Meanwhile

Part 6

Lily settled down in a tree branch above alabaster. "okay, first things first, can i just say: rude. Now, to answer your first question, all day long. To answer the second question: i want you, yes you, to be a part of my quest." alabaster scoffed. "i told you," he shouted up to her, "i have absolutely no interest in your stupid quest." he shouldered his bag and walked away from lily. "if you dont mind, im going to leave now." lily pushed off of her branch and fluttered behind him. Alabaster snorted, but ignored her. Lily followed behind him, getting as close as she could to make him uncomfortable. Like he was getting rid of her that easily.

Lily followed him for over 15 minutes. This kid was really passive agressive.

The problem was, lily was starting to be bored. Lily sighed and started pelting acorns at the back of his head to pass the time. alabaster whipped around as she threw the last acorn, and it hit him on the nose. "sorry," she shrugged, as she bounced another off his chest. He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. Lily could barely contain her laughter; this kid was about to explode, it was hilarious. And explode he did. "WHATS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET YOU TO STOP?!? DO I HAVE TO CUT YOUR HEAD OFF?!" He materialized his word thing out of midair and pointed it at lily, threateningly. lily looked at him with a bored expression. Slowly pulling a candybar out of her backpack, she eased the wrapper open noisily and took a big bite out of it. "you want to get rid of me? Thats not going to be easy. I suggest running, that might work," she drawled lazily.

Alabaster swung his sword, but lily danced out of reach. "im not running," he said through clenched teeth. "only cowards run."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and of course YOU arent a coward. Heroes back away from responsibilities all the time. I mean, who cares if you could be saving countless childrens lives, if thats not the thing for you, its not the thing for you!"

Alabasters face turned red and he swung yet again, this time slicing off a tree branch.

Lilys face hardened. "if you had at least bothered to listen to my prophecy, to think over whether or not you wanted to join, this wouldnt be that big of a deal. But noooo, you just tossed aside the fact that i SAVED YOUR LIFE like it DIDNT MATTER AT ALL!!" Lilys face was turning red now too, her previous playfulness gone.

"WHO SAID I WANTED TO BE RESCUED?! IF IT MEANT OWEING A FREAKING LIFE DEBT TO YOU, THEN I WOULD HAVE SAID 'NO THANKS'!!"
lily extended her battle claws.
"OH, SO YOU DIDNT WANT TO BE SAVED?! IS THAT HOW IT IS?! YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE--" (at this point, lily threw out some very unladylike cusswords.)
Alabaster yelled and swung again, and again. lily, instead of simply dodging, met his strokes each time with her claws, barely parrying them. they fought, faces drawn tight and snarling. lily danced through the air, taunting and parrying, until alabaster managed to land a blow to her back with the flat of his sword. she went spinningthrough the air, before slamming into a tree.

she crumpled to the forest floor, dazed.

Lily felt tears well up in her eyes; she stubbornly held them back. Stupid, stupid! Why did she do that? He was never going to trust her now. What was even the point of all this?

She curled up into a little ball, her pride not letting her show her defeat. She hated tears, and crying. Only sissies cried when they were defeated, she should stand up and shake his hand like a grown adult. He won. He... Beat her... Tears actually came pouring out now, her face becoming red and blotchy.

Lily made herself calm down. She was being stupid, stop crying, stupid. She sat up, still facing the tree. She took several deep breaths, and the tears thankfully stopped. Standing up, she turned around, and was surprised to see alabaster still standing there. He was looking rather awkward, as if he wasnt sure whether to run away, continue fighting, or apologize. Lily sniffed, trying to appear composed. "well... You beat me," she said, her voice cracking embarrasingly. "and... i dont know. I dont want to... I wont follow you anymore." she huffed outwardly, and walked stiffly away.