Trust Is Fragile | Rayla X OC!Reader | Dragon Prince Fanfiction

Chapter 29: Good News

I walked down the steps and back inside. Once I walked inside, Rayla instantly stopped sharpening her blade with a knife and stood up with a smile. "Well? Did you get him to teach you any neat sky spells?" She put up her fists into a fighting stanch and punched the air. "Tornado punch! Lightning lash!" She stood up straight and placed her index fingers on the sides of her nose. "Storm sneeze?"

I let out a weak chuckle, holding both of my arms as I walked up to her. "No, he didn't teach me anything." I glanced away from her and down at the floor and let my arms fall to my sides. "But he, uh, did have some advice." I paused and then looked back up at her. "He says we should leave."

"Leave?"

"I think... he might be right. Every choice that we made so far has been to keep Zym safe.. So, maybe leaving is the right thing to do." Rayla crossed her arms and looked away from me.

"Yes. I agree." I sighed and went to turn around and walk off. "Okay, I'll let the others know."

"But... I'm not going with you." My whole world froze for a second before I turned back around towards Rayla. "What?" I spoke so softly I thought that maybe Rayla didn't hear me, but she did.

"You, Ezran, and Callum should take Zym, but I can't leave. All of this happened because my parents ran away, so I have to stay and defend the Dragon Queen."

I felt like breaking apart at her words. She felt like it was an obligation for her to stay. Despite it all she still wanted to make things right for herself even if it was all ready going well. She couldn't see how we were all okay and not one of us thought badly about her. I didn't understand..

"But you can't face an entire army by yourself, you'll..." My voice trailed off as I gently held her by the shoulders. The word got caught in my throat, it felt too painful to say out loud. Her eyes didn't meet mine at first, they glanced away and then reluctantly looked to me. I could feel my eyes watering as I desperately searched for some kind of sign that this was a sick joke being played. I couldn't find it anywhere in her eyes though.

"Die?" She finished my sentence, easily reading my thoughts. "Probably." She shrugged and turned away, my arms falling limply to my sides as I watched her. She held her hands over her heart as she continued. "But if I die, I'll just be paying the price they should've paid a long time ago." She slipped the necklace Ethari gave her over her held and held the rope in her hands as she stared down at it.

"Just... remember me, okay?" She walked over and placed the necklace over my head. This was unbearable. This was worse than having to figure out what happened to Isla. She gently ran her hand over the opal before coming closer to me, her eyes holding the same amount of pain. Her hand reached up and gently cupped my cheek.

"Goodbye, Zaira.." She placed a gentle kiss on my lips. It was sad and carried lots of emotion, this was her goodbye. It was her way of saying that this would most likely be the last time I ever saw her. She pulled away and looked into my eyes before pulling me into a tight embrace. I felt a few tears slip as she puled and walked past me.

"So that's it.." My breaking voice stopped her as I looked down at the opal. I turned around towards her, her back facing me. "You're just going to say goodbye to us after everything? To what? Pay a debt that you don't owe? Rayla, this isn't fair! It won't make things better trust me."

Rayla's posture grew tense as she looked back at me, staring into my misty eyes. "It's not just that, Zaira. It's more than that. It goes deeper." I felt myself growing angry at this.

"Fine, is it to prove your parents didn't run? To show you're worthy of being here? Rayla, it doesn't make sense. This isn't your fault." I argued.

"Please, Zaira, this is about who I am."