A ski-masked person was chasing me.

Good thing was, I wanted him to be doing exactly that.

This time I had a plan as I ran across the cold dark alleyways of Arcanus City, dodging past a few people with my cape flying behind me.

It was exhilarating. The chase.

Earlier that day, I had spotted someone lurking behind my apartment building, deep in the shadows. It hadn't taken me long to notice the ski mask on the person's face. It freaked me out, yes, but I knew I had to act soon.

Before someone else came across him. Before Jamie came back to the apartment.

I needed answers.

I needed to know what exactly did they have against me and the Agency.

So I put on a distraction for the ski-masked stalker and once changed into my gear, I led him away from my apartment (away from Jamie and Dolores and her scary cat) and down to these narrow, not so busy alleyways.

Not too long after, I was making my way up an abandoned building, only stopping to take a breath when I was up at the rooftop.

There were a lot of such abandoned buildings scattered on the outskirts of this town. Away from the people. To me, this seemed like the right place for some dangerous confrontation.

Seconds later, as I had expected, someone came barging in through the roof door. He had the same ski mask on. It reminded me of the woman who had broken into my apartment days ago, and that alone was enough to make my heart race. Though this time, he wasn't bulked up with muscle. He was just about my height. Maybe the same age too.

"You guys really need to stop this." I breathed out, clutching my knees as I stared up at him. "This...whatever this is. It's getting rather tiring, don't you think?"

I think he glared at me. "We won't stop until we kill you."

"Hey now, that's not very nice." I straightened up. "But that's where I'm gonna stop you. I need answers."

He took out two sharp knives from his sides, ends glinting in the moonlight. "After I kill you."

I dodged as he threw a knife at me and nearly got stabbed when he charged with the other.

Grabbing his arm, I flipped him over with a short grunt and down on the ground.

"I don't understand what I did." I breathed out heavily, twisting his arm behind his back. He wasn't as strong as his two previous friends. "I don't understand why you guys want to kill me. Is it just because I work with the Agency? It's not like I was there when things messed up and you went rogue."

He let out a sound that sounded like a pained gruff. "But you are their prized p-possession."

I held his arm in a tight grip. "Look, I don't wanna hurt you more than I have to. Just tell me what you really want, with a real reason, and I'll let you go."

I would, I realised. I didn't want to hurt. I didn't want to kill. That wasn't who I was.

His shoulders shook and I realised he was laughing. I tensed.

"You think I believe you?" He sneered, trying to turn his face around and glare at me. "You think anyone would believe you after we tell them who you really are behind that stupid mask?"

I froze and small tendrils of dread made their way around my heart.

Gripping his arm, I rolled him over. "Why would you do that?" I asked, thankful that my voice came out plain despite the terror I felt inside.

"So that the people of this city believe us." He spat. "We'll tell them all what the Agency hides behind its guarded doors."

What do you mean? I wanted to ask. But I didn't. Instead, I pulled away from him and stood up. He seemed momentarily surprised as I took a step back.

"What, you think we'll change our mind if you back away?" He growled and stood up, just a few feet away from me.

"I told you I won't hurt you." I carefully spoke.

"So you are their precious hero." His voice was laced with venom. "Too scared to hurt someone who's in the way."

I balled my fists and realised with a heavy heart that that's exactly what this boy seemed to want. To make me angry. That's what Ice Phantom did most of the time too. Rile me up until I had no choice but to fight.

Maybe, I thought. Maybe I didn't even like fighting. Maybe I wouldn't if I wasn't forced to. Maybe, all my life, I've been doing things because that's what people expect me to do.

"I'm not fighting you." I took another step back, frowning at the boy in front of me.

"Oh, you will fight me." He snapped. "You will kill too. Because you're their puppet. Orias's puppet. He'd want you to kill and that's what you will do."

I stared. "How did you--"

"Because that's what he wanted from us!" He yelled, picking up a discarded knife and advancing towards me. "He wanted us to kill and he experimented on us and he tortured us! He made us give up all that we had!"

I was too stunned to notice that he was pointing the knife just inches away from my throat now.

"Tell me, Cinder Girl," he spat my name. "Did Orias tell you any of that? Or did he hide that from you like from everyone else?"

I let out a shaky breath before slowly pushing aside his hand that held the knife. It was a surprise that he didn't put up a fight. Maybe he didn't want to fight any more than I did.

"He did," I said. "He told me you'd lie."

I was expecting him to laugh, scoff, or maybe even lash out at that. But he didn't. All he did was fix me with a glare.

"Well, then it's up to you, hero." He said. "Which liar are you going to believe?"

I stared. I didn't know. For the first time in my life, I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know who was right.

I didn't know if I was right.

And if I tried pondering over it for a little too long, Orias's words rang loud and clear in my head. To kill. To not think and kill.

"I...I can't." I whispered.

I knew I wasn't imagining--I couldn't be--when the boy's hardened gaze softened a little. Almost as if he understood. But how could he? He was the enemy. He was my enemy.

"I can't--" I was cut off when a tiny dart shot out from the air and pierced the skin near my neck.

The ski-masked boy in front of me swore under his breath. I winced, staggered back a little, and tore it out, looking at the clear blue liquid that would've been drained inside me if I hadn't pulled it out in time.

God, I was stupid.

Flicking it aside, I glared at the boy in front of me. His eyes were wide, surprised. Maybe even a little scared. But I was furious now. He had been distracting me.

"So that was your plan?" I walked towards him, balling my fists again. "Distract me, knock me out, kidnap me?"

He blinked and with each step I took towards him, he took one back. "No, that wasn't--"

"Maybe I am some stupid hero. Maybe I am a little stupid if I try looking for trust in people who are supposed to be my enemies." I sneered at him, gripping the front of his shirt and pushing until he was merely at the edge of the roof. The drop would be high from up here, a little too high, and my grip on him was the only thing preventing his fall.

He stared up at me with wide eyes. It wasn't like I could see anything past his eyes anyway, thanks to the mask. And I hated that. Because I wasn't supposed to build fear in people. That wasn't who I wanted to be.

Or maybe I was going soft, I thought. Orias had been right.

"You are the liar," I said, my heart racing in my throat. "You were making me choose between nothing and my family. And I was stupid enough to ponder over it because I didn't want to hurt you! Because I thought I could go away without hurting any of you!"

But I was wrong. Wrong and stupid.

"You don't have to." He shook his head, gripping my hand around the front of his shirt. It was weird to momentarily see all his anger morphing into fear. Just fear. Fear that I was causing.

"Why did you try knocking me out right then?" I asked him with a growl.

"It was a backup plan." His eyes were still wide.

"A backup plan." I frowned. "I'm not that stupid to believe you again."

He shook his head once again. "If you kill me, you know you won't ever forgive yourself, hero."

I wouldn't. But I'd be obeying Orias's orders. And that was all that should matter to me.

"Maybe I am no hero, then," I whispered, and the slight crack in my voice went muffled in the air around us.

He blinked, laughed shortly in disbelief, then shook his head at me. More pitifully this time. "The Agency has already destroyed you, Cinder Girl. And they will continue to do so."

I watched him with my heart thudding in my chest, fast and painful.

"Killing me was the first test." His words were sharp, pitiful, sorry for me. "You've failed, hero. You will always fail."

I meant to pull him back on his feet. I meant to pull him away from the edge. Because I wasn't really going to kill him now, was I? But that's not what happened. Because his tight grip on my hand loosened right then. And then he shoved my hand away.

I watched.

I tried to grab him.

But I failed. And he fell. And I failed, just like he had said.

A slow second ticked by and then I was running downstairs, heart racing in my chest, out of the building and towards the back alley where he fell.

I hadn't heard a thud and I was hoping, wishing, that his backup, whoever that they were, had saved him from falling. Like that time the ski-masked man had jumped out of that broken window, the building that had been on fire. He'd run away and he'd been fine.

But as I rushed out of the crippling, abandoned building, my breaths coming out in heavy puffs, I watched and I staggered back into the nearest wall. Because there was blood on the old pavement. And there was that boy, lying unconscious, his body bent unnaturally. And his eyes were open. And he was staring up at the sky. Blank and empty and dead.

There was blood all around.

And he wasn't blinking.

I slid down against the concrete wall, my eyes wide and unblinking, my trembling hands stuck between my chest and my pulled up knees as I stared. I stared at his lifeless body.

I failed. I failed. I failed.

It was the boy's voice ringing in my ears, again and again and again.

Because he was dead now. And I had failed to save him.