CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
948 Words
One Year Ago…
Opening her eyes with a tired sigh, Aquamarine pulled her hand roughly out of Alaia’s and yells in frustration. “This is so stupid, I have no idea why we’re even doing this. I can’t summon anything?”
“Maybe if you concentrated more then-”
“Ugh, enough with the stupid lessons already!” Getting to her feet, she rests her hands on her hips like a petulant child. “I’m tired, I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Okay fine,” Alaia acquiesces, letting out a long sigh as she peers up at her from her position on the grass. “We can stop after you try again for the last time-”
“No!” Aquamarine snaps in irritation. “I want to stop now!"
“Oh, for the love of—” I rise to my feet in anger. “Will you shut the f**k up, you’re not the only one having a hard time so enough with the bitching already?”
Dropping her hands, Aquamarine slowly turns to me with a look of disdain. “I don’t believe I was talking to you.”
Returning the look, I respond with a cynical smile. “You know, maybe if you practised as much as you complained, you’d be able to use your powers by now.”
Her eyes narrow in anger but I don’t give her time to retort, turning to Alaia I ask. “Do you not know how to stand up for yourself or do you just like rolling over and barking when you're ordered too?”
“Valerie, that’s enough!"
Aurora surprises everyone when she jerks me around and yells in my face. “You’re going too far!”
Snorting, I step back with a glare. “Am I, really, please ask yourselves am I going too far?”
Grunting in disgust, Aquamarine throws her hands in the air and storms off into the forest. “You know what, I don’t have to put up with this. I’m leaving!”
We watch her retreating back in silence before turning to face each other, getting to her feet Alaia heads towards the mansion without a word said or a glance in my direction and I let out a sigh of guilt.
Glaring my way, Aurora regards me with a look of disappointment as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Why do you have to make everything an issue?”
“Because, you guys lived in a world where everything was all bed and roses compared to her life. Even I did. I’m just pissed she’s not reacting to how unfair the situation is for her; she keeps taking crap she doesn’t deserve from Aquamarine and it’s not right."
Running a hand through my hair, I let out a frustrated sigh. “As a kid, I watched first-hand what kind of hell she went through and all everyone can mumble now that the truth is out is... “she did a good job.”.” I mock in disgust. “I mean, seriously?”
“Look, I don’t know what she went through trying to keep hold of a position we three don’t even care about. But I do know that I’m grateful it wasn’t me, no matter how selfish that sounds. I mean, for someone who complains on her “behalf”, do you want to tell me that if given the opportunity to go back in time and take your rightful place, going through all the hell she did in our place, you’d do it?”
I open my mouth to respond with an affirmative, but then thoughts of what Alaia went through builds in my mind, and long silence meets her question.
Nodding her head, Aurora gives me a smug look, her arms falling to her sides. “That’s what I thought."
"But still, shouldn't she have some hate towards her parents at the least?" I ask. “She lives in a mansion that's hers, sees them every day, but yet gets treated as a guest—”
“Look, Valerie, yes her parents made the hard decision to give up their child for the sake of their country... but she decided to follow through with it."
“Even still—"
“Valerie, you might think you’re standing up for Alaia because you saw her suffering firsthand, but you’re only making her hurt. She’s trying to move on, the best repayment we could ever give is to let her do that and try our best to finish off what she started."
I open my mouth to respond and she cuts me off, holding up a finger. “Now that everything is over, and she wants to forget, let her forget Valerie.”
Pointing in the direction of the forest, she stares at me with a warning look. “And as for Aquamarine, she might not be showing the best attitude at this moment, but you need to let up with her also. Her situation is far worse than ours, you grew up here and despite everything, you have a family in all of this mess. The both of us grew up in a world parallel to this, living completely different lives without any knowledge of what’s to come, so it’s hard to adjust.”
“But you’re not bitching about every single thing.”
“That’s because I’m better at accumulating to changes, and a lot less pissed off."
“I had nothing back in my world, learning I had to give it all up wasn’t nearly a hard pill to swallow as it was for Aquamarine. She might not have had much that holds sentimental value, but she had someone who cared about her back there and learning that her entire existence has been wiped away from their minds isn’t exactly the sweetest thing to hear. So please,” She places both hands in front of her chest, her expression pleading. “Stop trying to antagonize her.”
“Fine,” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “Sure, whatever.”
- Writer
