✯𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕊𝕖𝕖✯

𝔸𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 ~ ➊➒

Just After  𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝔹𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕌𝕤 ~ ①⑧

Ariana P.O.V

She knew she didn't deserve Keife.

How she had gotten this kind, understanding and empathetic boy to love her, she would never know.

It was tragic, really.

She didn't deserve him.

She didn't deserve anyone.

But Keife seemed to think otherwise.

It had broken him when she backed down from their kiss.

She had to admit, it had broken her too.

She cared about him, she really did.

But what if something happened to him?

Her family was dead because she hadn't protected them.

She couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone else.

She knew that if she did, her sanity would crumble as they did.

But she also knew that keeping all this from Keife was making it worse.

So... it was time for all of her least favourite things to come together into one. Fear, sappy romance, talking about feelings and showing weakness.

Yay.

She wished Keife could do this for her, but he wasn't the problem. She was. And she was going to fix what ever was broken between them.

No matter what it took.

She felt her stomach clench with uncontrollable nerves as she approached Keife.

"...Keife?" 

He kept his head down, pretending he didn't hear her, keeping his eyes fixed on tying a knot with  a rope in his hands.

"Keife. Keife please."

Nothing.

"PLEASE LISTEN! DON'T DO THIS TO ME! DON'T SHUT ME OUT! I NEED YOU TO SPEAK TO ME... please."

"Maybe you should take your own advice."

He didn't look up from his knot tying, but it was a reaction, at least. Progress.

"Please Keife." Ariana whispered meekly "I can't go on like this. I can't keep walking away from this. From us. From you. Please, let me speak with you."

Keife sighed, heavy and long, and Ariana knew he wouldn't deny her. Knowing that made her feel both powerful and, just wrong that she had that kind of control over him. That all she needed was the right words.

And when he looked up at her with those coal black eyes, the wrong feeling got worse.

This was overwhelming already.

This was a battle, and she had to win it. Just sitting down in front of him felt like the first strike.

"Keife... I know I hurt you, when I backed down from our kiss on that balcony. The truth is, I hurt myself as well." He tries to speak, but Ariana keeps talking. "I know I said a lot of horrible things on that balcony, but trust me, I said a lot of things that weren't true, but I said one thing that was. When my mother died, I stoped having my heart. I stopped loving. I stopped because I was scared of what could happen to me if I got it broken again."

She paused taking a deep breath, and Keife stopped trying to interrupt, letting her continue.

"I've been piecing it together in my head, this version of me, how it felt not to love and why I was afraid of it. I suppose I realised that what I said about not having a heart was also half a lie, because when I met you, I got my heart back. And... when I walked away from you on that balcony, it split in half, half with you, and half with me. My half was heartbroken. And I think the half I left with you was the one who was not ready to let you go. I'm not asking you to forgive me, I just needed you to know that for both our sakes. I promise, I'll never leave you again. Never."

She took his hands in hers and looked him dead in the eyes, feeling her heart flutter a little. "It is my sacred oath to never do that again, not to you, not to Pamella, nor Thessia. I promise, I will make sure no one ever breaks your heart again, and will make sure whoever does gets more than their hearts broken."

Keife smiled "wow, now you're going off making sacred oaths and whatnot. Now there's no way I  won't be able to forgive you."

"You don't have to forgive me if you do not wish-"

He cuts me off by placing a finger on my lips, and I can feel my cheeks flush a bright red.

"Stop, of course I forgive you. Why would I go risking my life by barging into the Yiga Clan hideout to rescue you if I didn't still care about you? I just knew that if you were going to forgive me, it would be in your own time and your own terms." 

"You deserve better." Ariana whispered, and her voice was almost joking when she said "guess I should've warned you about my temper before I went off making you fall in love with me."

Keife laughed, and it was a sound that made her feel warm from head to toes. "Well, I would've fallen in love with you anyway, so what does it matter now?"

"I suppose it doesn't, but it probably would've been helpful to give you a heads up." They laughed together before falling into a sudden silence, the question on both their minds lingering in the air between them. 

What now?

Keife seemed to know as he edged closer, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheeks. The look in his eyes told her all the things he was not saying. Only if you make the first move.

He was waiting to see if she was ready, or was going to back down like last time, on the balcony.

But she had told him she was never doing that to him again. And she was keeping her promise.

She closed the distance. And it was... it was so many things.

It felt like being lit on fire. But she was a Phoenix, and the flame was part of her.

Keife was the kindling and she was the flame.

He was the water and she was the fish.

He was the sky and she was the wind.

He was the earth and she was the plants.

They were just two things so opposite, but in that moment, they were one.

In that moment, it was them and only them. He was the forever and she was the always.

Always and forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night they fell asleep together, her head rested on his chest. His arms wrapped around her waist. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

It was the safest she had felt in 9 years.

It was the first night in 9 years she didn't have nightmares.

It was the first morning in 9 years that she woke up happy.

It was the first time in 9 years she let herself love.

A/N: halllooooooo. Did y'all spot the references to Red and The End (the songs from the last 2 chapters) in thereerererere???