Young Writers Society

She stared for a long, long moment.

"Meg?" she managed to get out, eyes wide in shock. In retrospect, the hand over her mouth made a little sense knowing who the culprit was. But it still raised some questions, and Runi really didn't feel like calling her a moron was the right way to react to her reaction.

There was a pause.

She extinguished the last of her flames.

Folding her arms, she protested, "I'm not a moron. You came in through a window and put your hand on my mouth to keep me from screaming. And you didn't even look like yourself when you did it! Doors exist for a reason, and so does knocking."

Megara was about to say something when Les finally figured out how to speak.

"Meg?!" His eyes were like saucers as he stared at her. It took a great deal of effort not to use one of her throwing knives on him.

She ignored him instead. "If one more person calls me 'Meg' today you will all learn the hard way that none of you have seen me angry yet," she threatened, sounding very sincere, though she knew she wouldn't kill them over a nickname. However tempting the thought may be.

Runi wanted to pretend like this was normal. Like this was somehow alright, even though breaking in through the window without any kind of warning really wasn't.

But after the conversation at the base, she really couldn't. Whether consciously or not, she started moving towards the bed - still keeping her distance from Meg, but getting closer to Les. "I don't know," Runi said. "I thought I saw you angry back before you kicked us out of your house."

Megara knew she didn't have the right to be hurt by Runi keeping her distance, but 'supposed to' never worked with emotions. She kept it out of her face, though. Runi...Megara didn't know how Runi would react to it. She knew she didn't want to know.

Megara shook her head, "You really don't seem to understand what my life is. Was. Whatever." She sighed, "'Angry' for me isn't a few harsh words and an order to leave. And I can't just go walking up to flagged rooms in the middle of the night while I'm dead. I might not have looked like me, but illusions like that don't work on the mer, and I don't risk Eddie's life on the blind hope that there are no mer around to tell father dearest that his precious little angel requires another session with his favorite little psycho and her crew."

"So are you here to apologize, then?" Runi asked. And she was shocked when she heard Cornyx in her tone - the cold, cruel tone that she had always hated him using because it reminding her of Nissam. She wasn't anywhere close to Nissam. She knew that. But was her tone like that because of the voice she was conveying it with, or was it just something she hadn't noticed when she heard herself speak before? "If you're not, I really don't want to hear you say goodbye or tell us that we're not supposed to say anything. I know that, and I'm sure Les does too."

Megara had been there to apologize, among other things, but now, childish as it was, she didn't want to.

Les was still staring at her, his every emotion so open on his face she didn't even have to feel them to know what they were. Hurt, confusion, regret, and so, so many questions she had no intention of answering.

Megara pushed down her petty reservations and bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Runi," she said.

Les blinked, "Runi?"

Runi stared.

Her first instinct had been to react to the apology. She wasn't sure how she would have reacted - if she would have berated her, accepted the apology, or done something else. She didn't know.

But she didn't get a chance to figure it out.

Because then her name registered.

And she realized that Les was awake enough to recognize that it wasn't the name that she had given.

Runi's eyes widened in horror, and she turned several shades paler.

Megara looked up to see Runi looking very much paler than she had before, and Les looking a deal more confused.

She put the pieces together rather quickly.

"Your name isn't Darian?" he asked Runi.

"Darian is a terrible alias," Megara commented off-handedly, fully aware she was probably making it worse.

Les buried a hand in his curls, not making his hair look any better. "Wait..." he trailed off, his head apparently no entirely clear of its grogginess, "Why do you..." he gestured to Runi. "And you..." he turned that gesture on Megara. His confusion wasn't going away.

"Runi isn't my kind of criminal, if that's what you're worried about," Megara said, apparently unhelpfully if Les's face was anything to go by.

"I'm not any kind of criminal!" Runi protested, frantically waving her hands about in denial. She wanted to shoot Megara a look at her carefree reveal, but Runi knew that wasn't going to really help her out that much. "And Darian is a good alias! The beginning of it kind of sounds like my name. And I couldn't say my name, even though it was Jason who had met your family before, because Darunia sounds like a girl's name."

She took a deep breath and glanced between the two siblings.

"And I was going to say the truth at some point, once we decided the three of us would team up, but then there wasn't really a chance to between you being alive and Les asking me to sleep here. So, yeah! Darian Blackthorne is a really good, really justified alias, given the circumstances!"

Megara just shook her head, stifling a chuckle as she dismissed the topic. It really wasn't worth debating.

Les, meanwhile, seemed a lot more hung up on it, "Wait, you're...you...so you're not a criminal," he said, his face contorting as he visually tried to piece this incomplete puzzle together, "And she is," he gestured at Megara, then back at Runi, "And you know each other....wait...." he looked down at his lap, looking like he was trying to solve complex math without scratch paper.

Megara rolled her eyes.

"We met at a dance," Runi helpfully said. In retrospect, it wasn't really that helpful - she didn't explain what the dance was, or where it had even happened. But it did explain how they could meet regardless of the whole criminal background thing, and she thought was the most important part.

Runi plopped herself down on the end of his bed.

Les still looked very confused.

"Runi, can we please talk outside? Alone," Megara requested. This conversation was nothing but a retreading of old ground. Too many explanations to someone who didn't need them. If all went well, he wouldn't ever see her again. She shouldn't give him enough information to try.

Runi blinked.

"Uh, sure," she said. She gave Les an awkward smile as she got back to her feet. "I'll be right back - then I promise I'll, uh, explain everything? I really need to text Lucifer..."

Les was not getting any less confused, "What...who.....?"

Megara rolled her eyes again, "It's not important," she said to Les, then turned to Runi, "Please be quick about it. I have things to do tonight thanks to you." She did have to get back to Eddie as soon as possible, and that was what she had meant, but she couldn't help thinking about the festival. About Runi.

They'd kissed twice now, she reasoned, even as her cheeks got hot, it wasn't unreasonable that she would think...Today was a festival celebrating the god of love, among other things...

She ducked her head, partially hiding behind the false-locks of dark hair in a ruse she hoped would be mistaken for an extension of her apology as she tried to fight back her blush.

Runi gave Les one last look before finally going over to Megara's side. She still wasn't sure what to think of their conversation - and of the apology. But if Megara really was going to leave, she couldn't risk Eddie and her getting in trouble because she took too long to listen.