You're so cold
but you feel alive
A silence fell at his reply came. As it grew heavier around them, as he turned away and fell back into the own private hell of darkness and despare he had built around himself, Maea watched him. It was strange how piercing such misty eyes could be. As though she'd learned the trick of molding those swirling clouds to her will since their last meeting. The current of change was one she had become familiar with, and tried to ride with elegance and grace, but... how had she come this far, that she could look at Sunjata and see her own miserable state before this tale truly begun? Before a SparkBird landed on a perch and told her that miracles could come true?
It wasn't as though Maea had clawed her way out of solitude and misery on her own. Every step of the way someone had been there to help her. Jigano, Evie, Sam, Peter and Adam too. Rexanna, to some extent and oh, Ludo. Always Ludo, who answered prayers when no one else did.
She looked at Sunjata the way she had that day on the riverbank, when she dared brave her own preconceptions to see the man beneath. Doing it again, she saw past the handsome face and the rogueish nature, to the broken, bleeding fool in him. Who thought nothing of himself, who hurt people at every turn and had become so used to people arguing with him that he tried to throw himself at anyone who did not. He was a curious mixture of selfish and selfless, the way he took all the responsibility upon himself but also refused to change his ways.
A loveable rogue. A fishman stuck on dry land. A Flood too far from the ocean.
"It matters to me," she said, and caught the cold, hollow gaze he leveled at her. Turning back to face him, Maea met him head on and didn't flinch away from the cold sea - she was ice, and night and a lover of monsters, remember?
"I want to know if you intend to try and win that trust back. Or if I should actually give up on you. Just this one time, tell me what you really want. I promise, I will keep it a secret."
And for all the pain, for all the hurt and betrayal she felt, the girl still smiled at him. A little sad, a little lonely and all kinds of aching as she stepped over the crushed glass of a shattered dream.
Where do we go when we cannot go back?
Again she threw down a lifeline, to see if he still had the will to reach for it.
It wasn't as though Maea had clawed her way out of solitude and misery on her own. Every step of the way someone had been there to help her. Jigano, Evie, Sam, Peter and Adam too. Rexanna, to some extent and oh, Ludo. Always Ludo, who answered prayers when no one else did.
She looked at Sunjata the way she had that day on the riverbank, when she dared brave her own preconceptions to see the man beneath. Doing it again, she saw past the handsome face and the rogueish nature, to the broken, bleeding fool in him. Who thought nothing of himself, who hurt people at every turn and had become so used to people arguing with him that he tried to throw himself at anyone who did not. He was a curious mixture of selfish and selfless, the way he took all the responsibility upon himself but also refused to change his ways.
A loveable rogue. A fishman stuck on dry land. A Flood too far from the ocean.
"It matters to me," she said, and caught the cold, hollow gaze he leveled at her. Turning back to face him, Maea met him head on and didn't flinch away from the cold sea - she was ice, and night and a lover of monsters, remember?
"I want to know if you intend to try and win that trust back. Or if I should actually give up on you. Just this one time, tell me what you really want. I promise, I will keep it a secret."
And for all the pain, for all the hurt and betrayal she felt, the girl still smiled at him. A little sad, a little lonely and all kinds of aching as she stepped over the crushed glass of a shattered dream.
Where do we go when we cannot go back?
Again she threw down a lifeline, to see if he still had the will to reach for it.
lay your hands on me
one last time
MAEA
