Archive of Our Own ^beta

                “Raptor, why won’t you look at me? Please look at me, I love you.”

                Of course, he would say something like that--when they met again, face-to-face, one-on-one--no Haze, no Stell--Naga, Hyena, the chief--just Raptor and Baekmorae.

                Just the two of them, as it was after he killed her family, as it was before Haze walked into her life and brought Stell back to her.

                She couldn’t hold back--not with him talking like this. Not with him acting so casual, so romantic--it was disgusting. She raised her head, her vision blurred with rage-induced tears, and hissed. “ Why won’t I look at you ?” She clutched the blanket at her legs, her knuckles turning white from the intensity. “You know why--you took nearly everything from me, you stalked me, you acted like it was nothing that you tried to kill my brother--”

                “But I did it--”

                “Because you ‘loved’ me? Do you know what Haze doesn’t do? He doesn’t kill my friends! Do you know what my friends--who also love me--don’t do? They don’t kill my boyfriend, they don’t try to kill my brother! God, do you even get why I hate you? Do you even know why I’ll never love a freak like you?”

                Baekmorae couldn’t say anything to such a strong declaration of hatred and anger, all he could do was cry harder. More tears, more muffled sobs--and of course, this just infuriated Raptor more. How dare he cry, she should be the one crying--he killed her family, he hurt her friends, he stalked her, annoyed her, acted as if he had done nothing wrong.

                Sure, tears filled her eyes, but they weren’t pained--not now, tears hadn’t been from heartbreak and loss in a decently long time. Now, her tears were just rage. Sure, sometimes, she still cried over what happened in the past--waking up from dreams where her family had all moved on to safer, happy lives, or dreams where they never rescued Baekmorae in the first place.

                Raptor wanted to move closer. She wanted to tear him apart, shred him, absolutely demolish him with every ounce of strength in her shaking body.

                But she couldn’t reach him. Not because of the distance, not because of him moving away, not because of her chair--simply because he wasn’t really there.

                She opened her eyes and was greeted with what was mostly darkness--darkness that stung her eyes from fresh, angry tears. Naturally, she could still see decently, despite the low-light, thanks to her animal traits, but she still reached for her phone--buried under her pillow--and turned it on, allowing the bright screen to provide a little more light, as well as a picture of her, Stell, and Haze.

                She glanced over wiping her eyes on her pajama sleeve, and relaxed--Haze was sleeping soundly, his back to her. Just another dream...

                Of course it was--it was a relief to see Haze sleeping next to her. It was a relief to remember that Stell was safe in his room--alive and well, and while she didn’t have the loved ones from her past, she still had Stell, and nowadays she had Haze.