i'm going to write ren x fabia forever. i think it makes for one interesting pairing. this is also the first long piece i have written in a while that is not second person, so i hope it's not choppy or anything. also i haven't even finished gundalian invaders so if the plot seems off, well, there's why.

the segments are meant to be repetitive and reflect each other, so if they seem like that, please note that it is intentional. the really awkward and obvious original working title for this piece was: the art of reflecting your worst enemy. hopefully that gives you a hint about the piece.

parts of this were inspired by the song evil twin by the arctic monkeys, though i didn't actually listen to it while writing. more like i remembered a certain lyric, and then wrote the last few paragraphs around it.

usual disclaimer applies; i don't own anything save for my writing.

arithmetic sequence

(the dark will go wherever the light goes, and vice versa.)

.

.

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She is the queen's sister, the princess - a beautiful young woman, a shining silver ray in her home planet's time of darkness. Nothing about her screams the lies he has been fed about her, about how she is cold and strict, a merciless, power hungry, cruel, shell of a woman.

No, instead she is beautiful and shines like the sun he does not see often enough to make a comparison. And yet, all Ren wants to do is think of Fabia as the sun - bright and beautiful and wonderful, all things he has learned from his short experience in it.

But she is a Neathian, and though she is all things bright and beautiful, he can't think of her as anything but his enemy.

And his enemy is meant to be destroyed.

He is cold and bitter, and everything about him screams the facts she has been fed about him and his kind - about how they are selfish and cruel, and how they are power hungry shells of people.

Yes, Ren is dark and distant and betrayed the Brawlers without a second though, even though they had formed emotional attachments to him. He is angry and depressing and Fabia wants nothing more than to destroy him.

After all, he is her enemy.

"I will destroy you and your horrible kind," she hisses at him, green eyes blinking, staring into his heartless golden ones.

"You don't know anything about me or my kind!" he hisses back. Neither glare is softening. They are staring each other down relentlessly.

And then he chuckles, sardonically and cynically. "All you are is a selfish princess. How could you ever understand me or my kind?"

Fabia says nothing in return. She only turns sharply and walks away from him, her head held high, and her blue hair swaying gently.

You're never supposed to talk to the enemy.

Ren cannot believe how cruel the princess was to him even after he attacked Barodius in rebellion. Maybe not for her kind, but it was in favor of her kind.

Why isn't it good enough for her?

She defeats him in a battle without a second thought, and looks at him almost without an expression, her mouth formed into a hard line. As if she's thinking about how great it will be to have him banished.

(It's almost like the rumors were true.)

But Ren falls to the ground anyway, still in love with the idea of Fabia being something different, being the sun he hasn't lived under for very long. But here and now, she just... isn't.

(And maybe he likes her better this way.)

No one is perfect, though, or so Ren supposes. In any case, the fact that he is failing Sid and the others hurts more than any crushing defeat, and the fact that Fabia will never trust him, in any shape or form crushes him further.

(He hates her, hates hates hates her and her stupid beautiful eyes and her stupid way of shining when she does something amazing, god, he just hates her so much he can't stand it.)

And he cries. He cries over being a failure to his subordinates who were destroyed in order to get him here, he cries over being left in the darkness for so long, and he cries over Fabia.

Fabia has never seen someone so full of emotion. He's crying. Actual tears are falling from his eyes.

Just what is he crying over?

(And why does she feel so awful?)

His tears shine like diamonds, and they fall like gentle raindrops onto the ground, and they shine there, too. It's almost like light pouring out of him.

(Stop thinking they're over you, she yells at herself, and then she wonders why she's being so selfish - after all, who wants someone to cry over them?)

Fabia can't control how bad she feels, nor can she control how capable he is of being trusted or how genuine and sincere he seemed about wanting to be trusted. Fabia is from a planet of kind people, and just like Ren, they are genuine and sincere about their feelings.

(It's almost like the rumors about him were wrong.)

So Fabia welcomes him with open arms, helping him off the ground and letting him wipe away his tears. He's happier now that she's trusting him, and for some reason, Fabia feels so much better. Ren isn't cold and dark and selfish, like she had thought.

(And maybe she likes him better this way.)

The Gundalian invasion is over, the war between the two nations long gone, their human friends back home on their Earth, and yet Ren and Fabia still feel like there is still something that is unsettled between them.

Or maybe it's just Fabia. She's not sure.

Either way, it's not surprising when Ren closes up shop on Neathia and goes home to Gundalia. He says he wants to help rebuild, because it is his home. It's very understandable, and she would do the same in his position.

(But something in the air of their goodbye saddens her.)

"Will you come back?" she asks, and she's not sure if she means for a visit or for good.

"Probably not," he replies.

It's blunt. It's harsh. It's cold.

But it's everything she's come to expect from him.

(And yet it's everything she hasn't come to expect from him.)

When Ren leaves, all their trials and tribulations of absolute danger are long gone. There is peace and harmony, and though it might not be there for long, it at least exists right now. But something still feels out of place between them... and he's not sure what it is or why it's there.

But that's not why Ren wants to go home.

He wants to go to Gundalia to help rebuild his home, from the ground up if he really has to. Ren knows it's a commendable cause, and he knows Fabia will understand. He's sure she'd do the same if she were in his position.

(But the atmosphere in their goodbye is depressing, or so he notices.)

She asks if he'll come back, and he says probably not. It may have been harsh and cold and blunt, but it's the truth.

(Or maybe it isn't.)

"I can't stay here for long, anyway. Those born in the dark should not stay in light. You understand."

Fabia frowns, and then sighs, but then she smiles at him, like the bright and shining sun that he will come to miss.

"Yes, I understand."

(But she doesn't, and he knows that.)

And he knew she would.

It's everything he has come to expect from her.

(And yet it's everything he hasn't come to expect from her.)

The departure is hard. He cries his diamond-like tears, and they fall down, like shooting stars cascading from the heavens.

And this time, Fabia knows he is crying over her, except she's not sure why.

When Ren returns, she is not surprised, though she knows she should act like she is surprised. Ren has had constant dreams about her surprised look, only to be let down by her simple smile and eyes that blink slowly, kindly, as if she is embracing him with her eyes.

"You came back," she says.

"That I did."

There are no more words, and there is no heavy pacing to get to each other.

"You know you can stay here. it doesn't matter if you're from the darkness..." is what Fabia doesn't need to say, because he already knows. He realized it, but only after Fabia said she did (didn't) understand.

He'll go wherever she goes. They are a pattern, trapped endlessly, like a repeating decimal.

So when Fabia realizes she's probably in love with him, he realizes he's probably in love with her, too.

It's just how they work.

(Because they will keep realizing these kinds of things, until they're buried deep in feelings and thoughts endlessly added on top of each other.)