The Difference Between Passion and Desire

''Envy smiled while exiting the flower shop that she now worked at. Time to visit the dumbass. She had her purse over one shoulder while walking to the residence of Nori and Tereya. This should be interesting.''

Awakening
"Nori?... Hey, Nori! Snap out of it!... god...DAMN it..."

In the blackness of unconsciousness, Tereya's voice repeatedly kept calling him, apparently in an attempt to stir him out of the darkness he had been so forcibly pulled in. There seemed to be no agony, no pain... just irritation. There wasn't even the scent of her blood, or the presence of her arm in his hand.

Nori didn't move. Ignoring her was nice. He couldn't feel anything; there was no pain, no fear, no hurt; nothing. It was wonderful. He would never have to worry about anything ever again; all at the price of never being happy, never being joyful, or never experiencing the good emotions again. But if it mant never being sad, or angry, or worried again, he could deal with that. Nothing was nice. Nori wanted to stay in nothing.

That is, until Tereya's annoyance began to show its true colors.

SLAP!

Nori groaned. Why was she trying to pull him out of this? After what he went through that night, why wouldn't she let him get a good sleep for a while. Besides, it was her fault that she couldn't control her own Hollow; Not Nori's. He should be mad at her for being so weak. All of the emotions and opinions he was displaying was ruining Nori's nothingness.

"If you don't open your eyes, I'm going to find some cold fucking water to dunk your head in." Tereya snapped. Despite the nightmare, she herself had gotten a bit of a good sleep, as always. After all, she had lived with such things ever since her Hollow had torture her. If she could get through it... why couldn't he? "And I know where a river is."

"That's great. Do you know where a store is, too? Because then you could get me my fucking coffee..."

The reply had undoubtably come from Nori, who refused to move or open his eyes. But he was awake.

Eye twitching, Tereya raised her hand in a slow manner before rapping him across the face once again. "Shut up. I'm not your maid." She stated bluntly, sitting down cross-legged beside him. "And if you sleep like that for too long, you're gonna be bitching about how achy your back is."

"Why? It's your fucking fault I'm so tired, anyway..." He grumbled. Shifting himself into a sitting position, Nori finally opened his eyes. He was actually somewhat afraid to look around. "Am I actually awake, or is this another..?"

"No, this time, you're awake." Tereya assured him, folding her arms across her chest. "Otherwise, the scenery'd be mure fucked up. Take a look around, Romeo."

"Maybe she's just letting us get comfortable before she mindfucks us again... How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Romeo?" Nori growled, turning to Tereya. He wanted to slap her very badly.

"I don't know, you tell me." Tereya's smirk was all too clear. "I'd count, but I'd lose track." The very fact on how he was looking at her only fueled her amusement, and so, she didn't allow herself to tense up at the glare he was sending her way.

Nori swung his arm at Tereya. It was obvious she would catch it, or dodge, or something. But still! If he didn't, it would hurt!

And, of course, she raised her own hand to block the blow at the wrist, though the blow stung as the back of his hand hit it. She paid it no heed; it was no killing blow. "Now, if you're done PMSing, there's somewhere I was planning on going today." She stated, a serious edge to her tone once more. "And I was wondering if you wanted to come along."

"Huh? No, I can't. I'm busy." He retorted sarcasticly, leaning back against the wooden slab they were sitting on. Busy with nothing...

"With what?" Tereya scooted over beside him for a moment, just to revel in his annoyance. "Your beauty sleep? Because I thought you had enough of that while I had left."

Nori averted his gaze. "Where are you going?" He asked non-chalantly.

Immediately, a flash of what looked like stiffness passed through Tereya's body, before she too averted her own gaze. "Just to speak to some lost friends of mine." She replied coolly. She brought one of her stretched out legs to a bent position, resting her arm on it. "It's been a while now, and they ain't too busy with God to come hear me out."

"Oh..." Nori mumbled. She had to pull the guilt trip on him, didn't she?! She could have just said in the first place 'hey come with me to go see my dead friends' graves!', noooo. She had to act like it wasn't somewhere important, then drop it on him. What a bitch. "Fine... Let's go..."

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea." The woman warned, turning her gaze to narrow her eyes at him. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just saying..." She slowly picked herself off of the ground, dusting herself off.

"No. I'll come." Nori assured her, stepping off of the 'bed' and onto the ground. "I'm not doing anything else today; there's no reason for me not to. Unless you don't want me to come..."

"If you insist..."

She took in a deep breath, before shoving her hands into her pockets. "Good thing we ended up here, of all places. We're close to it." She grinned, walking way from Nori and into the direction of where it was presumed to be the gravesite. "That way we won't have to walk too far, lazyass."

"Good... Because the last time we tried to go for a walk, you went on your period and your Inner Hollow came out..." He grumbled. Would this trigger it again? Going to the site where she and her friends were tortured because of their hollowfication...? "If it happens this time, I'm not going to save you. Since I'm such a girl."

"Whatever you say, Princess."

"Oh... Maybe I should just defile all of your friends' graves? Would you like that?"

She stopped in her tracks. Surely, the man was joking; he couldn't possess that kind of dishonor. Her body stiffened, but she didn't allow herself to turn around. "You'd better not..." She said venemously. "You dare, and I'll tear you apart one piece at a time." She continued to walk away from him. "I don't let family get fucked up like that."

He followed after her swiftly. "You can try. But in the end it won't matter; the gravesite will still be fucked up, and there won't be a single thing you can do about it." Nori taunted. This is what she got for making fun of him every chance she got. Would he actually destroy the gravesite? With how he was feeling right now, there was a very high chance that he would.

"You want to try me?" She spun around on her heel, body tensing out of guard. "After what that bitch did to me, I'm in a mood to start bathing in blood." She declared, her hawk-like eyes staring off into the ones of her husband-to-be. "You want to be the first ones that run down the drain? Be my fucking guest." It didn't matter to her if it was a joke or not. What this man was currently doing was threatening the dignity of what had been her family. Even if they were now deceased, she would fight to defend them in the case of danger. Her loyalty did run deep, once it found a good enough hole to dig itself in.

Nori flinched. "Whatever, let's just go. It's not like I've done it already. You have to get so mad." He said cautiously, looking away and shrugging off her glare. She didn't have to be such a bitch all the time. Maybe he would do it; just for fun, too see how she reacted. And experiment! I seemed exciting. And if she really loved him, she would forgive him anyway. Even better, maybe he could fish their rotten corpses from the ground. He wanted to see what Tereya's friends looked like.

Tereya scoffed, turning back around and walking off. "Whatever." She said irritably, the amusement gone from her voice. However, her body posture immediately relaxing. "You'd better be joking, or else you're going to find yourself permanently dead."

He still followed after her. "What makes you think you can catch me?" Nori taunted. It wasn't like she'd be able to stop him before he used Kogeru and disappeared. "It isn't like I'm killing your friends' who are alive. They're already dead."

"It's the same thing as taking a giant shit on them when they're alive."

"Not really. They've all decomposed by now."

That was it.

Immediately, Tereya whirled back around, fury glazing her eyes once more. "I do not care!" She snarled, swinging her hand horizontally in a frustrated manner. "I buried them right there where they are, and that's where they're going to stay! I don't care how strong or fast you are - if you lay a hand on even the worms, I'll kill you where you stand!"

Nori grabbed her wrist before her hand could reach him. "Calm down... I'm only joking... But if you're one of those people who can make fun of people, but then can't stand it when people poke fun of you, stop making fun of me." He growled, then released her arm, letting her do as she pleased. "I won't do anything. Don't worry about it."

"There's a difference between poking and stabbing." Tereya retorted, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well with the shit I've had to go through because you can't control whatever the fucks inside you, I don't fucking care." Nori snapped, scowling back at her.

"Well, god damn!" Tereya threw her hands up in the air, gritting her teeth whenever she stopped speaking. "I'm sorry that I had the intelligence that an infant would have when I got experimented on! I'm sorry that I was despairing when all of my friends got eaten alive by fucking birds! I'm sorry that I, nothing more than a fucking child, didn't have the mentality of a soldier to withstand my Hollow! Is THAT what you want me to say, damn it?!"

"What about now!? Why can't you do it now?!" Nori screamed back, taking intimidating steps toward her. "Do you think I enjoy holding your disembodied arm? Do you think I enjoy going for a swim in an ocean of blood? Do you think I enjoy having my head fucked with while I'm sleeping?! I don't care what it was like back then, why can't you withstand it NOW?!"

The ferocity he displayed... it was nothing like she had seen from him before.

For the first time in reality, fear came across her face, and she took in a deep breath. She immediately took the same number of steps back when he stepped forward, heart racing. The fire in her mind was immediately doused by nothing but pure ice. She couldn't even come back with a comment of her own. She lowered her head, hair hiding her expression. It didn't matter what she came up with... because those words were all true.

Why couldn't she?

Because she was much too weak.

"....don't bother coming with me. Go back to your little house and sleep." She muttered, weakness in that tough tone of hers. She turned around, shuffling forward and away from him. She remembered the words he had said before; he would not hesitate to kill her if the Hollow took over. And, just then, he had demanded of her why couldn't she control it on her own? It was very obvious now.

"He won't help you escape from your prison."

She barely even recognized the voice of her satisfied monster as she walked away.

"...."

Nori continued to follow anyway. He was still pissed. But he wasn't going to do anything, and he still cared about her. The only thing keeping him from apologizing, was that she never seemed to like it if he did. When he did it in the forest, when he woke up, he threatened her. So he would no longer apologize. He wouldn't regret anything he did. And, while that would, undoubtably, make things worse, it seemed to be what she wanted, so it was what he would do. He would still take her home when she was done with whatever she was going to do.

And he would still love her when this was all over.

"I said not to follow me, damn it!" Tereya snapped, whirling back around. "Having you near me right now is just going to piss me off even more! LEAVE!"

Nori looked hurt. She didn't want him near her anymore...? Even after she invited him to come? Why did he have to be so stupid? "I... I'm sorry..."

Once again, she turned and walked off briskly, without a word of acknowledgement for his apology.

He stood there and watched her shrink into the distance. So she hated him now. Turning around slowly, he took long, painful steps back towards the house. Maybe he should just leave... It was clear she didn't want him anymore anyway.

Reunion
Walking around the trees casually, Envy saw Nori entering his place and waved with a beaming smile. She was honestly glad to see him. It's been a while since the whole incident with them and the invasion so she hasn't seen or heard from any of them in a while after settling down.

Nori ignored her. He wasn't in a good mood, and, if anything, she'd probably make it even worse. Why didn't she just go see Tereya? They could PMS together and leave him the fuck alone.

Had he not noticed her? She waved again hoping to catch his sight. But wait... they're in the middle of a forest! How the hell WOULDN'T he notice her?

Nori entered his 'house' and crawled onto the wooden slab he called a bed. Closing his eyes, he waited to fall asleep. He couldn't wait to fall asleep. It'd be nice to sit in nothing again.

She puffed her cheeks angrily while stamping her foot. She was not going to stand for such mistreatment. She stomped over to his door and knocked on it.

Since there was no doornob, the door opened rather easily when she knocked on it, revealing the bare inside of what he called a home, as well as the resting Nori. He would wait here until Tereya got back. There was no point in even acknowledging Envy; he had no idea why she was here.

She looked angrily at him "What the hell, Nori? I come all the way here to meet you and you're ignoring me!?"

"I'm not in the mood, Envy." Nori growled. He sat up and glared at her.

She smirked "Rough night, huh?"

"Not really. It's none of your buisiness. You can go away now." Nori said dully, laying back down. He was going to ignore her from now on. If she said something, he wouldn't answer her.

She scoffed "How typical, always getting upset at people who aren't the cause of your problems." She walked off toward wherever. She didn't care. He didn't care, despite her hopes.

A forest, with lushious and seemingly healthy trees. It seemed like it was fall again, as the leaves seemed to scatter the ground as well as cover the branches of the redwood. A gentle, and seemingly permanent wind blew, constantly keeping the branches moving and the leaves blowing in every which direction. The ground itself was nothing but cracked earth, the grass having died long ago. It was here that Tereya was sitting, under the shade of one of these trees, holding what looked like a small cup. She was sitting also beside several gravestones, exactly 12 in number.

She held up the cup. "A toast to all of you lucky bastards who got to where they were before I did." She muttered, before lifting the cup up to her lips and drinking.

Envy saw the girl drinking next to some gravestones and walked over to her. Whoever she was, maybe she could console her on her dead friends or relatives.

Tereya's eyes immediately drifted towards the woman, but she quirked an eyebrow upon who it was. Who was this strange woman? Certainly, she didn't seem like one of Nori's friends.... far too perky. "Hm?" She muttered. "Hasn't your mommy ever told you to stay away from depressed drunks, sweetheart?" She questioned boredly, though she did nothing to stop the woman from walking to her.

She smiled sweetly. What a strange person. Here she was, blatantly revealing herself to be a sad drunkard. Oh well, she'd still help unless the woman really got on her nerves, much like Nori did. "I was just seeing if you wanted to talk. You seem lonely out here."

Tereya chuckled. "Nah. I've been visiting this place for a few years now." She explained, raising her free hand out in order to motion towards the environment. "All 12 of these graves are stuffed with the rotting corpses of my friends. But their souls are free, into wherever they're headed off to...." She tilted her head back and laughed at her own statement. "Tch. I must sound like a god damn hippie, right?" She joked, taking another sip of the liquid she held in her cup.

Envy smiled back nervously "Well not really. Quite touching, honestly."

Tereya lowered her head back, raising an eyebrow once again towards Envy. "My name's Tereya." She introduced herself, setting the cup down. "Yours?" This woman didn't seem like the type to piss her off. Definitely too pure. She could deal with that.

Envy smiled. "Evey. Nice to meet you."

A sly smile came across Tereya's face. "Likewise." She said in reply. "What brings you here? Other than the fact that you probably saw a depressed drunk out of me." It was apparent that the whole depressed thing was out of the question now, whether if it had already been before Evey came, or the fact that she had graced the Vizard with her presence.

Envy smirked "Was just leaving the company of a rude ass guy I know."

Tereya looked rather bemused and thoughtful at the comment. "Funny..." She remarked, turning back to face forward. "I went here after an argument with my fiance... he was joking about digging up these guys. Really pissed me off." She thought it was best to not mention the parts about her arguing about the mental torture that Hollow had put them both through.

Envy nods "I see. Sounds like an asshole."