This worried Natalia as she need to choose her words carefully, “We used to hang out together when I was younger. He was my teacher, and I used to ask him for advice about being an operative. He was kind enough to help… We got along very well. In a way, I could’ve easily seen myself being in a relationship with him…” sounding agitated.

Fortunately for Chloe, she knew how read between words through their emotions, “But?” Chloe asked as she was taking notes on her notepad.

“We both got drunk, and we had sex on my eighteenth birthday…” Natalia concluded.

“So, he did rape you…” Chloe assumed.

“He didn’t rape me…” Natalia denied.

“Did you remember consenting with him?” Chloe followed up.

“Yes, it was videotaped by… someone else. It appeared; I wanted the same thing…” Natalia admitted.

Chloe found this revelation shocking and appalling. However, she did not show any kind of reaction as she continued her evaluation, “How did he explain himself?”

“He didn’t. Even though I knew he was innocent, I took it out on him. I broke his jaw, broke his ribs and his left arm. I had crushed one of his testicles by stepping on them,” Natalia explained.

This scared Chloe a little bit, knowing Natalia brutalized an innocent man for something that she did wrong. Wisely, she did not show her contempt for Natalia, “Then what?”

“Then, I never spoke to him again?” Natalia concluded.

“I see…” Chloe said as she started taking down notes.

“We didn’t like each other after that, and I never apologized to him…” Natalia said with this hint of sadness and embarrassment.

Professionally, Chloe did her best to hide her disdain for Natalia, “After these years, you never gotten over it? You never apologized to him, either?”

Natalia shook her head, “no. I was so embarrassed that I lost control. We just pretend it never happened and moved on.”

Knowing Natalia felt embarrassed by the situation, it still didn’t make Chloe change her mind about Natalia, “How did he feel about the situation. Him being falsely accused of rape and being beaten half to death by you?”

This puzzled Natalia, “what do you mean?”

“Did you guys even talk?”

“Yes, but nothing personal. I didn’t need him in my life, and neither did he.” Natalia rationalized.

“That’s interesting… Did it ever occur to you that it would lead to disdain and hatred?” Chloe advocated.

Natalia lets out a depressing sigh, “Maybe… I… I never cared about his feelings…”

Chloe felt disgusted, knowing after all these years, she still didn’t get it. Fortunately for Natalia, Chloe would try to spell it out for her, “Take, for example, this was a blessing that it was him. You guys got along very well. For many, even though there was not really any kind of relationship between the two, it could’ve been so much worse.”

“It could have been. I regret ever hurting him…” Natalia showing some remorse.

“He also had a sister. What was her involvement?” Chloe followed up.

“For the same reasons, she wants to kill me… And I don’t blame her either…” Natalia emphasized.

“Why do you say that?”

Natalia came up with a scenario of her own, “Take, for example, if someone a brutalized my brother and labeled him a rapist, I would want to kill her as well. He was a good man, and I ruined his life not once but twice, ruining my opportunity to ever get to know him personally because of what I have done…”

“Would have, could have, should have?” Chloe being cryptic.

“We should have learned from each other; we would have been friends, and he could have ended up more than that. There are times I think about that. And as quickly as I reflect on that, I just forget about it,” Natalia summarized.

It took her a while to drink it all in, but Chloe came up with a summary of her own, “So, you used to like him, but you have brutally beaten him almost to death of what you did wrong. Instead of apologizing to him, you have avoided him for years, and you have never apologized to him. Even when he went out of his way to help you his assistance and to give you medical attention, you were unappreciative of his efforts. Don’t you think what he did was payback after these years of being a punching bag?”

Uncharacteristically, Natalia nodded her head in agreement, “I do believe so, yes. I just wanted someone to blame instead of myself. I knew I was never good enough to be a leader, let alone a hunter. It was oblivious that I was the weak link.”

“You’re angry about it?”

“Yes, but it always made me fight harder… Despite my shortcomings…” Natalia admitted.

Finally, Chloe decided to switch gears from her personal life to her professional life as a hunter, “During the bombing, where were you, and how did it affect you?”

“I was in London at the time,” Natalia answered.

“Were you injured in any way?”

“I suffered burns on my back and my left forearm from the explosion. I was shielding a nearby bystander who was holding a baby,” Natalia explained as this surprised Chloe.

“Amazing. Did you receive any medical treatment?”

Natalia shrugged her shoulders, “I received a painkiller injection from a nurse, and she wrapped my arm and back with gauze. Afterward, I got back up, and I pursued the culprits. The next day, I was…”

“Gone, Natalia?” Chloe finished as Natalia nodded in agreement without saying a word. “the next day, you were trying to find the people responsible, what happened?”

Even now, it was all a blur for Natalia, “I… I don’t know… I didn’t sleep… I felt so anxious and stressed out. I just felt this uncontrollable rage and energy. I used every bit of that when I was going after Endspiel--”

This immediately caught Chloe’s attention, “Endspiel? You said Endspiel?”

Natalia nodded, “I remember passing out after Alastair and-- Five days later, I woke up. I later then discovered I was in a metabolic shock that put me in a coma.”

“Interesting…” Chloe taking notes as Natalia continued.

“And just like everything I’ve ever dealt with, I got back up, and I brushed it off. I moved on and left everything about that situation behind… It was painful… It was painful because of what I have left behind… I know for certain that I would regret doing so, but it was necessary…”

Chloe looked up as Natalia seeing the stone like the expression on her face. She has worn that expression very well for many years. Many others would have misinterpreted this as ignorance and arrogance. But not Chloe as she sees the real pain inside Natalia’s heart, “Not to interrogate you, Natalia, but that is an unhealthy way of handling your problems. The closure will always be painful but helpful. Running away and avoiding people in other situations will always cause more chaos.”

“I couldn’t… I couldn’t stay… I had to leave…” Natalia vaguely stated.

Even Chloe started to show some compassion towards Natalia as she became more of a psychiatrist trying to help her through her problems rather than trying to see she is competent enough to take this position, “Why, Natalia?”

This took a while for Natalia to answer. As stated before, she was entitled to take as long as she wants to when answering Chloe’s questions, “Because I wanted to kill… I wanted to kill the man who put me in a coma! That was my closure.”

“Did you ever get that kind of closure?”

Natalia looked like she was about to tear up, but she fought against it, “I didn’t. They ended up teaming together and took us out one by one. Exposing all our weaknesses, all of our vanities, they destroyed us…”

Sitting back in her chair and reading over her notes, Chloe made another assumption, “so The Daemon Archduke and Alastair were working together--?”

“It wasn’t Alastair!” Natalia finally snapped. Chloe wasn’t surprised by this as it was by design, as well. She wanted to find her breaking point. Her true breaking point. It wasn’t anger or aggression. It was out of compassion.

Natalia tries to regain some of her composure as she clarified herself, “Although, he was encouraged…”

Hearing the name or the term made Chloe’s hair at the back of her neck stand up, “By what exactly?”

Natalia nodded, almost unwillingly, “Before I confess, I think it’s time I told someone the truth about my--”

Suddenly, a small black-haired wolf girl with purple eyes barged into the room, “Be quiet, Natalia-chan! This is not a psych evaluation, you are interrogating her, Chloe-san! Don’t think for a second, I don’t know you have her pegged for being the prime suspect?”

Chloe spun around immediately and admonished the small black-haired wolf girl, “You are way out of line, Junichi! We are the middle of our evaluation!”

“You are recording everything that has to do with the holy fire case tying in Copeland’s disappearance!” Ayeka argued.

“It’s not my fault that her personal and professional problems are tied to this case! And whether she wants to work here, she must not only take heed of my questions but take heed to my evaluation!” Chloe defended.

“And you’ll never turn around and use the information to close your cold cases, won’t you?!”

“I know you’re listening to us the entire time, so I’m not going to repeat her rights… Again…”

Natalia was a bit taken aback by Ayeka and her defensive stance. However, it was nice to see her best friend.

Chloe regained her composure and asked one final question to Natalia, “Your medical records did not match what we have found independently. And yes, you were indeed three months pregnant. During the mission, did you suffer a miscarriage, or did you have a drug-induced abortion afterward five years ago?”

Natalia didn’t answer her question. However, she didn’t have to explain as Chloe knew the answer already.

“This concludes our… Psych evaluation, Natalia. I will go over our findings, and I will give you my thorough review of your superiors. That is all,” Chloe concluded as she takes her documents and leaves the room.

Watching her leave, Ayeka pays her attention to Natalia, “it’s been a long time since you have been truthful about this, Natalia-chan.”

Natalia nodded as she rose from her chair, “yes, I had to.”

“I saw your complete evaluation. I’m still glad that you are still in perfect shape,” Ayeka praised. “Wherever you were, I’m glad you have taken care of yourself.”

This saddens Natalia, she left one of her best friends behind, “Ayeka, I’m sorry.”

Unknowingly, Ayeka went over to Natalia and gave her a great big hug, “I’m sorry as well, Natalia-chan.”

Natalia returned the kind gesture by wrapping her arms around Ayeka as well.