Floating Stars

Chapter 6: Sticks and Stones

"Only a girl, she is only a girl!"

Dìl-Eques' voice echoed in Dìl-Aeternia's head. Those words managed to stab through her heart still, even though it had been weeks since that awful day on the combat yard. The wounds on her back healed over and no longer stung but those words cut her so much deeper than any disciplinary belt could. Of course she had heard worse from many within the Emerald ranks. But hearing those words come from Dìl-Eques, her first and only ally, crushed her.

She hid within herself, cowered back from pointing fingers, disappeared as much as was possible because she felt broken. Any spirit she once had seemed to have flitted away from her, making her become almost an empty shell, all she did now was go through the day-to-day motions.

If she ever saw Dìl-Eques she would walk the opposite way, avoiding him at all cost. She didn't think she would ever be able to face him again. Until one day when she had no other choice.

"Dìl-Aeternia, stop!" she heard Dìl-Eques' voice command her and felt a strong hand grip her upper arm before she could vanish again. She bowed her head and became still like a statue - the only defence mechanism she was able to muster under the pressure of that moment. "Look at me." She didn't dare to move. "Dìl-Aeternia, look at me!"

She lifted her head and looked at him; not wanting to hear what he had to say, she only stopped to shut him up. Her expression was stone cold, untrusting, the small spark that she once possessed was now extinguished. She didn't say a word.

"Please, Dìl-Aeternia," Dìl-Eques struggled to find the right words. After a few awkward seconds he decided to add, "I'm sorry."

Dìl-Aeternia pressed her lips together as she stared up at him, she tried her hardest to suppress her true emotions, knowing well that if she dared to speak, they would spill out and the mask of strength that she was faking would be instantly snatched from her.

"Please, I want to fix... to fix..." Dìl-Eques bowed his head as the awkwardness between them weighed him down.

Dìl-Aeternia shrugged and tried to walk away, but of course this encounter was far from over.

"No." Dìl-Eques grabbed her again, but firmer this time as he held her still with a hand gripping each shoulder. "Don't go, don't run away from me, please."

Dìl-Aeternia squirmed in his grasp.

"I want to be your friend, please. Dìl-Aeternia, what they made me do tore me up inside. I'm hurting." The scowl that Dìl-Aeternia gave him caused his heart to miss a beat. He racked his brain for an explanation to help him climb out of the hole he managed to find himself in. "I know, I sound ridiculous. You were the one punished for nothing. It was you who was really torn. But that was the last thing I ever wanted to do, especially..." Dìl-Eques hid his face into his extended upper arm, so to not allow the Emerald Army's only female to see the tears that managed to fight their way out of his burning eyes; with a small, strangled croak he finished his sentence, "to you."

Dìl-Aeternia let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes, focused on the feeling of Dìl-Eques' hands holding onto her shoulders - steady and unwavering.

Her eyes opened and seeing the boy's desperation moved her heart in a way that it had never been moved before.

"I don't understand you. Not one bit," she said quietly.

Hearing her voice caused his lips to quiver and stretch into a relieved smile. "You don't have to understand me. Just believe me. I care about you."

"Why?"

"I see you."

"What do you mean by that? What do you see in me?"