"Leave us alone." I heard a rough voice from the door. I didn't even have to look to know who it belonged to.

The doctor who was treating my facial wounds put everything aside and left the room.

I didn't dare look up from the ground, even though I heard him coming towards me.

A pair of shoes appeared where I had been looking so I closed my eyes. Before long, I felt his hand on my chin, which he slowly lifted. I cautiously opened my eyes and looked straight into his face while he examined my injuries.

"You were the main thing that we were talking about at today's meeting." Charles spoke. "You want to know what they were saying?" He asked but didn't wait for my answer. "That you're weak. That you don't belong here. Some even laughed when I told them you deserved to be here." He snorted. "They said I'm a fool for thinking such a thing. Do you think I'm a fool?"

"No."

"Then why did you let someone beat you up? You're smart enough to know that showing weakness here can get you killed. You did it for a reason. Tell me that reason, Eris." He said with a calm voice.

"It was a test." As soon as I said that, a smile appeared on his face.

"Why do you think that?"

"As I was heading to training, Tyche, the girl that beat me up, was talking to Madame Ada in the hallway. They both fell silent when I passed them. Tyche came to training first, and after a few minutes, Madame Ada. Tyche started a fight from nothing, and Madame Ada just watched. They wanted to know if I would break the rules and let my emotions take over." With every word that came out of my mouth, I was more certain that I was right. Charles looked at me with admiration.

"Anything else." He laughed.

"Did I pass?"

"You're first this time." He raised his head proudly. "And I'll bet the youngest that ever passed, too. There's nothing weak about you." He slowly removed his hand from my face and brought them together behind his back. "You've only been here a year and management knows your name. That's not common. Keep it up and you'll go far."

A smile appeared on my face at his words. I didn't care that my whole face and body hurt. I passed the test and Charles is proud of me. That's all I could have wished for.

*

I was trying to fall back asleep when I was interrupted by the doorbell. It took me twenty minutes to get out of the bathroom when I needed to go to the toilet. I'd rather not even mention how long I walked there.

Whoever it is, they're out of luck. I'm not going to get up. Not a chance.

Closing my eyes and thinking that whoever it was was gone, I heard the key and the door opening.

What the hell?

I lifted myself slightly and reached for the gun under the couch, which by the way hurt like hell, and aimed at the entrance of the living room.

The door closed and I heard footsteps coming towards me. Based on his steps, I decided that it was a guy, and a really big one, so I aimed a little higher. Just to be sure.

"What are you doing?" Killian appeared on the other side of the couch with a confused look, but he didn't seem to mind that I was aiming at him at all.

"Where did you get the key?" I put the gun away from his face and slowly placed it on the table.

"It was in the shoe rack, I took it yesterday so I could bring you this." He held up two bags that I didn't even notice he was holding.

"I could have shot you."

"You'd hurt yourself more than me." He snorted and headed to the kitchen, where he put the bags down and came back. "How are you feeling?"

"Exactly how one feels after being stabbed." Is he really asking this question? Isn't that clear?

"Has the doctor been here yet?"

"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "It's possible. I spent an hour in the bathroom."

"Did you get up?" His expression was slightly twisted.

"What were you thinking? Was I supposed to pee on the couch?" Every minute I spend with him, I am more and more convinced that there is something wrong with him.

"You should have waited, I would have helped."

"I don't need anyone's help. I can take care of myself."

"Yesterday it looked exactly like that." He snorted. "What were you even thinking? I specifically told you not to go there."

"If you want to lecture me, you can take your bags and leave, you know where the exit is. But then you wouldn't know what I found out." I smiled.

"I'm listening." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the kitchen door frame.

"In short, I was right. Whitlock is to blame for Abraham's death, and thus the shooting at us. But the thing is, someone hired him too. I don't know who this person is, but they have quite a lot of contacts. What I already know about this person is that they play it safe."

"What do you mean?" He looked at me thoughtfully.

"What do Abraham and Whitlock have in common?"

"Nothing that I know of."

"Exactly." Killian looked at me like I was crazy. "There's nothing they have in common. Nothing that connects them. They probably don't even know each other. At least that's what they want us to think. Could you hand me that?" I pointed to the folder under the TV, which he immediately brought to me. "Here." I chose two black and white photos that were on top and handed them to him.

"This is Abraham." He looked at one photo. "And this is Whitlock. He looked at the other one.

"Look at the time." Since these are photos that are made from a camera recording, there is a date and time on the border, which is quite helpful for us.

"It's only a few minutes apart. So they do know each other." He looked up at me.

"I was looking into the place where they met. It belongs to someone named..." I looked in the folder to make sure "Arthur Huxley."

"That's impossible."

"Why?" I frowned.

"Huxley died three years ago. I knew him."

"How sure are you that he's dead?"

He thought for a moment before letting out a frustrated breath. "That son of a bitch." He shook his head before looking at me again. "Do you think he's after me?"

"It's possible, but he can also be a pawn in someone's game. Whether he's a pawn or not, he must know something."

"Wait. When did you have time to find all this out?"

O-ou.

"This must have taken several days." He nodded his head at the folder. "You never stopped investigating Whitlock. Did you know all this when you first came to me?"

"Well..." Before I could come up with an excuse, I was saved by the ringing of the doorbell.

Thank goodness.



"We'll talk about this later." I pointed a finger at her as I walked past her to the door. The doctor chose a bad time to come here.

I still can't believe Huxley is alive. We weren't best friends or friends at all, but this? Why is he after my family?

I opened the door expecting the doctor to be there, but I was wrong. There was an older guy in a suit standing in the hallway and he didn't look twice as excited to see me. I would like to know who it is.

He looked me over from head to toe one more time before trying to slip past me into the apartment. I grabbed his arm before he could do it.

"Where do you think you're going?" I said between my teeth.

"Let go of me before you hurt yourself, boy."

My grip on his hand only tightened. I don't know who he is, but he's not welcomed here.

"Charles?" We both raised our heads when we heard Eris from the living room.

At my inattention, he got out of my hand and started walking towards Eris. I followed him with my hand on my gun.

Since he had a head start, I got to the living room a little later to find him sitting on the table, close to Eris.

"Are you okay?" He spoke as he noticed a bandage sticking out from under the blanket.

"Why are you here?"

"What do you think?" He carefully lifted the blanket and lifted the bandage slightly to see her injury. "It's not that bad."

"I asked, why are you here?" She said more sternly, and I could tell she wasn't all that excited about his visit.

I still don't know who it is.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Or finish me." She snorted.

"Eris..." He started but she cut him off.

"No. Stop it. I'm not going to listen to any more of your talk. If you really came to see if I'm okay, I am. Now leave."

"You heard her." I walked closer to him. "Do you know where the door is? Or should I show you?"

I don't know what got into me. Why am I even protecting her? What's wrong with me?

"I want to talk to you. Please hear me out." He ignored anything I said. "Only ten minutes."

"You have ten seconds." Eris looked at me and gave me a look that made sure I wouldn't leave her alone.

"Eris..."

"Nine." She cut him off with a stern voice.

"I spoke with management and they agreed to take you back without any consequences. This is a chance that cannot be turned down. Please be reasonable."

With every word he said, I counted down the seconds, not excluding the meaning of his words.

"Are you serious?" She looked at him in disbelief.

Maybe I should have paid more attention to what he was saying, since Eris just looks like he's asking her to put a gun in her mouth and shoot her brains out.

"Do you really think I want to go back there?" She snorted. "You're crazy."

"This is a chance, Eris. I only want the best for you, you know that."

"The best?" I noticed how her jaw clenched. "If you knew what was best for me, you would have left me on the street then. Anything would be better than what you got me into."

And at that moment I saw another Eris. Just like when she had a panic attack. Something was different. As if this was the real Eris, and not the one pointing a gun at Finn weeks ago.

Two different people in one body. The hard side that didn't show anything and the other that shows even the slightest emotion.

"I hope you know you ruined my life. I gave you everything I could, and look at me." He looked away from her. "I said look at me!" She screamed. "Look what you've done! Look what you've created! A monster!"

"Eris, careful." I warned her when I noticed her sudden movements that could break her stitches.

"Management gave me a chance?" She continued, not excluding my words. "They should have killed me when they had the chance. Because now, I will tear the entire organization apart. There will be no one left to pick up the pieces, I promise you. I am no longer the little girl you met years ago. Leave, because even in this state you know what I am capable of. After all, I was trained by the best."

Every word that came out of her mouth was full of hatred and threats. I know one thing for sure, I wouldn't want to be in his place, or the place of "management", whoever that is.

"Your ten seconds are up." I walked over to him and grabbed his jacket, pulling him away from Eris. He awkwardly stood up and shook my hand. He gave her one last apologetic look before disappearing, slamming the door behind him.

My gaze was on the entrance to the living room where Charlie had been a moment ago when Eris spoke. "Why did you do that?

"Did what?" I turned to see her.

"Helped me get him out of here."

"Because I'm sure if he continued you'd kill me too. I'll leave that to others."

"Thanks." She said quietly, but I could still hear her enough to make fun of her.

"What did you say?" I smiled.

"Don't push your luck, Killy."

"My fault." I laughed and headed to the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" She shouted after me.

"Make you something to eat. You need it." I shouted back at her and heard her say something else. But this time I didn't know exactly what.

I returned to her a few minutes later with a plate of warm soup that Kai had made this morning.

"What did I do to deserve such care?" She laughed and moved a little higher on the couch to take the soup from my hands. She didn't seem to mind the boiling plate as she took it in her hands. "Or I am going to?"

"Nothing." I shrugged and sat down on the table where Charlie had been sitting a moment ago.

"I don't believe you." She carefully scooped the soup onto a spoon and tasted it. Her expression told me she liked it. Kai did it, of course she likes it. There isn't a meal he wouldn't make perfectly.

"Maybe you could tell me who it was. You and Charlie seemed to have a history."

"Charlie." She laughed. "I never thought of calling him that."

Charlie isn't his name?

"Because you brought me this," she pointed to the soup, "I'll tell you."

*****

Hope you enjoyed. <3