Lament of Innocence

Aris

"It's for him I'm doing this!" I said, crying now. "We need to be able to stop running, and maybe he can have a normal life now, and all of you, and..." I sat down. Oh, I hated looking weak, especially in front of Tarrion who had way more of a reason to be weak when Selene was dying.

TARRION

I sighed. Great, now she was crying over it. Was this one of those stupid girl-tricks they pulled when they wanted to get their way?

"I don't want a normal life Aris. This life is what I've known for quite some time now and I'm fine with it," I whispered, looking into her eyes. "I really don't think Kale would want you to go anyways."

"Why can't he just figure out that I frickin love him?!" She said it quietly, but I could hear the dispair in her voice.

"I'll tell him if you want." She shook her head quickly and started sobbing. I pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. A friendly gesture...but a kiss nonetheless.

Kale

I woke up. Immediately, I felt a panic. Two of our people were gone. With Aris, she could have just gone for a walk, but Tarrion, leave Selene? Not for anything that's not big.

I could hear voices in the distance. And someone crying who sounded like Aris. "Hell, this ain't good," I groaned and ran out. I ran into a clearing.

My first sight? Aris- crying- and Tarrion kissing her forehead softly. A loving gesture.

I'm usually pretty calm and orderly. Let me get that straight with you. But I do have this small, innocent little angry part of me that comes out... sometimes. And right now was one of those times.

"What are you doing, Tarrion?!" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. I did pretty well- okay, why lie, I did terribly.

TARRION

"What are you doing Tarrion?!" I jumped at the sound of an enraged Kale. Crap.

I released Aris and turned to look at Kale, who was fuming. Not so good... "I-" I didn't know what to say. Also not so good.

Kale glared at me. "What about Selene? What the heck are you thinking?" He demanded.

"Kale..." Aris started to say. He cut her off.

"And you! I thought you were over him!" He looked confused. Hurt even.

"Kale, shut up for a second and listen to me!" I demanded. Well, Tigger just had to be lurking about somewhere, throughly ammused. I didn't care much though. Let him have his laugh.

"I can't believe you would do that to them! You're such an ass Tarrion." He glared at me and I raised an eyebrow.

Aris didn't say anything. I don't think she could say anything. Neither could I for that matter.

Aris

"Kale, it was friendly! Come on! He was trying to comfort me, not start a romance with me!"

That was what I wanted to say. So badly. But I couldn't. I was frozen to the spot.

"Selene should at least know," he said after a moment of looking towards me.

"No! Kale, let me explain first!" Tarrion looked panicked.

But Kale was gone. I raced after him, and I could hear Tarrion behind me. Kale was speaking to Selene. She turned towards Tarrion, her eyes blazing. "I thought you were over her!" she hissed. "You said I was the only one!"

Oh, this was all wrong! It wasn't supposed to happen like this, nothing was going the way it should!

TARRION

I groaned. This was absolutely perfect. I was going to loose the girl I loved passionately all because of one friendly little kiss. Thanks Kale, much obliged. "Selene..." I didn't know what to say to her. How could I explain this? I glared at Kale who glared back at me.

Tigger was chuckling to himself somewhere, but I didn't look for him. It didn't matter to me right now. "I can't believe you would do that to me, Tarrion," Selene hissed.

What did I do? What could I say to make it right? I wanted desperately to wring Kale's neck...but that wouldn't get me very far in life. I glanced to Aris, looking for help, but she looked as dazed as I was.

"She was upset...I was only trying to comfort her...it was friendly..." I stammered.

"Excuse of the century," Kale growled at me.

Selene started sobbing quietly. I felt defeated. Purely, totally defeated. I sant to the ground and rested my head in my hands.

Kale

"It was friendly!" Aris said, looking towards me, straightforward. "Do you really think I would lie to you?"

"Listen, Aris, that might be what it was to you, but I'm pretty sure it was something else entirely to him."

"Nice work, Kale! You had to just blab. You couldn't freakin' wait for our explanation, could you?!" Tarrion sounded angry. Well, I was angry too. Tigger laughed.

"Listen, Tarrion, all I know is that you were cheating on Selene and leading Aris on at the same time."

"I don't care about him that way anymore!" Aris shouted, snapping out of her reverie. "He wasn't 'leading me on' about anything!"

Aris was pissed at me?! Ok, I couldn't blame her. I had overreacted slightly- if it had been friendly. But you know what? I was betting that it wasn't friendly.

Selene was sobbing. Ok, that was really underhanded, telling her. But she deserved to know if her boyfriend was kissing another girl. Another girls named Aris. Another girl I was madly in love with.

But just as I realized this, I heard, "Go to Hell, Kale!" and suddenly Tarrion was jumping at me.

TARRION

I landed on Kale, who was flipping out and making feeble attempts at shoving me off. My ribs were broken, but like it mattered. This shrimp would pay. He slugged me in the nose and it cracked. Likely broken. It throbbed and I could feel blood running. I smirked when it landed on Kale's cheek.

I pressed my thumb to his throat. It would be so much easier if I had both thumbs.... I gave up with that and wrapped my hands around his neck, squeezing. He tried to rip my hands off, and was almost succesful.

"Tarrion get off of him!" Selene screached.

I didn't pay any attention to her. "I love Selene!" I shouted. I felt Aris and Tigger wrap their hands around my shoulders. Kale was starting to turn blue, but he was still struggling.

They managed to pry me off of him without too much effort. I blamed it one the three against one effect. I breathed heavily, flaring. Kale had cost me Selene. No way was he living it down easily.

Aris

I glared at Kale and Tarrion. "You're both... such... ugh!" I hissed. Like a boy- fight instead of explain. Like a boy- run off without waiting for an explanation.

I walked straight up to Selene and looked her in the eye. "Sel, it was friendly. Now, if you love Tar as much as you say you do, you'll believe what he says," I said. "I started this and I'm gonna friggin' finish it. Tarrion, just explain it to her." I turned on my heel towards Kale. "And YOU," I said, "You and I are going to talk."

I grabbed Kale's hand and dragged him out into the forest. I could hear Selene and Tarrion quietly talking. "Ok, three things, Kale," I said. "One, you're a complete jerk and an idiot for doing that." I glared fiercely at him. "Two, Tarrion loves Selene, not me, and it's annoying that you keep thinking that we're still in that limbo of being in love. And three, it's you I friggin' love, and not Tarrion, and it gets really annoying when you act this jerkish and I can't really do anything because I love you too much. Now," I said, crossing my arms over my chest, "Are you ready to shut up and listen to an explanation?"

TARRION

Tigger released his grip on my shoulder and backed up. Even he knew that when I was like this it was a good idea to give me some space. I took a few deep breaths and approached Selene. My anger melted away slowly.

"Tarrion you almost killed him!" she hissed at me. She was still sobbing.

"Do you know why I almost killed him?" She just stared at me. "I love you, Sel. He could have made me lose you."

She blinked at me. "How do you kiss somebody in a friendly matter exactly?" She demanded.

I sighed. Aris would be liable to shoot me if I told Selene about her plans on assasination. "Look, Aris wanted to do something, and I wouldn't let her. She broke down and started sobbing. The least I could do was comfort her. It's not like I kissed her passionately on the lips."

I sighed and sat down beside her, reaching for her hand. She pulled it away. My heart lurched. She hated me. She had to hate me. I'd hate me, too.

Kale

Oh, snap.

Aris was looking at me quite nervously now, as if looking for my reaction.

"Well, if it makes any difference in how angry you are at me," I said, grinning at her, "I love you too."

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere, Kale," Aris said, looking annoyed.

"It's not."

"And neither will sucking up to me either. I'm still really pissed off at you."

"And I still really love you for that, too," I said. "And, knowing what you're going to say, that's not sarcasm or sucking up. It's true." I grinned as she sucked in her breath.

"You mean it?" she asked, her voice nervous.

"No, Aris," I said sarcastically, "I just say I love you all the time to random people. Of course I mean it!"

"Well, now that that's over with," she said, unable to contain a grin, "Are you ready to listen?"

"Yeah. I'm ready to shut up," I said.

"Amazing, Kale. Alright, then. I was trying to.... do something he didn't really want me to do. And I started crying. He kissed me on the head. Yeah, not the smartest move, but since when have either you or him been that smart when it comes to that kind of a thing?" she said. "It was an honest mistake, and you might've broken up Tarrion and Selene forever. Am I really supposed to feel good about you right now?"

Aris

"What did you want to do?" I should have known Kale would ask that. Bull, he needs to know everything, doesn't he?

"That's... really none of your business."

"But-"

"Remember what happened last time you pried?" I asked, grinning.

"Yes, I remember, and this whole scene would have been a lot easier if you had just told me then."

"But it wouldn't have been so dramatic," I argued.

"You like dramatic?"

"Yes. That's what makes it one of those memories you look back on."

"And you'll look back on this memory, then?" Kale asked, grinning.

"...I'm not authorized to answer that question."

"Ok, I give up. You keep your secret to yourself, Ari, and I'll just try to figure it out before everyone else does like last time. Is that a deal?"

"There's really no part of it that's a deal."

"Ok, whatever. I'll assume it's a deal. Think we should go see if Tar and Sel are back together?" his voice was really, really guilty now but still rather defiant. Oh, brother.

"Yeah, Kale. Tar just tried to rip your head of- this is the perfect time to go talk to him."

Selene
I looked at Tarrion my eyes still full of tears. "Please for the love of everything that is holy if you ever do something like that or think about it warn me please." I pleaded taking one of his hands in mine.

TARRION

I nearly shouted a victory cry. She still loved me! I think... I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She was incredible, this one.

"I can't believe you aren't mad at me," I muttered.

She didn't smile.

Selene
"Oh I am mad at you but I forgive you I can't hate you I never will I may get pissed to hell at you but I will never hate you. Also if Aris is going on an assasination mission and you are going with I am involved to. And Tarrion I think you may owe Kale an apology as he does to you." I said saying the last part loud enough so that Kale could hear.