Crystalline Cavern: The Brigaders

Chapter 22

Kai

      I'm champion of this month's training day. The six of us ranked in the top six once again, with the order being me in first, then Eliza, Andy, Jane, Nicole, and lastly Tyler. I was surrounded by a crowd of cheering warriors. I went up against Eliza, but throughout the whole thing, it was like going up against a complete stranger. She wasn't herself. I know she's distracted about something that happened between us but I don't know what! I looked to my right to see if she was ok, but she was gone. I looked at Jane and Nicole and I only saw Jane. Nicole must've gone after Eliza. I then felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Nicole. "Look, I know that things are a bit tense between you two right now, but she needs you to be honest with her or else you could lose her."

      "Lose her?"

      "You'll understand soon enough. For now, I suggest you go after her."

      "How will I know where to find her?"

      "I've got a pretty good idea of where she might be..."

»»————-————-««

      Nicole told me how sometimes, Eliza would go to the library at a hidden desk in the back to relax and hide from everyone else. I hope she hears what I have to say before I 'lose her'. I still don't understand what she meant by that. Is she sick? Did I provoke her somehow? I mean, obviously since she's mad at me specifically. Maybe now she can explain everything to me thoroughly without storming off somewhere. I walked into the library and carefully followed Rose's instructions on how to find her. I had to go in, up the stairs to the second floor, and then go behind the third-to-last bookshelf at the end of the Science Fiction/Fantasy section. When I turned the corner, I found her sitting at a table. She was in Illuminate Mode since I saw her white hair over the book she had her face buried in. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. Her head shot up and she looked at me straight into my green eyes with her violet ones. She became slightly pale, kinda like her currently white hair. "Hey. Are you ok?"

      "Mm." She only nodded as she mumbled that sound. "No, you're not." Something must've snapped since she responded to me with a clenched jaw. "If you knew that I wasn't then why did you ask?"

      "I just thought that I'd break the ice."

      "Oh, well I'm just here, thinking..." I sat down next to her with enough space between us to not make her feel uncomfortable, but I'm pretty sure she's uncomfortable just by looking at me and feeling the presence of my aura. "It's ok, just relax."

      "That's what I'm trying to do. Also, who told you about my spot?" She gave me an intense stare for a moment. "Rose told me." 

       "Of course she did." She turned back to her book and avoided eye contact with me. "Listen, are you-are you upset that I won?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What? No, in fact, I could care less about some stupid Rank Rage. I only care about TNT."

      "Yeah, I know." Rank Rage wasn't really a big deal to us, as long as we remained at the top then it wasn't really a concern.

      There was nothing but silence. At this point, I thought it was best to leave. I decided against it though. "Look, I know you're still a bit angry from what happened last week at the meeting at least, but I just need to know...are you avoiding me on purpose?" She took a deep breath before speaking. "I guess you could say that I'm avoiding the situation."

      "But why though? What situation?"

      "I really don't feel sure about anything anymore and the thing is, is that..." She waited a few seconds before continuing as if she were trying to find the right words. I stayed quiet, waiting for her response. She looked like she was about to cry. "I saw you, you know? That day when Alina walked in and you looked at her like you were attracted to her and you just kept staring at her until she left. I thought about it at first and just kept telling myself that you were being a boy, and I was still keeping the deal you talked about in mind but. I mean, do we really need to keep playing with each other's emotions? I just don't wanna find my Aura Núte and then end up getting hurt or hurting you."

      At this point I didn't know what to say anymore because I admit, I was admiring her a bit. I just didn't think it would result in me hurting her like that. "I then realized that you never really looked at me like that and-" There were tears streaming down her face. All I could think about now was that day. I never really realized it until now. I quickly pulled into a hug, softly stroking her hair. "I'm sorry. I didn't know I made you feel this way. It's funny somehow. Alina already has her Aura Núte and I guess another part of me still had some sort of feelings towards her that just wouldn't let go. I was stubborn about it for a while until I kept thinking to myself how great these past few months have been since I've taken my mind off of Alina. I realized how much stress I was putting on myself when I wasn't thinking about her. I moved her head so she'd be looking at me. I looked her straight in the eye and took the time to admire her sparkling violet eyes. She really is beautiful and I was so caught up on Alina that I didn't realize how much I was missing out. I wiped away her tears. She blushed a little and needless to say, it was adorable. "You know, I do admire you. I probably don't show it as much as I should, but I think we can make this work."

      "What?"

      "I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I do know that we can make the most of it right now. I'm tired of waiting, and maybe everything Ocean was telling me could be right, that we could be Aura Núte together when we come of age."

      "That's like a one-in-a-million chance of that happening though."

      "I'd like to believe it." I inched a bit closer to her face. "It wouldn't be so bad to be your Aura Núte, right?"

      "I, uh-" I went for a kiss. She flinched a little when I did, but after a while, I felt her arms go around my neck to pull me closer. I hugged her in the process and just held it there for a while. The kiss was soft and sweet, addictive even. Ocean did have a point though, we could be each other's Aura Núte, but Eliza is right too. We could end up hurting each other if we got together and then find out that different people are our Aura Núte, but I'm willing to take that chance if it meant that the person who's been by my side this whole time values me more than some random stranger out there in Crystalline Cavern or beyond in some other foreign district.

      We eventually pulled apart and looked at each other. Her eyes were glowing so bright...strange. Not important, I still had one more thing to do. "Hey, Ellie?"

      "Yeah?" I took a deep breath. "Be mine?" She looked at me and smiled. "I'll take that chance."