Momentum (Completed)

Chapter Two: The Past Is The Past

(Nephele)

I hit the mossy slope and tumbled forward, unable to stop myself. My hands tried to make traction but they couldn't and I had no choice but to fall with it. Sharp twigs and a few small rocks scratched my skin, but, luckily, it was mostly mud that surrounded me as I fell. 

With a jolt, I landed at the bottom, and, before I even had chance to catch my breath, I was up and running again, constantly looking out for signs that I was being followed. Trying to run in this Insurgo outfit and being weighed down with weapons wasn't a silent task but I had no choice; I had to get used to it. A few moments later, I took a second to listen to the world around me. I could hear birds in the sky and the calls of other, wild, animals in the distance, but apart from that, it was only my heavy breathing that echoed around me.  I let out a tired chuckle and said,

"Lets see yah do tha-" A heavy weight leapt onto me, pinning me to the floor and knocking some air out of my lungs. The moment I felt his soft paws on my arms and his scratchy tongue licking my face, I knew I'd lost. I wasn't at all happy. 

'Pinned you, cub,' laughed Imara, lifting his gentle pressure off me. 

"Damn it!" I fumed, getting up and brushing down my clothes. "I thought I'd won." 

'When will you learn that you'll never win against me?'

"Oh really?" I prodded his nose. "Let's have a rematch. I know I'll beat you this time." 

'No, we cant keep putting off returning to-'  I interrupted him, not wanting to hear his voice of reason.

"Oh, come on, Imara! You know I love playing with you; we hardly ever spend time together. Don't ruin the fun... Please?" 

'Nephele,' often when he used my first name he was serious about me paying attention, 'I love spending time with you as well; it's good for both of us to have a run around and try to improve our skills, but-' 

"There always has to be a 'but,' doesn't there?"  

'Yes. Now if you'll let me finish, its good for us to do this, but we've been doing this three hours a day, everyday, and we're both exhausted. Rya misses me back at camp and Dimitri misses you. You can't keep putting off staying there longer than twenty minutes. Its your home and no argument should change that.' 

I sighed. He was right, of course, but going back to camp and actually spending an evening with everyone or even spending time in the grounds was just too daunting. Maybe I was exaggerating, but, apart from Dimitri, I doubted anyone wanted to see me right now. I hadn't spoken to Lyra since it happened, and that was weeks ago, and Lexio... Well, he hadn't even looked at me. The truth was I'd been staying out here to vent out all my anger because, believe me, I was still fuming. 

Why should it matter to everyone who I was seeing? Why should it cause a huge rift in camp between us and them? Why did Lexio have to be such a difficult person? I knew that if I'd patched things up with Lexio the moment I left America, if I hadn't have chosen Dimitri time and time again over him, then things would have been different. 

Not different in the respect that I would have felt more for Lexio, but different in the respect that I would have spoken to him and taken his feelings into account before I acted. If I'd known it would have killed him that much, then I wouldn't have done it. 

But at the same time, I was never sure if he actually cared about me. I wasn't sure how deep his feelings went. I knew it couldn't be love; if it was surely he would have said, and I knew it couldn't be hate because, if it was, there would have been no argument in camp. Maybe he just felt threatened by Dimitri and it had nothing to do with me. Lexio had Kassandra now anyway. I ground my teeth together; why I got so enraged when I saw them together was far beyond me... I had Dimitri now, so it shouldn't matter.  Imara rubbed his soft body against mine.