Legacy // H.S

43.

'And these are the days that never end'

*

Harry

There's an eery quietness to the street that the office block sits on. Even in central London, the paths are empty, and the sounds of tourists and workers are muffled on the main roads. It's as if the city knows what is about to happen. Like it is a living, breathing, all seeing being that can sense the fear in our hearts.

So much fear. It follows us around, attached to our shadows. I used to run from that feeling. Tried to sever myself from the secondary person that rested on my shoulders to remind myself of it. I told myself, I am a man, I cannot be scared. It's such a futile and childish way of thinking, but it was all I knew. No matter how much distance I placed between myself and my father, some things he taught me stuck, and 'acting like a man' was one of them. Suppressed feelings. Quiet emotions. Waiting to bubble over.

These days, fear is a friend. It motivates, it defines, it is recognisable in all of us. Without fear we would be nothing. Fear means we're human. Fear means we're alive.

I notice it in the faces of everyone I encounter. The first identifying feature of a person. We all have it, even if we cannot feel it. It's easy to make yourself numb to it, and easy to let it overwhelm you. But it's always there. Always waiting.

Even being outside this building, knowing that Atlas is in there, I can sense it. She'll be keeping a brave face, she's strong, but it will persist. None of us can truly hide from fear.

At the entrance, no one is around. Only a chain to lock the doors keep us out. It's an amateur attempt at security, likely because Hugo has wanted me here all along. If I needed to be kept out, the entire building would be manned with guards ready to shoot me. But it's quiet, empty, ominous. No face seen through the glass to counter our own reflections.

Claude and Liam, always prepared, find something to break the chain. The sound it makes as the metal clatters to the floor echoes around us. Like voices telling us to beware. Knowing something we do not. Hoping we'll turn away and finally give up.

They know my promise to Atlas. That I will protect her or die trying. That without her, I cannot continue. Life would be meaningless. Without her there is no light or happiness, no joy or laughter. She is everything good about the world. And she saved me. A man that had no right being shown such kindness, a man that had frequently put her in situations she should have avoided. I brought her into a world of danger, and she never backed away from me. She chose to stay, to be with me, to love me like no one had done before.

Everything I do is for her.

The warnings that echo should know by now that she is the reason I fight. The war is not over until she is safe.

We step inside the office block, lights off and windows only showing the residual light of that dotted around surrounding buildings. We assume fire, regardless, still unsure what traps he could have left lying around. One thing that is clear, is that they're at the top of the building. Whatever small overhanging light they're using was visible as we approached the city, a sign that they're waiting.

Cautiously, we move further in, towards the stairwell and up each floor, one of us checking the space before going up another. One after one, empty. At the floor below the top, I stop them before we reach the stairwell. Claude raises an eyebrow, Liam sighs, checking his gun once more.

'He wants to go alone,' Liam states.

I nod. 'I have to. It won't be a fair fight if I bring you. He'll end up shooting me on the spot.'