Lotus Blossom

"That's what they all believe, I'm sure." Astra almost scoffed. "It was the only way."

"Would you still kill her? If you could, again?" She lightly shook her head. "Knowing that when she died, the worst part of your nature would be born."

Astra's breath catches and she turns quickly to attend him. "Jaksyn?"

"I... No. I love the idea of her if she wasn't a spy. I was in love with the fake part of her, the facade, the mask. I don't think I ever met the true Sereine. It was all a farce." Marks eyes flare with anger. "She modeled herself to be perfect for me. There was nothing real about it." It was almost as if he were trying to convince himself of that fact. " I don't love her. In fact, I hate her. But I hate myself more, for killing her. Because she could have done great things. " He paused. "In killing her, I realized that all of her potential was eliminated from this world. Everything she could have been. Gone." "But no, I don't love her." "So you love her potential." She smiled softly. "You do not love her. You hate yourself."

"Mark." Astra was contemplative. When she did decide to speak, she said very little, asked simply as an inquisitive remark. "Do you still love her?"

"Stop- I need it- to stop-" Astra mutters incoherently, batting away at her hair, clothes, and eyelashes as the whisper surrounded her... grasping her... choking her- "STOP!" Astra shouts, hands at her ears, eyes shut. The wind was silent for only a moment. Or was that just her mind? Trapping her then encouraging her to run free. It was always a game. They're teasing me. She looked up. Vulnerable. "I'm fine." She straightened herself and her hair, the wind still nipping her whenever she wasn't looking, and her heartbeat thudding like fast footsteps in her chest. "I'm fine." She tried to foucs on her breathing, then on the others. "How are you?"

Astra tugged at the door but, upon realizing it was shut firmly, cursed under her breath. Astra's hands immediately go across her arms, wincing in the cold. She was caught of gaurd. Spinning her head left and right to check her bearings, she narrowed her eyes. "Let's move away from the wind."

"Oh. What-" Astra glanced around anxiously, eyes softened, "What killed him?"

"Tondon died?" Astra began confidently but her voice quickly died down into a whisper. Her face flushed, she hadn't expected such emotions tugging her mind. "How?"

Astra winced at that. "Let's keep going. We need to find people. It's our only chance." Astra grinned. "Darling, did you perchance say Corin?" It had seemed ages ago when she had last seen that face. Astra believed, casinos were simply reveries. "Yes, right," she was snapped back into reality, pulled into the chaos. She tugged on the door with him. Astra's grin widened. She tossed her hair and beckoned to the others. "I suppose this is the way in."

"I suppose we'll see if that holds true." @J. Magi

@The Stormfather

Astra noticed her own hunger and winced. "Good plan." @Edema Rue