Lioness

Blake looked at her for a moment and smiled, nodding a bit. “I get it, S. You know me, big crowds- not a fan. I get nervous all the time walking into that big room with so many people.” He shook his head. “But you have a group of people who support you, Summer. You can do it. Block out the noise, focus on us and the food- which is always delicious so.” He chuckled lightly. “I believe you can do it, Summer. Just breath first.” 

“It’s not even just nerves..” She whispered, looking at all the people in the Great Hall. “It’s literally overloading my senses.. Too much light, noise.. It’s scary.” she murmured, gripping onto his hand as tightly as she could, biting her lip. “I’ll try.. But I can’t make any promises I’m not going to either faint or run out of the room. If I make it I’m just going to be focused on you the whole time.”

Blake smiled softly as he listened to her talk, shaking his head a bit. “Enough of all that negative talk then. It’s Dinnertime anyways, we should go eat. Before my sister eats us all.” He joked, his cousins laughing as Max let out a grumble and stepped away from the group and into the Great Hall. He turned back to Summer and smiled. “Come on, let’s go.” 

Summer took a moment as the others walked into the Great Hall, even her brother with his boyfriend as he gave her a little worried glance. She bit her lip, watching into the hall before looking up at him. “I.. I don’t know if I’m ready, Blake.” She murmured quietly. “There’s.. so many people in there, and I don’t know if I can physically handle it.” She whispered, hugging herself for a moment. “Just being in the hallway with people walking to dinner was a little struggle..”

“Yeah, you would.” Blake laughed lightly as he nodded, looking at her. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. You’re back to yourself, everyone will be both terrified and awe of you. Everything is back to as it should be.” He smiled, nodding. “That’s good. My little sister had to ‘pick up the slack’ while you were gone. Now she can go back to worrying about her classes.” He chuckled. 

“I guess a little bit.. I know I’m not completely all there yet. When I got back home I couldn’t even talk.. He got into my head really bad. If I think too much about it or something reminds me of him.. I have flashbacks now.. Or I just got into shut down.” Summer bit her lip lightly before she shrugged. “But I’m just glad to be back.. Gotta get back into doing things though. Head Girl duties and back to the way that things were.” She frowned a little before she sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be so negative. There’s still just a lot that I have to do.”

“So would Charlie, Winter, and Roger.” Blake mused lightly as he laughed. He stopped to listen to her talk, smiling as he took her hands gently. “I know. I knew you could be nice, you had it in you to be so. But I also know that it’s not what defines you. You’re so much more than just nice. Being the nice one is my job. Yours is to hand it out to those who deserve it coming from you. And you are not afraid to bite whoever abuses that trust. That’s who you are. Nice with a mean streak. I’m glad you found your true self.”

“Oh god, I’d have a concussion or brain damage from all the smacking around. I’ll try my best not to forget it.” Summer laughed a little and shrugged. “It’s nice to feel more like myself again. Not pretending to be something I’m not.. You get to be the nice one and I’m the mean one. I can be nice but only in certain circumstances. I’m still working through a lot of what I went through with.. him. But at least I’m getting better.” She nodded. “Though I think I’m back on top again in the school, people keep thanking me for what I did.”

“I mean, I’m still me,” Blake laughed lightly and shook his head. “And I don’t want to hurt anyone. Just, even my mum thought it was a good idea. Incase no one was there to help, I can defend myself.” He nodded a bit, looking down at her with a soft smile. “Good, you should never forget it.” He murmured, kissing her back softly. “You’re looking better too. It’s a good look.” 

“Please, if I even got close to forgetting that, Mel and Max would be behind me, smacking me upside the head to knock some sense into me.” Summer rolled her eyes at him and smiled a little, biting her lip. “I’m glad you can defend yourself though, that’s really all that matters.” She nodded, rubbing his arms. “I’m.. okay. I still have moments where I space out, forget things, get disoriented.. I’m still stuck in my head.. Still a little lost and trying to figure out who I am. You were right, I have the capability to be nice, but I’m not this sickly sweet sunshine and rainbows girl. But at the same time, so was he but I’m not doom and gloom, and mean and bite your head off all the time either. I am who I am and I’ve been that way for years, there really isn’t any changing it, I can’t just give it up. I don’t just have to be one or the other, I can be both.” She nodded a little, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m a nice girl when you earn my trust or when you earn me being nice to you. I don’t jut give it out willingly. But the second you do me or someone else wrong, you’ll come to regret it. I’m not that girl who picks on first years anymore. But I haven’t completely changed from that either.”

“We’re all so happy you’re back home.” Blake glanced back at his family and smiled as they nodded. Even Max had a little hint of yellow to her hair, it wasn’t noticeable due to her blonde hair- but Blake noticed. She was happy for Blake, and he appreciated that. Her opinion meant the world to him, so. He glanced back to Summer and flushed as he looked down at himself, laughing. “It was Charlie’s idea to pick up self defense, they’ve all been helping me. Even learned more helpful defense spells. We were dueling not long ago, too.” He shrugged a bit before looking back at her, smiling softly. “And you should know that I love you, nothing will change that either. You’re my world.” He whispered softly. 

“It’s a very good look on you. You look healthy. Besides, I’m glad you’ll know a few things just to be able to handle yourself.” Summer smiled and kissed his cheek, before looking up into his eyes as she nodded. “I know, I never doubted you.” She leaned up to kiss him, letting her eyes flutter closed for a moment before she pulled away. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better though. Change looks good on you.” 

Blake had waited for her to make the first contact. And when she did, he let out a breath and hugging her back tightly. His hair tipped purple while his eyes had a hint of yellow to them. Love and Happiness. “I missed you too.” He murmured softly into her shoulder, holding her close. “It wasn’t easy, but it’s all in the past now. You’re back, that’s all that matters.” He said after a moment, pulling away slightly to look down at her. 

Summer nodded, stroking his cheek. “Back where I belong, with my family.” She murmured quietly, glancing at his cousins and sister behind him with a big smile - the first one in quite a while. “Nice to be back.” She bit her lip before glancing up at him. “Also,” She squeezed his arms. “Where did my twig of a boyfriend go and who replaced him with muscle?” She of course was teasing, but was happy to see he had made some changes in his life as well. After a moment she stepped a little closer and looked up at his face. “I just want you to know.. I love you. And that’s never going to change. You’re everything to me.” She murmured quietly. 

Blake practically froze when he saw Summer, not knowing if she wanted him to go to her or not. And he desperately wanted to run to her, touch her again, hold her again. Just to have her in his arms. She’s changed so much, that was clear. But he has made some changes too. There was one thing that didn’t change though, his love for her. That would never change. Ever.

“What are you waiting for?” Charlie whispered as he gave his cousin a nudge. He smiled when he saw his own boyfriend before looking to Blake. “Go to her, B. She still wants you, I’m sure of it.” He nodded and smiled when Blake’s mind shifted into gear. And he immediately started to make his way to Summer. 

Summer bit her lip as he made his way over, watching him come closer to her until he was within arms reach, avoiding eye contact for a moment before she looked up at him. She just stared at him for a moment before she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly as she closed her eyes, holding back the tears that were threatening to come out. “I missed you.” She whispered. “The past few weeks haven’t been easy without you.” She reached up to wipe at her face, a few tears threatening to come out so she just took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if you thought..” She shook her head.

Blake was a little upset that her suspension lasted longer than it should have, but he understood. She needed time to get back to herself. It was fine. He used that time to focus on his studies. And he picked up on some self-defense dueling spells. His cousins all helped him, dueling each other in the training grounds. 

It was Charlie’s idea at first, Melody and Roger were quick to agree that he needed to learn how to defend himself incase no one was there to help. He didn’t like it, he didn’t like hurting people. But in he end, he agreed. It was for the best. And after talking with his mother, who went through the same thing as him, he knew it was something he had to do. 

So on the day she was arriving, Blake was at the training grounds with his cousins and sister. Him and Charlie were dueling. Charlie with offense, and Blake on defense. He knew she was coming back, but didn’t know what time she would be there. He needed a distraction to calm his nerves.

Summer was incredibly nervous about coming back. She didn’t know if she was ready, or if she could face anyone. She was still really nervous about being around people, especially when she learned that when someone close to her was threatened, she almost couldn’t control herself and her actions. Plus going through it had made everything that she had been through with James resurface. All the pain and abuse she endured.. She didn’t know who she was anymore. Disorientation, forgetting things, spacing out.. It happened a lot now. But they’d set her up with a therapist and some medication, hoping it would help.

Winter and her decided to walk towards her common room, get her settled back into school life without overwhelming her with people and things going on. Baby steps. 

Despite making progress, it seemed like all the niceness that Blake had taught her was gone. She was nice to Winter, Blake, and his family, but other than that, she had a temper and didn’t like much of anyone. She was back to square one all over again, but she was back on top once again. Besides, word got around fast about her putting James in his place, and people were pretty impressed.

Summer was just arriving back at the school, Winter had gone home to get her and have her come back with him so she wasn’t traveling back by herself. Despite being suspended, they still wanted her to be Head Girl (which was shocking to her) but she was happy that she got to keep a lot of the things that she loved. “It’s really weird being back..” She mentioned to Winter, rubbing her arms as she shivered a little.

Blake couldn’t help but smile when he heard her voice and kissed her cheek lightly. “And I love you.” He whispered back, taking her hand to give it a gentle squeeze. He understood that she was a little lost. But he had faith that she will find herself again. He knew she would.

Summer nodded a little bit as Winter gently picked her up. He nodded to the rest of their family, before carrying her out to go collect her stuff and make sure that she get’s home safely and into bed to rest. She passed out again once she was in his arms, curled up against his chest.

“You’ll be okay.” Blake murmured again before leaning over, kissing her forehead gently. “You’re going to get the best help you can get, so you will be back to your wonderful self, I swear. When you come back, everything will be better. You’ll see.” He whispered, watching her. 

Summer just nodded again, looking up into his eyes. She felt like she couldn’t talk much. There wasn’t a whole lot to say. She was having a hard time telling which feelings and thought were real and which were fake. But she knew one thing for sure. “I love you.” She whispered softly, biting her lip a little bit. Winter couldn’t help but grin when she spoke.

“Some of my family members have been through things no one should ever go through. They had to have a temper streak to protect themselves. We talk about her a lot, I know, but my Aunt Angel is the perfect example of that.” Charlie shook his head before smiling at him. “All good things, I promise. They are very excited to meet you and Summer. They like you already.” He chuckled before taking a small step closer to him. “Well you don’t have to worry, because I’m not going anywhere.” He smiled at him softly.

“Well that makes me feel a lot better.” Winter smiled at him and nodded. “Makes me feel less like a target.” He teased a bit, turning to look at him as he stepped closer to him. Breakfast was almost over, so they were running out of time alone, soon enough they’d both have to go back in and head to class. But he was enjoying the alone time with him.

Blake glanced up at the professors and nodded to them before looking back to Summer. “Hey..” He whispered to her gently, taking her hand. “You’re going to be okay, alright? I promise. It’s only going to be for a week at most, you’ll be back before you know it.” He murmured softly. “I’ll write to you every chance I get, okay?”

Summer just nodded weakly, looking up at his face. “Okay.” She whispered. She didn’t really know what to say. She knew what was coming her way wasn’t good, and she was trying to prepare herself for it. Though it was hard.. She’d overexerted herself and now felt like she was lost inside of her own head and couldn’t get out again. She felt like she was going crazy.