𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 & 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 18: ᴡʜʏ?

(Hi...yeah I know. I haven't been sticking to my made up schedule but I have a good excuse...I was uhhh...fatigued and sick. Take this cool pic I found, it kinda matches the theme of the chapter! Anywho...enjoy <3)

   I adjusted myself and sat up straight. I stared at the tensed up Horangi and he stared right back at me. 'What do I say? How do I greet him? Should I even greet him? Where's Roze? Where's König?' I broke the strong eye contact between us and squeezed my one eye shut. I took in a deep breath and let it out, desperately trying to clear my head. I had so many questions, but knew I needed to act somewhat professional. I opened my one eye again and met his gaze once more.

   "Horangi, it's nice to see you. What brings you here?" Following my question, a heavy silence engulfed the entirety of the room. After a while, I grew tired of waiting for his reply and sarcastically cleared my throat. This obviously caught his attention as I saw his entire body jolt forward a bit. 'Did he zone out?' He let out a shaky breath and stalked closer to my hospital bed. He stopped a couple of feet in front of it and stiffly wrapped his arms behind his back. "Ma'am. It's a pleasure to see you as well. I apologize for my muteness." He paused, taking in another shaky breath. "I guess I'm still in a bit of shock."

   I nodded slightly in response and began examining his body language. I followed his gaze down to the floor. 'Shock, huh? Poor kid probably didn't even realize that he brought himself here. I wonder what happened to him...?' Silence covered the room, once more and I began growing more and more impatient by the minute. "Horangi?" His head shot up at the mention of his name. "You were saying?" He cleared his throat and widened his stance.

   "Yes ma'am, I was saying that König...has uhm...he's been... detained." He said in a small voice. My eye widened in shock, and I grabbed a hold of the bed sheets, balling them up in my hands. "What?" I spat. He jolted a bit and stayed silent. I hadn't meant for it to come out as rudely as it did. He cleared his throat again, "I said ma'am, König was detained." This time he said it with more confidence. I sat there in silence for a moment. I was shocked.

   'What the- No, how in the hell did he manage to get himself detained?' Horangi continued, ripping me out of my thoughts. "I can't provide an accurate explanation as to why he's being detained, all I know is what they told me." My head shot up, giving him my full attention. "What did they tell you, and who is holding him?" I felt my brows pinch together as I stared at him, waiting for a reply. He swallowed visibly hard and continued, "He...well...-" Horangi threw his head back and exhaled, "They said that he flew off the handle and... killed...3 men."

   I sat there, literally petrified. Yes, in our line of work killing people is a must, but those people are usually the ones who are not on base. Only rats, or snitches get killed on base. I stared down at the glossy tile floor, not uttering another word. I was so confused. 'Maybe those men were rats? But then again, it's not his place to kill them without notifying a higher up. Killing anyone on base is a huge offence, maybe he really did lose it. No no, that doesn't make sense. If anything, he seemed fine when he left a couple of days ago, so how the hell did he just "fly off the handle"?'

   I heard Horangi move a bit closer to my bedside. I flinched a bit and my eye shot up to meet his masked face. "Sorry to startle to you ma'am, I just thought that you should.... read this. Since he's your contractual sergeant, I thought you might want the details." He said, now pulling out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "This also includes where he's being held at." He extended an arm out and I took the paper -well- packet from him. I unfolded it and stared down at it. Horangi cleared his throat loudly and I looked back to him.

   "I think I should get going, my number is on the back of that packet by the way. If you need anything ma'am, please give me a call." I nodded in response to him, flipping the packet over to confirm that his number was really there. He bowed and bided me goodbye, leaving shortly after. I sat there in silence, staring down at the crinkled-up packet that was resting in my hands. I sighed and began flattening it. The packet read the following: