Without Me (Infinite x Reader)

Chapter 10 ~ Belonging

He was still in bed, but not like before. He was sitting up, back to me. Zero's back was hunched over. Quickly his head raises, one of his large ears twitch and he looks back at me. Though his body movements were on edge his facial expressions were the opposite. His eyes were at ease.

"Uh, hey," he says. Zero seemed like he was forcing himself to say this.

"Hey," I reply, standing in the doorway uncomfortably. I shift my weight from foot to foot while we held each others gaze.

"Do you... also feel..." he struggles to find the word, "lighter?"

I nod. That was the only way to be able to explain the effects of the burning sage through communication I suppose. Something about Zero's words made me happy, to see his earlier hostility vanish into nothing.

Zero looks down to his chest, moving aside the folds of his cloak slightly to reveal the gem in his chest. It was dulled slightly, not in use or deactivated perhaps. He quickly wraps the fabric around himself again.

He laughs half-heartedly. "How, how the hell am I not going to get caught?" When Zero turned to me, it wasn't the expression of hopelessness that I saw, it was exasperation. Like this was all a joke. "I am a literal homing beacon for energy scanners. If I accidently activate the Ruby, even for a millisecond, the Resistance, the doctor, bandits, whoever, will be able to track me down."

"I won't let that happen," I say after a short delay, trying to find the proper words. "I'll make sure we keep moving. We can fight off any robots or gangs on our own."

Zero gives me a deadly serious look. I wasn't ready to respond to what he said next. It made my gut drop and my voice fade.

"What about the Resistance members?"

My gaze fell to the floor. I couldn't bring myself to lie, or at least not convincingly anyway. I just can't face them. After all they've done for me. They took me in, dealt with the extra baggage I brought to the team, treated me with kindness and understanding even when I was irritable or my emotions were grey.

... So, what do I do when they eventually run into us? Running away won't always work, especially since Sonic could just catch up, Shadow can teleport, Silver will use his telepathy, Rouge will fly.

It seems like there's a dead end for any options. Explaining to them that I was captured by one of the top enemies just before pulling the plug on my life, being interrogated by them, then tried ending my suffering once again only to be revived by my captor who just happens to feel the same dead weight on his shoulders, then we run off into the god damn sunset. How could they let Zero go? How could they betray humanity by letting us go even after that story?

It would probably be illegal. And of course, it would betray all those who were affected by Infinite's reign.

"You're not going to be able to face them, are you?"

My head raises once again. My mouth opens to say something, anything, but my words falter. I sigh in shame.

"Don't worry, I... I wouldn't be able to do that to my team either."

Aren't they dead? Guilt hits me, and I could only imagine the pain Zero must feel saying that. This could only make me feel appreciation for him admitting that. I could see the memories, the relapse in his eyes.

I sit next to him on the bed. Slowly I reach my arms around Zero, careful not to be too quick with my movements since he seemed unfamiliar with physical affection, even afraid of it. Zero stiffens slightly, tensing up as I rest my head on his shoulder. But he didn't pull away.