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Her heart pounds, as her shoes thump against the root of the giant tree. As she walks closer to where the barrier is.
Just a few more steps and I could be home...
You ran away like your parents.
You're a coward.
She pauses at the line of it. She is. She's all of that. She's nothing but a coward. She's a Ghost. She'll never be seen.
And I don't deserve to be seen.
The light of Katolis' sun hits her face, yet waking up felt like an exercise, having to heave her own body upwards and stare at the messy room. Rayla sighs, grabbing her boots and putting them on. Her body aches as she stretches.
It was just a dream. As if I would actually be there when I still have to get Runaan and Mom and Dad out. I can't go alone, not without them.
Getting up, Rayla pauses at the mirror... her body is translucent, her skin a deep purplish blue. "How?" Her brows furrow. It's the daytime, and not even a full moon as far as she can sense.
"Come on, Rayla. Turn back now, this is silly." Shaking her hands out in front of her, Rayla inhales.
Think on light. The light of the moon that reveals and not the dark that hides. Find the difference.
"Wha- no... no change? Come on!"
Again.
Again.
Over and over, she tries, her hands gripping her hair as she looks at the mirror. "Why is this so difficult? Come on! Just do it already! I can't be disappearing here! This isn't the Silvergrove." Sweat drips down her face, her pupils wide. "Come on!"
The wood of the floorboards creaks as a shadow surfaces at the crack below the door. "Rayla? Why are you shouting? Are you okay?" The words don't reach her ears as she keeps focus on her Moonshadow Form and its issues.
He waits for a few seconds, with no answer, he opens the door and steps in. Rayla turns to Callum, her breath catching in her throat as he looks past her. "Rayla?" Words can't leave her as her mouth is left agape. He really can't see her.
This isn't the Silvergrove! Why can't he see me?! Why can't I change back?
"Rayla?" A fear creeps into his voice.
He thinks I would leave again...
"I-I'm here." She swallows the pain of being in the form, inhaling. Callum blinks, furrowing his brow, glancing at the window, and he frowns. "Uh... It's daytime, and I don't think it's a full moon. Why, and how, are you in your Moonshadow Form?"
"I don't know!" Callum reels back as Rayla shouts, his hands raised in slight defense. "Okay, okay. Alriiiight, let's figure this out. Can you-"
"I already tried changing back! It won't work!" Rayla groans, covering her face as she tries again. Callum pauses, it was like the smallest bit of light peeking out from a moving curtain, barely visible and constantly moving. Rayla paces this time, and he could barely see it happen as he tried to grab her hand. "Rayla, stop. Forcing yourself to change back is painful, isn't it?"
"I don't care, I need to change back. I can't disappear from the last home I have. I need to... I need to come back. I need to come back." Her breathing becomes fast, and she hits the bed with the back of her legs. "I need to come back, I don't want to disappear again!"
"Rayla!" he practically lunges to her side, a different kind of fear in his eyes as he watches her change back in such quick moments that he could've sworn she was an illusion done by a beginner Mage.
"NO! No, no, no, no! I-I have to..! Ha-Have to come back or else I'll be alone. I don't want to be alone, please..." Rayla's head becomes light, her vision spinning as she shuts her eyes and forces the change over and over until the pain makes her tremble. "I'm going to be alone... no one will see me ever again... not again, please, what did I do wrong this time..?"
"Rayla." His voice, snaps her away from it briefly. Callum, without her noticing, was closer to her side. His hand on her arm. "Hey, I can see you."
"Wha-"
"Rayla. I see you. I know it hurts, don't make it worse. Just relax, breathe with me." He rubs her arm, smiling as she flickers for a moment before staying in her form. "There we go, easy now. I see you, and I will always see you, Rayla."
"No-"
"Rayla. I see you. Every part of you, I see it."
"...you do?"
"Yeah. You look tired, do you want to lie down?"
"Will... you stay with me?"
"Of course." He says, shivering just a bit as the warmth of her hand grasps onto his and guides it up to hold what he can feel is her face.
He raises his other hand to hold her face fully, something he always sees. Invisible or not, he knows Rayla. He knows the color of her lilac eyes that light up in the night. He knows the way the hair that isn't tied moves, when she moves with such accuracy and grace. "I see you, Rayla. You're here. You're home with me."