Hunter."

"Yes, I'm fine, and he was here."

"Are you... are you playing your mind games on him again?"

"Of course. I want to fully feed his ego until I smash it."

Xander turned to Nyx. "Nyx... talk some sense into her!"

"I have tried," Nyx mumbled.

Xander wilted.

"...Come on." He went to Laurelyn's free side and helped Nyx with supporting her.

About ten minutes later, they made it downstairs, back to the room Aurelia was in.