ARCHIVED.

fuck,   fuck,   fuck.   xeno wants to walk away.   he wants to purge his mind of all memory of this encounter.   he wants to run and run and run until he finds olympia,   until he knows she’s alive.  it’s hard to even look at the woman in front of him now,   when all he sees in her features is olympia.   he can tell he’s slipped up;   he can tell she’s growing suspicious.   what he still doesn’t know is if he can trust her.   the truth is just there,   locked away in his mind,   kept safe by his tongue.   he could spill his secrets in a second—and olympia could be killed just as quickly if he gets this wrong.   but her words are cutting through:   SHE COULD BE DEAD.   fear is a cold and sharp shard moving through his heart.  he can’t hear anything else.  something breaks.

“ can you please stop saying dead? ”   he puts his head in his hands and lets out a quiet groan.   he could be about to make a terrible mistake—or he could be helping to save olympia’s life.   finally, he lifts his head up again and leans it back.   “ i know her,   okay?   i fucking know her. ”   worse than that,   he cares about her.   so much so that it hurts.   he looks back at the woman,   jabbing his finger in her direction.  “ but i don’t know you.   for all i know,   you could be working with the people who want her—”   dead.   he can’t say it.   “—who are trying to hurt her.   she said there were people looking for her,   and now you just happen to show up. ”   the fact that she claims never to have known of olympia’s existence until recently is another red flag.   he doesn’t know much about families,   but he’s certain that’s not normal.   then again,   from what he’s pieced together,   olympia’s family seem to have a thousand buried secrets.   maybe he’s just uncovered one of them.  “ i’m not telling you shit unless you give me a good reason to trust you. ”

 IT  IS  A  HEART - SINKING  THING  TO  WATCH  HIM  UNRAVEL.  he's  spent  the  majority  of  this  conversation  pretending  that  he  doesn't  know  her  cousin,  that  he  has  no  idea  who  the  girl  in  the  sketch  is,  how  he  could  only  hope  for  heart's  sake  that  the  person  she's  looking  for  is  alive.  but  in  a  way,  heart  is  glad  for  it.  she's  glad  to  know  the  truth,  to  know  that  olympia  has  touched  the  life  of  someone  enough  that  it  might  be  worth  it  to  keep  asking  them  of  her  whereabouts,  if  he  even  knows  where  she  is  anymore.  but  still,  she  feels  her  heart  sinking  at  his  discomfort.  is  this  what  it's  like  to  truly  care  about  someone?  shouldn't  she  feel  the  same?  girl  meets  guilt,  and  it  is  creeping  into  her  mind.

something twitches in the corner of xeno’s mouth as soon as she says the words. she might be dead. there’s a chill unfurling itself inside of him, worst than the never-ending cold he is used to. he doesn’t know what he was thinking, that maybe it was serious but not that serious, something he could sort out on his own. but death is another game altogether — one that he doesn’t want to ever play with when it comes to olympia’s life. the weight of the situation starts to sink in, violent as a knife twisting into his heart.

“ what the fuck do you mean by she might be dead? ” he snaps without thinking, a large crack forming in the mask he had put up only seconds ago. it’s a mistake he shouldn’t have made. he doesn’t know this woman, doesn’t know her intentions or if she even truthfully knows olympia. for all he knows, she might be the person olympia is running from, one who might want her dead. he quickly attempts to backtrack, stumbling over his words. “ i mean—i–i don’t want anyone to end up dead. like, that’s some scary shit. i don’t want that happening to—your cousin. ”

 heart's  suspicion  of  him  grows  upon  watching  his  reaction.  people  do  not  respond  in  such  a  manner  when  they  hear  news  about  someone  they  do  not  know.  amongst  all  of  the  people  heart  has  inquired,  he  is  the  only  one  who  has  reacted  this  way.  usually,  people  will  merely  give  her  a  shrug  whilst  looking  at  her  with  sad  eyes,  as  though  they  are  finding  the  courage  to  tell  her  that  her  cousin  may  already  be  dead  because  that  is  the  most  likely  conclusion  to  this  search.  it  is  rare  for  people  to  go  missing  and  be  found  alive.  but  they  don't  know  olympia,  and  they  have  no  clue  of  what  the  situation  really  is.  after  all,  she  can't  just  tell  someone  what  is  really  going  on  with  her  cousin.  either  they'll  never  believe  her,  or  she  would  get  into  worse  trouble.

not a single part of his expression changes as she speaks the name and shows the sketch. inwardly, something in him crumbles when she says olympia, a warning stab of fear rushing through him. he had always known that she was in trouble, that there was danger following her just as it followed him, but it feels realer now with a stranger in front of him and a police sketch of the face he knows so well. xeno looks at the stranger properly now, studying the face for the resemblance. it’s there alright: they share the same kind of face — strong jawline, high cheekbones, similar nose. somehow, this is not comforting to him. olympia never told him what kind of danger she was in — what if this woman is a part of it?

“ i’m not sure if i know her. ” he lies convincingly, though there’s an edge to his voice that he can’t quite keep out. he stares at the police sketch as though the right answer might come floating out of it. tell me, he asks it, can i trust her? of course, there’s no answer. all that rises is a bitter thought: there’s probably a police sketch of him out there, with not-so nice men shoving it in people’s faces. or maybe they’ll have a beautiful woman like this, with a deep, charming voice, faking concern for him. what would olympia do if their roles were reversed? “ i guess she looks kinda familiar. what trouble is she in? ”

 heart  has  been  watching  him  since  she  laid  out  the  details  of  her  missing  cousin.  disappointment  meets  her  as  there  is  no  change  in  his  expression,  no  light  bulbs  turned  on,  nothing.  just  the  gears  in  his  head  turning  with  an  attempt  to  be  cooperative.  she  still  can't  get  over  how  suspicious  it  must  seem,  a  woman  looking  for  someone  without  a  real  photograph,  only  a  sketch  of  what  she  might  look  like.  but  their  relationship  is  complicated,  they've  never  even  met.  and  as  such,  this  whole  situation  is  also  complicated.

several  seconds  pass  where  he  simply  stares  at  her,    almost  looking  through  her  rather  than  at  her.    it  takes  another  moment  before  he  switches  himself  on  properly,    finally  taking  in  the  stranger’s  odd  greeting,    which  provokes  firstly  a  frown  and  then  a  half-amused  smile.     ❝   you  might  have  to  be  a little  more  specific  with  that,    you  know,    just  a  bit.   ❞     the  smile  is  quick  to  slide  off  his  face  though,    worry  awakening  in  his  bones.     ❝   seriously,    you  got  a  name  for  her?    what  does  she  look  like?    ❞

 ❝  look,  this  is  gonna  be  really  weird  and  really  shady.  ❞  a  not - so  perfect  introduction,  but  it  is  honest.  she  can  tell  that  dancing  around  this  topic  and  trying  to  twist  her  words  to  sound  prettier  would  only  be  a  waste  of  time.  and  she  doesn't  have  much  of  that  to  waste.  any  minute  now,  her  cousin  could  make  a  mistake  and  wind  up  dead  in  a  ditch  somewhere.  she  heaves  a  sigh  before  she  continues.  ❝  i'm  looking  for  someone.  a  girl.  ❞