trans_9 | Misery Loves Company [Open, but don't expect to get too far in consoling him]

Alex was sitting in one of the abandoned buildings, where part of the wall and roof had caved in. It was a familiar place, though it wasn't one he had spent much time in. The significance was that he and Luna had talked here for quite some time after the whole fiasco with the bombs. They had been so happy that the other one was okay.

Luna had told him about some of her magic- he still didn't really understand it, and now he didn't know if he ever would.

He sat against the crumbling wall on the same slab of rock he had used last time, staring at the rock Luna had been sitting at.

Why did Fate let him meet someone as wonderful as her, just to take her away?

Why couldn't he bring himself to tell the ship to make him forget her?

Instead, he was sitting there without either his jacket or Alice, his arms wrapped around himself, and his fingers digging into his arms as he cried silently. The building was off the beaten path, and he hoped that he might get some solace here. In his room he had to face Tavros, and Katara had already tracked him down once.

Right now his hands were still, but jagged and slightly bloody scratch marks were evident on his upper arms where he had apparently mindlessly been grabbing and squeezing. It was unclear if he had noticed them or not, though anyone who knew him would know it would be unlikely that he had, knowing of how he normally reacted to blood.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ophelia was lost in the city, and it wasn't doing anything to ward off the feeling of being useless and insignificant. In fact, it was making it much worse. All of these huge, alien structures crowded together just served to remind her of how big this was, and how small she and her entire world were in comparison.

It was at some point during her wandering that she stumbled into an abandoned building, perhaps to get out of the fake sunlight for a while. It didn't take very long for her to discover that it wasn't actually abandoned.

"...Hello?"

Alex moaned, "j-just l-leave me a-alooone."

Was it really so much to ask for, to be left in peace? Wherever he went he couldn't seem to get away from people. Did the ship decide to put a huge sign over the roof of this house flashing and blinking, suggesting that they ought to bother the guy inside.

She recognized that voice. "Not when you sound like that, I'm not."

Ophelia shoved some debris out of the way and approached the direction she thought it came from. When she found Alex he was... a sight. "What- oh- what happened?"

He groaned and moved to cover his arms. "Wh-why c-can't I j-just be l-left alone?"

"I'm not leaving you bleeding in a corner in a dark building." Ophelia said flatly, her desire to help overriding her bad mood. "Besides, I can't find my way out of here, anyway."

Without lifting his head, Alex pointed out through one of the walls, down what was a street past the wall, "F-four blocks, t-take a r-right, s-six b-blocks, a-an' th-then a l-left an' t-two more."

Now at least she had one less excuse.

"A... block? Is that what those large square buildings are?" You're forgetting she's practically a viking, Alex. "Look, I can't just... leave you here, you're coming with me, right?"

"A b-block's o-one s-set o-of them. Th-they're s-sectioned o-off b-by streets, a-an' I'm n-not going w-with you. I-I jus' w-wanna be alone."

Well, that sort of made sense, and Ophelia could probably figure it out on her own, but there was still another unresolved issue. "...Why?"

Alex snapped at her, "B-because I do!"

It wasn't like him to yell, but he was getting fed up with everyone trying to get him to feel better. Why did he have to be happy? Why couldn't they just leave him and his shadows in peace?

She was taken aback by the outburst, but she tried not to show it except for a look of slight annoyance on her face. "Far be it from me to return the kindness you showed me, I guess. At least tell me how you got hurt?" She had to know if it was serious or not.

Alex whimpered and shifted a bit. Zuko had already yelled at him enough for four people, if not more, over the same thing. What he didn't realize was that as he shifted, so that his eyes were pressed against the crux of his elbow, it caused his hand to move so it was more visible. The issue was that it also made the blood under his nails and stuck to the skin of his finger tips more visible.

It also moved one of his hands into just the position it had been in when he had been grabbing at his arms hard enough to draw blood.

Ophelia did not expect that. She did expect injuries in a ruin such as this, but those were clearly self-inflicted. This was a lot worse than she originally thought.

"I, uh, I..." She really had no idea what to say to that.

He curled his fingers up and used his fist to cover the cuts as best as he could, realizing that they were so exposed.

"I-I've had a r-r-really... b-bad... few d-days. I j-jus' w-wanna be alone..."

Staring at Alex's wounds, it finally clicked in Ophelia's mind. She remembered what it felt like to have a heart that ached so badly that not even physical pain could dull it. She turned away from him, too many bad memories flooding back.

"Look, I..." She wasn't good at this kind of thing. She was a warrior, not an orator. "I don't know what happened to you, but I know how it feels. So I'm not gonna try and talk you out of it because I know it doesn't work."

But you aren't alone. Is what she wanted to add.

"Th-then why are y-you s-still here?"

It seemed like he was trying to be harsh, but he lacked any actual malice behind his words. It was just another ploy to try to get her to leave him alone.

Misery Loves Company [Open, but don't expect to get too far in consoling him]

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