[District Six Headquarter, Someone's apartment - Monday, 6:34 pm]
"Alright," Stephan breathed out as he stared at the nameplate next to the door in front of him, "...Now, why are we at Nathan's apartment?"
"To use his kitchen," Sage replied nonchalantly as she stepped forward to give the door a quick knock, "His fridge is filled with all sort of food."
On the contrary, her refrigerator was completely empty.
"Right..."
They waited for a few seconds, but there was no response.
Sage grumbled at Nathan's absence, "Where is he...?"
"Well, I don't think he is sent out for any corrupt attacks today," Stephan said as rubbed his chin. He ran through all the possible places that he could be at. Once he got something, he snapped his fingers towards Sage, "Maybe he's training?"
Realising that Stephan was probably right, Sage let out a long sigh before reaching out for the nameplate. She slotted the name tag out to reveal a keycard behind.
"How did you-"
Sage shushed him and grabbed the keycard, "We WERE together for some time. So, I know where he keeps most of his stuff."
A corner of his lips quirked up a little as he wriggled his eyebrows towards her. Before he could say anything, Sage put a hand in front of his face, "Don't."
Stephan pursed his lips into a straight line and gave her an 'ok' sign.
She dropped her hand to her side and tapped the card on the electronic lock. Just like that, the door clicked open. She pushed it inwards and entered the flat as if was her own.
Stephan followed closely behind her, peering at every corner of his room. This was not his first time inside Nathan's apartment, but this was his first time in his apartment uninvited.
"You know we could have done that earlier, right?" Stephan said as he stopped to take an overall glance of the flat, "Why bothered to knock?"
Sage whipped her head back and narrowed her eyes towards him, "If he finds out that I knew where he kept his spare keycard, he will definitely rub it in my face with an 'I knew that all this time you were listening to me' and a 'so you do love me' crap."
He could definitely see that. Nathan can be serious at times. However, when it comes to Sage, he just turned into a huge marshmallow.
"Anyway, get some rest." Sage gestured to the black leather couch in the centre of the living area. She took a quick look in the fridge and asked, "I'll make you a sandwich. Is that okay?"
Stephan took a seat on one end of the sofa but chose not to lay down, "Yeah, it's fine. Actually, I should bring my laptop. I didn't lie when I said I got a bunch of stuff to do."
He stood up and headed for the door. However, he was stopped by Sage's cold glare, "No work, just rest for now." She laid all the ingredients on the kitchen counter and placed both her hands on her slender waist, "Sit your ass down and take a nap, Mr Knight."
Stephan folded his arms across his chest, "I'll like to inform you again that I'm three years older than you."
Unfazed, Sage clocked her head slightly and lifted an eyebrow. Even though she said nothing, the words 'so what' was written all over her face.
Dejected, he threw her a droll look, "Seniority means nothing to you, huh."
She shrugged as she jerked her chin towards the couch. He sighed and complied. Unwillingly.
Stephan planted one of his elbows on a couch arm and rested his head on his hand. He attempted to close his eyes, but images of his nightmare came flashing back to him - Caleb, blood and more blood.
His eyes shot wide open, and it took him a good few seconds to breathe again.
Sage heard him fumbled on the couch and decided to peer over the kitchen island to check on him, "Hey, you okay?"
"Y-Yeah..." He muttered under his shaky breath, "...I'm okay."
"Sorry," Sage uttered, "I shouldn't ask you to sleep after that nightmare."
Stephan shook his head as he walked over to the kitchen island, "Don't apologise. It's not your fault."
He swirled a chair towards him and sat down at the island before turning towards Sage.
By this time, she had her back facing him. The pan on the stove sizzled as the aroma of eggs and bacon permeated through the air.
With his arms crossed on the long counter, he rested his head on his forearms, "Smells good."
Sage did not give a proper reply. All she let out was a 'hmm'.
They both went quiet for a while until Sage broke that static of silence. She looked over her shoulder and straight to Stephan, "...Can you give me a general rundown on everything that happened when I'm gone?"
Stephan's head perked up from his arms, and froze for a moment.
Noting his reaction, Sage turned back and continued, "I know this will bring up some unpleasant memories, but I do want to know what happened- No. I NEED to know what happened. IF it's okay with you-"
"Yeah, it's alright."
Sage swirled her head around and clarified, "You sure?"
"Yes, Sage," He chuckled, "But just a fair warning, it's ugly."
She nodded, and he began.
"Close to three years ago, the Ashford family was the first to encounter the hybrids. Nathan and his family were having dinner that night. Nothing too special. Just a good O' family dinner with some of his relatives." Stephan took a deep breath and continued, "Although I don't have the details on what exactly happened in their estate or any of the other Ashford's estates, all we know is that the entire family was assassinated. In other words, other than Nathan, all the Ashfords are dead. These include those outside District Six."
Sage had already shifted her focus back to the sizzling pan, but hearing that made her shoulders stiffened. She turned off the stove and kept her back towards him, "Are... Nathan's parents dead too?"
"Yes," Stephan answered.
His voice was firm and unflinching.
Sage swallowed hard and gave him a nod, prompting him to carry on.
"Nathan's mansion was then set ablaze. Just like the other Ashford's estate. Luckily, we put out the fire pretty quickly and found the bodies of those that were present that night."
"Why the Ashford family?" She queried as she began to assemble Stephan's sandwich, "Also, how did Nathan escape?"
"To be honest, we have no idea why did the hybrids target the Ashfords nor how did Nathan escape," Stephan replied truthfully, "Nathan refused to talk about what happened ever since that night. Not to any higher-ups. Not to any of us."
Sage's expression remained indifferent. However, the air around her seemed to thicken. She placed the completed sandwich in front of him without talking.
Stephan muttered a 'thanks' and started eating.
After finishing his first bite, he spoke again, "Ever since then, more corrupts have begun to show up. Occasionally, we will meet these hybrids at the scene, but they are just watching. Some of the elites try to chase them down, but none of them could ever catch up to them."
"What do they look like?" Sage asked as she washed the dishes.
"They looked normal just like any other civilian, but just with slightly greyish skin." He shrugged, "So, they don't look like your everyday corrupts."
Stephan then proceeded to take a couple more bites as sage cleaned up the kitchen counters.
Once she was done, she took a seat next to him at the kitchen island, "What else?"
Stephan placed his meal down and cleared his throat, "Well... A year or so after that incident, we finally found one of the many hybrids' bases. The higher-ups tasked me to infiltrate the place. So, that was what I did, or at least tried to do."
He paused for a while before proceeding, "We planned for weeks, months even. And, I was the leader in all of this. Everyone had their faith in me. But, I..."
His voice trailed off as he averted his eyes from Sage.
Without missing a beat, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which was way boney than she remembered, "I'm not going to force you to talk about it if you don't want to."
Stephan remained quiet for a long minute. And Sage waited without a single peep. She did not even want to think about what was going through his mind at this moment.
He inhaled deeply and shook his thoughts away, "It's okay. You are supposed to know what's going on anyway."
"Uhh, where was I? Right. On the day of the infiltration, everything went to shit. Those hybrids exceeded our expectations, and they annihilated the entire squad. I was heavily injured, but they refused to kill me," He tilted his head up and stared up at the ceiling, "...Instead, they wanted to get all the information out of me regarding the elites' subsequent plans and whatnot."
"Of course, I refused to talk," He dropped his head and stared blankly at the counter, "...So, I was held there for months, tortured. The higher-ups knew about this and decided to leave me for dead, saying it was too dangerous. And, all that trouble for one comrade? It's not worth it."
"Obviously, Caleb hated that idea and went against it. Acting like a hero, trying to save me alone," Out of nowhere, he began to chuckle, "What a dumbass."
Sage felt as if she already knew what happened next but allowed Stephan to carry on with the story.
Out of nowhere, these soft chuckles turned into hysterical laughter, "When he arrived, they bashed his head in and threw him against the wall like a ragdoll. There was blood everywhere. Just everywhere."
He turned and looked at Sage with widened eyes and a sick grin, "Sage. It was as if they paint the entire place red."
Her blood went cold. Stephan was losing it. However, Sage managed to retain her composure.
"Stephan." She called out unwaveringly. Her eyes that met his were unfaltering.
That call for his name made him realised what sort of expression he had on. He immediately cradled his face in one hand and apologised, "Sorry, Sage. I didn't mean to scare you. My emotions are pretty fucked up right now."
"Don't apologise for something like that. You don't need to," Sage replied, "Did the elites find Caleb's body?"
"No, I was the only one left in the base," He muttered as he lifted his head, "I blacked out before I could see where the hybrids went or what did they do to his body. When I woke up, I was in the HQ. All bandaged up. Apparently, before Caleb came for my rescue, he managed to convince a few elites to save me if he doesn't return."
"If that's the case, we can't confirm that he's dead, right? There isn't a body."
"But, they found so much of Caleb's blood. And based on that amount, it was safe to assume he's dead."
Sage's heart dropped. She expected this to be the case before Stephan said anything. However, hearing it firsthand just confirmed her speculations. He is dead. Caleb is dead.
Sage liked Caleb as a person. He was one of the few high-ranked elites who did not suck. Although he always did things his way, Caleb always acted morally right. Because of this attitude, he usually did not follow orders given by the higher-ups if he found them iniquitous. Thus, many higher-ups hated him. Yet, none of them could do anything to get rid of him. After all, as rebellious as he was, he was also an insanely strong elite.
Caleb was important to Stephan. So important. They were secretly dating, and almost no one knew about it - Sage knew, along with a few others.
Stephan stared absently at the half-eaten sandwich. He was not crying, but his expression was unreadable.
Sage got up and hugged him from the side without saying a word. He did not move or hugged back. She wanted to say 'sorry'. But, how is a 'sorry' enough?
Part of her knew that this was an unfortunate incident that was out of anyone's control. However, the other half of her felt guilty for leaving when all of this was happening. Maybe, just maybe, things would have been different. Her mind just went wild at the thought of what Stephan had done to cope with the loss of Caleb.
And the guilt of everything.
Stephan caught himself blanking out and brought himself back to reality. He forced out a smile and patted her hand, "Hey, Sage?"
"...Hmm?" She muffled out.
"...What should I do now?"
That question caught her off guard. She released him from her grasp and sat back down, comprehending that question.
Noting her silence, he regretted asking that question. Quite frankly, he did not even know why he asked that. It just flew out his mouth.
Immidiately, he justified, "Forget what I just said. I have no idea why did I-"
"The first thing I want you to do is to stop blaming yourself for what happened."
Stephan froze. He did not expect her to reply.
"It is not your fault. This situation was out of anyone's control. No matter how good your plan was or how prepared you were, the outcome would be the same. Just like you said, the hybrids exceeded our expectations. So, no one would have seen it coming."
Sage's words seemed to hit him harder than he thought they would. Maybe, it was because this was the first time, in four years, that he had really sat down and talked about that incident.
"I know you're thinking that if you have been stronger, your squad and Caleb wouldn't have died. But, that isn't the only factor that will guarantee the success of your plan. You know it more than anyone else, Stephan."
That was true, but...
"...That IS one of the factors." He gritted his teeth.
"Well, if that's the case. Aren't I considered a factor as well?" She asked with an undaunted look, "If I didn't leave, then I would've helped. And maybe, things would have been different."
"Sage, that's-"
"Stephan." Sage did not let him finish, "Everyone plays a part in what happened. You're not the only one in this. So, why should you be the only one to blame? If you do want to blame yourself for what happened, you will have to blame my absence, blame the higher-ups' decisions, blame your squad's abilities as well as... Blame Caleb. For his recklessness."
Sage knew she was awfully blunt. However, she felt that this was necessary. She did not care if Stephan would hate her for mentioning Caleb. It was for the better.
Stephan was taken aback, but he did not say anything in retaliation.
"Can you do that, Stephan? Can you point fingers at us and say that we should be blamed?"
He kept quiet.
Although it would take him a long time to truly accept that it was not his fault and forgive himself, he knew where was Sage was coming from.
"...No," He mumbled, almost inaudibly. He exhaled and raised his voice a little more, "No, I can't."
His answer made the corners of her lips curved up, forming a genuine smile. She reached for his hand and held it in a tight grip, "Thank you, Stephan."
Stephan's eyes went wide at the sound of Sage's response but, his expression softened soon after. He let out a laugh and intertwined his fingers with hers, "Your way of comforting others is weird. But," He paused as he turned and pulled her into a hug, "...It works."
"Thank you, Sage."