𝒙𝒗

015, deja vu

          OVER THE course of the next month, Aonung noticed that Xana had distanced herself from everyone — including him. Every day barley any words were shared between the two and it was killing him.

          Today, he wasn't going to let her get away without telling him what was wrong with her. He made his way towards her, spotting her silhouette as she chucked another fish into the ilu's mouth.

          "Xana." He firmly spoke as she looked up, a neutral face plastered on. But he could see past it. She dropped the empty bucket, trying to walk away. Aonung grabbed her waist, guiding her towards his mauri as he ignored her complaints and shouts for him to let her go.

          As they entered his mauri, she immediately tried to make a run for it, but he slide in front of the exit, blocking her escape. "Aonung please just let me go im not in the mood." Xana's voice cracked slightly as she looked up to the mauri roof, trying to not show the tears in her eyes.

          Aonung grabbed either side of her face, forcing her tear filled eyes to look at his. She watched as his eyes broke at the state of her. "Please tell me what's wrong." Aonung softly spoke as Xana sighed, pulling away from him. She once again tried to push past him as a wave of annoyance flowed through him. "Why wont you just tell me what's wrong with you? Please just open up to me Xana!" He shouted as her expression flickered from sadness to anger.

          "You don't get it Aonung! It doesn't come that easy to me. You think I don't want help or someone to talk too but I really do. But I cant anymore because Spider fucking ruined my life." Xana shouted back, tears streaming down face. "He was the only person who knew what happened to me back in the forest. I never thought he would betray me, but he did."

          Xana hadn't even realised Aonung was stood directly in front of her until her wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her into a hug. He rested his head on top of hers as he tried not to also cry at the sound of her sobs.

✧˖*°࿐

          11 year old Xana let out a grunt as she pinned the target to one of the trees deep within the forest. Recently, during training, she had been falling behind. She would be lucky if she even landed an arrow. So she decided, instead of having the embarrassment of asking for help, she would continue to train on her own. Each day, she went deeper into the forest in fear that one of her people would see her and judge her.

          She took a deep breath before raising her bow and arrow, squinting her eyes as she focused on the target. She pulled back the arrow before releasing it. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment as she watched to bounce off of the target. She bent down to slowly pick up another arrow as a laugh entered her ears. She quickly picked up the arrow as she placed it between her bow, pointing it towards the direction she head the laugh come from. "Who's there?!" Xana shouted, her ears twitching at every sound she heard.

          She slowly span around, her eyes flickering over the tree's. "Oh Xana, put the bow and arrow down. You don't even know how to use them." A familiar voice spoke from behind her as she quickly turned around, spotting Ri'ja and her friends.

          Xana swallowed harshly, trying to keep up her strong stance. Ri'ja was in a much higher class than Xana, but that was mainly because she was 15. For the past few months, Ri'ja and her friends had been bullying Xana for her lack of skills. Xana never knew why the older girl was so mean to her.

          "Why can't you just leave me alone?" Xana shot back. "Because where would the fun be in that?" Ri'ja smirked. "Go pick on someone your own age, Ri'ja." Xana hissed, walking over towards the tree as she pulled off the target, trying to leave.

          Ri'ja stepped in front of her, the older girl towering over her. "Aw, little Xana's finally sticking up for herself." She nudged Xana as Xana rolled her eyes, pushing past the girl. "Yeah run home to mommy you five fingered freak!" Xana halted, dropping her bow, arrows and target.

          She slowly turned around, calmly walking back over to the teeanagers who were laughing. Xana held her hand out as they all stared in confusion. "I know this hand is funny looking, i'm a freak, right? But I can do something really sick, watch. First I ball it up tight like this and then—" Xana punched Ri'ja square in the face as she went flying backwards.

          For a moment, everything was quiet. Ri'ja propped herself up on her arms as she wiped her bloody nose. "Get her." Ri'ja snarled as the 4 girls ran towards Xana. At first, Xana was somehow winning, but when Giva slapped her head into the floor, she could barley move.

         After they had finished, Xana crawled over to the nearest tree, leaning up against it, her breaths uneven. Ri'ja got up the the girls face, a smirk on her face. "Your a disappointment just like your brother." Ri'ja whispered. "Get away from her!" A familiar voice shouted in their direction as Ri'ja laughed, playfully holding her hands up as she walked away with her friends.

          Spider ran over to Xana's side, his face dropping as he saw the state of her face. Blood continued to fall from her nose as she cried. Her face and body was covered in bruises and small cuts. Xana pulled her legs up to her stomach, hugging them close. All the words Spider was saying enetered her ears muffled as she zoned out.

          Ri'ja was correct, she was a disappointment. A freak. Xana would never be as good at everything as Neteyam was. She had nothing special about her. She was just Xana. A nobody.

          13 year old Spider pulled the girl who was like his younger sister in for a hug, whispering soothing words to the child as she sobbed.

In that moment, Xana felt safe with the boy who was like a brother to her. If she didn't have Spider, she wouldn't know what to do. She knew that Spider would never betray her.