Shieoni didn’t know how to feel.

Standing in front of the animal pen, where the augmented raptors paced, Shieoni took a shaky breath, her ears flat as she looked down at a clipboard in her hand. “What did he do to you, Camilla?..” Shieoni asked mostly to herself, frowning gently as she placed a hand on the red energy wall as she bit her lip, seemingly so focused on the raptors that she didn’t notice the two golems patrolling the room.

It wasn’t long, however, that she snapped out of her thoughts at a familiar voice that sparked a mix of feelings.

“Fearful of getting dirt under your claws, Kuda? I prefer a hands-on approach.”

Shieoni took a few steps back as she glanced over to Sebb and Kuda, frowning softly. She hesitated as she walked up, opening her mouth to speak. Sebb’s golden eyes darted to her and narrowed, waving his hand to dismiss her. She blinked a few times, her ears flattening as she backed off, gripping her clipboard as she watched the two pass the golems.

The albino asura’s ears perked as she glanced to the malfunctioning golem, being so tunnel visioned in speaking to Sebb that she hadn’t even noticed it. She barely heard Sebb and Kuda’s conversation as he ordered the golems to open the animal pen.

She watched silently, ears flat to her skull as the raptors came out and dispatched the malfunctioning golem quickly. She zoned out silently as she followed after the two high ranking Inquest, quietly waiting for them to finish talking.

——

Shieoni followed after the two as they left the lab, Kuda eventually leaving Sebb alone. “S-Sebb? I need to speak with you..” Shieoni spoke softly as she approached him, frowning.

Sebb glanced to her for a moment before giving a small smile, gentle despite his usual demeanor. “Ah, Shieoni.” He began, walking over and cupping her cheek with surprising gentleness. “I’m sorry I had to shoo you away, my dear. But I was in the middle of an.. important conversation.”

Shieoni frowned as he cupped her cheek, looking up at the biomancer with a shaky breath. “W-What did you do to Camilla?” She asked him, ignoring his previous words. Sebb blinked, his eyes wide for a moment before narrowing. “Creation 7?” Shieoni hesitated slightly as Sebb’s grip went from her face to her shoulder, the man continuing to speak. “I made it.. Better. Made it stronger,” He gestured to the raptors that stared at them with narrowed, glassy eyes, still under the effects of Sebb’s mind control staff.

Shieoni’s eyes widened as Sebb spoke, instinctively pushing his hand from her shoulder with tears pricking at her eyes as they narrowed, clenching her fists. “Sebb, you can’t just take my raptor and do things like this! You didn’t even ask me! I-“

Sebb’s expression became dangerous, taking a few steps forward as he leaned down slightly. “I don’t need your permission, to do my work, Shy.” Sebb spoke lowly, backing Shieoni up to a wall slightly. “You know very well that anything can be augmented. I thought you’d be happy, I made ‘Camilla’ better, stronger..”

Shieoni’s ears flattened as he continued, looking up at him as he let out a sigh. “Shy, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He suddenly said, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he pulled Shieoni into a hug, gently petting her head almost condescendingly. “Look, I have a mission for you.” He immediately changed the subject, pulling away from her as he began to walk, hands behind his back as he expected her to follow.

Shieoni stood stunned for a moment, taking a shaky breath as she followed after him, squeezing her arm. She felt worse than when she found out about what he did, despite trying to voice her concern. But chose to stay quiet as she walked after him, the raptors tailing the two close behind with robotic growls.

——

It was getting dark in Shipwreck Strand, Sebb had gone out with Kuda to do.. something with the Seneschal Kela, she wasn’t 100% sure what. She took a shaky breath as she snuck out of her quarters, ears flat as she got out of the lab and started to run. She didn’t know if anyone was gonna be chasing her, she didn’t know if they’d even care, but she kept running anyway.

Darius didn’t think his prince had anything to make up for. Mianu was a victim, plain and simple. And in Darius’ eyes, Mianu had already done more than enough to atone for the mistakes that he insisted he had made.

Maybe the letter would be able to cheer Mianu up a bit. The seal on the back was unmistakably his family’s royal sigil. And it had been a long time since Mianu had heard from anyone back home.

“Who was that at the door?” Mianu asked almost suspiciously.

Darius held up the letter, smiling. “Delivery for us. Or for His Majesty, more specifically.”

Mianu glowered at him in that adorable way he tended to glower at people when he wasn’t actually that annoyed. Which was why Darius was so surprised when Mianu snatched the letter out of his hand.

“I’ll take care of it,” Mianu said gruffly. “Thanks.”

Darius blinked at him. “Take care of it? What do you mean?”

But Mianu simply returned to their shared bed, grabbed his bag, and stuffed the letter inside.

Darius’ eyes went wide. There were a lot of other letters in there. So many that they were practically spilling out of the little pocket that Mianu tried to push them into.

“Mianu, what is all that?” said Darius.

“Nothing,” said Mianu.

Darius had known Mianu for years. Which meant he recognized that tone immediately. Whatever was going on, it was a lot more than just nothing.

“How long have you been hiding those, Mianu?” Darius said, trying to keep his voice level.

“I’m not hiding them,” said Mianu.

“Then you must be stuffing them in your bag without even looking at them for some other reason,” Darius quipped.

“I will look at them,” said Mianu, far too quickly. “At some point. We have other things to worry about right now. More important things.”

“And if those letters are something important?” said Darius.

They were a solid two week’s travel from the royal city. If someone was sending Mianu letters, multiple letters, he doubted it was just some casual social call.

“They’re not,” Mianu insisted. “I’m sure. Please, Darius, we need to get ready for our next mission.”

“We just completed a mission yesterday,” Darius pointed out. “We need to rest. Which means this is the perfect time to—”

“You saw those rotted trees just as clearly as I did,” Mianu countered.

Darius sighed, running a hand over his face. “Yes, Mianu, I saw them. And we both agreed that not every single problem we happen to run into is automatically magical in nature. There is such a thing as tree rot, you know.”

“I know that better than you do,” Mianu huffed. “Which is why we should investigate. Magical or not, if we let things get out of hand—”

“Like you’re letting these letters get out of hand?” Darius fired back.

“It’s not out of hand,” said Mianu. “Look. This one is in my hand, and now I am putting it in my bag, and I’ll look at them all when we’ve found the source of that rot.”

Darius sighed in frustration. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Darius—”

“And we don’t need to find the source of anything right now,” Darius went on, refusing to let Mianu get like this any longer. “We’ve solved all of the immediate magical problems. We don’t need to run anywhere, or hunt down some magical monster, or anything like that. We can take the time to sit down and read a few letters.”

“And we will. Later,” Mianu insisted. “Right now, we have work to do.”

So Darius just cut to the chase. “It’s a letter from the palace. It might need an urgent reply.”  

Mianu’s movements slowed. He fell silent. His head remained bowed. His shoulders hunched.

Darius knew that reaction just as well as he knew Mianu’s tone when he had said it was nothing.

“The other letters have the same seal, don’t they?” he said.  

Mianu sighed. His shoulders sagged further.

“Most of them, yes.”

Darius groaned in frustration. “Mianu, you can’t keep doing this. You’re the prince. Heir to the throne. You have responsibilities—”

“And I’m taking care of them,” said Mianu. “Out here. Where we can actually do things that matter.”

“And you don’t think any of that matters?” Darius demanded, jabbing a finger at the letters stuffed in Mianu’s bag.

“Not as much as this does,” Mianu snapped back. “Why do you think we’re out here in the first place? These are real people, with real problems, not just some… some stuffy nobles arguing about the prices of exotic fish or something.”

Darius almost took a step back. He was one of those ‘stuffy nobles,’ having trained to be a knight from childhood. Was that what Mianu really thought of all of this? Of all the important meetings, of all the careful negotiations, of all the details that kept a kingdom running smoothly?

“You can’t dismiss everything just because you’re annoyed at a few people,” Darius said, trying to keep his voice even. Trying not to think that he might be one of the people Mianu was annoyed with.

“I’m not annoyed,” Mianu lied.

Darius raised an eyebrow. “You cannot be serious right now.”

“I’ve never been more serious!” Mianu cried, tossing his hands in the air. “I can’t do anything in there. Those walls, that castle, it’s just like…” He trailed off, let out a trembling sigh, and shook his head. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Talking never gets us anywhere.”

“It takes time,” said Darius, “but it does matter. We can make changes, real changes, by—”

“By actually going out and doing things like this,” said Mianu. “By being out here, taking care of real problems. You said it yourself. We’re saving lives out here, Darius.”

Darius actually did slide back this time. He had said that. But not in moments like this. He’d tried to reassure Mianu that he was doing the right thing. That his past didn’t matter anymore, not now that he was making things better. He had saved lives, when he had once been forced into threatening them.

But this wasn’t what Darius had meant. This wasn’t what Darius wanted.

“That doesn’t mean you can turn your back on the people at the castle,” he said quietly.

Mianu went rigid. His hands closed into fists. The letter that he had been struggling with was crushed, the wax seal cracking into small, meaningless pieces.

Darius immediately tried to undo the damage. “Mianu, I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“I’m not turning my back on anyone,” Mianu whispered. “Not again. Never again, do you hear me?”

Darius should have said something much smarter then. He should have kept trying to make things better. He should have genuinely apologized for saying something so careless, something that was guaranteed to bring Mianu right back to the exact time when he had done the things he was still desperate to make up for.

But his own emotions got in the way. And what came out of his mouth was probably the worst possible thing he could have said.

“Then why are you abandoning your family?”

Mianu snapped his bag shut. He tossed it over his shoulder. Unread letters spilled everywhere. And he stormed towards the door.

Darius was nearly in panic by then. “Mianu, where are you going?”

“Out,” he said simply. “Hopefully to do something right. Follow me if you want. I don’t care.”

It sounded very much like he did care. But to his eternal shame, Darius didn’t follow.

He thought Mianu might need some space. Some time alone. It wasn’t an unreasonable guess. Mianu tended to isolate himself when he needed to calm down. So Darius stayed in the room, knowing that Mianu was bound to come back.

Eventually.

But hours passed. And Mianu didn’t return.

When Darius finally ventured out to search for him, he found Mianu’s bag lying on the ground in the middle of a lesser-used path. One that led directly to the trees Mianu had been so worried about. The unread letters were scattered all over the ground. They had all been trodden on, the seals all smashed beyond recognition.

And next to them, half-buried in the dirt, was Mianu’s royal ring.

Even in his state, Mianu would never leave that ring behind.

Darius searched desperately for any sign of what might have happened. Blessedly, he spotted a few footprints. It wasn’t much. But it was enough to go on. Without pausing to think, Darius raced down the incomplete trail.

He had to find Mianu. Before things got worse.

_________________________

As the door closed with a loud thud, you broke down. Tears of rage and despair streamed down your chin and dropped on the slanted floor. The pain inside of your chest was unbearable. All of those years, for nothing. Every “I love you” was fake. Every breakfast in bed was fake. Every date you both went on was fake. He only used you, like some doll. Just like he always had called you. You slammed your fist into the ground until the skin of your knuckles grew bloody. The pain and betrayal you felt couldn't be formed into words. It just felt as if someone had ripped your kind and loving heart out.

At the same time, Dabi tried to get himself down the stairs, but due to his sickness, he had to sit down in front of your door. The apartment building was cold, not like your cozy apartment. He hated himself for his stupid words, nothing of it was true, but his insecurities got the better of him. “Damn it,” he swore loudly. You were just too good for him, too kind, and way too great, but he didn’t want you to be involved in his criminal actions. His head began to spin as he continued to curse himself. Before he passed out he typed Shigaraki a short message. “Don’t need to get me, I'll stay.” After he pressed on ‘sent’ the world grew dark around him.

The next morning you awoke in the middle of the kitchen. The whole crying got you so tired that you passed out on the cold floor. You felt as if you hadn’t slept at all, besides that your back was also hurting. With a deep breath, you started your horrible day. The pain of yesterday was still too present. You got dressed in your sports clothes as you wanted to go jogging, to forget this horrible feeling. But as you opened your front door, the sleeping Dabi fell onto your feet. Even though you wanted to be angry at him and ignore him, your pity for him was bigger. You wanted to kick your ass, for your next move. With a gentle pat on his head, you woke him up. “Dabi, get in my flat and sleep there. It’s more comfortable.” He looked up at you with tired eyes. “Mhm.” he only grumbled, as he got up.

Still furious, they go home and wait.

A frantic Naruto appears less than an hour later, note clutched in hand.

 “What the hell is this?” he whisper-shouts, conscious of your son sleeping in the next room.

“Exactly what it looks like,” his alpha says back, face stony. “I’m sick of you never being here. I’m basically a single parent with a roommate that sometimes turns up to grab food and then leave. I’ve had enough. If you’re not willing to be a proper part of our family, then I don’t want you to be a part of it at all.”

Naruto looks like he’s just been slapped.

“You think I like this?” he growls. “I’m the Hokage, I have-“

“’You have a duty to the village’,” his alpha finishes with a mocking voice. “I get that, Naruto, I do, but you also have an obligation to your family.

“You’re busy, I understand, but are you really too busy that you can’t take a single day off every fortnight? So busy that you can’t kiss me goodbye in the morning anymore or let me visit you at lunchtime? So busy that you can’t even make a clone to come and say goodnight to your son in the evening so that I don’t have to spend an hour comforting him while he cries himself to sleep, so hard that I’m scared he’s going to choke?”

They step closer to him, tears starting to gather in their eyes.

“Are you too busy to love us anymore?”

Naruto stares at them in silence for a moment. Then, his lip starts to quiver. Before long, he drops into the nearest seat, sobbing heavily. His alpha fights the instinct to comfort him and just watches as he tries to collect himself.

“I’m sorry,” he chokes with a thick voice. “I’m so sorry, please don’t leave me, I couldn’t- I couldn’t handle it if you left me. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I’m sorry.”

He dissolves back into crying, muttering apologies in between sobs. This time, his alpha does sit beside him and try to comfort him.

“I won’t leave,” they reassure. “As long as things change.”

“They will!” Naruto hastily replies.

“I want tomorrow with you. I want the whole day with you, I want you to take our son to the park, I want you to join us for dinner and I want you to pick another activity to do with him too.”

Naruto nods, but before he has a chance to speak, you continue.

“I also want you to tell me whenever you have free time around lunch, at least twice a week, and I’ll bring lunch for us to eat together. I want you to send a clone to tuck our son into bed with me every night. And I want you to take at least one day off every fortnight. Those are my minimum conditions.”

Naruto agrees to all the conditions and while things aren’t always perfect, Naruto tries his best to learn how to balance the most important things in his life. Occasionally he needs to be reminded, but the argument never gets as bad as it did that night.

  Sasuke – For Sasuke, he finds raising his daughter to be too overwhelming when she’s an infant. And that causes a huge amount of strain on the relationship he has with his alpha (and also everyone else in his life.)

In his defence, Sasuke suffers very badly with PPD, has zero experience with babies or children, and has so much trauma it’s a wonder that he can function at all. Add the body changes, the sleep deprivation, and the massive routine change, well, it’s not surprising that Sasuke can’t handle it. And when Sasuke is overwhelmed, he can get nasty.

He won’t clean or eat, he won’t interact with his pup at all (his alpha has to use formula from day one), he’s rude and snappy all the time. It’s a valid reaction in many ways, but of course, his alpha is incredibly sleep deprived, overworked, stressed, living in a filthy house and receiving no support at all, so they can only deal with it for so long, especially considering that Sasuke refuses to get any help, but instead takes long missions the second he’s recovered enough to be cleared for duty.

His alpha has a whole month to stew in frustration before Sasuke gets back from a sudden mission. It’s no surprise that everything boils over the moment he gets home.

 “Oh wow, a stranger just broke into my house, should I be concerned?” they spat at him the second he walked into the kitchen where they were frantically trying to wash up some bottles before their daughter woke up.

Sasuke looks shocked for a moment before rolling his eyes.

“Say whatever you have to say upfront, I’ve got no time for games.”

“Games!?” his alpha laughs hysterically. “Games?! This isn’t a game, Sasuke! I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but if you leave for a mission in the middle of the night again without telling me, you’ll come back to an empty house! Does that sound like a funny game to you?”

“I can’t just decide to not take a mission,” he growls. “I’m a shinobi.”

“Yes, you literally can! Your parental leave doesn’t end for another four weeks! I know this has been hard, but you can’t keep running away. Not anymore, Sasuke, it’s not fair.”

“I’m not running away! How dare you?” he snarls, getting into your personal space.

“You are! The only time you’ve held our daughter was when you were too out of it to object. What part of that isn’t running away?

“I respected your wish to avoid therapy in the past because you seemed to be getting better with my help, but I don’t have the time anymore. You need to get outside help.”

Sasuke didn’t even reply, simply leaving back the way he’d just come in, slamming the front door behind him.

 The argument is not as easily resolved as Naruto’s is.

It’s a long process convincing Sasuke to go to therapy. His alpha takes him on a few trips without their daughter to help build that bond back, and slowly but surely, Sasuke starts to interact with his pup. It’s a process that takes over a year from start to finish, and the period is rocky for everyone involved. Sasuke needs a very patient mate in general, but during this time in his life, it’s even more important.

Shino – Shino is a very overprotective parent. Like, very overprotective. His daughter is very shy and soft-spoken and you try to gently push her outside of her comfort zone occasionally, but Shino never does. When she cries, Shino just whisks her away back home with him, every time.

This turns into an argument because your and Shino’s daughter doesn’t have any friends outside of her clan, mainly because she’s so painfully shy. So, you decide to organise a little get together with some of the children her age from other clans as a way to encourage her to make friends and step outside of her shell. But the night before, she’s distraught, crying about how she doesn’t want to go because she’s too scared, refusing to go to bed and clinging to both you and Shino as hard as she can.

But you think that she should give it a shot and see how it goes, and Shino wants to cancel the whole thing.

When it becomes obvious that there’s a disagreement, a bit of tension forms between you. You end up promising to see how she feels in the morning before putting your daughter to bed and heading downstairs to discuss.

Things get heated because Shino is horrified that his mate could look at their distraught child and still force them to do something they aren’t comfortable with. His protectiveness flares up and he’s never felt like he had to protect his pup from his mate before, so he gets a harsh and cold, refusing to allow you to take her to the gathering tomorrow.

You also get heated because he’s being so unreasonable. Shino doesn’t see a problem with her only having friends in her immediate family, but you know how much of a problem that will turn into as she gets older and doesn’t know how to interact with others or make friends. It’s like ripping off a plaster. She might be nervous now, but the likelihood is she’ll have fun tomorrow and it will be good for her development. So, you tell him that you are going to take her, with or without him.

Both parties genuinely believe that they are doing the right thing for their pup, so the argument is pretty extreme in a way arguments are normally not.

“She needs to go, Shino!” you exclaim, voice starting to get a bit louder. “It’s normal for her to be nervous, stop acting like I’m sending our pup to her death!”

Shino bristles at the accusation.

“I didn’t say that,” his voice is cold. “Do not put words in my mouth. You are making our daughter cry though. Why? Because she is clearly not ready for this and you are forcing her. I will not allow it.”

You scoff at him, taking a twisted sense of enjoyment from the glare he sends you in return.

“She isn’t just your daughter, you can’t forbid anything.”

Shino opens his mouth to argue back but is interrupted by a quiet voice from the doorway.

“Why are you fighting?” your daughter asks, rubbing at her eyes with a fist. “I don’t like it.”

Shino’s face switches back to calm instantly.

“It’s okay,” he soothes, kneeling next to her. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

She immediately leans into his arms and hugs him, sniffing a little against his neck.

“You’re not getting divorced, are you? I don’t want either of you to have to go…”

Both your and Shino’s brows shoot up at the question. Where had she even heard about such a thing?

“No,” you say firmly, smoothing down her hair. “We’re not getting divorced, I promise.”

And with those words you realise how stupid the argument had been. You are partners, mates for life, and you had been allowing a minor, unimportant issue turn you against each other. It was clear that Shino had reached the same conclusion.

“You don’t have to worry about up getting divorced. Why? Because… because we love each other very much.”

Your heart swells at your mate’s words and you wonder how you had been so happy to raise your voice at him only moments before.

“About tomorrow,” you start, hesitantly bringing the topic back up to try and resolve it. “I have a deal to offer to you.”

You daughter nods slowly to show that she is listening.

“How about, we go for one hour and if you hate it, we’ll go straight home after the hour, does that sound fair?”

She doesn’t look entirely convinced.

“And,” you continue. “You can spend that hour however you like. If you want to spend the whole hour sitting with us, that’s okay, we won’t make you talk to anyone, but I’ll be very proud if you try.”

“Okay…”

Your face brightens at her agreement.

“That’s settled then!” you laugh in relief, sending a smile towards Shino, who then sends a small smile in return. Thank goodness it all worked out.

These sorts of disagreements happen a few times in the relationship, because Shino never lets go of the protectiveness, but thankfully, they are normally resolved by finding a compromise. Shino doesn’t like conflict, so the space between these arguments is normally quite long.

Kakashi – The main conflict in a relationship with Kakashi is about his unhealthy coping mechanisms. No matter how good he becomes at handling his emotions with the help of his alpha, he occasionally still slips.

Kakashi has very complicated emotions and no skill in communication, so fights tend to always revolve around those two things working together.

He still sometimes spends far too long at the memorial stone, he still relapses into being very late as a coping mechanism, he still forgets to take care of himself. And the problem is that he already hates himself when he does this, he feels so much guilt over relapsing into those harmful patterns, that when his alpha calls him out and tries to get him to stop, he can lash out.

And Kakashi can be cruel. He always knows exactly what to say to hurt, and when he lashes out, he utilises that skill against his mate, which only makes his feel worse. He then pushes his alpha away and makes reconciliation harder than it needs to be.

“Kakashi,” you call gently from your position behind him. “You’ve been at the memorial stone for three hours now, we agreed no more than an hour so it’s time to go home.”

He doesn’t reply so you put a hand on his shoulder to try and pull him out of his memories. He stiffens under your touch but still doesn’t say anything, continuing to stare blankly at the stone.

“Kakashi, come on now,” you plead. “I’m making some aubergine for dinner, please come home.”

“Drop it,” he grinds out from in between clenched teeth.

“Don’t talk to me like that. I’m trying to help.”

“Well, you’re not.”

“Kakashi,” you sigh. “Please don’t fight me like this, you know better-“

“Do I?” he explodes suddenly, cutting you off. “Stop trying to tell me what I can or can’t do and what I know or don’t know, you’re wrong! You’re wrong about me, you always have been. I don’t need your pity or you fucking following me around, I’m an adult. Leave. Me. Alone.”

You flinch back like you’ve been hit.

“Fine,” you spit. “Waste away here pining after ghosts.”

And with those admittedly harsh words that you’d probably regret later, you turn your back and storm home alone.

These arguments normally get resolved the next day after Kakashi is feeling a bit better and you have time to think about and regret some of the harsher words thrown back at him out of hurt. There’s less of a formal make up and more of a silent agreement that you were both wrong but also valid, and things sort of just go back to normal.

The reason Kakashi gets like this sometimes is because of the pressure he feels to be perfect for his mate. He feels like they believe in him becoming a better person, so when he feels like he’s fallen short, he turns the already bad feelings from failing in his mate’s direction, blaming them for having expectations that are too high, despite them just seeking to support him. For that reason, these arguments never truly go away, although communication gets easier and easier as time progresses and the relationship becomes more stable.

Itachi – The main fights in this relationship are sad ones fuelled with grief. Itachi knows that he must die. His mate does not agree.

Itachi’s mate doesn’t understand why they can’t just run away together and get him medical treatment for his illness or tell Sasuke the truth or… or something! They don’t understand why Itachi must die at the hands of his brother. But Itachi has dedicated his life to this plan, he clings to it desperately, so when his alpha questions it he becomes very withdrawn and defensive.

He often tells them that they knew what they were getting into with him, and that they aren’t allowed to just turn around now and try to stop him. Honestly, I don’t think he’d be above drugging his mate on the fateful day, just to stop them from interfering, that’s how serious he is.

“I don’t want you to die,” you whisper one night, lying in bed with Itachi after a difficult mission.

Itachi immediately stiffens beside you as he always does when you bring up his death.

“You knew this was going to happen.”

“I did,” you agree. “But I’d always hoped I could somehow change your mind.”

You turn over to face him head on, eyes focusing on his face that is illuminated by the single lamp in the room.

“Don’t you want to just run away? We could find a little cottage up north, somewhere peaceful Snow Country and we could have a little fireplace to keep warm and no one would ever think to look for us there-“

You voice gets more and more frantic as you speak, pleading with Itachi to reconsider.

“Enough,” he says, voice firm. “Wishful thinking will get us nowhere. This is how it has to be, you know that.”

“No, I don’t,” you argue. “Why does it have to be like this? Your plan makes no sense!”

“It’s the only way.”

“No, it’s not! How can you do this to me? You know what your death will do to me and yet you don’t seem to care at all!”

You know you have gone too far the moment you see the look on his face. You made him cry.

“How dare you,” he whispers, staring at you like he’s never seen you before before standing up from the bed, slipping on his slippers and abruptly leaving the room.

You flop back onto the bed as the sound of the door slamming echoes around the room. Tears start to well up in your eyes too. This is a mess.