Chapter 16

Despite the orders he had been given, Shadow reveals the entire truth to Faye

"Damn idiot... How am I supposed to handle this now?" Shadow asked himself as he was getting closer to the headquraters. 

The young assassin took long strides towards the building, dreading each of them. He clutched the small bag containing the plants for Edra's antidote. Should he have given them to Blake? Should he have killed him and his friend? Would it have been better if he didn't go into the forest? Many questions clouded his mind. The one who dragged Ron out of his deep thoughts was a slim silhouette, almost phantomatic. The male stopped dead in his tracks and rubbed his eyes. He wasn't mistakening. Dressed in a white dress that reached her knees, giving her an ethereal aura, and wandering barefoot into near the building was Faye herself. 

"What are you doing here at this time of night?" he shouted furious at her sight.

"Something is off." she replied monotonously. "And you're hiding from me. I hate that, you know?"

Ron was dumbfounded at her attitude.

"What are you talking about? You're scaring me."

"Someone was in the forest."

"There's only us. Nobody ventures in this place at such a time. This is my district. I've just returned from a patrol."

"She told me to come here." Faye continued speaking in the same manner.

"Who told you this?" Ron asked even more worried.

"She told me you have answers."

"Who told you this?" the male repeated his question angrier.

"If I asked you, would you be honest with me?

"TELL ME WHO TOLD YOU THIS!"

Shadow grabbed Faye by her shoulders and made her face him. His eyes were burning with rage and his hands were trembling. The girl tried to escape his grasp, but she remembered all his warnings and chose to stop fighting. She gulped when she held his gaze, but didn't say a word. She knew it would make things worse, but she was simply unable to voice her thoughts.

"Don't make this stupid expression and give me an answer! I'm losing my patience!"

"A girl with jet black hair... She kept yelling at me until I stepped outside. I could hear her, I got a gilmpse of her for a few moments when I was in the room, but I couldn't see anyone after that. I just kept hearing her. Just as you said, no one's here besides us..."

Ron took a step back and crouched. His head was throbbing and his body was shaking after hearing the description. He knew it would be a waste of time to hide the truth from Faye. He looked again at the filarian girl. The white dress that embraced her petite form was a terrific memento for him. Such a pure colour was burdened with the stained memories of the horrors that happened to the one who gave her life to save his.

"I'm the one who should make things right. She's trying so hard to give me an impulse..."

"What are you talking about?" Faye asked puzzled.

"Let's get back inside. We have to talk." the assassin ordered curtly, heading towards the entrance.

"Let's stay here!" Faye pleaded. "I'm sick of staying inside. I want to have some fresh air."

"You sure have become more assertive." Ron chuckled. "How about we stay there?" he asked, pointing with his thumb at a terrace with some tables and chairs.

"You have things like this here?"

"Once in a while you have to relax, filarian."

"Stop calling me like that, assassin!"

"Touche, that hurt more than I expected."

Ron took Faye by  her hand and guided her to the small terrace. He put two chairs next to each other and beckoned Faye to sit. The girl complied and soon felt a heavy cloak falling on her shoulders.

"It's cold tonight and I have so many things I want to tell you..." Ron started shyly.

"I'm all ears."

A gust of wind filled the silence between the two teenagers. 

"Nyx told you about me, am I right?"

"Yes." Faye nodded. "About you and... your sister." 

"The room that you've stayed until now belonged to her. It used to be a secret one, but ever since she died, it became a regular room. I chose to keep it under my supervision, since it had many of her belongings her. The dress you're wearing was her favourite one."

"I don't know how to put it, but it makes me feel so calm. It's so strange that I was almost attacked, that should make me afraid. So many things have happened, I'm not sure I can trust my judgement. My mind is all over the place."

He would make it worse. He was going to crush even the tinniest trace of hope and trust she had. And it killed him.

"The one who urged you to come outside was my sister. No other members of the Moon's Wolves dare to approach the room except me. Those who tried to enter suffered dearly and I'm not joking about it."

"Then why did you choose to give me that specific room? You were thinking that someday she would finish me off?" Faye asked in an inquisitive tone.

"It's getting so hard..." Ron sighed in defeat. "I guess I didn't tell you how my sister truly died.."

Faye took a sharp breath.

"You don't have to talk about it. I understand and I don't want to pry..."

"You must know. It concerns you."

Again, the purple haired girl stood in silence.

"You're frightening me." she said in a small voice.

"It's a sin that followed me all these years. I have to confess... even if it means losing everything."

"Ron..."

"Faye..." the male started with a trembling voice and took her hands in his, "before I proceed, I want you to know something. When we were little, I made a promise to you..."

"That you would make me smile again." she finished the sentence for him with a bright smile.

"Exactly." he confirmed, pained by the sight of what was soon-to-be her last smile towards him. "But I did something unforgivable. Something that know would cost me this precious sight."

"I don't understand."

"Well, when I was little, my sister was involved in a relationship that had a tragic ending. Soon after Nyx... made her pay for her `crime`, he threw her into the forest. I was so afraid that something might happen to her that I followed her that night. She managed to escape the forest, but shortly after, her boyfriend found her and simply went berserk. He killed her without any remorse."

"What a monster! How could he... I'm so sick and tired of this messed up world which seems to prey upon the innocent!"

"Would you really categorize the murderer as a monster?"

"Of course! He took the life of your sister!"

"Would you call him a monster even though he was your brother?"

Faye jumped from her seat. 

"Ron Vincent Crove, stop with all this nonsense!"

"Please, listen to me! Do you remember the last time you saw him?"

"You asked me the same question when I was in the dungeon."

"Faye, please, sit down..."

"Axel left that day and never came back. He was so disturbed. He bade me farewell and thanked me for being his little sister. I found him dead that night, right in this damned forest. I swore to take my revenge once I find the killer, even if I have to die while doing this."

Ron stood up from his chair. That was the moment to pay for his deed. He took one more look at Faye. He knew it was probably the last time he would see her in this life.

"Go on! I'm at your mercy." he declared, stretching his arms and closing his eyes.

"What are you implying?"

"I'm the one you were looking for all these years."

Faye's eyes widened and tears started to well up. She averted her gaze and lost her words. The only thing she was able to do was to gasp for air. The weather wielder collapsed back in the chair. 

"You're lying to me! YOU HAVE TO BE LYING!"

"It's the truth. I'm the one who shot Axel that day."

"How could you..."

The filarian rose to her feet and came face to face with Ron. He was waiting patiently for his punishment, letting her express all the fury and pain she had been building in her soul.

"My brother did something unimaginable, but so you did. There could have been so many other ways to solve things, but no! You chose to straight up soil your hands with blood."

"Nyx told me that your brother was on our killing list and asigned me to fulfill the task, even though it was too early for it. I took it as an opportunity to avenge my sister."

"Impossible..."

"Faye..."

"Judging by your look, you have something more to say!" she yelled, tears now streaming down her face.

"Indeed. My sister was right when she said there were people in the forest. There were two males. Your friends, Asher and Blake. They came in the forest looking for the ingredients of an antidote."

"Why you..."

The weather wielder grabbed the assassin by the collar of his shirt and slammed him in the wall.

"What did you do to them? If you killed them..."

"I let them go. They're safe. But..."

Ron took out from his pocket the bag with the plants the young men were looking for.

"I chose not to give them the ingredients they needed. I knew they would someday come and search them."

"First, you kill my brother, the only family I had left, and now you leave my team to suffer. How much evil do you have to do in order to satisfy your sadism?"

"Faye, please, I want to ask you..."

"We're done. I'm done with you. I'll try to escape as many times as I need until I succeed. I don't want to spend even one more second in this place stuck with a monster. Since you mentioned that list of next to be killed, why don't you make an exception and do the same with me? I mean, this would bring you more advantages, right?"
"It's not like that, Faye!"

The girl released Ron from her grip. 

"I don't want to see your face! I don't want to listen to you anymore! Let me guess, I think you made a deal with my friends putting my life at the middle, right? Because that's what you, Moon's Wolves, do. You see others just as objects, simple puppets that can be cut down whenever you want to have fun."

Faye stormed back into the headquarters, breaking down once she blocked the door to her room. Unbeknownst to her, Ron approached quietly the room and listened her desperate wails. There was just the two of them in the building, but he felt like he was the only one left, abandoned to face the consequences of his vengeance.