"Would you still treat her the same way even if she was different from us?"

Lucas was stunned by his question. He was confused by what it actually meant but he had already made up his mind. He had always been determined although he did not know it. Deep down inside, he was never full of regrets. Instead, he loved her more than he actually thought.

"Yes I will," he answered with confidence.

"Fair enough. This means anything that happens to you is because of your choice. That includes death." The moment he finished his sentence, his eyes turned cold.

Lucas gulped at how serious Aaron sounded but he was sure of his choice and was willing to accept his fate.

••••••••••••••••••<>••••••••••••••••••

Later that night, Lucas sat on his bed organizing his thoughts. His mind was stuck on the word 'death'. He always knew that there was something about Leila that drew a line between them but he couldn't figure out the difference. She seemed like a normal Galaxian to him.

Stressing out wouldn't do any good for him so he got up and opened his closet which was filled with variety of weapons that were neatly organized. Guns. Swords. Arrows. Spears. Daggers. Just name it and one could find it there.

All Galaxians carried their weapons with them all the time but Lucas did not see the need to. He found Galax as a safe and warm place. He never sensed any danger. But now, he decided to have it with him for the unpredictable fate ahead of him.

He took out a golden gun with his name embedded on it and loaded it with bullets. He twirled it and placed it on the table next to his bed where his watch and feather were. He looked up at the ceiling where the beautiful night filled the space and smiled.

"I'm ready for anything, my princess."

••••••••••••••••••<>••••••••••••••••••

That was what he said but he had been restless the entire day. Another duty day was all it seemed where Lucas sat in his office as usual but with extra attention paid to his surroundings. He had been feeling pretty uncomfortable after what Aaron said and he felt like he could be killed anytime.

"Sir, are you alright?" Louis asked as he noticed him nervously shaking his legs. "Uh? I'm fine," he replied, totally not noticing the obvious gesture that he was making.

Louis decided to just ignore it and passed him the reports for the day. He excused himself and left Lucas alone in his office.

Lucas flipped through the pages and placed all his attention to the report until he heard a door creaked open. He immediately took out his gun and pointed at the door where Jacob and Ryan had their hands up with their eyes wide open.

"Calm down. It's just us." Ryan told him with his hands still up.

"Lucas, you actually brought a gun with you?!" Jacob asked in a mixture of shocking and amazement manner. They both knew Lucas was never the type to bring weapons along so this kind of scene was surprising to them.

He finally calmed down and placed his gun down. He could not believe the way he was behaving and it's so embarrassing when he thought about how he was being so cautious about everything. It should just be a normal day and he was getting all worked out because Aaron simply warned him.

"Well, you are getting an off today as I'm officially taking over for the day," Jacob announced.

However, Lucas's mind had drifted off while Ryan and Jacob continued talking.

"What's wrong?"

When Ryan did not receive a response, he snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention. He looked at the two of them blankly.

"Did you even hear what we said?" Jacob rolled his eyes at him. Lucas rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly. Ryan shook his head in disappointment and placed his hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"Something on your mind?"

He gave it a thought and decided to tell them what Aaron told him.

"No wonder you brought that gun with you" was the first thing he got. He looked at Jacob with his eyebrow raised.

"Oh speaking of Aaron, I saw him with Guardian of Night just now and they were being unusually friendly."

True it was unusual, especially since Leila was rarely seen outside.

"They're probably just talking about duty or staff since he's the head," Jacob scoffed. He glanced at Lucas, trying to make sure that he was not hurt from hearing that.

And just as Jacob thought, Lucas's heart clenched when he heard what Ryan said. To him, it meant something completely different. It meant that Aaron was a step ahead of him. He had the wrong idea of the two and so this just added to his misunderstanding. Anger boiled inside him as it played in his mind on repeat.

"Where did you see them?"

••••••••••••••••••<>••••••••••••••••••

Aaron sent Leila off after discussing about the night duty with her. He made sure it was not a very crowded place so that Leila was not seen by anyone. And yet Ryan saw them. It was not like he could do anything to him so he just let him off. If he did, things would have been messy.

He also warned Leila to not get too attached to Lucas. Both of them knew the consequences. Despite that, she still tried to push it further. If that continued, things would get dirty.

He stopped when he saw Lucas standing in front of him. The main reason for Leila breaking laws was him. He knew that Leila was with Lucas in his room and also again in the conference room.

In the past, Leila listened to him and remained in her room. She did not care about the world outside and completed her tasks dutifully. But now, she had changed because of him. And that pissed him off.

"You really don't know how to give up, do you?"

He knew the answer yet he wished it was not so. He hoped that he would not have to go through this. He wanted to just make sure everything was in its right order and not cause any more trouble.

"I'm willing to accept my fate."

And yet, those two were messing everything up. This was not a mere game. If Leila knew what Lucas had gotten into, she would let go but as for Lucas, knowing his personality, he won't. With that, he had no other choice left. He took his coat off which would get in the way and sprinted towards Lucas.

"But I wonder if she'll be able to."

While Lucas was caught off guard, Aaron landed a punch on him. He fell on his back and Aaron got on his body as he continuously threw punches at him.

Lucas grabbed his collar and kicked him off his body. He turned him so that he was on top of him and clenched his fist. He hesitated to punch him.

That gave Aaron the chance to attack. He threw Lucas off him and quickly got up. Lucas did the same as well. They made sure that they were not taken over by another.

Both of them reached for their inner pockets and took out their weapons. Soon, they were pointing guns at each other.

"You don't seem to get it, kid."

Aaron sounded disappointed and shook his head. Lucas did not really care instead he smirked.

"Then make me get it," he willingly challenged him despite knowing the difference in their strength.

"She'll never choose you."

Lucas was taken aback by that comment. To never be chosen by her, he wondered to what extent he meant. He was not willing to back off just like that.

"You know nothing," Aaron added.

"Then, I'll learn more about her!"

Aaron clicked his tongue and raised his eyebrow.

"She won't let you know," He took a deep breath and grabbed his collar, "Did you really think she would accept you?"

Lucas swallowed his saliva thickly and pushed him away. He couldn't answer the question or rather he wasn't confident. He was the one who had been voicing out his love. However, he had never heard Leila saying it before.

Aaron noticed something at his foot. He could not believe why it was there. Lucas stayed at his spot and watched Aaron knelt down to pick something. His eyes followed the hands of Aaron and his eyes widened in shock. He hoped that it was not what he thought it was and rapidly tapped onto his coat. Unfortunately, it was.

"Can you give that back?"

Aaron glanced at him and then back at the feather he was holding.

"Where did you get that?"

"What does that have anything to do with you?"

Aaron stared at the feather inside his hand and wondered how far Lucas knew about Leila.

"You've never even seen her body, have you?"

Lucas stared at Aaron confused. He wondered why he would ask about her body?

Then, his eyes widened in anger as he sensed something in between his lines. Images of Aaron's hands all over Leila's body appeared in his head and that made him want to vomit.

His anger started to burst inside him which Aaron noticed. Even though he knew what Lucas was thinking was not what he meant, he decided to push it further.

"That's right. That's our difference. You will never be able to close that gap."

And with that Lucas reached his limits where his instinct took over him. His mind was blank and all he could think of was Leila and that he would do anything to anyone stopping him.

He slid his leg across Aaron's, causing him to trip and fall. The feather flew in the sky and brushed past his watch. Just as Aaron used his hand to push himself up from the floor, he had a gun pointed at him.

His eyes were cold and dark. He had completely lost his mind.

"I'll kill you."

Just as Lucas was about to pull the trigger, a sharp pain was felt on his cheek which brought him back his consciousness.