#nova.fic

Alain isn’t one to fear without reason. Lord knows he has been in his fair share of trouble, he has a sense for it.

But since the strike, since he confessed to the horrors Renault has been inflicting, since he caught on to Niki and Gilles and Didier’s scheming, the fear had lingered.

He had fled of course. He could see the forces now against them, he knew the power they had relied heavily on what he was doing, what they had made him do.

The thought of that still makes him ill.

So he had fled, saw the writing on the wall, had been carefully swayed by those he was lucky enough to call friends. He felt protected in that bubble they called a family of sorts. A syndicate conglomerate of the others, simply called the Eastern Syndicate.

But still Alain fears.

Not just of Renault wanting to hunt down lose ends, it would be to bold of them to do it just for that. No, Alain was fearful because he had made it personal.

Before leaving he had just one petty shot at saying fuck you to that whole organization, and Alain was young and stupid and immature and dealing with a whole mess of issues so he took it.

Too make himself feel better, he had said, when he decided to flirt with his boss's wife.

Needless to say one thing lead to another and now Alain was very much a wanted man.

It did make him feel better though.

its not enough to placate him, the feeling of fear just creeps around the corner, Alain just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

it feels juvenile, extremely juvenile, to be asking his friends to accompany him everywhere he goes, to not look so eager when he jumps to go with people on small tasks.

They don't call him on it though, Its a blessing in its own right. He sleeps on a rotation schedule of couches, trying to avoid his apartment. Gilles and Didier's couch, then to Niki and James's, then to Elio's and then the spare room above Nigel's bar and back again.

he lives light, he lives fast, he keeps on quick feet and he watches.

The event comes months later, and he is staying at Niki's place when it does.

A smell of smoke hitting his nose as he wakes.

He stands with bleary eyes, walking out into the hallway to investigate the smell.

Niki is already there, James with him, starring out the window.

Niki is shaking.

"Niki? what is going—" Niki looks to him, head snapping to him as he speaks. Eyes wide, as panicked as Niki gets.

"Go back to sleep Alain." He bites too quickly. But the motion is enough for Alain's eyes to catch the light.

Orange and red and bright, glinting against Niki's face.

and the terror makes sense in that context but— Niki wouldn't bite at him like that if there wasn't something else.

So Alain swallows down the lump in his throat and defies him, walking forward quickly and rising on to his toes to peer between them.

and he gets Renault's message in all its glory.

His car, twisted and mangled, a ball of fire in the street.

the firefighters are already there to contain it but its to big to put out.

It just burns.

And Alain knows they have finally found him.

Alain had been set to leave that night, but he had too much wine at dinner and had decided it best to not drive.

He was supposed to leave that night.

He was supposed to be in that car.

He chokes on his breath a bit as the fire dances in his eyes, panic. terror. All that fear that had been building in him.

He doesn't sleep for the rest of the night, nor does Niki. They just sit by the window and watch.