The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel“s Disguise

"Team Red, cleared!"

"Team Blue, cleared!"

"Team Grey, on the move!"

Ru heard progress reports of the team leaders through the earpiece and nodded her head in satisfaction.

"Team Black Mist, what’s the status?" she asked but didn’t receive any reply from the other side. "Adia, Jack, Jake, Connor, Ed!" She frowned slightly. "Give me a bloody answer!"

With some noises, a very low voice was heard, "Edmund here!"

"Ed? What’s going on at the east wing?" Ru questioned as she stepped on the dead bodies and made her way towards the entrance of the main building where the Black Mist team was assigned.

"We... We came across some trouble," replied Edmund in a low voice making Ru scowl now. All her teams were moving smoothly but her best of the best team was facing trouble? How? Why? Who was the one capable of troubling them?

"I’ll be right there," said Ru and rushed over at the fastest speed. On the way, she was only greeted with dead bodies lying in a pool of blood. But it didn’t affect her in the least. She was more than just used to this kind of scene. It didn’t even bother that she was stepping on bodies that were alive till a few hours ago. But now, they had lost their lives.

When Ru reached there she was a bit taken aback. Adia, Jack, and Connor were lying on the ground bleeding while Edmund and Jake were still engaged in a fight. But what surprised her was the fact that their opponent was a single person. And singlehandedly, he was turning out to be a nightmare for the rest of them.

*THUD!*

Jake’s body crashed with the pillar behind him.

*COUGH! COUGH!*

He was coughing blood now. But before the perpetrator of their injuries could land another strike on him, Ru came between them and pushed his body away making him stagger back. She turned around to support Jake’s body, "You okay? Can you stand?"

Jake’s vision was blurry because of the impact, but he could recognize Ru’s voice which brought him comfort as he nodded, "Yes, Master!" He coughed again. "Sorry to be a disappointment!" He was really remorseful now. He was trying his best but the other person was an aberrant who didn’t even allow him the time to breathe.

"It’s okay. You stay here. I can deal with this myself," said Ru as she put Jake on the ground and looked at Edmund, gesturing him to look over at Jake.

"AHHH!" With a loud scream, she heard the sound of that person running up to her. Ru turned around to see his crazed look but the moment his eyes fell on Ru’s face, he froze.

Ru who was ready to counterattack was surprised to see when the other person’s expressions changed completely. His lips lifted up slightly as he called out, "Four..." Ru frowned at him but she knew he was calling her. She just knew it. "You’ve grown up."

Ru’s frown deepened now. "You know me?"

"I do, but you don’t know me," replied Yu as he kept his eyes on her face. He contemplated for a moment before saying, "I was the one who shot you back then." Ru’s eyes widened at his confession. "Because it was the order I received I had to obey."

Ru lifted her gun and pointed it at his forehead. But he didn’t move, didn’t even resist. He just stood there as if he was asking her to pull that trigger. As if that was all he had been waiting for.

"I owe you a debt," he began softly. "Back then if you hadn’t come around, I’d have lost my life on that experiment table. But since they found a perfect subject like you, I was spared."

"Are you expecting sympathy with those words? Because this young master doesn’t have that." Ru’s voice didn’t fluctuate. Neither did her emotions. So what if he was one of those people who fell prey to the hands of these mad doctors who experimented on humans? That didn’t mean she was willing to spare the life of the one who once tried to take hers!

"I know," he mumbled softly and looked up in her eyes. "Four doesn’t know how to forgive or forget."

Ru’s brows quirked up just a bit. It wasn’t that noticeable but it was there. She really didn’t remember him at all. But somehow he knew her. He knew her well.

Yu picked up a gun from a dead body beside him and pointed it at Ru saying, "As much as I’m indebted to you, I can’t stop myself from obeying Madam’s order. She wants you dead. And I can’t go against it like last time." Ru narrowed her eyes at him as he added, "It’s either you kill me or I kill you. There is no other way I’m letting you walk through these doors."

Ru sneered at him. "Do you really think I won’t dare to pull this trigger?"

’No, I know you will. And that’s what I want you to do! Because I really can’t pull this trigger twice at you.’ Yu thought to himself with a sad smile playing on his thin lips. Was it weird that he was affected by her this badly? How was she able to control him without even trying? But deep down in his heart, he still believed that she was the reason why he was still alive. And thought alone was enough to crumble every other belief of his.

Ru’s pointer finger was hovering on the trigger as her mind was in deep thought. "Why didn’t you shoot at my heart?" Yu was startled by her words. "If you received the orders to kill me, why did you hesitate? Why did you give me the chance to live?"

"As I said, you gave me a chance to live. I decided to pay that debt back," said Yu with a straight face. Ru didn’t think that reason alone was enough. That’s when he added, "Also, you once told me to decide my own fate."

"Is that why you’re choosing death for yourself?"

"In this life, I’m done being a puppet. I would like to choose something for myself now. And that’s why I’m asking you to pull that trigger."

Ru’s hand was about to drop when he pulled the trigger and the bullet went right past Ru’s ear. He could have chosen to shoot right at her head but he didn’t. It wasn’t his intention, to begin with. "I told you if you won’t. I’ll have to kill you." He now pointed the nuzzle at her forehead, "This time I won’t aim wrongly. I won’t hesitate either. And I certainly won’t let you pass. It’s either your life or mine!"

Ru’s expressions hardened at his words as she pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through the space between his brows dropping his lifeless body on the ground.

Ru looked at his listless body with a blank expression. "I love my life. There is no way I’m giving up on it." She looked over at her team and said in her earpiece, "Send reinforcement to the east wing." Then she turned to Edmund who was the only one looking slightly better now. "When the reinforcement comes, take the others and leave this place."

"What about you master?"

"This is something I have to face alone," she said and turned towards the doors that led inside the main lair. Taking a deep breath, she entered through the door and closed it behind her. The rest of the journey, she was supposed to take it alone. She was the one who started it, she was going to end it as well.