Aurelia
She doesn't expect the sharpened retort, proclaiming that nothing he'd done could've effected her. And she doesn't know what to say to it, not right away, so she lets it fester in the air, in the quiet ringing of bloodflow in her ears. She listens, because she had not done enough of that before. But she wishes for things to be more than different now. For them to be better, if such a thing were attainable.
Her shoulders relax and her claws sheathe. In truth, she does remember that he'd lost much thereafter the events took place. But such was his choice, risking all of that. None of us walked away from that unscathed, she states coolly. Sunjata lost something irreplaceable in that fire, something so close to his heart - and he had left the heavy weights of leadership. Hotaru lost her companion. Aurelia had nearly lost her own life. And Deimos? Stripped of his rank, pushed from his home, his reputation stained. Nobody won.
As for the companion, there are flickers of defiant indifference still but, in their shadows, guilt. Still it isn't something that haunts her every waking moment anymore. Not after all she's been through. You both knew the risks of attacking the city. You had to have known, what could've happened. It was Hotaru's arrogance that put her companion in danger. A false sense of invincibility, if she really thought he was so untouchable. That, or she accepted his life as worth the risk. I know the part I played in that night, but the blame doesn't lie with me. You both attacked my home, and for what? To prove a point?
Her shoulders relax and her claws sheathe. In truth, she does remember that he'd lost much thereafter the events took place. But such was his choice, risking all of that. None of us walked away from that unscathed, she states coolly. Sunjata lost something irreplaceable in that fire, something so close to his heart - and he had left the heavy weights of leadership. Hotaru lost her companion. Aurelia had nearly lost her own life. And Deimos? Stripped of his rank, pushed from his home, his reputation stained. Nobody won.
As for the companion, there are flickers of defiant indifference still but, in their shadows, guilt. Still it isn't something that haunts her every waking moment anymore. Not after all she's been through. You both knew the risks of attacking the city. You had to have known, what could've happened. It was Hotaru's arrogance that put her companion in danger. A false sense of invincibility, if she really thought he was so untouchable. That, or she accepted his life as worth the risk. I know the part I played in that night, but the blame doesn't lie with me. You both attacked my home, and for what? To prove a point?
keep your face always toward the sunshine
and shadows will fall behind you
and shadows will fall behind you
