Shattered Mirror [Rewriting]

Chapter 18 - Broken Friendships

A/N: I've posted a link to What have you done - Within Temptation ft. Keith Caputo. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, it doesn't fit all the parts but it helps set the mood nicely. Enjoy!

The shadows stretched endlessly around Corliss as she reached forward and willed her hand to touch flesh or fabric, to reassure her that Aaron was still with her but all she felt was air. Empty air that broke her heart all over again. She had hoped to at least see the assassin again when he arrived for training in the morning but when he had failed to arrive she simply knew he was gone. He had left her to the mercy of her villains and, honestly, Liss could not blame him for his choice. Still, she'd sought as much privacy as she could and whispered his name, discreetly feeling around the shadows in the vain hope that he was only sulking or that he only wanted time to himself. Now, however, she was not so sure.

"I can't see him anywhere," Bavita commented from behind her and she flinched, "he's obviously not here, Liss." She could hear the others approach her but she was too cowardly to turn and face them because if she did, they would know what she'd done and she did not want them to know how awful she was, how awful she had been but there was no way she could keep it from them. Liss had a sneaky suspicion anyway that Nom already knew the full story or at least suspected the writer was the reason behind Aaron's disappearance. Bavita too. The two of them together practically quashed whatever hope Liss could have had at keeping her disaster to herself but what did she care? It was not as though her characters did not already know what a malicious person she was.

"I know he isn't," her entire body started shaking under the emotional weight and she was forced to sit down on the carpet, tears blurring her vision. She was so tired of crying, so tired of being imperfect and so tired of hiding everything from anyone that she just let it all go, burying her face in her hands as she cried. Her throat still ached from the sobs the night before and here she was doing it again as though she was a record stuck on repeat. The group behind her murmured between themselves for a while, the most prominent voices being Nom and Bavita but Liss did not listen. She did not want to know what judgemental thoughts or pitying words they were passing between one another. She only wanted Aaron to come back.

Alena eventually interrupted them, her voice tentative, "Do you want me to do a tracking spell? Liss?" The offer stopped her midway to becoming hysterical as hope bloomed in her heart. Finding Aaron did not mean it would make anything better but maybe, maybe the others would convince him to come back and that in itself was enough for her. It would have to be enough for her so she turned to Alena and nodded once, her eyes still averted in the hopes that she would avoid the questions she knew were coming her way. The elf nodded once and scuttled off, Bavita casting only one more glance at Nom before she and Josh followed, leaving the best friends as alone as they dared.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened last night?" Nom ventured, joining Liss on the floor in the lounge.

"You know," Liss sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the hem of her shirt, attempting weakly to compose herself before she gave herself a headache. Again.

Nom shook her head, "No, Liss, I don't. I can only assume that you and Aaron had some fight last night but about what I don't know."

"I pushed him," Liss thinned her lips, her jaw clenching as the tears threatened to overwhelm her again. She did not want to think about what she had done, she did not want to repeat it but she would put her desires aside for the sake of her friendship. Liss had promised she would give Nom a chance to prove her thoughts wrong. Those dark thoughts that usually kept her from baring her heart.

Her best friend watched her carefully, "Pushed him how?"

"I tried to get him to open up!" Liss exclaimed, flinching at how irritable her words sounded. It was not Nom's fault and she had no right to take her moods out on the other girl.