Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟘⋆˚✿˖°

"You want to talk? Let's talk."

Ao'nung looked down at Ni'la as she gave him the harshest glare she could muster. She truthfully didn't want to talk to Ao'nung, but she also didn't want her father or brothers grueling him either. Ni'la cared about Ao'nung. She had feelings for him, so while his words hurt, she couldn't ignore him, even if she wanted to.

If she chose to ignore him, no one would blame her, but she was trying to be the bigger person. There were two sides of the girl that were fighting for dominance. One part of her told her to break things off with Ao'nung, and never talk to him again. The other part told her to understand where he was coming from.

The Metkayina boy had lived a peaceful life before she and her family came. He was scared, and he was lashing out because the Sky people had hurt someone from another clan, looking for her family.

Of course, it didn't justify him yelling at her for something she had no control over, and she would be sure to tell him how much of an asshole he truly was at that moment.

"But Ni'la-" Lo'ak went to argue, but as Ni'la shifted her gaze from Ao'nung to Lo'ak, the boy quickly clamped his mouth as his shoulders slumped in defeat. The look on her face was the same one she always had when her mind was made up of something.

"Let's go, Ao'nung," Ni'la said, walking past her family and Ao'nung.

Ao'nung quickly chased after her as they walked aimlessly in silence. Neither of them knew where they were going, the only thing Ni'la knew was that she needed to make sure her family wouldn't eavesdrop.

So, she decided to walk towards the forest. It was secluded enough, and it also freaked Ao'nung out, which meant this was her way of getting payback.

"Where are we going?" Ao'nung murmured, and Ni'la tilted her head to look at him from the corner of her eye.

"The forest." She stated.

"But it's dark out," He said.

"It is? I had no idea," Ni'la said sarcastically, causing Ao'nung to glare at her before she stopped walking to look at him. "If you don't want to talk in the forest, then I guess we won't talk at all," She said, giving him an ultimatum.

The boy looked at Ni'la, and without a second thought, he walked past her toward the forest. He must have been really serious about talking to her if he was pushing aside his own fear of the forest. It honestly brought a small smile to Ni'la's face as she followed after Ao'nung.

As they walked further into the forest, Ni'la watched as Ao'nung flinched at the slightest sound, and she quickened her pace to walk beside him to provide some sort of comfort. Soon, they made it to an open area, and the girl walked over to sit down as she leaned against one of the rocks.

When she looked up at Ao'nung, she saw how he was contemplating where to sit, but before she could tell him that he could sit beside her, he sat in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Ao'nung apologized as he made eye contact with Ni'la. "I shouldn't have said anything to you about what those demons did. I wasn't supposed to hear the conversation anyway, and the only reason I did was because I was eavesdropping on my Dad," He informed.

"So, then why did you say all those things? Did you do it to hurt me? To make me feel bad about the fact that my family moved here, putting everyone at risk?" Ni'la questioned.

"I said those words because I was mad, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't mean to hurt you," He whispered.

"Well, you did hurt me."

"I know. I'm sorry, Ni'la. I wish I could go back in time and prevent that argument from happening," Ao'nung said, and Ni'la watched as he looked away from her as his ears went down. It was obvious that he felt horrible about what he'd done, but Ni'la wasn't sure if she was ready to forgive him.