The Lunar Chronicle One-Shots, Rewrites, Etc.

ID Chip (Scarlet, Chapter 34)

Woohoo, look at me finally updating on time!! Anyways, quote of the day:

~You're worth more than what you can give to other people. You deserve love too.~Mara

Scarlet's sleep was restless, filled with thaumaturges and prowling wolves. When she managed to pull herself from the daze, she saw that two trays of food had been left for her. Her stomach growled upon seeing them, but she ignored it, instead rolling over and curling up on the filthy mattress. Many years ago, someone had sketched their initials on the dressing room wall and Scarlet traced her fingertips over them. Were they the work of a rising opera star in the second era or a prisoner of war?

Had they died in this room?

She leaned her forehead against the cool plaster.

The scanner beeped in the hallway and the door clanked open.

Scarlet rolled onto her back and froze.

Wolf was standing in the doorway, having to duck his head to keep from hitting the frame. His eyes pierced through the darkness but they were the only thing about him that hadn't changed. His once messy, spiky hair had been combed off his brow, making his handsome features appear too sharp, too cruel. He'd washed the dirt from his face and now wore the same uniform she'd seen on the other soldiers: a maroon shirt and rune-decorated guards on his shoulders and forearms. A series of belts and sashes held empty holsters—she briefly wondered if Wolf preferred to fight without weaponry, or if he simply hadn't been allowed to bring any guns into her cell.

She leaped off the bed, instantly regretting it as the world tilted beneath her and she had to brace herself against the wall. Wolf remained silent, watching until their gazes clashed across the room—his dark and expressionless, hers growing more hateful, angrier by the second.

"Scarlet. " A hint of a struggle crossed his face.

Her revulsion tore through her and she screamed. She had no memory of crossing the room, but the crunch of her fists as they struck his jaw, his ear, his chest thundered up her arms.

He allowed her five strikes with nothing more than a grimace before stopping her. He caught her wrists mid-swing, holding them fast against his stomach.

Scarlet reeled back and aimed her heel for his kneecap, but he whipped her around so fast she lost balance and found herself facing away from him, her arms locked in his grip.

"Let go of me!" she screeched, aiming her foot for his toes, stomping and screaming and thrashing, but if she hurt him, he showed no sign of it. She craned her neck and snapped her teeth, though she had no hope of actually biting him. Instead, with a painful twist of her neck, she managed to land a gob of spit on his jaw.

Wolf POV
 Scarlet started thrashing in my hold trying to hit me, which she succeeded in but didn't manage to harm me. With a painful-looking, she craned her neck and snapped her teeth but didn't actually bite, but still managed a glob of spit on my jaw.  

I flinched but didn't release her.

"You traitor! You bastard! Let go of me!"

She'd lifted her knee for another backward kick when I obeyed, releasing her. She collapsed forward with a yelp.

 Scarlet scurried away, clenching her jaw. She had to use the wall to pull herself back to standing. She swung around to face him. 

"What?" she yelled. "What do you want?"

I scrubbed the spit from my chin with my wrist. "I had to see you. " I had to seeher knowing well that at this moment she despises me.

  "Why? So you could gloat over what a fool you made me out to be? How easy it was to convince me that you—" "I can't believe I let you touch me. " She squirmed, wiping her hands down her arms as if trying to dispel the memory. "Go away! Just leave me alone!"

I didn't nor speak for a quite long time. Spinning away, Scarlet  crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the wall, shaking.

"I lied to you about a lot of things," I finally said.

She snorted. She wasn't taking me seriously.

"But I meant every apology. "

She scowled.

"I never wanted to lie to you, or frighten you, or ... and I tried, in the train..."

"Don't you dare. " She faced me again, digging her nails into her arms probably to keep herself from lashing out at me once again. "Don't you even think about bringing that up, or trying to justify what you did to me. What your people have done to my grandmother!"

"Scarlet—" I took a step toward her but she threw her hands up and backed away until her calves collided with the mattress.

"Don't come near me. I don't want to see you. I don't want to listen to you. I would rather die than ever be touched by you again. "

I gulped. Those words hit. Hard. She must have seen the look of pain since she looked angrier than before.

 I cast a glance toward the door and Scarlet followed the look, noting that her usual guard was waiting outside, watching them as if they were a popular drama on the netscreens. 

 "I'm sorry to hear that, Scarlet," I said, turning back to her. My voice loaing the edge of regret and was all business and cruelty again. "Because I didn't come to apologize. I came for something else. "

She straightened. "I don't care what you—"

I was at her in a single stride, my hands buried in her hair, pressing her against the wall. My mouth stifled her surprised cry, and then an angry scream. She tried to shove me off her but failed as I didn't even flinch.

I was searching for her tongue feeling the flat and small item. Pressing the item onto her tounge. An ID chip. I felt her tense up underneath me.

I pulled away. Softening my grip to cradle her head. She was having a hard time trying to catch her breath.

Steaming the words onto her lips I said, "Wait until morning, the world won't be safe tonight." so quietly. Barely an octave higher than the sound of my heart that was trying to pump itself out of my chest.

Taking a curl of her hair, I flinched knowing the pain it causes me leaving her, unprotected.

Scarlet, all of a sudden swiped me away and darted out underneath my arm. 

Covering her mouth with one hand, she smashed the other against the wall. 

I slinked out of the room. The bars opened and shut.

Outside, the guard snickered. "I suppose we all have our thing," he said, and then our footsteps padding  down the corridor, for what was awaiting for us.

(1145 words)

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