The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 117: Learning Reliance

Calista bolted up with a shout as his sincere words echoed in her head, cold sweat sticking to the back of her neck. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. Tossing off the cloak that covered her form, she scrambled to her feet.

Fists raised and poised to strike at anything that moved, she snarled, eyes unfocused and cloudy. Ragged breath left her body with every exhale but it did nothing to ease the tension.

The sky was dark. 

Yona was fast asleep next to Yoon. Kija and Zeno were parallel to each other on the opposite side. Hak was still slumped against the same tree she had seen him at earlier and Jae-ha was nowhere in sight but she wasn't worried. He was probably keeping watch. Across their campsite, the triplets were snoring away, blissfully unaware of the events about to unfold.

"... Calista?"

She flinched at the sleepy mumble, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as she turned around to face him.

In the haze of her dream, she hadn't realized that she had woken up Shin-ah.

The blue dragon yawned, lifting up the cloth covering his eyes so that he could see her better. His gold-flecked eyes scanned over her carefully, cocking his head at the anguish rolling off of her in waves.

"Hey..." She greeted quietly, clearing her throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Coming closer, she ran her hands over his torso, checking on his injuries. "Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"

His mouth twisted down in displeasure. "Don't do that."

She looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He gathered his strength and shrugged off the weariness plaguing him, pushing himself more upright in order to urge her to meet his gaze.

"... What's wrong?" He asked her quietly, sensitive to her trepidation.

He wasn't hurt that she was avoiding talking to him about it, just worried and slightly scared. Reaching out for her, he retracted his hand when she shuffled beyond his range.

The silence that filled the space between them was heavy, like it was suffocating them.

Calista groaned, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. Like she didn't want to confide in him, because she did. She trusted him, it's just that this was a particularly difficult topic to talk about. She didn't want to burden him with the past. 

"Shin-ah, it's not anything important, okay? I'll be fine." She insisted, rubbing her cold upper arm, trying to get the blood flowing.

He observed her closely, cat-like eyes glowing as they went over her slowly.

"... You're lying." He concluded softly.

She sucked in a breath, not expecting him to call her out on it. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Shin-ah..." She started, shaking her head, pleading with her eyes to let this one go.

But he wouldn't. He recognized that glazed look in her eye and whatever it was that woke her up, it brought her back to a time that existed no longer. No matter what, he wouldn't leave her when she was so clearly troubled. Not now.

Not ever.

Opening his arms, he left it up to her to decide what to do with the invitation.

Calista hesitated but after a few moments, slowly settled down in between his legs. He hugged her from behind, breathing on her neck softly. The warm exhales puffed out against the back of her neck and knowing that he wasn't able to see her face, she let despair reflect freely in the depths of her eyes.