Delirious || Bozari

Chapter Thirty-Five: Mari

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mari?" Boze asked. "I could send him home with a snap of my fingers. You don't have to speak to him."

"No," Mari closed her eyes. "He's been through so much because of me. I owe him an explanation, at the very least."

"If that's what you want," Boze replied as she opened the door. "Then that's what will happen."

Books where littered around the floor, no doubt his only source of entertainment over the past two weeks. The only piece of furniture in the room was a bed, which he was sitting on.

Eugene.

Boze closed the door behind her. Mari heard it click as Eugene got to his feet.

"Mari?" he asked.

"Hey, Eugene," she replied awkwardly, thrusting her hands into her pockets. "It's been awhile."

"Is it you?" he blinked a few times, as if he thought she was nothing but a blur in his vision.

"It's me," she looked down. "Really me. Atomic is dead."

He walked over to her and cupped her cheek with his hand. She let him. "I can't believe it. I thought I'd lost you forever."

Slowly, he brought her lips to his. Mari closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy it for a few seconds, before pulling away. It would be cruel to lead him on. "Eugene-"

"We need to get out of here," he started whispering. "If we get out of here, we can alert the police about her location, and she'll be taken down. We could end this, Mari, right here, right now, the two of us. And when this nightmare is over, we could finally be-"

"Eugene!" she shouted, cutting him off. She couldn't listen to him anymore. It was too painful, to have such a stark reminder of what she could have, so tantalizingly close yet so far. Eugene had been Mariko Takahashi's; she had no future with him. "Eugene, I'm not going anywhere."

He froze. "What?"

"This is where I belong," she tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible. "I've joined her. This is my home now."

Eugene shook his head. "That's a joke, right? You're joking."

"I'm not joking," Mari stated. "This is over, Eugene. She's going to start over. Forget about me."

"Are you insane?" he yelled. "Do you really think that I'd leave you here? I love you, Mari. This isn't where you belong. You're too good for this."

"I'm not the same woman you knew, Eugene," the pain had faded. He looked pathetic, tears running down his eyes, shaking. There was a fragility to him. If she touched him too hard, he'd break. And she wouldn't care. Her past memories with him seemed dull now, and a life with him anything but appealing. "Get over me."

He reached for her hands with his. "Mari-"

Mari grabbed the needle Boze had given her from her pocket and jabbed it into his shoulder, pushing down the plunger. He yelped and jumped back, but it was too late. He collapsed a few seconds later, knocked unconscious.

She walked over to the door and knocked. Boze opened it, and two delivery girls rushed forwards to collect him. By the time he woke up, he'd be back in his home in Texas.

"You okay?" Boze asked as Mari walked out of the room.

"Never been better," Mari replied with a smile. Boze smiled back.

With those words, Mari walked down to the parking lot to join her fellow brawlers in practising.

• • •

Wrath rejoined them at dinner, half of her face still bandaged. Mari hadn't done any real damage to her, so she wasn't angry. Once the two of them got over the tension, it was quite fun to talk to her. Mari could tell that all of her fellow brawlers liked her more than Atomic, and she didn't blame them. Atomic had barely even spoken to them.

She decided to go straight to bed afterwards. Last night, she'd barely gotten any sleep. The last thing she needed was to stay up partying.

Just as she got off the elevator, she heard a familiar voice. "Mari?"

She spun. David Moss, or Lasercorn, was standing outside one of Vixen's guest rooms, his hands in his pockets. "Yes?"

"Can I talk to you?" he asked. There was vulnerability in his eyes.