[FIN] That Broke The Back

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen had not kept track of how long she had been in the room with Umbreon's body, to her, the time had not been relevant, not even a thought in her mind as she cradled the body, half curled up on the floor sobbing through her thoughts and trying to will them away. Make them go away so this would stop hurting, so she can stand up again and not hurt.

She had not even been aware of when she had finally pulled herself up off of the floor, setting Umbreon back onto the table and spending another good ten minuets stroking his face, until her tears finally stopped.
With a kiss to his forehead, the Agent straightened back up, her posture tired, but as refined as she could muster, though her face remained red, and stony. Unable to hide the fact that she had been crying.

Able to be at least thankful for the lack of other people in the halls and rooms as she made her way back toward the rooms, where they might question the state of her face, and the blood now clinging to the chest of her white uniform.  

[BlackPidgeot]

The halls were quiet, mostly deserted thanks to the fact that it was after hours and most Rockets had retired to their quarters with a few exceptions. One such exception was a man dressed in trainee garb. His hair red and swept back into spikes, but lacking the luster it once had. Dull golden eyes also stared at the floor as he mopped the hallway. Pushing the cleaning utensil across the floor in a mechanical motion.

His skin was pale and he's obviously lost some weight and muscle, but it was still the man that people knew as Lance. The traitorous Rocket that had gone under the name of William Foster.

This had been his duty ever since being brought to the Rocket base and fitted with the brain implant that Faleen herself had made. It'd been so long now. So long since he'd even stepped foot outside. He was little more than a caged animal, both physically and mentally.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen ran a knuckle over her nose, avoiding using the bloodied part of her fingers.
She just kept thinking that she was almost to the floor where the rooms were. she wasn't sure what she would do when she got there though.

She would have avoided looking at anyone in the hall, just keeping her straight forward features, and pace.
But as she rounded a corner of the hall, there was a glimpse of someone in a trainee outfit, with red hair.

Faleen boots drew her closer, before they actually stopped, any other day she had seen Lance, the robotic engineer would have simply continued to walk by, but today, she stopped, and looked at him.
Such a shadow of the man that she had once known. her face remained relatively stony, though there was a strain over one of her eyebrows that seemed to grow more tense the more she looked at him.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Lance just continued with his mopping, not noticing Faleen until he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Someone had stopped and was looking at him.

Pausing in his duty he looked up with that vacant stare.  

[Blood_Goddess]

He was doing his job, like she had programed him too, just, listlessly worthlessly doing his job.
He might have looked at her, But he didn't speak to her. Had he even noticed she was there, somewhere in that blank mind of him? No, he didn't of course he didn't

This was not the fate she wanted to give him, this was the man she once called friend, once an ally, once a trusted person.
Just something else she lost, and hated.

Her hands tightened her thoughts festering, her Umbreon was dead, he was dead and Will would never be there to talk to again.
The Agent didn't even say a word before she stepped forward harshly, stopping directly next to Lance and throwing her fist at his face, as hard as she could.  

[BlackPidgeot]

The poor man couldn't and didn't see it coming. Faleen's fist slamming squarely into his face. His neck cracked as it was jolted backwards, and Lance was instantly on the floor. The handle of the mop clattering to the side.

Eyes flew open wide with a momentary look of surprise, but still held that lifeless look to them.

However, the man pushed himself up into a sitting position, lifting a hand to touch his quickly bruising cheek. Pulling the fingers away to look at them and see blood from where it had started oozing out of the corner of his mouth.

He said nothing.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen stood as he fell, then advancing forward, stepping closer to the fallen man with a stiff, aggressive posture.
but she stopped there, hands clenched at her side, staring down at him with gritted teeth, and a furrowed brow. her hazel eyes glaring down at him, with a mixture of intense pain and anger.

"Of course it had to be you!" She spoke, her voice not nearly as strong as she wanted it.
"DAMN it Will!"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Lance sat there, wincing slightly at the pain, surprised by the sensation more than anything. Just a flicker of light in his eyes. The blunt force of her fist having literally knocked some sense into him. As if waking him up from a long sleep. Granted only a little, the chip's influence was still strongly there. But still... he'd actually, felt something.

But as she yelled at him, his gaze tilted up slightly, but only so much to stare at her knees. He knew that voice. And his lips parted as he spoke, softly and tonelessly.

"Faleen."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Its just my luck right?" She continued before falling quiet, her fists tightening more as he spoke her name, arms bending a little in ill contained anger.
"No! No." she snapped at him.
"I hate you so much right now I can't even stand it!"

That vacant stare, the same as always. and like always, he just spoke her name, just like always, he would speak her name, then nothing.  

[BlackPidgeot]

As she went on, Lance's brow furrowed just a little. Deep down her words stung, but at the same time... it was to be expected. Of course she would hate him. But he never hated her, despite the fact that she was a Rocket.

He said nothing, and the only movement he made was to draw up a leg and rest an arm on his knee.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She had so many things to say, so many things to just dump on this lifeless bunching bag.
He wouldn't do anything either, she knew that, he would just sit there, take whatever she gave to him, and would just... sit there.
This is what he had become, this is what he had made her do to him.

Faleen was suddenly at his level, one knee to the ground as she clutched her head in her hands.
"Oh god, I hate you." She sobbed. "Look what you made me do to you!"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Again there was several moments of silence. But when Faleen bent down to his level, holding her head in her hands, his golden eyes lifted to look at her. Staring with a nearly blank expression.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Sorry for what? That was something only Lance would know.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"SHUT UP! No you are not!" Her hands tore away from her head as she jerked her gaze back up at him, holding her hands in front of her with blood covered curled fingers. "No you're not!"

She tried to reason with herself, a voice deep down inside telling her that she was reacting way too emotionally, this was alarming! this was wrong and not normal for her!
But that voice was simply silenced with an abrasive scream of rage and sorrow.
She hated this, this feeling of crying, she had not cried in years, not even when she stood over the grave of her mother. but now her breaths came through with harsh shudders not even trying to contain herself.

"Don't you DARE tell me that!" she fell back onto her other knee, dropping herself lower with her hands on the floor. "You had to be Will, of everyone in base you could have been, you had to be Will."
Her head dipped off to the side, "Just one more person taken away from me."  

[BlackPidgeot]

The man went silent, letting her scream at him as much as she wanted. He wanted to say more, to reach out to her in some way, but he couldn't. Even if it wasn't for the chip, he wasn't sure he'd have the strength of spirit to comfort her. Lance's emotions, suppressed as they were, had been worn down over the two long years he'd been imprisoned here. There was no telling if he'd still be the same man he had been even if the chip was turned off.

Despite the painful throbbing on the side of his face, that was insignificant to the hurt he felt somewhere deep in his heart as he watched all of this unfold.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her hazel eyes found her hands, and through the blur of tears, the discoloration of dried blood just seemed to stand out even more.
she drew her hands up in front of her, looking down at them. the ghost sensation of holding Umbreon still lingering over her skin.
"Damn it, Will." She wavered, considerably weaker.

She stayed like this for some time, hands lowered into her lap, her head bowed as her hair hid her face. Though her breathing remained nonrhythmic and harsh, it started to slow the longer she stayed in silence.

It had been good once, she thought. Umbreon, Her, Will. A time before she knew how to recognize her team for what they would become now. Umbreon especially.
It had gone since Will betrayed her, but everything just seemed to empty now with Umbreon gone.
All that remained was this lingering reminder of all of her hatred, her pain. Every single time she passed Lance in the hall.

Faleen looked up, blurry hazel eyes, lined in exhaustion and hatred, her blond hair tasseled with strands sticking to her wet face.
In a slow movement she reached up, not taking her eyes off of the dull golden eyes in front of her.
Her hands only stopped when they were placed around his neck, where they lingered, skin against skin.
She did not tighten her grip, she did not move to choak him. She just held them there, staring at him.

"I wish..." Her voice came out in a hushed waver, so only he could hear her. "That you would finally just die..."
"At least then, you won't be the one tragedy in my life left alive, to constantly remind me of it." She blinked once, sending the tears building up in her eyes to drop away from her face.

Her fingers twitched, but still, she didn't tighten them.