ғallιng

07

the nature spirit stares at the ground, her fingers nervously twiddling in her lap. she glanced up at jack from beneath her withered hair, then took another deep breath to continue her little story.

"aponi was the love of my life. she was average in the eyes of her people but to me, she was the most exquisite creature to have ever been created. from the moment i met her, she knew who i was, and she could see me. i cried that day because of how surprised i was. she was the first to see me after so many years of no one being there for me other than nature."

"how did..." jack starts, but he stopped when her eyes pooled with tears once again. he quickly backtracked, trying to get her to forget he even tried asking, but she just smiled sadly at him.

"her people thought she was possessed, as i already said. they believed that they needed to exercise her in order to... fix her, but she didn't need to be fixed. she was absolutely perfect the way she was. it didn't come off that way to her people, though, and when the exercising didn't work...."

a sob escaped her at the memory of that day. she had been there to find aponi, only to find the love of her life being beaten to death in the middle of her village.

"they hurt her in so many ways... she, she screamed so loud, and her beautiful, beautiful skin was covered in red. the red was all over the ground, and her back was... it was torn open from the whips they used on her... oh gods, it was horrifying," she whispers, eyes flashing with terror and agony as the blood tainted images of aponi flash through her memory.

"there was so much blood, jack. it was everywhere. it was on their hands, their whips, their faces. it was on her..."

jack takes both her hands in his, trying to get her to focus on something else. once nat snapped herself out of the painful memory, she looks straight at jack with tear filled eyes and a desperate face.

"please don't leave me, jack. please don't end up like aponi because of me."

jack gulps slightly at the look in her eyes, but he gives her a determined look and nods at her.

"i won't, nat. but i won't ever stop believing in you."

a fear tears escape her eyes and fall down her cheeks, the silver glistening on her darkened skin. she buries her head in his neck, letting herself cry into him while jack offered himself as support for her as all her painful memories returned to her. he hated seeing her like this, but he knew that he had to help her let it out for her own sake. if she continued to bottle up her pain, it would only hurt her worse the longer she went on like this.

so, they stayed like that for the rest of the day. as it got closer to nightfall, totoro picked the two up and flew over to where they knew jack's house was, by the lake they visited so often. the girl walked him to the edge of the tree line near his home, and then smiled tiredly as she took his hand.

"thank you for being here, jack... it means so much more to me than you could imagine."

his pale cheeks flush red at her grateful words, averting his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "it was the least i could do. you're always so kind and amazing, and i just wanted to help you for once."

nat smiles, then leans forward, still holding his hand, and presses a soft kiss to his cheek, making the boy freeze in his place. his head turns to nat, eyes wide and face flushing even further at the gentle look in her beautiful, gold flecked eyes. he didn't know how he could see the flecks so clearly when she wasn't as close as normal, but they stood out the most to him in her alluring hazel eyes.

stepping back, the girl moves over to totoro, waving at him before the fuzzy beast lifts off into the air. jack watched them until they were no longer in his sight, huffing out a breath as he turned to go inside and tried to cool his burning cheeks.

oh, he was so in love with the girl he had only met a few months ago. and he truly didn't mind it.