Ad Astra Per Aspera

Chapter 17

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

Astralea POV

It took longer than I thought it would to get here. But it's worth it. I forgot how beautiful it is here. The beach, the ocean, Ecuador is truly a beautiful country.

I had mixed feelings when we landed here this morning, they even took her to the same house I was staying at. I recognized one of the guards that was on the wall, and it is safe to say that he most definitely remembered me. His eyes were so wide it was comical.

I didn't think I'd be able to find the beach Matteo showed me, but I guess the memory was always somewhere deep in my head, because at one point I stopped looking at the map and just focused on the road, knowing where it would take me.

The beach didn't change, and just like then, there are no people here. I got to one of the stones near the water and sat on it, putting my feet in the warm clear water and just watching the horizon.

"Didn't expect to find you here." A voice said behind me. Arcane.

I didn't respond. And if he didn't expect to see me here, why is he here? I hate stupid questions.

Like, it's obvious that he was waiting for me. You don't just accidentally end up on a hidden beach in the middle of no where.

"You remember, don't you?"

"I do."

"How much?"

"Everything. I remembered choosing him over my dad. I remembered telling him the truth, I remembered him hating me but giving me a small chance. I remember helping him, fighting with him, falling for him more and more everyday.

I remember how I went undercover for him, but it ended up being a trap. They took me and tortured me, asking for money, his money. I didn't tell them shit, they were going to kill me, but he came for me. He didn't have to, not at all, I wouldn't have said shit and he could have moved everything by then anyways. But he came for me and I started falling for him even more.

He told me that he loves me. He told me I'm his, as Nymeria and as Astralea. I fell for him hard. And I remember you two."

"I tried to kill you."

"You did, but you failed. And you ended up teaching me that high kick."

"I probably should have never taught you that." he chuckled. "You remembered this beach?"

"I did, and I remember Matteo asking me to be his on this beach. Giving me a ring, not asking me to marry him, but asking me to be his forever and choose him no matter what. And I said yes to that."

Arcane sat down next to me.

"And I remember how later that day we got attacked, when he got shot and was bleeding out, I held him in my arms. I held him when he died in my arms. And people grabbed me and pulled me from him. I tried fighting but failed. I didn't want to leave him, even though I knew he was already dead. I remember screaming. Screaming because there was nothing I could do."

"They drugged you. We got to the beach too late, they were already taking you on the boat and he was dead. But I did find this." Blaze said and put something from his pocket giving it to me.

It was a small ring, made out of white gold and a beautiful amethyst stone, so small and elegant. It was the ring that Matteo gave me. The one they took off my hand.

"It was my father, wasn't it?"

"We aren't sure. But you were taken back to the US that day, we had people who tracked and found you, and they found out about a memory wipe that was done on you. There was no point in getting you, you didn't remember. We got our hands on the memory serum not a long time ago, otherwise we would have used it then."

"Why? Matteo was dead, and I don't think you ever liked me."

"First of all, we did, you were a bitch quite often, but you did choose him and we respected that. And you became one of us, you might not have known it yet, but you were a Viper the moment you decided to learn how to fight." Whatever makes him sleep better at night.

"He is alive, isn't he?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I broke into his home earlier today, heard them call his name."

"I presume he wasn't in the mansion."

"No, just like every other syndicate boss, he is in hiding. How did he survive?"

"CPR and modern medicine."

"He isn't with you?"

"No, he got too focused on his quest for power after that day, he was almost killed on that beach, and he lost you, so he wanted more."

"What do you mean?"

"At first it was something small, having more men, better security, but then he wanted more and more. Ecuador wasn't enough for him, he wanted everything and he was slowly getting it, which I mean, good for him, but he was killing and destroying everyone on his way.

Your ex boyfriend, Jace, didn't just die on any mission. Matteo killed him, he was spying on him, before I could even say something he pointed a gun at him and shot him. Without any hesitation or remorse. Didn't even give us a chance to question him."

My ex killed my other ex.

How lovely...

J and I were close, not too close, he didn't know much about me, didn't know about me being Luna, even though back then I wasn't that good or famous, but still. We spent a lot of time together and he was my friend. To be honest I was planning on breaking up with him. He was so sweet and nice and.... I'm not a sweet and nice kind of girl. I prefer guns over flowers, black over pink, missions over movie dates. He was great, but not great for me.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I do want that kindness and sweetness. The feeling of being loved, but only sometimes. It's hard to like sweet things when you kill people on a daily basis. Overtime it darkens you, light colors don't look so light anymore, And they look wrong. It feels like so much as touching them would destroy them. And J was a light color. I saw it in his eyes, I saw him try to bring me to life.

And I highly doubt that Matteo killed him just because he was dating me. I mean, he is a leader, they know how to play the long game, killing him had too many risks, there was another reason.

"And when this bomb was created, he went mad with a desire to have it. We tried to stop him, and he attacked us, well, one of our bases. 28 of my men died that night, he declared war." Arcane spoke and I saw the sadness in his eyes. He used to be his friend, a person they trusted, but he betrayed them in the end. Maybe that's another reason why they took me.

"That's when you grabbed our attention. "

"You thought by getting me you would get him?"

"Well, yes and no. You see, we didn't know that you are Luna until much later on. Until the club in Paris to be more specific. But when you killed our Robocop, by the way, fuck you for that, we did some research," Yeah I don't feel even a little bit bad over killing him, "not a lot of people can get an airstrike. After a few hours of research we figured that you were you, but that brought up questions like, where did you learn to fight like that, we knew you could fight, but not like that."

I mean, understandable I guess.

"So we had people follow you, but you are good. We wouldn't have known if Maurizio wasn't kidnapped and Luna saved him."

"You put two and two together. "

"Yes, I still had doubts but we have eyes everywhere and saw you and Enzo get on the plane and then my men told me how Luna and Hades walked into the ball together. I had my answer then. Still to be sure when you were talking to one of them I asked him to mention Robocop to see your reaction."

"Well, that's lovely."

"Yeah, essentially you just snitched on yourself."

No.