"Hey, Allen?"
He looked up above his book to the soft voice that called him. Though 'deep in thought', 'pondering' and 'speculative' would never, ever describe Raven, right now, those were the words that came to Allen's mind when he looked at her, studying her fraying shoelaces. Tender too. That was rarely seen, either.
"Yeah?"
"Does it hurt?" At first, Allen didn't understand. Did what hurt? "When you activate it, does it hurt?"
He got it now. His face softened, matching Raven's face of wondering. He wasn't exactly wondering, though. He knew. But why would he tell her? He never revealed anything to anyone, he wanted everyone to think that he was always happy, that nothing was wrong. But this…it was the same for all of them. And Raven…she just had this way about her. Allen knew he could tell her, and her thoughts about him would never change, her trust never wavered. Why was a mystery to everyone. She had that effect on everyone. "Yeah. It hurts."
They were silent for a bit, not looking at each other. This was one of those moments when Allen let his façade down. In something like this, he couldn't resist. When she spoke again, she sounded close to tears, and so quiet Allen barely caught it. "It's not fair, you know."
He glanced at her, questioningly. "What's not fair?"
"You're too young. All of you. None of you deserve what fate has delt to you." She finally turned her sapphire eyes to him. "It's not right."
Allen didn't know how to respond. Sure, he had known this for a long time, but when finally posed with the subject, he didn't know how to respond. He couldn't help but agree, though. "No, it's not."
They stared at each other for a long while, Raven seeming to be searching for something in the gray depths of Allen's eyes, searching for something behind all the lies, the stages, the performances made to make people feel better, as if she were trying to pull up the heavy velvet curtains hiding the truth of the play from the world. "How do you do it?" she asked finally.
"You've lived here for almost a year, Raven." he told her. Allen gave his sad smile. He knew it was false. She knew it was false. But sometimes a lie was better than the truth, right? "I think you already know the answer."
--
SHORT, EH?!
anywho. Critiques, plz! tell me how you like it!
DGM [c] Hoshino Katsura
Raven White [c] Me