Page 22 of Legendary

“Which is it, Elise? Have an emotion other than perpetual bitch for once. Why didn’t you

just let her kill me and move on? Why did you come with me to Heaven’s Gate if Lilith wasn’t continuously buzzing in your ear? You could have said no.”

I saw Elise’s chest rise and fall. I didn’t know if she was even considering Dani’s words.

Beetee let out the world's most awkward cough trying to break the stressful transaction of words in front of us. “I think it would be best if we all just got settled and then met up in the lounging area for that little tour I mentioned, okay?”

“You seem to thrive on honesty until it doesn’t suit you anymore, huh.”

“I was honest with you, you insufferable piece of shit.” Elise clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides.

Dani manifested her dagger in her hands and pointed it straight at Elise, who didn’t move an inch. Beetee sucked in a breath and Reese mumbledhere we fucking gounder his breath. I just watched her, knowing she wouldn’t actually strike right now, but the amount of control she had in herself was enthralling, but it was hard to watch any of this when I knew all the things Elise refused to say. Eliseneveractually admitted to caring about Dani, but she and I both knew that I was right. I had hoped that somewhere along the way she would be exhausted from harboring her friendly affection towards Dani, but maybe I was asking for too much in that regard.

I was so hung up on this team aspect, I had never really taken the time to realize how hard it would be to achieve even a sliver of what I envisioned. Not to say that my mind wasn’t occupied with other things though, but those things, mainly Jonah and my lack of grieving emotion, weren't important right now. It couldn’t be.

“You could have let her kill me and never thought twice about it. She would have just found another for you to train and make into a feared monster, yet you put all your effort intome. You followedmeand put your life on the line with Lilith.Why?” Dani was trying to pull at a thread that had been dangling for a while, but Elise refused to ever let her take hold of it. She always yanked it out of her grasp.

“Ellie, I really think you should just…” Again, Beetee was cut off and Elise let out a loud annoyed sigh, clearly unmoved by Dani’s words. She grabbed Dani’s wrist and twisted it, bringing it down as Dani let the dagger disappear into thin air.

“So desperate for answers. Desperation is so unattractive.” She leaned towards her left and stuck her hand out, palm up, towards the pink-haired demon. “Key to my room.”

Beetee fumbled digging into the pockets of her sundress and pulled out a small bracelet with a tiny key on it. She placed the key into Elise’s waiting palm, quickly pulling her hand away as Elise’s fingers curled around it. Elise turned around letting her hair graze Dani lightly in the face. We all watched as she unlocked the door to her room and started to walk inside.

Dani’s light laugh surrounded us. It was a laugh that if I didn’t know any better was one that would have brought a smile to my face, but when I looked over at her, she had a finger to her forehead as if she was rubbing out a headache. “No wonder you kept trying to push me away. You don’t fucking deserve friends.”

Elise’s shoulders tensed as she stood in her doorway, but she didn’t turn around. Her shoulders relaxed a little and almost looked as if she was tired, as if the entire weight of her holding in all the feelings she had about Dani were maybe becoming too much. I had no idea why she kept adding to what had to be years of cider blocks of withholding from her so-calledfriend. She eventually slammed the door behind her, and the motion rattled the walls, making the lanterns move left to right quickly.

Dani turned to face Beetee and pointed to the room in front of her. “Is this mine?”

Beetee nodded.

“Great. Key, please.”

The pink-haired demon sighed and dug in her pocket for the key. This key was a different shape and size all together than Elise’s. She handed it to Dani, who nodded thankfully in her direction before putting it in the keyhole.

“The door will automatically lock when you leave, so if you happen to leave your key inside just come find me and I can let you back in.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she explained. She choked at the start of hernext sentence and that caught Dani’s attention. “I know you are upset with her and I can understand why, but—”

Dani pushed open her door lightly and placed her hand on Beetee’s shoulder. “I get that she’s your friend as fucked up as that is, but right now I’m done caring. I’ll be out in a few for that little tour.” Before she fully went inside, she looked at me as curls laid over one of her eyes and her bottom lip pushed out in an involuntary pout. I wanted to kiss her; I really fucking did. Not because I knew it would feel amazing and not because I wanted anything sexual out of it. I wanted to kiss her because she looked a little defeated and unwanted by the one person she always had at her side. She closed her door behind her, leaving the two of us and Beetee alone in the hallway.

Beetee twirled her fingers together in front of her as she nervously chewed her bottom lip again. “I really messed that up by opening my mouth, didn’t I?”

“Uh, no,” I said at the same time as Reese said, “yeah you did.”

I shoved him lightly and he shrugged.

“Sometimes I just speak without thinking. I would say it’s one of my biggest flaws. I told Ellie not to tell me secrets, but she insisted that I would be the only person she would tell, that she just needed to get it off her chest.” She played with the ends of her long hair. Another nervous habit I assumed.

“And you haven't told anyone ever since she confided in you?” I questioned.

“No, I guess I didn’t. It was pretty idiotic of me to think it was something that wouldn’t harbor consequences, especially for Ellie. She was so adamant about just removing the information from her conscience and I was happy to be there, but I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I really hope this doesn’t ruin your plans.”

I shook my head giving her a small smile. “Believe me, you aren’t the issue. They just have to work things out on their own, hopefully sooner rather than later. I just can’t believe she told you.”

Beetee hummed but said nothing. It was as if she wanted to say more, but it wasn’t the right time. I couldn’t blame her, so much had happened in the last two minutes that I needed a moment to breathe.

“I personally can’t believe you guys even get along. I mean she’s like a rainy cloud and you’re like a big ball of sunshine,” Reese said, scratching his chin with his index finger.

Beetee giggled. “Well thank you.” She nodded her head towards the rest of the hallway and turned around so we could follow her.

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