TFA! The Second Round-Weaving The Twine Of Courage
Story by Account Discontinued on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
We now return to your heavenly-sounding opera.
Disgust. Loathing. Even more disgust.
These plauged my very being like Mandibuzz gnawing on a corpse for food. And I couldn't help it. That night she came back...I lashed at her like she were a criminal...and all she was doing was feeling remorse for her actions and trying to come home before she died of her actions. When she went to bed, I felt like a criminal. A rat that had been given mercy by my captive. I didn't dare go after Lena and it's been that way ever since.
She had been right to assume I'd leave for duties, because that's the excuse I've been using to stay out of the house for as long as possible without feeling utter dread and emotional agony being within the same space as her. It's not her fault, I made sure she knew that every time she questioned my whereabouts whenever I was leaving and she remained. Her friends made it easier to slip away and be alone, mighty ignorant distractions to what really went on.
But three years of silence wasn't going to make it helpful for me. I could tell by every past winter that seeing the snow reminded her of our confrontation and it fueled her to keep pumping me for info. But...it's been a good two months since she last asked where I was going. At this point she doesn't even look back when I leave the house to explore what I've yet to look for from the region we stayed in and she's been leaving the house almost at the same time I do with her friends. Brittany...That name made me snarl and some critters that had been hanging nearby scurried away like little rats as my rage boiled forth like a Scald.
Lena's been ending her nights with that human. I sometimes come home and see her leaving or sleeping on the couch...where I sleep. They haven't done anything recently-none that I could tell anyway, and it looks like from the frequency of visiting on her own that Brittany might be trying to claim her. I can see it in her eyes, her dirty brown mud puddles just wants to experiment and see if she likes it before moving on. She's no better than the world that still shames the likes of females becoming entwined in the web of love among themselves. And if I ever catch them in the act, I'll...I'll...
And that's where I stop myself. Because at the end of the day, what exactly makes me _justified _in trying to "save" Lena from falling for another girl? No matter how many times I play a scenario out where I catch them about to do "it" and I rescue Lena from making a mistake of getting together with a one-time fling, nothing ever seems right. It always comes off as me ruining things instead of fixing things and making it better. So that's why I'm out here in the rain of a spring evening. They were together again and looking at the two of them together made me feel like my heart was clawed to chunks. Why, when it's clear that I'm running out of time, can't I muster the strength to tell her? Why, with all the time in the world to see where I can make amends if not immediately, can't I show her that her heart should be with me as mine should be with hers?
Then I remember why...Me being out in the rain was not going to make her see reason-however flawed-and dump this wannabe. I don't care that her breasts look like they should be breaking her back as FF-cups; I don't care that her butt was too big to be real; and I could care less that she didn't build herself to look like a twig. Lena was mine and I will find a way to tell her.
This fire burned through me as I abandoned sitting in the steadily moisturizing plains of which no human could walk to, especially in these conditions, finding my courage flowing through me as it died so many centuries ago. I felt...powerful...mighty...like a...
Like a real dragon.
I almost forgot I had my own key by the time the backyard came into view, my determination to see this through nearly melting it to a pile of melded metal as I pulled it out while drying my fur off. I stuck it in quietly in spite of my stride and slowly made my way inside. The rain was loud enough to silence anything quieter than its fall, so I didn't have to worry about anyone taking notice to me stepping inside, shutting and locking the door, and hurriedly shuffling for the stairs. The darkness of the lower floor was to be expected; if anything was working inside, it would have been a miracle. Still, that didn't stop me from finding the stairs and climbing them as briskly yet gingerly as possible. I didn't want to bring notice to my presence until absolutely necessary and being quiet was optimal.
A gasp flew through the silent air upstairs, bringing my attention back to why I was back in here and nearly reigniting my flame. No...am I too late?
When I opened the door with the frothing rage of a volcano yet the gentle calm of the sea, I let the swing of its wooden barrier reveal what I feared ever since Brittany came into Lena's life.
There on the bed, they were entangled in a mix of their own legs, sheets and blankets with Brittany on top of my...no, just on top of Lena. Even now I could smell that they were naked and looking further showed that they had indeed stripped already before getting into such a position. Lena gasped again and I had a sliver of hope that she saw me and wanted to stop but a closer inspection gave me the last strike of the game I walked into. Brittany was three knuckles deep within her snatch, occasionally pulling her hand back from Lena's folds before going back in. Lena didn't have a hymen but something tells me that even without her virginity it still felt like she was completely fresh for the taking.
Just not mine...
And when that sunk in, I took the quietest step I could inside of the bedroom and reached for the knob. Once I grabbed it, I felt like the world was suddenly gazing upon me like a crowd of searchlights being trained to one area as it creaked from my tense grip. The girls expectedly stopped and I cursed my own lack of thought to how my body was reacting.
"Resh...?" Lena's voice was wispy, like she had ran from region to region with nothing more than running shoes and the shuffling on the bed suggested that they were detangling to see if it was indeed me. I had the floor; they weren't in the middle of further shattering my heart and their attention was on me. I could finally tell Lena and get that cow off of her. But...all I could do was...
"Sorry. Don't mind me." My own voice betrayed my thoughts, like my body wouldn't accept that I was accepting this fate, sounding like a kicked Lillipup as I shut the door before I could hear any objection or affirmation of my departure. So that was it, the pain of being too late. And here I thought that was only in soap operas purely for adding unnecessary tension to an otherwise enjoyable plot story. But no, in reality it...it feels like the coldest winter befalling the coldest tundra with no end. Every breath I took cut my already torn heart to smithereens before I found the stairs and descended back to the main floor. The darkness felt like a warmer embrace than whatever I felt I deserved.
I couldn't stop the tears even if I tried to be feral. I didn't even make it to the couch, just dropping down before it on my knees and sobbing as quietly as possible. It was over, I couldn't have her. I let my own foolhardy beliefs that she could still love me even after I've said nothing to her from that night she came back from running away to now, three years later. A fool I am, to think true love could sew back what I myself shredded to pieces with my stupidity. The thunder from the heavens make me hiccup, the back door suddenly feeling appealing to walk past as if I were a feline and not majestic dragon. I knew I couldn't look at her again, not without thinking of what I just saw. My blue eyes probably looked something of a sickly lavender as I got back onto my feet. I couldn't stay here anymore. The second I hear them I might end up turning back into my stone as my heart could take no more...or worse.
I had just made it to the door when the one upstairs slammed open. Yes, it had done so-the slam of it hitting the wall resonated through the somewhat silent house. Hurried footsteps rushed down the stairs and the door opposite of me opened up and stayed ajar as what looked like Brittany filed out of Lena's house like she just remembered a dying family member. Oh well, at least I don't have to go out to my hideout thinking of them in the middle of sharing their true love while I cry my eyes to burning rock in twin volcanoes.
Though I didn't make it out far enough to avoid being yanked back inside by my tail.
I fell to the floor in shock, coming to see Lena had come from upstairs and shut the back door before I could use her loss of momentum to try and escape. She had the decency to put on clothes before arriving but the sight of her flower was still marked on my mind. She moved in front of the door and held her arm out from her chest as the other laid crossed her cleavage. A talk, she had that look in her eye again. As if tonight wasn't proof enough that I was forever lost in my hopeless, romantic despair and now who I thought was the love of my eternal life was going to sink the nail into the armor. If I was going to accept this, I would have to know first-hand before I go find some place to slowly hide away in forever. A nap will probably seal the deal-being a legendary, I can sleep for years and centuries if I can manage to revert back into my stone...
I took her hand and she yanked me up, pulling me back to the couch that I drenched in my tears and drool. I forgot my mouth had been open, and held my head down in apology before she made no comment of it and had me sit down in my mess.
"...Resh..." Her voice oozed of intolerance and I can understand that. I quite literally just walked in on her and her girlfriend trying to get busy and left like I shouldn't be there yet still wanted them to know that it hurts to hear them. "I know you saw what you saw. But it's not what you think."
...Is she...going to try and play my feelings like a fiddle? That made me look up at her, my eyes showing the agony of what transpired mere minutes ago swirling around in my mind before I croaked a hoarse response. "...what am i supposed to think...when the one i...when i caught you in bed with that friend of yours...n-naked..."
"That's just it. She's my friend and there's no changing that." The way she stood in front of me let me see her despite the dim lighting of the household. I could see her fit belly from her hastily-put-on tube top, the way her briefs tried so hard to hug into her crotch to show off her nethers to the world if they dared to watch and her air of assertion...
"You don't have to sugar...coat it, Lena. I know I messed up...I shouldn't have believed you'd still love me...how could you...even after that night, i never forgave myself...and I h-"
"Listen, Resh. I'm not here to give you the benefit of the doubt", Well, there goes thinking this _was _a last-ditch effort to see if she still cared, "nor am I about to let you go pull off a stunt that you won't let me live down for." Oh.
"Then...what? If I stay, I'll just be in the way...a nuisance."
"For the last time, she's _not _my girlfriend. I told you, my type is unique, full of personality and a helluava lot more interesting to look at above all else. She already has a boyfriend-bisexual before you ask," She actually cut me off there, so she went on, "and I thought that since three years of waiting on you to make a move to at least acknowledge that we live under the same roof past eating the same food and showering in the same bathroom, I figured that maybe you weren't going do a thing and I should step in. But no, you decided to do it at the _worst _time and turned tail when you saw I was preoccupied.
"...turned tail...?" Those words...stung. But not the stabbing of my body that catching her and Brittany caused to my spirit, it was a sting to my pride and I felt my inner flame start to kindle as I glared at her. "What did you think I was going to do? Rush in and pull her off of you?"
"Yes! That's *exactly * what I thought you were going to do! You're a beautifly dragon with strength to do a lot more to a human than you think, and you run away acting like a cat that got spooked!"
"I DO NOT STRIVE TO GET IN THE WAY!" She was pushing it, my teeth bared and fur waving in the sudden burst of my own energy as I shot up from the couch before it got burnt to a charred husk of ruined polyester. "If you love someone, then you let them love who they please! If you wish to bestow your precious affection to someone that's not me, I accept that! I don't defy the morals of true love for my own sake!"
"Oh so you wanna prove you aren't selfish!?" Despite the situation and the risks it'd give, Lena stepped up towards me and shoved mt backwards, nearly managing to make me sit back down but only managing to get me to step back. "Three years! You sit on this couch, sleep on this couch, get up and shower when you start smelling like a dog that played in cut grass and eat food while doing your _ *absolute * _best to avoid me and pretend I don't exist! And you have the nerve to think that because even though it took you today to finally grow a spine and show up at my door like a damsel ready to fight and I _still _keep you in mind, you wanna stand here and act like you're the only one hurting!?"
I had a nice little lashing ready for her, but that last bit got me breathless. She was right. I basically treated her like her ex but instead of a couple of months, it was a span of a few years. Some of my fire fizzed but I kept strong with a snarl.
"Don't try and turn this around. I would do whatever it takes to make sure you're happy!"
"Funny way of wanting to do that if you leave me to myself like a kid you didn't wa-"
"I DON'T FORGIVE MYSELF FOR THAT DAY!" My outburst had sent her flying back to the wall behind her, leaving her to grunt from the impact and slide to the floor like a slab of meat that had been flung across a market, but I still advanced. "I ATTACKED YOU LIKE A CRIMINAL, READIED TO SLAY YOU WHERE YOU STOOD! I CAN'T FORGIVE...I can't..." Remember the look on her face from there and seeing it now as she laid dazed from the force of my power almost similar deflated my pride and brought my inner flame to a simmer, the gnawing tendencies of grief starting to settle in. "You are my first love and I...tried to kill you..."
"You...d-didn't...know it was me..." Lena was a strong girl, another thing I couldn't help but love, standing up but now visibly limping forward as she saw me retreating. "I ran away...scared to tell you that I..."
I felt my heart churn into a swirling pit as I remembered _that _night, when she had fleed into the cold night leaving me to wonder what she had been trying to tell me and I waited for her to finish. She needed to cough, but thankfully there was no blood to smell on ehr breath nor any to come flying out of her mouth.
"I was scared...because I didn't know if you felt the same...You're Reshiram...the dragon...of truth...Hearing what you really felt made me feel...like I was about to tell the devil himself my darkest secret...only to have everyone know an hour later..."
I know what she's going with there. I speak only the truth, think only the truth and can sense the truth with ease. Even if I chose not to bother, I could tell she was radiating honesty like a Togetic in flight. She went silent to try and recover, so I finally spoke.
"A secret is meant to stay that way but...yes, if anyone had asked, I would be bound to tell them..."
"Which is why...I was trying...to build my confidence up...", she was in front of me now, using me as a support as her body conitnued to hurt, "so I wouldn't have to worry about other people knowing I'm in a relationship...with the almighty Reshiram...But just like...when I walked out on you before you could know...you were gonna walk out on me before I could know for sure..."
Lena was right, as she tended to be. Who was I to steal her chance from telling me how she felt about me after these past years of silence and taciturn exchanges? Who was I to try taking some pathelogical high ground by trying to leave her with Brittany so they could love themselves freely with me out of the picture? Who was I...to throw away the bond we've had for such a long time over a simple misunderstanding of intent?
I didn't even realize that she was crying until she sniffled and hugged me. I felt pangs of woe drum on the remains of my somewhat sewn up heart and I too cried before holding her gingerly. The thunder was loud, but nothing was louder than the sobbing silence we both shared as we reveled in the fact that we just confessed to each other, but in anger and anguish instead of the cheesy anxiety to be expected. And only when neither of us had tears left to soak our faces down did it come to mind.
"So...it's true...? You...love me?" Lena looked up at me with the saddest puppy eyes a human could pull off, her gaze reminding me of the one I showed to her plenty whenever she had a friend or two over without telling me.
I couldn't bear to keep her on the fence of wondering if I did or didn't.
So I took her cheeks into my hands-facial, you pervert-and kissed her on the lips. Awkward skull structures be damned, Lena was the only one I ever wanted my first kiss stolen by. She fell into it too, letting me explore her mouth with my tongue so I could yank hers back into my maw so we could simply hug by the muscle. Humans and their small lickers...Felt like I was toying with a generous piece of Tauros meat with my much broader tongue before I laid it to rest and left her to try anything. She didn't, but I knew she felt the thought put into the kiss before our lips closed and then pulled away for air-on Lena's part.
Before we got into a contest of who'd catch their breath first, I finally replied: "I love you, Lena...No one...not even the gods I entangle my duties with...can try and convince me that loving you is a mistake. You have my heart...and I hope to keep yours."
Lena wiped her face dry with her arm but still sniffled all the same, clearing her throat of whatever was keeping her from speaking clearly. "You have my heart, Resh...Please, just no more running away. I don't care if it's to save someone in the forest-take me with you. I can't stand you being away and leaving without thinking o-"
I had to stop her there. "You were in my thoughts everyday...No matter what I could try to numb the pain from thinking that you found someone else, you were always there."
She shoved my hand out of the way and surprised me with her biggest move tonight; even with her injured back, she reached down to swoop my legs from beneeath me and lifted me into her arms. I was heavy on my own and my tail didn't make it any better for her, but the gesture was as genuine of a kindness as I could think of with all the few seconds it lasted before we both fell onto the couch with my back to the rest and Lena before me in a...Well, I won't delve into what it looked like. We've had enough complicated feelings for one night.
"Guess this means...that it's official. You're mine...and I'm yours...Now hopefully you don't go away for anything anytime soon..."
"I could never leave now...Not even if Arceus demanded my audience to something of an event involving my counterpart. I-"
"No no...I mean, I wish you could just hold me already. You kinda almost broke my back yelling at me."
Oh. I shut my trap and moved her around so that she faced away from me, back being embraced into my fluffy fur and leaving her head and shoulders to smosh my breasts against me. There was no discomfort to be had her. In fact, it felt like all that just happened not only fixed the damage my heart had barely survived but made it stronger and surer than ever before. Lena was...finally mine. And I was hers...Three years and a near miss...my luck was astounding. I felt her breathing slow and knew she was falling asleep, so with nothing to distract me from thinking of other things to keep me up I slowly drifted off.
As if the relief of a romance beginning to blossom long overdue was a cue for it, the storm that had beaten down this portion of Amago lifted like a veil. Peace was here.
Apologies to those that hoped I would turn this to my usual "recognize true love, fuck to make it permanent" shtick, but I wanted to have a more impactful sense with my writing with TFA's sequel. I want you all to see that me being gone left me to develop rather than to shift into my more...unsavory method of hopefully appealing to you.
Congrats, if you guessed the themes of the chapters so far, then you are right in assuming it was about Pride Month. I hoped that I would be able to pump out chapters once a week but my writing mojo has been sporadic.
Let's just hope this isn't the last you hear from me or TFA's second round.