2 | flatline [darkling]

fourteen

"SO WHAT IS YOUR PLAN? Murder me in my sleep?" Aleksander asks as he moves the chess piece and looks up at her. She pouts in thought and it takes all his self control to reach across to kiss her again.

"You really don't trust me." She hums as she makes her move and looks up at him, to see him staring at her.

"Do you trust me?" He retorts, making her take in a deep breath and chuckle softly.

"Touché." She  shrugs and he leans back in his chair, looking at her with an unreadable expression. "How about we let bygones be bygones?"

"You expect me to believe that? After everything you've said and went through to try to destroy me?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. She understood his reasonings. No matter how much he said he wanted her back, she had done so much to try and destroy him, there was no way he'd trust her immediately.

"Well, how about we come to an agreement?" She asks, causing him to shake his head.

"Stop. I know you. I know what you're doing." He sighs making her look at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You did this nearly twenty years ago. During that mission I send you." He points out and the memories of that time come rushing back to her. Nyx's breath gets stuck at the back of her throat. "You had become so close with those people and then when the battle started, I could see how you still had an attachment to them. But you still insisted on being the one to do it all. When it was time for you to put an end to it, you decided to go there a few days earlier and told them you were sorry. You made them believe you meant no harm. You spend days with them, being a part of them and then you murdered them in your sleep."

"What does that have to do with us?" She wonders, not daring to meet his eyes, making him chuckle.

"You are not one to start something and suddenly back out. You have a plan and you're confident it'll work. Maybe it will. And you're here to have me lower my guard. So that I trust you again and then you make everything around me crumble." He answers her and she looks at him with wide eyes. She thought the pain his eyes was a reflection of her own, but now she realises it was his own pain and suffering. He had suffered just as much as she did during the past year.

"I'm not here to gain your trust. And I didn't infiltrate their lives to betray them. I did it, because I cared for them a lot. And even though I knew what had to be done, I still wanted to have fond memories with them. It was my way of saying goodbye." She admits and he tilts his head.

"Are you here to say goodbye?" He asks and she lets out a breath. There was no point in hiding it. She never knew that he could read her like an open book.

"Yes. I am." She says honestly and he takes a deep breath.

"I see. How much time is left?"

"I don't know." She looks down and a tense silence settles between them. A part of her regretted this, a part of her just wanted to put an end to this. But maybe it was her stubbornness or her fear that she had gone too, that stopped her from her an end to this.

"I think you should leave." He breaks the silence, making her head snap up. "Go see the friends you left behind when you ran away."

"What? Aleks-"

"Do whatever you want. You can stay in the Little Palace or leave again, just make sure I don't see you." He cuts her off as he pushes himself up.

"Hold on. Why are you pushing me away so suddenly? Didn't you want me back?" She asks as she jumps to her feet in disbelief.

"Not this way. I wanted the Nyx I knew before all of this. Not the one who is ready to do anything to win." He says as he looks at her with tears in his eyes. She is taken back by how weak seemed in this instant. "I love you, Nyx. I know you'll never believe me. And maybe after you succeed in killing me, you'll be happier. But I can't stand being around you knowing you hate me to the point you're willing to kill me. So, just leave."

Unsure of what to say, she lowers her head and nods in defeat. She makes her way out of his room and shuts the door behind herself, leaning against it. Why did she feel like she lost even though she was so close to her victory? Had she made a big mistake?