every teardrop is a waterfall

Nightmares. Katerina hated those nightmares, for they made her seem weak and defenceless- two things she refused to appear. It had been two years and a half and yet, she still had them. And they still made her cry.

Get over yourself, you look pathetic, she told herself while laying on her back in the Forbidden Cave, hearing the rain pour down outside. It just gave her another excuse to stay in the cave alone, even if she didn't mind the rain, not at all. She just needed some time, she always did after those nightmares.

What she wasn't expecting, was someone walking into the cave.

Kieran couldn't breathe, and it wasn't his doing. Being traumatized by seeing another person nearly die wasn't his doing. Even though he wasn't supposed to care he did. He wondered what had happened to that girl who had nearly died. Was she alright? Was she in classes again? And of course - was she getting better?

Rain poured over his blonde head, causing it to turn from its usual bright blonde to a dirty blonde he'd rarely seen himself wear before. Either way, it was drenching him wet, the rain. He didn't mind, though; because the water made him feel secure, somewhat.

He entered the cave, sitting down on the graveled ground to contemplate.

Katerina's head turned so quickly when someone else entered the cave, that she was surprised her neck didn't snap. Pushing all her previous thoughts away from her mind, she sat up and leaned against the cave wall, wiping her face of any tears that could've still been there.

She observed the blonde boy sitting a few feet away from her, realizing he was the Slushatel in a few of her classes, and wondered if he had noticed her presence. Perhaps not, he seemed to be immersed in his thoughts.

"It's a good place to think, isn't it?" Katerina muttered.

It was only when Kieran heard a voice in the cave that he realized that there was another soul in there. Of course, he shouldn't be startles; it could just be someone who was taking shelter from the rain.

He would believe that if he didn't recognize the voice, but he did. He knew that it was a girl from his year... probably the Hitrost he'd seen around a couple of times. Now, his muscles tensed, a little, but he was still pretty calm.

"It is," he agreed.

Katerina nodded and took a better a look at the boy. He seemed different than he usually was in classes, not that they had actually ever talked, but she noticed these kinds of things. He seemed. . . sadder, more serious, and the girl couldn't help but wonder what had happened. More out of curiosity than of sympathy.

The Hitrost couldn't really do much with the boy sitting there but think, and she had done an awful lot of thinking already.

"What's your name, by the way?" Katerina asked after a few minutes, raising an eyebrow slightly, "I still don't know it, though you've been in pretty much all my classes for about two years now."

Truth was, she hadn't even bothered to learn her yearmate's names during first year, so caught up in everything.

The conversation seemed to take an awkward turn for a moment. Not like Kiki found it too large a problem, though he had to admit he didn't like getting into them either.

"Kieran," he replied with his usual gusto. It was so stupid, childish, thick really, to have his name give him such pride. "Kieran Cartwright." He paused. "Rather Muggle-like, I know, but I don't care."

He tilted his head, "And what would your name be?"

"Kieran Cartwright," Katerina echoed and raised an eyebrow, "You're not one of those snotty purebloods who think they're above all muggles and muggleborns, are you?"

She despised them. Thinking they were so much better than her just because of their blood. . . blood was stupid and didn't mean a thing when it came to power.

"Katerina Kahnovich," she answered.

Kieran's eyes widened in slight disgust, though it was mostly at the way Katerina had said those words than those actual words themselves. "Oh... of course not; I am far from a Pureblood myself," he noted, acting a little too coy for his own good. He was, technically, part Veela, and plus, Timo was a Muggle, and he didn't hate him.

"I see," Kiki replied, firmly nodding to show that he understood, "that's a nice name."

"Oh," Katerina said, a small frown on her face, "I see. I'm sorry, then." She had thought he was, for some reason, and felt a bit embarrassed, but quickly shrugged it off. Not wanting to get into the subject of blood status, she just stayed quiet and looked at the rain falling outside.

"Thank you," she murmured, a bit shyly, still not being used to people complimenting her name or anything related to her. "Your is as well," she answered, honestly. For some reason, she had always been fond of names with K.

"Sorry?" asked Kieran hastily, barely letting the sound of the rain interrupt his thoughts "why would you be sorry for not being a pureblood?" An uneasy thought began to dawn on the boy. "Are you... are you a blood supremacist of some sort?"

Kiki let a small laugh release itself from the grasp of her tongue. "We both start with K - odd coincidence!" he noted.

"I meant sorry if I seemed rude in asking," Katerina quickly explained with a small frown, a bit unsure of why she had been apologizing for that in the first place. It was not usual for her to apologize, stubborn as she was, but something in the boy's tone had made her feel . . . embarrassed by her own. She shook her head slowly, this cave, the rain, the nightmares . . . this wasn't doing her well. "No," she answered, "Far from it, actually."

The Hitrost let a small smile appear on her face, and said, without thinking, "All my names start with K, that's how creative my parents were."

Kieran gave Katerina a dirty look, "You could have just said that, you know. 'Sorry for asking?' I wouldn't have gotten the wrong idea then." He then shrugged by her shoulders, scared that the scene had gotten too tense for any of them to handle. He sighed in relief when she said she wasn't. "Good," he affirmatively nodded.

The Slushatel couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "That's rich," he chuckled, "it's kinda cool too, actually. Katerina Kahnovich. I like the alliteration."

Katerina raised an eyebrow and shrugged, how was she supposed to know he wouldn't get the wrong message? "Forgive me, I don't read minds," she muttered and rolled her eyes, but still nodded along with the boy when he said her not being a blood supremacist was a good thing.

"I'm not a big fan of it," she said quietly, putting a strand of hair that was falling her eye behind her ear, and looked up at Kieran, "My middle name also starts with K. That's a bit too much, for me."