red riding hood | void stiles [au]

fifteen ; present

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE TRUTH

IT WAS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY silent between them until they got back to the location they were staying at, a small home that was in the of process of being sold. Their problems were unresolved. Their words were not yet spoken. Though it was a nonverbal understanding between them that they surely were going to discuss it now, surrounded by four walls instead of an open field, the place where everything went downhill.

She was still stunned by what happened, wondering how along the way of saving Void from his captivity and deciding to stay along to help him with his revenge something changed within her. Something was found that she swore was never coming back, something that may continue to be greater than her loyalty to him. Prudence was far from understanding it, but she knew it was too relentless for her to try to ignore it any longer. So the girl would stand her ground on this one, even if it might destroy everything that had been mended.

As the blonde shrugged her black coat off, she could feel his eyes finally settle on her for the first time since she hesitantly followed him back to the vehicle they parked close to the area where everything took place. She was scared—really scared, because it was as if she already knew all was lost the second she decided to do what she did. Things were supposed to be different this time, and they weren't, because despite their promises and compromises they continued to hurt one another perfectly, even when they didn't realize it. Perhaps they were kidding themselves the whole time, caught in the fantasy that their love could conquer all. Maybe it simply was never supposed to work.

"How could you do that? How could you choose that pathetic pack over me?" He asked her, anguish clearly prominent in his voice.

Tears that could no longer be restrained ran in streams down her face, a shaky breath exiting her that shook her body slightly, but she still didn't dare turn around to face him. It would makes things so much harder, she knew this. Then again, there was nothing Pru could do to try to fix any of this, since the truth had caught up with them after all these years she had been running from it. She couldn't be who he wanted her to be.

She struggled to form a response, wondering when it suddenly became so difficult to find any words at all. "I didn't choose them over you. It wasn't like that."

"Then what was it like, Pru?!? I needed you to have my back and you just... didn't. You stood there and did nothing. You let something important—no, you let the people who nearly killed me get away right when I had all of them. They're going to retaliate and  now I have to fix the mess you made."

"Because that's how it's always has to be, right? I have to do whatever you tell me and follow your orders without hesitation?" The girl spoke up, getting angry herself, built-up emotion seeping out of her. "I can't believe someone could be so selfish."

Void laughed humorlessly, convinced she just didn't get it, and he took quick strides over to where she stood while his head shook from side-to-side in disbelief. Embers of rage ate him up, because he was furious at her for what she did and at himself for having the foolish hope humans held that everything would be okay with them. He opened up to her, and he decided in this moment that it was a mistake, that if he didn't he wouldn't be the one struggling with this pain that feels never-ending. The fox hated feeling like this, hated how things turned out, and hated that he let something as stupid as his love for this human get in the way of everything.

When he roughly grabbed her arm so she was forcefully spun around, Void saw an expression that matched his own, he saw a broken one. It shocked him for a minute, the fact that she was crying because of him hurting him further, understanding they were both wounded by this. He felt sorry even when he swore seconds ago he was no where close to that, and seeing her red eyes and trembling lips made him want to comfort her. He couldn't though, when he raised his hand to stroke her cheek she flinched away from him.

Prudence saw her rejection from his touch didn't make him feel any better, but she was struggling with it all as well, and for the life of her she couldn't stop crying, even though she was convinced it made her look weaker than she already appeared to be. It didn't matter that his own brown eyes were starting to water as well and he was more transparent than he's ever been, since she was aware it didn't change anything. Their love for each other couldn't alter their differences, and the blonde couldn't pretend anymore with him. She just couldn't.

"What changed?" The boy in front of her questioned, and for the first time his tone had turned more quiet, vulnerable even.

She swore the more she looked at him the more they would both be in pain. "Nothing ever did, and that's the problem. I can't... I can't be the version of myself you created, but I don't know if I can ever be the same person I used to be either. You ruined me."

"You ruined me too." The words slipped his mouth defensively, but a part of him even believed it, figuring he would be unstoppable by now if no one had ever held him back, had tamed him by falling in love. Though if he had a chance to go back and do things differently, he knew he wouldn't, and it terrified him more than anything that she would.

"But I don't care," he continued on, honesty surprisingly finding him once again, "I never did. But you do, don't you?"

His question was unanswered verbally due to the fact her abilities were only limited to just staring at him, expressing her mesmerization, pain, and sorrow. There was sorrow because he was right, she did care, but then she also understood she couldn't be around him until she figured things out, until she figured herself out. There was no place for her in this war, and it wouldn't help her none if she was caught up in it like she has been, so Prudence knew she had to leave. He knew too.

Although it was unexpected by both parties when the girl impulsively tilted her head up and lent forward, letting their lips meet in a slow, sad kiss. Both of them had tears falling gracefully now, even as they let their eyelids flutter shut, the fact that this may be the last one they ever share not daring to escape their minds. They held each other close, knowing they would soon have to let go. They welcomed each other, knowing they would have to soon say goodbye. They were just them, something the two needed to be for a little while longer before they couldn't be.

And even as time slipped away from them and their chests ached from heartbreak, both of them were still able to see each other, to accept the situation. Maybe they would find their way back to each other, and maybe they wouldn't, but that was never the point. The point was that even though neither of them completely understood and may never, the pair could part knowing what they had was real, unrelenting, true. She loved him and he loved her—more than enough to convince her to stay—, though he wasn't going to beg her to. He was letting her go, but this time for the right reasons, for the selfless ones. Void was only thinking about her and what she needed.

Breathlessness was found in both of them when they reluctantly separated from one another, their foreheads still resting against one another and their eyes still closed. They probably stood there for a few minutes with their arms wrapped around one another, basking in the warmth found in the nonexistent proximity of their bodies, and it wasn't much of a surprise that she was hesitant on letting go. The girl didn't know what would come because of it, she just knew it was what had to be done, but she allowed herself to hope for a future where they could be like this again, where they could finally love each other for who they really are. It was one of things that kept her going as she walked out the door a half an hour later.