Chapter Fifteen: Last Chances

For the first time in a long time, things were calm for Ronin. It had been a couple of days and no new missions had shown up, and there were no major surprises or conflicts.

In the time since the last mission, he'd acquired a new lab that could fit his team and told them they needed to check in at least once a day. Missions could come in at any time, and he couldn't afford to have to go hunting for them every time.

Aside from Trigger freezing his entire workstation by accident, things went smoothly and Ronin was on the verge of sleep in the middle of a lecture.

Silas was in a different class, but Liliana was sitting directly beside him, taking notes assiduously.

Despite everything, she really was a model student, that much he could respect about her.

He'd had Silas remove Joseph's punishment, the event with the boy making him reevaluate the situation, though he had no idea if Liliana had seen him since then.

He wrapped his head in his arms and slowly drifted to sleep as the professor droned on and on about the value of keeping test subjects on hand.

In his sleep, he was surrounded by glowing pairs of eyes in a multitude of colors.

Red eyes bounced beside him, maniacal laughter coming from where they floated, while Silver eyes glowed brightly in front of him, ignoring him and focusing entirely on a pair of Golden eyes that were behind him, returning the gaze.

To his left, a pair of glowing white eyes watched the Red eyes intently, never moving, but always seeming to be closer to the Red eyes.

He felt a touch on his shoulder and he reached into his pocket to pull out a knife, throwing it directly behind him, only to find that he had awoken and had thrown a ball of paper directly into the professor's face.

Apparently he'd begun wandering the lecture hall and was right behind him.

The rest of the class started laughing and he looked Ronin in the eye and said, "Do you dislike my lecture that much?"

Shaking his head, he apologized and said, "I'm sorry, sir, I haven't been feeling well, I must have had a nightmare."

Liliana shot up like a rocket and said, "I'm going to take him to the infirmary, Professor Nehoy!"

Ronin tried to say he didn't need to go, but she grabbed his arm and practically dragged him from the lecture hall.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Professor Nehoy said, "Who here can tell me about the psychological impact of using live humans as test subjects in weaponry experiments?"

The room stayed silent and Ronin heard the professor knock on a desk and say, "Nobody here has grades good enough to NOT answer!"

Pulling him into an empty classroom, Liliana grabbed Ronin and held him close to her, a gesture, he actively tried to stop her from completing.

He pushed her away and asked, "What's this about, Liliana?"

She looked at him with pleading eyes and said, "Please, please, please call me Lily."

Sighing, he started to leave the office and she tapped a button on a datapad she pulled from her bag, slamming the door shut.

He turned to her, eyes focused on her and said, his voice a low warning tone, "Liliana."

She smiled widely and said, "You're looking at me now! See, that's not so hard!"

Sitting on a nearby desk, he said, "Ok. I'm listening, Liliana. What do you want?"

Liliana followed suit and sat on a desk too as she said, "Ronin...I miss you. I love you so much...but you've been ignoring me, you won't even let me explain myself."

Ronin looked at her darkly and said, "As you recall, I was present. There isn't much for you to explain, is there."

She looked down and pawed at her shirt a little and she said, "I made a mistake, Ronin, I know that. I did something terrible to you and to make it worse, I did it in your bed. I..I...I just wanted you so much, Ronin. The only way I was able to do it with him was by being surrounded by you the whole time and imagining he was you."

Ronin shook his head and said, "Do you think that makes me feel better?"

Liliana waved her hands and said, "I'm not trying to make excuses...I just want you to understand how much I care for you."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "I could understand if I ignored you Liliana, but even with my extra work and recuperation, I still went out of my way to make time for you. I didn't try and fit you in around my schedule, I spent time with you and fit everything else in."

"I know you did, Ronin," she yelled, practically throwing herself off the desk as she did.

His gaze softened and he said, "We were together for almost six months, Liliana. We got together before you were even elected class president, and recently I thought things were perfect...but how perfect could they be if a little extra time away from each other ended the way it did?"

Liliana's eyes started to water and she said, "I love you Ronin."

Sighing again, he said, "When I was in the infirmary, when did you come and see me? What were you doing that whole time? I could have died, Liliana, Silas says that several times I almost did."

Moving to speak, she stopped and said, "When Marcus told me...I don't know why...I just didn't believe him. You've always been smart, Ronin. A simple experiment going so badly? It just seemed made up...too much to be real."

Shaking his head, he responded, "Well, it was an experiment that went badly, Liliana, and you weren't there for me. Then add this to it after everything else?"

She looked at him, her eyes desperate for him again and said, "I know it doesn't look good Ronin, but I NEED you to give me another chance, a chance to prove how much I love you."

"And what would you suppose you'd do to prove that?"

She stood up and walked to him and said, "Hurt me."

Taken aback, he fell off the desk and said, "What?!"

She knelt so she was beside him and said, "Show me exactly how you felt by what I did. I don't care how you do it, I'll endure anything if it means I can be with you again."

The door opened as Liliana started to move closer to Ronin, taking his hand in hers and in a flash she jumped away.

In the doorway, Silas stood with her eyebrow raised and said, "Sup?"

Liliana jumped up and asked, "Why are YOU here?"

Silas said, "I followed you two here because I was bored."

Incredulous, Liliana asked, "HOW did you follow us You were NOWHERE near us! I waited until you weren't around!"

Silas shrugged and said, "What can I say, right time, right place, you see a girl drag some boy into an empty classroom, you get ideas."

Pulling a video camera from her bag, she said, "I was hoping I'd get something juicy, but you were just being weird. That isn't going to sell at all. You've got to do it better, put more passion into it if you want it to be a good time."

Leaning down and looking into Ronin's eyes, she said, "I NEED you to hurt me Ronin. My body has been aching for so long for something that nobody but YOU can give me. I need you to take out your every dark fantasy on me, to fulfill my every need and desire, no matter how much I scream."

Liliana jumped up and pushed Silas and said, "It isn't like that!"

Smiling deviously and shrugging Silas responded, "Then what is it like? It's not like you slept with some other guy and think that something paltry like hurting you is going to make up for it, right?"

Looking at Liliana knowingly, she said, "The only thing you can do, with what you've done, is keep loving him from afar. You'll never be with him again, so all you can do is keep up the good work, little miss president, and think of him at night when you're all alone."

Liliana looked at Ronin, only to find that he wasn't there anymore. Silas looked at her in shock and they both looked around, seeing a window that had been opened while they argued.

Liliana ran to the window and looked out, only to find that the window three stories up had also been opened.

She stood there in awe and said, "How in the hell did he do that?"

Silas, impressed, said, "You know, for once, I actually agree with you. How DID he do that?"

Three stories up, Ronin smiled to himself and looked at the palm of his hands, thankful that he'd thought to upgrade his contacts with new tech.