Alright it's finally here! You guys will be seeing Aiden in this chapter! Make sure to enjoy and remember if you don't like the story then don't read it. Let's get started!
(Three months later)
Clara spent a few months trying to forget what happened with Shaun, Peggy, and Teresse. Not only did she witness her friend ending his own life, but she also witnessed his little girl dying. All of it was disturbing to Clara and it sure as hell was a lot to take in.
She hasn't heard from her father since she told him that she was leaving the Black Dragon. Through the past couple of months, Clara wondered what he was doing. Was he searching for her? Was he worried about her? Did he even care?
The thought of her father brought her back to the memory of watching him kill somebody. Regardless, he was still her father and she still had a special place for him in her heart.
She had to get rid of her tattoos. They were what reminded of her the most about everything that had happened. She thought carefully about what to do with the roman coin and she decided to hold onto it.
She also worked on hiding her location by routing her packets through botnets. Clara never thought she would find herself using the trick, but with her situation with fixers, she had to.
Clara stuck with the decision to reunite with Aiden. She thought it might help her at least try to forget about everything that has happened. It could help with the fixers, yet again it could also worsen it. Aiden had fixers after him too.
But how would she be able to see him again?
Maybe Clara could try to hack and install a backdoor inside his phone if she ever did see him. Perhaps mess around with him for a bit and get him to come to her. Yet again that whole idea sounded dangerous. Once Aiden would find her, who knows what he'd do to her?
It was around night time when Clara was out and about roaming the streets of Chicago. She could hear police sirens from a distance and quickly hides behind a tree. Clara could see the red and blue lights of the cop cars drive past where she was.
Clara peeks her head out from the tree and notices that the cops weren't looking for her. They were going after another car. The car they were chasing stops. The driver of the car gets out and that's when Clara realized that the cops weren't just going after any citizen. They were going after The Fox.
The cops were already out of their cars and had their guns pointed at Aiden. Clara knew they were expecting his blackout trick when one of them said, "Put your hands up and don't even think about trying anything!"
Aiden held his hands up in surrender. Clara caught no sight of his phone in his hand. Was he actually planning something, or was he really surrendering to the police? He wouldn't do that would he?
Clara could see a steam pipe beneath the cop cars. She could tell what he was planning to do.
The police officers slowly make their way towards Aiden. They weren't taking any chances. However, Aiden didn't seem to move at all. He kept his hands still. As the police got closer and closer to him, Clara grew anxious by each second that passed.
She didn't want to take the chance of him getting arrested, so she hacked into the steam pipe and blew it up. The loud boom sent the cops to the ground. Although his mask hid his expression, Clara could tell he was slightly confused.
Aiden glanced around looking for his savior for a few seconds. Clara hid behind the tree once more in high hopes that he wouldn't be able to see her.
She could hear a car door slam shut and she could see Aiden start up his car again. Should she try to hack him? She was compelled to meet him again. She started the backdoor process before he took off.
Clara grew nervous because of what she had just done. She could hear his car come to a halt and she quickly takes off towards a crowd of people. While trying to blend in, Clara could see Aiden already scanning the area with his phone out. Clara began to walk faster when she saw him headed towards the crowd she was in.
She quickly turned right and was headed towards an alley which was probably a bad idea considering that she only had him at about fifteen percent. However, Clara still had her grapple gun with her so if Aiden did find her, she could make a clean getaway.
Halfway through the alley, Clara glanced behind her and immediately her heart dropped. Aiden was just 20 feet away from her. He had found her and he was waiting for her next move. Clara didn't know whether if she should tell him who she was, or if she should run away.
Clara couldn't tell what he was thinking because he hid himself through that mask. He probably didn't recognize her, so she decided to make a run for it.
Quickly turning around, Clara starts running away from Aiden as far as she could. She pulled out her grapple gun and was about to shoot upward, but a pipe broke loose beside her and gas blew in her face which prevented her from seeing what was ahead.
Clara wiped her eyes in a desperate attempt to fix her vision. Before she could do anything else, Aiden crept behind her and pushed her up against the wall.
She was taken aback from how quick he caught her, but she regained her posture and gazed up at him. His green eyes locked onto her's and his brows furrowed. Clara actually thought he looked intimidating.
Clara had dropped her grapple gun and Aiden had her pinned as far as she could go in front of the brick wall. Aiden stared her down for a few seconds before snatching her phone which was in her hand. He shakes his head at her.
"Did you really think that was a good idea?" He says in his rough voice.
Clara didn't know whether to tell him who she was now or simply tell him that she wasn't trying to expose him. She was almost terrified at this point so she stayed silent.
Aiden stops the hacking invasion on Clara's phone before putting it inside his trench coat pocket. He examined her once more until he found something familiar about her. This woman almost looked like a woman he once knew a long time ago.
Thats when Aiden remembered the necklace at Lena's grave and the bag of cookies that he had recieved for his birthday. Could it really be her?
Clara couldn't take much more of the silence between them so she decided to speak.
"A-Aiden," she stuttered while carefully gazing up at him. Him being much taller than her made her feel little compared to his height.
As soon as Aiden heard her voice, he could pick up part of her accent when she said his name. It couldn't be can it? But how could she be alive? He watched her get killed by hitmen.
"Clara?" He cocks an eyebrow and regardless of his mask, Clara could tell he was surprised.
Aiden takes a step back to take a good look at her. Her hair was up in an urban punk ponytail half shaved from both sides of her head. She still had her piercings but not her tattoos.
He couldn't fully process that it was her. He saw her being gunned down and her teary eyes gazing up at him in horror of the whole situation, but the look in her eyes also pled for forgiveness. Guilt lingered in his heart ever since that day.
"Is it really her?" He thought to himself.
"Yes, Aiden. It's me," Clara answers his unspoken question.
Aiden took in her voice once more. He could never forget her voice. Still, he wasn't completely convinced. He refused to be tricked.
"Aiden, I.." she trailed off. There was so much she wanted to explain to him, but she didn't know where to begin. "I'm here, Aiden. It's really me."
He gave her a skeptical look, but a part of him felt like it was her.
"Aiden," she began, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not coming to you sooner, for making you believe that I was dead, but I just want to talk to you. We didn't get to talk things through before and I want to take that opportunity now, " she says hoping that what she said had sunk in.
He looked at her for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh.
There was a pause before replying, "Okay," he began to glance around to make sure no one would see them in the alley before he took a few more steps back to give her space.
Clara noticed that he still had his mask on.
"If you really don't want to be noticed then you should take off that mask. It could draw unwanted attention to the both of us," Clara thought she would inform him, but he probably already knew that.
Clara could hear a faint chuckle come from Aiden as he pulls down his mask, revealing his face. He looked a little bit older. Well no wonder. They've been separated from each other for 2 years. There was a bit more stubble on his face, but other than that he looked the same.
Aiden sighs before asking, "How are you alive?"
"After you left, someone found me and got me to a hospital," she bends the truth not mentioning her father, "I still do have the gunshot wounds."
Aiden instantly felt guilty knowing that she was shot because of him. He dragged her into that mess and she payed the price for it.
Clara took notice of Aiden's sudden change of expression and she instinctively places her hand onto his shoulder. His body softens into her touch, but a frown was still plastered on his face.
"It's alright, Aiden. It's not your fault," she reassures him.
Aiden only nods. Just then, they both hear police sirens from a distance. Clara could see the police cars passing the alley they were both in.
"Shit," Aiden mutters beneath his breath, "Come with me," he tells her before grabbing her hand.
Before Aiden could lead her away from the cops and while his back was turned, Clara quickly picks up her grapple gun that she had dropped and places it inside her leather jacket pocket. Aiden leads her out of the alley and uses his phone to start up a parked car nearby.
Aiden quickly gets inside the car on the driver's side before Clara got in the passenger's side. Aiden began to drive as far away from the police sirens as he could until he didn't hear them anymore. The two sat in silence. Aiden wasn't exactly sure where he was going or where he was taking Clara.
Aiden wanted to ask her what she had been doing throughout the years, why she didn't come to him sooner. He had so many questions to ask her, but he didn't know where to begin. Before Aiden had the chance to say anything, Clara was the first to talk.
"I know I didn't come to you sooner and again I'm sorry, but I want to settle this tension between us. I shouldn't have ran that search for that order on your family. I didn't know someone was going to get hurt," she began, "I just wanted to help you, but karma bit me right back in the ass. What I'm saying is that I really am sorry and I hope you can forgive me someday. It doesn't have to be today."
She could feel the guilt all over again that had been haunting her. Aiden glances at her, seeing the sorrow in her eyes.
"Clara, it's okay. We're past that."
"W-What do you mean we're past it?" Clara asks out of surprise.
He lets out a sigh before facing the road.
"Clara, I stopped being angry at you when I heard your message," he says remembering the day he witnessed her nearly getting killed.
"You listened to my message?" Her eyebrows raise in surprise
"Yeah. I realized how bad you felt and you were the only friend I had when my apartment blew up. You went out of your way to help me and there was no reason to actually be mad at you. You didn't know what the club was going to do."
"I should have known, I mean they're the Chicago South Club."
"Finding information was your job and how were you supposed to know?"
Clara couldn't believe that he had already forgiven her and yet she was angry at him for not realizing his mistakes. She was past that now.
Taking in what he said, she nods her head, "I guess you're right, but you've lost a family member because of me."
Aiden sighs heavily before continuing, "It wasn't your fault. It was all because of Lucky fucking Quinn. He ordered the hit on my family and he nearly killed you. Clara, I'm not mad at you. Not anymore," he says softly.
Clara turns back to the road and she began to remember that fateful day at the cemetary; the day she got shot. She remembered leaving that message for Aiden on her phone.
"Did you take my phone?" Clara asked him out of curiosity.
He nods
" I did."
Aiden reaches inside his coat pocket and finds her phone. He pulls it out.
"And I still have it," he says with a smirk before handing it to her.
He kept her phone? Clara was taken aback but she gladly takes it from his hand. The thought of Aiden holding on to her phone made her smile. Clara gazed down at her phone while rubbing her thumb along the screen. She remembered having the phone for a long time from 4 to 5 years.
She switches on her phone and sees a password box. She immediately remembered the password that she used; her father's first name, her mother's middle name, and Clara's last name. Alexandre Marie Lille. She figured that would be a suitable password given that no one really knew her father, nor did many people know about her mother's middle name.
Clara closes her eyes briefly before staring back at him with a huge grin on her face.
"Thank you," she says warmly.
"It's no problem," he replies with honesty.
He wanted to hold onto it in honor of Clara's death, but since she was here with him now, he figured it would be right to give it back to her.
Clara eyes moved towards her old phone which was sitting in her lap. She fiddled with it for a bit and started to wonder where Aiden was taking her.
"Where are we going?"
To be honest, Aiden wasn't entirely sure. He didn't know if she had an apartment or a house she was staying in.
"Well it depends, are you staying anywhere?"
Clara shakes her head. She hasn't found a new apartment ever since she left the Black Dragon. She has managed to stay in hotels, but other than that, she's been homeless.
"No," she scratches the back of her head.
"You've been homeless?" Aiden cocks an eyebrow.
"Well...I had an apartment a few months ago, but um..." She needed to come up with something. She didn't know if she was ready to tell him the truth, "I was evicted."
"Oh really? That sucks."
"Yeah," she let out a breath, "Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you have an apartment?"
"Yeah, and you can stay, but just keep in mind I have a huge bounty on my head," he chuckles softly after finishing his sentence.
Clara quickly grew concerned. That had to be why those men captured him for money. Luckily, she was there to help him before he could be killed.
"And how long has this bounty been hunting you down?" Clara asks with a hint of worry in her voice.
"For a hell of a long time," he shrugs.
Clara slowly nods before tilting her head down, lost in thought about the day he was kidnapped.
He took notice of her troubled expression. "Hey," he grabs her attention and she looks back up at him, "I'll make sure they can't get to you," he tries to reassure her.
"And what if they get to you?"
Aiden was silent for a moment before replying, "They tried that once, but I managed to get away."
Clara softly snorts in response knowing all too well that she saved his ass. A smirk crept upon Aiden's lips, "So it was you."
"What was me?"
"You saved me from those fixers, didn't you?" His smirk grew wider.
Clara chuckles, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"You can just say you did," he rolls his eyes.
Clara sighs, "Alright, fine. It was me. I saw you having a gunfight between those fixers and when I saw one of them grab you, I just had to take action."
Aiden smiles at her warmly, grateful that she stepped in.
"How'd you know it was my birthday?" Aiden chuckles beneath his lips at the memory of him being left cookies.
Clara scratched the back of her neck, "I profiled you. I know the cookie idea was kind of silly, but you shouldn't be treated like that on your birthday. Did you eat those cookies?"
Aiden let out a small chuckle before replying, "Of course I did. They were delicious by the way, thank you."
Clara grins to herself proudly, "You're very welcome."
After another moment of silence Clara spoke once more, "So I assume we're headed to your apartment."
"Mmhm. You can stay until you get your own place I guess."
Clara nods. A part of her felt like she was bothering him by staying in his apartment, but Aiden acted as if he didn't mind. Maybe he has changed a bit over the years. Clara wouldn't know.
Minutes later, they arrive at the apartment. Once they got inside, Aiden excused himself to the bathroom. Clara took this opportunity to write her next journal.
Journal #15
I've reunited with Aiden. I could tell he has changed and not just by look, but personality wise. He seems to be more laid back than before. Maybe it's because he avenged his niece and perhaps all the anger he held in had vanished.
Still, I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell him the truth. How would he react? He practically did the same things I did, but I'm not ready to tell him. At least not yet. Aiden is letting me stay at his apartment until I can get my own place. He isn't really angry with me anymore and I'm relieved about that.
I want to forget about what happened while I was in the Black Dragon. Being around Aiden makes me feel like I'm myself again. As if Shaun, Peggy, or Teresse's deaths almost slipped my mind, but it always comes back to haunt me. The truth has to come out eventually.