Sunset Valley and leave you like they left me here

he bore the brunt of every word, this cascade of words that started so smoothly and ended up falling like hail upon him, blow after blow after blow. took it silently, staring down at alarian, barely blinking, barely breathing. he could have reacted more, could have let his emotions take over--but what good what that have done?

he'd already let his emotions get the best of him before. the last time he'd done so was why he was in this position in the first place.

no more of that. there was no room for recklessness.

"you shouldn't have had to say no," aditya responded, after alarian seemed to have ended his sentences, for now. his voice was hollow--sad, but not overwhelmingly so. regretful, but not to a fault. "you're my friend, alarian. friends don't use each other like i used you."

he sighed. "you did comfort me, and i took advantage of that. that's what i'm sorry for. not for you, or anything you did--but for what i did, and how i treated you. i let my anger make my decisions for me." adi looked down, and to his utter shock, he felt tears gather in his eyes, hastily blinking them away before continuing. "no one should be anyone else's mistake."