She understood it. The deep rooted mistrust he had for her. She didn’t even blame him for admitting it out loud and to her face. But something still pricked her heart as the words projected from his mouth.

Lila took a sharp breath, her deep brown eyes staring at him consciously, ready to flick away if he turned to face her. She knew he wouldn’t though. Caleb hadn’t looked at her in the face for a year that very same night. It upset her to think about that night, but Lila didn’t regret it. She didn’t regret her actions that shattered both of their souls. She did what had to be done.

It was unclear whether Caleb was expecting a response but after a few strenuous moments of silence, the hunk beside Lila pushed himself from behind the wall and fled to the one opposite, his companion cursing soundlessly all the while. She held her breath, waiting for the sound of footsteps or shouts but there were none. He had made it to the next wall. And he had left her there, expecting she would follow just as easily behind.

Lila knew Caleb was aware that her speed and agility would cause no trouble for her to cross to the next wall, but she still felt bitter for him having left her there. Lack of communication was what would get them killed if they were not careful.

Cautiously, Lila peered round the corner. Two guards stood patrolling on the right, beside the boxes loaded with what Lila could only assume were weapons, drugs, or something worse. A light from a watchtower, located to the left, circled the area she had to cross. But the way it moved was rhythmic and easy to predict. Counting under her breath, she waited until the guards had turned and then she ran.

Lila’s footsteps barely hit the floor. She was as silent as a mouse, unlike Caleb whose footsteps were only covered by the shouting of orders an officer gave to a guard in the close distance.

She was at the other wall, beside Caleb, in milliseconds. He turned to run, once more, but Lila grabbed his arm, pulling him harshly back. The way his forehead creased failed to hide his surprise.

The night was dark but Lila was used to seeing the shadowed features of Caleb’s face. Even now he wasn’t looking at her - not properly - and Lila could tell.

“Christ, will you grow up! I get it,” Lila hissed, her teeth clenched together to prevent her voice from rising and alerting the guards. “I understand that what I did that night, you will never be able to look past. But we are both stuck here now -“

Caleb’s eyes flickered to his damp surroundings, the clouded sky threatening to rain alongside the guns and the knives that each skilled fighter would wield if either of them were caught.

“- and if we do not rely on each other, we will both die. Do you understand?”

His jaw was clenched and eyebrows furrowed but he nodded. “Fine. But as soon as we get out of here, I never want to see you backstabbing face again.”

Caleb was looking at Lila now. She knew he meant it.

That very same night only a year ago, both figures stood as close as they are now, their eyes interlocked in a battle of hatred and love. He was helpless with her blade to his neck, Lila was too quick for him. One wrong move and Caleb knew she could end him.

Lila on that night not only took the valuable data from the West that Caleb had collected for his side - the East - but she had also taken his heart.

And crushed it.

“I’m sorry,” she had whispered, on that night, over and over again, knowing her empty words could never heal the damage she had caused.

That was the danger with being a spy. She had to break hearts and get hers broken. But she was worth the sacrifice for her side - the West.

Yet despite that, here they both stood, once more only mere centimetres away from each other, and more dependant than they ever had been before.

The North had decided to put their foot in the war between the East and the West; members from both sides were taken. This included Lila and Caleb. They were the only survivers of it that they knew of. And they now relied on each other to get them back to their own respective sides once more. Caleb in the East, and Lila in the West.

With Caleb’s “strength” and Lila’s “speed”, as she had put it, Caleb was aware that there was a chance of him getting out of there alive. If that meant working with his love that had betrayed him, then so be it.

Lila wondered if there was ever a world in which Caleb and her hadn’t been on opposing sides. Or a world where they chose each other over their country. She knew she had been the one to hurt him, but if the roles were reversed, she knew Caleb wouldn’t have hesitated either.

There was a thinner line between hate and love than most people realised. Possibly some people with these opposing feelings could coexist, but that wasn’t the case for either Lila or Caleb. But now, these conflictions fuelled the fire that would give them their best chance of survival.

It would give them that fire that would push them through what none of the other captures survived.

It would lead them to the comfort of their own sides.

And by doing that, maybe they would begin to understand that each side isn’t so different from one another.

That Lila and Caleb weren’t so different from one another.