Target To Save

Chapter 3 - Part 2

"Ki." Ivalin nodded, and her shoulders dropped. "We had something like that. They told it to us when we Rouges and Serpent Verts. 'Go to bed or you'll be bait for the dogs.'" Ivalin paused, and a vague emotion raced through her face before it stilled back into the mask. "I mean, we didn't think they were telling the truth until Agent V6." The room was tense. Ivalin looked away. The knowledge that she should have known what a Yavic was, that in another universe she might have hid under the covers to hide from it, and not the real threat of punishment, burned.

"Yavic's aren't real." Jaizya's tone was slow and patient. Sadness tainted it, and it stung.

Ivalin's eyebrows furrowed. "But they inspire fear. It's the same principle."

Jaizya bit their tongue and their eyes flashed. Ivalin swallowed the bile that threatened to rise at her insurgent words. There was a moment of pause between the two of them. Jaizya's shoulders dropped. "Ivalin."

"Don't pity me." Ivalin enunciated each word very carefully. Her tone was dark, and she refused to push the anger away again. She was tired of kind looks, and carefully worded sentences. She was not a child.

Surprise crossed Jaizya's face. "I'm not."

"I'm not some tragedy." Ivalin snarled.

"I know that." Jaizya's tone raised, their hands shook, hurt crossed her eyes.

Ivalin barely heard her, the noise in her head pounded against her skull. "I'm not some victim you need to save."

Jaizya's hands shook. Their voice matched Ivalin's. "I know that."

"Do you?" Red washed her vision, her finger stabbed at Jaizya's chest, "Because you always seem to be forgetting."

"That's not fair, Ivalin. This is a new situation for both of us." Jaizya's voice lowered, their words careful, and it only fueled Ivalin. It poked at the crumbled corners of Ivalin's walls, her heart squeezed at the reminder that Jaizya hadn't wanted to take her in, not at the beginning. The room seemed to darken.
The world warped around Jaizya, and Ivalin felt sick. "Not fair? Not fair is never getting a choice where I'd like to go. To be passed down to some Micheal like a toy, only that toy keeps on messing everything up." Rage seeped into Ivalin's pores, "I was fine before you."

"I'm trying my best, alright? I was never perfect like you were." Tears escaped Jaizya's eyes, and they seemed to choke on their yell. Their hands tensed.

Ivalin's frustration broke. The isolation from the hallways of kids who wouldn't look at her, the anger that had been brewing since she broke away, the loud kids screaming in the hall boiled into some concoction that exploded "I don't want to be perfect. I hate the government, and the school. I hate this, I hate you." She hated herself.

Silence broke between them, Jaizya's eyes were moist, and fear shot through Ivalin. Pressure cackled in her ears, her mind was ice. Her words lingered in the air, and neither of them moved, too afraid of the conquinces. But Jaizya's jaw tightened, and then they took a shaky breath, rubbing their face.

And that was that.

Jaizya sighed, their voice slightly cracking, "How was school?" Jaizya turned around and rummaged through the faded fridge, and Ivalin watched, biting her lip. Shock ran through her nerves, she hadn't meant to hurt her, but she didn't dare to speak about her outburst. Not while it was still fresh.

Swallowing, Ivalin tried to focus on the question, "I met the target." Phantom pain raced down Ivalin's back, but there was no reason to submit to punishment. She knew this, but the urge to brace for the stings of Mère's anger tugged at her fingertips.