Metanoia

"I just wanted to come and check on you, see how you're adapting to your new courters," Zero says. I look over at him. "Fine. No issues, yet." I say, sitting up. He sits down. "How long have you been like this?" He asks. I look at him in confusion. "What's your point?" I ask.

"You look broken. Like you don't know the meaning of life anymore," he says.

I tilt my head, "I've been like this since the war took someone important to me." I say.

"I lost someone too," he says, "She was the kindest person I've ever met." Zero says, sitting in the edge of the bed. I look at my hands. The same hands that beat a man to death before snapping his neck. The same hands that held Kaydens.

"Sometimes all we can do is live with the loss life has granted us," I say. Zero looks at me, his eye now brown, staring at me. I glance around the room again. I remember the apartment I got with Kayden. We moved in together after graduation, since my mom couldn't support both of us anymore. We had a white couch with a pink throw blanket that he'd pretend to hate because it was pink and "girly" but not-so-secretly snuggled with on the couch every morning. He insisted on decorating the walls with every Polaroid we'd ever taken.

Sitting here, opening up- even the smallest bit- makes me feel like I'm betraying Kayden more than ever. I know he'd hate the new me. Hell, even I hate the new me. The murderer, the criminal, the vigilante.

I look up at Zero. "What was her name?" I ask. He looks down at his hands. "It hurts too much to even think about her. Saying her name would rip me apart in ways I can't afford." He says. He stands up, "I'm going to go on patrol, if you need anything, go to Slater. He should have everything." Zero says. I nod. He walks to the door and hesitates for a millisecond before leaving.

"Good night to you too," I say and turn off the small broken lamp on the floor.

A few hours later I'm up again.

"Please, you don't have to do this, you're better than this!"

"Murderer."

"Danielle," A voice says from behind me. I turn around with my rifle pointed directly at the person's face. Then I realized it was just Tre. I lower my gun.

"Do you normally sneak up on armed and dangerous women at three in the morning?" I say exasperated. He snorts. "Nah, just you," he says. I roll my eyes and continue scouting the grounds. "I'm honored to be the one and only one you nearly give heart attacks to," I smile sarcastically. He laughs out loud, "You'd blow my head off before the myocardial sh*t starts." Tre says matter of factly. I smile and keep walking. "Glad someone understands," I say.

"Yeah. So how'd your little sleep over with Zero go?" He asks. I look at him. "It wasn't a sleepover," I say. He rolls his eyes and stops. "The way he was all like 'I need to talk to Danielle alone bro' was definitely a hint it was a sleepover. The grown up kind." He says looking around. I'm not sure if I should be offended or disgusted. So I settle for "disffended".

"I have a husband," I say plainly.

I see Gianna approaching in the distance. Panic rushes through my veins.

Lightning strikes the ground, sending grass smoking and flying. A humanoid figure walks out of the fire. This isn't right. The only person that can do that is…

"Gianna run!"

I yell and duck behind a stack of crates. I glance over and see Zero running towards Gianna. I run after him.

A man in a purple suit walks towards us.

"Ah, I see you have been recruiting more… minions to your cause," he says.

Zero's shaking with either rage or fear. It's so dark it's hard to tell.

"Go to hell." He says.

The man chuckles and places his hand on Zero's shoulder.

"My son, I thought you of all people would remember I've been there," he smiled.

Tre looks at me.

"That's…" his eyes are wide in fear. Without chin saying anything, I know who it is. The fear in his eyes makes my hands shake. I feel anxious and angry. This is Caligula. The man that killed Kayden.

Rage courses through my veins. I run at him, seeing red.

"Danielle no!" Zero screams. I throw my rifle down and run at Caligula with my knife. Caligula laughs, opening his arms as if to hug me. I'm less than five feet from him when he reaches his hands out. My blood runs cold, the temperature drops, and I can feel myself suffocating. My body raises off of the ground as if I weigh nothing. I can feel myself rising faster and faster. Zero screams.

"Stop! I'll go with you," he says. Suddenly I stop. Relief spreads in my chest before my body starts plummeting downward. "Caligula let her go!" He screams angrily. It feels like a hand has been released from my soul. There's three ways this free fall can end. Somersault for a safer landing, fall and be paralyzed, or fall and die. I tuck my legs under me as best as I can and roll as soon as I hit the ground, landing less than two feet from Zero. Caligula has a scar running from his jaw to his forehead and intense blue eyes that seem to taunt me the more I look.

"Ah, what do we have here? Danielle, is it?" Caligula laughs. Anger boils inside of me. I throw my knife at him but he catches it. It should have impaled him in the chest. "What the hell do you want?" I demand. He smiles and studies the knife. "Repentance," he says.

Zero's face is bleeding. Part of his balaclava is seared. "Here to reunite with your lover?" Caligula asks. Zero's face changes.

"No. You swore. You swore!" he yells.

Caligula lens down to me. "He's one of my undead. But the process was experimental, it was bound to fail. He's regained his free will but don't worry, Darling, he will return to me soon." he says.

He turns to Zero. "Take your mask off." he commands.

Zero seems to fall under a trance. I watch as he removes his balaclava. Caligula takes his cane and smacks me across the face. There's already blood in my eyes, blurring my vision.

All I can see is a blur of black hair before my vision goes black.

"Dani? Dani!" A mans voice says.

My eyes focus for a split second, focusing on his curly black hair and gray eyes.

Then his eyes grow wide in shock. "I'm sorry I lost you again," he breathes out, blood pouring out of his mouth. He falls next to me. Behind him is Caligula standing holding a bloody knife, smiling wickedly.

My body is so weak I can't stop him when he stabs his knife into my stomach.