Till Deceived Do We Part

It took us forty minutes to get off the property. Forty-five minutes for the police to make it onto the property. The reason for our delay? Jake. I refused to leave his body, headless or not, behind. Zane agreed with me. Flint did too, but he was... reluctant to touch it. For he would be the one to move it. He was also the one who had to find us a vehicle and carry Zane. All in all, Flint basically did everything. I’m sure I could have found a vehicle easy enough, but I just couldn’t tear myself from Jake’s side.

So here we were, Flint driving, me and Zane in the back, and Jake in the trunk. None of us had wanted that, but having a headless corpse in the front didn’t seem like a good idea.

My head was leant on Zane’s shoulder, and his head was leant on top of mine, his eyes closed. We both knew he was still awake, though. His breathing gave it away. Flint took back roads for what he could, but in the end had to take some city streets. No choice. We were just passing through an intersection when I bolted up. Zane’s head snapped back, his open eye blinking rapidly. Flint glanced at me through the rearview mirror, but said nothing.

Zane was back. It was over, for the most part. However, that brought my mind to something else. Something I had refused to think about, but now with Jake gone, I couldn’t help but think of it. It was what he wanted, and I found myself wanting to accomplish it merely because it was the last true thing he asked me to do. “Things are hectic, so I ask you to do this once everything with Zane is solved. Tell him. Tell him what you do, why you met, tell him. If you want to be with him, he has the right to know.”

“Turn around.” Flint glanced at me now, as did Zane. “Turn around!” I hissed, anger in my voice. This was what Jake wanted, and I was going to do it for him, even if I could already feel the fear seeping into my heart.

Flint eyed me for a moment, before turning the car around. “Dane’s?” Was all he asked, and I knew he was on the same wavelength as I was. I nodded, and Zane glanced at me, his eyes questioning, but his body too tired to.

We drove in silence, and when I saw Dane’s apartment complex come into view, I shut my eyes. I bent my head, breathed deeply, and allowed Zane to rub my back with his good arm. Shouldn’t I be the one comforting him? Shouldn’t I be the one soothing him?

“Whatever you’re about to do, good luck.” He said, I nodded slightly, and when Flint pulled the car up to the building, I opened the door. To my surprise, so did Flint.

“He can’t tell anyone.” Flint said, knowing what I was going to say.

“You’re not kil-“ I started, momentary fear filling me.

“I know. Threats work fine.” I met his eyes head on and realized he had to do this. Unfortunately, he was in charge now. It was his job to secure our base’s safety, and that meant keeping people who know too much, silent. As much as I hated it, I allowed him to come along. Mainly because I was too beaten up to argue.

The place was deserted. Outside, anyways. Which was good for us. Neither of us looked too well, and I’m sure our appearance would scare quite a few people. As it was, I was more worried with Dane’s reaction.

I knocked on his door, my hands already sweating. Dane was something solid in my life, and I had a strange feeling I was about to lose him. He answered the door on my second knock, basically swinging it off the hinges. His mouth opened in a greeting, but it didn’t make it past his lips. His eyes landed on me, on my strangely bent arm, my bloody appearance, and my overall defeated stance. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, before he glanced at Flint.

“Can we-?” He nodded silently, holding the door for us. We both walked through and Dane closed the door behind us. He walked around Flint and came up to me, his eyes so full of concern I looked away.

“Andrayka?” He murmured, his voice unsure. His hand reached out to stroke my cheek, but I jerked back, my breathing heavy. No. I couldn’t deal with that.

“Dane,” I said, clearing my throat several times. “We, uh, need to talk.” Dane glanced at Flint. “That’s Flint.”

“Did you find your brother?” He asked, not paying Flint any attention. Strangely, I enjoyed that. I nodded to his question, not quite trusting my voice. “Is he okay?”

“He will be.” Flint answered, earning Dane’s attention for a second. “Get to the point, Drake.” He was antsy. I understood that. We had a headless corpse downstairs in the parking lot, and I’m sure leaving Zane un-attended was also eating at him.

“You need a hospital.” Dane said, rushing over to a cupboard. He pulled out a first aid kit and ran back, ushering me to the couch. I tried to resist but failed. Soon I was sitting on the couch as he took out supplies. “Should I call an ambul-“

”No.” I said quickly, cutting him off. “Dane-“

He began swabbing at scrape on my face, which only made my feelings worse. He shouldn’t be treating me so nice when I was about to tell him what I had done. When I was about to crush his world. I squirmed, but he persisted. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Dane! I killed your father.” It fell silent, and Dane fell still, his eyes brimming with confusion. His brows drew together, and he sat back, staring at me.

“What?” I swallowed, and met his eyes.

“He was a bad person. I took him out. The night we met? I was hiding from his guards. I-“ I took a deep breath, “didn’t mean for... for this. It just... happened.” He continued staring at me, not quite realizing what I was saying yet.

“I don’t understand.” He finally said, slowly standing to his feet. I stood too.

“I thought you should kn-

“Shut up.” He murmured, his voice still soft, but I could see the anger beginning to seep into his eyes. His eyes glanced at Flint, and then back to me. “You’re kidding, right? Because this is some low joke, Andrayka, right? Right?” I took a step to him, but he backed away. “Right?”

“I’m sorry.” And I was. He just shook his head, backing up.

“No. No, this-“ he rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re not kidding.” He finally said.

“He was part of a-“

”Shut up !” Flint took this as his queue to step in.

“We’re telling you this as a last wish of a fellow companion. However, if you speak any of what you know about Andrayka or myself, your life will be terminated. As long as you remain silent and don’t tell a soul, you may live your life without fear of us.” Dane was shaking now, his eyes darting wildly between myself and Flint. I was going to be sick.

“Dane, I-“

”Get out.” It was soft, barely a whisper.

“Da-“

”Get out! Now!” I complied, ignoring the last look Flint shot Dane. I also ignored the look in Dane’s eyes; betrayal. He was in deep pain. The women he was beginning to love had murdered his father. It turned his whole life upside down, and the guilt just kept growing inside of me.

Some part of my mind had hoped he would over look it. Some part of mind believed he would, but the rational part, figured this would be his reaction. This wasn’t a movie. This wasn’t some story book where in the end everything worked out, and the princess and the prince lived happily ever after. This was life. And the truth was I just lost my father and the first man who ever made me feel. The truth was, as an assassin, I should be accustomed to losing everything around me, and starting new. I should know that nothing remains. Yet I had hoped otherwise. I suppose that makes me a bad assassin.