Disclaimer; I thought that I should mention that despite previous other chapters with particularly delicate subjects I should mention that within this chapter Blake experiences something close to essentially a panic attack as a word of warning for any of those whom may take it to heart and please proceed with caution if necessary

Splitting open.

Aching, breaking, deterioration. Blake had manifested the most horrific headache which stretched the limitations of her cool headed nature beyond its elastic limit. She outstretched her arms before letting them fall back to her sides, tilting her head to gaze at the window, the petals still intact on that blooming shade.

Roses like that come once in a lifetime.

So with a huff she brought herself to sit up, fidgeting awkwardly between Sun's embrace, the tangles of her hair crawling its way throughout their ensnared bodies, the oxygen levels in the air becoming depleted as the room was still warm with the lingering tension of the night before. Blake pondered on this further, thinking back to what she did with Sun, strangely her body reacted more than usual, but not enough to call it a connection, yet when Roman crossed her mind she shot up like a bolt, a flurry of embarrassment as she thought back to his advancements. Then a smile; etched onto his face in her memory became part of her features during that subtle moment. And as always she shook it off, whispering in a shallow voice in an attempt to hopelessly convince herself.

"He's the enemy, not my lover, I can't fall into this pit again, I got over Adam, I can get over this."

"Um... you say anything Blake?"

Her twitch was erratic as she turned towards Sun with a startled expression, his voice was sleepy, it seemed deeper and rather sensual, between the ruffles of his hair and his usual cheeky smile yet it was different this time, she felt slight tension knotted in her chest. Was this because of last night or because of Roman? A question she seemed to keep asking herself time after time she had led Sun astray. This was no time for questions; her body wanted to escape, her heartbeat rising while Sun seemed unusually calmer than he is normally, he attempted to lace his fingers with hers but pulled back as he seen her expression, she exhaled with a sigh of relief before replying to him.

"Nothing, I was just a little confused about where I was for a second, I guess you could say this is embarrassment?"

"Ah right; I get what you mean, well like I'm just...err I dunno, just normal really, not that you asked how I was or anything, just going with the flow of time, you should do the same, couldn't hurt to get washed away once and awhile Blakey, letting go of any tensions and clearing up any regrets can do wonders you know."

"What do you mean by clearing up regrets?"

"Well don't they always say it's better to regret something you did instead of something you didn't do?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but what's got you in such a strange mood? This isn't very, well you."

"I'm pretty sure I just took my own advice, so you could say I'm looking at my reason right now."

He laughed to himself; a tone almost libidinous, it made her steam up, these sweet passions are strange coming from somebody like Sun to her.

"Seriously hearing you speak in such a way is giving me the creeps."

"Hah, how rude coming from the girl who asked me to bind her to reality."

"Well you know you clearly need to do a better job of it Sun, if you're going to bind me, you have to make me only think about you, nobody else."

"You make it sound like there is a somebody else"

"And if there was; what would you do about it?"

He moved his hand to behind her neck as he pulled her head towards his, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke, mingling breaths between her flushed expression.

"I'd gladly become a criminal to spend even a second longer by your side."

Sighing lightly; he brought his hand away before laughing again.

"You seem to like it when somebody teases you, are you sure you're not a masochist or something Blakey?"

She shoved him back playfully before standing up, neatening her clothes and brushing of his advancements with a hand on her hip.

"Like hell am I one of those weirdos, are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

"I question that everyday for chasing after you."

He propped up his chin against one of his knees, tilting his head to the side with a gentle hum and a smile so outstretched it made his eyes close with joy, a mischievous giggle accompanying it.

"Well whatever; just don't get your hopes up, I may drown with you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to date you."

"Finally, an honest answer, but like hell does that mean I won't stop moving, I mean come on there's only so much teasing a man can take before he gets what he wants."

"Since when were you a man?"

"Since you started begging me for more."

"Watch it you, or you won't be getting anything out of me."

She made her way to the door, picking up her shoes that were propped up against the wall along with Gambol Shroud.

"Ouch harsh much, listen I'm here if you want to forget, no words are needed, only cat and mouse."

Her expression suddenly changed. Cat and mouse was more of a Roman thing, she didn't want to hear Sun saying those kind of things, she didn't want to hear or see him acting like he would, if he were to act more flirtatious like Roman, then she didn't want to react to it because she knew she wasn't falling for Sun, she was falling for the attributes that reminded her of Roman once again. So to return to his remark she practically shouted at him.

"Say cat and mouse to me and I'll break off everything."

"Christ I didn't mean to say anything bad, alright no cat and mouse, only sweet exchange."

She slammed the door behind her without answering him back, biting her lip with frustration and pacing off towards her own dorm room, hitting her hands against her thighs with a sense of irritation before realising she had left the rose in which Roman had gave her back in Sun's room. Her annoyance made her leave it behind, she was trying to drown her pleasures of Roman with Sun, and as much as she hated to admit it, but she was drowning her thoughts with the sensual actions that mirrored that sly criminal.

Upon entry of her room she practically flung herself at her bed, enough to make the rickety, precarious placement of books keeping it together to potentially topple over, before she hastily halted its movements.

"Ugh this is all just a mess."

Resting her head to the side on her pillow after slumping back down she noticed a fumble of paper that had fell out from her pocket from when she had threw herself into the room. She grasped at it, unfolding the neatly formed edges to reveal its scripture.

"This time you have to come and meet me; midnight district, I'll take you for coffee."

With a heavy sigh she buried her face into the scrap of paper; the lingering scent of cigarette ash and seemingly expensive cologne laced into the fibres, she could almost feel the radiating heat of his touch from the fine crisp message he had left her. To it she pressed her lips before retorting. As she screwed it up and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket; a sense of accomplishment as it lands in a single hit before being drawn back into her solemn mundanity.

"What the heck is with this guy and notes?"

Yet despite her throwing away his words, she sat herself up to face the mirror, pulling apart her face like dough at what to her looked like concerning features. A plethora of smeared arrangements that could be barely called acceptable since Blake prided herself in her make-up skills, even if it was just a quirky habit of hers. So she slid her way over to the bathroom reluctantly, she knew she'd go to see him, she needed to talk some sense into him in the hopes that she would be able to convince herself along the way. Again she looked at her face, the way her lipstick had shifted made her feel repulsive, her eyes smeared like raindrops. She looked like she had bawled her eyes out, she almost didn't recognise her face, it seemed wasted to her, such lonely eyes stared back at her. Her body felt empty, the only thing she could hear was her heartbeat, synced with her breath that steamed up the mirror before her, no matter how many times she tried to cover the sight before her with her exhale, it faded to show the face that stared back at her, a face far to alien for her to comprehend. She felt like an onlooker in another's life, a soul that tried to escape with every outwards open of her parched lips, this body right now was foul, an abomination to her, regardless of heritage, her lust driven pride felt like it was eating away at her, enough to make her feel weary and slightly panicked at the thought of how much she had changed, or to be exact, how much she reminded herself of her life with Adam.

Again another sigh- inhale and exhale.

Blake felt weirdly tense; the recognition of her own subconscious breathing only forced her to have to continue it manually until she could change the subject matter of her thoughts, right now she would rather focus on Roman than her forced gasping that continued to make her uncomfortable. From this she decided to get a drink to calm her nerves, turning the tap on with a rickety of panicked stammer of the hand, cupping her palms under the flow in an attempt to cool her skin. Like a spreading rash she began to felt like she was trapped in an acute space, again gathering another handful of water and sipping on it gently, trying to soothe the burn in her throat. Between splutters and mutters she attempted to collect herself under this pressure, she was glad that she was alone, scanning around in the hopes that solitude could expand her bubble. Her erratic breathing however seemed to only continue, racking at her head that she ran her fingers into her hair, grabbing at fistfuls in order to ground her wandering mind, slumping into an enclosed ball of anxiety, she didn't know what she could control since she didn't exactly know what was happening. Eventually she tried to distract herself through deeper thought immersion, whispering to herself any words that came to mind, then eventually the ones that collected in the pools of her saliva trickled between her lips. She spoke aloud any names she could recall.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xion Long, Sun Wukong... Adam Taurus...Roman Torchwick."

Again his name.

"Roman Torchwick."

She repeated it till her breathing slowly calmed itself.

"Roman Torchwick."

She kept his name on her lips, experiencing her spectrum of thoughts around him.

"Roman Torchwick."

She thought of his crimes, how he was working as a pawn, his secrecy.

"Roman Torchwick."

She thought of his body heat, almost soothing, the way he always had a smell of smoke surrounding him.

"Roman Torchwick."

She thought of his touch, and the storm in her head became far too clear for her shattering realisation.

"Roman Torchwick."

She thought about what she felt about him, how she hadn't realised what the hurricane surrounding her heart had meant before. Upon this her head subdued from its crashing blight, she could breathe again, only knowing the tightness in her chest, the smiles he had gave her, the feelings she fought to never realise. And from this she slowly moved her hands from her hair, picking herself back up to stare blankly at the trigger, gathering water in the skin to wash away the bleeds of old makeup from yesterday's so called adventures. Grimacing as she rubbed at her mouth hard enough to split open her dry lips, she was glad Sun didn't point all of this out to her before, yet slight annoyed since he was part of the reason that she got so messed up. Her unsettled heart was screaming out to her the answers, but like always she shut if off in the hopes it would fade.

Going back to the mirror she further cleaned off the remnants of makeup that stained her face before carefully applying a new layer as she always did every morning to hide her prominent dark circles and exhausted features. Make-up to Blake gave her confidence, like a mask to hide behind much like how she wears a bow to conceal her fauna heritage, and as she entangled the satin ribbon around her ears she let out an exasperated huff, shifting over to her wardrobe to pick out an outfit since she didn't want to see Roman in her school uniform again because it would be a slight bit weird for her. So she pulled out her usual attire and got herself dressed before leaving, although unsure where exactly to go since she wasn't too specific in his note, deciding for herself that she would wander around the town for a while in the hopes that she would bump into him before shaking it off saying it shouldn't be like that. Hoping again to convince herself that despite her previous distress she could calm her nerves by shutting him out completely, or listening to his selfish demands.

Chalky dust lined the abandoned bookshelves left behind from a previous job; Roman was busy clearing away the mess left behind by those two gutter rats that Cinder prides herself with so much. A distinguished scent of blood still lingered from the many months that had past, they may have been able to miraculously dump the body in a river yet the shop itself was left to draw unneeded suspicions, even if the fauna whom owned it was going to make a run for it anyway. An abandoned shop like this wasn't uncommon in this district, however as it had been left for months without anybody doing anything about it, Roman was left to fix their mistakes, since it was a job that intruded in to begin with.

Box by box he packed away stray books from the shelves, flecks of dust dancing between the drawn blinds, light peeking through like a mischievous young boy, silences and a collection of spores diffusing into the air. Kicking into his bloodstream along with the flow of char from his cigar, his waltz in an attempt to entertain his restless body. In the background was the prominent sound of a record player, from it letting flow the enchanting notes of Kreisler's Schön Rosmarin. Ever so delicately he joyfully paces along with the smoke and swift movement of his arms as if holding a delicate lady between his hands. The music itself was quite fitting with his attire of the day as he had switched from his classic ensemble to a dark waistcoat and matching suit pants. A pocket watch chain hangs loosely from his lapel; the sleeves of his pristine shirt rolled up, he still wore gloves however as a way to not leave any evidence. Yet he still carried a weapon with him: two classic Colt revolvers in holsters, a charcoal jacket laying on the couch in the back room along with his bowler hat and Melodic Cudgel.

Despite being on a job he found himself having fun with it; the alluring nature of Kreisler's passions, loves and sorrows filling the room as his feet glided across the floor, piling more and more books into the box he is holding, setting it aside for it to be carried to the van parked outside before beginning to collect a few more. Occasionally, he becomes sidetracked; reading through a couple of the pages of the books; again many passions, only through the literature, such intense words melded together with ones of hilarity, ones of peace, some of regret and others of rejoice. Even though it was a job, it still seemed like a break from the outer world of corruption and greed, as much as he was loving the show, peering through the different portals of books on a sunny morning, despite the blinds being partially drawn,he had set his heart to flutter. Furthermore, the hopes of continuing his game of cat and mouse with his nightshade Belle seemed all the more thrilling, enough for him to change his attire, more so since the close calls with the police he needed to look a tad less inconspicuous.

Still spinning was the record, yet the needle had finished its journey so with a heavy sigh Roman flipped over the vinyl and replaced the needle at the start, the empty silence was shattered by Kreisler's Liebeslied. Coursing through the room like a quaint river carrying along with it sediments of small pebbles along with the sway of a miniature school of fish. Roman smiled to himself gleefully as he picked up one of the filled boxed and took it outside to the van. Lifting it into back before returning to the store. Again becoming lost to the flow of piano and violin curled around each other in an almost beautiful glass like structure, pure and untainted crescendos accompanying his every step.

"Is that you Roman?"

He almost yelled in surprise, dropping the box that he was carrying to turn and face the one who spoke, it was Blake. Roman had not noticed her open the door so he could only blink in surprise before recollecting his usual demeanour.

"We weren't supposed to meet here my dear."

"You aren't very specific with your exchange of notes, you didn't even give me a time."

"That's what makes cat and mouse fun, you're supposed to chase me."

She got slightly huffed up as she attempted to change the subject along with her tone into a more calm and playful one.

"I pictured you as more of a Chopin kinda guy, not Kreisler."

"I appreciate all forms of music, Kreisler just fitted with my mood today."

"Particularly Love's Sorrow? How tragic must your hook ups be?"

"You should know that already kitty cat, besides Liebeslied isn't completely miserable, although I must say I have a preference for Liebesfreud."

"Everybody knows Roman that music like this is appreciated as a whole, like a jigsaw."

He returned her comment with sarcasm in a joking manor.

"Wow because clearly you're the expert on these things, I doubt you can tell the difference between Etudes and Nocturnes."

She joined in on the sarcasm, although now it seemed more like instead of mocking each other they were playing around in pseudo dramatised posh accents.

"Why how dare you, coming from somebody who couldn't even name a single Opera by Richard Strauss."

She folded her arms and tried to restrain her laugher, Roman moved closer in towards her, resting on of his hands on her hip, carrying on with the ongoing chortles.

"Says the one who probably says their favourite piece by Beethoven is Für Elise."

"There's nothing wrong with Für Elise! Just because it's well known and simple to play doesn't mean it's bad."

"I win, you broke character."

She got in a huff again, averting her eyes from his gaze as she came to the realisation of how close is body was to hers.

"Damn it, and I had a great insult using Beethoven too."

"Looks like I beat you to the punch, gotta say didn't expect you to be the classical type, since you're such a rebellious little kitten and all."

With his other hand he took her by the chin in an attempt to make her face him. She tried not to shift her gaze, although looking directly at him would sent her heart even more so astray. The feeling of his fingers against her chin was enough to make her tense up, on the outside Roman as always didn't seem at all phased by his actions, yet even he could feel the pressure between them. Under his gloves his hands became clammy with a slight nervous tinge to his words, usually he is a master of flirting, at at this moment he was fighting to keep to his character.

"I used to dabble in violin when I was younger, although with all the activist marching and protests, I couldn't really keep up with learning, so I just stuck to reading."

"What a shame, I'm more of a pianist myself since it requires more skilful hand manipulation, plus it's kind of hard to smoke when you have a violin pressed up to your chin."

"More skilful hand manipulation? I think you'll find that to be false actually."

She grabbed his tie and forcefully tightened it before dusting it off with a smile which set him aback causing him to let go of her face but he still pulled her back into the same position, their lips drawing ever closer.

"Is that why you're so good with those little hands of yours?"

Before she could answer the music stopped and in doing so they moved away from their embrace, he turned away to remove the needle from the record, taking it off from the turntable and putting it away before making another sly remark.

"Alright then, well since you're here, help me with this job and I'll let you have any book you like off the shelves, and while we're at it, let's see if you can tell your Mozart from your Rachmaninoff."

With a flick of his wrist he spun a record in his hand, placing it down and putting on the needle, the intricate drift of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor Op.27: I Largo filling the air almost like a thick smoke, music so striking that it even had a distinct taste. She jokingly elongated a few of her words with added stress as part of the comedic effect, continuing with their posh voices from before and he in turn did the same.

"Well I've got a free afternoon from my tragic imprisonment. So I suppose I could stay a little longer, and if you're offering a free book along with then maybe it should be fine."

"Don't be so coy now my fair mistress, time is of haste, this maybe be on the outskirts of the midnight district but a coffeeshop nearby does a terrific blend of flavoured teas."

"From Assam to Lapsang souchong?"

"And everything in between my dear."

"How could I refuse such an offer?"

"Darling I know that you can't even refuse me, that's why your here of course."

Blake looked down from her previous excitement, talking as she usually does.

"Roman I can't do these things anymore, it's messing me up, and fraternising with the enemy? I couldn't forgive myself, all of this seems far too stupid for it to work."

He turned to look at her whom was still picking away at the patchy remains of the books from the shelves, reading the blurbs of a couple before packing them away in boxes as he had, he sighed before replying to her.

"That's supposed to be the beauty of it, it doesn't have to work, whatever happens between us is what we make of it, but like I said it won't affect who we fight for, you have you reasons and I have mine, just enjoy the moment, think not of the past or the future, only now."

She paused for a moment, pondering at a book in her hands, gliding the tips of her fingers along the fine pages before placing it down beside his jacket and going back to putting the last scattered ones away to be taken off to the van.

"Well if you put it that way...ugh I don't know, I can't do it, look as you already know I've got a boyfriend we really have to stop meeting like this."

As Roman picked up a box to take outside he walked past her, stopping to answer her by leaning in close to her face.

"Blake you can't fool me, we both know you're not a cheat in that sense, maybe a little bit of a tease, but aren't we all? And for a cheeky little criminal like you, for some odd reason you're a very bad liar."

She started getting more irritated at his mannerisms, picking up one of the boxes and following him outside to the van so she could attempt to correct him, pushing the box into the back neatly.

"I'm not lying Roman, I have no reason to lie."

"But you have no reason to tell the truth either, listen sugar I've been in this business longer than you, I know when somebody is lying to me."

He paced back into the shop, piling boxes on top of one another so he could take many at once before Blake blocked the entry way.

"Blake if you're not going to be helpful then you can leave, I'm not keeping you here, again why you can't fool me, you're just so enthralled by my charm that you can't possibly admit how much you want me."

She grumbled before moving out of the way for him, shifting behind him to gather some of the remaining boxes left behind.

"You are buying me so many pots of tea later I swear-"

"You have my word kitty cat, now back to our game, name the song for me, if you can I'll give you a prize."

"Too easy it's Rachmaninoff's Largo, Symphony No.2 Op.27."

"Hmmm, bonus points if you can name the tempo."

"Allegro Moderato."

"I give that a passing grade my dear."

"What do I win?"

"Isn't it obvious? I am your prize my dear."

"Haha real funny Roman."

Before she could look up he was behind her, his arms wrapped around her torso, breathing down on her neck.

"Shall we sit down for while? There's a room in the back, we can go before we leave, I'd rather just share your company for a little white."

She spun round to face him; her gaze settles with his- interlocking their eyes which sparked with piqued curiosity.

"I um...sure, I can have a look at that book I set aside."

The moment felt as though it carried on for hours, even as he took her by the hand to trail her into the back room, pick into the book as she went. She was being drawn into him again, and considering that bizarre thing that happened to her before, it almost seemed safer to put her pseudo-trust in him. Finally to let go.

In the back was quite a wide room, but still rather petit, there were still a couple bookshelves which Blake had assumed had been cleared out by Roman previously, there was a two seater leather couch in front of a desk, a shabby chic coffee table not to far from it. Interior wise it was quite plain, regardless of it being emptied out, it made Blake ponder on exactly what his job of his was. Since she had never been to this book shop, and had always wanted to, she was rather melancholic to know that it had already shut down.

"Say what kinda job was this anyway."

"Well my dear kitten, this was a business venture that went down, with technology these days, book shops in this district haven't been able to keep afloat, it was a favour, the guy running this place was a fauna- part of the White Fang actually. I knew him, good guy, just up and left one day so I'm just donating all of the books to where they'll actually be used."

"What like a charity shop or something?"

"I suppose you could say so, such a shame, technology can't quite beat the feel of feel of the pages, that unusual scent of the paper that you just can't quite pinpoint."

"Yes exactly! Books have a sentimental value I can't even begin to comprehend or explain."

He chucked to himself as he motioned for moth of them to sit down, resting his hand on her knee, making obvious advancements that she was evidently complying with as she didn't attempt to brush him off.

"I can tell from the way your eyes light up as you were looking around, so what exactly did you pick?"

She fumbled around with the book in her hands, showing the corner to him, they both leaned into each other as she merrily went on about her choice.

"It's a psychological read on the Call to the Void, sort of studies on the whole topic."

"Ah yes L'appel du vide; along the lines of listening to the inner voice when faced with the chance to ludicrously take your own life, my means of extreme situations such as jumping from a ledge to see what it feels like, or something of the sort perhaps?"

"It's not just that, sometimes people perceive it as the voice that tells the, to commit atrocities in all senses, like killing somebody close to you, or the idea of a rampaging spree, sleeping with somebody you shouldn't, falling in love with the wrong person."

Her glance briefly shifted to match his again, this time his eyes were completely fixated on her, it was so intense, irises like verdant fire encased like a frozen work of art. Pupils dilated like a vortex, drawing her evermore deeper into his hold against her.

"Does that make you my call to the void then my dear? You're the one who started this game of cat and mouse by leaving behind a night the time we lost to our desires."

"Oh stop with the hopeless romantic gimmicks but thanks for letting me keep the book."

She leaned in and quickly pecked him on the cheek before shifting away, for a moment he turned away from her, touching on his face where he had kissed him. Thinking to himself how that was weirdly cute of her, trying to compose himself and the burn in his chest that couldn't seem to settle. And the blush on his cheek that he'd never thought he'd experience from something like this. But she broke his silence and he in turn made himself able to face her again without arousing too much suspicion.

"However Roman; I told you Sun is my boyfriend- so these sentiments are useless."

"Blake Belladonna, as I've told you oh so many times, you are a terrible liar."

"Like hell am I lying."

"Oh come on we're just going in circles again now, you came to see me, stop going on about that damn brat."

He forced down her shoulders against the couch, gently trailing kisses along her neck repeating the same word over and over.

"Liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar."

Against her protest she finally sighed, allowing her to succumb to the flow.

"One more night, that's it, got that?"

"Hmm I don't think I can comply with that, although for arguments sake I'll say anything for you to let do you right now."

"You are far too blunt today, but whatever, I'll allow it for now."

The embrace of his cold fingers against her skin, leading hers to unbutton his waistcoat, forcefully yanking away at his tie and in doing so taking Blake by the arms. Wrapping gently it around her wrists and fastening it with a knot- propping up her legs with a gentle caress.

"Since when were you ever so compliant to sleep with me?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Before she could continue their lips laced together in a breathless exchange, melting together like bittersweet chocolate, mixing into the passions of the now heated tension. Eventually she managed to utter between slight pauses.

"You are my Call to the Void."