Everyone Wants A Lethal Girlfriend [Apex Legends, Wraith Harem Series]

[ ch 32. reset ]

A/N- Finally another update! 2.3k words!! Still managing a crazy life but everyday gets better. Thanks for reading, enjoy. ❤️🙌🏼

edit - typos!

// the greenhouse, continued

I was staring not at the girl of my past as I knew her, but a stranger; she's grown and entirely unaware of me. My face grew increasingly heated, plunged in red. It was stupid, having all those memories at once and just... falling apart openly to them. I was genuinely dumbfounded. What should I have done? I shouldn't have said anything-- or did I say the wrong things? A thick shroud of self-doubt pounds in my head, causing a deep ache I didn't know I could feel. Natalie's cautious cobalt eyes make flinching movements to watch my features, my unfolding reaction. 

"I'm sorry," I whisper to the tall blonde woman, my posture closing as one of my arms cross over my stomach, and the other raises to stroke my lower jaw. My gaze struggles to look up at her as I chuckle faintly, fighting my throbbing confusion. "I don't know how to explain--.." My gaze wanders away from her. I couldn't tell how well I was hiding my disappointment. But I could definitely guess not well at all. Even Alexander's typical coldness offers a softer grunt, reminding me that he was still here. I look to the large leather-coated scientist and find a sympathetic, half-lidded gaze behind his googles. Almost gentle.

Honestly, I felt mildly disgusted by it.

Familiar, weighty and clanking footsteps seem to draw behind me. "Wraith! Are you alright?" Pathfinder beeps with nearly cutting cheerfulness. My look towards Alexander grows harsher, but not entirely directed at him.  Directed at no one, actually, except my frustration with my own life. True anger starts to boil inside as I realize how close I am to my past, but--again-- it escapes.

Natalie still stares. Actually, everyone is staring at me. I try not to allow my pale face to heaten again. "How do you know me?" her accent rolls softly.

The pressure of her question is taken away from me. "Uhh, who doesn't know ya, Nat?" I feel a warm, careful hand on my shoulder, and look up to Elliot, relieved for a moment. Natalie relaxes too, an amused smile on her lips. The tanned man says brightly, "Then again, less people nowadays, eh, missy? Where ya been hiding?!" He gives a friendly but disbelieving gesture at her. "You weren't at the Gala last season. I mean, c'mon! We don't care if you don't compete. You're our little Ring architect." Something about his tone of voice seemed big-brotherly, making me smile with amusement.

Natalie chuckles but the towering Pathfinder quickly agrees with a whirling pupil, "What made you absent? Do the parties get boring? At my first Gala, I thought it would be boring because nobody dies. But I was very wrong! Attention is fun!!" Natalie lets out a melodious laugh as Caustic squints at Path faintly. I smile, amused. Either way, even Path seems to recognize the woman's reputation, but I hadn't ever heard of her.

"You enjoy the simple things in life, Path!~" she giggles approvingly. Her stance shifts slightly, her arms crossing as a relaxed smile rests on her lips. Maybe it was her accent, but she always seemed to speak her first phrases quickly, and slow down for the rest of her sentences. "It's not too strange to miss out on a season; we've all got lives to attend to." It wasn't really an answer to Path's question, but as a silence began to hang, it felt like she was doing that intentionally.

I pipe up. "So. Ring architect?"

Natalie smiles a bit wider, pearly white teeth gleaming now. "Oui. Papa and I spent many years constructing the Ring's barrier technology together." Suddenly, her smile takes a more mischevious twist as she glances between me and Elliot. "I honestly can't tell if nothing or if everything is different about you, Mirage. You seem so much more..." She gestures vaguely to the man, "...fat!"