Trying to set things right again

[loaghaire]

OOC: ...I still haven't read it. *guilty look* Told you it could take a while. But hey, whatever I list here referring to that thing with Rei... they're just rumours. ^^; So... don't have to be correct, right?

Rei only. She needs her Rei.She had heard the rumours. She might be sick, injured, weak and locked up in her room for weeks, even months.

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[stcatsfiresoul]

Hino Rei wanted to be left alone. It had been days. Several days. Maybe a week now, and still she hadn't stirred. She had failed her friends. She had failed herself. She couldn't face any of them...the people she mocked, the people she hurt...the former friends who would never want to speak to her again and the enemies who now had their worst opinions of her more than confirmed.

The lights in her room were out. She hadn't moved. She hadn't eaten, or even gotten out of bed. She wanted to be left alone.

Another knock at the door. It was not the first. "I don't want to see anybody right now." Rei did not wait to find out who wanted entry - it was the same response that had been repeated any time someone knocked. Her words were soft. Quiet. Almost lifeless, and hoarse from the tears that had been shed. Despite the well-meaning words from her classmate, Rei sounded like someone completely different.

[loaghaire]

The words spoken were too soft for Laurian to hear. Her pointy ears could usually pick up a whispered conversation held at the end of the hallway. But the fever made it hard to concentrate. Things weren't working as well as they should be.

Laurian knocked again, but then let her hand fall down. Either Rei would open the door or she wasn't in. But Laurian still had something she wanted Rei to have. She tried the handle first when there was still no response. She was too far gone to be surprise that it wasn't locked.

"Rei?" A phrase uttered many times before in the past few months, though most of the time in her sleep or to some hallucination. This time it was to check if the room was really empty. "I... I know I said I'd stay away, but Liz..."

Her vision was blurry, but she thought she detected a lump on the bed. "I wanted to see you. And... I'm sorry for everything. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. I just wanted to see you."

[stcatsfiresoul]

The lump on the bed did not move. "Close the door," the girl underneath the covers whispered, speaking at long last once the light from the hallway spilled through the crack and poured over her.

The room's sole occupant kept her face buried into her pillow. Midnight hair sprawled out over the covers, the long raven locks cascading over the edge of the bed. She looked helpless. She felt weak. Never before did the fiery priestess seem so defeated.

"How can you stand to look at me," the raspy voice finally said once the girl sensed that her guest had not left. She curled up a bit as if trying to withdraw further. "How can you stand to see what I've become."

[loaghaire]

Close the door. A spark of hope grew in her heart. Close the door, that meant she wasn't sending her away! Laurian did as Rei requested and then slowly moved towards the bed. She sank rather clumsily near the bed, already tired from just this little walk.

"How can I...?" Laurian repeated in a voice just as weak and raspy as Rei's. "Don't you know?" She reached out to touch her black hair, and then gently her back and arms. She had dreamed for so long about touching her again. "I love you. I don't care what you've done, I don't care if you'd grow boils and get a humpback... I love you. I'm just... I'm so sorry I couldn't show it before. I'm sorry I made you go through all of that."