IMAGINE BEING THE ONLY ONE ROURKE CARES ABOUT IN THE EXPEDITION GROUP AND HIM TRYING TO CONVINCE YOU TO RECONSIDER ON WHICH SIDE YOU'RE TAKING.

"L/N?" Rourke watched in disbelief as you marched to stand beside Milo and turned to look at Rourke with fire in your eyes. "Don't tell me that you're turning against me, too?"

"This is wrong and you know it!" Audrey exclaimed and Rourke huffed.

"I wasn't talking to you, Ramirez."

Everyone was quiet for a while, and Rourke shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"C'mon guys..." he muttered and took a few steps towards you. "L/N, listen to me. We're gonna be rich."

"Rich on the expense of the death of an entire civilization?" you spat, and Rourke blinked in confusion. You closed your eyes and softened your voice, maybe he would listen to a reason. "Listen to yourself, Rourke. You weren't like this when we met all those years ago - you were eager to prove yourself as the expedition leader. But this Crystal, it made you a monster."

A monster. Rourke hated that word. And he would have never believed to hear it from you one day. But there you were, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"L/N, these... people have lived for thousands of years, it's more than a human needs. But this Crystal, it would make us rich. It would make us famous, and we'd be celebrated as heroes and there will be-"

"I don't care!" you exclaimed and Rourke grimaced.

"You don't- L/N, listen to me-"

"No, you listen to me. It isn't worth it."

You stared at each other for a while, and Rourke swallowed and his hardened expression appeared on his face again.

"If you'll stand for these savages instead of me, so be it. I valued you as a crew member and I believed we'd stand together in the picture that will be spread around the world. I trusted you, L/N. And you're breaking my heart."

And with that, you watched him leave, you watched him blow up the bridge, knowing you wouldn't be able to follow, and with that, he was gone, and he had taken the Crystal.

And Rourke, although driving his truck with a calm expression, was killing his last drop of empathy as he fought the urge to go back, to pick you up, even against your will if he could, and trust on how you would get drunk on the power the Crystal would give too.