Outside

Chapter 21

Kyan stands stiff next to me, trembling and white-faced. His eyes stay firm on the fallen people in front of him, and I know what's going through his mind. It's the same things that went through my mind when I was 7. "I'm a monster." He's probably thinking. "I've made a huge mistake. Who am I to take someone's life?"

"Why did you do that?" I ask. "You just turned yourself into a murderer."

"They were going to kill you, Nox... I couldn't let them." His voice is quiet. "Why the hell did you tell them to kill you?"

"I thought... I thought they might let you live if I died... that's all." I answer.

"And what if they didn't? I can't believe you would do something so... so reckless!" He yells. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing you died for me! Don't ever put your life at risk for mine again!"

"Oh, come on. We talked about this. You know if the situation happened again, I would do the same thing, and you know if you were in my place you would have done the same thing." I keep my voice low. "Key, now you have you live with yourself being a killer. You've killed all those people and you could have lived without doing so. You should have let me die. Why would you give yourself the trauma I've been stuck with? I've been trapped regretting this feeling for so long... and here you are, doing the same thing I did. On purpose too? I can't believe you..."

"Your life is worth more than anything to me. I will do anything to keep you alive. Even if that means... means..." He glances back at the lifeless beings in front of us and pauses. His hand hovers over his stomach. His eyes stop on one that he shot through the skull, their eyes wide open and blood surrounding them. "I... I did that..." his voice becomes thick.

"Yeah... you did."

"Ex...excuse me for a moment." He turns away from me for a moment, hands on his knees, and throws up.

"I see I have guests." An unidentified voice appears. My head flips around and I raise my gun, forgetting it's empty. A tall woman walks towards us with waist-length near-white hair and grey eyes. A twisted smile stretches across her face, and she makes her way over to me slowly, with open arms. It takes me a second before her identity hits me. She's the dictator over the entire government, Aequa and Opulent, Elizabeth Grey. "Hello, Nox and Kyan. It's nice to see you again. It's been a few weeks since I saw you two last at the Transfer Event when you made that catastrophic scene."

"You remember us?" I ask, my empty gun still raised.

"Oh, how could I not? You're the girl who had enough courage to stand up and make a fool of yourself in front of the richest people in the world. And Kyan... you poor, poor boy. You could've had a normal life, but you had to stand up for her." Elizabeth continues. "And now, here we are again. Guards?" She snaps her fingers. Nothing happens. "I said, guards?"

"There are none left." I say, my hands shaky. "I killed them all."

"Oh, look at you. The little girl with her hair over her face, taking the lives of innocent people. You should be ashamed of yourself, traitor to morality. Traitor to society. Traitor to your little friend Kyan. I must say, however, asking someone to kill you to save another is a valiant choice, you must really care about him." She says. "Come, sit." She gestures to a fancy white-table-clothed table behind her with three chairs around it.

"You can't get me to lower my guard." I snap at her. "I'll kill you for the pain you've caused your people."

"Oh, little child, calm down. I don't want you to die just yet." She says. "Plus, I know your gun is empty."

"How did you...?" I ask, my eyes flickering between her and my gun. She takes a seat at her round table and I sigh. "Fine, but I still am prepared to do whatever it takes to kill you." I say.