The next day dawned gloomy, dark clouds hung over the sky. "As gloomy as my soul," thought Flan miserably. Carefully he bandaged up his arms, and pulled a tight black shirt over his head. Looking in the mirror, he flattened his hair down over his face, partially to hide his eyes from the still bright (to him) sunlight. He scowled at his own reflection, contorting his onyx skin and showing his teeth, narrowing his pure red eyes. It was the face simply begging to be hated, a face that no one had truly loved since he was born. Of course there were those who "loved" him a little too much, back then... He tried to push the unpleasant thoughts from the forefront of his mind, but his train of thought continued. That was probably why he pushed everyone away, why he was so afraid to love now. That was probably why last night... He forced himself to stop there. He couldn't obsess over what happened with Pyras. It was time to move on. Time to stop thinking about her and her beautiful short choppy red hair, and her piercings, and her red lips, and- NO! He shook his head. He had always been alone. He was meant to be alone.
The clouds reflected grey in Pyras' eyes as she looked out towards the town, her eyes not even taking in the scenery. Was she really that hateable? That even the person who she thought she had something in common with, who was hurting, who she reached out to, rejected her completely. What was wrong with her? Why could no one ever care about her? Tears welled up in her eyes and fell down her cheeks, streaming her eye makeup in dark streaks down her face.
"I hate myself!" she choked out bitterly. "Why couldn't I have been born beautiful and loveable like Lueali?" Everyone wanted the stupid elf. Hell, a few days ago, she had wanted the elf. But she had been rejected then, too! Why was she so repulsive? No one that she knew ever showed any interest, no one wanted to spend their time with her. Even Flan, even her fellow outcast turned down her company. "I must be the most horrible person in the world," Pyras thought. Standing and turning from the window, she gulped once, and headed for the door. It was time to meet the others for breakfast. She closed her eyes and stepped out... only to run right into Flan. She gasped in shock, and lowered her head, averting her gaze from his slim, attractive figure, accentuated by the form fitting shirt and pants that he wore.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" she stammered. Flan looked back up at her strangely, the edges of his mouth curling up into a scowl. "I didn't mean to..." The drow was silent for a moment and then looked up at her.
"Your eye make-up is running," he muttered. Embarassed, Pyras wiped away the black stains from her cheeks, and turned to walk fast down the hallway.
Flan sat at the table with the others, saying nothing and keeping his head down, looking up only through his hair. Felix didn't even look at him, too busy trying to strike up a conversation with Arinae to wish to talk to him. Arinae herself seemed to ignore this, showing off her chains to Autem and telling her all about the monsters she had killed with them. Autem nodded politely while eating her food. Drea and Lueali cuddled, their food almost completely ignored as they looked at each other with loving eyes. Granth looked at the couple stoicly, a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. Everyone was happy... everyone but Flan. And, he realized suddenly, Pyras. She sat alone at the end of the table, staring down blankly, her eyes looking angry and full of tears. He knew she had been crying, what with those streaks of makeup he had seen. His soul longed to connect with hers, he wished once again to tell her everything, but he couldn't bring himself to.
He was protecting her, he realized. He didn't want to place that burden on her, all the pain and sorrow that was in his heart. He wanted her to remain lighthearted... but look at her, she was anything but lighthearted. And what she had said last night, about being lonely... could she possibly feel as tortured as he? Perhaps he could be saving her if he only opened up his dark heart.
