For once Scarlett woke up the next morning, completely and utterly alone — she put her hair into a ponytail and dressed quickly before exiting her Hotel room and making her way towards the Hospital, sure, it was far away but it would be a good excuse to clear her jumbled thoughts;

*

*

*

TWO YEARS BEFORE

"Promise me you won't do it again."

He gazed down at me as I laid against his chest "I promise."

"Don't you dare even think about dying again, Mark." I whispered furiously

His hand squeezed my shoulder "I won't die on you, Scar - I'll do everything I can to stay alive with you from now on."

"You better." I mumbled against him.

He bit his lip nervously as his right hand toyed with my hair "Scar?"

"Hmm?"

Mark sighed lightly "You promise me too, right?"

"Promise what?"

His eyes never strayed too far from my face as he intently stared at me "Promise you won't think of dying...like I did"

"I promise." I sighed against his chest "I'll do everything I can to stay by your side..."

*

*

*

Now Scarlett sat next to him as he laid in a Hospital bed "You look a little better today," she started — Scar knew he probably couldn't hear her but for some odd reason she just needed to talk to him.

"The bruises on your face aren't as bad as before - yesterday they painted your features like a mask but now...they're just beginning to heal."

Her hand played with his own while Mark didn't move a single muscle "You're strong, I know you are - in spite of the way we first met I always knew you were a fighter. I need you to fight now, Mark. I need you to come back to me...please."

"I don't know why it hurts so much to be away from you..." she whimpered, she hadn't slept at all the night before.

Mark was important to her, that much was for sure but Scar didn't know what else to say to him at that moment — she had already apologised over and over "I have one more fight left before I get the title..."

"I haven't faced the Ghost Rider yet but I'm going to wait for him to show himself so I can volunteer myself as his opponent."

She felt herself break at his current condition — his normally expressive face was eerily vacant "I'll face him for you, Mark. I'll fight him and make him pay for doing this to you. I'll give you what you want; him to feel the same pain you're in right now"

She stayed by his side up until visiting hours were over which was around 11pm — unlike before she walked out of the room without Ricky trying to persuade her to leave.

Scarlett didn't bother with wearing her face paint and normal fighting clothes instead she entered the Arena wearing the same clothes she changed in that morning.

She walked right to the bar and seated herself down where she could keep an eye on the cage.

Hours passed by and still no sign of the famous fighter — the crowd around her continued to cheer for current matches.

It made her angry that two hours had passed and there was still no sign of the Ghost Rider anywhere. Maybe he was playing some sort of sick game with her mind, Scar just wanted to fight him — just wanted to get everything over and done with.

The night grew darker and the matches went by in a flash — soon enough Scarlett was barely holding her patience.

It wasn't until she saw someone amongst the crowd making their way towards the doors did her gaze zero in on him, for some reason her eyes followed the man — he wasn't wearing the same mask as the Ghost Rider but his facial structure sparked her memory.

He had the same cold, calculating orbs as the man she was looking for.

Scarlett wasted no time and stood from her seat — the sky was dark but she fearlessly followed after him, and out of the Arena — all of a sudden the figure stopped in his steps while she froze in her own.

He turned around with a thick glare on his stone cold face "Why are you following me?" his voice sharp and threatening

"Show me your right hand and I'll answer you."

The man in front of her narrowed his eyes "Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because you have nothing better to do."

For a second he raised an eyebrow before lifting his right hand out of the pocket of his jacket to show her a small scar on the side of his thumb "This answer your question?"

"Yes," She hissed before her eyes hardened "Ghost Rider."

He looked a little impressed for a minute before snapping back into his usual emotionless mask "You know who I am."

"I could never forget the person who put my friend in a Hospital bed."

He raised an eyebrow "Your friend is in a Hospital bed? lucky for your friend then, I usually kill my opponents"

"He didn't deserve it!" she yelled angrily

Scar felt the last of her anger seep into her voice "Every fighter knows what the dangers are, he got what countless others wish for when facing me"

"Then why don't you fight me!"

He shook his head "I don't even know who you are. Just go back to your boyfriends side and hope for the best."

"Crimson Rose" She stated "I'm Crimson Rose - you told him you'd kill me the next time we'd fight, I'm giving you that chance now. Go back into the Arena and fight me!"

For a second his eyes softened before he ripped his gaze away "No."

"What? What do you mean, no?"

He turned away from her and continued walking "I don't lock horns with half fighters."

"What the hell does that even mean!" she screamed — running next to him to keep at the same pace.

The both of them stopped in front of a motorcycle — Ghost got onto it and gave her one last glance "A half fighter is a person who fights with their emotions - I've seen you fight, Crimson, I know you don't fight solely based on how broken hearted you are. You fight with fire."

"You want fire?" Scar hissed "Fine. You got it! Get back into that cage and let me fight you!"

He shook his head once again "I choose when the match happens."

"No. face me now." she growled not helping the way her voice shook

He stared at the ground for a moment "I'll face you when the time is right" he started the engine of his motorcycle and drove off into the distance.

Scarlett felt tears fall against her cheek — she felt frustrated at the fact she couldn't be with Mark, that he couldn't tell her everything was okay, that he couldn't fight with her.

She slept in an empty bed for another night and damn did it hurt to stare at the pillow he used to lay on and miss how his arms wrapped around her.

For another night in a row she cried herself to sleep.