Rain Maker:
A stupid grin was plastered on my face. I couldn't get it to go away. I would pull my lips in and press them into a hard line, but then they would just open up again into a smile.
I was taking my time going back to my room, leisurely stalling to look into rooms for signs of life, of which there were none.
The distraction of Mach had worked even better than expected and now I was stuck with this idiot look on my face, but it felt good, like something warm was heating me up from the inside, leaving me ticklish and red-faced.
Talon, was this a-?
No way. Couldn't be. I just... appreciated Mach's feelings for me. That was it. Yeah.
Right?
I couldn't... like him, too? I mean, it wasn't like Mach was gross or something. I just didn't expect to feel like butterflies were going insane in my guts now that I thought back on the cute redness that had colored his face and-
I stopped mid-step, hands out in front of me and eyebrows coming together, twisting my expression.
"Cute?" I said aloud.
Did I just refer to Mach Seven cute? What?
My thoughts started speeding up and I was going a hundred miles an hour before I could stop and think to ask myself what I was really feeling.
It's not like I think he's ugly, I mean, no, I thought. He is attractive, I have to admit, and it's not like I couldn't like him, too, but he's... just...
"Not what I expected," I breathed.
Mach had always been sort of a prick. He made blatantly rude comments and his teasing always seemed to take more of a malicious stance rather than playful, but there were times when he was different.
Like he had been just a few minutes ago when we sat together.
My experience with relationships- let alone relationships with other men- was drastically limited to a select few that had taken the first few steps themselves; such as asking me out for the first time. To my disappointment, however, they could lose interest quite quickly in the desk-duty cop that was my normal life.
There had been someone. We had been together for a long time, but...
A voice cut through my thoughts and my head whipped up in the direction of it.
On my left side, a door was ajar. Seeing which door it was sent a prickle up my spine as I approached it and eased it open further hesitantly, my muscles tensed.
I had been purposely avoiding this room for a while now, but it looked the painfully the same as it had always. Savannah's memorial made my gut clench the second my eyes grazed over it and seeing it now made the crackling of electricity sound in my ears and the smell of smoke seem as if there was a fire in front of me.
The room only reminded me of bad memories.
I swallowed thickly. My stupid grin twisted downwards as I closed my eyes for a moment, trying my hardest not to see all the reminders of her presence by trying not to focus on anything.
"Hello?" I called out. "Dawn, you in-"
Big eyes stared at me from the darkness, reflecting the light of the candles. A curtain of hair hung from their head, spilling over their shoulders.
Before I could even react, they were scrambling away.
"Talon!" the eyes said, stumbling backwards over scattered items, arms pinwheeling momentarily before they cracked their head against the wall. They spat something like a curse, but I couldn't understand what it meant.
They gripped the back of their skull, pulling their knees to their chest and tucking their chin to their collarbone. Through clenched teeth, they groaned.
My jaw dropped open and my mind started to race, panicking and horrified that this stranger was in Savannah's room.
It suddenly occurred to me that my face wasn't covered and if they saw me...
I moved before I could really think logically through the situation.
Darting forward, I roughly snatched their hands away from the back of their skull and hauled them to their feet, twisting them around so they faced the wall instead of me. I pinned their hands to their spine and pressed them firmly to the wall with my own weight, which wasn't difficult.
"Who are you?" I all but shouted at them. "What are you doing in here?"
"Qué chingados! Get off of me!" they retaliated, struggling hard against my hold on their slim wrists. "Let me go, idiota!"
Now that was a familiar word. I faltered in my grip. It was only for a fraction of a second, but they were already using that hesitation to their advantage.
Furiously, they snapped their head back, sending an explosion of light and pain through my nose and up into my eyes. I cried out and released them, clutching my face. Warm blood trickled through my fingers and into my mouth. Vision blurred, I blindly groped for something to lean on and found the bookshelf, holding my nose and catching blood in my palm.
But they weren't done yet.
One swift kick to the stomach and I was on my knees, coughing and sputtering through my bloodied hands.
Taking a fistful of my hair, they jerked my head backwards to look me in the face.
Her eyes were vicious, brows low and staring me down through her lashes. She looked like murder with her lips curled away from her teeth into a snarling expression, almost looking like she was going to tear out my throat, and then, it changed suddenly. A spark of recognition flashed through her face and she pulled her hand back. She knew me.
And I knew her.
Giliana.
"Talon," she breathed, eyes wide and jaw dropped, reeling backwards and slamming into the closet door behind her with a crash.
"You," I managed to say as I gripped my nose, my guts aching from her blow. I moved heavily to my feet, clutching my midsection with my free hand. "You're awake."
"You remember me?" she questioned, disbelief written all over her face that almost instantly became hostile and accusative. "Wait, what do you mean, 'I'm awake'? Where am I? What happened? I swear, if you-"
I held up one hand, stopping her from asking more questions that I couldn't really sum up quickly.
"I'll explain," I replied. "First, I'm bleeding and that needs to stop."
—
Giliana:
"Talon, I am so sorry," I repeated for the hundredth time, a folded tissue between my fingers as I dabbed the blood from his face.
He had led me to a bathroom, closing the door to that bedroom quietly, as if he would startle a ghost inside.
Now, he sat on the counter of the sink, tilting his head back and allowing me to clean the blood from his face wordlessly.
Rain Maker laughed, soft and low in his throat, but it sounded somber and numb.
"It's alright," he replied, a grin pulling at his mouth, revealing twin dimples. "I shouldn't have grabbed you like that. I panicked."
"So did I," I admitted, swiping a streak of blood from his lip.
"And now you've seen my face," he said, growing grim. He looked at me, eyes empty and seeming to see right through me, as if I was made of clear glass. I squirmed under his gaze, wringing the tissue in my hand before tossing it into the trashcan beside the toilet.
There was a long moment of uneasy silence between us. I chewed my bottom lip, staring at the corner of the mirror instead of at him.
"To tell you the truth, I saw your face before," I confessed, crossing my arms over my stomach and pinching the skin of my arm. I started speaking quickly, shifting my weight from foot to foot nervously. "After I, um, you know, I took you to your base, but I got curious and I looked. I'm sorry. It was a mistake and I-"
He laughed again, jovial and light, effectively silencing me.
"I guess it's not a problem, then," he chuckled, mood shifting and replacing the disquiet with a companionable air. I laughed a little uncomfortably with him, still shuffling my feet.
Rain Maker spun on the counter to examine his face in the mirror, ruffling his hair with his fingers and smiling broadly at me. I sheepishly returned it, a little disconcerted with how quickly he had come to terms with me beating the Talon out of him.
"But-," he said suddenly, spinning back to face me. I gripped my arm tightly. "-until further notice, you have to stay here."
I stilled, eyebrows drawing together and I took a slight half-step "What?" I replied, incredulous.
Rain Maker pushed off of the counter and leveled his gaze on me.
"There's too much going on here. You're a variable in this situation that the Brigade didn't expect," he said, voice serious and hard. "Now that you're here, we can't let you just leave."
—-
Author's Note: What a trying time I had writing this chapter! I am so glad it's finished! I've been writing on the mobile app and the text orientation might be a little wonky. I apologize for the inconvenience but I hope you enjoy! - Silvered