Hideout – Late Night.
Mostang entered quietly.
The room was dim, lit only by a desk lamp.
Emma was seated, eyes half-dead, still tired from grief and from Roland.
Mostang didn't speak at first.
He was breathing a little fast.
Everyone looked at him.
Mostang:
"…He's coming."
Emma lifted her head.
Emma:
"…Vencor?"
Mostang nodded once.
Slow.
Heavy.
Mostang:
"Three to five days. He's walking. Alone. Preparing."
Silence.
Diana froze.
Mostang sat down, rubbing his face.
Celeste stopped working on her bandages.
Kane looked away.
Emma stood.
No expression.
No hesitation.
She started putting on her coat.
Diana immediately got up.
Diana:
"Where are you going."
Emma didn't look at her.
Emma:
"I'll meet him."
Diana:
"…We're going. Right?"
Emma didn't answer.
She grabbed her gun.
Checked the magazine.
Loaded it.
Emma:
"No."
Diana stepped forward.
Her voice shook—not from fear, but from anger.
Diana:
"No? Emma— NO. You're not going alone."
Emma tied her hair.
Slow. Controlled.
Emma:
"This fight is mine."
Diana:
"Valeria thought the same thing! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!"
Emma froze.
Just a second.
Her hand paused.
But then she resumed tying her hair.
Emma:
"…Valeria chose her battle. And I will choose mine."
Diana grabbed Emma's arm—hard.
Diana:
"You're not doing this to honor her.
You're doing this because you want to die."
Emma turned her head, finally looking at her.
Her voice was quiet, but sharp.
Emma:
"Diana. I am not dying."
Diana:
"Then why are you going alone?!"
Emma stepped closer—face to face—eyes calm, but with something broken behind them.
Emma:
"Because if I bring you… and he kills you…
I will never be able to live with that."
Diana stopped.
Her anger collapsed into something painful.
Her eyes glistened. Not crying—just hurt.
Diana (low):
"…So what? I don't care if I die. I'm with you."
Emma:
"…I care."
Diana's breath trembled.
She picked up her coat.
Her gun.
A small mask.
A blade.
She walked toward the door.
Diana:
"Emma—"
Emma didn't turn around.
Emma:
"Take care of the others."
Emma reaches the door.
Hand on the handle.
Ready to leave.
Diana's head lowers — one second of silence.
Then—
Diana's hand shoots forward.
She grabs Emma's arm.
Hard.
Not shaking this time.
Emma stops.
Diana (voice low, steady, finally serious):
"No."
Emma doesn't turn.
But her shoulders tense.
Diana:
"You're not going alone.
Not anymore.
Not again."
Emma tries to pull her arm away.
Diana doesn't let go.
Her grip is iron.
Emma:
"Diana. Let go."
Diana:
"No."
Emma turns her head slightly—just enough to look back with one eye.
Her face is cold.
But Diana doesn't flinch.
Diana:
"You think you're the only one who lost someone?
You think Valeria was just your equal?"
Emma's jaw clenches.
Diana:
"You keep acting like the world rests on your back.
Like you're the only one who has to carry the pain.
Like you're the one chosen to suffer."
Diana steps closer.
Their foreheads almost touch.
Her grip still locked around Emma's arm.
Diana:
"I'm done watching you walk into death while the rest of us wait like ghosts."
Emma's eyes flicker—something cracks slightly.
Diana speaks quieter now.
More real.
More raw.
Diana:
"Valeria didn't die so you could fight alone.
She died because she trusted you to live."
Emma's breathing slows.
Her voice—barely audible:
Emma:
"…If you come with me… you might die."
Diana:
"Then I die next to you.
Not behind you.
Not after you."
Beat.
Silence.
A heartbeat.
Two.
Emma:
"I'm going alone."
Diana:
"No. We already talked about this—"
Emma:
"I'm not risking you. Vencor isn't just strong. He's—"
Her voice lowers.
Emma:
"He's the devil."
Silence.
The room chills.
Diana steps forward.
Diana:
"I don't care."
Emma:
"You should."
Diana:
"No. I don't. I'm not watching you walk to your death—"
Emma (sharper):
"This isn't your decision."
Diana:
"Yes it is. I'm your partner. Your equal. I go with you."
Emma's eyes darken.
Emma:
"You are not equal to me."
The air breaks.
Diana's whole expression changes.
Something inside her snaps.
Diana:
"…Say that again."
Emma steps toward her.
Cold. Sharp. Meant to cut.
Emma:
"You. Are not. Equal. To me."
And Diana shoves her.
Emma doesn't fall.
She doesn't stumble.
She just stares.
Diana:
"Valeria died because she believed in you.
And now you stand here acting like you're some—some god—"
Emma:
"She died because you weren't there to back her up."
The words hit like a gunshot.
Diana's face goes pale.
Mostang stands up immediately.
Mostang:
"Alright, that's enough—"
Diana shoves him aside.
Diana:
"No. Let her talk.
Let her say it.
Go on, Emma. Say it to my face."
Emma's voice is quiet.
Too quiet.
Emma:
"If you follow me… you will die.
And I am done burying people."
Diana's fists tighten.
Diana:
"I'd rather die with you—"
Emma:
"I would rather you live without me."
Diana's eyes shake—anger, grief, betrayal all at once.
She throws the first punch.
Emma slips it.
Diana swings again—hard—Emma blocks, redirects, shoves her back.
Diana stumbles, but doesn't fall.
They circle.
No words now.
Just breathing.
Diana lunges.
Emma counters—
And BAM—
Emma punches Diana in the face.
Hard.
Diana hits the floor.
Mostang steps forward again—
Emma:
"Don't."
Mostang freezes.
Diana wipes blood from her lip.
Laughs.
Not happy laughter.
Diana:
"Oh… you really think you can leave me behind?"
She stands.
And Diana rushes Emma again.
They slam into a table.
Glass shatters.
Carlo yells for them to stop.
Kane backs into the wall, terrified.
Emma and Diana are fighting like animals.
Punches.
Grabbing.
Throwing.
Knees.
Shoulders.
Rage.
History.
This isn't training.
This isn't sparring.
This is two Best Friends breaking.
Finally, Emma pins Diana to the ground.
Forearm across her neck.
Diana still struggling.
Emma (voice shaking—not crying—but close):
"I cannot lose you too."
Diana stops moving.
The fight goes out of her.
Emma lets go.
Stands.
Breathing hard.
Diana stays on the floor.
Staring at the ceiling.
The floor is covered in broken glass.
Blood droplets.
Heavy breaths.
Diana pushes herself up from the floor, wiping her mouth again.
Her lip is split.
Her eyes—wet, but not with weakness—pure rage and heartbreak mixed.
Diana:
"Don't you walk away from me."
Emma doesn't turn.
Her back is to her.
Emma:
"Stay down."
Diana spits blood.
Diana:
"Make me."
Emma turns.
Very slowly.
Her face is unreadable again. Expressionless. Cold. That ghost mode she enters when she cuts off humanity.
They stare.
And then—
Diana sprints.
No hesitation.
She tackles Emma into the wall so hard the drywall cracks.
Emma's head hits the concrete behind it.
Emma grabs Diana by the shirt and throws her across the room.
Diana hits a desk, sending papers everywhere—she gets up instantly, like an animal who doesn't feel pain right now.
Mostang:
"STOP! BOTH OF YOU—!"
Emma:
"Stay out of it."
Diana:
"You don't get to decide everything!"
She swings—Emma blocks—but Diana headbutts her straight in the nose.
Emma stumbles.
Blood runs.
Diana rushes again—
Emma grabs her arm—
flips her—
They both crash to the ground, rolling, grappling, fists slamming into ribs and jaw.
Kane yells—
Carlo is frozen—
Celeste stands watching silently, like seeing inevitability.
Diana gets on top.
She starts punching Emma's face, again and again—wild, sloppy, desperate.
Diana (voice cracking):
"STOP! LEAVING! ME! ALONE!!"
Emma catches her wrist mid-swing.
Her hand closes like a lock.
Emma rolls, reverses, and now she is on top.
Her fist draws back.
And for a second—
Diana sees something in Emma's eyes she has never seen:
Fear.
Emma's voice is low. Not loud. Not angry.
Just… broken.
Emma:
"If you come with me… you die."
Mostang realizes, Emma could easily kill diana. But. She didn't.
Diana's throat tightens.
But she doesn't stop.
She tries to swing again—
Emma slams her arm down, pinning her harder to the floor.
Emma:
"Valeria is dead because I wasn't strong enough.
If you die too—
I will have nothing left."
Diana freezes.
Her breath catches.
Her fists loosen.
But the pain still burns.
Her voice is small now.
Diana:
"So you'd rather lose me slowly… by pushing me away?"
Emma's face flinches.
Just once.
Then—very quietly:
Emma:
"Yes."
The room goes silent.
Mostang closes his eyes.
Carlo looks away.
Kane muffles a sob.
Diana's tears finally fall.
They don't fall soft—
they fall like a dam breaking.
Diana:
"I hate you for this."
Emma stands.
Blood on her face.
Knuckles split.
Breathing uneven.
She looks like she could collapse.
But she'll keep walking anyway.
She always does.
Diana stays on the floor, trembling, hands clutching her shirt at her heart like it physically hurts.
Emma steps toward the door.
Diana forces herself to speak—barely a whisper:
Diana:
"Come back…
Please."
Emma doesn't turn.
Emma:
"…I'll try."
She leaves.
The door shuts.
And Diana breaks.
She doesn't scream.
She doesn't call out.
She just silently cries into her sleeves, shaking.
Mostang kneels beside her.
He doesn't touch her.
He just sits there.
Because there's nothing to say.
Nothing to fix.
Just the sound of someone losing the most important person they have—
and being forced to let them go.
Mostang:
"Valeria. Your death caused troubles."
Chapter end