a/n: okay so this one is a continuation from nova-artino-is-a-queen's fic from tumblr that i got permission to continue, idk if they have wattpad, but you should all go check it out it's great. so anyway a summary is nova and everyone is training with agent n, when danna breaks out and reveals her and nova has a great stereotypical villain speech. but when she's grabbed by a council member and she tries to put them asleep she finds out that she can't because adrian neutralized her. oh yeah and the link is in the comment over there ->
there's a lot of inconsistencies with how adrian is acting but whatever
Nova was huddled in the corner of her little cell in Renegades Headquarters. Her eyes were bloodshot, she looked terrible. The guards said she hadn't slept in days, not since her true identity had been revealed and she had been arrested. Her head was resting on her knees, and Adrian could hear quiet sobs through the gap in the door.
Adrian knocked on the door, startling Nova. She raised her head, slowly, but after seeing who it was, she laid her head back on her legs.
"Get it over with," she whispered.
"What?"
"Yell at me, demand to know the truth, kill me, whatever you want. I don't care." He started in surprise and took a step closer. She flinched away from him, ever so slightly, but he still noticed.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Nova. You're safe."
She let out a quiet laugh. "No, I'm not. I'm locked up in the headquarters of my worst enemies and I haven't slept in a week."
"Nova?" He paused, waiting for her to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"No, you're not. The Renegades don't care about anyone but themselves. They don't care about the oppression they instill on people. Society is blind, and it's because of the Renegades." She took a deep breath, before a sob rattled through her body.
"The Renegades don't care. They still don't. They're blind to all their own faults, and to the destruction they've caused society. The world would be better without them. They would remake the destruction caused by The Age of Anarchy. The Renegades keep them dependent. If society wasn't so dependant on The Renegades, my family would still be alive!" Her voice had risen to a scream. She took a shaky breath and huddled back into the corner, shivering.
"The Renegades saved society, Nova! Innocent people were dying every day in the Age of Anarchy. Ace Anarchy was a villain who only wanted power and control. He-"
"He saved me. The Renegades didn't care enough to save my family, but he came. He cared for us as we were barely surviving." She continued to shiver, and Adrian was tempted to wrap his arms around her. But no, this girl had tried to kill almost every person he cared about. He turned around and left, without saying a word. He glanced back once, to see Nova curled into herself again.
***
It had been 11 days since Nova had slept. She had tried, but every time she closed her eyes she was back in that desolated apartment, with blood on her face and gunshots echoing in her head. She would jolt awake, covered in sweat, gasping for air. She would huddle in the corner of her tiny cell for hours, then try again. She had slept for 5 minutes a couple days ago, but that was it. She knew she was running out of time.
Adrian had not come back since his last visit. The look on his face when he left- she knew that he hated her. He would not be coming back. And she would be dead. And to think that the only way she could fall asleep was in his arms. She let out a derisive laugh. Like that would happen. Adrian wanted nothing to do with her. And she shouldn't want anything to do with him. He was a Renegade. But she really had fallen for him. Not that it mattered. He hated her, and she would be dead soon, and there was nothing she could do about it. Taking a deep breath, she laid her head on the pillow to attempt to sleep one last time...
***
He decided to visit her one last time. To tell her the truth, about how he had felt about her, about the Sentinel, about what the council had planned for her. Reaching the cell block, he glanced through the glass to see her sleeping. Sleeping. She looked so peaceful, so innocent. But behind that face was a murderer and a villain. He scanned his wristband against the door and nodded to the guard, who punched in a security code.
"Nova?" No response. He took a couple of steps towards her and repeated her name. No response. At least she was finally sleeping. The guards had mentioned that she had been awoken by nightmares every time she tried to sleep. He shook her shoulder. "Nova?"
Still no response.
A terrifying thought occurred to him. He grabbed her arm, checking for a pulse. Nothing. Gasping, he withdrew his hand from her arm and raised his wristband to his mouth, speaking into it.
"Send council communication. Nov-Nightmare is dead." He called for the guard, voice devoid of all emotion. He knew how he should react. He should be glad that her "days of villainy" were over. But he should also have been crushed, because this was the girl he had fallen in love with. But he had fallen in love with a lie. A person that didn't exist. The emotions seemed to cancel out. He felt nothing.
"Adrian?" It was the council. Captain Chromium, who had spoken, was peering back at Nova, eyes wide. "She's really dead?" Adrian nodded and moved back towards the door of the cell.
A hand grabbed his shoulder just as he was leaving. "Are you okay, Adrian? I know she meant a lot to you." Simon stared at him, eyebrows creased in concern.
"Yeah. I'm good. She was a villain, and apparently, I never meant anything to her."
"You know that's not true. I saw the way you looked at her, don't think she didn't look the same way at you."
"She. Was. A. Villain. I'm glad she's gone. We're free from her tyranny, and-" He took a shaky breath. "She'll be with her family."
Simon reached out and squeezed Adrian's shoulder. "You know you don't feel that way, Adrian. It's okay to be sad."
"I'm fine" Adrian pulled away and walked out the door, taking one last glance at Nova's body before stalking out of the cell block.
Nightmare was dead. Nova was dead. The world was free from her, he was free. But he wasn't, not really. His last words to her had been about how her uncle was a supervillain who had destroyed society. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. He would regret that, for he had loved Nova McLain. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he had loved her. And she had betrayed him. He would never know the truth, if everything about her had been a lie, or if she had loved him too. But it didn't matter, because she was gone.
And he would never forget her.
