Little did I know

LOCATION the pedestrian street
DATE 9th of September
TIME afternoon
OUTFIT Link
TOPIC TO @Henry xx
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It had been a few days. She had wondered where he had been, why he didn't pick up the phone. Then again, she had been busy too. Jamie was back in town. Archie was alive and she had met Ayah. Well, it had been eventful. The magic from the necklace had went out just as the New moon had showed, but it was alright. She was used to the emotions and everything it included, and having been numb to some of it - had really backfired when it had gotten back with full force. She had just gotten free from work, and was just on her way to her car. Then she saw him crossing the street not far away, making her tilt her head a little bit. "Henry?" She called from afar running to catch up with him, first stopping when she reached him. "Hey, I've been trying to call you, are you alright?" Mariella asked with a small frown on her face. Something was wrong, she could feel it, Mariella took a deeper breath in and held her breath for a moment while looking at him, waiting for him to explain why he hadn't returned her calls.

Henry?
He looked over his shoulder trying to determine where the known voice of the firefairy came from. Suddenly he saw her approaching from a car and he put on a smile on his lips even though it pained him to see her. He had to tell her. There was no backing out. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ve been quite busy since the new moon,” he tried to explain scratching his neck a little. The black hole of how he had to tell her he couldn’t continue this was only getting bigger for every minute he was with her. It was breaking him that he had tot do this. “I-eh… I… I could’ve been better” he said truthfully. It was so difficult to love one person so deeply and not having fate on his side. “I met Lexie again,” he breathed out, realizing he was using her nickname and not the name on his collar, “Alexandra,” he corrected himself. He felt so guilty for not having contacted her.

He was so guilty, it almost made her want to throw up. Watching how he scratched his neck a little, but oh the guilt. Mariella pressed her brows a little bit crossing her arms a bit more firmly, like he said that it could've been better. She took a deeper breath in when he mentioned he had met Lexie again, making her look confused for a second, but there was nothing hiding the emotion that was under him saying that name, she felt it like a sting in her own heart, but it was overrun by the guilt coming form him. "I see," she breathed out. So much for wanting this. To fight for this. Mariella took a deeper breath in and folded her lips a little bit together, looking away from him for a moment. "So, you met with her again?" She asked and held her breath. Oh, how heavy her heart was feeling in her chest in this moment. It didn't matter there was people around them walking, she didn't care if the world was on fire, right now she just wanted to know what was going on. "What does that mean?" She asked. He for one didn't know the necklace wasn't working anymore, and she just wanted him to be honest with her about this. Mariella felt a little bit uneasy, not really sure what to do with herself, not wanting to be drowned in his guilt or whatever he felt, but she also couldn't help it. Because she already knew what he was going to say. There was no hiding as his feelings ran underneath her skin.

The way she pressed her brows closer to each other and wrapped her arms around her made him very well aware of how she might feel and he felt like someone was hammering a stake into his chest. It was painful to stand in front of her like this. He felt like the wolf had been beaten by the witch, laying in the in a corner whimpering and the witch in him just stood and danced in victory. It was no pleasure to be a part of. I see. He didn't want to have a goodbye with Mariella, because he did truly love her, but there was nothing he could do anymore. The bond had been made. He had been fighting with every muscle he could, but no matter what, it just seemed like he was too weak. He had wished he hadn't enjoyed every moment he had been with Alexandra, but he had. She looked away and he looked down. It was way too painful. He shouldn't have told her that he wanted to fight for it, because there had been nothing to fight for. They never stood a chance against the bond. He nodded a little as she repeated. He had met Alexandra again. He truly wished that he could stay with her. She wondered what it meant which made him look up at her again. He drew a sharper breath in. "It means there's nothing to fight for anymore..." He replied taking a deeper breath in. This was so difficult. "The bond got sealed at the New Moon," he explained. He licked his lips and looked away. "You know, it hurts you as much as me, right?" he said folding his hands into fists. He wasn't going to do anything reckless but he just felt how every emotion in him was boiling up.

It wasn't like she didn't know he loved her, because she knew. She could feel it, but it wasn't strong enough to overpower what he once had tried to battle. They had won the fight but lost the war. Because right now she could feel every single thing, and the longer she looked into his eyes the more she could dig in and feel what she didn't want to feel. How he had given up. It made her lips shiver slightly as she held her breath, even if she didn't want to get sucked up in his feelings she couldn't help it. Drowning, she felt like she was drowning trying to focus on what he was saying. His pain, her pain dancing together. He had lied to her. It means there's nothing to fight for anymore... his words cut her like a knife stabbing right through her heart that it almost made her lose her balance for a second, but only because it knocked all air out of her system. She repeated the scene in her head from that day, the day where he had told her that he wanted this. And she had gotten convinced that, he had convinced her that she was worth the fight, what a fool she had been. It was like she had been infected by the hope, infected by him. The bond got sealed at the New Moon, she blinked taking a small step back. Was he for real? Mariella felt betrayed, used and angry, odd how for the first time in a while her own emotions took up more space than the feelings around her. She looked at him as he looked away, making her take an even sharper breath in. The fairy felt the tears steaming down her face, how they ran over her cheeks.

Mariella felt powerless in this. Completely beaten and could almost hear how her heart shattered into small pieces. You know, it hurts you as much as me, right? The feeling of being powerless turned around as she raised her brow at him and dried her eyes. "Excuse me?" Mariella took a sharper breath in and tried her best to collect herself. "Did you not tell me that you wanted to fight for this? Us. And did you not stay with me because of that reason, having me foolishly believe that we could do this?" She took a sharper breath in and looked into his eyes. Mariella was not going to let him think that this hurt them both equally. Because he had made her live in a fairytale world where she had just waited for him to pick up the phone and tell her that he was alright. "When were you going to tell me? Were you even going to tell me at all?" Mariella licked her lips still having tears run down over her cheeks.

His love for Mariella was grand, but no matter how grand it was, it couldn’t do anything against the curse witches carried. He could curse his mother for forever for her to ruin this, but he knew, that no matter what, it wasn’t her fault. It was him who hadn’t been strong enough. He could do nothing to the curse he had hovering over his head printed on his collarbone with thick cursive text. He never felt like he had given up. He still wanted to fight for them and their relationship. He loved her, but no matter what there wasn’t much he could do anymore. He had failed her. He hadn’t been the knight in shining armor would take her to wonderland and spend the rest of their days together with him. The way she acted didn’t make it any easier to keep his part cool. He had to stay strong even though what he wished for the most was to lay with her in his arms and talk about every good and bad thing in the world. He wanted them to be, to function fully but no matter how hard he fought, there was just no way he could run past his mate. She took a little step away as he mentioned the bond had been sealed. She had to know everything because he couldn’t walk around and leave her hanging or believing. It was the worst thing one could do.

He had fought all he could and spent three weeks with her after the first meeting with his mate. The only difference in those three weeks was that the spark that had been there before was way more difficult to find, but as they had gotten closer and closer to the end of the third week, it seemed like hope wasn’t as far away as he once had thought. And then the new moon had happened, and Alexandra and he had sought to the same spot to seek cover.

He watched how the tears streamed down her face and it hurt him. It cut his chest right open and made him want to give her his bleeding heart, as long as she stayed happy. He never meant to make her feel this way. He never wanted her to feel used, played, betrayed and on standby. But as he said it hurt him as much as him, she threw it all overboard and he felt like he was being scolded. ”I still want to fight for us, and I stayed. Fighted everything and believed that everything would come out to be right” he said feeling how a headache grew in his head, “I just can’t do a thing anymore. I lost. I lost us,” he said and shook his head a little. He was powerless. He couldn’t save them anymore.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t tell you?” he said and felt how their trust towards each other seemed to break in thousand pieces. “I didn’t call you yesterday because I didn’t know what to do. I was frightened because I didn’t want to lose you,” he said with a voice begging to break. “If I hadn’t gotten to you today, I would’ve found you tomorrow,” Everything felt like they were choking him. All of this sorrow, distrust and will to love. It was suffocating.

I still want to fight for us, she frowned a little bit, hadn't he just said 'It means there's nothing to fight for anymore.'? Mariella took a deeper breath in, as much as it pained him, the pain was the double in her - taking in all he felt. Saying he had lost them, those words made her take a deeper breath in. Once again returning to the state where she just felt helpless and beaten, like nothing she could say wasn't going to be written over by another word, another valid point. She was hurting. Mariella took a sharper breath in, when he asked if she really thought he wouldn't call, she lashed her arms out to the side. "I honestly don't know what I should believe in anymore," she replied with a weaker voice. All of his emotions were taking a toll on her, making her cry even more, because she couldn't stay mad at him no matter how much it hurt. No matter how much he was breaking her heart in this moment, it was over rushed by his emotions and his words. No, she didn't want to forgive him. Not yet. Mariella gasped for air, feeling like everything around was just strangling her, it was hard to breathe. Drowning in all the emotions around her, "stop, just please stop," she lashed her left arm a little bit out taking a step further back, trying to catch her breath. "I can't - I can't take this. I - I shouldn't have to," she took a sharper breath in, a breath that only felt like knives cutting her insides up as she sobbed. "I didn't think you would be the one to break my heart," she whispered before she took a deeper more unsteady breath in.

Jamie lived in a motel close to the bakery with some people from the clan, and being reunited with the family only two days ago, sure he had said yes to meet up in the evening after Mariella was off the clock. Perhaps it was why he was the first one on the site. They were all four to meet up here around now. It hang in the air that something was wrong, and the second his eyes was caught on an upset Mariella, he didn't waste many seconds before heading directly towards her. Even though it meant crossing the street, forcing cars to stop and yell after him, because he moved rather carelessly towards them. Just the way he watched Mariella step back, lashing her arm out as she wanted the guy to keep his distance. You never really saw Mariella cry, it was a rare sight, and anyone responsible for it - yeah, it didn't end good. "Hey," he raised his voice a little bit getting the attention, coming up closer, his sister looked like a wreck, which he didn't appreciate. "What did you do?" He walked up towards the hybrid, pushing him a little back with one hand against the other guy's shoulder. "Jamie," Mariella tried to speak more clear but her voice was weak. The shapeshifter grabbed the hybrid by the collar, looking into his eyes. Jamie's anger was strong, making her almost lose her balance on top of everything else that already was about to knock her out.

Henry still didn’t know that her necklace didn’t work anymore. They hadn’t been able to talk about it, and therefore he didn’t know that she was coping with both of their feelings right now. If he knew that it hadn’t worked, he might’ve done things differently. She didn’t know what to believe anymore. She didn’t trust him anymore. It wasn’t even because he had lied, he had just failed her, been unable to keep what he had wished for so badly. He was disappointed by himself. “’Ella,” he said softly as the tears didn’t stop streaming down her cheeks. He wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything would be alright, but as right now, he wasn’t the one to say those words, because that would give her hope. She needed someone who wasn’t a part of this to tell her that everything would be alright, that she would get through it. She was a strong woman. She asked him to stop, and he shut his mouth as soon as he could. The way she lashed her arm out telling him to keep a distance he figured that either something was wrong with the necklace, or it didn’t work anymore. He wished to help her and fill the necklace with new energy to help her cope with all the feelings, but before he could do anything, she unleashed the beast and said she hadn’t thought he would be the one to break her heart. “I’m sorry,” he said with a hurting voice. He wanted nothing more than to tell her he never meant to break her heart but that would just be empty words, because that was what he had done. He felt so guilty and there was nothing he could do to change any of this. He had ruined his own fairytale lovestory. A loud voice sounded from between the cars honking and yelling. Henry on the other hand was sure it wasn’t for them and therefore kept his attention on Mariella, but before he knew of it, the man who had yelled walked straight up to him and started to push him away. He frowned a little and shook his head confused, “What?” his voice was somewhat hoarse but instead of doing anything logical this man grabbed his shirt, making Henry put a hand on the fella’s wrist, “Hey, hey, easy now,” he said feeling how something stirred in his stomach. It didn’t even take long before two other men joined in, one of them checking up on Mariella, the other trying to actually help Mariella. “We we’re just trying to figure things out,” he said feeling how even that hurt to say. There was nothing more to figure out. He just wished to make sure that Mariella wouldn’t end up doing something stupid or feel way to beaten about this conversation. Seemingly, it seemed like these men all were someone who cared a lot for Mariella and who hated anyone who hurt her. Which was one of the reasons why he had a greater and greater feeling of he just needed to get out of there and if Mariella ever wanted to talk, she could just find him again. She was good at that by now.

Jamie snorted a bit, as the hybrid talked to him, not that Jamie cared much about what the guy had to say. He was pretty damn sure that this fella had nothing to say could or would make the shapeshifter back away. Not even the hand on his wrist. For all the guy could fight him back, and he still wouldn't stand down. The boiling rage of anyone who would even dare hurt anyone in his family made sure that he didn't even realize that Nigel and Archie had arrived. He just starred into the hybrid's eyes, tempted to let him run and see how far he got before Jamie would throw something at him - just to let him get a hint of having gotten a free pass. Jamie never missed. But no, he wasn't going to do that. At least not yet.

Mariella noticed Nigel and Archie long before they were close by, but still seemed puzzled when Nigel placed a hand on her shoulder and moved her towards him. She folded her lips together as he asked if she was alright. She wasn't even able to find her words, feeling the anger of Jamie and Nigel starting to make her heart skip a few beat ahead. But then there was Archie, she focused on him, letting her eyes just glow up, and place her mind there. Focus on one emotion, letting Archie be her calm shore for this brief moment. She took a sharper, still unsteady breath in.. But at least she didn't feel completely paralyzed anymore. She grabbed out for Nigel's hand, as she took a deeper breath in, wrapping her arm around his, also providing her with more comfort than if she was holding around herself. Jamie looked at Archie as he told him to back off, taking a sharper breath in, looking over at Mariella shortly, and he licked his lips a little bit.

We we’re just trying to figure things out, Jamie took a deeper breath in, snorted at the guy a little bit, then letting go of him. "Oh yeah, sure thing," the shapeshifter replied grinding his teeth, the eyes of his wolf starting to show in its amber color, responding to the fact that the hybrid was part werewolf. "I can help you with that, you stay away from her, clearly you have caused enough trouble," he snarled a bit the hybrid.

This guy truly knew how to snort on command. All of a sudden the guy let go of his collar and Henry pulled his shirt a little down. As the man in front of him started to show his werewolf eyes and snarled, it didn’t take long before his own eyes turned golden with a red ring around his pupils. The human then approached too, also telling Henry to stay away from Mariella, “She came to me,” he snarled back. It wasn’t like he wanted to put any guilt on Mariella, but it had always been her who had arrived at his place. At any time, she had the possibility to not arrive or not confront him. She always had the possibility to turn around and leave. But no one ever did such thing. Of course, Mariella had no clue why Henry had been absent yesterday and had no way of knowing before she asked him. He didn’t blame her for anything.

The way the human pulled the shapeshifter back and suddenly started to throw shitty words towards Henry was enough to but Henry’s blood to a boiling point. He cared for Mariella at least as much as he cared for Danica. “Don’t say I don’t care about her,” he hissed and tried to push Nigel. No, Henry wasn’t the type to start fights… Usually. But the last couple of weeks, every emotion in his body had been swirling around and he had truly never been more confused. Never in his life had he believed that he would find someone who he loved so dearly and only two weeks later find his mate. It was sickening and he wished that he would only have to deal with one of these many problems, because this was way too much.

She felt more at ease as Archie had his arm around her, but her wet eyes couldn't really stop looking over at Henry and Jamie. Her eyes moved towards him, as he told her to focus on him instead. "I'm trying," she breathed out, her voice so weak it was almost impossible to hear. She felt like she was falling apart, which was a feeling she hadn't felt in a while and she hadn't missed it. Drown in her own sadness was never something you liked feeling, having it intensified the way Mariella had, didn't make it better. It was just like was standing in quicksand unable to move without sinking deeper in. This pain and uncertainty wasn't good for her, and she needed to get away from it. Henry had no idea what this felt like. He had no right to get her convinced that she and this was worth a fight when he wasn't even fighting. But as Archie started walking, her legs followed without her even realizing they were moving. She closed her eyes for a second to catch her breath, her face feeling numb for all the tears she had cried at this point. Her lips shivering and she felt somewhat cold, she never felt cold.

Jamie was seconds from starting a fight that he knew was stupid to even throw a punch at. He was too caught up in his emotions, triggered by this hybrid and his actions towards his sister. Nigel pulled him a little bit back, which was possible for the best, the wolf was out to play and as the hybrid flashed his eyes as well - well it didn't calm Jamie's own wolf, but at least shapeshifters could control their animal a bit better than werewolves. She came to me, Jamie clicked his tongue. "So? Does that justify any of this?" He asked. Jamie had no idea how long, how short or whatever had happened between them. But even if someone came up to you, leaving them shattered and in tears - that wasn't right.Don’t say I don’t care about her, the hybrid hissed like a school boy launching out towards Nigel, times like this Jamie was blessed by his drastically better reflexes and aim, making him turn a little to the side to lift his arm and throw a punch hitting the hybrid's jaw just before he got the chance to push Nigel. "Like I said, you have caused enough trouble, now I suggest you don't try make things worse for yourself."

Nothing could justify how Mariella felt right now, he knew that. But no matter what, both of them had fell very hard and they hadn’t been able to stop falling for each other. It had been quite dramatic and even more so when he had met Alexandra. God, he had tried to turn every stone to figure out what the hell he was going to do. And though he had felt too weak, he had been convinced to keep on fighting. Mariella had told him to keep on fighting. She hadn’t been able to feel what he had felt, because she had been wearing the necklace, he had given her to suppress her powers. Everything would’ve been over if she hadn’t been wearing that stupid necklace, he had given her.
He had cared. He had done everything he could to help her get through her days. Lifted her up, made her laugh and feel loved. Reminded her of being proud of herself and that no matter what, she would be at victory.
So, of course he got mad when someone said he didn’t care for her. Which was also why he didn’t get to react on the shapeshifters punch. He stumbled a step back and let his hand graze over his jaw. The one Henry had tried to push stepped in between them. Which was probably the best idea in general, because it made Henry realize just what was happening around him and not just see red. It was bothering that anger could overpower the witch and get the werewolf out – but love couldn’t. The guy the mentioned the busy street. Yes, Henry had noticed the street being busy, but she still had the necklace he had given to her. It didn’t make sense any of it. He started to talk about how Henry had chosen to fight instead of just leaving. There was so many things which got mixed up. He wanted to fight for the relationship they had, and this dude had clearly known what he had said, when he said that Henry didn’t care. That guy could’ve chosen smarter words. Had the two of them just agreed to leave Henry be, then Henry wouldn’t have tried to push any of them. He took a deeper breath, and with that his eyes turned back to be normal. “Make sure she’ll get better,” he said before he turned towards the alley, he had wanted to go down a long time ago. He would hate for this to affect her more than it already had.

She wanted to dial down from all this for a moment, but at the same time she didn't want to inflict herself with the idea that it was alright or everything was alright. It was a hard lesson to learn, and she wished that she had played more carefully when she entered the game. In the end she knew this was how it would end, but Mariella of all people always the optimist and saw the best of everything and everyone - it was bound her heart would break at some point. "It's cold," she mumbled a bit, moving her hand towards her arm as if it would provide her with some heat. Her body shaking a bit, mostly from the aftereffect of how overwhelmed she was at the moment. Even the fire seemed to have died out, usually her being overwhelmed worked like a fuel to the fire, but right now it wasn't. It came with the feeling of feeling defeated. She moved her right hand up to try dry her eyes with the back of her hand, taking a deeper breath in. She had brought this upon herself. "It's just stupid. I'm just fucking stupid," she mumbled at herself, shaking her head a little bit.

Jamie blinked a little bit as Nigel pushed him back, and one look was enough for Jamie to blink getting his wolf back in line. Nigel's words got to him, and he took a deeper breath in. It wouldn't do Mariella any good, so he stepped up. Despite the wolf still wanting to fight, but no, Jamie had the wolf handled for now. He let Nigel handle the situation, who would have thought. As soon as the guy turned away, leaving them, Jamie breathed out. He had been way more collected an calm two years ago before he had lost McKenna and the kids, everything had went down the hill after that. But it could've been worse. He could have been worse. "You are becoming such a father," Jamie breathed out and rushed a hand through his own hair, looking till he couldn't see the hybrid anymore before looking at Nigel again. "It suits you. But I for sure thought you would have a quicker punch than me," he teased a bit as he breathed out. Then the tease was over and he became concerned again, turning his attention to where Archie and Mariella were.

Mariella looked up into Archie's eyes as he placed his hands on her shoulders and said she should look at him. She breathed out and folded her lips together for a moment. He was right however, it was never stupid to love someone, wasn't it her who always told everyone to at least try, make a bold move and go for it. Perhaps, she should just have known when trying wasn't worth it. She turned her head a bit around as Jamie and Nigel approached them, letting Nigel pull her into a hug, wrapping her heavy arms around him. Mariella took a deeper breath in while listening to his suggestion as he pulled her out of his embrace again. She knew the girls back home where having their little girls movie evening, but also knew they wouldn't mind them crashing it. Or they should just go to Archie and Nora's apartment for the evening, it would be easier not to deal with a whole house of emotions and just focus on her brothers, actually enjoying have them here together. She moved the back of her hand up to dry her eyes, with a softer laugh. "And you, hey, its okay," she walked over to Jamie and gave him a warm hug, still feeling the anger he carried alongside the grief, the worry. "But yeah, I would like that. But maybe somewhere more quite, your apartment isn't far from here, maybe we can crash there for a few hours?" She suggested letting go of Jamie and looked at Archie with a tender smile. Mariella knew nothing would make her happier than returning home to everyone's warmth and joy, but right now she was able to just focus on the emotions of her brothers and getting to the apartment rather than home, perhaps she had a small chance of actually not overwhelm herself with everything else but how she actually felt. Not that Jamie had seen where neither Nigel or Archie lived yet, so he didn't mind going wherever. As long as he was with his family.