>>5346149You have no idea what to say….so you just let Gina to draw in a shaky breath of her own before she finds the will to speak.
“Thank you, B’ni.” Your girlfriend says, leaning forward to mirror her old friend’s posture. “But I owe you an apology, too. I should’ve talked. I should’ve listened. Even after I got my eyes back, I fell into the same old habits. I hurt you…and for that, I’m truly, truly sorry.”
B’ni just…stares, for a long moment.
“Gina, there’s been something that I’ve wanted to ask you ever since I came back. It’s just…how? How do you seem so okay with all…this? I can understand Shu, she’s…it’s just how she is. Even Rath, I can kind of understand over the course of our talks. But out of the three of you? You’ve been the one who’s seemed to be…I hate to use the word ‘blasé’, but it fits.”
“Hey, you know what they say…” The girl beside you chuckles dismissively, “…if the Shu fits, then-“
“Gina.” Isabelle staunchly interrupts. “I killed you.”
Your blood runs cold at the same time Rath’s runs hot, but Gina just nods again before letting go of a small, furtive sigh.
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.” She admits, meeting B’ni’s emerald eyes with her own gaze of neon amethyst. “I think, if I’m being honest? It’s because…”
You sense Gina’s answer before she lends it a voice, your heart tightening with shared pain as she says-
“…because, on some level, I felt like dying’s exactly what I deserved.”
Her answer seems to take B’ni by surprise, the other girl’s back going ramrod straight as she pulls back.
“When I sacrificed myself, I…well, I guess ‘sacrifice’ isn’t really the right term, now that I think about it.” Gina muses, leaning back in her own chair with a wry twitch of her lips. “That’s implying it was something noble, instead of me just running away again. When you came for me, I thought ‘okay, cool. Here we go. My just desserts, and all that jazz.’ Consequence was finally catching up with me, after all the shit I’d pulled. I really, truly thought my death was gonna stick…silly me, right?”
“You didn’t deserve that, GG. None of you did.” B’ni murmur, glancing between the three of you as Gina just shakes her head.
“Well, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree about that…but hey, that’s what this is all about, right? We’ve both been given a second chance. I sometimes think that…” Gina trails off, then turns to you. “Shu, could you give us a little while? B’ni and I? I think we need to talk, for a little while. Just us.”
[You’re sure?] You ask privately. [Absolutely sure? Closing off the Crimson Cord while you’re alone with her is-]
{I’m sure. And the second I feel uncomfortable, I’d open it back up, but…I feel like this is important. For her, and for me}
(Continued)
