"You don't have to do this. It wasn't a lie. I love you, Adrian. I really do," She stared up at him with tears in her eyes, as he pressed the gun to her heart. "Please don't do this to yourself."
Adrian was shaking. He had loved her, he really had, but he wasn't sure anymore. The face looking at him was not Nova McLain, the girl of his dreams. She was an Artino. She was Nightmare, his Nightmare. It was a lie. She hadn't loved him. His emotions were a funhouse mirror twisting up his desires and spitting them back as dangerous as the gun shining in his hand. He wanted those words to be true, he truly did.
"Stop talking." He pressed the gun into her chest harder. She flinched, and he could almost see her heart breaking. Her eyes drooped, and she took a shaky breath.
"I'm sorry. I never expected for it to go this far, and I never expected...this," Her voice trailed off and she blinked tears out of her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"Stop talking, Nightmare. You won't twist the facts anymore. I don't care what you feel. You never loved me. You are not capable of love. You've done..."
"I know. I'm a villain. And I'm sorry," she whispered. "But I don't regret it. I won't change. But you won't kill me. You know that. It will shatter you." Her voice rose, but stayed quiet enough for the pain in her voice to remain.
"Then surrender. You'll be given a fair trial, and you'll keep your life."
"No. The Renegades would never give an Artino a fair trial. They didn't save us then, and they won't be lenient now." She rose from the ground, and he did little to stop her. She turned away, hiding her face as she whispered, "The Council turned a little girl into a Nightmare."
"Nova, wait." He reached for her hand as she began to walk away, pulling her towards him.
"What are you-?"
Even though he knew he would come to regret this, he leaned down and kissed her.
She gasped and pressed her hands into his chest, pushing him away. "Don't. Please. You said it yourself. You hate me. Don't do this to me. I can't take it."
"I never said I hate you. I should. But I can't make myself. I'm still in love with you, Nova," he murmured. "And that's why it hurts." And it was true. Seeing her again, he knew. The girl staring up at him, the girl whose heart he was pressing a gun to. Because she was his enemy. But not really. She was the first girl he had fallen in love with. He glanced down at her lips, then back up at her eyes, leaning forward.
The gun was still pressed to her chest, and his movement pushed it in further. Nova flinched and pulled away. He dropped the gun and pulled her back to him.
"Nova?" Tell her. Tell her the truth. This was as good a time as any. She might trust you again. But Nova had never really trusted him, he knew that. She may have been able to fall asleep in his arms, to lull herself into a false sense of safety, but he knew now that she had never felt safe. Never trusted anyone. It was drilled into her brain to trust nobody, to depend on only herself.
"I'm the Sentinel."
Her head whipped up and she stared at him, open-mouthed. "No- you can't be. You- you don't control fire, you can't- the suit, the energy beam! You draw things, you can't jump 50 feet!" She pushed her hands against his chest, her right hand pressing inches from his tattoo of the vitality charm. Nova stood a few feet away from him, her eyes glancing over his body, as if searching for any resemblance to the Sentinel.
Adrian moved his hands to the collar of his shirt, hesitating for only a second before unbuttoning it. Shrugging it off his shoulders, he gestured to the tattoos on his arms and chest.
***
Nova's brain was spinning. Adrian had tattoos. Flames and a long cylinder on his arms, a zipper and a tattoo of the vitality charm on his chest. She could feel her cheeks burning as her eyes swept over his body. She had been right about his muscles.
"Um. Yeah. Intention works with tattoos."
Nova reached out and pressed a finger to his arm. It looked so real, she was almost surprised that her finger wasn't burning. Adrian cleared his throat and took a step back. Her pulse quickened as she snatched her arm away and looked back at her feet.
"I-I'm sorry. It's just- I can't- Why?" She glanced back up at him. Muscles. "Can you put your shirt back on? Please?"
She heard the rustling as he pulled it back over his shoulders. "If you have so much faith in the Renegades, why create the Sentinel?"
He paused, considering her answer. "The Renegades aren't perfect. They needed someone to show them the faults, and improve themselves. For the greater good."
Nova laughed. Even to her, it sounded borderline delirious. "The Renegades aren't perfect. What an understatement. Society has been dependant on them from the moment the Renegades began. You said that the people wanted someone to put on a pedestal? Well congratulations, you have. Only, instead of them dreaming about your precious Renegades, they idolize them. The people cannot do anything for themselves. Without the Renegades, the people would reform a government. They would have a choice about their laws. The Council has absolute power, and no one defies them. The Age of Anarchy was a terrible time, and many things that happened didn't need to happen. But it jolted the world from one side of the spectrum to another. There is no balance. And that's what we really need." Her voice rose, higher and higher until she was practically yelling, her voice echoing off the enclosed walls of the tunnels. "Without the Renegades, my family would be alive. Even my own parents, relatives of the most powerful man alive, went to them. And they didn't come. You've heard the story. A six-year-old girl seeing her parents shot in front of her. Their blood splattering her face. Hiding, waiting for the Renegades. Hearing her sister crying. Hearing yet another gunshot. And the Renegades never came. But Alec Artino did. Ace Anarchy. He brought us supplies, comforted me. Saved me," She took a shaky breath. Her head was spinning, struggling to keep her mind out of the run-down apartment where her life had fallen apart.
Bang. "No. Stop." Nova covered her ears, trying to block out the gunshots.
Bang.
Bang.
***
Adrian watched Nova as she sank to her knees in front of him, pressing her hands to her ears. She was shaking with unshed tears.
He had once been intrigued by Nightmare, and the hostility she showed for the Renegades, especially the Council. Hearing it firsthand, he understood where she was coming from. The Renegades hadn't come to save her, and she had been poisoned further by the Anarchists.
She looked so small, kneeling on the ground, so helpless and sad. Although he knew that Nova Artino needed protection less than most in the city, he couldn't help himself. Sinking down beside her, he cupped his hand under her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"Nova, look at me. The gunshots aren't real. They're in your head." A shot rang through the air. The battle was getting closer, and the air filled with the smell of explosions and radiation. Nova flinched and moved away from him.
"Go. They'll kill you if they find you here," She pushed him away, using the wall as leverage. "Go! My uncle will kill you. I'll find you later. Be careful." She stood, once again donning her black jacket, and holding her mask in her hand. Hesitating for only a second, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. And then she ran, out of the tunnels, back up to the raging battle above.
