Chase Part 14

Azure stands looking over his computer screens and smiles. It's finished. This past week had been hard for Silvia and Viridian. They'd sent Danvers back to her world, yet that didn't stop Silvia from being a bundle of nerves. Azure turns and heads to the stairs.

"A2ur3, start booting it up. I'll be back shortly." Azure says as he heads up the stairs and out into the bright morning light. Shielding his eyes, he heads towards Silvia's house. Hopefully she was doing better. When he gets there, he knocks on her door.

"Silvia!" After a few silent moments, Silvia finally opens up the door, but only a few inches to see who it was. When she recognizes it as Azure, she opens the door wide. Her eyes have faint dark circles under them, and her hair is in a mess of a ponytail.

"Hey, Azure," she greets, her voice rough.

"I came to see how you're doing." Azure says smiling.

"I'm doing fine." She gives him an almost forced smile. "Thanks for checking up." A crease forms on his forehead.

"You sure? Not stressing to much over Viridian, are you? He's fine now." Her smile fades as her facade is found out.

"It's not Viridian I'm stressed out about. Come on in." She moves out of the way for him. He goes inside and glances around her place, then back at her. "You want anything?" She asks, shutting the door behind him. "Tea, coffee, water?"

"I'm good. Thanks." Azure tells her. Silvia nods and moves across from him, leaning up against the counter of her kitchen, facing out into the living room. Her eyes seem distant.

"What's wrong Silvia? You aren't usually like this." He presses. She sighs.

"You really want to know, Azure?" She meets his eyes, and some broken part of her shines in her eyes.

"Yeah." She hesitates for a few moments. Then, as the words start to spill from her mouth, everything else just pours out.

"I killed Požar. I didn't want to, I never wanted to. Bela used me, Jade used me, and now Požar's gone because of my recklessness."

"No it wasn't you. It may have been your sword. But I saw what happened, that was Jade. He was the one that killed Požar." Azure says. She looks up at him.

"How do you know that? In my book, if you personally did the fatal injury, you killed them."

"In my far more experienced book, killing, real killing that is, has intention behind it. You never intended on killing Požar, but Bela and Jade did. They killed him, and if you hadn't been a bit sooner I would have. You didn't do anything wrong here." Tears prick at her eyes like daggers.

"He had so much left to do." She holds herself like she would lose herself if she did. Azure gives her a long look, she'd lost people before, he'd been with her when she had, having lost them with her, yet she seemed to fully grasp what that meant this time. That there was more to a life than what they meant to you.

"They always do, don't they? But don't worry, I'm going to fix everything. Everything will be fine soon." She looks up at him.

"What do you mean you're going to fix everything?" He smiles brightly.

"I'm going to make everything that was wrong, right. Don't worry anymore." Silvia raises an eyebrow.

"Do you care to elaborate?"

"You'll see soon." He goes over and lays a hand on her shoulder, his smile true and honest for the first time in years. It's warm and relaxing.

"Everything will be good." Silvia's face melts at his expression. She felt the honesty radiating off of him, and it made her break. She pulls him into a tight hug. He hugs her back tightly.

"Tell Viridian I'll be back later." He lets go and heads towards her door and heads off down the street. Silvia smiles ever so slightly and heads to find Viridian. When she arrives at his place, she knocks on his door.

"Who's there?"

"It's Silvia," she replies.

"Silvia who?" A smile can be heard in his tone. She rolls her eyes, her own smile appearing on her face.

"Silvia Danvers" Viridian opens the door and gives her a look.

"Worst knock knock joke ever. Just saying." Viridian says with a smirk.

"Glad to see you're doing better." She leans against the door frame, her arms crossed in front of her.

"Eh, a bit." He says pointing at the cast. "Major dent in the card tricks. What brings you to this part of town."

"I wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing. I'm sorry my magic couldn't help all the way with the healing."

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm more worried about you. Haven't seen you around as much since you know, everything." She shrugs.

"It's been hard on me, with Pozar and all." Silvia says looking at the ground. Viridian clenches his jaw.

"Yeah. It'll get better with time. I guess. I hope." he tells her. She looks down.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Have you seen Azure? He's been more holed up then you." Viridian asks. Silvia looks back up at him.

"Actually, he just came to see me. Wanted to see how I was doing."

"Really? So he's alright, uh? Mildly surprising."

"Yeah I know. We actually hugged."

"Hey that's good. We'll only get better together." She nods. "By the way, he wanted me to tell you something."

"Yeah?"

"He wanted me to tell you that he's going to fix everything."

"Fix... everything?" Viridian says. His tone coming out tense.

"Yeah, and he was smiling when he said it. To be honest, that's the most truthful I've seen him."

"Did he say how he could fix everything?" She shrugs. "He never said." "It feels odd doesn't it?"

"A little bit, given that it's Azure."

"No no something's-" he stops and looks at Silvia, remembering her pain over the past week. "Actually you're right. This is, great. Can't wait to see what he's doing." He lies. Silvia smiles, her demeanor changing.

"I can't either. Hopefully everything can change." Viridian examines her and puts on a smile.

"Hopefully." He repeats.

"If you need anything, you know where I am." Silvia says. She waves and heads back to her apartment.

"Yeah." He mutters to himself. Something's wrong. Azure smiled? He needs to go see what he's planning. He quickly grabs his blazer and throws it on as best he can over his arm. He runs out his door, kicking it closed behind him and runs full tilt towards Azure's house. He skids to a stop in front of the door and knocks on it. He stands, panting for a few moments before Azure finally opens the door.

"Viridian?" Azure says surprised.

"What are you doing?" Viridian asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Silvia told me you were going to 'fix everything' what does that mean?"

"I have a plan to fix everything that's ever gone wrong."

"How?"

"I'll show you." Azure says, stepping back and letting Viridian in. He leads him down into his basement where there's a huge set up of computers. In the middle of the room, a machine sits there, a blue energy courses through it.

"What is that?"

"It's a machine."

"No shit Sherlock. I meant what does it do?"

"It's what's going to fix everything." Azure says smiling.

"How?" Viridian asks, his voice showing how on edge he is.

"I've calibrated it to take certain parts of certain worlds and combine them into one single world. A perfect world where no one ever died and none of us had to ever experienced this pain that we're feeling now."

"A perfect world? Azure, people dying is normal. I thought you of all people would understand that!"

"I understand that it's normal here! But we live in a shit world. So I'll make a new one, where the people you and me and everyone else loved are still alive. Death isn't good! So I'll take it away!"

"But what about the other parts of those worlds, the worlds you don't use. What'll happen to them?"

"They'll be destroyed."

"That's wrong!"

"How can you tell me this is wrong? I'm saving everyone! Everyone! They didn't have to die! And soon, they won't have. I'll have saved them!" Azure shouts.

"Azure can't you see this is wrong?! You'll destroy so many worlds! So many people will die." Viridian cries.

"But they won't! No one will! They'll be there. In my world where all the good people are, my friends... my family. They'll be alive. And all those people who I killed and they didn't have to, they'll be there, too. It's a perfect world."

"There's no such thing! You've spent your whole life trying to save everyone, fighting these people who destroyed your life. But you never saw that your worst enemy was yourself. In your desire to save everyone, you'll kill them all. There's millions of worlds you'll destroy when you don't use them! Each one different with different people!"

"But a version of them will live on!" Azure shouts.

"And what about the rest of the versions? Each one is important! You aren't saving anyone! You're just killing them!"

"NO! I'M SAVING THEM!"

"YOU ARE THE BAD GUY!" Viridian screams at Azure. Azure steps back and grits his teeth.

"Take it back."

"No."

"Take. It. Back."

"I won't!" Viridian shouts. Azure grabs Viridian and pins himself against a wall.

"I'm saving them! I'll be a hero. Don't you get it? Everyone is dead. Too many of my friends. I've lost them all. I couldn't save them then. But I will now. I have to. It's the only way."

"To do what? Will you be happy? No. Azure, you want to be a hero. Yet you've spent your entire life killing because it's all you know. You think by saving everyone you've lost you can fix it. It won't work. You'll just end up destroying countless worlds."

"It has to work." Azure drops Viridian and backs up slowly before sitting down hard. "I can barely remember them, you know. My family, that is. Their faces have become so blurry, I just... I just wanted to save them. To see them. To see everyone. I thought going to a world where they lived I would be happy. But you're right, I was a nobody there. I wanted to be a hero and have them see me that way, but I couldn't find a world like that. So I decided I'd make one, and at the same time I'd save everyone else." Azure looks back at the machine, a single tear in his eye. "It won't work, will it? No one will be happy, the world will be a bunch of pieces of what I want forced together in a way that doesn't work. It'll die itself. And then there will be nothing."

"Azure, this worlds the only one we really have, you and Silvia have to learn how to live here."

"I wanted to be happy." Azure says looking over at Viridian.

"I know." Viridian says. Azure struggles to his feet and walks over to the machine and stairs at hit. Azure reaches out and hesitates. "Azure?" Azure hits a button and turns away.

"I shut it off. Nothing will happen."

"Thank god. I'm sorry Azure." Viridian says walking to the door.

"Viridian wait. Am I... am I a bad person?"

"I don't know. You spent your life killing yes, but you always killed people who were terrible people. I don't think we get to decide if we're good people. I think the people 100 years from now do. The ones who talk about what we did. And you've saved so many people in your life. I think you'll be remembered as a hero. Yet none of that matters if you can't accept yourself as one. You need to let go of the past, stop letting it control you, control what you do. Instead, you should control what you do. Focus on the future. I'm sure some power crazy guy will pop up soon. We'll need you to help us. But Azure you can never save everyone. Stop trying to." Viridian smiles at Azure who returns the smile as Viridian walks out, before he collapses back into his chair.

Azure stands in front of Silvia's door looking at it. He'd been standing there for forty-five minutes, yet he couldn't bring himself to knock. He'd promised her he'd fix everything. But here he was. The world was broken. Inside, Silvia is making dinner when she feels some weird presence at her door. She doesn't know what to make of it. Putting aside her food, she heads to her door and peeks out of the hole. Azure glances at the window when he sees it move, and sees Silvia. He doesn't move though. Just stands there. Silvia registers his blank expression and immediately knows that something is wrong. She moves from the hole and opens up the door.

"Hey."

"I-" he stops and his eyes shift around, never really settling on anything. "I couldn't fix anything."

"What do you mean you couldn't fix anything?" Silvia asks. He looks up at her.

"I told you I could fix everything. But I was wrong."

"What changed?" She asks, meeting his eyes.

"Viridian... he came and saw everything. Told me what I was doing was wrong." He looks straight at her now, almost pleading with her. "I thought I was going to save everyone who's died! My parents! Our friends! Arthur's kids! But in reality I'd just kill them all. Again." Silvia pauses for a few moments. In her over four years of knowing Azure, she'd never seen him in this state of mind. Now that she did, it was overwhelming. She steps closer to him.

"Azure." Her voice was soft, trying to comfort whatever fears Azure felt.

"I would've done it too. Even after everything he said to me, I almost did it. I'm not a monster or a weapon. I know that now. But I'm not whole either. There's something wrong with me."

"There's something wrong with all of us." She starts, slowly reaching for his hand. "I should know." He pulls his hand away slightly.

"I was doing it for you though. Just as much as for myself. You're why I hesitated." She retracts her hand, feeling a tinge of pain at his response.

"Why? I thought you gave up on me. After what I did to you, how I hurt you."

"I told you. I was going to fix everything."

Her eyes flicker with a small light of hope. "You wanted to fix stuff with me, as well as yourself?"

"Yes. I wanted the perfect world. Silvia you mean... a lot to me. And I think I mean a lot to you, too. But we just throw ourselves into danger instead of being there for each other. It's toxic, what we're doing. We'll get more people hurt with what we're doing." She blinks. This is what she wanted to hear this entire time, but it wasn't at the same time.

"We can change that," she offers. "It doesn't have to be like this forever, Azure. We don't need a machine to change our world. Maybe what we need is each other." Silvia says holding her hand out.

"Yeah. Yeah you're right. But I can't now, when I left all that time ago I left because I was in a horrible mind frame. I never meant to see you again. This time I'm leaving because we're both in the wrong place, but the biggest difference is, I'm definitely going to see you again. And soon." She looks down, almost as if hiding something in her eyes. It was happening again. Azure was leaving again. But would he really come back like he said he would? She thought back to what she told him as he fought Bela, and looks back up at him.

"I... You're right." As painful as the words were to say, she knew it was the only thing she could do. He looks at her for a second then reaches down to his belt and pulls out his gun and holds it out for her.

"Keep it safe for me, will you?" Silvia looks up at him, then down to his gun. Carefully, she takes it into her hands.

"You know I will."

"Thank you. I'm sorry Silvia. Protect the city."

"Don't be sorry." She gives him a small smile, with a trace of sadness lost in there. He hesitates then lightly grips her shoulder for a second before turning away slowly. She watches him leave for a few seconds before speaking up.

"Azure," she says. He stops and turns.

"Yeah?"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She smiles, just like the two of them were back in Beacon all those years ago. Back when she fell for him. He chuckles slightly.

"And don't do anything I would do." She laughed silently to herself.

"That's a lot of things."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. I do."

"See you around Silv."

"See ya, Blue." Azure gives her one last smile over his shoulder before heading down the street away from her house. Silvia watches him leave, the smile fading from her face. Her eyes leave him as they look down at his gun. Azure's gun, the one he always carried with him. She knew right there that he would come back. Her grip on the handle tightens as she turns around. With a single movement, she heads back inside, not looking back for the boy in blue.

Epilogue: Viridian

I know what you're thinking, why leave? Azure and Silvia finally told each other how they feel. The thing is they aren't ready for what that really means. Silvia's gone her whole life fighting to be her own self, but when it comes to Azure, she throws that out the window and does anything to save him. As for Azure he would kill an entire room full of people (as long as they were, in his eyes, bad) to save anyone he knows. But Silvia? As shown, he'd blow up the universe. These guys really need to chill out.

So Silvia's protecting Vale, it needs it still, after Cinder got to it. She'll do a good job. And I'll help. I always do. This time though, I'll let her be in charge. I'll stick to playing internet chess or something instead of some sort of game of death with a maniac.

As for Azure, he'll be on his own for awhile. Traveling the countryside and saving villages or something like that.

I know I know, you've been reading about Azure for a long time (if you've read all of his stories) and he always seems to be going through the same problem. "Is he a monster?" That's the question that always haunts him. He's been alone most of his life. Trained to be what was used for these past few days, a weapon, a tool. He was molded to be a monster. And even though he's not a monster and he knows that, I don't think he'll ever stop killing. He's been doing it for too long, and while I don't approve of killing, I'll say this for him: he only kills those who are truly evil. Because he wants be a hero, the hero. But he doesn't know how. Not yet. I think that's part of why he's leaving. To find out how to be that hero.