Fight With Fire

47

"Ella?"

I quickly turn around looking over my right shoulder at Finn in the doorway.

"Finn!" I crawl across the floor towards him letting my hair cover my left cheek. His eyes shift from me and my limp legs behind me to the broken, bloody mirror I was sitting in front of me.

"Ella are you okay?" He asks taking a step toward me, the worry clear in his eyes.

"Just give me your hand!" I command desperately holding my hand out but not making eye contact. If I look up, he'll see my new iae clearly on my cheek. I just need to make physical contact with him and my Drell will go away. It will all go away.

I watch out of the corner of my eye as Finn immediately starts walking towards me. But he never reaches me. He stops a few feet away and I watch as something clicks and his whole demeanor changes.

"Why?" He asks tilting his head to the side. He seems hesitant to question me and I realize that he never has before.

"Please. Just give me your hand."

"Ella." He replies calmly but the hurt is clear in his voice. "Look at me."

"Just give me your hand and I will explain everything."

"Why can't you look at me?" He asks standing perfectly still across the room.

"Just-" I shuffle forward dragging my legs behind me and reach forward. I look up to search for his hand and find myself looking into light green eyes that are slightly blurred from unshed tears.

"Ella?" Finn is asking for an explanation because is finally seeing me for who I am. He is seeing the true iae that has been hidden underneath layers of ink for so many years.

Even though I don't want to hurt Finn, I already have. So I make yet another selfish decision and reach out to grab his hand.

"What are you...?" Finn swallows his question because he realizes exactly what I'm doing.

Before I have to chance to relish in the relief of the weight lifting off my legs, it all comes back with a force that can only be powered by true betrayal. He saw my iae shrink as I pushed my energy into him and he pushed it right back.

Finn drops my hand with the same force and looks at me with a look of almost disgust.

"Ella?" He asks again but there is no explanation.

"I'm sorry." I say through yet another round of tears.

"You've been using me." Finn says quietly but he may as well be yelling from the rooftops because the words strike me right in the heart.

"No it's not like that. Just let me explain."

"Then explain." Finn says quietly.

"I don't know where to begin." I say honestly trying to sit in a comfortable decision but nothing is comfortable when your legs are so numb they hurt.

"Maybe begin with the fact that you can fly!" Finn says while running a hand through his hair which is slightly distracting. Of course he recognized the iae of the Fliers clear on my cheek.

"I didn't know that I could." I mumble slightly embarrassed.

"You didn't know... hmph" Finn says with a small laugh. He rubs his chin, looks down at his feet, and then laughs louder. "You didn't know."

"Why's that so funny?" I ask curious as to how he could be laughing in a situation that is far from funny.

"What's funny," Finn says through some laughs before dropping the smile and turning completely serious. "is that you think I would believe that."