A light seemed to flash across her vision immediately upon hearing the strange male's name and she briefly dropped her guard from the surprise. Blinking a couple times, she came to the realization that the flash wasn't a light nor did it actually blur her vision. It was a brief memory flashing across her conscious mind. The more seconds that passed, the clearer the vision became. It was an image of herself facing and perhaps speaking to the same male that stood before her. She could not see herself in the image, but she knew that it was she that was facing the white lion. His appearance was different than what she was seeing in front of her. He appeared both younger and happier, his face was lit up with a wide grin settled on it.
The dark lioness furrowed her brow in confusion. Why was it that this male was causing her to have such a reaction to him, she knew that he couldn't have just have been some regular nobody like everyone else she'd come in contact with. It was clear that he knew who she was, or at least he pretended to. She wasn't so sure about trusting him, but she couldn't deny the feelings that were beginning to swell inside of her. She could not deny the fact that she felt like she knew him. "Aru?," she spoke automatically without thinking or realizing that she answered with a familiar shortened version of his name. She gasped as soon as she realized what she'd said and the darkness surrounding her memories of this male became clearer and clearer.
Arutemisu relaxed his tense body in relief and a joyous smile spread across his face. He felt so happy in that moment that Aru could have shouted to the sky. It had been so long since he'd heard Lunaria call him "Aru". It was familiar and sweet and reminded him of more peaceful and tranquil times of his life. It was as though for that brief moment, everything was back to the way it should have been.
"Yes Luna! It's me! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for survivors from our home? I've been searching for so long that I wasn't sure if anyone had survived the attack at all. You have no idea how happy I am to see you Luna! I was beginning to think that I was the only one left of our people. I thought for sure that you and everyone else had been killed by the Black Moon Pride."
For a moment, the lioness felt a strange sense of serenity and she began to let go of her guard. For a moment, she entertained the pleasant memories that began to surface in her mind. However, the second that she heard the name of the clan that had wrought destruction upon her beloved home her peaceful moment ended abruptly. Instead of nice memories, she began to see the blood and the death becoming clearer and clearer with everyone word Arutemisu said. The very thoughts and images that she'd forced herself to forget were beginning to trickle back to her like the raindrops that came before a storm.
"I-I can't do this. I can't remember!" Not being able to mentally withstand the start of an onslaught of horrible memories resurfacing, the lioness slowly backed away from the male, turned, and took off running. She had to get as far away from him as she could. The memories were coming back. They were all coming back and she needed for them to stay right were she'd put them in the deep darkness of her mind. The parts that she did not dare venture to.
Aru was so excited that Luna seemed to remember him that he didn't notice her reaction at first. He was telling her how happy he was to find her when the male finally looked directly into Luna's eyes and saw the terror growing in them. "Luna?," he asked softly as he took a step toward her. Needless to say, he was taken by surprise when the dark lioness turned tail and bolted away from him. At first he stood there gazing at her retreating form before he took off after her. Running as fast as he could, Aru huffed with the effort of keeping up with her. He was barely keeping the dark tuff of her tail within his sights.
Despite her frail appearance, Luna was winding through the jungle with the familiarity of one who lived there and the speed of one who was running from her past. Aru couldn't lose track of her now, he couldn't let anything stop him, he had put too much time and effort into getting to this very moment. If Aru was honest with himself, he had always secretly hoped that Luna had survived somehow. Out of everyone that he loved in his home, with the exception of his Queen, it was her that he truly wanted to live. It was the thought that she was lost forever that ultimately drove him.
"Luna! Don't run from me!," he called after her with desperation in his voice. He could only guess what the destruction had done to Luna's mental state. It would have caused anyone to crack, especially someone like Luna who would never bring harm to anyone before now. Aru wasn't so sure that that trait still persisted in her heart. With a heavy heart and burst of energy, Aru leap from the ground through the air and pounced on Luna. He was careful and made sure to roll them to the side so he didn't crush her lithe form with his weight.
"Luna! I know what happened to our homeland was horrible, but you can't run away from me! I won't let you," Aru shouted earnestly with tears in his eyes. "I've waited so long to find you Luna. I lived after everything. I stayed alive to try to find you!"
At this point Luna could barely see Arutemisu through the tears that blurred her vision and ran down her face. "I tried so hard to forget. How am I supposed to live with this pain?"
"We'll figure it out together."
