Momentary change of point of view. :)

I think this is one of my favorite chapters. :D

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I dropped off Vita at my house after dinner and I headed back to headquarters without saying a word to her.

Parking at the front public area, I walked towards the concealed, one story building that had a floor underground, off to the left side. This wasn't an average building. It was fortified with the toughest guards and some of the most updated technology that money could buy. Even tactical groups were on standby, watching over the building just in case an incident occurs.

There were only two exits, one at the front and the other at the back of the rectangular building, and not many windows. The ground floor was a place to detain the criminals we had captured during missions and on the main floor held the interrogation rooms.

The guards standing near the front entrance acknowledged me with a nod as I tapped my identification card on the little screen to open the doors.

Inside was simply a straight, but wide and long hallway that led to the only other exit of this building. The hallway was filled with doors on both sides with numbers written boldly on top of them. Every odd number was the actual interrogation room and the even number that followed were viewing rooms that could look into the odd numbered rooms through a thick one-way mirror.

I kept my face impassive as usual as I entered room number twelve.

"Hey." Victor took a quick glance at me as I closed the door behind me.

I simply nodded at him and looked through the mirror.

"That's our last one."

Victor and I had already interrogated four of the criminals that captured Vita the other day and this one was our last one.

"Think we'll have any luck with this guy?"

I crossed my arms over my chest and closed my eyes for a moment. "Ready?"

Looking over at Victor, he tossed me a curt nod. "You or me?"

"I'll go."

*

I was standing in the interrogation room where the only other things in it were a table and two chairs, one on each side.

The man that sat silently cuffed in front of me had hazel eyes and from the moment I walked in, he never stopped studying me. From the moment I saw him in the waiting room, the presence of his overflowing charisma and easy confidence differentiated him from the other ones we interrogated already.

"Name?" I placed my hands on the table and faced him squarely.

A smirk appeared on his face as he leaned back on his chair."You tell me something, then I'll tell you something. So?"

"Where are they?"

Hazel Eyes shrugged and his smirk grew bigger. "Who knows?"

I stared into his eyes and coldly belittled him, striking a blow on his overgrown ego. "You must not be important since you don't seem to know anything."

His expression immediately changed and he tilted his torso towards me with his forearms on the table. The smirk on his face vanished and it was replaced by a fierce scowl.

"Did I hit a nerve?"

He snorted and looked away from me. That was when I noticed a tattoo on his neck. I could only see a peek of it but it seemed to be a snake of some kind.

"Bring me the girl and I'll tell you a little something." Hazel Eyes looked to have calmed himself down and he leaned back into the chair, then proceeded to put his filthy boots on top of the table.

"No."

"Hey, I'm being lenient. I'm telling you I'm willing to talk to someone." A scheming smile appeared on his face. "Just not you."

"No."

The smile grew bigger. "Bring her, and I'll tell you something really interesting."

*

I parked my car in the garage and sat there for a moment, wondering how I should approach this new problem. The issue was that sooner or later, Vita would find out. Since we grew up together, I could read her very well but that meant she could also read me.

She'll know soon enough that I'm hiding something from her. Though, this wouldn't be the first time.

I walked out of my car and got out of the garage to get some fresh air. Taking off my tie completely and unbuttoning the first few button of my dress shirt, I rubbed my temples.

I didn't want to go inside and face Vita so I stayed out for a while longer before I had to face the inevitable.

*

Walking inside through the front doors, seeing Vita at the bottom of the stairs, leaning on the railing puzzled me. I walked over towards her cautiously and bent down to her eye level.

Frowning at her state, I wondered what happened to her in the time span I wasn't home.

"Wh-"

Vita cut me off by placing a finger on my lips and her eyes were half open as she gazed into mine. I felt her fingers lightly trail from my cheekbones to my jaw. She looked at the fingers trailing down my face, as if fascinated by my features.

"I despise you," she whispered, slightly slurring over her words so quietly that I almost didn't hear her.

I softened my expression upon seeing the vulnerability in her light blue eyes and I immediately felt guilty.

Vita slid her arms her arms to lie on top of my shoulders.

"But," She held the back of my neck to pull me closer and I let her. Looking into my eyes as if mesmerized, there was a quick flash of what seemed to be longing in her eyes.

"I missed you, too," she told me quietly and I froze in shock.

Words I wanted to say were caught in my throat as she leaned in closer and the soft scent of her floated lightly around me.

"Angel, are you drunk?" I matched her soft voice and questioned, absolutely baffled by her uncharacteristic behavior.

Out of nowhere, I felt her chomp down on the side of my neck and I winced just slightly from the sudden, sharp pain.

I quickly removed her limp arms from around my neck and tried to tug her away from me. Unfortunately, she bit down even harder.

"Hell, Vita," I grumbled.

She was acting even worse than the last and only time she'd gotten drunk a few years ago.

"How'd you get drunk?"

Vita unclamped her mouth from my neck and her body slumped over mine, her head landing into the crook of my neck. "Juice."

I cringed when I realized she must have mistaken the alcohol in the sealed juice container.

"I'm so hungry."

"We had dinner a few hours ago."

"I didn't get to fill my stomach. Your mom was making me feel uncomfortable." Her sentences were decently slurred over at this point and I almost couldn't make out what she was saying.

When I didn't answer, she began whine. "Red, I'm so hungry. So very, very hungry. So hungry I -."

Unable to listen to her anymore, I cut her off. "Okay. We'll go to the kitchen and I'll get you food."

With my promise, Vita leaned away from me with her eyes closed and an easy smile appearing on her face. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to help her stand and walk towards the kitchen.

"What do you want?" I asked softly as she sat down on a cushioned chair at the dining table.

"Anything," she mumbled.

"Mom packed us leftovers. Want those?"

Vita answered by nodding her head up and down viciously. Smiling a little to myself at her childish behaviour, I got a plate out and filled it with food. After heating it up in a microwave, I placed it in front of Vita and put a fork in her right hand. Then, I got a big glass of water and put that next to the plate.

I sat down on the chair next to her and watched her as she began to eat the food hungrily. She must have been really hungry from the pace she was eating and from the fact that she didn't notice her hair almost falling into her food.

Her dark brown hair was just a few inches longer than her shoulders and it was tied hazardously into a messy, limp bun. I reached over to the strands that had escaped and gently pushed it behind her ears.

Vita paused for a second and I waited for her temper to flare, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she went back to eating. When she finished, she leaned back into the chair and sighed in relief. I took the glass of water and held it in front of her but she narrowed her eyes at the glass and shook her head.

"It's water." I explained.

She thinned her lips into a tight line and shook her head once more.

"It'll help you feel better tomorrow."

Vita stared at the water for a few moments longer and then grudgingly took it from my hand while grumbling incoherently. She drank the large glass without stopping and drooped down into the chair when she finished.

"So... full..." She groaned and closed her eyes.

When I thought she fell asleep, she shot up from the chair, wobbling just slightly, then proceeded to walk out of the dining area. She was halfway out of the kitchen when she stretched her arms out, sighed happily, then yanked off her large t-shirt and dropped it on the floor. Wearing only her bra and shorts, she continued her way towards the living room.

This was going to be a long night.

I picked up her shirt off the floor and with just a few strides, I had quickly caught up to her slow, unsteady ones.

"Put your shirt back on..." I trailed off as I saw something odd on her back.

Grabbing onto her wrist, I stopped her and stared at her back.

Scars. That's what I saw. Those were definitely not there two years ago. Some were so faint that you couldn't see it but some looked so raw that she must have gotten them recently. There were around four decently large marks crisscrossing on her back. When I turned her around to face me, I saw smaller ones her stomach and on the tops of her thighs. The ones are her stomach and thighs were essentially invisible but if you looked closely, you could see them. However, the ones on her back seemed to be the worst.

"Hm?" Vita frowned as she looked at me, then followed my gaze. "Oh. I'm okay. They don't hurt anymore."

"How-" She didn't let me ask by putting her hands over my mouth.

"Shh. Not tonight. Don't make me remember tonight." The broken smile she had on her face to reassure me tore my heart to pieces. "Come on, Red. I want to watch a movie."

Vita took my hand off her wrist and fumbled as she tried to interlace our fingers together. Something we did so often when we were younger. When she finally succeeded, she smiled at her work, then tugged me towards the sofas. Vita sat down in the center of a sofa and brought me down next to her.

I quickly got her shirt and put in on her head. She struggled for a moment then her head popped out and she grudgingly put her arms through the sleeves.

"It was hot," she murmured as she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

I let out a heavy sigh.

"T.V." She ordered me and I grabbed the remote then turned it on.

Handing the remote over to her, she aimlessly switched the channels and stopped at a random documentary. Vita was facing the television but she gazed at it blankly, her mind elsewhere.

Curious, I closed the television and she didn't say anything. She simply continued to stare off into space.

"She was my best friend. One of the few people in this world that I trusted." Vita's voice was distant as if she was simply thinking out loud to herself. "We studied together then joined the army together."

"We signed up for the army, but during training, a small number of us were handpicked to be a part of a specialized unit. Her and I, we were one of them."

I silently waited for her to continue but inside, I knew who she was talking about.

"Reyes. Cadence Reyes." She pulled out the dog tag she always wore on her neck and tilted it towards me.

Suddenly, Vita moved and she planted herself solidly onto my lap with her knees on each side of my thighs. When she wobbled slightly, I held onto her hips so she wouldn't tip over.

I stared into her glassy eyes and she stared deeply into mine. Slowly, she leaned in forwards and put her forehead onto mine. I could see that the emotional barrier she kept up constantly had finally cracked. We were so close together that our breaths mingled and our lips were mere centimeters away from each other.

"It wasn't supposed to happen. So close. We were so close to finishing our tour, too." Tears began to fill her eyes but she quickly blinked them back. "We were supposed to come back home together." The last sentence was hushed and she sounded torn apart.

Vita moved her head sideways and she laid it on top of my shoulders, facing my neck.

"She was killed, Red. And it was all my fault."

*

I sat still until she fell asleep and then I carried her up to her room. Clearing away her laptop and pulling back the blanket, I laid her gently on the bed.

Going back into my room, I changed into a pair of cotton pyjama pants and a soft white t-shirt, then went to get ready for the night.

Right before I climbed onto my bed to sleep, I went downstairs to wash the dishes then I checked up on Vita one more time. Instead of sleeping calmly like how I'd left her, she was tossing and turning on her bed, murmuring 'no' over and over again. I walked a little closer and used one hand to hold on to her shoulder and the other to hold on to her hand.

As I was about to wake her up, she had ceased her mumbling and moving, becoming still once more. Not questioning her actions, I went back into my room and climbed onto my bed then closed my eyes.

Not even a few minutes later, I heard my bedroom door open slowly. I opened my eyes and saw Vita walk in with a pillow held tightly in her arms. She closed the door quietly behind her. My eyes followed her as she walked around my bed and climbed onto the empty side.

I turned onto my side to face her, utterly puzzled and intrigued at how she was acting. For someone who tries to avoid me at all costs, she was being the complete opposite right now.

Vita turned her body to face me as well, ignoring the questioning look on my face.

"Why'd you do it?" She asked instead.

"What?"

"Was it the start of high school or near the middle?"

Now I understood what she was asking me. "I found out about what our parents did near the beginning of high school. Your parents didn't want you to know because they thought if you didn't know, you'd be safer. The only way I figured that I could keep the secret from you was to stay away from you. At the beginning," I pushed back a strand of hair covering her face, "I didn't want to lose our friendship so I tried to keep myself close to you, but distant enough so that you wouldn't be able to figure it out. When training started during the middle of high school, there was no way I could explain the bruises or my absences so I promised myself I would stay away from you completely. To keep you safe."

There was an obvious unhappy frown on her face as her eyebrows scrunched together.

"It hurt," she grumbled. "I was being called names behind my back because I looked like I was trailing after you, like all those other girls. I hated it because at first, I thought I was different from them because I was your best friend. Then, I realized I wasn't so different from them after all. That's when I promised myself I wouldn't chase after someone that clearly didn't want me." A quick flash of sorrow passed over her eyes. "Like you."

Her words stung me as she said them nonchalantly, slurring slightly from her drunken state.

"Vita-" I began but she smiled as she cut me off.

"Hey, you said my name."

"I'm sorry." She widened her eyes upon hearing my apology. "Hurting you was really not my intention."

Vita looked to be deep in thought for a moment. "Say that to me tomorrow because I know I won't remember anything from tonight." An innocent smile appeared on her face once more. "Promise?"

I returned her smile with a small one. "I promise."

I got up to leave the bed, perhaps to sleep on the floor or in another room since it felt wrong to be next to her while she was drunk, no matter how much I wanted to hold her. However, she immediately latched onto my wrist before I got off the bed.

"No."

I sighed as I looked over at her. "You're going to despise me even more tomorrow."

She shook her head. "I won't."

I tried to pry her fingers off but for a very drunk woman, she sure had a tight grip. "Angel-"

"Red, I don't want to be alone with my thoughts tonight." She paused. "Not when I don't have the strength to fight them and keep myself sane. Please."

What convinced me wasn't her words, but the vulnerable, broken look in her eyes.

Eyeing her warily, I cautiously laid down on my bed and faced her once more. I rested my head on top of my bent arm.

"I want a hug."

I raised the arm that I wasn't lying on top of and Vita rolled over to snuggle against me. I dropped my arm down to hold her to my chest.

"I'll find my parents. They're going to be okay."

A moment of silence passed over us.

"Tomorrow, don't show me that kindness of yours. Don't smile at me, don't hold me, don't give me hope. Stay away from me so it'll make it easier for me to stay away from you," Vita told me drowsily.

I didn't know how to answer so I simply held her.

"You're so warm," Vita drawled out, already half-asleep.

I laid awake thinking and when I heard her deep breaths, I planted a soft kiss on the crown of her head.

From the moment I saw her, I knew something had changed in her from the thick, indestructible wall she had built around her emotions. However, I didn't realize the change wasn't only mental, the physical scars on her body told a painful story that she didn't want to share.

I've never seen her like this before. From the way she acts during the day, tossing her temper and walking around confidently with an icy expression on her face, she looked like nothing was bothering her.

But, I didn't know she thought that she had no one to talk to and was driving herself into a corner, isolating herself and falling apart when no one was looking. Walking down a road of self-destruction, she would rather fall than get help from anyone, especially me.

Tomorrow, I'll find out more about the mystery of Cadence and what happened, but for now...

I held her tighter to my chest and closed my eyes.

Hopefully by holding her, I can keep her demons away, even if it's only for tonight.

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That's chapter 8, the first chapter in Alexander's POV. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it.

Please don't forget to comment and vote if you liked it. :D

For those who had voted, many many thanks! I really appreciate your support. :)

Until next time,

InvincibleBunny