The sound of my knocking seemed to resonate alongside the frantic beats of my heart.

"Who is it?" Her voice echoed through the door.

"Grace."

There was a long silence, and damn, it felt like forever. Then her footsteps approached the door, and bam, there she was. Our eyes met. Her pupils shone with the reflection of light, but they were far from conveying any kind of emotion. Cold. Distant. There was nothing in her gaze.

"Hi," I said, trying to break the tension.

"What do you want?" Her tone could've frozen the Arctic.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"No."

I sighed and glanced over her shoulder. Her room was a mess, with clothes strewn across her bed, and two boxes on her desk filled with her belongings.

"What's going on?" I asked, afraid to know the answer.

"Packing. I'm leaving."

Panic rose in my chest. "What?! Where?"

"Like you care." Whoa. She was furious.

"Heather, please." My tone sounded more authoritative than I intended.

She furrowed her brows. "Who do you think you are?" She moved to close the door. "I have a lot to do." She continued.

"Wait! I want to talk!" I said. She was not going to make this easy.

"Well, I don't. So..." And just like that, the door slammed shut, leaving me standing there, not knowing what to do. I waited in the hallway for a moment; that was typical, Heather, but we couldn't afford this today. Not at all. There were too many things to say, and the clock was ticking. So, I took a deep breath, mustered all the courage I had, and just went for it. I stepped into her room without waiting for an invitation. She turned to me, surprised, annoyed even.

"You can't just barge in like that." She said.

I didn't respond; instead, I closed the door firmly behind me, and then I approached her without hesitation.

"What do you think you are..." Before she could finish, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her to me. Our bodies collapsed, and I hugged her tight. She stiffened, clearly not expecting that. But I didn't care; it just felt like the right thing to do.

"I'm so sorry." I mumbled.

We've been through so much lately. Literally skirting death. We had witnessed horrific scenes. We'd lost friends along the way. I couldn't talk to her like nothing. Not without acknowledging the extremely hard times we were both facing. Besides, I almost lost her. For real. And that had been the scariest time ever.

She didn't return the hug, but she didn't push me away either, and that felt like a little triumph to me.

"You're hurting me." She said after a moment, and when I released her, I saw the pain etched into her face. She cradled the spot where the laser had pierced her skin. My heart twisted at the sight.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to... Can I help?" I asked nervously.

"No." She said moving to sit on the bed with a tired sigh.

"How are you?" I asked. She looked so fragile and vulnerable. I wanted to get closer to her but I decided to leave her space, I didn't want to rush anything.

"It's a living hell." she said while she pulled her shirt off to reveal the bandage wrapping around her stomach and shoulder.

"What about the recovery treatment?" I asked, confused to see her still bandaged.

"I couldn't have it. The Medical Bay collapsed with injured people. Natural healing it is and still in the process as you can see," she explained. That made sense, but at the same time, it struck me as odd that they hadn't prioritized her, a lead, to receive immediate treatment.

She tried to find the knot of the bandage, but it was on her back, too far for her to reach.

"Can I...?" I said and sat next to her. She hesitated for a moment, but then she turned her back to me and swept her hair aside, giving me the green light. The scent of honey jasmine wafted from her hair and hit me with a rush of familiarity. I had missed it so much. That fragrance was so much Heather. But the coziness of that memory was shattered as my gaze fell upon her back. Besides the laser gunshot wound, her skin was covered in many bruises and scars.

"Your back... this must hurt a lot," I said, feeling terrible for her.

"The worst part is sleeping. I don't know which side to rely on." she said. If I were her, I would be complaining all the time, at every moment, and I would demand recovery treatment right away.

"It's wild that they didn't prioritize you in the medical bay." I said angry at them.

"Well, they sure asked, but seeing the situation, I decided to let other people have the treatment instead of me."

And that's why she was the best leader the border ever had: always ready to do what was right, always prepared to put others before herself.

"Can you get the knot?" she asked.

"I have it." I said, unbidding it.

And damn, her back was something else. Athletic as hell, you could practically see the evidence of all those laps in the pool.

"Tighten it more; it feels very loose." Gently and trying not to hurt her, I redid the knot of her bandage.

"I'll move it to this side so you can reach it more easily next time." She nodded without looking at me. My fingers brushed her skin in the process, and I had to consciously hold back all my instincts. All I wanted was to take care of her. It was obvious she needed help. How would she manage changing clothes or taking a shower? The mere thought of her struggling through it alone was too much for me to bear. But the reality was that despite being pretty close, the distance between us felt significant, reminding me that no matter what my instincts were, first, we needed to talk.

"I came to see you at the Medical Bay." I said.

"I know," She tried to put her shirt on again, and I clenched one side to help her. "I can do it by myself." She immediately said.

Alright, the helping phase was over. I stood up, giving her space, and she, being a bit clumsy, got to pull her shirt down on her own. Then silence filled the room again.

"I came every day..." Just in case Kate didn't tell her.

"I know that too." She said with her gaze to the floor, not looking very interested in the conversation.

"I took care of Greta, Hilda, and Lola while you were gone." I said.

She turned to me, puzzled.

"Oh, I gave your plans names while you were gone. Didn't they tell you? It came natural and they love it." I said moving to the plant's shelves and inspecting gently one of their leaves in my hand.

"You can keep them if you want. I'm not sure I'll be able to take them." She said.

"What? No way. You can't split up three babies from their mom," The tension started to ease up a bit, but Heather still seemed miles away from cracking even a hint of a smile.

"I don't think I'll have a choice." She said and then she stood up and moved to her desk. There were two big boxes, half full, and a bunch of gardening books rested next to them, ready to jump inside.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Don't know yet. But it won't be "happy land," that's for sure." She explained while piling up more books.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm being punished, Grace," Her tone was a bit violent, with a hint of "put your feet on the ground" in her tone. "Under-ranked, worst assignments." She finished.

Guilt started to rise from my stomach to my chest.

"You don't deserve that," I said, frustrated; however, she didn't seem to be interested in my thoughts. She took a silver tape and cut it into stripes, then closed the boxes with that.

"I don't know what I'll be doing, but I've been asked to transfer to the Nexus Court," I said.

Heather stopped for a second. Frozen as if acknowledging the new information, then she resumed her actions.

"Congratulations." She said apathetically.

"I haven't accepted yet. I don't know what to do."

"It's Brooke Abbot in charge. You don't think you have a choice, do you?"

"Well..." She was right. "I guess not."

"Don't worry, Grace, you'll be fine," Her tone was far from comforting. "rubbing shoulders with the most important people in the Reg Society, it's like a promotion."

"It doesn't feel like it."

"Well, you better start feeling it. Not all of us will be that lucky."

"I want to be with you. No matter where."

She snorted and shook her head silently as if suppressing whatever she was thinking.

"Heather... I'm sorry." I said.

"For which part exactly?" I went silent. "For lying to me and sneaking to send messages to the other side? For not telling me you saw Mark on the day of the tunnel's flood? Or for, aiming your weapon at me and letting your brother almost kill me?"

My heart burst with that last sentence, and the fact that she didn't even look at me made me feel completely insignificant and overlooked as if my presence didn't even register to her.

"How could you..." She said softly as if it were just for herself. Her voice was full of pain.

"I panicked. I thought you were going to shoot Michael," I said, trying to justify.

"And you took a side." She said while closing one of her boxes violently with the tape.

"No, I just wanted to buy us time to solve the situation." I said.

She turned and stuck her eyes on me. "By pointing your weapon at me?"

"I swear, I didn't even consider that Michael could hurt you. I would never have let him."

"But you did." Her eyes were blazing with rage.

"And I've been dying inside since then. Can't you see that?" I plead.

"I can't believe a single word you say." Heather turned her back to me again and kept picking up her stuff.

"Hey, just put yourself in my shoes for a sec. It was my brother; I've never been in a tougher situation in my life! I'm still in shock from finding him there!"

She stopped, as if mentioning my kinship with Michael had irritated her.

"And I should have shot him." Whoa. That was a low blow.

"Are you serious?" I couldn't believe what I had heard.

"We've buried more than fifty people, Grace!" She raised her voice.

"With a lot of Phoenix soldiers between them, let's not forget that." I remarked.

She looked at me, astonished. "I can't believe you care more about them than about us."

"I don't. I'm just trying to say that there is no black or white in this situation."

"Actually, there is. And the fact that you don't get it, makes you weak and dangerous. Look what happened because you couldn't blow the whistle about Mark."

What? How the hell did she know? I froze, unable to contain the surprised expression that spread across my face at the speed of light.

"Yes, I know. Mark told us when he was captured. You both met that night, and you didn't tell me!"

I felt my tears welling up in my eyes. "I didn't think he could do that." I said tears rolling down.

"You thought bad."

It's true that maybe I should have told her, but Mark had lied to me, feeding me nonsense about going back to the other side. How the hell could I have known what he was up to? Besides, he had gained my trust. He was my friend.

"Sorry for not wanting to believe that everyone is a potential terrorist." I wanted to defend myself.

"Everyone is a potential terrorist, this world is fucked up!" She yelled.

"What about me? Am I too?"

"I truly don't know, Grace. Not anymore." She briefly looked at me as if trying to decode my image and failed to do so.

"That's not true..." With some tears escaping down my cheeks, I moved towards her. She avoided my gaze.

"Look at me." It was imperative. She resisted to move.

"Heather. Look. At. Me." I insisted. I was right behind her.

Slowly, she turned around, and I could see a couple of tears on her eyelid too.

"What do you see when you look at me?" I asked.

She remained silent, her eyes infested with rage and sadness, drilling into mine like painful daggers. She wasn't gonna answer. So I took her hand in mine and decided to continue: "Because you know what I see when I look at you? The very essence of my happiness."

She swallowed nervously and then pulled her hand away from mine violently.

"Stop." A tear trickled down her cheek, but she swiftly wiped it aside. Then, she turned away from me and made her way to the closet. Without uttering a word, she flung open its doors and began pulling out her clothes. From where I stood, I could hear the heaviness of her breathing, laden with emotion. I waited a few seconds, leaving some space to think, but I wasn't ready to end the conversation just yet.

"You told me something the last day we were together... at the pool," She froze. "Remember what it was?" I asked. The question floated in the air.

"Three words." I remarked.

She let the clothes fall to the floor.

"How dare you?" she mumbled, and the sadness of her tone made my heart sink. I did a step closer to her. She still didn't turn to me.

"Wasn't it true?" I said, I took another step closer to her.

She suddenly turned to me. Her face was a mix of anger and sorrow. Many tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"Pain," She said clenching her teeth. "That's what I see when I look at you." Her voice broke.

"Liar." I said.

A surge of rage and strength seized me, and I rushed towards her. I closed the distance between us in a flash and captured her mouth with mine. As our lips met, a dam burst inside me. All I could focus on was the taste of her lips against mine, the warmth of her breath mingling with mine. At first, she stiffened in surprise, but then slowly, tentatively, she responded to the kiss. It was hesitant, uncertain, but beneath that hesitation, I could feel a flicker of something more, something raw and intense. We both stumbled backward, collapsing into the closet, sending piles of clothes cascading around us. My body pressed against hers, and I slid one of my hands around her waist to pull her closer to me and the other behind her neck, burying my fingers in her sensual hair.

But it didn't last for long, she suddenly violently broke apart, pushing me away. For a moment, we just stared at each other, catching our breaths. Her eyes had shifted to that familiar silver hue. A hue that conveyed many contradictions. She was torn, I was too, and so was the world we lived in. Now the question was: which side would we choose?

"I can't do that anymore." She said and turned away from me.

"We can solve this." I plead.

"No!" She yelled.

"Why are you so determined to throw everything out the window?" Frustration was getting to me.

"Me?" Suddenly, her eyes brimmed with tears again. "You destroyed my life, Grace. Everything I had... It's broken." She said it so sure that everything else seemed suddenly insignificant.

"My love for you isn't broken," I said.

"Mine is."

My heart sank.

"But with time..." She didn't let me finish.

"No, Grace. Nothing can fix this. This was meant to happen... It couldn't work. I've been stupid to think otherwise" She said, as if trying to convince herself more than me.

"But the system put us together, and the system is never wrong, remember?" Desperation was resorting to the weakest points in the argument. She slowly shook her head.

"For once, I think it was... Your brother was right: You should have never crossed."

A sharp dagger filled with hatred pierced through my weakened heart. And for a moment, I felt reduced to ashes. You should have never crossed. That sentence was like thick, shifting sand that suffocated me to death. My entire body ached except for my heart, I couldn't even feel it anymore.

"How can you say that?" My voice broke, but she didn't flinch. Around her, she had raised one of those walls she was so good at building up. As tall and thick as the one dividing our messed-up world. And even though I sought her gaze, desperate to see a glimmer of hope in it, she didn't grant it to me. However, she did say one last thing.

"Leave."

And I did. 

Hey wonderful people! 💖

So, this chapter was quite a challenge to write, I must admit. I truly hope you've been able to immerse yourselves in the whirlwind of emotions alongside Grace and Heather. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the argument? Whose perspective resonates with you more, Heather's or Grace's? And do you think there is still hope? 

Love you all and thanks a lot for the support! 

Ava💫