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Hurley hadn’t seen Sloane in two weeks. They used to be together all the time. Or at least as much as their circumstances would allow it. When they were together, it had to be out of sight. They would arrive individually, meet discreetly, and leave separately as if they were strangers to one another. But they always made a point to see each other as often as possible.
But Sloane had been acting strange recently. At first, it just seemed like absent-mindedness. Sometimes when they were working on the battlewagon together, Sloane would drift off mid-conversation. She would seem to forget that Hurley was even there. Hurley thought there was something in her personal life that she wasn’t telling her, but whenever she brought it up Sloane would brush it off, saying she was just tired. Their meet-ups started being less and less common, and eventually, Sloane practically disappeared off the face of the planet.
It was a dry hot evening, the sun was almost set and the sky was a beautiful gradient from bright orange to deep black. Hurley had the windows open to her apartment, trying to catch some semblance of a breeze. She was mulling over some paperwork from the station, only paying half attention. The reports, for the most part, were pretty dull. For as lively of a city as Goldcliff was, most of its crime was made up of petty theft or unpaid tickets. They would get the occasional assault or drug charge but nothing major ever seemed to happen. Besides the races, but that was a different story.
She had almost finished the reports when that breeze she was looking for finally made its way through. Her paperwork shifted a bit on the table and she had just managed to find a suitable paperweight when they unexpectedly flew away from a strong gust of wind. Hurley groaned and went after the airborne pages.
When she turned back around to face the window, she almost lost her paperwork again, nearly dropping it in shock. Sitting in the window was a tall lean figure with straight long hair. They were silhouetted against the darkening sky, but Hurley recognized them regardless.
“Sloane?”
They dropped into the apartment and were illuminated by the soft light of Hurley’s one-bedroom apartment.
“Hey.”
“Sloane! It is you! Where are you been?!”
Sloane looked down at her partner and gave a soft smile.
“Sorry, Hurley. I’ve been… busy.” She said vaguely. Hurley walked up to her and gave her a big smile of her own. When they were this close, their size difference was very obvious. Hurley barely made it to the middle of Sloane’s chest.
“What? What does that mean? What’s going on, you know you can tell me anything. Are you in trouble?” There was a silent ‘again’ at the end of that sentence.
Sloane took Hurley’s hand into her own.
“Like I said, I’ve been busy.” Her other hand went to hold Hurley’s cheek, “I’m sorry I haven’t been here, but I’ve found something. Something that will fix everything. Fix what’s been keeping us apart.”
There was something dark behind Sloane’s eyes. Something dangerous. Hurley saw it and took her hand away. She stepped back and took a good look at Sloane. This wasn’t the person she knew.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Sloane.”
“Then let me show you.”
Vines began growing from the ground around Sloane’s feet. They snaked their way up her leg and side and then continued down her arm. Hurley had never known Sloane to be much of a magic-user. She was half-elf so she obviously had a knack for it, but most of what Hurley had seen from her was a bit of trickster magic, little things that could come in handy if she needed to avoid trouble.
Hurley didn’t approach Sloane and at seeing her hesitation, vies shot out from her arm and wrapped themselves around Hurley’s waist. She gasped as they pulled her into Sloane’s chest and pressed her against her. This close, she could get a better feel of Sloan’s life energy. She still felt the swirling of her spirit, it was warm and welcoming to her. But underneath she felt something dark. Something sinister. Something she had never felt coming from Sloane before.
Hurley tilted her head up to look at Sloane who used her free hand to gently cup her jaw.
“What is this, Sloane?”
Instead of answering, she moved Hurley’s hand to her hip. Hurley blushed a bit at the intimate contact but then noticed what Sloane was trying to show her.
It was like a belt or scarf but was made of the same magical material as the vines holding Hurley against Sloane. The foreign energy she had felt earlier was stronger now like it was radiating from the sash.
“...You shouldn’t have this.”
Sloane just hummed in response, studying Hurley’s face intently.
“Sloane, are you listening? You shouldn’t have this. It’s dangerous, I can tell.”
“So what?” She started rubbing her thumb on Hurley’s cheek, “I do a lot of dangerous things. And I have a lot of things I shouldn’t have.” She pressed her thumb to Hurley’s bottom lip, pulling it down slightly.
“This belongs to me.”
Hurley realized she obviously wasn’t getting through to Sloane. Sloane was stubborn, sure, but this felt like she was practically talking to a wall. Hurley tried to push away but was dragged back by the vines. Sloane placed her hand on Hurley’s lower back and moved her hand from her face to tangle it in Hurley’s short hair.
Suddenly she gripped tightly and pulled it to reveal Hurley’s neck and bit down hard. Hurley gasped at the unexpected pain and tears prickled in her eyes. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Only because this wasn’t Sloane. Not the Sloane she knew.
Sloane sneaked her hand up Hurley’s back and under her shirt. She gave an open-mouthed kiss where she had just bitten Hurley and slowly started making her way up to her ear.
“I know you like this.” Sloane’s words were barely a breath on Hurley’s ear and it made her shiver, “So what’s wrong? Why so tense?”
Hurley clenched her jaw and shut her eyes. This was wrong. This was really really wrong.
Sloane was right, she did like this. They had done this before, but not under these circumstances. Not when Sloane was like this.
Hurley tried to push her away again, but this time Sloane seemed to get the message. She got an arm’s length of distance between them, but the vines still wound around her.
“I’m not going to do this with you. You’re not yourself. I don’t know what this thing is and I’m betting you don’t either.” Hurley’s face was flushed and her neck was beginning to bruise, but she was obviously deadly serious. She was worried, and scared.
Suddenly, the vines threw Hurley backward. She was able to land on her feet, but just barely. When she looked up, she saw Sloane no longer had that playful look in her eyes. She looked infuriated.
“Sloane, what are you doing?!”
“What am I doing?!” her eyes were burning in a way Hurley had never seen before, “I’m giving us a chance! I can do anything, I can be anything, and I can change everything!! No more sneaking around, no more secret identities, no more pretending to be strangers when we’re together in public, isn’t that what you want??”
“Of course it is! Sloane-”
“Or are you just embarrassed by me? Afraid that I’ll ruin your reputation, ruin that precious relationship with that asshole captain.”
Hurley couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Where was this coming from? Had Sloane felt that way all this time?
“Sloane I don’t… I didn’t know you felt this way.”
“Then you’re just as blind as you are a hypocrite!”
Dozens of vines rushed at Hurley and she was barely able to dodge. She tried to use her ki to keep them away but there seemed to be no end to them. One managed to wrap itself around her ankle and it threw her across her small apartment and into a bookshelf. She flew into it, colliding with it hard, and slid to the ground with a pained grunt. Several books fell from the shelves and she just barely was able to cover her head before they landed on her. When she was finally to get her bearings she realized that Sloane was looming over her prone figure. Two vines appeared and pinned her wrists above her head.
Sloane took a knee and hovered over Hurley, only inches from her face. She gripped her jaw, but this time it wasn’t loving or tender, it was like a vice, forcing Hurley to look face Sloane. Hurley shut her eyes so we wouldn’t have to see Sloane like this.
“Who do you think you are making these decisions for me? Don’t you trust me? Aren’t we partners?”
“Of-of coarse I do, Sloane, but-”
“But what!!”
Hurley’s eyes flew open and tears streamed down her face. She looked scared. Horrified even. And the cause of it was Sloane.
All the violent words Sloane wanted to spit in her face evaporated. The darkness she hadn’t notice consume her vanished at the sight of Hurley looking so broken.
She was hurting Hurley.
The realization had Sloane reeling. Her breathing came quick and gasping. She couldn’t breathe. This was her fault.
The only person she really trusted, the only person she only cared for, the person she loved...
All at once, the vines retreated. Sloane raced for the front door, not caring who would see her leaving, she just had to get out. She couldn’t look at Hurley like this anymore.
“Wait! Stop! Sloane!”
But by the time Hurley struggled to her feet Sloane had already slammed the door behind her and was gone.
Hurley was taking quick shallow breaths. She looked down at her wrists. She rubbed them carefully, they were red and raw. She then felt her jaw, it was still sore and she could tell there would be fingertip shaped bruises by tomorrow.
She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hands. Hiccups were drawn from her throat. She sniffled as tears escaped her eyes once again.