1,025 words.
####Now that everything was out in the open, Princess felt vulnerable, opened up for him to see. If it were anyone else looking at her the way that he was, she would have felt angry, her pride too much to handle letting someone see her the way that she was letting Haven see her. As it was, though, she did not feel embarrassed to let the orange-furred Knight see her like this. Of everyone she knew, he was the only one she could be sure that would not judge her in the way that she feared being judged. Being with Haven allowed her to feel comfortable and accepted, like she could do nothing to deter him from caring for her. Knowing that he cared for her made her feel at ease, but she could not fight away the pain. She wished that he could take up his sword and fight away her hurt, but she knew it was a demon that could not be physically fought. She would need to emotionally progress farther than where she was to get past everything that was raging in her head, and she did not know if she could do that just yet. It was too much for her to handle right now, blow right after blow right after blow. It was simply too much.
####Leaning in to the Knight’s embrace, she sighed softly, trying to calm her breathing. Being close to him like this was a reminder of their times together intimately, but this was a very different embrace. She felt cared for, even loved, though she did not want to acknowledge such a word. Princess had thought that her brother had loved her, and she had thought her mother had loved her, too. Both things had been lies that she had fallen for without questioning the idea. She did not want it to, but she felt like that might affect her later, when it came to being able to love someone—maybe Haven—so completely. Princess had been abandoned far too many times to feel comfortable with the idea of love. Her father had abandoned her before she had even been born, and her mother’s secret lover, who could have prevented all of the bad things Tokyo had done to them as children if he had stuck around, had also abandoned her before she was born. Her brother had abandoned her once before, when she had wanted to find and confront Tokyo and he was too fearful to go with her—her brain did not associate that with her abandoning him, but the other way around. Now, he had abandoned her out of fear, and her mother had officially abandoned her.
####Haven was right, of course, in that her brother had done it out of fear, but Princess did not want this to be the case. She wanted to hate her brother for leaving her without even saying good bye to her in person, and she wanted to never speak to him again. That was what he would deserve for abandoning her like he had, or so she wanted to believe. If he came back, though, she knew she could never hate him for what he had done. No matter how angry she was that he had left her like that, she could understand his fear. Tokyo’s presence was a looming beast in both their lives, but she had simply been stronger than her brother in fighting against the monster that was Tokyo Chance’s very existence. Someday, maybe she would be able to fight back against her mother without getting hurt. There was too much now for her to process to actually formulate an attack on her mother (verbal, of course, she did not have the ability to physically attack anyone), but eventually, she might be able to. Now that Tokyo was completely aware of her daughter’s vehemence towards her, Princess was no longer afraid of her mother finding out about anything. She just wanted to find a way to hurt Tokyo, now. It was not the way she wanted to be, but she could not help it. There was too much anger simmering underneath her skin.
####“Thanks,” she murmured softly into the fur of his chest, his size so much more massive than hers. It was comforting to be held by someone so much larger than herself; she felt protected, completely safe in his arms. Despite her pain, anger, and frustration, she truthfully could not ask for much more than this. Having Haven to hold her was helping, and she hoped he did not mind her intrusion of his house unannounced. It did not seem like he minded, but she realized then that she had simply shown up and dumped her problems on him, rather than even asking how he was. It was terribly selfish of her, but she supposed he probably understood and would not begrudge her that. Still, she should have thought to ask what was going on in his life. She had not seen him since October, so something must have been happening in his life since then. She hated that she had waited so long to come and see him, and that it happened to be under such unexpected and painful circumstances. At least it allowed her to know that he was okay with her showing up as she had today, even if she did think it selfish of her to do it.
####Without pulling away from him, for she could hardly stand the idea of losing the comforting touch, Princess asked, “What’s been going on in your life? I should have asked, or come to see you sooner. . . Things just kept coming up.” It was a weak excuse, but she had really been confused about what was going on between her and Haven. “I’ve missed you, though,” she added in a whisper, almost afraid to admit it to him, another sign of her vulnerability. Their relationship confused her, and she was too young and inexperienced to understand where it was that things were going for them. She wanted to know, but she didn’t think she wanted to ask yet.