Lost in their Past

Chapter 80:- The Betrayal

"Oh I so hate you," she rubbed her face.

"No, you love me."

The blonde didn't deny it. She was too preoccupied with the person who didn't love her. Who loathed the very sight of her.

"Have you tried apologizing?" Suggested the brunet.

"Oh jeez," she said with a hint of sarcasm, "I tried climbing windows in a ferocious storm but never thought of apologizing, grow up Gary!"

"I'm just trying to help you,"

"I know," she sighed, "I'm sorry, I get bitchy when I'm sick."

"Like our grandmother,"

"But she's bitchy all the time!"

The siblings broke into a laugh and shared a much-needed hi-fi.

"But for reals," said Serena when the laughter died down, "what am I going to do? Is everything going to be alright again or ever?"

Gary didn't answer because even he didn't know the answer. It wasn't something that could be predicted. No matter how much you knew the other person.

"It'll be alright, once we save Spencer and get back the Unown, " he lied, stroking the blonde's drenched hair, "there there."

"Okay," said Serena as she leaned over the map, "this is our final drill before we go out in the real, there is the same number of people here that are going to be in the Island of Bade Khen, thanks to the intel Alain and Calem procured over the last week. Our objective is to get in and out of the facility in under fifteen minutes because that's how it'll take for them to override our little diversion. I've already assigned you all your respective positions, the most important thing is to remember... never leave your post, or else the mission is cooked and we're all fried. Let's go!"

It had been Serena's request to Ailsa to let them drill their practice in a real-life simulation of Island of Bade Khen and the underground facility where Spencer was held along with the Unown.

Much to her amazement, Ailsa had agreed without hesitation because they only had one shot at the recuse and their failure would mean deaths

The four of them disappeared into pairs of two, just as she'd planned, and as fate would have it, Ash was Serena's.

As they walked along the long dusty hallways with their weapons drew, Serena couldn't help but break the silence.

"This passage... reminds us of the one in Cave of Mirrors doesn't it?"

Ash didn't answer. There was a deafening silence between the two. The boots they were wearing had been specially designed to cut off any unnecessary sounds.

Serena would have donated a kidney to hear the thumping of his boots.

"Remember how you got pulled in to that? I mean... for a moment Bonnie and I thought you were dead!" She broke into a laugh.

A scoff escaped his lips. "I might as well have been," he opened his mouth after a long time, "if I knew what I would witness in the next ten years, I would've dropped myself in the nothing."

His harsh words pierced the blonde's heart. "Ash, I've said sorry a thousand times!" She cried, "what do you want me to do? Beg you on my knees? Done, I'll do it."

Ash didn't answer.

"Come on, honey!" She grabbed a hold of his hand.

"Don't call me that!" He roared.

Serena was taken aback, this was the first time in nearly a decade that she'd seen Ash this angry. Even before when everything in their relationship was going stale, he hadn't lost his cool.

He shrugged off her hand, "You know, I still would've taken your hand that day, even if the present me went back in time and warned myself not to. You know why?"

She shook her head.

"Because I never would've believed that Serena, my best friend, Serena, would ever betray me. That's how much I believed in you."

"Ash I—"

"Now that I think of it," a painful smile showed up on his face, "I do like the old Serena better, not because she was naive or all that crap, but because she believed in her friend, she believed in me. I... I don't even know who you are anymore!"

"I—"

"I know life hasn't been easy for you," the harshness in his voice had disappeared, "I know your world was completely flipped, but I stood by you! And you... I can't even..."

A sigh escaped his lips as he walked ahead of her, leaving the blonde behind to drown in her sorrows.