Chromium

13.4

First draft

When Dia came back, Rodriguez was at the desk, lazily cleaning her minigun.

The merc glanced up at her, "So, how did it go?"

Dia grimaced.

"That bad, eh?"

"No, actually, it went better than expected, but..."

"But?" Rodriguez urged her.

"Sarah wants me to forgive Omen, but I don't think I can."

"Why?"

Dia's brow snapped together, "What do you mean why? You know what he did to me."

"Sure, he saved your life."

"You don't get it. He...he betrayed me!"

"He still saved you." Rodriguez repeated.

"Only because he needs me!"

"Need you for what?"

Rodriguez sighed when Dia nibbled on her bottom lip, "Sweetheart, I can't help you if you don't tell me everything."

Dia hesitated. She glanced at Rodriguez for a while, her eyes questioning her silently, debating whether she could trust her or not, and apparently deciding she could. She'd intended to tell her the bare minimum but ended up telling her everything. Well, almost everything. She kept Omen's identity a secret. When she was done, Rodriguez was shaking her head repeatedly.

"Wow, just wow. You're much stronger than me. I don't know how you endure..." She spread her arms wide, "...all this. I would have lost my mind already."

Dia gave her a bitter smile, "Believe me, I'm still in denial. I try not to think about it."

"I can see why." Rodriguez nodded, "Well, at least now I understand why you have trust issues. First, Reyes left you without saying a word, then the Empire used you as bait and now this."

"Yeah, well, it's a family thing."

Rodriguez looked at her curiously, "A family thing?"

"I'm talking about my mother." Dia explained, "She was paranoid. I don't remember much, but we used to move around a lot when I was little. We never stayed in the same place for too long."

Rodriguez furrowed her brow, "Do you know why?"

Dia shrugged, "I never asked, but deep down I knew that it was because of my father. Thinking about it now, I realize that my mother was probably running away from him."

"Shitty father?"

"I don't know. I've never known him. My mother always said that he was a very bad man but..."

"But you wonder about him." Rodriguez nodded, "I understand. Families are complicated."

"You talking from personal experience?"

"I suppose I am." Rodriguez replied after a while, a forced smile on her face, "Did you trust your mother?" She asked out of the blue.

"I think I did."

Rodriguez raised a brow, "You think?"

"I did trust her, but she was very...controlling and a bit weird." She struggled to put her thoughts into words, "It's hard making new friends when your mother runs around your neighboorhood with a gun in her hands."

"Depends on your neighboorhood. Where I come from, it would be perfectly normal. But I get it. You resent her."

"A little." She grimaced, "No, maybe more than a little. A lot more. I felt smothered at times. I even thought about running away a couple of times, but I never went through with it. It was hard to live with her, but I knew she only wanted the best for me."