Thanks to Bloodrayne666, the creator of Pandora and Kemeko, for her aid and input on this chapter.
Chapter 5
Heart Laid Bare
As the movie progressed, the teens watched with joyful horror, along with excited shock, jumping and squealing any time they reached the really scary parts.
Currently, they watched the scene were a wardrobe was opened, revealing a girl that had been killed in the beginning of the movie, sitting there, her face rotten and warped.
"Yaahh! I'd forgotten that scene!" Sonia cried out.
"Oh Gods, I remember that part!" said Loki.
"Is it over yet!?" Kemeko asked, covering her eyes with her hands.
Freya, meanwhile, shrieked and threw her arms around Pandora, holding the hybrid close.
"Whoa there Freya? You scared of some silly movie?" Pandora chuckled. "You're supposed to be a fearless Valkyrie!"
"I'm still in training!" Freya objected, still holding her grip on Pandora, not releasing it until well after the scene had ended, as with those before it, and those yet to come. But even then, she still kept her arms around the hybrid until the movie was over.
Some time later, Sonia turned off the TV and DVD player.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I will be sleeping with a light on tonight."
"Me too." said Kemeko, as she and the others started to clean up after the movie. "I hope I don't get any nightmares from this."
"Ah, it was not so bad." Pandora scoffed.
"Really? Is that why you shrieked like a banshee near the end, and held on to my sister for dear life?" Loki asked with a smirk.
Pandora blushed at the retort.
"I, um, I was just… really into the movie, and, um… I didn't want Freya to get too scared. Yeah."
The others laughed softly at Pandora's attempt to save face.
Freya, on the other hand, had her mind on other things, specifically she thought back on the event in question. On how Pandora had held her so close, and how good the embrace had felt.
Those thoughts, along with others, would remain even after the others had gone to bed.
In her and Loki's room, she laid in her bed, thinking about it, about the beach trip, what she had read in the magazines. And every time that her thoughts came to Pandora, they lingered there, and her heart beat faster and hotter.
Going over everything and adding it up, she finally had clear answer.
"I am in love." she whispered softly. "I am in love with Pandora."
There was no doubt about it, but it did bring up a new question.
"But… what do I do about it?"
As before, she had no answer about it, and before sleep overtook her, she figured she should check the magazines again the next day.
Freya's night was not filled with nightmares, but with pleasant dreams.
Dreams of Pandora.
They would be running through the woods. Swimming in the lakes. Flying among the clouds.
All of them together, hand in hand, and Freya's heart soared like never before.
She then found herself standing under the starry sky, the full moon bringing a soft light to the beautiful field where she and Pandora stood together, arms around each other, looking into each other's eyes.
They both leaned closer, their lips nearly meeting for the first time…
Freya's eyes snapped open. She was back in her bed, in her and Loki's room, and her body told her that she needed to use the bathroom very soon.
With a pool of disappointment in her chest from having been woken up from the lovely dreams, she sighed as she got up. But as she walked to the bathroom, she felt that she had still gotten a deeper understanding of what she needed to do come morning.
'I'm gonna tell her.' she thought. 'Tomorrow, after breakfast, I'm gonna tell Pandora that I love her.'
The next day came, and with it breakfast, which Freya ate quicker than perhaps she should have, but she just didn't want to wait longer than she had to before confessing her love to Pandora. Any time spent before that was just more time for her to start to hesitate, and she did not want that.
Once she was finished, however, she realised that she had overlooked the fact that Pandora still needed to finish her own breakfast, and she was taking her time to enjoy the stack of pancakes she had taken.
As Freya didn't want to spill her feelings in the middle of the mess-hall, she had no other choice but to wait for Pandora to be done, and so she spent the time waiting sitting on one of the benches along the canal that ran through the underground sanctuary.
Her eyes lazily followed the currents of the water, and the fish swimming through it, but her mind wandered here and there. Common places she found herself were the most recent memories of Pandora, but also several from farther back in the past.
She wondered why she hadn't seen Pandora back then as she did now, if things had been different if she had. That brought her thoughts to a different set of questions, such as what would she do once she have told Pandora?
How would they keep their relationship going? Would they do a long distance one, like Michelangelo and Kate? Or should one of them move in with the other?
So many questions, and a future so uncertain that she didn't know what to do.
Shaking her head, she brought herself out of those deep thoughts, and picked up her shell-cell, focusing on the most pressing matter. None of the other things mattered until after she had spoken with Pandora, so that was what she had to do first.
After typing for a while, she sent the hybrid a message to meet her where she was sitting.
Minutes ticked by, and Freya worried that she might have been stood up, but then she heard the cheery voice of Pandora.
"Yo, Freya! Your text said you wanted to hang out a while, so, here I am." Pandora said as she came up to and sat down next to Freya, causing the geckoling's heart to race. "So, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, um… I was thinking back on what we've done so far." Freya started, a blush forming on her cheeks. "Watching the movie last night, the trip to the beach. I really liked your swimsuit, by the way. You looked so good in it, it was crazy."
"Thanks! I picked it out myself on the web a month ago!" Pandora said with a proud grin. "Mum and Dad weren't too happy with my pick at first, thinking that it was a tiny bit too… provocative, but they came around."
"I'm glad that they did, because seeing you do that flip out of the water with it… it was just breath taking."
"That's what I tried to tell the others, but they were too jealous to see it that way! Still, I do show off a little too much, I guess."
"A bit, yeah." Freya agreed. "But even if you do, I really like spending time with you, Pandora."
"Aww, thanks, cuz! I really like being with you too!" Pandora beamed, putting her arm around Freya's shoulders and pulling her in close. Freya gulped as she felt her heart skip a beat.
"You have to be my favourite cousin. There's no doubt about that!" Pandora continued.
"That makes me happy to hear." Freya smiled. "You know…" she hesitated a bit, chewing her lips. "I love you, Pandora."
"And I love you too, Freya."
Freya's heart slammed against her chest. This was it. The answers she had been looking for.
Her mind was swirling and her heart pulsating like never before. She reached up with one hand and cupped Pandora's cheek, and leaned in closer, their lips were going to meet in her first kiss in just a few seconds.
But Pandora pulled back.
"Whoa, what are you doing, Freya?" she asked, her eyes wide in confusion.
"I'm… kissing you…?" Freya answered hesitantly.
"Why the heck would you do that?!" Pandora exclaimed, moving away more from Freya.
A feeling like claws starting to dig into her heart started to build within the geckoling.
"B-but… you said… you said you loved me…"
"Yeah, but what does that-" then Pandora realised what Freya meant. "Oh! Oh no! Shell no! Never!" she exclaimed, standing up from the bench and taking a few steps back.
Tears stung Freya's eyes, and her heart sunk to a depth she didn't think possible.
"I… I'm sorry…" Freya whimpered, spreading her wings and taking off into the air, tears trailing behind her as she flew away.
Only then did the realisation of what she had done and said fully hit Pandora, and she paled.
"No, Freya! Wait!" she called out. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"
But the geckoling did not hear her, she just kept on flying through the sanctuary, and out into the caves.
"Freya… I'm sorry…"
Poor, Freya. Things really didn't turn out the way she had hoped, though to be fair, she did misread the situation a bit.
But now that she's taken off into the caves, what will happen next?
