Moving Forward
If he hadn't mentally asked himself if he was awake to a near-point of semantic satiation for all three words of the question, at some point having become aware of his own senselessness and inanity, Rey probably wouldn't have realized that he had woken up at all. His surroundings were barely short of pitch black, completion in that regard marred by a vague, slightly glowing silhouette of a curtain far above. More so than usual, though, his thoughts were scattered.
It had been a restless night. Sleeping beside the behemoth wolf he had once called his enemy had proven difficult, and that uncertainty had followed him like a lonely puppy into the realm of sleep and again back into reality. He turned onto his back, darting his eyes to his right, to try and see if Fiela was awake as well--but again, such was the darkness that he saw nothing.
Rey sighed, a bit louder than he'd intended, in response to the small sense of urgency beginning scratch at him. It wasn't about his location, or who was beside him--at this point he had taken Max's advice to heart-- rather, it was that he had been neglecting Dexter and the Undersector for a couple days now. He was as much a part of the rebellion as any one else--if not more so--and he couldn't help but feel shame for telling himself "it will be fine," because it wouldn't in the end if he didn't pull his weight. The place had to deal with enough stragglers and layabouts, people who only stayed for the shelter....
"You're awake?" The sound forced a gasp from the rabbit. He tried yet again to find Fiela's face, but as her ebony fur let her blend into the darkness most effectively he found himself mocked by her lack of presence. He decided to simply call out an affirmative to her question. "I didn't want to wake you up," she replied again, and with surprising genuineness.
"Thanks." No, it didn't really mean much; he had slept terribly.
Suddenly and with a soft click, searing yellow light filled the room and his vision and forced him to flinch. There Fiela stood by the door in an emerald gown, a two-way switch hanging on the wall next to her outstretched finger. Somehow, she had gotten up without him hearing. If she could do that, he noted, she had any degree of control. Still, she hadn't abused it....
"Be back in a second. Grabbing the paper, then I gotta go to work soon." No evasiveness? A most welcome change, he mused. She promptly seemed approachable as a result.
"What do you do?" It was an oddly worded question, but she didn't seem to care.
"Baking. I'm a baker... yes, yes, it's funny." Fiela didn't bother to stay for a response.
A baker? He wasn't laughing, but it certainly was funny for some odd reason. But that likely had to do with his first impression of her being that of a hollow-hearted, cruel, sadistic, terrifying... well, suffice to say it wasn't funny for the same reason Fiela might have thought it to be. For but a blink's worth of time, she didn't seem like a superior being anymore.
Given Fiela's obvious disdain for her line of work, though, it seemed most likely the pay was at least enough to support her--and that it was probably the one and only reason she had taken it up. "What are the financial needs of an average giant, anyway?" he couldn't help but think briefly. Perhaps other giants would think it funny because it was a low-end job, or maybe it was an easy job to get for young home owners like herself.
To the interruption of his thoughts had Fiela returned, without a sound, newspaper in hand. Her face tilted up and down with visible curiosity, as though comparing Rey to something she was reading. Her eyes were also wider now, possibly more energetic.
"Hm...! I think you'll find this a bit interesting," she said, clearly somewhat intrigued herself. She proceeded closer and sat down on the bed. "There's an article on the tinies here."
"What? Really?" Rey's voice contained a conflicting mix of surprise and anticipation, both positive and negative. Hopefully it wasn't just false propaganda about them--something he had come to expect out of paranoia.
"I'll read it." She turned to face him, crossing her legs.
"Maximillian Tolst is taking action regarding the tinies. Widely considered to be the bridge between us and them, he has briefly touched on a matter rather pressing to all of us. When the mayor was asked about the situation, he responded for him. 'What many giants seem to note,' he said, 'isn't that the tinies are the ones struggling. It's just that they're taking, and some believe for no reason. There's more to it, however: they're taking what they need because if they don't they simply will not acquire it.'
"So far the mayor agrees, but Maximillian had more to say. 'I have a cousin living in the slums beneath the very road upon which we walk. Simply put, it isn't fair that he should have to work so hard to live decently, especially given how trivial the hatred is that divides us. I think we should all take a second look at this.' It's little to go on for now, but it's something for citizens to keep in mind."
Rey waited for more, but Fiela's movement of swatting the paper down suddenly was what told him that the article had ended. If this was real, this changed everything--if Max was finally stepping up, they had thousands upon thousands of times more hope for the future than they ever did!
"I'd say that's some pretty good news, judging by your face." Rey paused and coughed, returning his accidental beam to a flat expression. "You're the cousin he mentioned, aren't you?"
Again, a pause. "Yes. You've met him?"
"Briefly. At the time, he reminded me a bit of you. Just saw him hobbling down a few feet from his house; couldn't bring myself to harm him, so we just talked for a bit." She said the last as if it was such a simple thing to Rey, which it might have been had Fiela not known better--he refused to speak more of it--but still, she did and it wasn't.
"Interesting." Fiela raised an eyebrow at him. "This really is big stuff, though. I'm not sure how all of this started, honestly, but I do know that it needs--"
"You don't know?" Fiela interrupted with a pompous trail. "Funny," the famous grin returned, "because I do. Wanna hear it?"
Rey wasn't about to lie to himself; it was strange that someone like him, so involved, hadn't known any more than a giant who wasn't at all interested. Finally, he shrugged, feeling the slightest defeated: "Sure."
Fiela intently leaned to one side then the other in a rhythmic yet constrained motion, giddy in a strange way that she couldn't channel properly at knowing something Rey didn't. "A drunken giant and a tiny got into some scrap downtown. Really, that's the most there is to it, but get this: the tiny broke the guy's shin. I mean, the other guy was drunk off his ass and everything, but the tiny... he was absurdly strong, two or three times bigger than you too. And this happened because the giant said something stupid, of course. I'd say he was asking for it, but if I did that would mean I expected the tiny to be strong enough to throw a few punches and get results."
So the rumors were true! ...At least, to an extent. Still, there was more to why the fight started, no doubt; it wasn't as simple as that, and it never would be with someone as enigmatic as Dexter. A simple name-calling bout probably wouldn't be enough bring him to that edge. Fiela just wasn't able to tell everything, and rightfully so.
"I'm guessing that's what made you hate tinies? Bad first impressions?" he said after a moment. Fiela just shrugged.
"Nope. That's how it went for everyone else though. See, I honestly couldn't care less about what a tiny does to get publicity. It's when they started stealing from me," she tapped her wrist with the back of her other hand smartly, "that's when I had a reason to have an opinion.
"But... you know, that's in the past," she continued with a sweet smile now devoid of any smugness, "and your cousin made a point. Hopefully others will see it the way I do."
"Hopefully," he repeated.
The time for talk had to end now, Rey realized. Almost abnormal that he had let it carry on this far... though then again, it's not like he had much say in matters involving Fiela to begin with. Besides, there was much he learned, so it was probably more to his benefit that he had stayed. Not that Fiela was bad company--quite the opposite now, and he was quite glad to have such a friend. Maybe more than a friend....
"Sorry to cut things short," he started, hypocritically so as he felt the timing could not be more appropriate, "but it's definitely time I headed back." He paused. "It was great to really meet you. I'm glad there's much more to you than I thought," he added with a half-smirk.
In response, the wolfess at first said nothing. Instead she gripped him suddenly and tightly in her fist, leaving him no time to avoid her open hand. His head popping out from her prison of fingers, Fiela brought him up to face level. The rabbit stared back into the massive emerald globes, waiting... and only barely preventing himself from flinching as the titan pecked him--an action encompassing his entire face, naturally--as lightly as she could with a kiss.
"Hey. I love you." Fiela's words turned cushioned and soft, like pillows Rey could slip through his ears. And yet pillows so blatant, so firm, so sudden as if they had been held back and stuffed in preparation for just the right moment, that she might as well have filled them with bricks and beat him senseless with them.
"She said the words," Rey thought, manic. "She said them!" He felt that he should be less surprised, but to hear Fiela confess her feelings for him, word for word, was notably different than simply accepting that she liked him.
Fiela rolled her eyes at the rabbit's speechlessness on the way back to the hole where they'd met countless times--the hole she had still neglected to shut away, though also the hole she now probably decided to keep open. "Don't you forget, okay?" She knelt down and placed Rey back onto the tiled floor, who by this time had shaken away his initial stupor.
"You know, it's funny. Just a few days ago the thought of this kind of thing happening would be stupid and ridiculous. But now, I think I've realized that I love you too. And... just for the record, I forgive you for everything before." She did not seem as surprised to hear him say the same thing--almost as though there was no way he'd think any differently in her mind. It became evident just how tightly she had Rey wrapped around her pinky finger.
A few seconds passed before a nod from Fiela signaled his permission to leave. A bit hesitant, Rey proceeded through the gap in the wall, looking back once just to make sure Fiela was still there before disappearing.
Fiela stood back up and remained still, gaze still lingering on the little exit. Curious creatures, tinies were. Curious and quaint, yet charming in a way she couldn't describe. She found that to be the best word to describe her newly-founded lover: "Charming," she repeated thoughtfully, "charming...."