It had been hours. After Fortenra left, somewhere inside her mind, Tali finally realized it was over for good. Hirun had stayed behind, comforting her and giving her kind words. He let her cry on his shoulder.
\nHirun wanted this to work out.
\nHe wanted to wanted Tali to see that Fortenra had been a waste of time.
\nHe wanted her to see that he was the strong one, that he would gladly spend his life with her. Hirun, unlike the straight and narrow Fortenra, would appreciate the work Tali put in to stealing goods.<\/p>\n
Finally, it seemed like she was turning around. The embrace they held was parted, and her sobs came to a halt. Her breathing normalized, and all became quiet. After a few minutes of silent realization, Hirun put a comforting hand on Tali’s shoulder, only for it to be pushed away. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I’m going to go find him,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She finally said. She opened the door, it slamming against the wall from her force. Her hair began to float by itself, and just as she was about to rush outside, Hirun grabbed her arm to pull her back. She didn’t listen to him, instead ripping her arm from his grip by heating the air around it. With Hirun’s hand literally sweltering, he pulled it back with a gasp of pain while Tali ran for the car. As she turned the key to start it, tears began flowing from her eyes once more. <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tali!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun yelled at her as she pulled out of the driveway. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He doesn’t love you, Tali!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Tali screamed in anger from her car, and as it rushed away, the engine caught fire, a smoke trail soon the only trace that she had been there.<\/p>\n Hirun growled to himself and kicked the doorframe in anger. Would she never see that he<\/em> wanted her?! Why was she so blinded by that Askasa kid? He wasn’t even worth anything! \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fucking–\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He gave the doorframe another swift kick and prepared for yet another when out of the corner of his eye he saw the guy from the Music Store walking toward him. He put his foot down and glared at the man. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun ran toward the stranger with the tail, immediately going to punch him in the gut– but Q caught his hand, and with expert speed and strength, threw the boy to the side. Hirun landed on his back with a groan, temporarily stunned. His head spun too much for him to even think of getting up when the grey-haired man stood over him, looking down with a fierce gaze that was felt rather than seen, as it came from behind the dark veil of sunglasses. Thankfully, Q did stop and turn back, watching Hirun closely, his tail swaying back and forth, waiting for something good. Q snorted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Find Phoenix? You already have. I see her on you and I see her in that house.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hikari smirked, standing up and dusting himself off as he regained his bearings and began to formulate a plan. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know where she went. I can take you there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Q tilted his head to the side, musing over the thought of working with a No Rez. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I understand that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hikari lied. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But can you get to her fast enough before she leaves again? I can.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So smart, No Rez. You are… So… Smart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Q replied, seeming to become lost in his own thoughts.<\/p>\n Hikari quirked a brow, but wanted to see where this would lead, so he began to walk toward the slums, where he figured Fortenra would be hiding. He knew too that Tali also knew Fort’s hiding places and would eventually show up. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hikari said. Q jerked his head to face the boy in response. Q frowned slightly and began to begrudgingly follow Hirun.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What? Why? But Tali, you–\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun stood up in pursuit of Tali, who was already heading for the door.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don’t care!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She yelled, flames sprouting around her feet, melting the carpet beneath her.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He can’t leave me! Nobody<\/em> leaves me!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tali, wait!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\nHe continued to kick the doorframe until it had splintered under the pressure. Once he stopped, he looked to his blistered left hand.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dick,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said to himself.
\nFortenra always stole all the glory. Always wanted his fucking attention while Hirun was left to the wayside to clean up his mess. How had they ever been friends? How could they ever had called themselves brothers?<\/p>\n
\nFinally someone to take his anger out on properly.<\/p>\n
\nQ snarled, and turned to walk away, as if Hirun wasn’t worth his time.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wait!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun ordered. Something was different. This wasn’t the same man as before.
\nHirun was used to seeing psychos. Split personalities weren’t so uncommon where he grew up. This man was definitely not the man he met the other night.<\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can help you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun replied.
\nHe didn’t know what he meant by that. It just felt like the right thing to say.<\/p>\n
\nHe gave a nod to the house Tali had just left from.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see her. Always too slow to catch up, it seems,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Q relented. <\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can see her,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he finally answered, looking back to Hikari, as if the statement explained everything.<\/p>\n
\nAfter a few steps, he looked behind him to see the man still hadn’t moved. Still appeared to be lost in his thoughts.<\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Follow me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don’t see her anymore. She’s gone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Q moped.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You will see her,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hirun replied, raising a hand and shooing away any doubt.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know where she’s going.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"series":[30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions\/801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=800"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cc.khat.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}