Catherine was staring out the window, waiting for any sign of Apollo. Occasionally, her mind would play cruel tricks on her. A shimmer out of the corner of her eye. A glint on the horizon. But the day passed without his return.
Twenty-four hours after he was supposed to be back, familiar feelings settled in the pit of her stomach. Confusion. Restlessness. Anxiety. Fear. Mingled together to form a frightful cocktail of emotion that she hadn't felt since… Since David had disappeared, really.
The hours slowed, as she found herself staring too often at the clock, any clock, willing Apollo to arrive and ease her trepidation. And yet, although the day passed by at the speed of frozen molasses, she was still surprised to find that sundown had finally occurred.
And no Apollo.
She bit her nails, then she bit the skin around her nails. A couple of them bled, her chewing mangling the cuticles.
At nightfall, she remembered that she hadn't eaten that day. All of that time spent watching the time tick by, and not thinking to take care of herself.
When a knock sounded at the door, her heart leapt in her chest. Who could be on the other side? Apollo?
Not Apollo?
She peered through the peephole, silent as a mouse, holding her breath until she could let it out in either a sigh of relief or a shallow catch of terror.
And it was him.
Thank God, she thought as she sighed.
The locks, every single one, were unlocked in their turn, and a weary Apollo made his way across the threshold and into the apartment. He staggered past her, and she forced herself to look away, as she relocked them inside. He collapsed on the bed, not caring that it was dark out and they would be sleeping soon. She followed. He'd thrown a wadded-up ball of clothing, his Reaper coat, onto the floor.
He needs the bed. His bed. I'll take the couch, no biggie. What the hell happened?
Thoughts overlapped in her mind, and she bit her lip and silently pondered what to say.
Did Cole hurt him? Where was he? This can't happen, again. Do I let him rest? Are we in danger? Can I help him, in some way? Probably not. He healed me…how long will it take for him to be back to normal? Will he be okay?
His eyes were closed, but he turned his head toward her and squinted them open. She sat at the edge of the bed, so that her face was closer to his.
"We need to talk," he said without ceremony. His voice was weaker than usual, perhaps, but, judging solely by the strength of his tone, he wasn't as hurt as he appeared to be.
"Now?" Catherine questioned back. "Can't you, like, take some time to heal, first? Are you okay?" She wanted to ask more, but successfully stopped the bombardment of questions in the back of her throat.
"No," he insisted. "You need to know that the Reapers are looking for you, too. Not just Cole."
Apollo noticed her tense, as her back straightened in her seated position. "They're out in teams right now, I'm sure of it. Checking everywhere in the Neon. EVERYWHERE. I'll tell you more, but we need a plan, first. Then, I need to recharge. After those two things, I'll tell you everything."
She nodded, dumbly, screaming internally.
"We have two problems," he continued, still lying down and looking up at her. "My identity as Apollo and the fact that they're specifically searching for you. I have-" he took a breath and allowed it to create an awkward pause in the one-sided conversation. "I have nowhere to hide you. But," he faintly smiled. "I think we can kill two birds with one stone.
"I have no idea when the Reapers are going to get here. I don't know if they'll be here within the hour or if it'll take a week. That's why I need to rest and recover. When they get here, you need to put on my coat. My Reaper coat." He looked toward the edge of the bed, but his head didn't follow. "My mask is in one of the main pockets. Put it on whenever you hear a knock at the door, and then," his expression sobered into a deadly serious look, "you stay by my side. I'll do my best to shield you, so that you can't be seen. And if I fail…I'll do my best to-"
"Keep me safe," she finished quickly and softly. She nodded, again, and she felt her eyes grow hot with tears. She kept nodding, unable to stop, too frightened to be able to move on to a different emotion. It was a lot to take in. And Apollo had told her so little. Probably wouldn't be able to handle any more than what he just threw on my plate. Listen for a knock, rush to put the coat on, rush to him…
"I need light-" he cut himself off, this time, reaching a hand toward the fan on the ceiling.
Catherine looked up, ceasing her nodding and watching for what Apollo would do. The bulbs in the four lights surged momentarily, then they dimmed until they were out. When she looked back to him, he gave her a small smile of reassurance, then closed his eyes.
She wanted to stay. Just lie down and be near him…like before. But she worried that he wouldn't heal as quickly with her close by. She looked up, again, at the fan. Clearly his power had burnt out the bulbs. Did he have more? Should she look?
Figuring that her looking for new bulbs for the bedroom light was at least something productive to do, she left the room. She left the door open, in case she needed to check on him. As soon as she was out of the bedroom, she remembered his instruction and returned to grab his Reaper coat from where he had discarded it. She took it to the same chair that he had often thrown it over. The mask….cowl…thing is in one of the pockets? Needing to make sure that was true, in case it had accidentally fallen out, she felt for the knit fabric in the front right pocket and pushed it further down into the cavity.
The search for lightbulbs proved to be unfruitful, but it kept Catherine from dwelling on her brief reunion with Apollo. She had cereal for dinner, washed her face, and went to lie down on the couch. Every light in the apartment was off, and she hoped that the darkness would, somehow, place Apollo's home into a void that would fall off whatever map the Reapers were using to hunt for her.
Weird thing to wish for…
For the second night in a row, she slept poorly. A combination of the new sleeping arrangement, her concern for Apollo's health, and her heightened paranoia that tried to convince her that every little noise outside the apartment was a party of Reapers coming to drag her away.
Apollo awoke before she did, and Catherine found him meditating on floor of the living area, right behind the couch she slept on and within the rectangular patch of pure sunlight that poured through the largest window. She saw the back of his head, as she sat up on the couch. She got up to use the restroom, then came back out and glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was late morning. Later than she'd anticipated. He saw her reenter his space and he rose from his seated position, but stayed in the sun. Catherine walked over and sat at the kitchen table.
"We still need to be ready for the Reapers," he said calmly. He opened his eyes and looked over to where she sat, although he remained seated in the sunlight. "But I can tell you what happened, if you want to know."
She sat up, tensing. "Of course I want to know," she matter-of-factly stated.
"Zeke arranged a meeting with Cole, without letting me know beforehand," he shared. "I have no idea why he wouldn't give me a heads-up, but it is what it is." He stood, with concerted effort. Clearly, he wasn't at peak condition. Catherine waited patiently to hear him continue.
"Zeke was trying to form an alliance, or something, with Cole. He suggested we all team up against Alden-"
Catherine's face must have betrayed her confusion, because Apollo cut himself off to explain.
"Alden's the leader of the Dust Men," he clarified. "Cole…he kind of…recognized me. He remembered that we fought on the same day that…that I found you."
A shiver went up her spine.
"Cole couldn't really piece it all together, but he made a demand of Zeke: the Reapers needed to find you and give you back to him," he said, as his jaw ticked. "And, if they did, Cole would agree to Zeke's terms. And more."
He looked as though he wanted to say more, but he paused instead.
"Okay…" Catherine slowly let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "What are you not saying?"
Apollo regarded her, and it made Catherine wonder what she looked like, in that moment. Did she look as terrified as she felt? She was trying to reign in her emotions as much as possible.
"Cole offered to leave the Neon," he finished.
"Leave the Neon?" she questioned in confusion. And then it dawned on her. "Like, leave it alone permanently? Leave it to the Reapers?"
Apollo nodded and finally left his patch of sunlight to walk toward her.
"But Zeke – if he knew what happened – would he really turn me over to-" She wanted to say the name, but it seemed to be stuck in her throat. Apollo sat down.
"Do you remember me saying that Zeke might use you as bait?" he said seriously.
Catherine shook her head. She honestly didn't recall Apollo using those words.
"Well," he continued, anyway. "I did. And I still think that. Bait or bargaining chip. I'm not sure which. He might feel horrible about having to do so, but I really believe that he strongly follows the mantra of 'the ends justifies the means.' If I'm wrong about Zeke, then I'm wrong. But I'm not willing to take that chance. Are you?"
Her head dropped at that logic. She didn't know this Zeke guy. She didn't know anyone here, except Apollo, and he'd already proven himself to be a protector.
If Apollo thinks it's a bad idea to plead my case to Zeke…I guess I don't want to go there.
"Why didn't you come home," she plucked the question from her mind, "after meeting with…them?"
"Like I said, Cole recognized me," Apollo grimly reminded her. "He may not know our connection, but he blames me for attacking him as you were escaping. He blasted me off the damn roof. I almost died. Zeke had me dragged to one of our safehouses."
"How did you find out about Zeke sending the Reapers out to find me?"
Another hesitation. I know that, it clicked in her brain. David used to do that, too, when he didn't want or know how to say something that might upset me.
"I woke up in the warehouse with Zeke and Aura in the room," he calmly related. As if it was hardly news. "He mentioned what was going on, about the searches. I knew I needed to get out and warn you. Come up with a plan." He tilted his head slightly back. "As soon as I could, I slipped out and came back here."
She'd asked a few more questions, after that, but Apollo had little more information to give her. She abandoned her quest for answers and went to lie down on the bed, anxious to sleep comfortably. She was hungry, but not to the point of wanting to make the effort to eat before resting.
Days passed in the one-bedroom apartment. Apollo returned to the couch, and he had successfully recovered from his injuries. His attitude brightened, as Catherine could tell that he was now confident that he held enough power to see his plans through.
At first, every foreign noise was alarming. For both of them. A creak in the hallway outside the door, or a knock within the context of a television show; anything and everything made their hearts skip a beat and Catherine start to grab the Reaper coat from its home on the chair.
And, of course, as soon as quarantine life lulled them back to its dull routine, that was when the Reapers came calling.
The first knock they heard was down the hall. Apollo heard it, but Catherine was blissfully unaware, until she saw him startle and turn off the television. He stared at the door and waited. Another knock sounded, and, this time, she heard it, too. Closer. Demanding.
She was already on her feet, grabbing for the Reaper coat, to throw it over the lounging clothes she had on for the day. Needing to be sure, once again, she plunged her hand into the pocket where she had last felt the mask. It was there, but that knowledge brought her no relief.
Another knock. Closer, still.
"Are you sure it's them?" she whispered.
He nodded and came closer to her. "They'll be in teams," he whispered, as well. "Two, hopefully…but possibly more. They'll want to check everywhere you could be hiding, then they'll move on. Lots of area to cover. I don't think it'll take long."
She shook in the long coat, and then she felt him wrap his arm around her. She leaned into the hug and felt tears burn behind her eyes.
This could be it. I might be taken. Or maybe Apollo would be able to fight them off? But how many teams are here? What if I'm killed in the crossfire? Could Apollo heal me before I die? If they take me to Cole, will Apollo be able to find me, again?
"Stay calm," he whispered into her ear, quieting her frazzled thoughts. "Stay quiet. Trust me. We'll get through this."
"We'll get through this… we'll get through this… we'll get through this…" David's favorite saying.
Her heart flipped in her chest, and she nuzzled further into David's…no, Apollo's solid form.
Another knock at a door that had to belong to a next-door or across-the-hall neighbor. Deep, muffled voices. The apartment building was expertly insulated, if not much of the nearby conversations could be heard. Especially given that the poor tenants were most likely having orders barked at them. A loud banging sound could be heard, farther away but on the same floor. Then a crash sounded out, and the banging ceased.
"They'll be breaking into every home," he softly explained. His voice tickled the skin under her ear. "That's why it wouldn't help for us to just not answer the door."
And then it was their turn.
The rapping knock was heard on the door of their domicile. Apollo took Catherine by the hand and led her straight toward the danger. When they reached the door, he turned to look at her and adopted a determined countenance. She felt nothing, like the last time he had held her wrist and made it invisible.
She looked down, panicked that it wasn't working.
She saw nothing. No feet, no legs, no body. Nothing.
He smirked confidently and pulled her behind him, resting his hand, holding hers, on his hip.
It had taken too long, and whomever was on the other side of the door grew impatient. They knocked again, even louder, shaking the whole door within the frame.
"OPEN IT UP, OR WE'RE BREAKING IT DOWN!"
Apollo took his free right hand and began the process of undoing the many locks.
"Hold on!" he called out in response. "Takes a minute to unlock it!"
And when the door was ready, he opened it. Catherine couldn't see who was there, and she didn't want to press her luck by peeking out from around Apollo.
"We're coming in!" a male voice announced.
He stepped back, bumping into her, and she stepped back, too. That's when she saw two Reaper grunts enter her only haven.
"What's going on?" Apollo sounded agitated. Which is perfect, because I know he must be.
"We're looking for someone," one of them muttered.
Catherine couldn't see, still standing behind Apollo, who left the door open and walked slowly toward the kitchen. She noted that he was standing in a spot that allowed him to be close enough to the door but also within view of everything in the apartment.
"Okay, well, I'm the only one here-" he started.
"Just shut up and let us do our job," a different voice interrupted. "Bitch!"
"Got some women's clothes and stuff in here!" the first man called out from the bedroom. Catherine looked over and saw a hefty Reaper man rifling through the contents of the dresser drawers.
"Who do those belong to?" sneered the second Reaper, the one closer to Apollo and out of Catherine's view.
"My girlfriend," Apollo replied without hesitation. But he sounded…stiff.
"And where is she?"
"She's dead. Happened in the blast," he finished quietly.
Catherine wondered if that was true. Mariah…
"She was all the way in the Historic District?"
"I'm from the Historic District," Apollo shot back, anger creeping up in his tone. "So was she," he whispered to follow up.
"Then why do you still have her stuff?"
"Do I really have to explain why I would want to keep her stuff around our apartment?"
"No," the large Reaper chimed in, exiting the bedroom and coming closer to the conversation. "We get it. Sorry."
His partner, clearly the more antagonistic of the two, strolled to the opposite side of the apartment. Catherine saw a thinner man, shorter than Apollo but taller than the Reaper who'd checked the bedroom. He opened the entertainment center's main cabinet and took his time examining the contents.
"I don't have a person stashed in there," Apollo called out to him, irritated.
"Shut the fuck up!" the lanky Reaper called back.
"We're looking for this girl," the Reaper in front of Apollo informed him.
Catherine pressed her face up against her protector's back, wanting desperately to hold onto him for her life. He lightly squeezed her hand in response.
"I've never seen her," Apollo shrugged. Catherine looked up and saw Apollo's head swivel to the left, to locate the other Reaper in the apartment. "Hey! What the hell, man?"
"Call it an inspection fee," the rude man replied.
There was little said, from any of the three men in the room, after that. Thankfully, the Reapers did, in fact, leave. Apollo slowly backed up, and Catherine did the same, to effectively escort the unwanted visitors out of the apartment. The two men continued down the hallway, and, soon after, were heard knocking on another door.
Apollo shut the door behind them, and Catherine pulled away. She didn't realize that she was looking down, until she saw herself instantly become visible. He turned around, at the loss of contact, to face her.
"Keep the coat on," he whispered. "Just in case."
She nodded, fearful that even the smallest feminine sound would result in Reapers breaking through the door to get her. Apollo walked leisurely to the couch and sat back down. Catherine followed, quick on his heels, anxious to stay close to the man who could wield light as a weapon. When she sat right next to him, he looked briefly at her out of the corner of his eye. Then, he reached for the TV remote on the coffee table. He changed the channels until they were watching a cooking show.
Catherine watched, wishing that she could lean into Apollo. But nothing in his body language suggested that her doing so would be welcomed. She wanted comfort. For him to put his arm around her and hold her, so that she could truly calm down.
Screw it.
If he didn't like it, he could push her away.
She picked up the arm that was closest to her with both hands and moved into the space underneath it, against his side. Her head leaned against his broad chest and the arm fell into place along her shoulders.
Before he could comment, she spoke.
"Will this happen, again?" she barely breathed out. "Will they come back, again?"
She felt the chest take a deep breath and exhale. Some tension, at least, seemed to release in that small action, and Apollo accepted the more intimate position.
"I don't know." His voice was no longer a whisper, having the television on to mask some of the apartment's noise, but he did speak quietly. "Either Cole will have to accept that finding you proved to be impossible, or Zeke will keep sending out teams until you're found."
"Did you really have a girlfriend who died in the blast?"
Another long-drawn breath. That's fair… my question came out of nowhere. Catherine prepared for Apollo to shoot her request for information down, as he had done so many times before.
"Yes," he admitted. "Well, an ex-girlfriend, technically. We broke up years ago."
"I saw the album in your bookcase," she confessed, as well. It feels like a confession. "Mariah?"
A little stiffening of muscle underneath her.
"Yes."
"Can you tell me about her? Please? Take my mind off the city-wide manhunt out to get me?"
A sigh. A signal that he was going to give into her pleas.
"We met in high school. In the Historic District," he clarified. "I wasn't lying to that guy, just now. I grew up in the Historic District. So did she…Mariah. We dated, on and off, for a couple of years in school. My parents and sister…they uh…they loved her. I was accepted into ULNM, and I couldn't wait to get away. I kind of tried to keep things together with Mariah for that first year, but we broke up when I came home for the summer.
"Three years later, I graduate with my Bachelor's, move back up to Empire City, and I start the process of applying to ECFD. I knew my sister stayed friends with Mariah, and I wasn't mad about it. And with her coming over to visit, we kind of…fell back into that easy routine of being together. But I didn't," he stopped and ran his free hand through his hair in a frustrated gesture, "I didn't…want it to…go anywhere. When I was finished with fire academy, I hoped I would be placed in the Neon. That didn't happen immediately, so I stayed with my parents in the Historic District, saved up a bunch money, and I kept dating Mariah. When the opportunity came to transfer battalions, I came here. I thought Mariah and I would end things, with my move, but she wanted to move in with me."
Catherine wasn't looking up at Apollo to see his facial expressions, but she could hear that the pause was due to his hesitation.
"It didn't last long," he continued. "She left after about six months. Back to the Historic District. I was relieved. But, I mean, I felt bad. The first few times visiting home were…awkward. Mariah was almost always there. My mom never asked me if I was dating anyone new, she just encouraged me to get back together with Mariah. My sister understood better, I think. And Mariah…she was willing to give me some space, but I think she also figured that I would eventually want her back.
"The morning of the blast, I was supposed to go meet my family for a barbeque. My sister texted me that morning to let me know that Mariah would be there. So," he sighed in obvious emotional pain, "I decided not to go. I wasn't in the mood to have to see Mariah. I lost everyone I loved that day. I rushed over and stayed in the blast radius for hours, hoping that I would find one of my family members still alive, somehow. Or Mariah…because I didn't realize how much I cared about her until I lost her forever. I loved her, I just didn't want the pressure of…what came after that."
Yeah, I get that, Catherine thought privately.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, as she looked up to his face.
Apollo met her eyes and gave a strained half-smile. When she sympathetically smiled back, his eyes focused in on her lips. Her heart picked up its pace, instinctually recognizing the emotional pull that was drawing him toward her.
He didn't have far to reach, when he leaned down to kiss her. For the split second that it took, she wondered if she should stop what was coming. He'd just poured out his heart, for the first time, and she knew that he was reacting more to his own trauma than to herself.
But the part of her that still craved comfort didn't ultimately care.
She met the kiss with equal fervor, slowly rolling her upper body to parallel his. Deftly, she moved to straddle his lap. The heavy, stiff coat did nothing to help her, and, as she shrugged it off, she felt his hands grab the lapels and pull it off her shoulders. She heard it fall on the floor at their feet, collapsing on top of itself. Her focus remained on their locked lips, as the kiss deepened and inflamed her body.
As soon as the coat was off, Apollo had sprawled his large hands on the expanse of her back, pulling her even closer. She initially placed her hands lightly at his collarbones, but now she gently pushed them up and over his shoulders. Her fingers brushed against the short hairs at the back of his neck and he responded to the caress by moaning appreciatively into her mouth.
Despite the danger looming over their heads, they found a way to distract themselves.