Maisy stared. Pink? Hadn't she requested that there should be no pink?
"I'm sure the disgusted look on your face has to do with your breath this morning and not the lovely dress? Am I correct?" Alex said holding back a smirk.
"It's… Pink." Maisy said in disbelief.
"Well, I would hope so, if not then I'm going colorblind, and that may cause problems for me." Alex said turning away from her to smirk.
"We have reservations at 6. I would like for you to be ready in time. As long as you do not try to leave or get help, you will only have to deal with me to change my bandages." Alex said, "I will be back in an hour or so. Breakfast is on the table. Lunch will be at 1. I suggest you might eat then shower. Clothes to lounge in will be on the bed when you come out. Knock on the door adjoining our rooms when you are dressed. You will change my bandages then." and just liked that he walked out.
Maisy hesitantly walked over to the table and looked at the trays of food. How much did he think she would eat? She grabbed two pancakes, a banana, and some juice, a cup of coffee with plenty of sugar and creamer, and a hardboiled egg. She sighed as she sipped her coffee. She never really had cared for tea. It was good, but coffee was so much better.
She finished her cup of coffee and slowly walked to the shower. One benefit of being at a hotel, limitless hot water. She groaned as the hot water loosened the tension in her back muscles. Ugh, that pink dress. It was just an ugly color really. A weak color. But at least the shoes might be cute. They would most likely be silver or white. Hopefully, they wouldn't be pink.
Oh well, it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it.
Alex
Alex slowly dismantled his gun and cleaned it as he thought about last night. He glanced over at the phone. Was it time for another call? No. they would still be waiting for the phone. Let them keep waiting. Soon, none of this would matter. They would forgive him or at least he hoped they would. The last Rider. It would all be over. No more MI6, no more ASIS, and no more Scorpia. or CIA.
After all, none of them could use him if he was dead. In all reality, he should already be dead. He had been fourteen years old with no field experience and only training given by his uncle and instinct. He should have died, but by mere luck he had survived. And then he had survived the rest. But now he had understood. At first he had thought that killing Ian would sate him. But he had realized it wasn't something you could sate by killing one person. Because that person no longer impacted his life. He realized that feeling in him was a need to escape. A need to just once be free. And he had understood immediately that the only way to escape was to die. As proven with Ian, Yassen, and John faking your death did you no good. They always found you eventually. The only true way to escape was to die.
In any other way, they could find you and use you over and over again. Until that tiny shred of yourself died and you became nothing but the agent they had wanted. And this is what Alex Rider truly feared. He feared the agent he was becoming. He had realized what he was becoming the second he had pulled the trigger on the gun that had fired a bullet straight into Jack's brain. And he had hated himself for it.
Alex sighed. He could stop couldn't he? If he wanted to could he just leave tonight? So many things. At first it was vengeance. But then it had turned into something so much more. A self-hatred. All along he had blamed everyone, but himself. He had killed Jack, because it was her fault that they were able to blackmail him. He had tried to kill people in MI6 and did kill people in MI6 because it was their fault that he was recruited. He had tried to kill Ian, because it was his fault that Alex had ever been trained to be a spy. But in the end as he laid there in bed, hoping for once he would be able to sleep with out some sort of drug, he had realized whose fault it had been all along.
It had been his fault. He could've just allowed Jack to be shipped off. But he had been too weak. He should have learned to look the other way. He should have walked the other way. Paid attention in class, been a normal schoolboy. But instead he had caused his own downfall. And hurt everyone around him that had ever tried to protect him. And Alex hated himself for realizing this. Less than a day ago, he had been okay with what he was doing. He had been ready to kill everyone that cared about him and move on. Like it was nothing, but an average day in his life. And in way it was. But not anymore. Last had been his turning point. No one else but him would get hurt from his actions.
He walked away from the window. He would have her change his bandages. Give her the bag that didn't have pink clothes and money. And tell her to run. When they came to find him he would be gone. Not dead. He wasn't really ready for that yet. He had some things he wanted to do first.
He wanted to go home.
Maisy
Maisy walked quietly over to the door. And knocked. He walked in with two bags in hand. One was a medical bag and the other she didn't know what it was for.
"Change my bandages." Alex grumbled curtly. No need to show a huge change. Act like you used to. Curt and emotionless.
Maisy nodded numbly. He pulled off his shirt and she had to fight back a blush. Injured or not he was damned muscular. She began working carefully with his wounds gently cleaning them and then applying some medicine to speed up the healing and to help it heal nicer. Then she began to apply new bandages.
"They are healing nicely. You should be able to move easier tomorrow. In two or three days I should be able to take the stitches out." Maisy said nervously. She knew what would most likely happen to her once he was healed.
He tossed the other backpack at her.
"Take it and run. Don't come back. If you do I will kill you. I don't care who you run to. So if you want to go back to them, go ahead. It won't matter. Don't look for me. And tell them to stop as well. It's all over now." Alex said his voice slowly growing softer.
Maisy nodded and stumbled towards the door.
"The car keys are in the front pocket." Alex said quietly.
And just like that she was gone. Alex walked over to his room and grabbed his bag and another pair of car keys. If everything had gone right. Another car should be waiting for him. And then he would go home.
Ian, John, and Yassen, ETC.
Yassen jumped. He had heard the car door slam, but none of them had left.
There was banging on the door and the girl. No wait it was Maisy.
John and Ian stood behind with guns drawn.
"Wait it sounds like Maisy. Alex might be with her." Yassen whispered. Was it possible? Could Alex be brought back to them this easily?
He cautiously opened the door to see a frantic Maisy.
"He just randomly let me go. I don't know why. He said to stop looking for him and that it was all over now." Maisy sobbed.
Yassen stood there in shock the only words he could here anymore were that it was over now.
"No. Where was he going Maisy? Did he say where he was going?" John yelled as he pushed Yassen out of the way and grabbed Maisy.
"John let go of her. You know he wouldn't have told her something like that. But we will find him." Yassen said softly knowing that his friend and mentor was going through hell right now.
"How Yassen? How the bloody hell are we going to find him?" John yelled his face turning red with rage.
"If you were about to die and you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Yassen said softly.
"Home." Yassen heard Ian whisper, "I would go home."
"Alex is a lot like both of you even if he is lost. I'll bet you he is going home." Yassen said watching John's eyes fill with tears.
"I can't lose him more than I already have. I love him. He is my everything." John whispered as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
Alex
Alex just laid there staring up at his ceiling as he thought bout all the moments he had had in this house. In this room. The house was quiet. So quiet. So perfect. This is the way things should have ended before. The house was quiet like when Jack used to go out to shop and it would just be him and his uncle in the house. It was peaceful. And now it was painful. Jack should have been getting home soon. And then Ian should have come out of his office for dinner eventually. Then coursework and bed. Maybe some videogames in-between those two things. But instead Jack was dead and Ian wasn't here. It was only him. And he had done this to himself.
Or at least he had thought he was. The door slamming open downstairs however said otherwise. And then the footsteps running up the stairs. Alex found himself frozen, unable to hide from them. And then his bedroom door flew open.
"Alex, please Alex just let us help please. We can help you. I promise we will be there this time. Just please Alex, please." John begged. And Alex just stared back.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I really am." Alex whispered as tears tracked down his cheeks.