Young God [GirlxGirl]

20. Divine Intervention

I am not the only traveller // Who has not repaid his debt // I've been searching for a trail to follow again // Take me back to the night we met // And then I can tell myself // What the hell I'm supposed to do // The Night We Met, Lord Huron

Evening light filtered in through the slanted grey blinds, casting a dim orange glow across the otherwise monotonously white hospital room. Particles of dust floating lazily in suspension, when caught in a shaft of light, immediately became exposed to the naked eye and created an appearance of thicker air, disrupted air, living air. All the while, dark shadows crafted in the absence of the descending sun's hazy hues offered something of a surreal element to the immediate environment, especially when factoring in the uneasy quiet that had since settled about the room.

It was a moment of disorientation for Violet.

The new arrivals themselves, the gods, had brought with them a disturbance to the atmosphere. Like when she had first encountered Ash, there was a charge that Violet could almost feel emanating from the pair of them. An electricity. Not only had that induced an unprecedented unease within her, but also the fact that the last thing she had been expecting to see standing at Blake's bedside were more gods. Which begged the question, why were they here? What did they want?

Several seconds passed. Violet watched Ash's face for a reaction, even glancing at Kevin to see how he behaved around the newcomers. He seemed unbothered. Initially, Ash's face gave away nothing but bewilderment. This had taken her off guard as much as it had Violet, that much was plain to see. Soon, however, her furrowed brow and apparent speechlessness gave way to a breath of gleeful disbelief and an ear-to-ear grin. Violet watched silently from the doorway as Ash abandoned her side to wrap the two newcomers in a long overdue embrace.

"Leo, Nova!" Happy. Ash was definitely happy. "Fuck, I missed you."

Nova and Leo returned Ash's warm embrace. They, too, were smiling. Laughing. To Violet, though, their smiles didn't look wide enough and their laughter didn't sound genuine enough. They couldn't have come with good news.

Ash didn't seem to notice that right away, and even Violet forgot about it for a brief second when she saw Ash standing there beside her fellow gods, if only because she was so taken aback by just how much they resembled one another - for all their differences. Previously, Violet had believed gods were indistinguishable from any other human, but she was undeniably mistaken. She saw that now. Violet had never met a human so flawless, from their skin to their complexions to their easy charm and entrancing eyes. It was almost, almost, as if they were glowing. As if they brought the light with them and it would vanish when they were gone. Yes, she could definitely see it now. It was that little extra something that set them apart, and which only served as a reminder to Violet that she and Ash were not the same. 

Ash pulled away from the hug and took a good look her friends. Or, Violet assumed they were her friends. She had yet to be introduced to them.

"It's good to see you, Ash," Said the boy, Leo. "I knew you were in hot water when the guard caught us racing the fog, but I had no idea that this is where you would end up." He gestured at their surroundings, and Violet sensed an air of superiority she wasn't fond of.

"Yeah, well, if I'd have known then maybe I would have just let the fog kill me," Ash quipped.

Violet knew it was just a harmless joke. She knew it. Still, she couldn't do anything to stop the way it hurt her in the subtlest of ways. Was life with Violet so unbearable? She shook the thought from her head. Thinking that way never led to anything positive in her experience.

"If you had done that then you would have at least saved the rest of us the trouble of trying to teach you a lesson you'll never learn," Nova's words came out cool, crisp. Everything properly pronounced and with an underlying tone of cutting precision. "I'm beginning to think you won't even last long enough to see your own coronation, dear sister."