"Her name was Blaize. And she was my girlfriend."
he says.
For reasons unknown to me, I feel my heart sink to my stomach. Girlfriend? Had he been in love?
I look at him, trying hard to read his expressions, but he seemed to have perfected his poker face.
He continues stoically, no inch of emotion evident on his face. Yet I can see the sea of hurt, anger and resentment flowing in his eyes.
" She's Ray's sister. We met when we were assigned to a mission. We started dating soon after, and I.. I fell in love." He takes a deep breathe and tries to compose himself.
" You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." I assure him.
He looks at me and smiles ever so slightly.
" I want to tell you Crimson. You deserve to know."
He takes a deep breath and continues.
" Two years into the relationship, she started acting distant and fidgety. She would rarely ever make eye contact and started seeing me less every passing day. So naturally, I grew suspicious and confronted her about it. She denied that she was doing anything untrue or unfaithful and I, being madly in love with her, believed her.
One day, our village was ambushed by none other than Z. That was the day her true colours shone. She was a god darn traitor, and was plotting against us the entire time. She had dated me to avoid suspicion by the intelligence agencies and hadn't been in love with me from the very beginning. She had deduced that if they thought that she was involved with a respected villager they wouldn't suspect her of anything. She was right. I felt like my heart had been wrenched out of my chest and trampled. I didn't believe it at first, but as time went on I realised I had been duped.
We lost dozens of people in the battle that day, most of them either innocent villagers and skilled energy weilders. She even tried to kill me, and laughed at how pathetic I had been. I lost a huge chunk of me that day.
I stopped trusting others, and was hostile towards Ray. I thought he had something to do with it all. I even went far enough to seclude myself from everyone. It was Evelyn who brought the light back to my dark world. Ray, who was also heartbroken at the time due to the loss of his sister, bonded with me through mutual sadness. We became close friends and were determined to teach Blaize a lesson.
When we heard about you from Evelyn, we jumped at the chance. We helped Evelyn, who brought Tyler with her, to search for you, and now here we are, three years later. " he ends his tale with a crooked smile.
I feel my heart clench at the thought of someone betraying Hunter. Blaize.. She had truly impacted his life.
I turn to him suddenly and pull on his shirt to stop him from walking forward aimlessly. Without hesitation, I wrap my arms around his in a comforting gesture. I feel him tense and then slowly embrace me back. He buries his face in my neck and I feel myself lifted of the ground as he hugs me tighter to him.
Darn him and his tallness.
Regardless I whisper a thank you. He trusted me with his past, just like I did with mine.
As the moment fades, I start swinging my legs back and forth and asking him to put me down. He just chuckles and pulls me higher up. I let out a shriek and try to push him away. It was no use, he was physically much stronger that puny me.
He gives me a full blown grin and I feel my legs turn to jelly. I am mesmerized by his hypnotic eyes, and realize how close we are. His gaze shifts to my lips and he starts leaning in. I feel my eyes close as I anticipate his next move...
BOOM! A loud bang breaks the serenity and we both shoot away from each other. A brilliant red light illuminates the sky around us and my eyes trace the bright red tail that lifted off the ground. The flare. Someone was in trouble.
My gaze shifts over to Hunter and he is looking up at the sky with a look of sternness. His eyes then slide over to meet mine and he grabs my hand to start running towards the source of the flare. Who had it been? Ray? Evelyn?
A thousand thoughts run through my mind, most of them unpleasant. Hunter grabs my hand and we start sprinting in the direction of the flare. A red tail drops down to the Earth, easily pinpointing the exact origin.
We push past the villagers, not heeding to the indignant cries and curses. Lexi's face flashes before my eyes and my heart sinks. I pick up speed , urging Hunter on. He understands and my hand a reassuring squeeze.
The red trail becomes more and more prominent as we get closer and closer, and with each step of feel my heart rise to my throat. We are just a few meters away when Hunter tugs my hand and stops suddenly.
" It's best if we asses the situation before jumping into it. It could be a trap for all we know. There is no way we can help them if we are stuck ourselves. "
I manage a nod, my eyes trained on the tail of smaoke which seems to come from the middle of the street. I look around to see that we are in the food Mart, and people are bustling in all directions around us. We take cover in an alley way and keep our eyes trained for our comrades.
I freeze, feeling a presence behind me. I slowly reach for my knife, which is hidden in my shoe. In one swift motion, I push the attacker onto the wall, the knife pressed against their throat.
" Crimson, chill! It's just me!" Ray cries, his eyes wide with shock. " You need to get out of here. Someone set us up. That flare that you saw wasn't ours, someone knew we had one and set a decoy off. "
My mouth sets in a grim line. " Where is Lexi?"
"Here. I'm fine." She says emerging from the shadows.
" Any sign of Evelyn or Tyler? " Hunter asks, fiddling with the ring on his finger.
They both shake their heads silently, looking worried.
" We need to look for them. Meet up. Keep an eye out for anyone suspicious or threatening."
Even though I had found Lexi, the nervous coil of my stomach never unwound. I have a feeling things were going to get worse, and quick.
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HELLO! THE AUTHOR HAS RETURNED!
Im really sorry for not updating in a while.. a loong time to be exact.
Please tell me what you think of the new chapter.. I'll try to update more frequently from now on!
Comment, vote and share!
Yours,
Swa_mitsu