Vala's first instinct was to run. She hated being found out - but, usually, she could keep herself one step ahead, just far enough to duck and cover seconds before the fallout and thus keep herself from harm.
But this time, she hadn't. She'd let herself become too comfortable, too convinced that Neal was buying ever line so easily that there was no way he could ever think anything ill of her. She had let her guard down and she had screwed up.
"I didn't mean for us to wind up here," she argued, quickly. Trying to keep him at a distance while she formed a line of escape. Unfortunately, there were a couple problems. The first one being, of course, that they were on a space station with no means of escape besides the ship they had brought with him; and the second being that even she didn't have the heart to abandon him and take the ship. A few years ago, yes, she could have been that person. But she wasn't anymore.
"Yes, I lied. Yes I stole the ship and yes, maybe I'm not exactly who I claimed to be. But I didn't do anything to hurt you or strand us here deliberately. I wanted off of that stupid little planet just as much as you did..."
It was in that moment that it clicked. The ease in which he had taken to being in space. The bright eyed innocence and fancy clothes and the number of credits in his bank account. And his realization was not rooted in a sixth sense of betrayal, no. It was rooted in familiarity with the game.
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Vala's first instinct was to run. She hated being found out - but, usually, she could keep herself one step ahead, just far enough to duck and cover seconds before the fallout and thus keep herself from harm.
But this time, she hadn't. She'd let herself become too comfortable, too convinced that Neal was buying ever line so easily that there was no way he could ever think anything ill of her. She had let her guard down and she had screwed up.
"I didn't mean for us to wind up here," she argued, quickly. Trying to keep him at a distance while she formed a line of escape. Unfortunately, there were a couple problems. The first one being, of course, that they were on a space station with no means of escape besides the ship they had brought with him; and the second being that even she didn't have the heart to abandon him and take the ship. A few years ago, yes, she could have been that person. But she wasn't anymore.
"Yes, I lied. Yes I stole the ship and yes, maybe I'm not exactly who I claimed to be. But I didn't do anything to hurt you or strand us here deliberately. I wanted off of that stupid little planet just as much as you did..."
It was in that moment that it clicked. The ease in which he had taken to being in space. The bright eyed innocence and fancy clothes and the number of credits in his bank account. And his realization was not rooted in a sixth sense of betrayal, no. It was rooted in familiarity with the game.
"You! You set me up!"