Chapter 12 – The End is Nigh

The guard around the corner didn't hear anything. Not even my approach, though shaky and disorientated, though I was certain he may have had that feeling one gets when they are being watched. I muffled any noise that he would have made with my hand across his mouth; I slumped the body against the wall and looked at the blood dripping off my hands.

There was a time where such a sight would have probably made me vomit and frantically rub them clean, but I had seen and been through too much to be bothered by this anymore. Absently rubbing most of the blood off on the dead man's clothes before moving on, I made my way down another hallway-like tunnel before repeating the process with another guard who was cleaning his equipment.

Hiding his body under the side-table he had placed some of his gear on, I used the table to steady myself and catch my breath before looking at what was there. Another knife, which I immediately grabbed, night vision goggles I had no use for, and a poison tablet. I picked up the little clear bag with the innocent looking white pill inside: cyanide. A fast-acting poison used for situations with incredibly confidential information. If you were caught you were expected to kill yourself with it…I took the pill with me.

As I began my shaky stumbling yet again, the sound of someone running down the hall jolted my mind back to my situation and I hurriedly pressed myself against the wall and waited. One soldier, fairly young by the looks of it, almost ran right past me.

Unfortunately for him, he did notice my current state of…uniform which included my bloody, torn work-out pants I had worn to bed, an outer vest, and a ski mask. He stopped so suddenly that I actually winced for his joints before lunging towards him with my two knives. He dodged my shaky attack easily and stared at me with horribly familiar eyes. Taking advantage of his shock, I forcibly glared at his neck as I plunged one blade into his heart and slashed the other across his jugular; I did not need to be haunted by his eyes too but it was too late.

As I removed the blade, I caught his blank stare watching me and instantly saw my young friend from before. My hunt forgotten as my accursed hand moved on its own as it dropped the black and removed the mask he had been wearing and my soft gasp rang in my ears. He looked just like….had I?! I stared at my bloody hands again before grasping his chin and examining him carefully; my breathing began to border on hyperventilating as each detail fell into place. I felt tears sting my eyes before a faint line on the skin near the ear caught my attention.

I traced it carefully before studying the face again. More lines, small and easy to miss, told me everything and my anger towards Adrik roared to life once more: I had fallen into a cruel trap. Adrik had changed the face of this young man to match the likeness of Bozidar's with surgery.

Rising from my position, I began my trek down the halls once more, dodging light and killing patrols when the option was available. How many hours it had been since I started: I did not know, but I would keep going until my mission was completed.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

I grasped the rough stone wall in order to catch my breath. The past torment at Adrik's hand blurring my vision, causing my knees to shake and making my breathing irregular and wheezing. I edged my way towards another open doorway, the golden lantern light spilling from the room where a group of men were playing some sort of drinking game, and held my breath before getting close enough to listen to their conversation.

Minutes past and the shaking of my weakened legs had increased to a violent twitching, the only limb I made sure was steady was the hand holding the knife; eventually their conversation trickled to the information I needed: Adrik. Through all the insults they threw at him, it became very apparent that he held their loyalty through fear and favoritism. Their conversation drifted away and I darted past the opening before moving to a dark empty alcove.

I studied the room carefully before finding a sleeping man; debating the situation: I decided to hide here. After all who would think that I would be among their comrades?

...what had that bald one said?

Something about a woman...I had listened carefully as he continued about Adrik's latest "favored" with growing trepidation.

No...no, it couldn't be...she wouldn't do this!

but the description of the woman matched exactly with...

"Captain Fudo." Every muscle in my body tensed to the point that it was painful; I briefly caught a glimpse of a suppressor jutting off the firearm before it was pressed under my jaw by horribly familiar hands. The door slid closed silently and the lock whispered into place but both sounds were like the piercing scream of a firework; my hand on the knife shifted and clenched the hilt, aching to sheath the deadly metal into the body behind me. "I'm here to kill you."

My eyes adjusted incredibly quickly due to the amount of time I have spent in dark places lately and every detail of the room came into focus. I could see the chipped paint on her nails in my peripheral vision and as I watched, somewhat numbly I might add, I noticed the tremble of her hands.

"Aki…" my voice was so gruff that I almost jump at the sound of it and the sound of her quiet sobbing, I would later say, was the reason that I didn't say anything else when it was truly impossible to form anything else. I gently pulled her wrist away and turned around to gently embrace her small frame; I refrained from flinching when she returned the gesture, applying touch against my numerous wounds. "What are you doing here?" I pushed her back to look into her eyes, which were darting about the general area of my face as they had yet to adjust to the dark, "I have heard that Adrik has welcomed you into his own." My tone was laced with more venom that I had intended and she hid her flinch well.

"I have convinced him that I want revenge on you as well." Her soft mischevious smile dropped all suspicions away from my mind, "I found a common ground."

"What is my crime?" I couldn't help but return the smile, but my question made her's fall away slowly. She turned to the man on the bed who was beginning to shift at our conversation; she shuddered and something felt very wrong.

"Nothing that is important right now, right now all you need to know is that-

A.N.- CUT! SAY NOTHING ELSE AKI! ITS FOR THE NEXT CHAPPIE! WHICH, BY THE WAY, IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THIS STORY! ….they escalate so quickly!