XXVI.

Tears

"Are you crying?"

She looked over at the question, almost surprised that it came from him. For a moment, he almost looked like he was honestly sincere about it but it was brushed away and replaced with that ever kind of arrogant look he carried.

"Why would you ask me that?"

He hadn't expected that return question and found himself not entirely sure what to say next. Why did he seemingly give her the power to get this kind of control over him?

"I just… I thought I'd ask."

"You're horrible at giving answers."

"Well maybe if you gave me better questions." he remarked, more to himself than anyone else. "Nothing, I just… I thought something was wrong, that's all."

She supposed she couldn't hold it against him for caring. A low sigh escaped her as she leaned further back into the couch beneath her. "It's fine."

"Well as far as I can tell, everything here is fine; everything's running perfectly and so far, there hasn't been a single unannounced, unwanted visitor- although that is likely to change at any given moment." he remarked; crossing his arms now as he leaned in against the steady doorframe around him. "But then again, I didn't ask about how things here were going; I wanted to know about you."

Him and that damn logic of his.

"I'm fine, I promise."

"You don't look so sure about that."

"The more you ask me, the less sure I'll be." she replied. "Because you'll keep annoying me."

"Well that's lovely to know."

She felt his eyes on her linger for a bit before he slowly pushed himself from the doorway and walked back out into the corridor; leaving her to her own presence and silence once more. Normally she enjoyed this kind of solitude but now… now she wasn't so sure. Things were happening and changing all at once, she had lost her footing a few times and found herself at the very beginning of it instead of the end. She had never predicted something like this would happen but then again… sometimes she enjoyed the unexpected. Sometimes a surprise now and then seemed healthy.

And sometimes… sometimes she just wanted things to be normal again. Not that she really even knew what that was from the start.

She carefully reached up to massage the small space between her eyes; surprised at the light hint of liquid on her fingertips. She really was crying, wasn't she?

Why?