Night was well set in as Pandora led Va’lis and Carrie around with Carries eyes still looking everywhere in awe, while Va’lis only looked straight ahead. So lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize Pandora had stopped until he ran into her back. With a shake of her head and a gesture for silence, she pointed to a window set high above the ground.
“Cherry is in that room” she mouthed while he nodded. The nerves, quickly rising back again as she gave him a quick hug for good luck. It was her turn to buy him time, and she set off briskly with a letter for Esme. Whatever she planned to do, Va’lis knew he couldn’t concern himself fully with it. He had a short window, and only one shot.
Dragging Carrie, he inched alongside the wall slowly. Doing his best to avoid being seen, he pushed her down to her knees and hands. Looking up in a mixture of shock and bewilderment, it faded quickly to annoyance as he used her as a stepping stool. Grasping the next ledge and hauling himself up onto the balcony.
He could see her, sleeping in the bedroom wrapped in a blanket and facing away from the balcony door. A moment passed with his eyes closed, and before his nerves gave way again he went to open the door. And it was locked.
Cursing under his breath, he heard Cherry stir inside the room which forced him to freeze. He couldn’t let her see him out here, not like this. A moment, another passed and he relaxed slightly. He didn’t want to do it, but there was no other way. Pushing against the glass, he closed his eyes until he felt it give way. The panels, falling to the floor while he stumbled into the room. Slipping on the glass, he fell face first at the side of the bed Cherry was sleeping on.
Or rather, had been sleeping on. The noise which would have been loud for a mortal , had woken her. Fast, her red hair a blur in his eyes and he was suddenly looking up at her while she pressed the barrel of a gun to his forehead. This, was not the reunion he was hoping for. He went to speak several times, stopping as he noted each word causing her finger to inch closer to the trigger. Knowing that he wouldn’t get up from an injury of such power from so close a range, he hurried two words out and closed his eyes tight. “I’m sorry.”
She laughed, but it was not a laugh he had ever heard from her. More a laugh filled with hate and rage. Hearing it, he would have preferred her pull the trigger. And maybe, he thought, she would have. Except at the moment he expected death, Amroth walked into the room while shaking his head. Va’lis recognized shock, but there was another emotion there upon Amroth’s face. Curiousity? A glimmer of grudging respect for braving the sheer cliff of this situation? He did not know. “You’re a brave, idiotic man or a damned fool coming here,” his tone was calm, or at least it seemed calm in the maelstrom of rage rolling off Cherry. “Which one however, might it be?” “Both.” Va’lis kept his tone low, eyes locked upon the ground as Cherry pushed the barrel harder against his skull all the while screaming for Amroth to take him away from her. “Cher, look at him. Look at the state he’s in. Do you really think he would have come all this way if he wasn’t hurting?” His soothing tone washed over her as he carefully took the gun from her. “Just hear him out, make choices then.” Her eyes narrowed further, shaking still but the feeling of tension eased a bit. “Fine,” she sat herself down heavily on the bed. “Fine, I’ll hear him out.”
The sigh of relief that came from Va’lis was short lived, for though Cherry was calming. He heard a commotion from the door, raised voices and a feeling of a pissed off woman hit him like a ton of bricks. He’d heard that voice before, and he wasn’t looking forward to this meeting either. Ruby burst through the door, instantly shouting a list of curses at Va’lis as she walked forward. Things like “too good for him” and “an arrogant fuck who couldn’t give a shit about you” were some of her more polite arrangements. When she finally calmed down, minutes which felt like hours later, her voice was clipped.
“30 minutes, nothing more. I’ll kill him if he’s still here when I get back.” Striding out with not a look back, Amroth followed her with a heavy sigh. Cherry, having remained quiet all throughout, broke down the minute the door closed. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed, hugging herself tightly while she sat down back upon the bed. He eyed her softly before sitting at her feet, looking up and letting his eyes speak half his words for him. The entire truth of why he left her, how he hated himself afterwards and how he wanted to die… It all poured out from his mouth. There was no stopping as he hurried to let her know just how badly he wanted her back, he knew that he screwed up royally. He knew he didn’t deserve her trust , but he would do whatever it took to get it back. No matter the cost, no matter how long it took. He would prove himself to her.
With a sniffle, she finally looked up from her knees at him and noted the box he held within his left hand. She knew that box, it was the same box he had presented to her when he asked her to marry him. Her lower lip quivered and she burst into tears anew. The truth of what she almost had, and lost, hurting deeply once more.
“You… you need to go” She pushed him towards the door, “Just go. It’s almost time and Ruby… don’t want her more pissed off.” She kept pushing his protesting form forward, ignoring his words now. “Please…just let me think.” Her eyes pleaded with his as she opened the door, she was still watching as she saw Va’lis eyes widen a bit at the doorway. She frowned at the emotion behind them. Was that… Fear?
She understood immediately when he was dragged out of the room and thrown into a wall. Esme had found out Va’lis was visiting.