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martina electro spent a lot of time staring out of windows.
the rain of kanai ward made the glass impossible to see through, but at least the drops were falling in the same direction as her tears. no breakup was easy; she understood that much. when you put so much vitality and life into a person, of course, it will feel like a waste of nine years. all of that time, effort, money. down the drain. ripped her heart out, curb-stomped it, drove a jeep over it.
not only was yomi ready to throw her life away like a discarded tissue, he was cheating for at least five of those years. martina was no stranger to the revelation of that number being well over half.
when she found herself staring out of a window, head resting on the corner of her wrist, the trip down memory lane started out the same. the attempts, at first desperate, to figure out where it all went wrong. if she had perhaps done something to deserve all this.
they’d met as teenagers; his hair was blue like her new denim jeans, and he was a loud, tall guy. he was suave, entertaining, and funny. martina, in all of her dumb adolescence, felt like she’d met her high school sweetheart. the confident, ambitious, adventurous prom king with a quiet little library technician like her. what were the odds?
after school, they’d gone on picnics in the hills, giggling as they made up shapes in the clouds. martina always remembered the way they would end up cuddling on the blanket, and how he would lean to kiss her forehead. if they argued in the morning before classes, he’d sneak out during lunch to buy flowers and brownie bites as an apology, without fail. after a trip he always brought souvenirs for her, and got her a ring for every birthday, each year larger than the last one. he never called her martina, just his honeybee, and sometimes “marmar” if the mood called for it.
he loved her.
martina had always felt so damn special in those days. all of her friends were convinced yomi wanted to marry her. she felt like cheesy romance adolescent books she shelved at the library were suddenly about her. she failed to consider the higher she was, the harder she’d fall.
the cute dates coming to an abrupt halt after graduation seemed explanatory, to her. yomi went straight into looking for a job. the bar? no, no, there was some geek there that was a bartender, yomi wouldn’t be stuck pouring beers for old toots like that loser. a teacher? no! yomi had his sights farther above being prisoner to weeny babies seeing him as an example. no, he had his sights set higher.
working for the peacekeepers - for amaterasu corperation - was supposed to be a dream. it was yomi’s dream, so martina followed him. it wasn’t just a job, it was a career! what more could they have ever asked for? in her mind, martina had been a model employee, even finding herself feeling important as she enlisted in the peacekeepers. how she wish she’d known when yomi had set his sights on the position of ceo. dying his hair fucking firetruck red, the glitz and glamour of being appointed director of the peacekeepers, and changing his last name to hellsmile. stupid girl. how could you be so blind?
that was when martina figured she started to lose her grip on yomi. when he began telling her how to act, who to be with, how to dress. there was no more “marmar,” no more “honeybee.” instead of a girlfriend, martina felt like a slave. the perfection, the pretty cheesy romance stories, pointing at the clouds and smiling over what shape it could be, was all gone.
martina stayed, because she was determined to fix it. she prayed. she pretended to be happy, to fake it ‘til she made it. when the masked freak got the ceo position in a matter of days when he’d worked his ass off for years, martina was there to comfort yomi through all hours of the night, despite having a work meeting at 6:00 the next day. she did everything yomi asked of her without complaint. let him do anything to her without so much as a peep. even if it hurt. even if it made her cry. it was for yomi, and he saw that, right?
years went by, and nothing changed.
fucking nothing.
until the house of cards came crashing down, and yomi sent her to what was supposed to be her death. she screamed for him. she cried for him to reconsider. he turned his back.
all of that. for nothing. nine years was all for nothing.
had it not been for makoto kagutsuchi, instead of sitting here contemplating it, right now, she’d be dead. she wouldn’t have gotten to stare at yomi’s furious face as he got arrested for five years of crimes.
“ms. electro,” a familiar voice - speak of that little devil and he appears - beckoned her from her thoughts. “let’s go.”
“i’m coming.” she gave makoto a polite smile as she picked up her purse.
it was hard to tell through the mask, but his body language gave off the energy makoto was frowning at her. “are you… positive that you want to do this, martina?”
she looked away, a squeeze in her chest making it hard to find the proper words. “yes,” she managed to say. “if i don’t, i will never feel like i had proper closure. i need to do this to let him go.”
spinning around gleefully in those obnoxious platforms (he was still a shrimp), makoto skipped off with a “right-io, buckaroonee!”
gosh, he was still so annoying.
the walk down the prison hallways to solitary confinement was brutal. it was just the clack, clack, clack, clack of heels on the shiny, miserable, concrete floor. it was cold, but not in terms of temperature. even the walls seemed harsh. the little girl inside of her was absolutely terrified. everything about this place felt wrong, and yomi made her toss people in here like their lives meant nothing. maybe to him, they didn’t. now he was in here, his just desserts.
“i’ll be right here.” makoto turned at a corner, putting one hand behind his back and gesturing for her to continue without him with his other hand. with a shaky, unprepared inhale, martina walked in, having nothing but a prayer to console her now.
right away, yomi was at the bars, angrily gripping them in his fists. “what the hell, martina??”
“shouldn’t i be asking you that?” martina crossed her arms. she was so sick of this attitude.
“bitch.” he spat out, his eyes narrowing.
“a bitch, perhaps, but not one that’s locked up in the kennel.” with an aggravated shake of her head, martina sighed deeply. “i don’t know if this is clear as day yet, but we weren’t over when you sent me off to die. we were over the moment you decided to fuck your hitman.”
struck a nerve. yomi recoiled and yelled, “when did you hear about that???”
“there are detectives who haven’t left the city yet.” she glared at him as best she could manage. looking at those wild eyes wasn’t the same anymore. “so i had them look into you. right away when we were hired by amaterasu, huh? seriously? when all i ever did was for you, and you have the nerve to cheat on me? well, fine. if that’s the case, i’ve been single for five years and will have no issue finding someone new. that will not be a rebound for me.”
“you wouldn’t replace me after all i gave you.” yomi snarled. martina was terrified that he would pull the bars apart, so she looked away. “why, you… i gave you everything! you’d be nothing without me!! nothing!!”
“i was somebody before i met you, yomi.” martina shakes her head again, this time in disbelief. “you are not the center of this universe, and certainly not the center of mine. if i meant nothing to you, than you can rot in this cell for all i care.”
suddenly yomi’s face softened to a pout. “wait, wait… marmar.” martina’s eyes widened. if there was a cracking in the room, it was her heart shattering in a thousand ways. “my honeybee. the queen of my hive. you’re leaving me here?”
her heart screamed, yearning for him, the old him that she once knew, but thankfully her brain knew better by now. “yes.” she answered bluntly, without missing a beat.
“martina…” yomi faked a sob.
“oh, fuck off and fuck off again, yomi. goodbye.” heartbroken and angry that he would dare manipulate martina like this after all she had learned, martina knew this conversation was over. “burn in hell.” she threw in - for good measure - before turning away.
“hey!” yomi reached for her through the bars. “baby! martina!!!”
no. no, she can’t. leave him screaming there. he hardly even deserved this waste of a visit.