[ 16 ]
A MAN'S HOME WAS HIS CASTLE. A man's home was a place where he could stand tall and deliver, a grin on his face, safe and secure. A man's home was a place where he could look around and marvel about how lucky he was to live in such a place. But a man's home was also where he sobbed into his pillow when the night was no longer young. A man's home was also the place where he fell to his knees, a bullet hole in his head.
If a man's home was his castle, then it was no home at all - no, it was a golden cage.
Narcissa lifted her head up from the windowsill, the ends of her hair trailing along the freshly painted wood. She could still distantly smell the paint, tickling her nostrils and making her let out a stifled cough, which she masked almost immediately. Just a few weeks off the job, and she was making noises already - she frowned, standing up with silent bare feet that sunk into the carpet as she made her way towards the door.
"Friend or foe?" a familiar voice asked as she slid the panel open, leaning against the doorframe lazily.
"That's my line, dude. You're the friend or foe, not me. Why did you ask me?" Narcissa rolled her eyes, stepping aside to allow Finn into the room.
For a moment, he didn't move, mouth slightly open as he looked into her bedroom, before regaining his self-control and plopping down on the bed with a thump. Finn winced as the springs squeaked desperately beneath him, but said nothing, peering around the room as if he was afraid of what he would see.
"It--" he cut himself off, chewing on the inside of his cheek, "--it looks exactly the same." A small smile spread across his face, and Narcissa resisted the urge to punch herself as her stomach gave a lurch that had nothing to do with the sandwich she'd had earlier. "Do you, like, have stuff to unpack, or something?"
She shook her head. "Nah. I just pinch stuff from houses I'm in and burn it later. You know, easy, breezy, beautiful."
"I think you and I have different meanings of that, but sure," Finn laughed, legs dangling from the side of the bed as he lay back against the wall.
"Really? What's yours, then?" Narcissa asked drily, busying herself with rearranging the pens on her desk in an attempt to stop her hands from shaking.
"Not what you said."
With a shrug, Narcissa forced herself to look back at him, shuffling over and sitting down on the bed. A sigh formed on her lips, but she swallowed it, tucking her legs beneath her and putting her head on a pillow behind her.
It took her only a few seconds to fall asleep, and this time, there was just stardust in her vision - no death, no Semper, no Crux.
Just stars.
It felt...nice, just flying blind, no worries, no enemies chasing after her. Because as much as Narcissa Corvus liked to hide, there was no denying that safety was something she craved. She wondered what it would be like to not have to worry about surviving every day, not replacing the locks on her door every week, not having to move into a new place every month.
But as long as Narcissa lived in Semper, she knew that would just be a part of her life.
No arguments.
She wanted to help people feel safe, if she couldn't feel that way herself. It was disgustingly heroic of her, but she held back her embarrassment long enough to force her eyes open, new energy buzzing in her muscles.
In her ears, a steady thump of a heartbeat sounded, but as Narcissa readjusted to her surroundings, she became more and more aware that it was not her own. What she had thought to be a pillow was now much more firm as she pulled herself up, a flash of mahogany skin telling her what she'd been dreading. Scowling, Narcissa forced herself to face him, trying to hide the flush that heated her cheeks.
"You're like a little kitten when you sleep, you know," Finn grinned, eyes sparkling with energy.
Narcissa grumbled as she gripped the edge of the bed, hauling herself up and making her way to the door. "I hate you," she muttered, trying to hold back the smile that tugged at her lips.
Two days back home, and she was already back to acting like a kid - it made her want to break something. So that had now become her short-term plan; get down to the training rooms without anyone noticing, destroy every punching bag they had, maybe a few swords for good measure. Some time at the shooting range was bound to clear her head, to make her finally think straight, wouldn't it?
"Where you going?" he asked as the door slid open, plunging them into eye-wateringly bright light. It had always been like that for as long as Narcissa could remember, making the nighttime walks that she used to enjoy when she was younger even more invigilating, such a contrast from Semper City's smog-ridden skyline.
She loved it.
"Training. You wanna go?"
"Leggo."
Narcissa stifled a snort, starting down the hallway with Finn close behind her. The spring in his step made her want to take off running, pretending that she didn't know him, but from the gawks they gathered from interns as they took the twenty-floor plunge down to the training facilities, she knew that the two of them were far too famous around Crux to go undetected. That meant, unfortunately, that she would have to deal with Finn for a while longer.
When they were downstairs, at least, she could kick his ass.
As the elevator doors opened, Narcissa held back a gasp of relief at the sight of the training rooms. They looked even better than before, with laser beams in cages for agility courses, huge foam pits and mock-skyscrapers, climbing walls and sparring rings. She wanted to run straight towards all of them with open arms, but Finn's hand held her back and guided them both to a changing room that hadn't been there before. There, he pointed towards a closet full of gi suits, belts neatly arranged beneath them.
A smirk playing on her lips, Narcissa picked out a seventh dan black belt from the lines of taekwondo belts, raising an eyebrow as Finn selected one of the exact same rank. He'd improved far more than she expected - the last time they had trained together, he was a mere second dan.
"Good job." She took a fresh set of workout clothes, walking into a cubicle to her left and locking the door behind her. The click that followed wasn't enough to reassure her, not after so many years of picking locks, but Narcissa knew that she would have to get used to it. At least the familiar weight of a holster around her waist let her breathe a little bit more easily, knowing that she wouldn't have to settle for a pair of karabiners to gouge an attacker's eyes out.
Anyway, Finn would be able to take them on easily enough, wouldn't he?
As much as Narcissa hated to admit it, she knew that winning a fight on foreign land would take some time - and up against Rex, she didn't know whether she stood a chance - alone, that was. With the rest of Project ORDER, she realised, it couldn't be that difficult. Pulling her t-shirt over her head, Narcissa stopped herself, restraining the urge to bash her head against the concrete wall.
When did she start thinking of herself as a hero?
The word tasted disgusting on her tongue, all sickly sweet and wrong. She wasn't a hero - after all that she'd done, she could never be. Heroes didn't knock down buildings, crush innocent people under the rubble. Heroes didn't watch people die and call it a victory nonetheless. Heroes didn't shoot to kill when handed a fresh stack of hundred dollar bills. Heroes didn't abandon the people they loved so that they could come back with hardened hearts, willing for everything to be the same.
No, the Scarlet Serpent was not a hero.
With a sharp tug at her belt, she bundled her clothes into her arms, a pant leg dangling over her forearm dismally. The image of scrabbling hands and apartment railings echoed in Narcissa's head, lingering for a moment too long before she was finally able to banish it. Pushing her eyes shut, she took a deep breath as she opened the door, where Finn was sat on one of the benches, whistling as he fiddled with his own belt.
"You ready?" he asked as he looked up, dark eyes bright. The golden light made him look like-
No. It didn't matter, Narcissa scolded herself.
Her legs were trembling with anticipation by the time she was finally at the sparring mats, but the teasing look on Finn's face made her signature scowl creep back onto her features.
"No armour?" he asked with a laugh.
She shook her head. "We won't have it in an actual fight, will we?"
That was how she'd always worked - if the technique couldn't be exactly done in a real-life scenario, she wouldn't do it. There was no point in wasting her time. Besides, her enhanced durability and stamina took care of the struggles that a regular opponent might have, giving her more time to focus on the things that mattered. Namely, absolutely destroying the golden boy in this fight.
Finn cocked his head, muscles in his shoulders rippling as he raised his arms, warming up silently. "Nope. Smart thinking, Corvus."
"Coming from you, that's not much of a compliment. I've met toddlers smarter than you, Johnson."
"Back up, Nana. You haven't met a toddler in your life, unless you've dangled one out of a building or something."
Nana?
The nicknames brought back an influx of memories, and Narcissa forced herself to keep her legs planted firmly on the ground before her knees buckled beneath her.
"First of all, hurting kids is against my moral compass-"
"Good to hear."
"Second of all, what did you call me?"
Finn shrugged. "Enlighten me, Scarlie."
"You need to be stopped."
Satisfied with the makeshift warmup she'd done, jogging on the spot and a few stretches, Narcissa nodded towards the centre of the mat, where the two of them stood for a moment, squaring each other up somewhat jokingly.
At least, she was.
Finn just stood there grinning like an idiot.
"Fight me," he said at last, opening his arms before bowing at the same time Narcissa did.
Balling her hands into fists, Narcissa bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, furrowing her eyebrows as she thought of a way to bring him to the ground without cheating as much as she usually would've liked. They hadn't sparred in a long time - she supposed she would spare him the embarrassment this one time.
He aimed a kick at her side, but she deflected it easily, scoffing between long breaths, filling her lungs with glorious air.
"Come on, you're gonna need to try a little bit harder, Midas."
"You sure?" Finn's eyes flashed as he backed away momentarily, coming back with a flying side kick that heavily collided with her skull. A normal person would've been sobbing with pain, but, of course, Narcissa was anything but normal. With a smirk, she ignored the hit, delivering a few rapid-fire punches to his stomach. In return, Finn kicked her a few more times, becoming more and more confident when she stopped hitting him back, resorting to just blocking.
The sharp rustle of their suits as they moved continued for a minute or two longer, in a steady rhythm that Narcissa found herself listening along to until the set of Finn's jaw alerted her attention. As his kick, which he'dd evidently been planning for a while, went soaring over to her head, she ducked, slipping under his bent arms and elbowing him hard in the abdomen. Almost instantly, he keeled over with a groan, hands clutching his stomach, Narcissa standing over him with a devilish grin overpowering the indifference she'd tried to paint on her face.
Seizing the collar of his suit, she forced him into an awkward stance, legs bent underneath him, before raising her leg in a swift kick that sent him to the floor with a thump. But before she could gloat about her victory, unbearably strong hands tugged at her legs, locking them together and pulling her down as she stood, shock stopping her from doing much other than falling.
It wasn't a great move, but it was a dirty one, and the beam on Finn's face told her that he knew.
"Gotcha."
It was only them that Narcissa realised she'd fallen on top of him; their noses were now nearly touching, and she could feel his cool breath tickling her cheek. She rolled over forcefully, landing on the mat next to him, foam sinking into her limbs as she sprawled out, spread-eagle, breathing heavily.
"I hate you," she told him for the second him, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.
Finn smiled. "I know. That's what makes this so fun."
Nearby whoops and barks of laughter revealed themselves to be Wildfire and Sasha, chocolate frappucinos clutched in their hands, of which they took several loud sips before speaking.
"That. Was. Fantastic," Wildfire announced, nodding at Narcissa. "You totally kicked his ass, dude."
"We've agreed that you won, Narcissa," Sasha told her with a giggle, casting an amused look at Finn. "I don't think he's used to losing."
"Really?" Narcissa arched an eyebrow.
"I don't mind losing!" Finn called, taking a swig from his water bottle. "It's the experience that builds up my endurance."
"God, I forgot how disgustingly optimistic he is. Please don't tell me he's always like this."
Sasha laughed. "Then I won't say anything. Come on. Press conference at six. Let me help you get ready."
"A press conference. Nice."
It was not, in fact, nice. Reporters were very high on the list of things that Narcissa didn't like, but pinning her exasperation on Sasha would be pointless and make everything worse than it already was.
For once, Narcissa decided to shut up and let Sasha drag her along.
[ end ]