Ivalee blinked her eyes opened and glanced around the room. She was in her bed in her room, right next to the other God-Generals' rooms. Her head hurt like crazy, and her right arm felt as if it was on fire. What happened? She thought to herself. Come to think of it, she never even remembered going to bed...
There was a knock on the door. Ivalee rubbed her eyes and sat up. She was wearing her usual outfit, long black pants with a dark blue shirt with short sleeves, grey gloves and matching high heels.
"Are you awake?" The person behind the door demanded.
"Mmm…" She was still half asleep and wasn't exactly expecting company. The door opened up, with Sync standing at the door. The second he was within sight, her arm flared up.
"Grab your bag and let's go." He stated. Ivalee stretched her arms up in the air for a second before standing up. She ignored the pain in her right arm.
"Why? Where're we going?"
"We're going to go to Grand Chokmah."
"Oh…Why?" He shot her an icy glare, making her uncomfortable. She wasn't going to get an answer from him anytime soon. Ivalee rushed to pack some clothes into her item bag, throwing a few gels and bottles. Her hand reached out to grab her notebook and pencil, but Sync appeared out of nowhere behind her and beat her to it. Her breath hitched. Sync flipped through, scanning the pages. His eyes met her frightened look.
"What is this?" He questioned.
"Um, nothing," She replied quickly, swiping the book from his hands. His curious expression didn't leave her face. Ivalee stuffed the items in the bag and looked back up at him. Again, he made her uncomfortable. Not to mention that his face was only a half a foot away. Her heart started to beat faster as minutes ticked by, and yet Sync did not letting his gaze drop.
He finally moved, swiftly leaving the room. She followed him, not paying attention to her blazing arm.
--
The carriage rocked back and forth over the rough stones. Sync's vision drifted next to him and he watched Ivalee stare at her hands, like she did on the boat ride earlier. She hadn't said a word since they left her room back in Daath.
Her head tilted slight sideways towards the window. It was opened halfway, letting the breeze fill the little space they had. The scenery passed by, though he didn't know why Ivalee hadn't mentioned something about how it wasn't the road to Grand Chokmah. Then the thought occurred to him that she hadn't been out of the holy city more than five times. Twice with him, excluding this one, and another with Van once. She might have traveled with Legretta one time while he was away, but he couldn't remember for sure.
The wheel ran over a large stone, tipping Ivalee over and onto his lap. Unlike her, he was as steady as the stone they ran over. She had never really been ready for unexpected things. Her cheeks turned red from embarrassment and she sat up immediately, not looking at him. Sync continued to gaze at her, before he caught himself inching closer. He quickly and discreetly moved back to the opposite end of the carriage, silently berating himself. And for once, his cheeks turned light pink.
"Sorry," The man driving the carriage apologized. They were almost to their destination, so lucky for him, he didn't have to suffer for long. Pretty soon, it'd be Ivalee suffering. Though, the thought didn't seem to make him want to smirk like usually. Was he actually…caring for her? Sync shook his head, because it wouldn't matter if he cared for her or not, as long as Van's plan worked out.
It halted abruptly, almost knocking Ivalee over. She glanced outside before looking back at him.
"This isn't Grand Chokmah," She stated. Her eyes narrowed. He honestly didn't think it would take her that long to figure out that they weren't headed to Grand Chokmah. Sync opened the door and slid out. Ivalee followed in suit, meeting him behind the stagecoach.
"What are you trying to do?" Ivalee hissed. He pulled the two bags from out of the trunk and handed hers to her. She snatched it away from him, still glaring.
"I'm not trying to do anything," Sync replied. She relaxed, though her posture stiffened as he continued: "Well, to say that I'm not succeeding in doing something would be a lie."
"Where are we going?!" Ivalee shouted as they walked away from the wagon.
"Where I'm going and you're going are two different places."
"What are you talking about?!" He whipped around, clenching his fists.
"You're going to face the consequences while I'm going to head back to Daath!" Sync glared straight into Ivalee's suddenly terrified eyes. He was losing his temper again, wasn't he? Taking a deep breath, he continued down the path, dragging Ivalee with him. Calm down, he constantly reminded himself. But he didn't notice her wince when he grasped her right wrist.
She didn't struggle like she usually would have. Odd… Glancing back, he realized that she was still pretty freaked out by his outburst. The urge to say sorry appeared, but he pushed it back; God-General Sync the Tempest does not say sorry.
"Sync," Ivalee whispered. "are you okay?" She obviously hadn't seen him this angered in a while. And she wouldn't see him much longer since he was dropping her off, then heading back. It'd better if he never saw her again. Better for her, better for him. He couldn't care for anyone, and no one could care for him. In the end, it wouldn't matter. None of it.
"Yea," he replied. Hmm…not really, but she'll live…hopefully. As long as Van doesn't do anything irrational…
They arrived at Kaitzur and went ahead on in. Ivalee had relaxed, though he still refused to let go of her hand. He tried to convince himself that it was because that he didn't want her running away, but failed miserably. Either way, she didn't seem to mind…much.
His eyes found the building that he was supposed to be taking Ivalee to; where Van was. It was as if bricks were strapped to the bottom of feet as he made his way over to it. Every step, every movement…became harder.
At the moment they were in front of the door, he wished Ivalee would put up a fight. He wished she would just run and leave, trying to slip out of his grasp like she did back in Daath. But to his dismay, she didn't.
The door opened before he could knock, and the moment he'd been wishing wouldn't happen, was right there. Two seconds away. Van nodded to Ivalee before motioning for Ivalee to come in. She did so, and he let her wrist slide between his fingers. Van looked back to him, but Sync made no movement to join them. He silently shut the door, seeing that Sync didn't want to stay.
He turned away emotionlessly. It took more effort than ever before to force his legs to move forward. And when he was a few feet away, he heard her yelp loudly. It took every ounce of will power to not go back and rescue her from that nightmare. But he couldn't. He couldn't turn around…Not now, not ever…
Author's Note: Sad, isn't it? Or maybe not. I dunno, it's your opinion. Please R&R!