#and one to the frozen ship clip but in a good way 😊

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Rayllum Month 2024:

July 9th - “I Still Love You”/Reconciliation

After a day of crossing and barely surviving the frozen sea, Callum and Rayla found a small Island where they could set up camp and rest for the night before they reached the Starscraper. They were huddled in their only remaining bed roll against the shadowpaw with Stella and Sneezles snuggling in between them, all keeping warm off the little campfire in front of them. Callum was initially reluctant since it’s been over two years since he’d slept that close to Rayla.

“It’s either we both stay warm together under one blanket for the night or one of us freezes to death, which I’m sure neither you or I would want that for each other,” Rayla had told him when he got all flustered about the one bed roll that didn’t sink in the sea below them.

The two sat awkwardly close together trying to keep warm under the blanket, barely muttering a word for a while. But then Rayla went into deep thought. It’s been around two months since she came back and while Callum at first didn’t want to be near her, they eventually started to patch things up. They’ve been getting closer to each other even more but things still weren’t exactly what they were between them. There was still this gap they couldn’t overcome in their relationship. They were stuck at one point and weren’t really getting anywhere.

“Callum,” Rayla started, taking a breath, looking down as she thought of the right things to say. Callum looked up at her, holding Sneezles in his lap and stroked the tiny glow toad’s soft head with his finger. “Callum, I know we haven’t really talked about everything. You know, me leaving and all that,”

“Rayla,” Callum uneasy, raised his hand trying to stop her.

“No,” She interrupted. “I have to get this off my chest,” She let out another breath before she continued. “It’s just... You know… well,” she sighed. “After the battle of the Storm Spire, when I’ve having these nightmares about Viren, I saw him capture my parents. But he also captured you,” she spoke the few words shakily as her lips began to quiver. “I-I was so terrified of losing you or Viren threatening you, I,” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sniffled and she felt Stella give her a comforting hug, chittering compassionately. Callum looked straight ahead, felt his chest heavy and unable to express anything. She never told him about these specific nightmares before, only that she was afraid that Viren was alive.

Rayla wiped away her tears and continued. “I never meant for my leaving alone to hurt you, I was just so terrified you being in danger if I ever found him. But now, I know that I messed things up between us, like I mess up everything else,” Rayla could no longer control her sobbing. She lifted her hood on her head and hid her face between her knees, with Stella still trying to give her comforting squeezes.

“You know,” Callum started, heaving as he tried to control his emotions. “When you left without me, I was so hurt that you were gone. But what hurt even more was that you put yourself in danger and I had no way of knowing if you were ok or not, or if you were even alive,” his voice grew even more sorrowful as he spoke. “I also wanted to protect you from harm, Rayla. And when you left on your own, you took that away from me,” He started to sniffle as well. Rayla looked up towards him and lifted her hand, she wanted to reach his shoulder, but then she backed away. She never thought about any of what Callum was telling her just now, only her own desire to protect him.

“That’s why I wanted to come along and be with you. Because I,” He hesitated and caught his breath. “Because I love you, Rayla,”

Rayla gasped and felt her face light up. Callum lifted his hand and reached for hers, pulling it closer to his heart. “And I wanted more than anything to keep you safe. And I would’ve only been able to do that by being right by your side. And I still feel that way now,”

Rayla found herself melting as she looked into his teary eyes, unable to speak or do anything. She only found herself leaning into him. “Callum, I just want you to know that I never stopped loving you, even when I was away from you. Not one moment went by that I didn’t think of you. And all I can say now is that I’m so sorry for leaving you and making you feel the way you did,”

Callum took a deep breath and wiped away his tears. “I know I didn’t listen to you or believe you when you told me about Viren possibly being alive and I’m so sorry I brushed aside your worries and-and your pain of not knowing if your parents were alive or not. I really thought I was helping you move on but instead I just pushed you away. And maybe that’s what lead you to leaving on your own,”

“Callum no, that was never it,”

“No Rayla, I really am sorry about that and I promise, you can tell me anything and I’ll be there for you. And I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to save your parents. But please, just promise me you’ll never leave like that again,”

Rayla tightened her fingers on his hand then pulled it towards her so she could kiss it. “You and I, we’re stronger together. And I can trust you to carry my burdens with me, just as you can trust me with your burdens. We will keep each other safe and support each other from now on,”

Callum looked at her surprised, then smiled. But while she smiled and looked ahead, starting to doze off on his shoulder, he looked away. He thought about his own burden that filled him with guilt that he couldn’t bring himself to talk about. But maybe someday he would when he was ready, just as Rayla did when she was. He then looked back towards her and kissed her forehead. He leaned in closer and they both wrapped their arms tightly around each other. With Stella and Sneezles cuddled between their laps and fast asleep under the blanket, Callum and Rayla soon drifted off in the warmth of the extinguishing fire and each other.