Russian Roulette

Chapter Ninety-Five: Painless

---Aleksei/Aurora---

Aleksei softly nodded at Isador's answer, "good, I'm glad." He smiled gently, come on Aleksei, give him more replies than that at least. Aleksei tried to keep his eyes away from Isador, he made up his mind but if he dared look at that man's face for longer than a second, he may change his mind. Aleksei could barely register that Isador was holding his hand, it all felt so numb but he wanted to experience that loving touch again, he tried to dig back up old memories of how gentle Isador was with him, how he would caress him, how he would touch him, how he kissed him and how he would...*cough cough* anyways, with that imagine in his mind Aleksei was able to mentally feel Isador's touch again, oh how he felt so good.

Oh Isador, honey, I wish that was true, but it wasn't, Aleksei gave him a weak smile finally, "I love you, with all the love my heart can give." Aleksei drew Isador's hand over to him and kissed it gently in return.

Ghost was gone? Impossible. Ghost was a loyal foot soldier, like a dog who wanted to please his master. He would never have left Aleksei while he was in this condition, hell he wouldn't have left Aleksei even if Aleksei was surrounded by thousands of guards and doctors, not unless he was given orders to...or something else. Aurora was just about to skip away until she saw Aodhan's hand go up, she swiftly came to a stop in front of him and awaited his words, she cringed at them at first before nodding, "I understand, I just want to see him." She gave him a grin before quickly scampering off again but she didn't go to Aleksei right away, instead she went to the where the tanks were, all of the surviving men were sound asleep, they clearly had a long day, she silently went over to the armory and her suspicions were right, all of Ghost's belongings were there, from his shoes to his earbuds, everything was there laid out on the ground. I don't know about you but a highly wanted man walking around without anything to protect himself with wasn't right nor logical, he wasn't going to handle anything mafia related, he sure as hell wasn't going to the movies for a date. Aurora let out a long sigh as she put two and two together, she slowly made her way to the bunks and opened the door cautiously just to make sure she would indeed be looking at an alive Aleksei and she was!

"Good, he was right about you being awake." Aurora ran over to him and scrambled onto the bed next to him, but she was gentle as she rested her head on his chest, "You're cold..." she pointed out to him and he laughed, "Tell me something I don't know." Aleksei retorted back and Aurora sat up again looking down at him concerned. She knew something he didn't know alright.

"Oh god, I was joking...what happened?" Aleksei watched her closely as she tried to tell him in the moist gentle, less stressful way as possible, "Ghost..he left and for good I think, he left all of his belongings behind as well so he's not trying to escape the country. He's either going under the deck like a dog or went to turn himself in officially." Going under the deck like a dog was Aurora's innocent way of saying he probably went to die alone somewhere but luckily enough for Ghost that wasn't the case.

Aleksei was silent at first before laughing, "Good for him." Was he managed to chirp out, he really did feel nonchalant about this information, but he did wonder though, when did it all start to go downhill? Was it with his own Bose's death due to old age or maybe he should have seen this coming when The Executioner decided to leave the game early. Nothing lasts forever, especially not when you're the bad guy, bad guys don't win. It was alright though, this was the game of the mafia, after his death surely comes someone who will swiftly take his place, then they will die or be arrested, then the next, then the next. That's how this goes. There is no time for redemption in this game, no time for salvation. Aleksei then tapped Aurora on the shoulder, "go get the guys, I want to discuss Ghost's departure with them." Aleksei ordered and Aurora groaned annoyed.

"But I just got here..." she moaned, acting like a true child. "Go." Aleksei ordered again and she huffed before running off. Aleksei bent down over the bed as he picked up Kira and held her close to his chest, was she always this heavy? "I love you too sweet little thing." Aleksei kissed her cheek as she stared at him dazed, she didn't seem to appreciate how cold and mushy he was, oh how he would regret not watching her grow up.

Aurora came back with four dazed men, "the others refused to get up, so they said pass the message." Of the men said as he took a tired flop onto the nearest chair. "What's up Boss?" he then asked, oh these men had worked so hard, lost so much for him and now it was time to let them go, "Ghost has departed us and with that, I also dismiss you from your duties to me." Aleksei gave the order and they all looked between each other awkwardly, "What do we do now?" one of the other men asked as Aurora came back to lay on Aleksei, she shared his chest with Kira as she watched the scene play out.

"Isador has access to my finances; he will give you all five million each whenever you are ready to leave. I will give you a contact named Micah; he can fly you out of the country undetected." Aleksei nodded at them before having another coughing fit, he tried to hold it back this time though, he wasn't going to cough that stuff on the girls. Aleksei was wheezing for breath again as he addressed the sitting man.

"Hey, you know that drug Ghost had for the men who got shot so they wouldn't be in pain? It like kills your nerves or something?" Aleksei gave him a stare as the man stared at him confused then a slow realization came onto his face before he took a deep breath and got to his feet, "Yes. Do you want it? Its permanent..." the man stared at him, and Aleksei gave him a stern nod.

The man nodded back and with that he left.