The Real Villian

Year: 4055; Day: 289

{Song of the chapter: Tonight - Magic Man}

   <><><><>

"So, what now?" Lake's melodic voice whispered from beside me.

"You don't need to whisper. We're far from any civilization," I told him, rolling my eyes. "And I think we should work on disguises and get back to our City. We need to see what's happening so we can counteract."

His head snapped towards me. The bright sun shone, and it seemed to illuminate his already vivid eyes. "What? Are you insane?" he snapped.

Taken aback by his lack of faith in my idea, I glowered at him. Though-- to be fair, the last time he trusted me to make decisions, it had gone horribly downhill. "No," I told him, "who knows what's happening? Who's taken my place? We need to find out. Besides, all we have to do is keep you hidden. Greon can't kill you if he doesn't know where you are."

"Sweetheart, I don't want to disagree with you, and I want to trust you, but... that's possibly the dumbest idea you could've come up with." He gave me a knowing look.

I mumbled lowly, "Well, I don't see you coming up with any game-changing ideas either."

He shrugged, leaning back and sinking his elbows into the dirt. "Well," he said, "I'm not the smart one."

My lips pursed, and my heart twisted. He was joking, undoubtedly, but was he insecure? Did he not think of himself as smart? He was smarter than I was in all ways that mattered, no matter how confident I appeared. "Sure you are," I told him in a light tone, a smile tugging my lips up.

He cocked his head back and squinted his eyes against the reluctant blue sky. "Eh, not really. I mean, you have your flaws and stuff. But you've always been the braver one, the problem-solver, the stronger one." There wasn't a hint of envy or distaste in his voice, and that fact only bothered me further. We were equal, him and I. Maybe not even equal-- maybe I was the stronger one, but I was also the one who broke his heart. I might've been the problem-solver, but I was also a traitor.

He was the better one of our duo.

"That's not true at all," I whispered, not bothering to mask my solemnity.

Lake looked my way, and there was a small smile on his face. "Sweetheart, don't lie."

"Do you really think I'm smarter? Lake, in case you've forgotten, I was the one who wrecked things for us. I was the one who betrayed you. I was the--"

"Yeah, yeah," he cut me off, waving a hand through the air. "You could go on for ages with that stuff. The past is the past. We need to focus on now, and for now you're the smarter one."

"You hypocrite," I grumbled under my breath. Forget the past? In that case, neither of us were smarter or better or whatever. In that case, we were equal.

"What was that, sweetheart?"

"Nothing."

"Hm."

I turned towards him. He was the epitome of peaceful with the sun shining on his face, his head tilted back and his eyes closed, a smile daring the corners of his lips.  He looked like, as improbable as it sounded, perfection.

I was tempted to lean over and hug him, kiss him, and tell him 'thank you, you don't deserve any of this'. But instead I settled for grabbing his hand and intertwining my fingers through his. He opened his eyes and grinned towards me.

"Galaxies, Kara. You look absolutely gorgeous in the sun," he mumbled, his words full of ardor and sincerity.

Hadn't I just been thinking the same thing?

Great minds think alike, I supposed. Or, rather, young and hormonal minds thought alike.

"I could say the same thing about you," I told him, averted my eyes from his.

A low chuckle escaped his lips. Using his hand I wasn't holding, he ran it through the mess of hair on his head. It was always messy, but due to our lack of brushes and conditioner, it was especially messy. "Don't I? I think the light really brightens my eyes," he teased.

I snorted. "We could be in absolute darkness, and your eyes would still be glistening. Satellites above, they could act as a flashlight."

"A flashlight? Really? That's so thirtieth century, Kara."

Shaking my head and letting a smile spread across my face, I leaned my shoulder against his. I didn't want to respond. So instead, we sat in silence. My breaths came slowly and steadily. The moment felt like absolute perfection, and if I could've stopped time and lived in that second forever, I would have.

But, dismally against my will, time went on.

Lake said, "Uh, should we start planning?"

"Hmm," I murmered, letting my eyes fall shut. "Couldn't that wait until tomorrow?" To be fair, it'd probably be the more astute idea to talk over our layout and strategy, but he felt so nice, and the moment felt so nice...

A chuckle rumbled through his body-- I felt it. "As you wish, sweetheart."

My eyes shot open. "Wait, really?"

His head turned towards me, he was grinning. "What, did you think I'd be like 'oh, no, we have to sort everything out now'? I'm just as lazy as you are, sweetheart."

I shook my head, laughing softly. "We're such a mess," I murmered through a smile. "How are we going to get anything done?"

His head tilted slightly, his grin took on a new odd undertone. "The same way we've made it this far. Through trust and listening to you," said Lake.

"Stop putting so much pressure on me," I scolded. "I'm going to lead us to death."

He shrugged. "Then I'll get to die with the love of my life."

My jaw dropped.

Love of his life?

That was a new sort of pressure I was definitely not ready for. Was the man insane? I betrayed him, broke his trust, imprisoned him. Yet somehow he still believed in me and... and actually loved me. He was too much, and I couldn't help the nagging voice telling me, you don't deserve him. The voice was right.

I attempted to shut the voice up by making  vow to myself.

I, Kara Xiver, vow to spend every waking moment showing Lake Gitti that he's the best person I've ever met, and he deserves everything good in his life. I will treat him with utmost respect and adoration. Unless, of course, he unexpectedly turns into a jerk. In which case I have the right to treat him like one.

"Uh," I told him, "dying isn't really on my to-do list, though, so I still think it's best if we avoid it."

Despite completely avoiding the whole 'love of my life' part of his statement, his grin widened and the absolute amour in his eyes only grew. "Mhm," he hummed. "I think that's best too."

Nodding slightly, I flickered my gaze towards the sky once again. There were no clouds, only a vast stretch of light blue. The scene seemed to come out of a romantic comedy movie, it all was overly perfect to be real life. The only things we needed were a few blossoming dandelions and monarch butterflies fluttering around.

It was what I never knew I wanted; the cheesy romance, the perfect picture guy, the adventurous yet still romantic atmosphere-- it was all beautifully paradisiacal.

For the moment, I could've sworn everything would turn out fine.

   <><><><>

Aw, this chapter was cute. Sorry for the late-night upload rather than a morning upload, I've been busy (okay that's a lame excuse, but it's true!!).

Thank you for reading !!

-K xx