YOU WOULD THINK THAT a trained assassin like nova would be able to quickly find her target, yet by time she did, the sun had gone down and the street lights had gone on.
she had climbed multiple flights of stairs just to find marcus at the top of the large building looking over the san francisco skyline.
standing at the edge of the building, marcus let his foot dangle over before putting it back on the ground. he did this a few more times before nova made her presence known.
"are you waiting for something?" nova asked softly, making her way slowly to the suicidal teen.
"jesus christ!" marcus exclaimed, "what the hell?"
"my bad," nova said,
"was this supposed to be a private moment or something? normally, i would turn my back and walk away, but lin wants me to bring you back, alive,"
looking back over the ledge, marcus gulped, "yeah, well, lin's going to be disappointed,"
"well, that disappointed man can help you hide out from the pigs, and after that, you can protect yourself from just about anyone," nova spoke as she now stood next to marcus, before talking again,
"i don't wanna be an ass, but what exactly do you have to lose?"
"nothing," marcus replied as he lifted his foot, again, this time his body going forward before the red head grabbed his arm, pulling him back.
"j-just listen, okay?" nova stuttered, her heart rate speeding up at the thought of witnessing such an act, "i-i know what it's like to have bad shit happen and to have it replay in your head everyday,"
"what do you know?" marcus replied, his arm still in the gingers grasp.
"i know what it's like to not have anyone," nova whispered, stepping closer to the teen, "i don't have anyone, either. we can be alone together, marcus,"
while the words fell from her lips, nova's hands caught marcus' and she intertwined their fingers. both of their brown eyes met, and the boy began to lean in. nova stood in slight shock at how the boy was leaning in, before she pulled away.
as nova stepped back, she noticed how marcus' face was wet, before lifting her hand up and wiping the tear away.
"w-we should head back," nova urged, as she sent a closed lipped smile as she pulled the boy along, back to king's dominion.
༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛
finally getting down and away from the tall building, both marcus and nova walked back to the academy—their hands never released the others.
as the two near the dominion, nova and marcus' intwined fingers let go, nova's hand become cold from the sudden loss of warmth.
"so, lin has a few basic rules everyone must follow," nova spoke as they neared the meat shop,
"there's one thing you absolutely must never do, and that's give up your location to anyone—if you do, we have the okay to kill you,"
