Beautiful Crime

.𝟑𝟑 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞

Five could sense her bottled rage from the other side of the apartment. It was a static that crackled wildly through the air. He deserved it, he knew he did but he would have thought her to have at least understood where he was coming from. Yes, he knew of her beliefs about the world. She had told him once long ago of her feelings of solitude. Doing what he did, abandoning her, only added to the long burning fire. He knew that. But the situation he had been placed in was nothing short of unfair. He loved her, he truly did. With every fiber of his being, he loved her. But he loved his family more and they would always come first. Always.

She may not understand it now, but in time she would. What he did or rather didn't do was for the greater good. 

"You have no idea how worried I was." Five spoke softly as he cautiously wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as gently as possible all while testing the waters. She didn't bother to try and hug him back. "You scared me there, Nyx." 

She said not a single word not trusting her tongue to obey her mind rather than her heart. With her newfound revelation, it was something she highly doubted she'd be able to control. She was always good at picking her battles it was a skill she prided herself on. Her heart was always left on the backburner when it came to controlling her actions it is what made her so skilled at what she does. But that control was beginning to rapidly slip from her tight grasp. It had started with Theo and now continued on with Five. She had let her heart get the best of her last time. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice, not yet anyway. 

The silence that hung through the air was painful as Five slowly pulled away from her. She didn't even look at him, instead keeping her eyes trained on the wall ahead of her. She couldn't look at him. If she did, she would quickly regret what followed. Her actions were something Five had quickly grown to fear. Silence was never good, not with her. He had seen her at her absolute lowest, watched her anger burn through empires, but he had never seen her silent. Never. 

He had betrayed her at the time she needed him most and abandoned her in a period where she believed to have finally not been alone. That was something she would never let go. 

His eyes roamed her body for any large injuries. He could make out the smaller ones fast. The cut on her nose, the bruise on her cheek, the small scrapes on her arms. None of those worried him. What worried him was the haunting image of the knife impaling her lower abdomen. He couldn't help the lingering gaze his eyes left on where the wound should have been. He was surprised to find no trace of the injury at least none he could see. His brows pinched together in confusion as he looked up to Nyx's face for some kind of clarification but she gave him none, still refusing to look his way. 

"Are you alright?" He wasn't foolish enough to ask her if she was hurting. The amount of pain she was in was as clear as day. Asking if she was alright was a broader term. It allowed for more room for answers. He knew physically she wasn't alright but that was not the goal of his question. Something was off with her, it had been for a while now but this...this was different. This was uncharted territory for both of them.

Nyx simply nodded in response, still not bothering to actually acknowledge him. She leaned back further on the couch cushion, her head now lying against the back cushion. She and Diego mirrored one another to almost perfection as Lila rebandaged his wound. "She got beat up pretty bad," Diego spoke, his voice laced with the slightest amount of anger with his pointed gaze aimed at his brother. Nyx adjusted the placement of her icepack to rest higher on her cheek as she closed her eyes. "She's lucky to be able to move around as much as she can right now." Diego's sympathetic eyes fell to her. 

He felt guilty for what had happened but Nyx never blamed him. He was the only one to fight for her but he would have been useless against Sersi and Nikolai. Their power heavily outnumbered his own and his ability to sneak around easily was useless against Niko. There was no way he would make it out with her alone. Five on the other hand was more skilled in that area. Sersi would have proven a challenge but he could have beaten her if he cornered her just right. Nyx even bet he could sneak up on Niko. He could have saved her. Though the truth of it never stopped Diego from feeling immense guilt toward Nyx. "She needs to rest," Diego said as he moved his hand to place it sympathetically on her shoulder. Normall Nyx would have slapped it away but this time she welcomed the gesture. Five nodded in understanding, though his worried gaze never left Nyx as he moved to walk behind the couch. "How'd it go with Vanya?" Diego inquired.