She kept staring at the cellphone's display, most likely in disbelief – in hope that past events were just a nasty dream. She would call back. Yes, she would.
How pathetic. It has been hours since Fang left, the sport bag tossed over her shoulders hastily. Indeed, the Pulsian must have been in a hurry, trying to get away from this situation as fast as possible. And since she was gone, she had left Claire in a state of shock that made it impossible to move, to think – to say anything at all. All emotion was washed from the woman's face, her gaze glued on the display of her phone.
Why did she leave her?
The question was engraved in the deepest corners of Claire's mind. She blinked and visions blurred. They weren't compatible. Right? That's what Fang had tossed at her before she took off. She couldn't deal with the soldier's coldness, that invisible wall Claire rebuilt after her companion had managed to make it crumble and reveal all the raw, almost brutish emotions dwelling inside of her for far too long. All of it gushed down on both like a giant wave, turning their life into a daily challenge, a war that left both bleeding and wither away like plants without a hope to feel the rain that never came at all.
Champagne coloured hair fell into the soldier's face and hid any notable impulses like a veil. Her fingernails scratched off the phone's varnish, the clipping sound disturbed the silence.
Seriously… why? Why?
Claire's mind was paralysed. It didn't move back, couldn't go any further. Wasn't she supposed to call and… well, apologize?
What for?
Words didn't change anything at all. The Cocoonian felt like the victim in this tragic game where people would only lose and never win. She wasn't the one throwing herself around Fang's neck! It was the tall-grown, invincible and proud huntress coming at her and doing her best to break the wall, daring to look behind that controlled surface.
Well… today, Fang wasn't invincible. Not proud. She was broken, defeated. Claire couldn't stand to look at her any more. She couldn't tell if she was disgusted by that view or shocked. Yes. Shocked was the appropriate word. The Pulsian always had been strong. Even as she sacrificed herself. There was power, the feeling that she gave all she could give.
But then… tears.
"I can't go on like this."
Go on like this… Claire broke Fang. Not even Orphanus could do it. But she was able to. Slowly. There had been cracks in the woman's surface, and no matter how often both talked and tried to fix it, cracks couldn't be fixed.
The pride fell and showed a grimace the soldier didn't want to see, didn't want to remember. Tears didn't suit this powerful woman. And still…
Claire blinked once more. A single tear fell, dripped onto the display.
No message.
A second tear, another more.
The soldier sniffed and forced herself to stare at the ceiling with the tormented ghost of a smile.
They kept falling; and there was no way to stop them.