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It had been an incredibly long day.

From Niall's rejection in the morning, to seeing Rue all beaten and bloodied, to snapping at Adrien, to getting assaulted by Rivier and finally, to having to tag along with Julian to their secret contact in the press to 'leak' what had happened... Thea was exhausted.

And even now, as she sat at the bar in Mayra's, she continued to wrack her brain out on the work she had done with Julian. She had written up an entire statement detailing what had happened before Julian reviewed it and Thea couldn't stop thinking about whether or not she had said the right thing.

Sure, she had Julian's approval... but whatever came out of having details from her statement published... she couldn't help but feel that that would be on her.

What was Niall expecting to happen when what happened to Rue, and Rivier's other outbursts, goes public? Would people really even care?

Julian seemed hopeful, though he had said that this wouldn't be published immediately. He said that they'd wait a few days and in the meantime, do a controlled leak of the information in Achlis and outside as well. He said they would wait for the news to begin to simmer and for people to be curious, and once people were wondering, they'd release the article detailing what had happened.

And people would apparently react.

Though Thea knew quite well that this was how the government worked with the press, that this kind of process was so normal that she shouldn't have been surprised, she still felt... icky.

A controlled leak to try and put pressure on the President to have Rivier fired... sure, Thea wanted more than anything for Rivier to be gone, but this still felt strange.

She sighed loudly.

Maybe it felt strange because, though deep down she knew that this was how the Aiverian State functioned... through manipulation and secrets and scandals and what not... she had always hoped it wasn't the case.

Before coming to Achlis, she was a normal citizen afterall. She read the newspaper and listened to the radio, nearly every day actually, and all that time she had hoped that whatever it was that was being told to her was completely and utterly true, with the sole intention of keeping the public aware of the happenings in Aiveria.

Now she knew more than ever that this was certainly not the case.

If Niall didn't decide to leak this story, what happened to Rue would have been swept under the rug... just like thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands, of stories of other Elorian people who were suffering at the hands of the State.

She sighed again.

It was incredibly late and she had still not had a proper night's sleep since well before her meeting with the higher ups at Achlis... and now with all of this, she knew she wouldn't be sleeping well for the next few days too. She wondered how she was going to focus... how she was going to be able to function.

Despite her exhaustion, the reason why she was at Mayra's instead of at home sleeping was because she was meeting up with Luana.

Last Thea heard, Rue was still unconscious and had been hospitalized as per the wishes of the General, but now that he was in the hospital under high security, Thea was not allowed to see him and would not be until the General had finished his investigation and completed all the paperwork resulting from the issue. Until then, only police and military personnel were allowed in, and that's why she was waiting for Luana.

The General had assigned Luana and some other soldier who worked for Kaya to watch over Rue, placing only the people that he trusted most at Rue's bedside to make sure nothing suspicious occurred. Luana's shift would only end at midnight, at which the other individuals shift would start, so Thea was here at the bar, despite it being well past midnight and well past the hostel's curfew, waiting for her friend.

Thea needed to know if Rue was okay, and right now Luana was the only one who could tell her. At least she knew she could sleep over at Luana's tonight.

It was half past twelve when Luana made her way into the bar which, despite the time, was still relatively crowded. Her friend looked as exhausted as Thea probably looked, yet still managed to grin. "You can relax... he's still unconscious but he's stable."

Thea didn't relax. "And his eye?"

Luana sat in the stool next to her and frowned just a little, only stopping to grin again when Mayra came over with a beer before frowning again. "Gone. They had to remove it because it was already infected... we got to him too late."

Thea shuddered as she felt her heart ache, her eyes watering a little. Rue had lost his eye... one of the beautiful black eyes that he used to see the world with. She thought back to his poems, thinking of the words he himself used... the obsidian eyes that made him Elorian. "Damn..."

"He's alive though, Thea... that's what matters," she said. "And Niall isn't going to sleep until things are made right. Milo's over at his place helping with the paperwork as we speak."

Thea nodded, knowing that Luana was right. Niall certainly wasn't going to be sleeping for the next little while and after pondering Niall's situation for a moment, she sighed loudly. "It's just getting so tiring," she said, her voice soft as the emotion began to overwhelm her. "I mean... I'm so tired... imagine how tired Niall is. We spent months having to deal with pure uncertainty when it came to Rue, and now, the moment we finally take a breath and think that we've gotten some control, we're thrown right back into a state of uncertainty."

Luanna nodded, a grim look on her face as she sipped at her beer. "You can say that again."

"I don't know how Niall does it," Thea said, honestly, "how he manages to stay calm and think straight in such stressful situations–"

"Did he though?" Luana interrupted. "I heard he grabbed Rivier by the collar and slammed him against his bookshelves."

Thea felt something squeeze her heart.

"Julian updated me and I couldn't believe it. It was a really dumb move on Niall's part," Luana added. "Not like him at all to act on emotion like that... it was an absolute miracle that he didn't get in trouble... with the President of all people walking in when he did."

"It's not his fault," Thea said, feeling the need to defend him. She then looked down at her own beer. "He did it because Rivier hit me."

"Yeah, I heard that too," Luana turned in her seat, looking oddly serious before reaching out and gently touching Thea's bruised cheek. It still looked really bad and her bottom lip still tasted sharp and metallic from her split lip. "You were really stupid, Thea, you know that, right? For you to go in there and antagonize Rivier like that... yes, he sure as hell deserves it, and more for that matter, but he could have really hurt you."

After the last fight the two girls had had, Thea knew better than to disregard Luana's words. "Yeah. I know," Thea frowned deeply.

"I know it's not fair but in Achlis... we gotta be careful. We're Elorian and we're women. You may want to beat those scummy men silly but you gotta hold your tongue. It's a game to all of those ass holes and you gotta play the game the hard way because if you try to go the easy route you will always lose," she said. "And if Niall wasn't there... if Niall wasn't there to react in a way he would never have normally reacted... to put his entire career on the line... you would have lost a lot today."

Thea nodded.

Luana was right.

She felt terrible about it and refused to think of that fact until that moment. In her rage and her inability to control her emotions, she hadn't even thought of what could have happened to Niall. She remembered feeling satisfied, blissful even... a giddy excitement when Niall grabbed Rivier. She felt nothing less than pleasure because that man deserved to have his teeth knocked out.

Even when Niall tried to discipline her after, she couldn't allow herself to agree with him. She couldn't allow herself to agree that either of them had done something wrong.

It was only when she left with Julian, when she had cooled down and was able to think straight again, that was when she realized that she had not only risked her own career and safety... she had risked Niall's.

If the President hadn't surprised everyone by being so turned off by Rivier that he would completely ignore Niall's actions... everything Niall had worked for would have gone right down the drain within a matter of seconds.

Thea was reminded of the whole Vetori situation. Had she really not learned anything? Frustrated, she rubbed her eyes with the fleshy part of her palms, not worried about her eye makeup. "God, I'm so stupid."

Luana chuckled, turning in her seat again and lifting her beer to her lips. "At least you know it. But still, it was kind of cute that Niall stood up for you like that. What a gentleman."

"I think he'd do the same for you... for any of us for that matter."

"Are you kidding?" Luana snorted. "If I had pulled a stunt like that, Niall would have torn me a new one," she seemed to shudder at the thought. "He would have killed me."

"That's not true."

"Is too," Luana argued. "You and Aari... Niall's got a soft spot for both you Aburethian idiots with anger management issues."

Mayra, who was finally freed up to come and talk to them, laughed, clearly hearing Luana's words. "Aari does have anger management issues, doesn't he?"

Luana nodded quickly, seeming pleased that Mayra agreed. "Thea's just like him, you know."

"I don't have anger management issues," Thea frowned.

"Yeah, but you act purely on emotion sometimes... Aari's pretty much the same, you know? And Niall lets him off the hook all the time."

Mayra nodded. "That's just a thing with some men. When they're emotional, anything goes."

Luana kept nodding before taking a big swig of her beer. "But Thea does the same thing!"

Before Thea could argue, Mayra laughed and continued, "sure, but that makes sense, doesn't it, seeing as you two grew up together. Of course you'd be similar!" She grinned. "You two went to the same school, right?"

At first, Thea didn't know what Mayra was talking about, but when Luana began to choke on her beer, Thea hesitated. She stared, watching as Luana gave Mayra a wide eyed look before Mayra returned it. "Oh... I... the meeting is over... I thought..."

Thea kept her eyes on Luana, her mind was racing, her heart suddenly aching as the realization hit her. Why would Mayra say she grew up with Aari? That they were similar?

Of course, Thea knew exactly why.

Aari...

Aaryan.

Every quote-unquote contact she had with Aari suddenly flashed through her mind... the pen he had gotten her, the glimpse of him she had seen in the Achlis halls, the conversations she's had about him with her team members, and finally, the lucky Old Elorian penny he had leant her... the one that was still in her purse because she had hoped to give it back to him herself.

Even at the meeting... she remembered that the thought had flashed through her mind but it seemed too ridiculous to even fathom. But now...

No.

It couldn't have been.

Her mind exploded with memories and thoughts and all sorts of emotion that she could not control... though it was mostly anger. Yes, she was angry. Infuriated.

It couldn't be... how could it?

How could Aari... be Aaryan?

How could a boy who left her behind to become a Crow and avenge his sister, who she had accepted as being dead for all these years, be alive and well in the heart of the Capital, the head officer of the Screeching Crow? Working under Niall?

As she stared at Luana, however, who looked to be getting pale, she realized that it wasn't as hard to believe as she tried to convince herself it was. It all made sense.

Of course Aari would have gotten her a beautiful pen for her birthday. Aaryan had always known how much she loved collecting pens. Of course Aari would lend her his lucky Old Elorian coin, something Aaryan had always used to calm his own nerves, a coin that was gifted to him by his sister. Of course Luana would complain about how effortlessly beautiful Aari was, with his perfect hair and perfect beard. Aaryan had also always been so effortlessly beautiful, though there was no beard back then. It was why all the girls in her school had adored him.

"Thea..." Luana started.

"You knew?"

After a moment of looking like she was trying to think of an excuse, she gave up and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Thea asked, her voice barely a whisper. She hadn't intended on sounding like that... she was just holding too many emotions back. She couldn't risk crying... or laughing... or screaming... or whatever... Thea didn't even know what she was feeling right at that moment. There was too much. It was too overwhelming.

"I..." Luana let out a breath she was holding. "It wasn't my place to tell you."

"Wasn't your–" she cut herself off, scoffing, and then laughing before standing up, throwing on her coat and scarf and marching out of the bar.

Thea wasn't thinking... not at all. After marching out of the bar and into the very quiet, snowy night, an atmosphere that was completely and utterly opposite to the madness of what was going on in her mind, she was suddenly on a street car that took her to the northern end of the city. After jumping off the streetcar at the start of the long bridge that led to the prison, instead of crossing the bridge as she normally would have if she was in a car with Luana, she turned right, trekking through the ugly gray snow, up the unbelievably long hill that led to the Screeching Crow. To make matters worse, it was freezing cold and incredibly dark, the path lit by a few old, ugly yellow lights that barely helped.

But Thea pushed on, slipping and stumbling because of the uncleared, icy sidewalk, ignoring the consistent calls of Luana who had followed her all the way here. "Thea, I know you-you're upset b-but this is pointless!" Her teeth were chattering and she was stuttering from the cold which Luana was not at all dressed to be in. "You c-can't go into the Screeching C-Crow without sp-special access! I c-couldn't even t-take you in!"

Thea didn't care.

She was tired and she wasn't thinking straight and all she knew was that she would break down the doors of that stupid camp if she had to.

However, right when Thea could finally see the entrance of the camp, though still quite far away, she saw a car's headlights light up the path in front of her from somewhere far behind. She could hear the soft sound of the car's engine and its wheels crunching the snow beneath it as it slowed down. She figured it was someone who was coming to try and stop her, some guard or something.

She just walked faster.

But as she pulled her scarf more tightly around her neck, she heard a voice. "Luana? What the hell are you doing running around in this weather? You could have asked me to pick you up, I was literally just at Niall's place."

The voice was different... deeper, and though it was a little muffled and distant because of the weird effect that snow had on sound, she recognized it.

It was him.

She flung herself around and saw Luana, who had her back to her, staring into the relatively nice black car that had slowed itself to a stop a very short distance away from her. After standing there frozen for a second, Luana turned and looked at Thea.

The man in the car, which had its window rolled all the way down as he stared worriedly at Luana, followed Luana's gaze and met Thea's, doing a double take before his eyes slowly widened.

She heard the car's gears click loudly as he shifted it to park before the door swung open and he got out, revealing his tall stature. After shutting the door, he just stood there... staring at her.

Thea hated everything at that moment.

She hated that he looked so different, yet still the same. She hated that he was so much taller than she remembered... so much bigger, with broad shoulders that looked larger because of his coat. She hated that he was as effortlessly beautiful as Luana had claimed. She hated that his obsidian, upturned eyes were still the same as they always were, despite his brows being a little lower and the dark circles around his eyes looking much more prominent.

Most of all, she hated that despite being so incredibly angry, she felt exceptionally happy. She was so happy that he was there, alive.

He was alive.

He wasn't dead, lost, decomposing in some ditch.

He was here.

She opened her mouth to say something to him but choked on her own words when she felt the tears she was holding back rise to the brink of flooding.

She didn't want to cry... not in front of him. After all the pain she had gone through because of him, after spending years blaming herself for causing his supposed death... did he not care for her at all? She had been here for months! Why else wouldn't he have felt the desire to come see her?

Finally, when it seemed like he knew she wasn't going to speak, he shifted his weight to one leg before putting his hands in his pocket and speaking up. "Hey."

The word was short and breathy and that simple sound made Thea's dam burst. The tears came out with a sob and she bit her lip before pressing her lips together tightly, trying to stop herself.

Finally, still not thinking, she rushed over to him.

She saw him relax a little, his squared shoulders lowering and his hands coming out of his pockets as if he was getting ready to hug her. However, hugging him was the last thing on her mind.

The second she was close enough, she lifted her hand up and slapped him.

Luana let out a small gasp which Thea ignored as Aaryan stared wide eyed at the snow before pursing his lips. It took him a second to recover, before turning and looking back at Thea. "Hey?" Thea asked, her warm tears still streaming down her cold cheeks. "That's all you have to say? No apologies, no explanations, nothing of that sort?"

"Thi..."

"I thought you were dead!" She shouted, though the snowy night kept her voice quiet.

He opened his mouth for a moment, before closing it.

"You didn't think for a second to come and let us know you're okay?" she continued. "A letter? A phone call? Anything at all would have been enough–"

"It's not that simple–"

"I blamed myself, Aaryan!" She yelled, watching as his expression changed. "I thought you were dead and blamed myself for it! For all these years I thought it was my fault because I didn't stop you from leaving!"

He let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

"Did I mean absolutely nothing to you?" She choked.

"That's not it, Thi–" he reached out to touch her but she smacked his hand away. "There's more to this then I can explain right this second–"

Thea scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course there is," she hissed at him as she pushed past him and started walking away. "Just admit you played me like a fiddle all those years ago and threw me aside when you decided I wasn't worth your time anymore."

"That's not true, Theavi." He grabbed her arm, trying to stop her but she snatched it away so hard she hurt her own shoulder. "Just listen–"

"Don't tell me to listen now!" She snapped. "You've known I was here for months, I'm sure, so you had months to explain yourself... to come speak to me... to acknowledge my presence..." she realized at that moment that she still had his coin in her purse, so she pulled it in front of her and began rummaging through it. "I would have listened then, but now I don't give a single shit." After finding the coin, she hesitated, spotting the pen too, a new wave of emotion rushing through her.

Was this some sort of game for him? Why had he given her this if he had no intention of ever coming to her? Was she a joke to him?

She glared and after pulling the coin out of her purse, she threw it at him, followed by the pen he had given her too.

He caught both before frowning at her. "Thea, just give me some time to explain–"

"No," she said firmly as she turned and walked off.

"At least keep the pen–"

"Fuck you, Aaryan," she shouted into the night.

The knocking on Niall's door was more like slamming and after the events of today, and maybe even the day before, Niall thought it would be best to take his gun with him. However, as he heard the sound of Luana's voice from where he stood in the living room, he realized he should have assumed it was her.

"It's just Luana," Niall said to Julian and Milo who were both standing up with a look of concern on their faces. Though it was incredibly late, Julian and Milo were both here in Niall's apartment to discuss and plan out their next steps as well as finish up some paperwork. They were all exhausted, so as Milo sat back down and continued on with the report, Niall could see the relief on Julian's face to know that they wouldn't be dealing with some sort of crisis again.

After Julian sat back down too, Niall walked towards the door, not caring that he looked like a tired, unkempt mess, probably smelling of cigarettes and sweat as his hair fell over his eyes from all the scratching of his head he was doing. And when he opened the door, he was immediately going to reprimand Luana for her unnecessary attack on his door, but he was startled by the sight of Thea.

She was standing there soaked to the bone, still with some remnants of unmelted snow all over her, including the many little snowflakes that still sat in her hair, not yet melted. Why she was so wet, looking as if she was rolling around in the snow, Niall had no idea, but he couldn't help but be distracted for a moment as he admired the sight of the little white, intricate snowflakes against her coal black hair. It was a rather beautiful sight.

Her hair was stunning, thick and inky, the epitome of Elorian beauty, and momentarily he wondered yet again why she would have cut it all off during her time in university. However, his wandering mind was brought back to reality when he dropped his gaze to meet her eyes.

The look on her face made him blink, grounded again, though worried.

She looked absolutely exhausted, her eyes red from crying, an angry scowl directed at him, and the fact that her lip and cheek were still swollen and bruised from Rivier's assault made her look... rather horrid. And in addition to all of that, Luana was standing behind her, just as soaked, jerking around quietly as she desperately mouthed something that Niall was clearly meant to understand. Of course, he didn't understand.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but before he could even ask, Thea was stepping forward towards him. "I thought we were supposed to be honest with each other," she hissed when she was standing right in front of him, her head tilted nearly all the way back to look up at him, her body only inches away from his– so close that he could feel the cold from the snow on her against his own skin. "Family and trust, my ass!"

Niall was so taken aback by her anger and how close she was that he had to take a few steps back. "What?"

In response to him stepping back, she stepped closer. "You told me I could trust you!" She began to raise her voice. "That you would be completely transparent with me!"

"What are you talking about, Thea?" He put his hands on her arms, his hands instantly becoming wet and cold as Niall held back a shiver. God, he hated the cold. "What happened?"

She pushed his hands away and then shocked him by grabbing him by the shirt, hard enough for one of the top buttons of his thin white button-up to snap off as she tried to shake him. She failed at doing so, however, seeing as Niall was steady and stronger than her.

Nevertheless, he could feel the act of aggression cause Julian to stand up and Niall had to hold his hand up to make sure the man knew that he could handle this. The last thing he needed was any trouble with a probably drunk Thea and a concerned, protective Julian.

"You lied to me!" She continued, still trying to shake him, her tears now spilling out. "You told me you'd be honest and open with me!"

Niall looked up at Luana, who was still frantically gesturing and mouthing at him. He tried to focus on her, knowing that trying to get Thea to explain in this state was useless.

Aaryan! Aaryan! Aaryan! She was mouthing.

Naill felt his heart drop a little.

Shit.

She found out.

Niall grabbed Thea's hands away from him and held them tightly by the wrists, looking her in the eyes. "You met with Aaryan?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She glared through her tears, her lashes wet and her expression making her look like a child. "I trusted you! I told you about my brother–"

"It's not–"

"Don't say it wasn't your place to tell me! That's bullshit and just a stupid excuse!" She shouted. "You don't really care about what our stupid place is! You sure as hell didn't give a shit about your place and my place when you kissed me the other day!" Niall flinched, seeing Luana's jaw drop from the corner of his eye. Luana then proceeded to slap her hand over her gaping mouth after probably sharing a glance with Milo, who was still behind him.

Thea yanked her hands away and used them to wipe the tears away. "I trusted you," she repeated. "You told me you would be honest with me!"

Her tears seemed to have more of an affect on him than he would have liked, and as he felt his heart begin to ache, he couldn't understand why she was so angry at him. "Thea, I never lied about anyth–"

"Omission is still lying!" She snapped. "That's why I told you about my brother! I felt like not telling you was lying! You manipulated me! You made me feel all guilty for keeping that from you so I told you, thinking that you were being open and truthful with me! I know you and Julian know everything about me. I know you've done your background checks. The fact that despite knowing all that, you would keep this–"

"Thea, I don't–"

"You don't know what Aaryan meant to me?" She asked, her voice cracking. "He was my best friend and I thought he was dead, Niall! I thought that a boy I once loved was dead and I blamed myself for it!"

Niall held his breath, staring at her and not knowing what to say.

No. He had not known that. He had always made sure that Julian didn't tell him anything he didn't need to know... and that was certainly one of those things.

He didn't know.

He had not know that she had loved Aaryan.

Strangely, Niall was suddenly speechless.

She continued to glare at him, the two silently staring at each other for what felt like a long time before Thea lowered her shoulders and let out a breath. "I can't do this," She suddenly looked exhausted... aged, even. "I can't do this anymore... this is too much."

Niall blinked, taking a breath.

"I quit."

Now Niall raised his brows. "What?"

He heard Milo take a few steps from behind him. "Thea..."

"You told me this team only works through trust," she said, her voice as cold as the wet snow that was dripping off of her and soaking into one of the expensive rugs of the apartment that Niall hated. "How do you expect me to trust you, any of you–" she paused to glance past him at Julian and Milo and turned to glance at Luana as well, "–when all of you lied to me about this. You all made the decision to keep this from me!"

"Don't be silly–"

"I'm leaving on the first train in the morning," she said, turning to leave.

Niall grabbed her arm once again, stopping her and making her turn to glare fiercely at him. "What about Rue?"

That made her hesitate, her entire expression changing at the sound of his name. She clearly hadn't thought that far ahead, and this was enough to make it clear to Niall that she was acting purely on emotion. She wasn't thinking.

She was exhausted... she hadn't slept properly in days... this must have all just been too much for her to handle.

She didn't mean it.

She couldn't.

Nevertheless, she yanked her arm away. "I will do whatever I can to help the only person in all of Acteon who has been completely honest with me. I'll figure it out."

After glaring at Niall for a little longer, she walked off, leaving an icy air in the room.

"Thea," Luana called, but when she was ignored, Luana turned and looked at Niall. There was a look of desperation on her face, a look that clearly begged him to tell her what to do.

"Go after her," Niall said, finding it surprisingly difficult to control his voice. "She's got a curfew, they probably won't even let her into the hostel."

Luana nodded, turning and rushing off.

Niall stood there, the sudden silence unnerving. When he turned, he saw Milo staring at him with his mouth open. "W-why didn't you tell her that you asked Aaryan to go see her? A while ago?"

Niall didn't respond. He had to focus and he couldn't. He tried to collect his thoughts, but he couldn't.

He could feel Julian's gaze on him, waiting.

Everyone kept waiting for him... waiting for him to give them instructions... answers to their legitimate questions. But Niall's mind was a whirlwind, a battle between his own emotions and the General inside him trying to push through, to remind him that his emotions were not the priority.

Frankly, not even her emotions were the priority.

But his mind wouldn't allow him to be rational.

Everything was crumbling and falling apart around him and he needed to take charge. He needed to fix things.

But he couldn't focus.

Something was wrong.

He just felt... cold.