NORMAL END

Aftermath. - Teo

"I should get going. It's getting late."

My footsteps were the only sounds left in the hall, missing the smaller ones usually following right behind me. I failed. 

"...it's quiet," is the only thing that escaped my mouth as I neared the door. "I never thought I'd say that." I kept trying to ignore the fact that cold streaks were making their way down my face, despite being the first time I'd done that in many years.

I would have to go back to just surviving, because I failed her. I couldn't protect anyone again. I'm alone again, naturally. I deserve this empty feeling gathering in my stomach. I earned this. My life of lying, my life of running..

It all leads up to this. "I never thought I'd miss her babbling." 

I'm sorry, Efi. I'm so sorry. I never thought Cyril would come back. Deep down, I wanted her to, but I didn't want this. I never would have wished this upon you. You should be alive in my place. 

I didn't realize I was standing in front of the door, my hand trembling, until an annoying blonde walked up behind me and commented. 

"..you really should leave. Vice-Captain Brett is really angry..and I am too! So go before we change our minds!" 

"..I am, trust me." My shaking hand finally found the doorknob and turned it. The door creaked open loudly, but who was I to care? My foot found the steps leading up to the grand door again, and the sound reminded me of the little footsteps that had been following me for a year. 

I started walking in the direction of the nearest train station in silence, pondering what comes next.  I'd have to go back to conning, to lying, the very life that brought me to losing the one thing that's brought me joy in a decade and a half. I let out a tired sigh, starting to feel sort of dizzy. My steps were more unsure now than they had ever been before.

Maybe..maybe I would rent a house, and stay there until I had the motivation to work again. Like when Efi was just an egg. I would have enough financial backlog to last a while getting everything I needed delivered and staying inside to keep from being identified. Knowing my luck, work would show up at my doorstep at some point anyway, so I would resume my routine eventually.

Even though that's all just surviving. Surviving is what I was doing before Efi appeared. Surviving is what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life. I can't make any lasting relationships like Efi's, because of my situation of being pursued and because of my lying. And even if I did, they wouldn't mean as much to me as she did. 

I..I wish I had told you how much I valued you, Efi. 

I wouldn't admit it before, and I might never out loud. But that is no lie. What I want to say to you...is no lie.

Once again, I found myself spacing out in the middle of a situation I shouldn't have, standing up first up in a line of people handing in their tickets for the train. Thankfully, I already had two fake tickets prepared, so I took out the one that was made for me and ignored the one that would never have use anymore.

I handed the ticket to the bland-looking woman taking them, and was given the OK to get onto the train, the chatter from inside helping me distract myself. In the end, it didn't work, as I remembered a time when Efi would tug on my scarf while we rode on the train, trying to ask what it was.

Everything brought back memories now. Despite that, there's nothing I can do now. Maybe those memories will hurt me, maybe they'll push me forward. Either way, my life will never be the same.

{End of the first chapter! I might continue this, or I might switch between this narrative and one continuing the Good ending in the fuuutuuuurreeee.. But if I do that, I'll have to change the name, won't I? Oops. Either way, this will probably be updated. Probably. Fun fact, the word count is less than usual because I'm using this for a writing assignment. And now it's gonna be a staple. :D

-Hiro}