“Well, I’m sorry I ever cared about you.”

I stopped in my tracks. I kept my back towards Sorren unable to look at him in the eye.

“I could say the same.” I replied in a low voice.

Sorren scoffed, “So that’s it. That’s all your going to say?”

“Theres nothing to say, Sorren.”

I slowly turned to Sorren, feeling my heart race as I saw his disappointed expression. He shook his head, “Why not?!”

“Because I gave you no reason to care about me in the first place. I’ve reiterated multiple times, I’m only your mentor.”

Sorren slicked his hair back in frustration, “Then what was all of that with Ev?! Taylor told me you were frantic when I was dying. How can I not think you don’t care for me?”

“I cared for your well being. Not you.” I refuted.

“You know _damn_ well that’s not true!!” He was close to yelling at this point, his emotion starting to fill his eyes with tears.

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Sorren! Whether you believe me or not… I **_never_** cared about you.”

I swallowed hard as Sorren fell silent. I watched as his breath quicken, his eyes trying to find any sort of warmth in my cold gaze.

“What… What about the gala? You certainly seemed to care then.” He countered.

“You were in danger. I had to protect you, as I always do.” I kept my stoicism, though my composure started to fail me.

“You don’t _have_ to. You **_never _**have to. I can take care of myself.” He hissed. I could tell he started to raise his guard, defensive and aggressive.

“You can barely keep a sword in your hand when your in a duel. Don’t tell me I don’t **_have_** to.”

Sorren sighed, “Okay, yes, I’m not a fighter. But **_you_** trained me. You didn’t have to do that either.”

“_You were given to me as a mentee. Taylor chose me to teach you what we do. _**_I didn’t ask for you_**.”

I started to match his tone, crossing my arms as I continued to stare. It was like we were reverting back to what we were, strangers. People we barely knew.

Sorren shook his head, “Your unbelievable…”

“You want me to say something I don’t mean. I won’t lie to you.”

But it wasn’t a lie. I didn’t _just _care for him. Care wasn’t even the word to describe the feelings I had for him. It’s so much more then just caring.

Sorren shook his head and slicked his hair back with his hand, “Tell me the truth, Renji.”

I stared at him straight in the eye, hesitating before speaking.

“I did care about you. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to.”

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach as I saw Sorrens expression change to utter confusion and sadness. He was silent, looking away from me. I took a shaky breath, my fists clenched tightly as I held back my own emotions. I don’t want to care about him. I never did. Every chance I got to push him away, I took. Every time he was kind, I turned it down with bitterness. When he was happy, I was dull.

We are polar opposites, worlds apart. It would never have worked… would it?

“I’m sorry, Sorren. I-“

“Don’t. You’ve said enough.”

His voice was cold, his bubbly personality replaced with bitterness and disappointment. He walked towards the door of the office, stopping right at the entrance.

“I’ve tried to understand you. Tried to understand why your so cold and reserved. Why your always pushing away, hurting the people who love you deeply.”

He turned his head to me, “Your afraid of losing them… So you hurt them first, before they can hurt you.”

He took a deep breath and turned to me, with a sorrowful smile on his face, “I’m sorry. Maybe if we both hadn’t met, it would’ve saved us some time.” He left the room, gently closing the door behind him.

I felt everything start to swell up in me, my vision started to get blurry. I sat down at my desk and covered my face with my hands. For the first time, in a **_very_**** **long time… I broke. Tears started to stream from my eyes, short and quiet hiccups left my mouth as I tried to calm myself down. I felt like a child, as if I didn’t have any control of my own body.

I can’t endanger someone else. Not anymore. It was hard enough to see Sorren unconscious body on the stretcher. What would I do if I saw him on an exam table?

——————

After a long evening, I walked back to my apartment. The sound of hover cars whistling by could barely muffle my thoughts. I reached the apartment building and scanned my keycard, walking through the sliding doors.

I scrolled through my phone as I walked into the elevator, whirring to life as I sluggishly pressed a button. I passed by some unread messages from Sorren, prior to our argument. I sighed and opened them.

****

**Sorren - ****_2 unread messages

_****_Jax said we can head out at 7!! No Min tho he said lol >:D_**

**_Lmk when you get here! :)

_**

God, I hated emoticons. He knows that. He never means to hurt me. He’s always wanted me to be safe, happy.

I stepped off the elevator on the fifth floor walking towards the end of the hall, glass panes beside me showing the view of the city. I tapped on my keyboard, typing out an apology and how we should talk again. Maybe meet up at _Prescotts Cafe_?

Before I hit send, I took out my keycard again and raised it to the sensor to my door, abruptly stopping as I saw my door barely open. I shoved my phone in my pocket and gently pushed my door open, creaking into the darkness of the apartment. I flicked a light switch, the lights stayed off. I sighed softly and reached into my pocket for my butterfly knife.

“I wouldn’t do that if-”

I whipped around, quickly grabbing my knife and twirling it open as I turned, only to be met with a syringe already in my arm.

Ruin tilted her head, her silhouette barely visible in the dark, “It’s funny to see how a simple mistake as walking home alone at night would lead to this inevitable outcome.”

I stumbled into the wall, feeling my throat close up and head feel light with every passing second.

“And to think you were my superior at one point in time…” She shoved me to the ground, my body hitting the ground with a thud. I heaved and wheezed, glanced around for my weapon as my vision started to blur. My body felt like it was on fire, my skin feeling like there was millions of needles prodding and poking me.

“Your Neo will be deactivated for some time. But considering how you produce your own and need it… You’ll be incapacitated for a while…”

From behind the couch, Val came out of hiding and hissed at Evelyn, her ears flattened as her fur stood up. Her pupils were constricted as she stared Evelyn down.

I coughed and tried desperately to hold myself up, reaching out to Val, “_Val… S…_” Blood started to stream from my nose as well as my airways. I felt the warm sensation fill my lungs as I started to choke on my own fluids.

Evelyn turned towards Val, kneeling down next to her, reaching out to try and pet her, “Here to watch your owner fall into her own demise?”

Val immediately swiped her paw at her hand, drawing blood. Evelyn reeled back and tried to hit her, Val had already ran outside of the door. She looked back once more to me asI rested my head on the ground. My eyes starting to feel heavy as I coughed out a name.

“_Sorren…Sor…ren…_”

I watched Val run away into the hall, disappearing from view. I let out a shaky breath and my voice fell silent. The only sound now was my heavy and long breaths as I tried to breathe through my own blood.

Evelyn sighed and kneeled next to me, “Painful, isn’t it? To drown in your own blood?”

She clicked a button on her headset, “Target down. Send the team.”

I tried to speak but my mouth couldn’t move, my voice only the sounds of my blood splattering to the ground with every cough.

“As much as I would love to end you now, I need you. I’ve sacrificed too much to kill you now.”

Silence syndicates entered the room, hastily grabbing me and lifting me into their arms.

“Leave everything how it is.” Evelyn commanded, “Make sure we leave no trace. I need enough time to extract her Neo properly.”

I felt my world fade to black, my eyes shutting completely as my body slowly shut down bit by bit.

(This is a rough draft? Maybe ill come back and fix some stuff later lol. Enjoy :D)