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It was the voice that made her come. She was neither a hero, nor a fallen warrior. All she was, was angry.

And shooting a sword with guns felt like a good stress reliever.

She realized, perhaps a little belatedly, that his presence made her skin rise up with goosebumps. She sighed, because she knew all of this was somehow her fault, and then fired off a round before turning to face him abruptly. She looked.. determined.

"Listen." She muttered. "I think we got off to a bad start here. So how about you and me just.. start over." She tried to smile. It looked a little awkward, because her heart was thudding and her anxiety levels were rising. If he said no to this.. she would be devastated.

And she still didn't know why.

She held her hand out.

"Friends?"

She had to lean back when he gave her that look. It was too intense, too deep, and she was afraid of what he might have seen if he looked inside. Her expression grew wary, and just a little afraid.

She took the hand and shook it, her eyes flickering to the way her hand looked inside of his. The way it felt to hold, like it had when she remembered nothing, but she remembered this-

And then she pulled away, because it was too easy to forget everything else when she held his hand.

"Good." She murmured, her voice shaking slightly. "I'm glad. You seemed to be everyone elses friend. I.. I didn't want to miss out."

Maybe he didn't deserve the kind of affection she'd given him when she'd forgotten all of the hurt that had wizened her up.. but he deserved the truth.

So she fired, just one gun, and even as she did it, she told him. "It's not that I don't want anything to do with you. It's just. You're a guy. And guys just.. trick you."

She fired again, and refused to look at him. "I was just playing it safe. I knew you were interested, after all we'd been through. But I'm bad news. Hell, I'm probably doing you a favor." A crushing sadness flickered in her eyes. It only lasted a moment.

"It's dead." She turned her gaze to look back up at him, and all of the aching loneliness was gone.

Freya settled her guns back in their holsters and then picked up her loot. When she stood up straight, she shrugged non-committally. "You're right. I'm assuming a lot. And I don't know you. Put those two together. What have I got left to make any decisions about, if I don't know you? My past experiences, right? Or should I just.." She waved her hands in the air. "Forget about all that?"

She put her hand on his shoulder and patted it again. It was becoming a thing for her. "I'm just.. not the type of girl you're hoping for. Even if you do care, you won't after a while. You'll get sick of me not trusting you, or maybe you'll get sick of waiting. Either way, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble if you just think of me as a friend."

Her hand slid down, off of him. "But if that's too hard for you, I can understand."

x2

Her heart stopped when he grabbed her hand. She looked at it, at the way he held her, firm but not hard enough to hurt, never hard enough to hurt -

Every part of her heart fought against this. She wouldn't believe him. She couldn't. No, that wasn't true - she could do anything she wanted to. She was Freya. She was stronger than this. Stronger than anything.

But she wouldn't.

Even if she wanted to.

She tried, very gently, to pull her arm away, but he held fast. So instead, she slid it down until it was just her hand, and let him hold that, instead. "I don't need to prove you wrong. It'll just happen. But until then, I'll.. try not to be such a b***h."

When she dropped her hand, his was still in it. And she was keenly aware of that fact. "Now don't get any ideas." She muttered, narrowing her eyes. "We're not going steady or anything. I'm just.. giving you enough time to prove me right. And until such time comes.." She wanted to curl up in his arms like a child and cry. Instead, she stood there, fierce and free, and dared him to push her too far.