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The rattle of chains fill the night’s air.

I let my eyes shift over to the left where the fiercely, haughty girl stands.

Why does she act as if she is above the situation?

If I hadn’t known better I would have thought that she was being escorted like a noble rather than a prisoner.

Behind her one of the rebels watches her every shift in movement, just as another waits behind me.

These two, they’re untrained. If it were the NJC agents that were guarding me, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But with these two, I could easily take one down before they could draw their guns. And Ai could easily do the same. Then we can escape together… but would she do it? How can I even be certain that these apprehensive newbie’s would let their guard down?

From what I understood about Ai is that she insisted on putting on a fiercely independent air. Yet, at the same time, she depends on others more then she lets on. So much so that even the slightest hint of betrayal quickly causes her to flee into her iron personality. In class she had an almost a rugged kind of presence. She was someone whom no one would go out of the way to avoid, yet no one purposely sought out to befriend either. And it seemed she preferred it that way. Yet she was quick to help her classmates during the fire. Maybe she chose to respond instinctively, or maybe she decided it was the best course of action as an NJC agent in enemy territory. If it was indeed an instinctive choice, then maybe she might choose to help me out of instinct as well? Either way, it was hell of a lot of fun to afterwards in the hall. She just seemed so flustered by my presence, though I sure she would say angered is the better word. Even when we went out to the amusement park together, her slight – what should I call it – submission to Rin was amusing, cute even. Without meaning to I began to prod Ai and Rin’s relationship just to see if I could somehow draw out one of Ai’s subtle pouts from having to listen to another person. And then in the jail cell… when we were together…

No I have to focus. How do I get out of this situation alive: that’s the only thing I should be thinking about.

I bit my lip in thought and let my eyes scan our surroundings.

If I were to pretend to drop something? Stop to tie my shoe laces? Maybe then they’d drop their guard …

But what about her?

As I watched, Ai straightened her back and raised her chin a bit higher.

I allowed myself to sigh.

Immediately Ai’s guard flickered his eyes towards me in an accusing glance.

No doubt, I’m the threat here. If I were to do anything to attract attention myself, both eyes would be on me. Ai would have a chance to knock out her guard, and mine, too, would be no threat. After all, these two have no reason to believe Ai would try to escape, the only reason they treat her so coldly is because she scares them probably…

And what about me? What am I supposed to gain by taking this wild girl as my ally?

Ai suddenly stopped walking. The motion sent her guards hand instinctively to his gun. Is she trying to distract them for me?

My body whipped around in an instantaneous rush of adrenaline, allowing the of my elbow to make contact with the skull of a young man. Ai’s guard yelped in surprise before quickly raising his gun.

My guard crumpled to the guard holding the spot where I had hit him. My body was bent over him, in frozen anticipation.

Ai, are you going to help me? Or will you watch as he shoots me laughing…

My mind runs through scenario after scenario and the appropriate responses. The hairs at the back of my hair tingle in high-alert anticipation. I could almost feel my ears click, as if it they responded to a flip of a switch, into a high-alert mode. If I make any sudden moves, this amateurish guard would shoot me out of shock. Or in contrary, if I move suddenly in enough, he may not have time to respond, similarly to the young man on the ground beneath me.

“The hell…” a voice muttered in annoyance behind me. Ai.

That does it: if she’s surprised by my action she didn’t intend her sudden stop to be a distraction. My muscles tensed in preparation in a foolish, yet necessary flight. I spun in two quick efficient steps toward what may be my chance at escape.

No! I could see him out of the corner of my eye, hand steady on the trigger, only a quick gulp before his destined kill. It seems that I underestimated the inhuman ability to kill in even the lowest ranked of the NJC. And of course, that first victim would be me.

Still in some desperate hope of survival, I ducked down knowing it would be too little too late. Most likely, the momentum of the bullet would carry me across the pavement, maybe my body would spin around with the last of my own effort of survival. I wonder if my face would be scratched on the pavement.

Crack

Is that the sound of the pulled trigger?

Oomph!

The recoil. A shooter such as the guard would likely not realize how much resistance is necessary to hold the gun in place while still allowing the gun space to move back, most likely he hit himself with the gun.

“I’m surrounded by morons,” Ai’s voice cut across the logical order of events, “morons!”

Shouldn’t I be dead by now? I cautiously glanced up from my crouched position. There, only an alarmingly short distance away laid now the second guard. My eyes drew up to Ai’s condescending glare.

She helped me! Then maybe that time in the jail cell together, maybe I had seen enough of her heart for her to choose to escape with me! I thought that perhaps I was hoping on the illusion of a connection, she had treated me so coldly since then, how would I have known for sure? I allowed a triumphant smile onto my lips and slowly stood up.

She glanced at me now, with an expression of what I interpreted as a withheld sadness. Yet her eyes still held firmly on me.

Still I strode to her, the girl that had captured my attention whenever she was around.

“Ai,” I managed to whisper in a gentle breath.

Ai looked at me, surprised at my sudden gentleness: I think. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion trying to understand my change in demeanor. Likewise her eyes studied my expression analytically. As if I had dared her to figure out what I was thinking.

Instead I leaned towards her and planted a light kiss onto her forehead.

Ai sprung back immediately, clutching her forehead in anger. She rushed at me with an urgent agility before twisting her body and planting something of her own: a knee into my gut.

The air rushed out of my chest and I struggled to breathe as I too, fell to the ground.

“You kissed me!” Ai hissed.

“Yeah, and you kicked,” I managed to say through a barrage of coughs “me, I hardly see that as a fair exchange!”

The guard that Ai had knocked out groaned.

“We have to leave, help me up!”

Instead Ai went over to the groaning body and pulled on his ear.

“Ai! What the hell are you doing?”

“Get up dimwit. You’re supposed to be guarding us, aren’t you?” she said to the guard.

The boy slowly managed to rise onto his elbows, struggling to make the world stop spinning no doubt.

“Ai?”

“Jaejoong, did you think I was trying to help you escape?” Ai directed her words at me, at the same saddened expression returned to her face.

“But... the guard, you saved my life!”

“About that,” Ai again turned her attention on the newbie, “you, if I hadn’t stopped you, you would have shot that imbecile over there!” she nodded her head towards me. So now she is calling me an imbecile!? “Are you trying to announce our location to the NIS?”

“Oh.” The guard said stupidly.

My eyes smarted with shame. So it had been an illusion after all. Just another calculated method to survival wasn’t it.

Ai moved back to me and leaned in next to my head.

“Jaejoong, I have no life outside the NJC other than an eternity in jail. Why can’t you see that?”

It was my turn now to look at Ai in confusion, and study her expression analytically.

Behind me a second groan announced the soon to be awaked first guard.

“Idiot.”

“Hey, Rebel brat. Radio Styx and tell them we had a scuffle. I probably broke one of the imbecile’s ribs.”

A broken rib? Oh, so I guess that was the cause of half of the burning sensation in my chest. And the other half… I glanced at Ai.

No need to think about that.

“Eos! Styx, she…”

Ai glared at the boy in annoyance, “Out with it!”

“The NIS.”
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Author's Note: We apologize as always. You know the drill.

In the meantime however, we wrote half of our final exams worth 50% of the final grade which our universities get to see after going to exam prep boot camp for what seemed like a lifetime plus three (By the end of it Hisoka and I were having a highlighter star wars battle) for Physics.

Oh then we had grad photos, yup we were gorgeous thanks for asking. Oh and then there AP calculus.... enough said.

Yeah. Life’s a ball.

Ps. for the more cynical readers, this story will be finished if it kills us. Eight chapters left (not including omakes).

Amaya
Of
ObsidianTheatre
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| Always Keep the Faith |