The Hunter || clifford

.ten.

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The plane ride back to his home country was shorter than he expected, considering that he had slept through most of it. As they neared their arrival, Michael was then wide awake, his green eyes were absently trained on the window. There was really nothing to look at. It was night already and all he could see was darkness. In their row were three seats and Michael had taken the one closest to the window, Hazel sat in the middle seat, and Jack was sat on the seat near the aisle. Hazel was awake and alert, while her older brother was fast asleep next to her. He had spent the previous hours of the flight watching terrible movies on the small screen in front of his seat.

It was the voice of Hazel Quimby that pulled Michael out of his thoughts. "What are you thinking about?" She asked him curiously. That's right, she can't hear my thoughts anymore, he remembered, looking down at the necklace she had let him borrow when they arrived at the airport. It was a silver rabbit head pendant with jewels for eyes. It fit her so well, he thought to himself. She was elusive, yet had an air of innocence and sweetness to her. Nonetheless, he was the hunter and she was the prey. A prey that reminded him so much of everything he missed back at home. Life was unfair like that many times. He could escape Australia, but he could not escape Harley Quinn. Fate was doing everything in its hands to remind him of her.

Michael heaved a sigh. "My sister Harley." There was really no point in hiding it. Though his thoughts were now a mystery for Hazel, he knew by her question that he was wearing his emotions on his sleeve. It was more that obvious that something was troubling him and that something was the worry for his sister.

"That's weird." Hazel commented, crinkling up her nose in confusion. It was more that she had found the coincidence strange. "Your sister and your girlfriend have the same name."

Now Michael was the one confused at her choice of words. Furrowing his eyebrows, he told her, "I never said I had a girlfriend named Harley." He didn't remember mentioning that he he had a girlfriend at all, much less that her name was Harley.

"Then why did I see so many images and flashbacks of a girl named Harley in your mind? You two were close and you loved her so much. You didn't kill me because I reminded you of her. I thought..." Hazel paused for a moment before continuing. "I thought she was your girlfriend."

The hunter shook his head. "That same Harley you saw is my sister. Well, technically, we're only half siblings."

"Wait." Hazel gasped as the information sunk in for her. She had been taken by surprise at his confession. "You're in love with your sister?"

"Half sister." He corrected her.

"That doesn't make it any less wrong." Hazel pointed out. "How did this even happen?"

"Before you think I'm some deranged pervert," Michael started, keeping his eyes trained out the window out of fear that he would be met with a pair of judgmental green eyes. That was one of the few things that differentiated the two girls. Harley had blue eyes the very same color of the ocean waves back in Sydney, so clear and so blue that they seemed to go on for miles. Hazel's eyes were bright green and matched more with a forest of tall evergreens. Hazel was also a brunette, while Harley was a blonde who dyed her hair dark because she didn't like her natural hair color. "I had no idea that we were related." He defended himself. 

He always seemed to want to justify the fact that he was in love with Harley Quinn, even though he knew she was his sister. But he didn't know of it when he fell in love with her.

"I was living in London, hunting you, and the others." He explained, thinking back to everything that had happened to him in the last few months. "Then I was sent to Sydney to babysit the boss' daughter. Apart from being hot as hell, she was nice to me. When you have a job like this, not many people like you, but she did. She was my friend. Falling in love with her was completely inevitable. Then I kissed her, and it was only then that my boss told me he was my dad and that she was my half-sister."