just a little late-night drabble, since everything is frustrating me atm.
~o:O:o~
"Alyona."
The Huntress sat unmoving upon the mossy boulder, her helmet laying beside her and her blonde locks stirring in the night breeze. Her Ghost, Libra, rested on her shoulder rather than floating beside her or phased out as he normally was. Alyona sat ridgedly, pointedly ignoring Shin with tight shoulders and a straight back. She wasn't quivering anymore, so he assumed she had stopped crying.
He'd never heard her cry before—rather, he'd never seen her cry before, since her tears had been utterly silent—and the scene had unnerved him beyond belief. Alyona was a strong woman, and one he highly respected. He didn't hold much respect for many, these days. Why he had been so unnerved when she'd cried, though...that had discomforted him, to say the least.
He decided he didn't like it. He'd put in the effort to keep her happy in the future.
Shin sighed and climbed onto the boulder to sit beside her, pulling her close in an attempt to calm her down. Her face was flushed and her nose quite red from her tears. She turned away from him. He pulled off his gloves and nudged her with a quiet sigh in a sorry attempt to get her attention. She didn't respond.
"What's bothering you?" he asked quietly after a few moments more, breaking the disturbing silence between them. Her lips tightened into a thin line at the question, and she pulled her knees up to her chest. No response he could work with, to be less than eloquent.
He sat silently beside her rather than continue prodding. She, too, remained silent, resting her chin on her knees. Her eyes drifted up to the night sky once again, unpolluted and equally silent as the two Guardians. Luna was only a sliver in the sky above, leaving the forest bathed in starlight. The stars themselves were particularly brilliant, shining onto their small world like fireflies in the mist.
Some stars bore a light that man would never walk under, he mused. Some secrets would never be revealed, some things never known to any, some feelings left bottled up forever in a false hope to preserve them. Do men keep secrets out of fear of man, or out of fear itself?
Ah, he was getting philosophical again. He shifted just enough to wrap his arm around the woman beside him, pulling her close in an attempt to offer comfort. She did not respond, only allowed him the action as she leaned into him. Her eyes were still damp.
She sighed quietly into his chest, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall. He squeezed her shoulder gently, eyes still locked on the scene above.
"Cayde was my best friend," she murmured quietly.
He fell still, his gaze dropping to her huddled form. She continued on shakily.
"He was a brother, even. Hell if we weren't bound by blood."
Shin nodded silently in understanding, squeezing her gently once more. They'd both lost family that day.
Hell if he wouldn't stand by her through the darkest night of them all.