The Cosmic Princess

Pinks and Purples

Song: Clean Bandit feat Jess Glyne - Real Love

---Nearly a week

"Where are you taking me?" I questioned to Ike, hand interlocked with his. Soothing tingles traveled up my fingertips at the touch of our skin, and I found myself smiling.

His back to me, throwing a branch out of his way, he continued forward. Despite the absence of his words, the sounds of nature made sure no silence could envelop us. I had just begun to think he wasn't going to answer me when he suddenly spoke. "I have a place I want to show you."

My eyebrows furrowed. "In the forest? Ike weren't you the one nagging, saying that this was a completely different planet from ours and that we don't know these creatures, therefore we can't be reckless?" I lowered my voice immaturely imitating his bass voice.

Ike chuckled. "I believe I did, but when you suddenly watch your kindred spirit almost plummet to her death, things change." He stopped suddenly, spinning around and pulling me towards his chest.

A small gasp of surprise left my lips as I was suddenly pulled against the hard contours of muscles. Wrist gently locked in his strong grip against his chest, I blinked up at him feeling my breathing deepen.

"Avril the minute I saw you disappear off that cliff," he shook his head, eyes softening as they stared deeply into mine. Eyes fading into indigo, he didn't attempt to disguise the grim helplessness that he must had felt yesterday. "I lost all sense. I didn't know what to do. I control water and fire." Pain clear in his tone, the heat-filled flutter I felt in my stomach cooled as I took in his tense shoulders and anguished filled features. Dark eyebrows furrowed with hesitancy and eyes almost childlike with the amount of fear drowning in them, I suddenly came to the realization that Ike was stepping into something he had never touched before. Ike was revealing a side, a more vulnerable side, that I had never seen before.

He acts so tough and so put together, like he is a steel wall cemented to the ground-unbreakable and unmovable- but I was beginning to see that there were many more pieces to this puzzled man that had been nicknamed the stoic prince by the whispers of our servants through the manor's hall.

"There would have been no way I could have saved you yesterday with my powers. The thought of you being in harm's way and not being able to save you. It-it-" He shook his head not knowing how to put his feelings into words. He was rusty, but he was trying and that's all I really wanted from him.

Our relationship was bumpy, far from perfect, but at least we're trying. Even though Ike has managed to capture my heart and holds it captive in his hands, having the power to squeeze it and break me once again or to caress it and help me prosper together with him, I still have reservations about him and I.

In a way, I'm just waiting for the ball to drop, for the timer to finally stop, and for me to get hurt. I know for our relationship to work we must be open with one another, but it's hard for me I admit. I don't want to open myself up completely only to get hurt again. I don't want feel that pain, so maybe that's one reason why I hold back when I want to tell him about my past. If I reveal that part of me, it's like I'm ripping a Band-Aid off a wound that just hasn't healed all the way yet. If I remove the Band-Aid, the wound is open and raw. His reaction could either bring the remedy to soothe the pain, or the alcohol to make it burn.

And I'm just not for sure which one he'll bring.

Quietly, I stared up at him wanting to soothe worries, but knowing he needed to get it out. He didn't share his feelings often so since he was now, I knew he was trying to move forward. I also needed to move forward for him, for us, for me.