Title: Learning To Hunt
Chapter: Section 17
Fandom: The Tribe
Author: PinkTribeChick
Summary: Sometimes, love is just right under your nose . . .
Extended Summary: An alternate-universe Series 4 romance story, from the point of view of Pride, Jack, and an original female character.
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Jack-Original Female Fiction Character, Pride-Original Female Fiction Character, Jack-Ellie, and Bray-Amber, with a few mentions of other pairings.
Author's Notes: Massive thanks to Ariannya and Whit for their thoughts and proofreading on various sections over the years! Enjoy, and please review! Feedback is much appreciated!
Disclaimer: All characters, situations, and song lyrics remain the property of their respective owners. Any original characters are sole property of me, PinkTribeChick.
Learning To Hunt
Section 17
Pride quietly stepped out of his room, closing the door gently, so as not to wake the sleeping May. It was pouring outside now, with the wind angrily thrashing through the trees and making heaps of noise. He was hungry and finding it hard to sleep again with his mind being a rapidly rotating jumble of thoughts. He also wanted to check on Liliana, since her room was just down the hallway, near the kitchen. Amber had told him that Liliana had been upset earlier - nothing more than that, respecting Liliana's right to choose when and if she told Pride the truth. Pride was worried about her. She'd been acting so oddly since he'd returned from the city, with the Mall Rats in tow. It was like . . . somewhere in the time he'd been gone . . . things had changed between them. Which was weird, because he hadn't been there, so there was nothing specifically that had happened between them to cause a big change like that.
Maybe the changed had occurred simply because he had been away so long. People change and grow over time, and he knew that while he had been there every single day to see her, those changes weren't evident, because they were subtle and because he was changing as she changed. And since he'd been away, he'd not been there to for the subtle day-to-day growth, so when he came back, she seemed very different. The thing was . . . he was different, too. He felt different, and he looked at the world in an completely alternate way than he had when he'd been living with the Gaians before. He was a lot less naive about the ways of the world and how cruel people could be to one another. He no longer carried the idealistic vision that he could change the world, make it better, simply by teaching others to go back to the earth, depend on it and be one with it. His concept of love had altered as well.
Watching Amber and Bray together, how much they loved each other, and how hard they had fought just to be together, one couldn't help but be affected by it. They had a rare kind of love - real love. The sort of love that Pride's mother had always told him about. She would always quote the Bible to him and remind him of it every time he would go out on a date with a girl, but she brought it up mostly when he would talk to her about Liliana and the things they did when they were hanging out together.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud . . . Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails . . ." (1 Corinthians 13:4 thru 8, NIV)
His mother lived her life by those and many other Bible verses. Pride's mother had always been a very religious woman, but she had never really pushed it on her children. She'd always told him that it was something he would come to in his own time. Not much of what she said over the years had stayed with him, but those words always had. The world he lived in now, he wasn't sure if there really was a God, and if so, if he even believed in him. But Pride did believe in those words. They were uplifting, especially now. He felt like the world had a chance to go on turning as long as there were people in the world who, like him, believed in that kind of love and looked for it. But more than that - if they showed that kind of love to every person they might come across. Pride only knew a few people who embodied that ideal. His mother had most definitely. Now, it was harder to find someone who did - but he saw it in Amber and Bray, in the way they looked at and spoke to each other, and how they interacted with other people. And he saw it in Liliana, as he always had. Liliana . . .
That was the other thing about his mother that still stuck with him. "I'm not really worried about the fact that you don't date much. I know you're going to end up marrying Liliana someday anyway. Why shop around when you know what you're going to get already?" she'd always told him when his father would chide him about not going on dates very often, and always opting to go to most of the school dances and parties with Liliana, "just as friends". His mother's incessant belief that he would marry Liliana had always made him cringe when he heard it, but now, it didn't seem so off the wall. Perhaps that's where the change between him and Liliana had occurred. Somewhere along the line, in growing up, they had both stopped looking at each other as just friends, and viewed each other as something more. But when had it happened, and was Liliana feeling it now at all? Maybe she'd been feeling it for longer than he had, and that was why things were so awkward right now? Pride sighed, rubbing his temples, as he started off down the hallway.
Opening his eyes again, he stopped cold in his tracks. Just a few feet away, Liliana stood outside of her room with Jack. They were kissing passionately, and obviously had not noticed he was there. Jack's arms were wrapped around Liliana, caressing her back gently. Liliana's hands were tangled up in Jack's hair as she kissed him. As she kissed Jack . . .
Pride's face twisted into an expression of hurt, mixed with disgust and anger, as he drew in a large breath and held it. He watched them as they pulled apart, and smiling, Liliana pulled Jack into her bedroom and shut the door. Closing his eyes again, he fought back the tears that were burning against his lids, as the rage and grief swelled around his heart, latching onto it like a mosquito to human flesh. His hands, which were hanging at his sides, balled up into tightly clenched fists, causing his knuckles to turn white. Finally, feeling dizzy, he let out his breath, breathing slowly. Unsure of what to do or say, part of him wanted to go and kick down the door to her room and beat the life out of Jack. But the other part of him told him to stay calm and remember that he had May, who loved him very much. And with his heart full of so much pain, yet so much love at the same time, the latter part won out.
He promptly turned and stormed back down the hall to his own room. Throwing the door open loudly, he woke up May. She rubbed her eyes, looking at him in bewilderment, as the rain outside began to pour harder.
"Pride, what is it?" she asked. He didn't say anything, just stared hard at her. Then he shut the door and ran over to the bed, pouncing on her gently. She giggled as he began to kiss her, tearing off her clothes, as he pretended that she was the one he cared about and wanted more than anything in the world. Lying to her once more, if only to ease his own pain for a little while . . .
That's all for now, folks! Thanks again for reading, now please go and tell me what you thought of what you read! I love reviews – they keep me going! Toodles until later . . .