Alex didn’t know how long he waited in the echoing silence of the factory – hours, or perhaps a whole day. Time had lost its meaning, reduced to the agonizing stretch between Elena’s appearances. When she returned, it wasn't with questions, but with intent. She descended through the roof again, landing silently before him. Her eyes burned with an intensity that made his blood run cold, despite his practiced facade of resignation.

  Before he could speak, she closed the distance, grabbing him in a grip that felt like steel bands. "Enough waiting," she stated, her voice flat. Without further ceremony, she launched them both upwards, punching through the dilapidated roof into the open sky. The city sprawl rushed beneath them, a meaningless map of lights and darkness. Alex remained limp in her grasp, forcing down the vertigo and the primal terror. He was entirely at her mercy, a fact she seemed intent on reinforcing.

  She flew them across the city, finally descending towards a familiar skeleton of a building – the apartment complex where his old life had been violently ripped apart. She landed them amidst the debris of his former living room, the gaping hole in the roof above testifying to her power. Moonlight illuminated twisted metal, shattered furniture, and ghosts of memory.

  "Here," Elena said, releasing him so abruptly he stumbled amidst the rubble. She stood facing him, arms crossed, radiating impatience and power. "We started here. Let's end the games here. I want the truth, Alex. What changed in you? Why the sudden melancholy performance? Why the talk of the past?"

  Alex looked around the wreckage, the stage for his final, horrifying lie. He drew a deep, ragged breath, summoning every ounce of false sincerity he possessed. He met her piercing gaze, letting his own eyes reflect the moonlight shining through the broken roof, aiming for a look of profound, sorrowful realization.

  "Because I finally understood," he began, his voice low, trembling slightly (a calculated effect). "Everything you did… the anger, the destruction… it wasn't just… cruelty." He took a hesitant step towards her, stopping as she tensed. "It was pain, wasn't it? Your pain. About us. About what happened."

  Elena’s expression flickered – was it surprise? Contempt? He couldn’t be sure. He pressed on, gambling everything.

  "You wanted me to see it. To feel it. To understand that nothing else mattered, that no one else could ever…" He let his voice crack. "You tore everything down to show me what was real. Your power. Your presence. Your… feeling." He looked directly at her now, injecting every scrap of remembered warmth from their past into his gaze, twisting it into this monstrous lie. "And you were right. Nothing else withstood you. Nothing else could. Because the truth is… after all this… after everything you've shown me… I still love you, Elena."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the distant city hum and the sound of Alex’s own heart hammering against his ribs. Elena stared at him, her face an unreadable mask. He could feel her immense power coiling around them, scrutinizing him, dissecting his words, his expression, his posture. He braced himself for obliteration.

  Then, slowly, a strange, unsettling smile touched her lips. It wasn’t warm. It was triumphant, possessive. "Took you long enough," she breathed. She stepped forward, grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling him violently towards her. "All that running. All that pointless fear."

  She believed him. Or, she chose to believe the version of reality that suited her.

  She pulled him into her arms and kissed him. Her lips felt like soft, wet steel against his; her tongue pried his jaw open to caress his tongue, almost breaking a few teeth in the process. He felt her lose herself in the kiss, her arms pulling his body against hers, her immovable breasts pushing against his ribs, almost cracking them.

  She pulled away slowly with a content sigh. Then she backhanded him across the face – hard enough to make his head snap back, his lip split. "That," she whispered, her lips near his ear, her breath hot, "was for the trouble."

  He tasted blood, the metallic tang a stark contrast to the feigned sweetness of his confession. He remained passive in her grip, his eyes reflecting only the cold moonlight.

  Elena laughed then, a short, sharp sound devoid of real joy. "But you're right," she continued, tightening her grip possessively, her fingers bruising his arms. "You do belong with me." She gestured around the ruined apartment with her free hand. "We can rebuild. Or find somewhere new." Suddenly, she punched the already damaged wall beside them, sending concrete dust showering down. "Somewhere better."

  She pulled him fully against her and kissed him again. He could feel the terrifying power thrumming beneath her skin. He had won. He had survived. He looked past her shoulder, out through the hole in the roof at the uncaring stars. His eyes were utterly dead. He had traded his soul for survival, becoming a willing captive in a not-so-gilded cage, bound by a monstrous lie to the source of his terror. This wasn't an ending; it was a different kind of damnation.

  Elena tilted his chin up again, forcing him to look at her triumphant, possessive face. "Forever," she whispered, sealing his fate. Then, holding him tight, she launched them back into the night sky, leaving the ruins and the last vestiges of Alex's humanity behind.

  At least no one else would suffer Clara's fate because of him.