One mistake can change an entire life

She was afraid because of her mother. He followed her as they walked around, not minding every turn she made, he simply followed. He listened to her story. She had never explained how she had been on the run; he had simply taken her in like she was. He was about to tell her not to look over her shoulder all the time that it was only slowing them down, but she continued. He started to put the puzzle together about how she feared for her pregnancy and what her mother would do. He was curious about getting to know which of the magnificent men she had run after was the father of the child, but he didn’t want to push it, especially now that she felt followed too. She might after all fear that if the followers knew who it was it would only get worse.
She stopped and he did too, turning his head to look at her. He raised his brows a little as she mentioned how she thought Killian could help her. He found it slightly comical that she had run after a man like him. She could have run after so many others who also had power. When he saw how she turned fully towards him, he did too. “Your fear is taking control of you,” he told her, hoping that she would know just how they had just been talking about how she made bad decisions when fear caught up to her “I’m following you home,” he said and found her shoulder again and tried to turn her so they could continue heading towards her home.

For a moment, it was clear that everything stopped in Artemis's mind, it was true she was letting her fear control her, and as he told her that he would follow her home and once again put his arm around her shoulders, she didn’t try to fight him; instead, she nodded and then leaned a little closer into his embrace. She tried to remember herself that this didn’t mean anything, and it would just be him following her home, and then that was it, but she couldn’t help but let her mind wander, hoping that it could be a fresh start, which quickly was shut down. If anything, he hadn’t given her that impression; he had, after all, said that it would be her child that would end up changing how she viewed things because she would love the kid more than anything else. But she was already reminding herself that children weren’t a symbol of having someone who would love you forever, you might love your children, but when kids grew up and became independent, they would find their own way in life and find someone they loved more than their parents.
“Thank you”, she whispered, trying to calm her beating heart, pushing away the fear and paranoia. If he couldn’t feel anything and could be this calm, then maybe she had just imagined everything.

It took a lot to knock Aldonas down from his collected self, so even though he was alert and could sense people in the streets and in their homes, he didn’t let it bother him. Everyone had their own path to walk, and a bit of paranoia wouldn’t be getting to him. “No need to thank me,” he said with a small smile. He could sense her beating heart and was alert to anything that seemed mysterious and a possible scary factor for Artemis. “I simply wish the best for you,” he said and glanced down at her small being, “I still care for you,” he told her.

A small smile formed on her lips; those were kind words, far kinder than she deserved, that much she knew. “Even after all this time?” she whispered, wishing to know, understand really, why he could say such words and clearly mean them, mostly because she knew he wasn’t a man that would say things he didn’t mean, or at least he hadn’t been when she had known him, but that was, as they had just established quite a while ago.
Even though she could still feel the fear form around her heart and body, she felt far safer here in his presence than she would have done on her own. Even if she still thought it would have been better than for Aldonas to be pulled into her mess all over again.

A short laugh left him, clearly showing how comfortable he was. Even though she knew how honest he was, she was still putting questions to his words. “Yes,” he assured her. “Even after all this time,” he said and looked back at her with probably the widest smile this evening.
Feeling as comfortable as he did in his own skin and simply in the world in general, he didn’t mind a little mess, fear, or distrust. Everything suited into his life because he knew how to handle the world around him. Besides, if something was coming in their way this evening, he knew how to either make sure they were left alone or that he simply ran away with her. She had after all explained where she lived… Almost.

She folded her lips, thinking about what she could say because she wasn’t sure if she could say something that would make him feel, how she felt when she heard those words. He cared, even after so many years, even after what she had said and done. Of course, one could always argue she had been young; she hadn’t known what she wanted. She was a witch, and another name had been standing on her collarbone. There were so many excuses, but when it came down to it, she had made a choice, which had been the wrong one.
“I’ve missed you”, she finally decided to say, pulling herself a little closer to him, as close as it was possible before they would make both trip over the other person's feet. That would be a show to be seen, but something for another time, maybe.

He let her take her time because he was certain that there were multiple thoughts going through her head that needed to be processed. They hadn’t seen each other for such a long time, and many things had happened to the both of them.


He looked toward her. He felt a little surprised, even though he knew very well that it was very normal for people to miss someone they cared for. He made sure to hold her close, so she didn’t have to pull everything herself. “I’ve missed you too,” he said, giving her a short smile before he chose to look forward. The only reason why he was slow with his reply, was because he was afraid that it woke feelings for her that he didn’t wish she should get. Not towards him at least.

It was like darkness engulfed her. Pulling her down, her heart crushing in under invisible weights. Of course, she could interpret his answer as something that it wasn’t. But she had gone through too much since they had parted to think that it would ever mean what her heart yearned for, and somehow that made it worse. Because she could have gotten everything she wanted, but she had tried to chase brighter horizons, too blind to see that the most beautiful sunset was the one she had left behind.
“Right”, she whispered, pressing her hand against her chest, hoping to massage away the throb of pain shooting through her.
After that, she decided to keep quiet, doing everything in her might to stop the tears from pressing through. She had cried enough, especially over men. Her foolish heart was always trying to fight away real affection and jump at the chance at something she knew would never work.
The soles of their shoes sounded heavy against the pavement they were walking on. She still listened if there was anyone following them, but as of right now, she felt as safe as she could be outside of her own four walls.
It had taken a little over a ten-minute walk before they had finally reached their destination. “this is me,” she whispered, stepping out of his embrace, and even though he was cold to the touch, she felt far colder now that she stood on her own. “Thank you for the help” she felt like every word tried to stick on the back of her throat, almost making it impossible for her to let them pass over her tongue, “take care” her head fell before she turned around, finding her keys to let herself into the hallway of the apartment complex.