Too young for war

Chapter 4

"Nazeera you have to let me come—" I tell her desperately.

"Absolutely not, you're staying here. You need to get some sleep," She tells me, "you look exhausted Elena, we'll be back soon." And then she starts walking.

"no—" I tell her trying to find something to say, but I know I would only make it harder to save both Juliette and Aaron if she would let me come.

But still, I want to help, I want to see if he's okay, I can't sit here and wait!

"Elena, we won't be long." Kenji tells me with a sympathetic look on his face.

I know I look terrible right now, I haven't slept at all, and that's when Nazeera says:

"we don't have much time Elena, I'm sorry, but I promise I'll find him. try to get some sleep while we are gone, ok?"

she hold my shoulders and I look down. I nod two times before I sit down at one of the seats. Im resting my head against the wall, as I lay my feet across the other seat.

I dry my tears with my hand before closing my eyes. I need to see Aaron, and I need to see him okay.

Juliette's pov

"Kenji." I say.

"I understand where you're coming from, kid, I swear. But we can't afford to stay here and get caught . If they're not back here in five minutes, we have to go."

"Then you'll have to leave without me."

"No way, not an option," he says, getting to his feet. "I don't want to do this any more than you do, but I know Nazeera well enough to know that she can handle herself out there, and if she's not back yet, it's probably because she's waiting for a safer moment. She'll find her way. And you have to trust that she'll bring Warner back with her. Okay?"

"No."

"C'mon—"

"Kenji, stop." I get to my feet, too, anger and heartbreak colliding.

"Don't do this," he says, shaking his head. "Don't force me to do something I don't want to do. Because if I have to, I will tackle you to the floor, J, I swear —"

"You wouldn't do that," I say quietly. The fight leaves my body. I feel suddenly exhausted, hollowed out by heartache. "I know you wouldn't. You wouldn't make me leave him behind."

"Ella?"

I turn around, a bolt of feeling leaving me breathless. Just the sound of his voice has my heart racing in a way that feels dangerous. The jarring shift from fear to joy has my head pounding, delirious with feeling. I'd been so worried, all this time, and to know now—
He's unharmed.

He pulls me into his arms.

"Aaron, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

I feel him stiffen.

He pulls away, staring at me with strange, scared eyes.
"Why would you say that?" He looks around wildly, glances at Kenji, who only shakes his head.

"What happened, love?" He pushes the hair out of my eyes, takes my face in his hands. "What are you sorry for?"

Nazeera pushes past us.

I hear her voice in the speakers overhead, her crisp, certain commands filling the plane.

She tells us to take our seats and get strapped in and I stare at Warner just once more, promising myself that we'll have a chance to talk.

Warner's pov:

I look around the plane to see Elena leaning her head against the wall, she's asleep, but I can tell she hasn't been for long.

Her cheeks are all red, her hair is messy and she looks exhausted.

I try to walk over to her, but suddenly Kenji stops me.

"no way, you are not waking her up, nope." Kenji tells me. "excuse me?" I say getting irritated.

"sorry dude, but she needs to sleep. you have no idea how hard it was to convince her to sleep. How do you do it? She seems hard to convince" he says.

"maybe because I'm her brother?"

we have to take our seats now, as the plane will take off in just seconds, so that's what we do, and in the end, Ella ends up sleeping in my arms.

Her face is smooth, free from pain and tension. She looks peaceful. She looks beautiful.

My love.

My beautiful love.
Her eyes flutter open and I worry, for a moment, that I might've spoken out loud. But then she looks up at me, her eyes still soft with sleep, and I bring my hand to her face, this time trailing my fingers lightly along her jaw. She closes her eyes again. Smiles.

Then suddenly I hear some call my name.

Elena is not asleep anymore, I can only see her feet dangle from the seat, but then she stands up and I can see her clearly.

Her eyes filled with tears as she says: "I though they would hurt you—"

And my heart breaks for her. How she might have felt when I was gone.

I see Ella waking up now too, and as soon as she sees Elena, she gets up.
smiles a tired smile.

I see Elena smile as more tears builds up in her eyes.

"ella—" she says almost running over to her.

Elena is tired, I can see that, her hair is messy, cheeks are red and her eyes watery.

Suddenly Elena sits in the middle of us, which makes it a little cramped, but I don't mind.

This moment is worth all of it, because Elena is already talking to Ella, ignoring me for a second before turning to me.

she smiles.

<3