XxX
A week passed. Lyssa and Tala went back to their usual schedules. Kai recovered slowly, his body recovering from its first battle with an illness in a very, very long time. Then the fever left him weak, and his wounds healed poorly. Lyssa brought him as much food as she could. Unfortunately, it was from her food, and the food in the stash grew smaller with every other day or two. And all the while, Lyssa got thinner and thinner. Tala grew worried.
One day, when Lyssa's schedule placed her break at a different time than Tala's, he went to have a talk with Kai. Kai still lay in the bed; his arm would not fully heal yet. His leg was barely healing and kept bleeding anew. He sat with his back against the wall, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, his arm in a sling.
"Kai." Tala pulled up a chair and looked at Kai's face. "You've got at least to try to get better, to get better real soon.
We both know that Lyssa's a really tough girl, and that she can handle a lot, but we all have our breaking points. Lyssa's
on the verge of getting real sick, Kai."
"I don't want to live. I can't see why she wants me to live. If I could just die..." Kai didn't look at Tala.
"Shut up, Kai. Just shut up and listen." Tala ran a hand through his hair. His eyes continued to look at Kai. "You know as well as I that Lyssa liked you better. She always did."
Kai looked sharply at Tala. The older boy didn't meet his gaze.
"She's trying real hard to get you better. You've seen how she looks now. And you'd better be glad because Lyssa could have turned you into your damn grandfather and he hates what you've become. Your fucking pride."
Kai blanched. It wasn't like Tala to curse. (He really is angry.) Kai thought.
"I don't want to see Lyssa hurt herself for your sake. Once you were worth that sacrifice, but now, I'm not so sure.
"So, Kai, if you care enough about Lyssa. you'll want to get better, for her, at least. She was really hurt when...when it happened. This is the least you could do for her."
Kai looked steadily at Tala, who eventually looked back at him. Then he whispered, "Tala. You can't...you're not...strong enough..." Suddenly, Kai's eyes closed shut in pain, and he was unconcious.
Tala left promptly after that. He knew what Kai meant. But he WAS strong enough. He WOULD control it and show Lyssa that HE was the stronger of the two. He walked quickly down the hall to meet his group. When he passed a familiar hallway, he stopped and hesitated. The guards usually in the hallway were gone. Tala looked down it longingly at the door at the end. Coming to a decision, he turned into the hallway and walked down to the door. He opened the door and snuck inside.
XxX
Lyssa looked over at Tala's group. He wasn't there, so she went over to the boys as soon as her own group was busy with a training exercise.
"Alfred, where's Tala?" she asked one of the boys.
"He didn't come back after the bell."
Lyssa turned right around after telling the boys to join her group. She would find Tala. And she would finally learn why he'd turned secretive. Why he'd become less of a brother and more like a stranger.
XxX
Love and Hate
I love her,
Just as you do.
I hate you,
Now, more than ever.
Why did you go and ruin our lives?
What does it look like
Through your eyes?
The bond of trust
Breaks, all around us.
Shattering into oblivion.
Take her hand and come back to her.
Or you'll regret it
And I'll never forgive.
The ring of love and hate.
XxX
Well, read on, please! The next chapter's up, so read that first before reviewing. Thanx!
Frostt: Thank you very much for the review! I think I've given a bit more detail (I just wrote it, really, so I hadn't gone back and edited it). I think that the way the abbey looks should be left up to the imagination. I can't really describe it very well anyway (unless I copied it from writers who are much better than myself at writing fan fiction!).