Youth

#31 - Missing You

    [Y/n] glanced over to Laion as he shut his door behind them. The many plants on the outskirts of the rather large room gave the place a particular fragrance; it was pleasant, though it definitely made her eyes water. She noticed that it had been changed a little - a section of flowers had been removed and tiled over, making way for a table covered in covered in equipment akin to what she would've found in a chemistry lab at school.

    The plants in the room had changed slightly, too. Some of the more showcase-oriented flowers had disappeared and been replaced by more boring looking plants, though [Y/n] assumed they were probably medicinal.

    "I missed you," Laion broke the silence finally, wandering over to his bed and perching himself on the side of it, holding his head in his hands as though something terrible had happened. "Being without you was like torture."

    [Y/n] had to fight herself into not responding with 'being with you was torture,' though that was hard. Still, her pride wouldn't get her anywhere now. She realised she'd been pretty spoiled up until this point. Abducted, sure, but how many people can say they've been abducted and then treated with care and respect throughout? [Y/n] had pushed things, she knew that, and she couldn't help but fear all of this was her fault.

    "Please say something," Laion sighed, looking up at [Y/n], his big eyes pleading and searching [Y/n]'s [e/c] ones, trying to find an answer. Anything.

    "...I'm sorry," [Y/n] whispered quietly.

    "You're not, but it's okay," Laion sighed, tilting his head back. "I must look pretty strange to you right now, hey? I mean, I don't want to hurt you, and I really care for you— I'm probably the only one here who feels that way," he hummed, before allowing himself to fall back on his bed. "But you left me, too... and that really hurt."

    "I'm sorry," [Y/n] said again, though there was little emotion in her voice. Laion stared at her with a pitying look, before standing up and walking over to her. He took her hands in his.

    "We never had that dance," he said quietly. [Y/n] looked away, not speaking. Though it was hard to tell, Laion was fighting back a glare. Was he trying to hurt her? No, no he wasn't- he wasn't now and he never would. He loved [Y/n]. Why couldn't she see that?

    "Please, [Y/n]?" he tilted his head.

    "I can't dance," she said quietly.

    "I'll teach you," he said immediately, placing his hands on her shoulders, a small smile touching his unusually somber expression. [Y/n] looked away, clearly not fond of the idea, which caused Laion's smile to drop once more. "Come on [Y/n], it's fun, give it a go."  [Y/n] stayed still, not meeting his gaze.

"Say, do you hate all of us, [Y/n]?" he asked, his voice slightly hurt as he removed his hands from her shoulders.  She hesitantly turned to face him again, her expression of apology yet anger at the same time.  He sighed.  "I don't understand, [Y/n]."

"You don't understand?" [Y/n] echoed, her eyes narrowing.  She took a small step back and Laion's brows knitted together in concern that he'd said something he shouldn't have.  "You don't understand?" she repeated, her tone colder this time.  Her inwardly directed blame from before, her self-depreciation, seemed t0 have faded out to anger after hearing those words.  Her pride came back in waves.  "You guys locked me in my room for days on end, physically tortured me, killed the one person I could trust and now I'm locked up again," she spat, "and you tell me you don't understand?!"

"I didn't do any of that, [Y/n]," Laion said quietly.

"I don't care.  I hate you.  I hate all of you," [Y/n] hissed out.  Anger momentarily flashed in Laion's eyes; he pushed his dirty blonde hair back with a sigh, before taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down.  [Y/n] hoped she hadn't said anything she'd regret.