Armageddon

“I think it’s safe to say neither of us smell like Human at the moment; we’d best keep our blood-soaked clothes on.” Tiana huffed as they snuck into the tree line surrounding the coliseum. He nodded in agreement, both staying low and keeping quiet as they quickly crossed the distance between the trees and the arena.

Michael leaned against a tree once they reached cover, gripping at his chest. His breathing was fast and uneven. She paused in the shade of the trees herself, her chest falling and rising quickly. She looked back towards the giant arena. She could vaguely hear Cleo howling in the distance. Her eyes began to heat and she quickly looked away. She had told Vlad no one should have to die because of her. But now either the King or Vlad himself was surely dead. Because of her.

“I don’t know where we are - what do we do if we run into more of those monsters?” Michael gasped, finally able to find his voice.

She clenched her fist against the tree trunk she leaned against. “They’re not monsters...” She stared ahead, remembering the maps she had gone over during her many classes. “I know where we are, and I know how to get you home.”

He nodded, pulling his wet hair out of his face, the sweat dripped onto his shoulders. He paused then and fixed her with a level stare. “What do you mean, get me home?” He grabbed her wrist, yanking her to face him. She turned her head, unwilling to meet his piercing gaze. “Tiana. We’re going to go home, do you understand? We are going to go back and tell them everything that’s out here! And we’ll lead Project Titan to victory by killing these monsters. Do you hear me, they’re monsters!” He seemed furious with her, but something he said caught her off guard. She gaped at him, disbelieving what she’d just heard.

“What do you mean? You know of Project Titan?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

His hard eyes had no softness to them. “You and I will get married once you’re safely back with your father, and we’ll start the preparations for war.” She closed her mouth, her eyes searching his face. She couldn’t believe this was the bashful boy she’d first encountered. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He held her face in his hands, coming in to lay an awkward kiss upon her lips. She remained frozen and her mind instantly went back to Vladimir’s kisses, those that moved her and burned her. The ones that made her kiss him back. Michael pulled away, rubbing his thumb against the side of her face. “Just in case we don’t make it back.” He spoke softly. She watched him turn and begin hiking up the mountain. Instinctively she wiped her mouth before following him.

The night of their second day hiking through the mountains they came across a stream. Michael ran toward it, kneeling in the cold water. He splashed it against his face before sticking his face into it and drinking. Tia watched him cough violently as he breathed some in. She stepped onto the small bank and kneeled. Her reflection looked back up at her, her red hair limp and dingy. There was no color to her face. Blood caked her neck and chunks of it could be found in her hair. She ran her fingers through it before sighing.

The water was cold as she cupped it in her hands, raising it to her lips. The boy sat back after drinking his fill, rubbing his stomach.

“I’m starving,” he spoke up, breaking the silence. “But I’ll admit: I don’t know anything about the woods, or what’s edible out here. What about you? What have you been doing all this time? You were gone for almost two months - everyone assumed you were dead. Your dad even had a funeral.” He looked at her cheerfully, waiting for a response. She had been avoiding his questions all this time, playing off with his ego whenever he asked a question. “Did they keep you locked up too? Or...” His expression darkened. “Did that Vlad character manipulate you into doing things with him?”

“I was a Human Advocate, nothing more. They brought me to the palace as an Ambassador. They want to introduce humanity back into the world,” she sat back, her stomach ravenous.

He scoffed. “What a joke, after what they put me through? Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. But I’m glad though, it sounds like you weren’t hurt at least.” She pulled her hair off her shoulders, throwing it against her back. His eyes locked onto a scar just beneath the seam of her once white shirt, now soiled and stained with blood. He pushed back the short sleeve, revealing a hideous scar stretching the length of her shoulder. “Where did you get this? It looks really old... did it happen when you were young?”

“No,” she sighed honestly, realizing her mistake much too late. She froze.

“What do you mean? They did hurt you, didn’t they?!” He shouted angrily, quickly moving in front of her. She shook her head, waving her hands between them.

“No! No. It’s nothing like that, it was an accident.”

He didn’t seem to believe her. “It was Vlad, wasn’t it? Did he do some nasty imprinting on you? Like, mark you for his?” His eyes were unnaturally dark, it caught her off guard again. This was not the person she had assumed he was.

“What is it? What do you have against him? Did he do something to you?”

Michael sat back, looking away from her with a distant look to him. “That man, no, that monster visited me once while I was locked away. He asked a lot about you like he was interested in you or something. He wanted to know what our relationship was, but he would disregard me when I tried to tell him you were dead. He wanted me to forget about you, to move on and marry someone else. But I wouldn’t.” He looked back at her. Tia became uneasy. “Your father and I were going to use you as a martyr, and I would remain loyal to you to the grave.”

“He tried to save you,” Tia whispered, her eyes widening.

He laughed at her, regarding her as if she were an innocent child. He put a hand on her knee, his expression was softer. He scooted closer to her and she leaned back on her hands, raising an eyebrow. “You know, we’re already engaged. We’re out here lost in the woods. We might die out here...” There was something mischievous in his gaze. “I know we’re supposed to wait until we’re married, but what if we don’t make it that long? Would you do your vows with me, now?” His hand slid up her thigh.