((Takes place after the mission—but before Parker's Projects))
~Cursed is the man who dies but the evil done by him survives~ Abu Bakr
The tropics. Gorgeous during the day, seductive and peaceful at night. Aja had always loved them. They were comfortable. Home to her. She stood on her balcony, dressed only in one of Padriq's shirts and stared out at the water sprinkled by starlight. The night breezes lifted her hair gently sending the smell of jasmine along into the bedroom.
Her injuries still hampered her movements but she wasn't intent on going anywhere tonight. She had time to think, to enjoy her home and right now, it was everything she needed.
She went inside herself tonight. Moving memories around. Sorting through the chaos in her head, making an inventory of what exactly was missing since the day Parker and Serena destroyed those gems in the Holy Fire spell. The moment they blasted apart on the isle, a darkness lifted from places she had stashed it. It was a sizable piece of dark that was gone now. Which surprised her, she never really even acknowledged it was there before. Now that it was gone, she was surprised by how much she felt different.
She turned her thoughts then to the mission. To the questions raised during that day. She thought of Jaffery.
"Do you ever wonder..If we did the right thing, all splitting up?"
"We couldn't all stay together." Jaffery had said leaning back in his chair and looking at her thoughtfully. "Would've made it too easy for them to find and target."
And he was right of course. The three of them together would've been a trackable power source. They had survived the worst of days there with the Clan. Serena and Jaffery ran with Tanner and Aja when they escaped. They split up as soon as they knew they were in the clear.
Saying goodbye to them had been hard for Aja. Serena and Jaffery were like her siblings. It hadn't been easy to let them go, never knowing when she would see them again. She remembered watching them disappear into the crowd in that large port town, hanging on to the sea wall just to keep herself from following them. She wanted to stay with them. They got her through a lot of things.
It was another feeling she had learned to live with and stuff into a box. Loss. There had been so much. It was either learn to deal with it or lose her mind. And she would never let them win like that.
Wasn't that what it always came down to' A fight between her will and theirs. Never letting them win. It wasn't a game, it was a matter of survival. She was determined it would be her left standing at the end. And so far, she was doing pretty well at it.
—-TBC——-
~Cursed is the man who dies but the evil done by him survives~ Abu Bakr
The tropics. Gorgeous during the day, seductive and peaceful at night. Aja had always loved them. They were comfortable. Home to her. She stood on her balcony, dressed only in one of Padriq's shirts and stared out at the water sprinkled by starlight. The night breezes lifted her hair gently sending the smell of jasmine along into the bedroom.
Her injuries still hampered her movements but she wasn't intent on going anywhere tonight. She had time to think, to enjoy her home and right now, it was everything she needed.
She went inside herself tonight. Moving memories around. Sorting through the chaos in her head, making an inventory of what exactly was missing since the day Parker and Serena destroyed those gems in the Holy Fire spell. The moment they blasted apart on the isle, a darkness lifted from places she had stashed it. It was a sizable piece of dark that was gone now. Which surprised her, she never really even acknowledged it was there before. Now that it was gone, she was surprised by how much she felt different.
She turned her thoughts then to the mission. To the questions raised during that day. She thought of Jaffery.
"Do you ever wonder..If we did the right thing, all splitting up?"
"We couldn't all stay together." Jaffery had said leaning back in his chair and looking at her thoughtfully. "Would've made it too easy for them to find and target."
And he was right of course. The three of them together would've been a trackable power source. They had survived the worst of days there with the Clan. Serena and Jaffery ran with Tanner and Aja when they escaped. They split up as soon as they knew they were in the clear.
Saying goodbye to them had been hard for Aja. Serena and Jaffery were like her siblings. It hadn't been easy to let them go, never knowing when she would see them again. She remembered watching them disappear into the crowd in that large port town, hanging on to the sea wall just to keep herself from following them. She wanted to stay with them. They got her through a lot of things.
It was another feeling she had learned to live with and stuff into a box. Loss. There had been so much. It was either learn to deal with it or lose her mind. And she would never let them win like that.
Wasn't that what it always came down to' A fight between her will and theirs. Never letting them win. It wasn't a game, it was a matter of survival. She was determined it would be her left standing at the end. And so far, she was doing pretty well at it.
—-TBC——-