Labyrinth | ✓

t w e n t y - f o u r t h ♂

A/N: Rena's main theme. The song is Stand By You - Rachel Platten. This can be interpreted as Rena trying to comfort and telling Ed that she is always there for him.

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Question.

Questions, whether they were simple or complicated, all have the same goal: they demanded me to answer it, or else they would just haunt me like a vengeful ghost. Despite this, they always sparked different reactions and responses from me. Some were easy and could be answered with ease. Others, on the other hand, had left me baffled, although sometimes, they required only a word for a solution.

A perfect example of such question was the one that Alyssa recently gave me. Even when this question was given days earlier, it still threw me aback. It lingered through the thick air of silence, while she squirmed on the edge of her seat. She managed to look at me in the eye, then turned away, but she dared to do so once more. She clenched her hands that she placed on her lap, and bit her lips. I didn't really know how to describe her green eyes, but they were full of hope and expectation.

Regardless of the heat accumulating behind my eye, I forced it open, facing the ceiling. I exhaled a hot breath through my mouth, before glancing at her.

Buttercup...

It had been years since I called her that and to be really honest, I still have yet to accept her request or reject it. The name originated from the fact that I wanted to annoy the fuck out of her when we were young, so when I noticed that she actually liked it, I found myself in bewilderment. Besides, that nickname was completely childish for a teenager like her, so obviously, it didn't fit her now.

After all... Buttercup is one of the elements of the past...

...and I can't take those shit any longer.

"I..."

As soon as a word left my lips, I didn't continue, and allowed my voice to trail away. It was supposed to be a simple 'yes' or 'no', but the outcomes that followed after the choices weren't pretty. In the end, I slightly shook my head, and hesitantly modified my words so that I wouldn't appear blunt.

"I don't know..."

After the answer left me, something flashed across my mind. I instantly wanted to take that response back and shoved it down my throat. Regrets crashed like angry waves, inducing headaches upon my head. Once again, an uncomfortable silence slowly cloaked around both of us. I could even hear the ticking of a clock, the noises of my heartbeat, and Myla's soft breaths as she slept beside me.

I waited for Alyssa's reaction while seconds passed by. I expected her to get upset, especially when her forehead started wrinkling and her eyebrows somewhat pulled towards to the center. I didn't dare to look at her eyes, and simply stared at the wall beside me.

Instead of anger, though, I saw her lips twitched, forming a small smile, which completely surprised me.

"You know what? Forget about it, hehe..." Alyssa forced out a chuckle, waving her hand dismissively. "It's just a stupid request, and it's only because I like that name. Nothing so personal. Man, I'm really over the place!"

I felt my chest heaving up and down as she fanned her face for no apparent reason. The room was already pretty cold, especially when fever was hanging all over my body. I didn't make a move nor did I speak out, except for a blink of my eye.

What happened with her...?

Did I mess it up...? Am I still too blunt...?

I rummaged thoroughly for possible theories to her sudden change, but nothing seemed to fit. I was met with a dead-end instead, with nowhere to go. Well, whatever it was, I should have thought further or better, I shouldn't have answered anything.