Chapter Two - Sold
She wasn't sure if she was just imagining things but to Starling it felt like the temperature in the cell had dropped. She felt sick. She hugged her legs close to her chest as she inhaled deeply and exhaled shakily.
She had refused him. She had lost her only chance to save the Storm Hawks.
"Fine by me. I don't care if they die."
Starling clenched her teeth and buried her face into her palms.
"You let them die only because you're unable to swallow your pride."
She gripped her purple hair in frustration and almost groaned as his haunting voice kept echoing over and over again in her head.
It was torturing her. He was torturing her without even being here.
"And here I thought you were willing to do anything for them. After all, aren't they just kids?"
Yes, but he couldn't expect her to…to…
"So am I getting it right that you're willing to let them die?"
He was right. They were going to die because of her. She had the chance to save them but didn't act upon it.
Just why could she never save the people she cared about? It was as if whenever people would manage to befriend her and get through the thick emotional barrier around her, they were doomed to die a horrible death.
Starling had never been much of a very social person. She had always been somehow inapproachable and cold. She had always been very efficient at what she was doing, may it have been passing her exams to become a sky knight or fighting Talons. She had been a fair superior, never favouring one member of her squadron over the other. She would always keep an emotional distance from the people around her.
But the members of the Interceptors had somehow managed to open her up. Their relationship had changed from being a professional superior/subordinate relationship to a more amiable friendship. And then they had been killed, murdered by Repton. It had happened from one small moment to another. They had died, just like that.
After that fateful event, she had been unresponsive to everything around her. The Sky Council had already given up on her, so had she almost done the same. But then she had somehow managed to get back on track. She had been even offered to form a completely new squadron but she had refused in the honour and memory of her fallen friends. The Interceptors should exist until the last of them died.
Starling had never thought that she would be able to have a solid friendship again. She had been fine with the life of solitude she had been leading so far. She had never had the desire to go through such a pain again and if she remained alone and never let any person close to her again, she wouldn't have to risk the chance of experiencing another tragedy like that ever again.
But then she had met the Storm Hawks. And they, too, had managed to get through her. Starling had actually grown very fond of them without really noticing it herself.
And now she was about to lose people she cared about deeply again. Not only had she grown to like them very much but they were also very young. She had also seen it as her duty to watch out for them, since they were so young and inexperienced. Sure, they were pretty skilled for their ages but they lacked the experience she had.
No, she couldn't let them die! This time she wouldn't fail to protect her friends! They just couldn't die, when she had the chance to save them.
Starling stood up and walked over to the bars. The Talon, who was guarding her cell, looked at her expectantly. Starling smirked a bit. He had taken on a fighting stance, although the bars separated them and made a fight nearly impossible.
"I want to speak to the Dark Ace," she said, her voice cutting through the thick silence. "It's important. I'm sure, he'll understand," she added.
He stood there for a moment and regarded her suspiciously. But then he nodded and left, not before letting another Talon take his place as the guard.
Starling stayed at the bars and ignored her new guard. She was too busy fighting the sick feeling inside of her off. It was the right decision. She would protect them by any means possible. That was what she had promised herself and she wouldn't back down even if it meant selling her body.
She clenched her fists tightly to subdue the shaking of her hands.
They would live. That was important. She would protect them. It was her duty. It was her own wish.
Starling jerked her head to the right, upon hearing several footsteps approaching.
He was coming.
She unclenched her fists. Her mask was perfectly intact. She needed to be as unreadable as possible, knowing how good the Dark Ace was at using emotions against someone. But she wouldn't let him.
"Starling?"
"Dark Ace," she said curtly in an odd sort of greeting him.
His red gaze bore into her green one. It felt like as if his eyes were boring straight into her soul. It was unnerving and she felt the uneasiness creep back into her.
"I accept your offer if it still stands, that is," she said.
He didn't say anything, he just smirked.
He had gotten what he wanted.