A/N: Yep, this is a quickie. I know. But if I extended this, I found it'd be too awkward.
The one thing Lancer knew was that the shadows shrunk into noon. Whether or not Susie or any of the Lightners knew this, Lancer didn't know. But what he did know was how awkward this was, how grotesque, how much of a pansy he was. Susie's hand was resting, not quite patting, the top of his head. It was as if he was in infant. It was an anachronism. An aberration. Disgusting, unforgivable. Rouxls had taught him all of those words when he was old enough to be in elementary school, but there was nothing left to describe how churlish, how unmasculine this was.
Lancer craned his neck until he heard a benign popping sound. The bugs started to appear, dashing, dancing, prancing about across the grass. Susie, thank the Lord, wasn't staring at him or cooing at him. He knew he was beyond coddling. He knew it since… since… well, his brain couldn't backpedal that far.
She stared ahead into darkness, into a forest she might as well call her own. There were no animals to stare at her back; if there were, neither of them noticed. START EDITING HERE Ralsei and Kris… yes, Lancer had been aware of what was happening in the time he was under the veil of panic… had gone off into the woods without Susie after she swore, time and time again, to catch up with them. After seeing Susie run time and time again before, Lancer had to believe her.
"I swear," muttered Susie. Again and again and again. "I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear…"
"Swear what?"
She flinched towards Lancer, eyes wider than the peas he once ate for dinner as a child could ever hope to be. Susie sighed, took her hand off of his head, and sighed again, although not nearly as deep.
"Look. Look. I've been called dumb at school all the time. And I know, I guess. I mean, I can't get any topics down at school. And it's not like anyone wants to help someone who can't latch onto the topic. So… I just hang there, y'know? And…"
"Suze?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I've been rambling. Thing is… I had a feelin'. A really frickin' good one, too. And it just kept burning inside of me. I started thinkin', thinkin' a lot. And, well…
the belt was a test. You failed."
Lancer gasped, a quiet, astonished gasp, not loud enough for even the insects embedded in the ground to hear. Susie couldn't help but smile a toothless little smile.
Of course. Of course she would be this smart. She was Susie Williams, the girl who flew down from the Surface. The girl who could smell, could discern the workings of anyone's mind, all in a tramp's guise.
How couldn't she be this smart?
"I mean, Lance… I'm just gonna let it out here. I'm in a school where I see this stuff happen all the time. Their parents just aren't that good. They're actually pretty pathetic people, in fact. Most people… heheh, they think it's just an overreaction. But one trip to their house and I believe them. Man, I do. And… I'm not gonna lie to you, bud. I've been seeing the signs."
Lancer bit his lip, tilted his face straight down. It was only a lift from Susie's hand below his chin, cajoling it to where he met Susie's eyes once again. He was being too soft again. He shouldn't be this affectionate, especially with someone like her, someone with no royal blood flowing through her veins! He should've hidden it better. He should've ran further down the woods. Maybe he could have just kept it to himself… maybe…
No. They were having this conversation. Pandora's box had flown from the heights.
That's the way it was going to be.
That's the way it was going to be now.
"I mean, Lance… it's not just the bruises or cuts. Those are the biggies. But then, the not- so- obvious stuff starts. They start to cling towards anything other than going home. Christmas break and summer's gotta be hell for them, heh. They start to… know stuff, adult stuff they shouldn't know. Mostly cursing an' all of that. They start to ask people if they, y'know, did anything wrong even if they did perfect. They start to be afraid of everything, start to go out places they really shouldn't. I mean… you're doing fine, Lance, keepin' yourself safe and all."
Lancer refused the urge to look back down. Safe? Really?
"I swear… I swear…"
Lancer almost asked her, "Swear what?".
She looked back into the distance, back into the tree- covered veil. Back into her tangle of thorns, back in her own personal land no one could dare enter.
"I swear I'm gonna to get you the hell out of there, Lancer. Even if it kills me."