An old flame. A friend. A tool. But most importantly, Death. Words associated with her name, her life. It was who she is, she knows that. Unfortunately, not for him. Could he make her see the truth behind those words? That she's not just an old flame, a friend, and a tool? That she's his Life and Death? Or it will be too little, too late?

Set after the event in Ignite Me.

Disclaimer: I don't the book or anything that has to do with it. Now even Warner. But I own Cifer.

"Is there no other way around?" he asks solemnly as I continue packing my things. With him trailing my steps, being my shadow.

I shook my head dejectedly, not facing him. I wish there was… "It has to be done." It was simple and I know somewhere, somehow, he understands me and the importance of the situation.

"It doesn't mean it has to be you."

A sigh escaped my lips before I know it and stop. Why can't he understand? I had done what I had to and now, I must face all the consequences my action entails. He knew that. He'd seen that. But why can't he just let go?

"Why──"

"Listen," he cuts me off before I could start. His hands gripping my arms, forcing me to face him. "It's done. They're not your responsibility anymore. You're on your own."

I shook my head. "You don't understand. It's not that simple."

"You're the one who doesn't!" he growls out as his fingers digs even deeper in his hold, leaving little crescents in its wake. "It's finally done now. You're free! You can do whatever you want to with no one forcing you to go against your will. You're free to go back to your old life──"

"And I have none!" I snap back unable to hold the frustrations inside me. I keep bottling them all while he's initiating them to break free from their leash. "That's that, Aaron! I don't have what you call life except for this, with them. Ever since I came to this world, to this age, this is what I've known. This is my life and the Supreme Commander's death doesn't ensure that freedom all of you got." I tried holding them all back, but failing miserably. They keep flooding out and my eyes starts to sting as my voice slowly descends and cracks at the end. "…because even after his death, he still has his hold of me. And I'm afraid I won't be able to be released from it."

There was a deafening silence after wards. Not a single soul moved from its place. None of us moved. Things long forgotten but what's at hand. The only sound penetrating my ears were the sounds of both our hearts pounding against each other, hard and fast. Tension and other emotions are palpable, I could almost taste them.

"Cifer," his voice broke the silence. It's oddly soft and warm and calm and comforting and other things I don't want to recognize. I don't want to feel.

I look away unable to hold his gaze, "Shut it, Warner." I warned and felt him tensed giving me the chance to break free from him. He isn't Aaron. He's Warner now. He's the man who doesn't listen to others, unlike what Aaron does. He's being close-minded. "I had made my mind and there's no more turning back now."

"No," his tone is serious, firm, and ordering it rendered me frozen in place. "I won't shut it now, Immaculate Commander."

I had the urge to snap back again, hit him hard, or beat him for him to understand, but only bit my lips hard, that I could taste my blood. He's really infuriating at times. Damn you, idiot.

I look up and glare at him and he throws a glare back. Dark, hot emerald eyes met mine in a heated battle of gazes. Oh, how I hate those eyes and love them all the same… His very eyes forcing me to submit, to give in to him and his demands, but I won't. Not now.

"You still have responsibilities in here, have you forgotten?" he says smugly as he looks at me differently. "You're still under my command, Cifer, and I'm telling you, you're not yet done in here."

I can't help the cackle that I let out at that. How foolish and cowardly. "So, you're using your power over me now, Warner? Seriously?" I tilted my head to prove my point at I look at him, scrutinizing him with my stare. "Shameful."

He looked appalled at what I said, but he soon regained his composure back. And he looks sternly. "Think of it the way you like it," he started. His voice harder than usual. "But I won't let you get away with unfinished business left in here."

"Oh come on, Warner, you really think too high of yourself." I give him a smirk, just to spite him. I know doing this isn't right, but he's being unreasonable to a fault. "I may be under your command for a long while now, as I stay here, but you've forgotten whom you're talking with."

"What do you mean?" he looks skeptically.

"What I mean is," I say slowly as I lean forward towards his ear. "I don't just do orders, Warner. I do what I want and the one I only allow myself to follow is currently rotting in the pits hell right now. In which, makes all previous order to me null and void." I stop letting my words bury deep in his mind. "And as you say awhile ago──which I want to remind you──I can do what I want in my own will. Don't tell me, you'd force me in your bidding like a robot-mannequin just like what your father did?" I remind him as I throw back his own words back to him.

He looks taken aback at that. It was partly true since all of my tasks came from his father and that I don't follow orders strictly, unlike what I seemed to be to others. Even to him. But there's still a hole in it. And I wonder if he's figuring it out as he blatantly gazes at me. His eyes never wavering from its course.

Time stretches and after having no response for him, I deem it time to continue what his presence and argument had interrupted. Turning my back from him, I let my mind wander off. I know I had promised to stay, I had made it clear to all of them even with his father and Castle and Juliette. But what he didn't know was that I had also given my word long ago that I won't be able to break. It's that one that I vowed myself never to break. But with my promise with him disrupting with that, I had to choose. It's just choosing between the lesser evil.

Sad to say, I had chosen…

"So be it," his voice cut me out off of my thoughts and brings me back to the present. I turned around to look at him, quite glad that he finally relented.

But staring up at his eyes, told me another thing. "Warner," I breathed out exasperatedly. Too tired to come up with anything. Too tired to think of a way to make him understand.

He sighs loudly and he steps forward towards me. He's now standing right in front of me, with his height towering over me and space inches away. His hands move to grasp my arms, gently this time. "But I'm not yet giving up. Not just yet, Cifer."

"Don't be a stubborn-head, Aaron." I admonish lightly, hoping using this manner instead will make him see my point. "Everything in here is done for me. Unlike you, I have no more enough reason to stay and I still have soldiers waiting for me back there in Sector 18. So, clearly, I'm done in here."

He shakes his head lightly, his breath fanning me. "Then I'll make one for you."

"You can't."

"What makes you think I can't?" he challenges back, still looking at me.

"I just know." But even now, looking at those emerald depths of his, I'm not quite sure anymore. There's something in them that makes me doubt everything I say to him. The once fountain of confidence I have held for myself and my actions had fled without notice with him around. He still has that same effect on me.

He smirks. "People do change, Cifer. And I'm not that unaffected like what you all think." He says too proud and too sure for my tastes. It's like he's found a way to end up the winner. "And you think too lowly of me if that's the case."

I'm about to come back with a retort but words stumble back inside my lips as his covered mine. It was too soft and too hard at the same time that I had thought it was all an illusion my mind was playing me with. But feeling his hands snaked around my torso and seeing his eyes closed and his calm expression, I fear for my own sanity even more. It's just too unbelievable. Too surreal to be a part of my tragic and cold reality. I tried pushing him back, tried to free myself with his arms that contains, caging, me. But gravity isn't in favor of me as his arms held on to me even tighter pulling me flush against him.

Time continues to slip and the world outside this four-walled room continues to spin, but right now, I could feel my walls slowly crumbling down into nothing. His lips deepening its attack as another wall cracks and breaks down. And I dread that even my resolve is about to blow up right in my face as it cedes.

His hands holding me like how I held on to what keeps my sanity in check, to what I keep to maintain myself intact through everything. His body and frame giving me the strength to stand up as I feel my limbs and knees buckling down and I grip on to his arms for support. His kisses give me the oxygen to maintain my lungs together, to sustain the air he's taking away from me. He holds on like he's afraid he would lose me if he didn't, like I would vanish in an instant.

And I may. I might.

"Stay, Cifer." He whispers breathlessly, huskily. His face just about an inch away. His hot breath caresses my skin as his lips brushes into mine as he speaks, "I order you to stay here with me."

"Aaron stop." I plead as I struggle to keep myself from giving in. It's all too much for me. "Please…"

"No, I won't." he says firmly as he pulls me flush against him. His hands are strong and steady in its grip around me. His head rests in the crook of my neck, his breath like a soft caress fanning against my skin making me shiver. "I've let you go away once, I've almost lost you twice," he pulled back a bit and look at me; his eyes hardened as they stare at me that I could even see myself in them. His eyes see only me. "…and I'll be damn if I lose you the third time."

"Aaron, listen carefully, you're getting it all wrong," I tried reasoning him out all the while making my voice firm and stable as my knees starts to be weak. Hoping against hope he'll come to his senses and let go. Hoping that I'll still have everything I have intact inside. Hoping and wishing to still my heart that was slipping from its cage faster than ever. "You don't feel that way to me; you confuse yourself with our relationship, our past, and your emotions. I'm an old flame, I've known that." I told him, staring into those emerald eyes that haunt me still. "You love Juliette, right? It's her now, not me. Not anymore me."

Old flame. My own words replayed in my head repeatedly and I fought hard the scowl that threatens to reveal. The tears that wanted to escape my eyes. And to the heart I had thought had fallen asleep and cold for a long time.

"No." he says as he leans his forehead into mine, his hair mixing with mine. "God," he breathes out huskily and vulnerably, so unlike him for me to see and hear. And his smooth baritone voice didn't help my case. "I need you, Cifer... Fuck. I love you. So please… I'm begging you, please don't go. Stay with me."

If his words and pleading didn't do me in, it was his lips upon me, sucking the air out of me that did it. And I'm caught. Hook. Line. Sinker. And everything went flying back as his lips descended into mine, molding, holding mine. He kisses me like he's struggling for his last breath. Like his latching on to the last fragment of life, fighting to stay against death. Like he's on the brink of losing his sanity and I'm the one keeping them all in, keeping him whole. Like he's dying and I'm the only one to give his life back.

And in that moment, it was not him who did let go.

It was me.

Fin.