Without You ||| Ash

[Dakota King]

Dakota finally dragged herself to check on Blue Sky. It was weeks since she last saw her pegasus. Sadly, the last time she saw her was right before Ash dropped the bomb on her. And she still wasn't over it. She had broken up with several boys before when they crossed that invisible line that Dakota had set, but none had bothered her as much as this one did. She couldn't quite put her finger on it and that probably drove her the craziest. She didn't want to be around her siblings or Ash's siblings. She was pretty sure neither knew about them, so she couldn't really explain her situation to any of them.

So she found her sanctuary in the stables for the moment. Just as she promised, she checked on Ash's pegasus, Rusher. He looked just as Ash had described him, brown with a white streak on his face. She sugared him up a bit with a couple of sugar cubes, her version of a silent apology for what she did to Ash. But once he was sweetened up, she headed over to work on Blue Sky. She was working on getting the pegasus nice and groomed, thankful for something to keep her mind occupied. Her mind was wandering as she took care of Blue Sky that she didn't notice that she wasn't alone.

(tag: Ashley Bates )

[Ashley Bates]

Ash walked along the path toward the stables. He still came here every day even when he didn’t particularly feel like it. The stables reminded him painfully of Dakota and even now, weeks later, Dakota brought about feelings of deepest sorrow. He had come through the worst of it he thought. The past few weeks were blurred together but he had finally come to grips with the fact that he had lost Dakota, probably forever, and while that didn’t make the memory of her any less painful he thought that he could at least accept that fact and begin to move on. There was one little problem though. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t.

The worst part was that he didn’t know why. He knew that he wanted to see Dakota again, wanted to own up to his part in the mess he had made but hadn’t figured out how yet. Maybe that was part of the reason why he was always coming to the stables. Oh sure he had to take care of Rusher, Blue sky too looked like she needed care as well, but admit it or not there was more than one reason he showed up every day right about the time Dakota would get off from work. Why else if not to try and catch her here?

He had all but given up hope for that in some respects so it was no wonder that when he entered the stable and took a look around that the sight of someone standing in Blue Sky’s pin caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He recognized her immediately. How could he not? It was Dakota and as he stood there, silhouetted in the doorway this time there was no boy with his heart open and on display. There was no look of the star crossed lover. This time when he gazed at her the look that was on his face was steady and serious and disquietingly adult. He looked at her in the silence of the stable and in his heart he felt something begin to stir. He welcomed it and feared it at the same time. “Good afternoon Dakota.” He said slowly, cautiously. “I’m glad to see you again.”

[Dakota King]

Dakota was in the middle of brushing Blue Sky's coat when she heard something that made her stop dead in her tracks. She knew that voice a little too well and he was here. Ash was here. She couldn't avoid him any longer. Well, she could, but it would be completely obvious that she was avoiding him. She still wasn't over what happened between them and she still felt something kicking up in her stomach. It probably wasn't butterflies. It was most likely her fight or flight instinct kicking in. It had to be, but she had to face it now. She had no other choice.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly as she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. She could do this. She could talk to someone that she had... something with. She could do it. She finally straightened up and open her eyes after a few moments, resolved that she would face this head on. "Hey Ash," she said softly as she turned around to look over her shoulder. He was looking just as good as she remembered him, but she could tell he had reverted to his stick up his butt ways. She took a deep breath as she turned to fully face him. "Funny running into you here," she said calmly, keeping her voice even so she didn't show any emotion.

[Ashley Bates]

Dakota looked over her shoulders at him and he could tell instantly that his sudden appearance had the same effect on her as it had on him. Well, perhaps not the same effect. Dakota had a place in his heart and he didn't know if that would ever go away. That being the case there was still something there, at least for Ash there was. Dakota, he wasn't so sure if there had ever been anything there and he realized now that he shouldn't have expected there to be. Still, his appearance had made her stop even if the look that she gave him hurt a little.

The coolness in her voice was pretty evident and it made this even harder than it was but then again he had known this would be hard from the beginning and there was nothing to be done about that now except to carry on. Ash watched her in silence for a moment choosing not to respond to the chilly comment she gave then took a step forward, seemed to think better of approaching closer and stopped. He lowered his head obviously thinking how to begin and then looked up at her again, his lips set. "Dakota, I apologize." He said and despite the seriousness on his face obviously he had not reverted completely to the rigid, unyielding character that he was before he met her and yet in some very vital ways, ways that made him a little wiser he had. "What I said to you that day was...unwarranted and unfair."

[Dakota King]

Dakota just stood there as her heart pounded and her stomach was doing flips. She didn't know if she should say anything else to him or she should turn back to Blue Sky just to keep herself busy. It was just awkward and for once, Dakota didn't know what to do. Usually when she ended something, she usually never saw the guy again. But she saw Ash again. He was right there in front of her and he was moving closer to her. Her heart pounded in her chest as she just looked at him before he stopped.

He almost seemed to be that much at a loss of words as she was. She didn't know what to say to him. Would she just do small talk or acknowledge what happened between them? But Ash decided to go the latter route. He apologized for what he said that day... and Dakota didn't know how to reply. She looked down at her boots as she shifted in her spot again. What would she say to him? What could she say to him? She looked back up at him as she pressed her lips together. She wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn't formulate in her mind. In the end, she slowly nodded her head, acknowledging his apology, figuring that was the best and safest way to go.

[Ashley Bates]

She didn’t say anything when he spoke and supposed that was good. It was certainly a lot better than a lot of reactions she could have had. To be honest he wasn’t sure what he should have expected. The way everything ended with Dakota just leaving him standing there it didn’t really give him much to go on. What was she feeling? Did she even care to hear his offered apology? Probably not but things felt unfinished between them and he didn’t like that.

There were other reasons that he wanted to see Dakota too. Other reasons why he wanted to make things right but he was probably holding out too much hope that they could at least be on friendly terms again. Still, she wasn’t running away, wasn’t jumping on Blue Sky and flying off and maybe that was good. Only time would tell.

Being that it didn’t look like Dakota was going to say anything Ash took that as his sign to continue. He had other things to say and hoped that she would give him a chance to say all of them. Still, he carried on refusing to let things get more awkward in the silence. “I did fall in love with you.” He said with plain simplicity and although faint color rose on his cheeks his eyes never left hers. “That’s why I said it. It happened even before we kissed I think.”

[Dakota King]

Dakota pressed her lips together as Ash continued on. He loved her before they kissed? Her eyes glanced down at his lips before she immediately looked up at him. She couldn't think about that, not now. They wouldn't work out. And apparently they wouldn't have worked out from the start. Her heart fluttered a bit as her stomach flipped as her cheeks matched Ash's blush. She tore her eyes away from him as she looked down at her boots again. She had to say something to the boy. She had to say something instead of him rambling to himself.

"Ash... I..." she said as she looked up at him and blinked a couple of times. She was immediately regretting trying to say something, but she had to continue now. "I'm sorry about how I acted," she said as she straightened up and nodded her head slightly. "You caught me off-guard and..." She took a deep breath as she shook her head and looked down. "You caught me off-guard," she repeated.

[Ashley Bates]

When she looked away from him he thought for a moment that he had lost her, that things would go back to the way they had been the first time that he admitted his feelings and that she would run off. It was a possibility but he had to be truthful with her. His problem was that he accepted love as a fact rather than a flower that blooms and grows and it made him so damn sure of feelings that it hurt. He felt how he felt and he couldn’t change that but he knew that wasn't what Dakota wanted to hear. Still, when she looked back up at him and started to speak he held out a little hope.

She spoke with some difficulty struggling to find the words just as he had but when she said that he caught her off guard he simply nodded and looked away toward the pegasus stalls, he even laughed a little. "I made something of a fool of myself I think." He shook his head at this before turning back to her. "I just wanted you to know that I realize that and I am sorry." His eyes returned hers as he repeated this. There was kind of a brute stubbornness about him that allowed him to go on with something even when he should be nervous or afraid. He used that now as he spoke up again. "For what it's worth I didn't mean to force that on you like I did. That's not why I said it."

[Dakota King]

Dakota crossed her arms across her chest as she looked up at Ash. She never thought she would be exchanging apologies with him, especially in the middle of the stables. She never saw the boys after she broke it off with them, but here was Ash right in front of her. He was different than all of the guys she had dated and he was proving that statement to be true. Other guys wouldn't apologize for what they said, especially when it caught Dakota off guard like he did. She pressed her lips together a little bit more as she listened to Ash talk.

She bit the corner of her lip as she tried to think of a reply to him. Did he make a fool out of himself? To be fair, she might have made a fool out of herself as well. Dakota slowly nodded her head again before she spoke up. "I don't think you made a fool out of yourself..." she said softly as she shrugged her shoulders. "Well... at least I don't think you did. If I remember correctly, I was the one who reacted pretty badly about it..." And like she did with all the other boys, but she never felt the need to apologize to them, but Ash was different. He was always different.

[Ashley Bates]

Had Dakota reacted poorly to his statements? Ash supposed there were better ways that things could have gone but it would have come to the same end in either case. He could not force her to harbor feelings for him and wouldn’t have wanted her to live a lie just to appease him. Could they have at least expressed that to each other like they were now and maybe saved themselves some of the pain between? Possibly but who could know for sure? Whatever the case what was done was done and he wasn't about to get involved in an argument about who was more to blame.

He smiled at her slightly in response and this time it was the smile that made him look older than what he really was. There was still some pain in that expression as if doing this was hurting him but he kept on. “I scared you and you reacted like any scared person would. I cannot hold that against you. What’s more, I don’t think that’s really important anymore.” The simple truth of the matter was that Ash thought that they had hurt each other enough for one lifetime and even though he was by no means over Dakota he saw no reason why they should keep going on like they had been. “What is important is that we can't keep avoiding each other." He sighed."Will you at least forgive me for hurting you Dakota?"

[Dakota King]

Dakota pressed her lips together as she looked at Ash soak in that little bit of information. She had reacted badly to his statement and knew she could have handled it much better, but he did completely catch her off guard. She usually didn't have to dump before they were well into their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend, but Ash did it right out of the gate. How else was she supposed to react?

"Scared is kind of a loose term," Dakota said as a slight smirk crept onto her lips as she shrugged a bit. But he said that wasn't important and she raised her eyebrows at him. If that didn't matter, then what did? Avoiding each other... did that really matter now? She avoided her exes quite well, but she knew it was killing her avoiding Ash. She didn't know why either except for the fact that he was different. But she had to make amends and fix one thing in her life, since everything else was falling apart.

"Yeah," she said as she said as she slowly nodded her head and her smile grew a bit wider. "I forgive you, Ash."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash wasn't really sure what to expect when he asked for Dakota's forgiveness. He hoped that those kisses they had shared in the clearing underneath the sunset had meant something to the girl but he didn't know if that would be enough for her to actually want to forgive him. He hoped she would at least consider it as he still had something else to ask her but he didn't pretend to be a mind reader. If he had been maybe they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

His breath seemed to hang in his throat as he waited in quiet anticipation and when she gave him her pardon he let it out in a heavy sigh as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Ash nodded and bowed his head a little to her in appreciation. "Thank you Dakota." It felt better to have that behind them and despite the regret that he still felt when he looked at her he thought that maybe things could at least go back to normal between them or at least as normal as they could be. That would be good because he would need someone that he could trust in the coming days. “And do you think that if I promise not to put you into that situation again that we can at least be on friendly terms with one another? I think Blue Sky would like that."

[Dakota King]

Dakota smiled slightly as Ash nodded and bowed his head. Hopefully they had whatever bad blood that was between them cleared. But at least this was one thing in her life that seemed it needed the most healing fast. She couldn't control her brother whether or not he should keep his baby momma or the baby or whether her cabin leader duties would get a little less hectic. But this... this was something she could fix and seemed to be the worst thing dragging on her.

But he asked to be on friendly terms again. Terms they were on before the kissing happened. Dakota wanted to say no. Even if he didn't put her in the position again, she knew how he felt about her and just knowing was completely awkward. But she had to laugh. For Blue Sky's sake she thought to herself as she looked at Ash. "Well..." she said as she clicked her tongue a bit. "I guess we can do that if it'll please Blue Sky the most. I don't want her randomly bucking me off because of you."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash really didn't know what he was going to do if Dakota decided to sever all ties with him here. He was not one who trusted easily and all throughout his time here he had been slow to make deep connections with anyone. Now that he actually needed someone to talk to there weren't many people he felt comfortable sharing things with. It would have been easy to go at things alone but he was smart enough to know when he needed help and if what he suspected was true he was right to be very selective in who he told. Unfortunately that still left him with the question of who he could trust but despite everything that had happened his instincts were still telling him that Dakota was that person.

“Good.” He said simply before his stance went rigid and serious. "Dakota, I want to ask you something. Not as the boy who caught you off guard or who hurt you but as a friend. This isn’t about Blue Sky or us...this is something else entirely.” It was a marked change from the tenderness he had shown a moment earlier and perhaps that leant his words a bit of solemnity but in any case it was obvious that he had something on his mind. "Do you feel safe here at camp? I’m not talking about the day to day injuries that you treat. I mean do you feel entirely secure here, from monsters or even our fellow campers?"

[Dakota King]

A friend. It was really weird for Dakota to think as Ash as just a friend now since he used to be so much more to her. But now that was in the past and she had to leave it in the past, especially if this was going to work. She had to forget how good his lips felt on hers and how comfortable they got during their rides. That was the past now. Ash was her friend and she certainly didn't go around making out with her friends.

But that was all pushed out of her mind as Ash suddenly went all serious on her. She moved from uncrossing her arms to putting her hands on her hips as she raised an eyebrow at him. Did she feel safe at camp? "I mean, not during night, but that's a different story. But during the day..." She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. "I can tell camp is a little uneasy right now... What are you getting at, Ash? Does this happen to deal with that whole Usurper rumor going around camp?"