Problems of the Gifted

Who is Dhalia Dever?

(*Note: TW-anxiety*)

(Dhalia Dever pov.)

[Somewhere in the city:]

I can see the streetlights light up the wet street after the clouds decided to stop raining from up here. Sitting on the edge of a tall building, feet dangling above nothing, it's interesting how everything below looks like ants.

What am I doing here?

Obviously, hiding.
If I'm not mistaken, Creed might have already sent out drones or even agents to find me. It wasn't an easy task passing the killer machines, so I made sure to create as much distance as I could.
The cold evening air isn't in my favor, blowing my hair in different ways and making me shiver. It's a good thing I've gotten some food at TOL when I arrived, but now it makes me wonder what I'll do tomorrow.
Or if I actually will survive tonight, completly on my own out here.
If there's one thing TOL teaches their agents, then it's not to let their guard down, yet I do it anyway.

I just need a break.
I'm so tired.
Not just because I've used up a lot of energy to teleport so far away, but also mentally.

At that point, I start rummaging through my pockets, only to find them empty. Except one.
I pull out the polaroid picture Val has taken of our group. I look at us, my tears are falling down on the photograph.

What have I done?

So many questions, and all of them keep on staying unanswered.
Out of frustration, I throw the picture over my shoulder, it softly lands on the roof behind me.

I don't have anywhere to go, because if I go back to my... friends?
Doesn't matter.
They will report me right away the second they see me.
And if I go back to TOL I'll be walking straight into a death trap.

I close my eyes.
In both cases, TOL will get to me sooner or later.

I wish I wasn't...

Once again, I look down the side of the building.

There is only one way one I can escape TOL, and it's by putting and end to my chapter. But... I can't. They will chase me down in circles, until I can't run anymore.

My hands start shaking.

I'm afraid of them.
That's why I have to hide.
And yet... doesn't that make me a coward?

"Of course it does." Carmine answers my unspoken question.

I face him by turning around.
Not unexpectedly, Carmine isn't present- I only try to imagine what he'd say to me if he were here. It wouldn't surprise me if have lost my sanity by now.

Gosh, I miss him so much.

"Where are you?"

He ignores my question:
"You can't run forever, kid. I'm sure you know that."

"But what SHOULD I do?" I stand up, walking away from the edge, feeling my desperation rise again. "I can't go anywhere! I... I don't know where I belong. I don't know who I am anymore.
I'm just- I'm no good. I thought I wanted to be the best agent than mom and dad were. Then for a moment I thought I could have real friends, to at least experience how it would feel to have a different life- and now... now all of it was for nothing. "

He studies me for a moment before replying:
"Betrayal is a wound that cuts deep, yet it's not irreversible. Bear with me... how did you feel while you were around your friends?"

I look up at him.

"Like I'm a bad person, I was deceiving them."

"But?"