Aurelius breathed and breathed out, walked in circles, rubbed his face and made sure his casual brown clothes looked proper.

'Argh, but what if she just turns me away immediately? I can't just burst out. She'll be surprised and probably angry, but if I just apologize, it'll be fine. She can't hate me, right? Oh, god. What if she hates me? No, no, no. I have to go and find out. It's the only way,' Aurelius made up his mind with a familiar white house in the distance. Aleyah's place. Cade was almost certainly there. She had to be.

After finally gathering himself, Aurelius walked up, each step to the door like a mountain for him. Then he knocked, and a surge went through his body. And again. Every second telling him that it was real. That moment he had longed for, to see Cade again, became a nightmare as it was really going to happen and he would have rather been anywhere else.

For the past year, it was what he had thought of the most, but in the moment, he lost all his words. Everything convincing about him suddenly became unconvincing. He felt an urge to run back to Arkryk and take care of things there first, but he didn't let himself move.

Then the door opened.

A woman with silky but curled brown hair and freckles showed herself. It was Aleyah. She had changed quite a bit. Maybe it was that she wasn't wearing her glasses. Or maybe it was her twisted expression of mixed fear and disgust.

"Hello, Aleyah," Aurelius said as pleasantly as he could with the tension in his body, expecting Cade to peak from behind her at any time.

"You..." Aleyah said rather rudely.

Aurelius glossed over it, deeming it understandable. "I'm looking for Cade. Is she here?""

Aurelius was about to make his way inside when Aleyah blocked him off. "She doesn't want to see you."

"Please just let me through. I need to talk to her," Aurelius explained calmly.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Aleyah gave him no ground.

"Aleyah, you can't keep me from talking to her."

"Hah, is that a threat?"

"You're Cade's friend. I would never threaten you."

"But you'll force entry to my home? Is that what you're saying? Oh, aren't you a saint?"

Aurelius frowned, but he knew where she was coming from. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm here to apologize."

"Apology not accepted." Aleyah stepped back and went to close the door. "Bye."

"Wait!"

Aurelius shoved his hand in the door's way. Aleyah pushed it shut, nevertheless. The heavy door almost crushed Aurelius' hand and he screamed out. Upon hearing it, Aleyah pulled back.

"What the hell?" she yelled. "You didn't enhance?! What is wrong with you?" She took his hand and examined it, pressing around spots. "Well, it's not broken." She looked up at him. "What did you do that for?"

Aurelius had no answer. "Is Cade here?"

"No, she isn't." Aleyah shook her head. "Good god, you're such a problem. What is your deal, seriously? First you up and leave without a word and now you're begging to talk to her. How could you do that to her? Abandon her like trash."

Aurelius was taken aback. "What? I didn't... She's the most important thing to me in the world."

Aleyah guffawed. "Yeah, right." Then she turned serious. "I can't believe you. The way you left her..." Aleyah's eyes wandered to the side, her voice growing quiet. "I've never seen cry before."

Aurelius' eyes went wide, he blinked, and they grew wider still. 'Cade... cried?' He struggled to process it.

"I... I don't—"

Aleyah sighed and after a moment of silence, she spoke again but with a softer voice. "Fine, if you want to talk to her, she's at an orphanage." She yielded suddenly. "One that was built recently not too far from the capital. You can come in. I'll give you instructions. Want something to eat or not?"

***

Finally with his affairs in order, Aurelius found himself on another doorstep. He raised his hand slowly and knocked on air a couple of times for practice before the real thing.

Then he did it and waited in silence. He looked up. The building was quite large, but more so it was cleanly made with polished bricks of high quality, possibly having received aid from the government.

Aurelius was startled from his thoughts as the door opened. He turned his gaze back down and his heart seemed to skip a beat, but the face he saw was only vaguely familiar.

"...Fria?" he asked, the name coming to him from two years ago.

The woman nodded and recognized Aurelius soon enough, her mouth hanging open. "Oh, it's you." Her tone was surprised and reserved, but not all that judgmental.

She was the very same woman he had met briefly the time Cade brought him to an orphanage before the Boerlow heist.

"Is Cade here?" Fria nodded, but there was conflict in her expression. "May I come in?"

Fria peaked her head outside to see if any of the passersby on the street were looking and then made way for him. He thanked her and took off his hat after getting in.

"Cade is in the backyard with the children. You two can go speak upstairs for some privacy," Fria said.

Aurelius nodded his thanks and walked towards the backdoor. He clenched his hands into fists a few times and couldn't help but note how sweaty they were. With every step, he became more conscious of his bodily functions. Each inhale exhale. Every blink. Every step. Until he was there, at the door, and looked out into the backyard.

There was a fence going around the playground where there were all sorts of wooden constructions and lines of jumping, laughing children. There was one wooden plank in the middle of the playground to which there was a long line. One older-looking boy stood on the plank as one child at a time stepped on the plank and they proceeded to try wrestling each other off.

Aurelius' attention was taken when he noticed someone at his feet.

It was a little pale-haired boy with large bright eyes. "Wow, you're tall," he said, his voice dreamy and gasping. Then he seemed to remember something. "I'm going to get some water." With that, he scurried off.

"Uh, thanks... for the notice?" Aurelius said, but the kid had already gone. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the playground.

He glossed over the plank in the middle and looked for Cade, but not quite sure what to expect. Then, in the corner of the playground, he saw a ring of youths and wondered if there was a fight going on as he began to walk towards it.

When he got closer, he realized the rowdiness was mostly just laughter. Bullying was the first thing that came to mind, as the youths in the ring were made up of the older ones.

He had attracted a lot of eyes by the time he made it to the ring and when the ones there noticed him, they stepped aside, allowing him a view of what was happening.

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The ones who had noticed him had gone silent, but most were still rowdy as two individuals in the center of the ring were facing off.

The one facing Aurelius was a brawny boy with curly hair who looked 14 while the one facing away from him was in a thin black trench coat. Most of all, he could've recognized that ash-brown hair anywhere even though it had grown so long compared to before.

Aurelius was frozen as he watched the girl step lightly forward as her opponent charged like a bull. Then she twitched and with a sharp but unbelievably natural movement kicked the boy's shin. Then she simply moved to the side and let the boy fall on his face. The boys and girls in the ring laughed as the boy jumped up with seemingly newfound energy and clasped his hands together.

The girl twirled casually and Aurelius got to see half of her face. She was looking away toward the sky, saying something when a cool breeze came and made her hair float. The moment was something ethereal. Aurelius' eyes were drawn to her perfect visage and her beautiful brown eyes that seemed rounder than before as she gazed longingly above while gray clouds approached. The hair on her forehead was amateurishly clipped short, but she had never cared much for such things.

She had her flaws, but they were so small compared to all else that it was laughable. She was truly the most beautiful thing in the world. And in that moment, it felt like she was frozen in time. Perfect forever.

Until she turned fully and her eyes met those of Aurelius. Her mouth which had been left open from her earlier words went shut. The brawny boy who was ready for another round was stopped in his tracks by a firm raise of Cade's hand.

Everyone had noticed now, and for a while, it was quiet.

Aurelius opened his mouth and tried to tell her what Fria said about upstairs, but nothing came out. Not a sound. He gestured something, but it was all nonsense.

He was simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed with emotions. He searched Cade's eyes as he had so many times before, but no longer did he see any trace of that bond they had. The times when they could look at each other and feel a connection that was deeper than physical seemed past. They were disconnected entities floating around. Or maybe it was just Aurelius that was disconnected. Disconnected and alone. He almost couldn't bear that thought. The idea that he had broken something that simply could not be fixed. It destroyed his insides.

It seemed like an eternity that they stood there staring at each other, Aurelius' emotions fluctuating while Cade steadied herself. Then she moved. She walked briskly to Aurelius and past, gesturing for him to follow without emotion.

The life returned to the playground as Aurelius left it behind and followed Cade all the way upstairs to a room. A room that seemed to be hers. A narrow bed on the left, an old table in front of a large window, and drawings made by the children attached to the wall on the right.

Aurelius walked in and turned around as Cade shut the door.

As soon as she was sure nobody heard, her voice went flat. "Why are you here?"

Aurelius swallowed and took a while to answer. Even then it came out weakly. "I am... sorry. For the way we separated."

"I don't need your sorry," she said, leaning to the wall, but losing none of the intensity in her gaze. She left it at that and Aurelius wasn't sure how to respond.

He gathered his courage and pushed away all the uncertainty. "I've been thinking of going home. I would like you to accompany me."

"Seriously?" Cade cocked her head almost mockingly. "Why would I do that?"

"Well... If you want to?" Aurelius said, looking down at the wooden floor.

"I don't." Cade snorted, shaking her head. "I don't even know why you would want that."

"What? Of course, I do. I want to be with you."

"Why?" She asked, glaring.

"Because I love you," Aurelius slipped out.

Cade's eyes widened slightly but narrowed again in a second. "Is that why you left me alone without a word?"

"To protect you."

"From Orpheus?"

"From me."

Cade's grimness was interrupted by a short laugh. "From you... Wow. Of all the things you could say." She shook her head. "Fucking ridiculous."

"He's dead. Orpheus. I killed him."

"Congratulations." Cade raised a hand loosely. The leader of one of the world's most infamous crime organizations was dead and she flicked her wrist.

Aurelius's expression twisted as he begged her to feel what he felt. "Don't you understand I was afraid?"

"Oh, right," Cade replied, bathed in sarcasm, "because I couldn't handle the danger."

"It was my responsibility," Aurelius pleaded with his hands open in front. "I couldn't involve you."

"We were companions." Cade pointed a firm finger, accentuating every word. "That is not your choice." She tilted her chin up. "If you decide to be alone, then you're alone. Can't have people only when you want them. Not how it works."

"I understand that now, so please..."

"You say so, but you don't." Cade sighed. "Tell me the truth. Were you really more afraid of me being hurt because of you than me seeing what you were? Because it seems to me that you only got rid of me to get to be as monstrous as you wanted without anyone holding you back." She tilted her head and raised her brows. "Eh, the liveD?"

Aurelius pursed his lips at her accusations. It seemed like no matter what he did, she saw it in the worst light possible. For that, he felt a tinge of something towards her that he never had before. Hate. Just the slightest amount, but it was there. Wanting to shut her mouth. Then he remembered the time they were crouched over Balgair's dead body and how he had spoken to her. It made him sick. So sick he had told himself it wasn't him that said those things back then.

"Well, do you have them?" Cade asked, seeing that Aurelius wasn't responding.

"Huh?" Aurelius shook awake from his unpleasant inner world.

"The enhancers. You had three and a half. I assume you didn't need them all for Orpheus. So where are they?"

Aurelius froze, letting out some noise while he looked for a story to grasp. "Right, they're with me. Well, not with me. In my bag. But I left my bag in the room I rented."

"Fine, let's go."

Aurelius hurried to somehow redirect. "Ah, no, I... sold them."

Cade's eyes dropped. "As I thought."

"No, Cade, I... There were other occasions. You don't understand—"

"Understand what? That you're a depraved addict? Oh, I understand. I see it more clearly than ever."

Aurelius took a step forward in aggression, but if there was one person in the world who would never be afraid of him, it was Cade.

"You reek of blood," Cade scowled. "How can you come here like that? How can you live like that?"

Aurelius would've retorted, saying she was the same as him, but realized that was no longer true. He looked around the room. It was true what she had said in one of their last conversations. She moved on in life. She had settled down and washed the blood off her hands. If it could ever be washed off, that was.

Cade tried to push him away with a hand, but he grabbed her wrist and squeezed. "I'm stronger now." That much was true and Cade knew it. He had far surpassed her. It was evident. Still, her expression didn't change. She enhanced and so did he, so surely she felt the difference in their strength, but she seemed to have made up her mind of not acknowledging him in the slightest. He doubted it would have changed anything even if he crushed her hand entirely. Maybe it would've made her eye twitch a little.

In the end, he let go. Cade stood aside and gestured for him to leave. He went but turned one last time to look at her as he had his hand on the doorknob. "I'll be staying at an establishment around the corner. Room 4. You can come by if you feel like—"

"I won't."

"Well, if you consider it... Please, just consider it."

For the first time during the conversation, Cade looked down as she sighed. "Rey... you remember when you said you hated me," she said as if talking to the floor.

Aurelius frowned. "I didn't mean that. I just—"

"I know." Cade raised her gaze and purged her pity. "I never forgot it. You took a fucking wrench to my heart, tore out my intestines, and left. I just don't want to see you. Ever. Go home."

"But..." Aurelius' eyes grew red as he forgot any bit of hate for her, remembering what he had done. The loathing he felt towards himself boiled as sorrow laced his voice. "I can't live without you."

Cade's face handled a complication of emotions, but relaxed and was wiped clean of any weakness. "Then kill yourself."

***

Aurelius stepped into his room with a blank face, blank eyes, and a blank soul. He threw the door shut with unintended force and collapsed to his knees at his doorstep. He folded over and became just a ball of sorrowful flesh, drowning in its own mistakes.

How he had gotten there was something he could figure out simply by looking at his actions and hating them all the more. What had he thought back then? The idea that he was doing what was for the best seemed completely incredible.

No, Cade was right. Everything he had done had been for his own sake. He only ever thought about himself. When he tried to think of some good thing he had done for someone else it suddenly seemed that there were only selfish reasons behind them.

And as he kneeled there pathetically, his forehead on the ground while he wiped his eyes with his wrist. No tears came, but his eyes were as red as they possibly could be, bloodshot with hate. Hate. Pure and simple, primal hatred. An uncontainable rage seemed to seep into him and transform his body into a monstrous construct of war as it had been many times before. It was then that he saw how dominantly it had been his hunger for violence that had driven him. All else had been a justification to satisfy that primal need. An animal was all he was. A dysfunctional, destructive animal, harmful to those around it.

There was a knock and Aurelius was on his feet in a split. He threw the door open and saw the woman he had rented the room from shiver with fright at him.

"Ah, there was a delivery, sir. To you," she said and handed him a scroll.

He couldn't believe it. His mind seemed to float away from his body and his heart seemed to stop as the scroll was handed to him and he saw the familiar material.

He looked up with his hollow, bloodshot eyes. The woman bowed his head and walked off quickly.

Aurelius almost fainted. His legs and hands trembled while his face contorted with emotions so visceral they made him feel like he had never felt anything before that moment.

Gaas. The material was gaas. The scroll was made of gaas. Gaas. The material as the scroll he received a year ago in the Thropes. From Arkryk. No. Not Arkryk. It had never been from Arkryk.

Aurelius finally understood.

Orpheus hadn't lied. He had never sent any message. Aurelius had been used.

He opened the scroll. It was empty except for a few words.

At the very top, it read, 'From Gadreel, Ruler of Mircrest.'

Above the message, there was a pair of smooth, inky, squinted eyes and a curved smile. An expression of unfiltered mocking. However, the message itself was so cruel it made every spiteful thing Aurelius had endured in his life seem wholly insignificant in comparison.

'It was me.'