Zach x Rachel

Who are you?

Zack immediately helped Rachel up but gave her a stern look when she had spoken about adventuring out already. 

"Are you mad?" He questioned her. "We've just managed to evade the police and you want to go out looking already? Take a good look at yourself. You're all banged up, you need to rest." 

Rachel had a blank stare and blinked her eyes a couple times before looking down at her body. She hurt, everywhere. Her knees were skinned, she was still bleeding from her wound-though she had realized when she awoke that it had been bandaged-her head ached, her fingers and hands had stained blood on them and it was at that moment she looked back up at Zack. 

"Why?" she asked. 

Zack frowned and made a face, "Why what?! I got you out alive didn't I? You should be thankful." He rolled his eyes after he spoke and crossed his arms over his chest, wincing slightly at his self-inflicted scythe wound that was still healing. He sighed dramatically when Rachel said nothing, "I guess we both need to rest." He scratched his head for a moment.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" Rachel asked again. Her expression didn't falter and she kept her eyes dead set on Zack. 

He was looking at the ground when she asked and he kept his gaze there briefly before looking away from the ground and away from her, "Tch. This is the thanks I get?" He brushed her off again and turned back towards Morpheus and Mordecai who were staring in disbelief at the two of them. "What?!" Zack retorted. The two men had to pick up their jaws before looking at each other. 

Mordecai shuffled a bit then cleared his throat, "Isaac I  think you've got some explainin' to do."

-

Rachel was exhausted after inhaling so much information within the past ten minutes. She stumbled back to her bed and, to Zack's surprise, fell back asleep face down in her pillow. He watched her for a brief moment before returning to Morpheus and Mordecai. They sat together at an old poker table, it was frayed and discolored. Zack was slumped with his back against the fold out chair and his head tilted towards the ceiling, letting out dramatic groans as he was questioned. 

"How many times do I have to tell you it's Zack now?" He moaned. 

"Right sorry, Zack," Morpheus cleared up, "Wh-what's your-" He paused, pondering, "I guess we've just never seen you care so much about someone. We're used to seeing you slaughtering them." He chuckled nervously. 

Zack scraped his scythe along the cement, creating a dreadful noise before stating, "Oh I'm going to kill her, but only when I know she's ready. I promised her I'd kill her, so I gotta. But it's just-" he sat up and laid his elbows on the table, "She wants to die. What is the fun in that? How am I supposed to kill her when she always has that boring look on her face? Her blue eyes are just so pleading all the time and she even tries to stay alive for me. And Ray's smile is just..." He started to trail off and at this point he could feel the heat on his cheeks behind his bandages. Morpheus and Mordecai exchanged looks back and forth. He couldn't understand his feelings, he was experiencing so many at this moment. He let out a low growl and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling before slamming his head onto his poker chips.

"Zack," Mordecai said softly, "You can't kill that girl." Rachel had changed something in him, he thought. He had never seen Zack like this with anyone, in such a war with himself over a person. He wanted to be there for his friend, as he was there for him when he lost his Lola. He winced slightly at the painful memory. He eyed Zack and watched as he unraveled his facial bandages, wiping at the tears that had welled up and spilled onto his scarred face. 

Zack stood quickly and turned. Making his way to his bed, he threw the dirty bandages onto the ground and stated, "They needed to be changed anyway."

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