Ana was prepared to die right then and there, and she was also ready to wake up from what had seemed to be a very long, and dreadful nightmare. Perhaps she was still sleeping in her room the day of the incident, and Revy would not be there when she woke up, Zandelia would still love her, and Ximal.. Well.. He wouldn't look down on her anymore, the distance between her and her two friends had been caused by many reasons, but one single factor could be explicitly pointed out: Revy. That mercenary, that whore, Ana couldn't believe that one person would have so much affect on another. Couldn't believe that Ana had allowed herself to be affected by the woman's very presence in such a short amount of time. Each and every day after the incident had become a increasingly growing nightmare.
With each passing day, Ana's soul seemed to fade away little by little; Zandelia would have been doing her a favor to just let her fall into the Apeture. Calm flooded her body as the cloak would cease in tension created by gravity, and the pull of Zandelia's arm. Tipping backwards, she held her breath in wait for the whistles of air shoot around her as her body would meet ground- but not in the way the thief had wholly expected to happen. Zandelia instead threw her around, and Ana landed on the Nykan streets with a loud 'oof' and was safe once more. Imobilized by fear, and surprise, Ana stayed curled up on the ground thinking that perhaps she had imagined the feeling of being thrown, instead of being let go. She took in quick inhales of breath, sweet to the tounge, and glorious to her frantic beating heart.
Then Zand's voice came out, the tone lulled Ana into looking up at the older woman in disbelief, one word scrawled out within the golden depths of her eyes 'why?' It was a simple question, but a complex action, wouldn't it have been better to just let Ana fall to her death, to stop bothering the older woman with her impudence? The look on Zands face wedged a sharp dagger into her heart, driving it deep, and then turning the handle slowly as Ana would listen, doing devestating damage. Something was wrong with her? In response, Ana's eyes went to look down at her body to see- to feel, she wasn't sure what was wrong; she looked normal as normal could be. Her search for impurity stopped at the word 'Auristics' turning her head upwards, trying to mouth the words out that it wasn't so.
Staring up into the one emerald eye that Zand posessed, locking them in place, how long had it been since Ana looked Zand in the face for more than a tick? A very, very long time, her words were getting through to her- and Ana was understanding them despite her 'mental illness' she was being told, she had. Gritting her teeth and looking away, she managed to stammer out to the woman "No.. I can not hate you Zand, I can't.. Not because of the past.. I just.." I just wanted a reaction out of the mercenary, I wanted recognition for being the past thief in Sunberth- I wanted Zandelia to be the one talking to me, not her, not shoving me off for that... That.... Ana inhaled, held her breath and shut her eyes as her hands would tighten on the ground and the knuckles to her hands turned deathly white with the pressure.
Easy, calm down, you just had your butt handed to you- held over the Apeture, am I really in a dream still? She exhaled through her nose slowly, the anger which had bubbled and frothed up so quick gently carressed its way down back to level-headed logic. Exhausted, from the events, from the season, the whole thing was just tiring and mind grindingly tough, the pressure had begun in Spires when she received Wrenmae's first letter. The spiraling down of sanity, it was a slow process and it seemed Ana had hit rock bottom the day of the incident, and kept going lower still. It only now had begun to level out, and rise so very slowly- only to be crushed once more as Zandelia would come closer to the thief. Kneeling, and then taking Ana's cheek gently to guide her up to look the older woman in the face, seriously.
Ana's eyes would widen, and then water hotly as her body perfomed more involuntary actions besides a simple little flinch. Zandelia had leaned in to kiss her forehead, her words, her voice, the look in her eyes, the expression on her face, everything hurt Ana that which was related to Zand at that very moment. Stabbed her, harshly, as she would be forgiven, but at the same time pushed away further still- Ana would still be alone after all the conflict, all the pain, the hurt, and the tension. The stress which had built up and recently only gave away, threw itself into the Apeture when Ana had made peace with herself, its ghost returned crawling from the craggy cliffside and back to Ana. Screaming in pain, anguish, it all came back in a moment of thunderous heart beats ramming against her chest.
She felt... Broken, forsaken, abandoned, betrayed, but this time the comprehension of everything around her stayed- kept everything clear so she could think logically, even though it was difficult beyond belief. Zand had upped, and walked away, retreating like a dog bitten victem. Ana stayed there on the ground next to the Apeture, trying to plot a way to make everything up to Zand, obviously if dieing wouldn't help her... Then something else would have to be done. That resolve was the only thing that kept her from doing what Zandelia couldn't do- letting her drop into the Apeture. In all honesty, she didn't want to get up- but up she went anyways despite the protests inside herself.
To somewheres, anywheres, it didn't matter to her anymore... She just had plans to do, to think over, and put into action. To gather information for, and hope she would be useful one last time.
by Ana Sol Starris on March 18th, 2013, 11:07 am 
Keep it up, both of you!
