Chromium

13.0

First draft

Mild sexual content

Dia woke startled, feeling a sharp pain in the back of her head. She groaned, sitting on the bed with her hands in her hair. She started rubbing her temples, and only when her headache had abated a little, she risked opening her eyes. Her vision was blurred, her surroundings hazy like the room was covered in a layer of fog, but one thing was certain...

This is not my bed.

It was at least three times wider than her bunk, and the sheets weren't coarse but smooth as silk. Besides, the smell lingering in the room was strangely familiar. Tobacco and...old books? Reyes' quarters?

She tried to remember what had happened last night, but her memories were fragmented.

After I left the sickbay, I went back to my room, swallowed a bunch of sleeping pills and then...then...

Nothing. She couldn't remember anything else. She was still trying to make sense of the situation when she heard the sound of footsteps.

"You woke up." Someone said.

Dia squinted her eyes. It sounded like Reyes, but the shape of the man before her was vague, "Reyes? Why am I here?" Maybe it was because of the pills, but her voice sounded high-pitched, oddly immature.

"Where else should you be?" He teased her, putting his palms on the bed as he inched forward.

"What are you..." She started saying something but froze.

The man before her wasn't the handsome pirate, the Umbra second in command, but pretty Reyes, the man who worked as an instructor at the imperial academy. Her first love. He looked angelic, his face a work of art, but the glint in his eyes was anything but harmless. Dia was still distracted, looking at him with her mouth wide open when Reyes slipped his hand under her shirt.

"What are you doing?! Stop!" She ordered.

Reyes threw his head back to look at her, "Playing hard to get, Squirrel? Why?" He looked nonplussed, "This is what you were waiting for."

A tinge of red passed over her face, her shame fueling her rage, "Stop speaking nonsense and answer my question. What am I doing here?" She demanded.

Apparently, however, Reyes was following his own script and completely ignored her question.

"Admit it, you want this." He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist, "Every single night when you were alone in your room, you wished me to..."

"I'm not that girl anymore!" She hissed, struggling to get free but Reyes didn't even budge. She felt weak, her whole body going limp as her desire flickered to life.

"No?" He grinned, nibbling on her earlobe, "Who are you then?"

"Someone who will kick your ass!" She tried putting all her strength in her arms, but she only managed to push him back a little.

Why am I so weak?

"That's cold." Reyes said, but he was smirking, "You forget what I have done for you?"

She pressed her lips together, "I don't remember anymore."

Reyes stilled, his smile fading a little, "Oh, but I do. I remember how I killed them that night, and I remember what we did after that." He leaned down, brushing his mouth against the hollow of her temple.

Dia grabbed his arm when he touched her calves, but she was still panting, her strength drained by her earlier effort.

"My hands were still stained with that boy's blood when you gave yourself to me." He said, his lips tracing the curve of her cheekbone, "You didn't care. You would have done anything for me, the hero who saved you."