Dawn Warriors: Chaos

Strength

Orion wasn't even sure if he was breathing, not with her holding her signature dagger to his throat. It had been a while since they'd been in this situation, and there was something different about it this time. She hesitated, she didn't want to end him. 

"Do it." He said, "If you hate me so badly, just do it already!"

Aurora's frown remained as her brown eyes emitted a red glow. But her expression suddenly softned as she realized he wasn't mocking her, he was being serious. He thought she hated him. She put her mask down.

"I don't hate you," Aurora whispered, " I never have."

Orion was taken a back by her words, being unsure if they brought him pain or relief, if not both. He could call the guards, have her arrested and out of his way for the plan to work. But he didn't, he just watched as she lowered the blade and kept it, getting ready to turn around and leave. Orion took her by the hand, spinning her back to him and placing her engagement ring in her palm. Aurora looked down as he closed her open hand with her fingers, she looked up and that golden glow happened again when their eyes met. Their binding tattoos showed as they got close. They both looked down and saw their names on each other's wrist. Orion wasn't thinking when he gave her quick kiss and slipped the ring into her middle finger.

"I want you to keep it... engaged or not, please...just keep it." He said.

Aurora closed her hand and pulled away from his grip. Her time to escape was running out, the team counted on her to bring the information and she couldn't be late. Trying to kill Orion was a stupid choice, maybe just an excuse to see him because she knew she couldn't do it. She snapped out of her transe as she felt his lips on her forehead and brought her fingers to her own as she remembered how he'd kissed her.

"Go, I can't keep this up for long." He said as he let her go.

Aurora nodded and ran out of his room through the balcony and jumped off. Orion followed a few seconds after to check if had escaped safely and he was able to see a portal close, telling him she was safe. Orion looked at the moon,as it began to go away and the sun started revealing itself.  The curse would soon have its usual strong grip in his mind, but he was happy he was able to see Aurora one last time.

•
Aurora had locked herself in her room after she arrived at the HQ. Zero explanation, she just did. Which was why Diana was at her door, she was their last hope. The warriors had tried everything and started assuming Orion had hurt her somehow.

"Open up, Dawn. If my brother did anything I'll kill him for you...and it'll be slow and painful for him." Said Diana after knocking the door .

She heard the door unlock and opened it. Diana then saw her former student on her bed, wiping tears away. That was it, she was going to beat up her brother, any excuse to bruise his perfect face was a good excuse according to her. But she didn't say that to Aurora, instead she sat next to her involuntarily becoming a parental figure for the girl all over again...just this time she had emotions.

Diana sighed and stretched her arms, offering her a hug. Aurora didn't hesitate to accept it, throwing herself at Diana and crying on her shoulder.

"There, there. You'll be fine, it's alright to fail."

"Didn't miss the shot this time, Di."

"You never missed that shot in the first place, but ok. Tell me, what happened?"

"I had the blade to his throat, it would only take a slash to end him. He even told me to do it!"

"And?"

"I didn't want to, I don't want him dead."

"Again?" Said Diana, "Sorry, that was insensitive! I get it, he's my brother and your friend, it feels wrong to kill him."

"No, you don't get it Di-"

"You don't have to do everything, I can have him six feet deep in no time and-"

"I was stupid, okay! I was dumb and didn't think of the concequences of my actions!"

Diana froze. She wondered what had  the girl done, Aurora was trained to kill and was a talented magician, anything was possible. She had to be careful not to startle her in order to fix their situation.

"Aurora," she calmly approached her student, "what did you do?"

Aurora had tears running down her cheeks, and brought her knees to her chest. She hid her face trying to cover up any sign of weakness in front of Diana, even though Diana was very aware she was crying her eyes out.

"I fell in love with your brother." Aurora confessed.

Diana didn't know how to react, she expected it, but didn't expect it  at the same time. She sighed, she had to help Aurora feel strong in this moment she felt vulnerable and it was kind of her fault because of a few talks she had with her when they were younger. She had taught Aurora love meant weakness and now she had to fix it. But she would be sacrifing her entire reputation by doing this.

"I know what it feels like."

That was enough to get the girl's attention and she stopped crying. Instead, she looked at Diana with curiosity, now Diana had explain, there was no backing out.

"I was your age," She explained, "when I met a human sorcerer, Callum was his name, we couldn't wait to be together forever. But I found out he was a spy for Onyx. He asked me run away with him, but I said no, I was too hypnotized by my stupid goals in the Shadow."

Aurora couldn't take her eyes off Diana, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"When I was in arrested, I could only think of the life I threw away for nothing. Just a dumb empire of evil...," She said, "Who knows, maybe my family has dumb genes and Orion is going through it as well."

Aurora laughed at the comment.

"And, I need you take that and use it as fuel, Aurora. What you feel for my brother can't weaken you if you don't let it. Take it and mold it into strength, if anyone can get my brother to snap back, it's you. Even if you have to give him a few punches and kicks in the process."

Aurora unexpectedly hugged Diana tightly, sighing in relief. She wondered if this was what parenting felt like, cause if it did, it felt like a roller coaster!

"Are you ready to save the world, again?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, I am!"

"Good, go to sleep, I'll wake up at in 3 hours for equipment test and all that stuff!"

Diana left her room to calm the worried Dawn Warriors. But now she had talked about it, she couldn't help but touch the ring in her thin, silver chain. Callum...she missed him so much. Maybe one day she would be able to see him again.

"Is she okay?" Eric asked.

"She's fine, just let her sleep for a while. She's going through a lot and we need her to at her strongest for the mission."