Chapter Fourteen
—-
He couldn't use a gun.
Loid thought, as he rushed over bushes, through the small groves of trees.
The man moving too much, Anya in his arm.
Loid had good aim, but he couldn't risk it.
He'd use the tranq gun if it came to it, but there was a dark part of him that wanted to cause him pain with his bare hands.
Loid was coming up fast, the director finally taking notice of him, his teeth gritting, growling in irritation.
At least Loid assumed he was the director by what the guards said. If Anya was as important to him as he thought, it'd make sense he'd try to take her with him.
Loid hopped a bush, ahead of him now.
A bench a jumping point, as Twilight leapt, his form shadowing over Kai.
He took careful aim, his leg folding back. Every ounce of strength, speed, and rage infused as he kicked mid-air, making contact with bone and flesh. The unmistakable crack of ribs fracturing as the man was shot backwards as if yanked by an invisible chain. His body bouncing at first impact, grass torn as his body skidded and rolled. The hit so powerful and sudden, it ripped Anya away from him.
A split second where she hung in the air, Loid instantly there to catch her, clutching Anya to his chest.
He landed in a crouch, Anya clinging to him tightly, crying into his shirt. It didn't even occur to him that she was not struggling to get away. That she held onto him instead.
Felt only relief. Unending protection. Resolve to never let this happen again.
He looked down at her, an arm wrapped around her back to lay a hand on her head.
He had her. She was safe. That piece in his mind that throbbed with anxiety and pressing urgency alleviated. Something massive lifting off of him, the moment he had her in his arms. Relief, as he looked down at her pink head that he hadn't seen in so long when he noticed.
Noticed the wrappings on her hands that peeked out from her long sleeves. The bandages that told him she had been hurt. Bandages concealing what lay underneath.
Telling him to seize the blackest parts of his soul he didn't know existed.
The darkest, most violent urges taking hold. To give untold pain until the broken man begged for death.
He stood, glaring at the director groaning in the dirt, trying to catch his breath. Coughing blood while he bent over the ground. Scarlet liquid spattering the torn up grass.
Loid was going to kill him.
He saw how it was going to happen. It was violent and brutal. A death that didn't call for a gun.
This pathetic excuse for a man didn't deserve it.
He was ready beat this man senseless. Take away any pride the director had left and grind it into the dirt along with his splintered bones.
He started towards him, wrath and vengeance fuelling him when he stopped at the sound of shattering glass. Exploding in a cacophony of trinkling shards bursting outwards, showering the ground below.
Both Loid and Anya looked up to see the essence of wrath and death descending upon them. Her eyes dark and foreboding, promising pain and bloodshed.
From a window high up, she leapt, a demon locked onto her target.
Loid almost didn't recognize her.
He barely evaded the attack aimed at his head. Dived out of the way, rolling to absorb the impact, Anya grasping to him tightly.
Never had he felt such an immediate, pressing threat on his life. A killing intent so heavy, it saturated the air sending chills that sank deep, deep, into his bones.
Yor's foot impacted the ground, sending a cloud of dirt from the indent made by her foot. The sheer force of it making the earth rumble, as if it'd been inconvenienced.
It would have killed him on the spot.
With agility that surpassed any cat he's ever seen, without a second of hesitation, she pivoted on her foot and pounced, a knife suddenly in her hands reaching for his face. Her speed unmatched.
Too fast, he didn't have time to dodge.
"DON'T KILL PAPA!" Anya screamed, freezing Yor mid-swipe. A slice left in his face before the blade delved any deeper. Loid's mask compromised.
Not a sound as the knife was eased away. Hovered there.
No movement as a strip of blood graced Twilight's features. Puddled where skin met fake skin. Trickled down his cheek to seep into the soil.
The night air, stilled, as Yor studied his unfamiliar appearance.
Silent.
Frozen.
Watching.
The knife lowering as the dazed Thorn Princess' eyes widened.
It couldn't be.
He had the same build. Held Anya so gently. The tear ripping more than flesh.
A hand reached for him.
Felt time slow, as her fingers felt the odd texture of his face before she dragged her hand down, pulling the mask off.
A shuddering breath as she stood up straight, the disguise falling to the ground as they stared at each other, Anya looking between them.
Neither of them saying anything, too stunned to speak. Too many questions. Not enough answers to give. Not enough brain power to process what was happening.
It could have been an eternity.
So very still.
So very quiet.
So very condemning.
It made Anya nervous, watching them be this way. Not enemies, but not allies. Not fighting, but not aiding. A middle ground where they stood evaluating each other. Debating. Questioning. Panicking. Wondering.
Confusion.
Shock.
Anya broke it, looking up at Yor. "Mama?" She asked, feeling calmer than before. Feeling safe.
Yor didn't answer, but her eyes moved to her. Processed.
She cupped Anya's face in her hands. A kiss on her forehead as she started to cry softly. Which in turn made Anya cry.
It seemed to wake Loid out of a stupor.
Anya speaking, breaking him out of his head. Yor interacting with her daughter, a call to wake up.
He tried not to get swept up. Tried to keep himself from questioning Yor being here right now.
There wasn't time.
He was having trouble focusing on the situation as it was.
…
…
…
Loid snapped his head up.
A patch of torn grass lay empty.
The director.
Was not where he'd left him.
—
The door was flung open, Loid charging into the hangar, Yor right behind him.
Anya still held onto him, not wanting to let go.
Loid had run after the director, tearing off without an explanation. Yor taking it in stride to follow him, still rather confused.
But the hangar was empty.
All vehicles taken, a couple of boxes strewn about the area.
"What's going on?" Yor asked, noticing his fervent behaviour.
He growled in frustration. "He's gone. The director escaped."
He couldn't believe he'd let this happen! He was right there!
Loid thought, his anger directed at himself as well. His feelings seemingly contagious as Anya felt Yor's attitude shift.
Something akin to when she attacked Loid.
Anger that anyone had the gall to create such an abominable institution. They deserved to die. She'd kill the director if she ever got her hands on him.
Loid turned back to her, as she seethed inside, imagining the ways she'd rip out his innards.
She was so consumed with her violent thoughts, she didn't immediately notice Loid's eyes go wide as the door to her back banged open. A pause before before someone called out her name.
"YOR?!" Her little brother exclaimed.
"YURI?!" Yor spun around.
The SSS agent looked to the man standing behind his sister.
"LOIDY!" Yuri thundered next, A finger pointing in angry accusation mixed with shock. The sound bouncing off the expansive room.
"Unkie!"
"Chihuahua?!" Yuri gaped, trying to understand what was happening right now.
Loid and Yor didn't know how to respond either.
They all froze in place, waiting for someone else to move first. Say something first. Explain first. No one knew what to do.
Anya wondered if she should speak up, but she'd never been more entertained, despite the circumstances.
The siblings stared at each other, trying to decipher one another's motives. Breaking down what they knew about the person. What they could possibly be doing here.
That's when Yor noticed the binders and files in Yuri's hands. The fake ID badge around his neck. The get-up that the lab agents wore.
He had snuck in, she realized. This was planned out and carefully prepared. He knew what he was doing.
At the same time Yuri was sizing up Yor and Loid. Yor's dress spotted with red, Loid in an agents disguise like him. Anya watching the three interact.
Yuri knew there were dead agents in the halls. Slit throats, wounds to vital organs, bleeding out. Yor couldn't possibly be a part of that could she?
"Uh. . ." Yor said eloquently. "Yuri. . ." She began to piece it together. "Are you- are you part of the SSS!?" Yor asked incredulous. It was the only thing that made sense. Why else would he be here? Did he get the SSS agents in? But wouldn't he have told her if he was? She began to doubt herself until Yuri's face turned deathly pale.
"Yuri!?" Yor exclaimed. 'Was he really SSS?!' How did she not know about this?!
He didn't answer. He had become a block of stone. The shock of what she just said. Unable to even deny it, though he very much wanted to.
'How did she guess?! How did this happen? Why is she here? Can I convince her that I'm not!? Will she disown me? Will she hate me? All the dirty work I do, she'll definitely think less of me. How do I respond? Can I respond? I don't think my mouth is working. How do I fix this?' Yuri spiralled.
Loid and Yor stood awkwardly, waiting for Yuri to speak. His silence more incriminating than if he spoke.
Unsure of what to do, Yor glanced over at Loid, who also seemed to be at a loss. He didn't expect her to pick up on this if he was being honest. He was more worried how he was going to get himself out of this.
"Yuri. . " Yor raised a hand, taking a couple steps forward. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" She asked, her brother standing frozen in the doorway, his eyes wide and panicking. Face white and petrified. A hand still on the door, keeping it open.
Her words, like an angel speaking to him. Divinity shining down on him, the grace of heaven. 'Could it be?' He dared to hope. 'She's not angry?!' Feeling overwhelming joy at the thought.
"You're. . . not mad?" He managed to croak out, more on the edge of tears than he thought.
"Mad?! No! Of course not! I wish I'd known, but why would I be mad?!" Yor strode up to him taking a hand in both of hers.
Yuri hung his head, feeling every bit the little brother caught red-handed. "The kind of work I do. I didn't want you to know."
"Oh. . .Yuri." She breathed, feeling happy and sad at the same time. "I don't care about that." She sniffled, wrapping her arms around him to crush him in a hug.
"SIS!" He sobbed into her neck, hugging her back. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have kept it a secret from you!"
"Shhh." Yor patted his back. "It's okay."
Yuri was right, he thought. His sis was the most amazing person in the world.
Loid sweat dropped.
"Can we go home, now?" Anya asked.
"That's right!" Yuri suddenly composed, pointing aggressively at Loid as he regretfully let go of his sister. "What are you doing here?! You are a spy, aren't you?!" Yuri accused, one hundred percent sure he had him.
"No." Loid answered calmly, unbothered.
"Yuri, it's okay! He's not a spy! He came to help me!" Yor lied, moving to stand in front of him again. "We came to get Anya, that's all."
'Mama's a liar.' Anya thought.
Loid didn't like Yor taking the hit for him, but if he was compromised, Operation Strix was compromised, which meant that war might very well happen. And he knew Yuri would never do anything that would cause problems for Yor.
"Sis!" Yuri took her by the shoulders. "What if you got hurt? You can't be doing things like that!"
Looked at Anya.
"Also, how did you manage that?!" He asked her. Wanted to ask so many more questions. Ask about the blood spatters on her clothes. The dead lab agents that his team promised wasn't them. But Yor's attention turned to the door, apprehensively.
"Yuri." Yor took a hand off her shoulder. Held it once more. A serious tone.
"We have to go. We can't be found. I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone we were here." She asked.
"What? Why?"
"Just promise! I'll explain later. Please, Yuri." She said again.
Yuri was torn. He DID NOT trust Loid. He should be turned into the SSS. Possibly executed. But his sister was asking for help. And he could never refuse that. Even if it meant pushing aside his own need for answers. Yor could be trying to take over the world, and he'd help her.
He sighed, hands rubbing his face. "Alright. But leave the kid with me. I don't know how I'd explain to my superiors that she's somehow safe but none of us found, or even saw her."
Yor was hesitant to agree to this. She just got Anya back, she didn't want her out of her sight for a second.
But this was her brother. She trusted him. She'd asked for his help, and this is what he needed to make this work. Not to mention, any questions would probably lead back to them, anyway.
Yor turned to Loid.
He didn't like this either. But he understood and nodded.
They all looked to Anya, who gripped her father's shirt like he was her life-line.
"Anya wants to stay with Papa and Mama." She buried her face in his shirt again.
"It'll be alright, Chihuahua." Yuri said. "As soon as we get back to town, we'll call them right away. You'll see them real soon."
Anya looked at him skeptically. Then to Loid, who nodded again encouragingly.
She didn't like this one bit. But even she knew it could cause problems if she didn't cooperate. "K . ." Anya said.
She reluctantly released Loid as she was was shifted over to Yuri. Loid glaring daggers at him, a warning.
"Right." Yuri coughed, turning back to the door.
"Take good care of her." Yor said worriedly, hearing Yuri's team nearing the area.
He nodded. He could never fail his sister like that. He waited until they had disappeared safely into the darkness of the woods before returning inside.
—
It had never been more awkward between Loid and Yor on the drive home. They at least had an excuse on their walk to the car, as they concentrated on their feet in the dark. But now if just felt highly uncomfortable.
So Loid drove.
And drove.
Not a word spoken between them.
Both panicking inside, wondering how they were going to have this conversation.
Yor not wanting to lose this life she had. Lose Anya. Or Loid. Afraid it would all go away if he knew. Didn't want him to be scared to leave Anya with her. Or be around her, himself. Didn't want him to think her disturbing for what she did.
Loid worried Yor would leave. How'd she'd react to him. It would cause so many problems. Operation Strix. Anya. Not to mention the risk of his identity being leaked. He knew she wasn't that kind of person, but it lingered in the back of his mind. Would she hate him? Would she be angry?
They wondered how much they didn't know about the other. Almost afraid to hear the answers they wanted. How they ended up at that lab.
The subject hung in the air, as if taunting them.
"I'M AN ASSASSIN!" Yor belted out, covering her face, unable to take it anymore.
"WHAT?!" Loid reacted, the car swerving sharply to the left. Swerved sharply to the right as he corrected, wheels squealing. His heart jumping out of his chest.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN?!" A glance at her from the road.
"JUST WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE!" Yor yelled back through her hands, unable to face him. "I'M HIRED TO KILL PEOPLE!"
"I'M A SPY!" Loid returned impulsively, aggressively. He couldn't not say it now.
"WHAT?!" Yor's hands dropped, looking at him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE A SPY?!"
"JUST WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE! I GATHER INTEL ON ONSTANIA!"
"YURI WAS RIGHT?!"
"I'M ON YOUR SIDE! I'M TRYING TO PREVENT A WAR!"
"I ONLY KILL TERRIBLE PEOPLE!"
"I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!"
"I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!"
Yor's words, the last note as the following silence rang through. Their screams lingering like an echo, unheard. An abrupt stillness, crashing into them like a wave, submerging them in shocked tension and disbelief. Processing what the other just said, as they were speaking impulsively. Reactively. Defensively.
Now sitting in a different kind of silence.
The situation sinking in. Everything their truths implied. Settling, like snow falling from the sky. Flakes dropping one by one to slowly form coherent ideas and thoughts.
What they'd said. What they'd learned.
What was next.
Hands gripped tight to the wheel, Loid focused intensely on the road, adrenaline coursing. Very aware of his stiff muscles, of what he'd just done. The implications he'd just placed himself in. Aware of the pressure that flooded the small space, flooded his mind, flooded his very soul. EXTREMELY aware of what Yor just revealed about herself. What that meant. How truly little he knew. The disbelief he was sitting next to her, knowing what he knew now. Immobilized into sitting still, unable to come to terms with the unexpected screaming match. Not knowing how to even feel.
He risked a glance at her, catching her doing the same.
Their eyes flicking away, avoiding contact. Yor snapping her head in the opposite direction, watching out the window.
Her hands shaking. Mind rushing through unintelligible thoughts, unsorted and messy. Heart racing and tight at the same time. Not sure what to think. How to feel. How to react. How to function. Her best kept secret out in the open with Loid's. A swath of emotion towards him she couldn't begin to discern.
A mutual, dumbfounded inability to move forward.
The lack of sound or speech making them painfully conscious of the other's unsteady breaths, every nervous shift of their bodies.
The realization that the other was defending themselves, wanting to salvage what they had. Their lives with each other.
The pressing need to say something, the words impossible to find.
The sensations, thick, and suffocating, leaving no air to resolve their thoughts and feelings out loud.
Steeping in the awkward silence for a long stretch of time. Absorbing, thinking, processing. Giving them time for their heads to clear a bit, to consider how they felt.
The hush broken as Loid drummed his fingers on the wheel. Reached up to tweak the rearview mirror. Cleared his throat as he glanced to the side-view.
Glanced to Yor.
Drummed his fingers.
He had to say something. They weren't getting anywhere. He thought, as he made another check in the rearview, just to keep himself from looking to Yor again.
How did they even sort this through? How did he feel about this? Did he even care? It definitely freaked him out a bit! This was Yor! The sweetest person he'd ever met! She was still her, though. How does this happen?! How did she become an assassin? How did he end up with an assassin as a wife?! Did she care he was a spy? How would this affect his mission? Was she upset? He couldn't tell when he looked at her, just sitting there. Like a normal person who you couldn't guess killed people for a living.
He still wasn't sure this was real.
He couldn't help another shot at her. The woman fidgeting with her hands, gaze cast resolutely out the window. Afraid to further the conversation. Afraid that it would cause him to reject her. She had so many questions, though.
What exactly was his mission? Was she involved somehow? Was Anya? How did she end up married to a spy? Was Loid even his real name? Was she upset? Was he upset? How did they work this out? Or maybe they wouldn't. Could she trust him? She thought so. He's only ever been good to her. Did he trust her? She didn't think he hated her, he just said he'd never hurt her. It sounded like he wanted to make this work, too. He was so emphatic when he explained himself. If he could accept her, than she could accept him too. She was shocked more than upset.
But she didn't even know where to begin. Surely he had questions, too. How did she bring this up? She wondered. If he didn't want reconciliation like she thought, she wouldn't know what to do next.
"I don't want you to leave." Loid beat her to the punch. Speaking steadfastly, finally mustering up the willpower to break through the quiet. "I don't care if you're an assassin." He told her, feeling more together now. A peek at her, worried she'd reject it. "If you can accept that I'm a spy, that is." He said, holding his breath.
If she turned him down, everything was ruined. Anya would be devastated. The school suspicious. His identity at risk. W.I.S.E. would want to know what happened.
When there was no answer, he turned to her, fearing her response.
But her face lifted, hope mixed with relief. Reached for his hand resting on the shift gears in both of hers. "I'd love nothing more!" She exclaimed, tension suddenly broken. Shattered with her words. Pressure dissipating, the heavy atmosphere lightened. Like a curse being lifted, they relaxed. Just Loid and Yor again as they always were. Comfortable in each other's presence again, like it had never happened.
If it weren't for the awkward element that still held strong as Yor bashfully released his hand to stare at her own in her lap.
"Thank goodness." Loid's breath released. Feeling like he'd avoided an international crises.
Relaxed too quickly when it dawned on Yor to ask him a simple question. Her head raising to look at him.
"Does Anya know you're a spy?" She asked, catching him by surprise.
Loid almost answering, 'no', reflexively, but caught himself.
An inkling of doubt piercing what he knew. A saw cutting into his preconceptions the moment she asked. A part of him questioning it. Pieces that didn't fit together.
Anya knew things.
At the event. She knew it was him. But he had no explanation. Every theory, too insane to be true.
Tonight. She knew it was him.
But didn't think to question it as he was occupied with Yor.
The times he never thought twice about, when she acted in an odd way. Times that aligned with his thinking now that he reflected on it.
Yor waited for him to reply but he couldn't answer.
He didn't know.
Authors Note:
MAN, this chapter was hard. Words have lost all meaning to me, now. I saw a couple comments, and the reason they didn't run into SSS is because they did their best to avoid them. Sorry, I forgot to add that in there.