The alleyway was cloaked in darkness, the faint sound of distant footsteps breaking the stillness. They grew louder with each passing moment, the echoes of the steps reverberating off the cold, damp walls as if the very air itself held its breath. Rai stood still, her senses alert, feeling the unease creeping into her bones. She could feel the shadow of an unseen figure approaching, the temperature around her dropping as if the very presence of the person was chilling the world itself.
Then, out of the shadows, the silhouette of a man emerged—tall, unnervingly calm, and every inch the predator. Finnovare. His piercing gaze locked onto Rai's, and for a brief moment, there was an eerie stillness. A cough escaped him, muffled and professional, as he casually crossed his arms, his expression unreadable.
"Sable... You really ought to learn not to follow people without an invitation," he said, his voice cold but smooth, with an undertone that could freeze the blood in one's veins. His tone was polite, but it held a sharp edge, a warning wrapped in civility.
Sable, already on the ground in front of him after being knocked down by Rai, swallowed hard, her voice shaking with fear and anxiety. "Mr. Finn... I'm so sorry! Mr. Aurelio told me to—"
She never had the chance to finish. Finnovare's words cut through the air like a blade. "No need to apologize, Sable," he interrupted, his voice devoid of any warmth, like a man commenting on a simple inconvenience. He turned his gaze toward Rai, his eyes narrowing, watching the slight shift in her stance as she prepared for the worst.
Then, Finnovare moved. His gaze never left Sable as he crouched beside her, a chilling smile spreading across his lips—one that was almost tender in its cruelty. "Don't worry, little one. I'll make sure you stay out of harm's way," he said, his voice almost coaxing, as if speaking to a child.
Sable's wide eyes filled with naive relief as she looked up at him, her hands clasping together in excitement. "Really? You will?" Her voice, though laced with uncertainty, was filled with a false sense of hope, a glimmer of trust in the stranger.
Finnovare's smile deepened, though there was no true warmth in it. His fingers brushed through her hair, his touch gentle, almost affectionate. "Of course," he murmured, the words a soothing lie.
But in that instant, the tenderness vanished. With a flick of his wrist, a sickening crack echoed through the alleyway, breaking the tense silence with a horrifying finality. It was the sound of bones snapping, of life being abruptly extinguished. Sable's eyes widened in shock, her hands clutching at her neck as if trying to hold it together, but it was already too late.
Her body crumpled to the ground, a final gasp of air escaping her lips as she hit the cold pavement. The life drained from her, her once-vibrant eyes now dull and lifeless, frozen open in pure terror. Her limbs spasmed for a brief moment, but it was futile—her body was no longer responding.
Rai stood there in stunned silence, her heart pounding in her chest, unable to tear her gaze away from the brutal scene. The air seemed to press down on her, the weight of death hanging heavy in the alley. Finnovare casually stood back up, his expression as impassive as ever. His gaze flicked to Rai, his eyes unblinking, as if the death he had just delivered was no more significant than stepping on an ant.
The world felt still, the silence almost suffocating. Finnovare, completely unfazed, watched Rai with a cold, calculating stare.
Rai's gaze was locked on Sable's lifeless form, her body sprawled awkwardly on the cold concrete. The sight of the girl, once full of naive energy and hope, now reduced to a twisted, broken shell of what she had been, caused a surge of revulsion to rise in Rai's chest. The shock of seeing her end so violently was suffocating, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes flicked over the unnatural stillness of the corpse.
"Y-You... why would you do that?!" Rai's voice cracked with disbelief, her fists clenched tightly at her sides as her entire body trembled with anger and horror. Her words stumbled out in rapid fire, a mix of frustration and the desperate need to make sense of the senseless violence. "She didn't deserve that!" she shouted, swinging her arm in a fit of aggression, her movements sharp and erratic.
Finnovare, unphased by her outburst, straightened up from his crouch and calmly adjusted his professional attire. His movements were slow and deliberate, as if the act of murder was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. He wiped the dust from his uniform with a steady hand, his gaze never leaving Rai's trembling form.
"Commands by Aurelio, my dear," he began, his voice almost bored. "Whether she deserved it or not, it didn't matter. She was a liability—an obstacle to my mission. Had to make sure she couldn't spill the beans to my boss, you see?" Finnovare coughed into his hand, his eyes briefly flicking toward Rai as if she were merely a passing distraction. "Of course, I'm sure Aurelio expected her death. His plans are always... thorough."
Rai felt a burning anger rise up from the pit of her stomach. She could hardly hear him anymore over the pounding of her own heart. How could he talk about this so casually? How could he treat the death of another person—especially someone like Sable—as though it was nothing more than a routine task? The thought of it twisted something deep inside her, and she couldn't hold back the words that surged forward, sharp as a knife.
"You should move on with our task, dear friend," Finnovare continued, his voice cool and composed, oblivious to the fury rising in Rai's chest. "We don't have much time left. Gather the intel and—"
But Rai didn't let him finish. Her eyes, now burning with a cold resolve, narrowed sharply, her face hardening with disgust. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly as if to steady herself, then spoke with a calm, unwavering tone, one that made Finnovare pause in surprise.
"I don't think you understand, Finnovare." Rai's voice was laced with venom, each word deliberate and cutting. "There's no more 'we'. There never was. It was never 'us' from the beginning." She stood taller now, her posture rigid with certainty. "I only used you to get to Aurelio. That was the game, and now that I know where he is, there's no more need for you—or your stupid excuses."
Finnovare's face shifted slightly, a flicker of confusion crossing his features as Rai's words sank in. For a moment, he said nothing, his usual calm facade cracking just enough for Rai to see a sliver of something beneath the surface. It wasn't rage, nor was it surprise—it was something worse: realization. The silence stretched on, thick and oppressive, as the weight of her words hung between them.
"What I witnessed now," Rai continued, her voice lower but no less harsh, "was enough to make me see the truth." Her eyes locked onto Finnovare's, unblinking and intense. "You're no mere man—you're a heartless psychopath, and nothing more."
The words hit like a punch to the gut, and Finnovare, despite his usual composure, found himself taken aback. There was no anger in Rai's voice—only the cold, cutting finality of someone who had seen enough, who had been pushed past the point of no return. The mask of politeness Finnovare had worn so effortlessly now seemed out of place, ill-fitting, as though he no longer had the luxury of hiding behind it.
Rai's gaze hardened as she took slow, measured steps toward Finnovare, her eyes filled with contempt. The air around them seemed to thicken, her words coming out with cold precision. The disgust she felt was almost palpable, her voice dripping with disdain as she spoke.
"You disgust me, Finnovare," she said, her voice ice-cold. "You promised me—promised to erase my bounty poster after helping you. But now, what's the point? There's no reason to continue this charade. I've already gotten what I wanted." Her lips curled into a sneer as she continued walking, each step bringing her closer to him, her figure now looming in his peripheral vision. "I was supposed to be dead, hiding from 'him'... but it's gone too far. I realized something important: it's time for me to move on. Time to leave behind the past and grow."
Rai's tone grew darker as she spoke, each word more cutting than the last, her words like sharpened blades meant to tear through the fabric of Finnovare's composure. She stopped just a few paces from him, her presence now dominating the space between them. The moment felt heavy, charged with the finality of what she was about to say.
"We both belong to the SFA," Rai continued, her voice now laced with a cold, biting edge. "But unlike you, I was born in the central plaza of the Links District—where I truly came from. You, however, are nothing but an Abstract, a mere shadow of what you could've been. Your blood... it's not mine. Your existence doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things."
As she neared him, the flower tattoo on her shoulder—the mark that had been etched into her skin—began to glow with a soft, eerie white light. It illuminated the dark alley around them like a beacon, a silent promise of what she was capable of, what she was ready to face.
"You can stay here, hide in this forsaken place, and pretend you're safe," Rai said, her voice low, almost a whisper, but with an edge that cut deep. "But you're not wanted anymore. They don't care about you. You're expendable." She paused, her eyes narrowing as she let that sink in. "As for me, I'm already dead in their eyes. They want me gone—dead. And once they find me, there's no saving me. I'll be toast. But before that happens, I think it's only fitting that I fix your head."
Her words were deliberate, chilling in their finality. Her expression never wavered, her determination clear as day. The glow from her tattoo intensified, as though in preparation for the inevitable, the calm before the storm.
Finnovare's voice shifted, the usual calm and controlled demeanor replaced with an edge of disbelief. His words cut through the air, sharp and insistent, his eyes locked onto Rai with a mixture of concern and confusion.
"You can't be serious... Rai," he said, his voice lowering as if he couldn't fathom what was unfolding before him. "You've spent your entire life hiding your identity—since the very moment you were born in the Links District. Why are you being so reckless now? Why expose yourself to the world like this, bit by bit? You were meant to be someone far greater, someone more valuable than this. Your identity, your position, it's worth more than anything... more than the life you're considering throwing away." His voice softened, his eyes narrowing with an almost pleading intensity. "If you walk away now, if you set sail into that sea, you'll never get another chance. The opportunity you've always sought will slip through your fingers, and you'll be left with nothing."
Finnovare paused, taking a slow, measured breath, almost as if to gather his thoughts. Then, with a sense of finality, he continued. "There's a reason I'm the Abstract. The Marine officials—they don't care about people like us, people who've been discarded and tossed aside. They don't see the value in fakes, in people who've been left behind. But you, Rai… you have a choice. You should be like me, join forces with me. We could work together, survive together. After all these years, after all those lies you fed your family, the life you've carefully constructed—you're just going to throw it away? You're going to toss aside everything you've worked for, everything you've kept hidden, to go back to what... normal? You're Rai. You're not—"
But before he could finish, Rai's voice rang out, firm and unwavering, cutting through his words like a blade.
"No," she interrupted, her tone final, resolute. "Rai's long gone. That name... it was never real. It was fake, just like everything else about me. It's all been a lie. Ever since the destruction of my homeland, I've been living under a false name, a false identity. But I'm done with that. I'm done pretending. My name is May... May Kurogane." She paused, her eyes locking onto Finnovare's with an intense clarity, her voice low but powerful. "I will no longer be an Abstract. Never again."
Her declaration hung in the air, the weight of her words sinking in with a finality that left no room for debate. This was about reclaiming who she truly was, regardless of the consequences.
To be continued...