I reach for my gun only to realise that I left it at home. A brief scream escapes my lips when Lazarus marches up to us and places the barrel of his gun on Lucian's forehead. 

My stomach lurches but Lucian doesn't even blink. He just stares Lazarus down, his gaze daring. 

"Figures. The attendant whispers into his communicator, our only witness dies and here you are." Lucian's voice is pure steel, no sign of fear despite the fact that just one shot and his brain will be blown to bits. 

Since he doesn't seem worried about that, I do it for him. 

I grab Lazarus's arm and try to steer him away but Lazarus has always won when it comes to brute force. What I lack in strength I make up with agility which sadly serves no purpose here. 

"Lazarus, what are you doing? We're out in the open, threatening the Trinity is treason." My fingers dig into his biceps, which are so tense and hard like rocks. 

Lazarus chuckles. "See Lucian. I have a gun to your forehead and all she cares about is what would happen to me if I fired." 

His statement makes me squirm in discomfort and I catch Lucian falter only slightly. Lazarus presses the gun harder making Lucian backtrack all the way to the wall of the holding centre. 

I try to drag him back but to no avail. Tears of frustration pool at the corners of my eyes and I beg Lazarus to put his gun away. 

"He trying to take what's mine, Luna. Tell me why I shouldn't fire a laser beam through his head." 

Sometime during the struggle Lucian managed to slip a hand to his side and pull out his gun as well. He aims it at Lazarus's neck, his eyes alight, the glint in them making him look dangerous. 

"We both know you're not here for Luna, Lazarus. You were the one who killed the minister, didn't you? You're hiding something and that is why you're here." 

"Lazarus, why are you here? And don't give me some sap story about coming here to get me. I saw your programmed flight path. I know you went to Earth." 

A muscle ticks in Lazarus's jaw and he clenches his teeth hard. "My trip had nothing to do with yours. Now do you see what I mean, Luna? As long as he's in the picture, we will never be at peace with each other. Can't you see his jealousy?" 

Lucian laughs. "Comrade, your imagination is admirable. I wish I could conjure up such ridiculous lies so easily." 

Lazarus's eyes narrow to slits and before I know it, he's tackling Lucian to the ground. Their guns are scattered and they take turns to throw punches at one another. Lucian has Lazarus in a chokehold when I pick up a gun and aim it at them. 

"Need I remind you that we are in public. Stop now before I shoot you both in the leg for embarrassing me." 

The streets all around us are deserted but they both know I'm taking about the invisible cameras planted all over the city. The ones our parents are most likely to access when the atmosphere switches the city to daylight and everyone goes about with their daily tasks. 

The two guys stop moving, their disheveled hair and interlocked limbs almost comical. If this were a few years ago, this scene wouldn't surprise me at all. The three of us sparred with each other all the time but we always left those matches laughing, the complete opposite of now. 

They both stand up and dust themselves off. Lucian grabs his gun and tucks it by his side and Lazarus reaches for the one in my hand, the one that belongs to him. 

I grab his wrist and twist him around, pining him to the wall as I place the gun to his temple. 

"You drew a gun on your own. I never thought I would live to see that." Anger courses through me and it's hard to tell whether I'm talking about Lucian or Alya. If Alya hadn't taken my place it would be me in that incinerator not her. 

Lazarus grunts as I twist his forearm, his cheek plastered against the terradon stone wall, stones found in abundance by the Western border. He grins even though I have him pinned down with my entire body. 

"Darling, if you want to play rough we should head back to our room." He emphasises the words 'our room', making it clear to Lucian. 

"Why did you go to Earth? What business did you have going there?" I demand. 

"This is hardly the place to have a discussion like this, don't you think?" There's still that playfulness in his voice, like this entire thing is a joke. 

I release him, my body going limp as the exhaustion finally kicks in. My denial has been fuelling me but Lazarus refusing to cooperate has me realising the truth. 

He turns around and I place the gun in his hand. 

"We're done." I tell him the two most painful words I've ever said. All those years waiting for him only to have him finally and then lose him within the span of a few weeks. 

All the previous humour drains from Lazarus's face, the shock in his eyes evident as he reaches out for me. I pull back and pain twisting his features makes me feel like I shot him. 

"You can't mean that." He says lowly. 

"You tried to have me killed." I struggle to say because he looks so angry, the daggers in his eyes making me wonder if he's going to shoot us for real this time. 

He takes a menacing step forward and I catch Lucian drawing closer, looking wary of him. 

"You know I would never do that. Out of all the bloody Plutonians in the entire universe, you know you are the last one I want dead." He says it so earnestly, it has me doubting everything again. 

"I don't know anything anymore." My voice cracks and I turn around, wanting to leave. I can't bear to look at him, not right now when it's over between us. 

He was my everything, my dream, my fantasy, my reality and now he's nothing. 

I don't get far before he grabs me and turns me around violently. Lazarus is breathing hard, trying his best to control himself. His fingers grip my head from the back, one hand enclosing around my throat as he pulls my hair, forcing me to look up at him. 

"You promised." Despite the maniacal anger on his face, his voice falters making me wonder if he's about to cry. "You said you were mine forever." 

A lump forms in my throat as Lucian pulls him off me. Lazarus shoves him away and heads for his rider, the engine purring loudly when he lights it up and fly's down the highway. He doesn't spare me another glance before leaving and my heart is so heavy it feels like a pile of rocks weighing down on my chest. 

I sink to the floor, watching the remnants of light from his rider slowly dissipate into the night air. 

"Luna," Lucian bends down to inspect me in alarm. "Are you hurt?" 

I scoff at his words. "Considering I just broke up with my first ever boyfriend. Yes." 

"I meant physically." He mutters, checking my neck. My fingers traverse the skin there but I don't feel anything. Lazarus didn't choke me, he only held me there but my head has started to throb, the place where he grabbed me pulses with a dull pain. 

I don't tell Lucian about that. Plutonians aren't supposed to admit their pain, least of all the Trinity. 

He drops me back home and I begrudgingly head up to my room. I haven't been here since I moved in with Lazarus and am thoroughly thankful that my parents are both on missions. At least I don't have to deal with their nagging for the time being. 

I tell my staff to gather my belongings from Lazarus's place and then wash up, before heading to bed. The skin beneath my hair stings when I touch it and I wince as I tie up my hair and lie down on my bed. 

The ceiling above my bed displays the ocean, now dark and unending. I've always loved the water, the smell of fresh air. It makes me think of Lazarus and fresh tears run down my cheeks as I clutch the sheets around me. 

I don't know when I finally succumbed to a dreamless sleep but I wake up to my attendant's soft voice. 

"PG Luna, you will miss work today if you don't get up. Are you unwell? Shall I notify your squad?" My chief attendant, Desseria eyes me worriedly. 

"We have no scheduled missions today. Leave me be." I say, my exhaustion and misery making me feel hungover. 

"But you always start your days at the System regardless." Desseria adds hesitantly. 

I finally get up and look at her, my eyes bloodshot and she quickly nods in understanding. "I'll get you some herbal tea and set a healing bath for you." 

She rushes out of the room and I sink into my sheets again, wishing I could forget the events of yesterday. We are still at a dead end when it came to the case of Alya's assassination and now I've lost Lazarus as well. 

I try not to think about that, about the way he looked like he was about to fall apart when he repeated my promise to him. The promise that I would be his forever. A shiver draws goosebumps across my skin and I bury myself beneath the sheets.

Desseria returns with a steaming pot of Cixin herbal tea and I brush my teeth before taking a few sips. 

"Where are the generals?" I ask her and she tells me Grievous has gone to the Fire Constellation for a diplomatic visit while Ursae is currently on a healing holiday in Arcturus. Wealthy Plutonians usually stay in the healing caves there for a many a cycle. It is said that the rocks on Arcturus are able to heal any illness by sheer skin contact. 

In Ursae's case I know she must be there trying to rejuvenate her looks. She's always trying to win her husbands affections, dogging him like a pet even though it's apparent he only ever married her to become a general. 

Thoughts of my parents bring me back to last night when the SA minister was killed while he tried to tell me something. Like the shutter of a camera, the images click into place reminding me of the attendant by the minister's cell telling us he was to remain present under the general's orders. 

I take another sip of the sweet tea, narrowing down the suspects. It can't be General Lyra, she was in the dark about the assassination. General Mondric would never try to kill his own son and Lazarus's parents have vouched for Lucian's leadership as well. It seemed unlikely that they would be a part of this which leaves me with just two names. 

General Grievous and Ursae. 

I stand up and head to their quarters. Last I checked, our house was free of cameras and my parents have always assumed I am this giddy headed, harmless girl. I doubt they would expect me to walk into their rooms and look through their stuff. 

The generals have separate quarters so I go through Ursae's first. There's nothing on her computer and I don't find anything incriminating anywhere else. I then head to my father's place, searching through his study first. 

His computer is locked but thanks to my thumb sleeve curtesy of the Sympathizers and an array of unwashed glasses by his kitchen sink, I'm able to access his files within minutes. The first few files are mostly reports. 

I grit my teeth, ignoring the disappointment when he vouches for Lazarus as first in command instead of me, his own daughter. At least my mother had the decency to vote for both Lazarus and I for the same position. 

There's a folder titled Zarb, reminding me of the weapons dealer at Lazarus's bar. Oddly enough it makes wonder if the SA minister tried to tell me the same word before he died.

I click on the file but the damn thing is encrypted. I try to work on the code to break the sequence locking the file but it doesn't budge, this isn't the type of encryption I'm used to. I save it to memory and flit through the others, keeping a close eye on the door in case an attendant were to walk in. 

There's a folder titled Ursae with a love shaped symbol next to it. It makes me snort, if anything my father hates my mother. I click on it out of amusement and see a few pictures of the two of them forced to pose together. There's an untitled folder at the bottom and when I open it, my breath catches when I see a list of approved flight paths.

The list goes on, dating many cycles prior and others programmed for future dates. I check for Lazarus's flight path to Earth and sure enough the proof is here. My father approved the trip. I scan the list, noting that this isn't the first one. 

General Grievous has approved dozens of visits to Earth recently and none of us have known about. 

I skim the rest of it but a muffled sound draws my attention. I hear a door being shut outside and the sound of boots against the tiled floors.