1 Kill Me Now

"Get up!"

Slender hands pulled him up. Those small yet firm hands wrapped around his collar and then light blinded him.

"Ugh!"

Luther groaned when he felt a sudden force punching his gut. The grip on his collar loosened and then...

Fwoooosh!

His body was thrown across the room.

"Shit! I'm sorry!"

Blag! Blag! Bam!

"...Ugh!"

He groaned again. His body hit a table then tumbled on a chair before he landed on his butt. He stayed on the ground as his mind caught up to what happened.

'...Huh? What happened?'

Luther looked around. A welcoming interior greeted him. It wasn't lavish nor was it regal but it was better than a commoner's room.

One thing became sure in Luther's mind.

'This isn't the prison.'

"Where am I?" He asked the young woman who was the only living creature with him.

"U-Uhmm..." The young woman couldn't answer.

Luther saw her flinch. Her body was trembling and veins bulged on her hand as she gripped the handle of the room's door.

'Is it because of me?'

He figured that his almost robotic voice had something to do with it so he changed his tone. It sounded awkward but still had the trace of a robot.

"I'm sorry. I'm used to speaking with this voice, you see."

"A-Ah! That's not something you have to apologize for! In f-fact, it was me who... ahem, ahem, t-took you out without your permission."

The woman gulped and gripped the handle better. Luther was scared that the handle would break under her grip but didn't say anything about it.

"Why did you take me out?" Luther asked with sunken eyes. "Do you want to kill me too?"

"No!" The woman immediately answered. But she took it back as quickly as she said it too. "I mean, yes! Oh, shit. This is hard. I-I want to kill you... but... I..."

"Then kill me."

"...What?"

The young woman's eyes widened in surprise when she heard what he had said. The voice did not give a hint of hesitation.

She focused her gaze on the pale man's face which was so skinny that bones showed in his cheeks. His face was decorated with bruises like colorful paints on a canvas. But her sight did not wander on those things.

No. This woman's gaze was focused on the sorrowful smile on Luther's face.

One of her shaking hands gripped the area over her heart.

'It... hurts?'

For the first time since she came in contact with him, he felt something apart from extreme anger and hostility.

"Ugh!"

Her heart started hammering painfully. It felt like someone stabbed her in the stomach and started twisting the stabbed knife while still buried inside her.

She could only ask herself internally.

'...Why?'

Luther saw this but still didn't move.

'Mother.'

Her mother looked like that too. Whenever she didn't follow her instincts to kill him, she would suffer from pain.

"Do you want to be relieved from that pain?" Luther asked with a calm voice and opened his arms as if he was waiting for an embrace. "You can kill me."

"...What?"

The young woman glared at him. Her pupils were still shaking because of the pain but she slowly got used to it. No. She needed to get used to it to have a conversation with this man.

'I need to pound some sense in him.'

Before she could speak, the man beat her to it.

"I'm saying that killing me can take away that pain."

"Ha.. haha! T-Too bad then, 'cause I'm not here to kill you."

Luther's eyes gleamed in curiosity. "How weird. Everyone usually comes to me to kill me."

The young woman stared at the eyes of Luther. She could see how tired he was through the bags under his eyes.

"Kill me now. Please. I can't take it anymore."

Then, all her thoughts of killing him finally died down after she heard him say that.

'He's that desperate to die?'

She could not fathom the pain of this man and the thorny road he walked into before she came to meet him. She had a feeling she will never understand even if this man tells him. But she also knew some things will never be understood by trying.

'All you can do is try harder.'

BLAG!

She punched the wall to release some pent-up frustration and then took a deep breath to steady herself.

This young woman stubbornly suppressed her instincts to kill him. She wanted to be defiant. She wanted to be someone who could never be controlled even by her instincts.

What better way to do that than to do the opposite of her most primal instinct to kill someone?

"I am Liseis Storm," she said her name with oozing confidence and pride. "You are Luther, right? The 'him' of this age?"

Luther paused for a bit while wondering why she would ask such a question when she already knew the answer. In the end, he still decided to respond.

"Yes."

"Why would I kill you?"

"...Huh?"

The young woman, Liseis, felt oddly happy to see the confused look on Luther's face. It was nice to get rid of the dead fish look he had until now.

"I'm asking what is the reason for me to kill you? Did you do something bad worthy of death?"

"...No. But shouldn't you kill me?"

"Oh, I'll kill you," Liseis smirked. "I'll kill you if you tell me a good reason why I should do it."

"...Huh? T-That's..."

"Hmm? Go ahead, Luther. Give me your best shot."

Luther and Liseis.

Someone who thirsted for death and someone who defied her thirst.

It was at this moment when the two of them took one step closer towards what they have been chasing for. But none of them knew they had done it.