she bit her cheek. it must be the remaining tears from last night filling her eye. his words struck a nerve, like strings being pulled in the wrong direction. "gee, thanks, ray."
        ray scoffed and kicked the sand beneath his boot, like he was trying to shake the weight of her words off. "you've changed." 
        she didn't have time to reply. she didn't know what to say as he ran towards the city. she let her tears fall, coating the sand below her. she just wanted what was right, but what if what was right was just for her heart and not the people who were 'counting' on her? was she being selfish? vargas was right for her heart because he helped her when no one else would. he made her laugh when she was feeling down, and he annoyed her just enough to bring her energy back ━━ feeling a thrill. 
        she was breaking down, and she didn't have vargas there to annoy to make her feel better, to watch across the fire pit because it was easier than pretending his stare didn't burn into her. her 'handsome human crutch' ━━ elysia chuckled to herself at the memory, sniffing and wiping her tears staining her face. 
        it wasn't long before ray returned.
        with her dad. 
        she grimaced, his face angrier than before. she hoped he didn't think of elysia as a distraction from the real motives at the camp, but she couldn't let nova get in trouble! he'd always believed in her, at least. 
        more of the elders joined at the beach in front of the cave. commander bright called elysia over from the shore and she jogged to catch up. 
        "did you know about everyone agreeing to side with each other?" he asked. 
        she nodded. 
        "and you let it happen?" his voice dropped an octave ━━ low and cold.
        elysia froze. "they're not our enemies anymore. they're surviving. just like we are."
        "we're going, now," he commanded. ray was watching her dad with pride, but when he caught elysia's gaze from across the crowd, he looked down before stepping up his pace.












































━━━━━━ 𝓛𝐈𝐋𝐈 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒
- poor elysia omg</3 i made commander bright an asshole in this but i hate him so