17 - Truth

-Rachel POV-

We were on a plane that was flying toward Boston. It had been some hours since Kyle Beck was killed, and therefore, since the mission was completed. I was still slightly surprised about how easily we escaped the scene.

...

We didn't have any marks of what happened earlier, like blood stains, so we left immediately after grabbing our bags, which were already prepared in advance, with Aaron leading the way. After that, surprisingly, we didn't encounter anyone on our way out of the building. Thinking more deeply about it, it made sense, since most of the people had already gotten out of work, and the only one who was always in reception was now dead.

We left the building, and in front of the entrance, a taxi was already waiting for us.

'It seems that the Boss is already aware of everything.'

At that thought, a shiver ran down my spine. That might not make any sense, but I had the feeling that I was right.

Without saying anything, we got into the taxi, and we immediately started driving toward what I guess was the airport. In all the travel, I didn't look at Aaron once.

...

Present:

There were still some hours left until we reached Boston again, so I decided that it was time I finally talked with my companion.

I looked at Aaron, who was seated on my left. He was looking through the window, so I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine what it looked like. I remembered the face he had when he looked at me after he shot Kyle. That empty face was one I was familiar with.

Someone could say I should feel sorry for him and maybe guilty for making him do that, but I felt neither sorry nor guilty toward him. He already knew that this wasn't going to be so easy. I admit that it was unfortunate that he had to kill that old man, but that was it.

"Aaron."

At my call, he turned his head to look at me, and my stare was met once again with an emotionless face. After thinking about what I was about to tell him, I started talking again.

"You know, I don't feel sorry at all. Rather, it was something good that you had to do this at the beginning since it would have been more difficult if your first time with that was in the future."

Aaron kept looking me straight in the eyes, and even though for a moment I saw a flame of rage in his eyes, it soon died and became as cold as in the beginning. Without bothering to wait for a reply from him, I continued talking.

"Do you want me to tell you something? Maybe you have already noticed, and even made your own assumptions, so I guess I will just tell you myself.

Some time ago, I was already a member of Ashen Sun."

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-Aaron POV-

"Some time ago, I was already a member of Ashen Sun."

When Rachel finished talking, she kept staring at me as if she was looking for some sort of reaction, but to her disappointment, I looked at her without a bit of surprise. After seeing that, she just sighed and opened her mouth again.

"Seeing your reaction, I can assume you already had an idea about this, right?"

"You didn't have to be a genius to realize it."

For the first time in hours, I spoke to her. What I said was true, you didn't have to be a genius to see that something wasn't right with her behavior. The first thing I saw that was strange, was how calm she was after being supposedly kidnapped by a mysterious group of people. Not once did she seem panicked, even when it was announced we were going on our "first" mission. Instead, she asked to go alone.

Another reason to notice this was how she fought before going on the mission. Even a novice like myself could realize that that wasn't how a newbie fought. It was more accurate to say that she was more on the experienced side and that I only won her by a stroke of luck.

And the most obvious and recent thing, that led me to think that she was a member of this organization before, happened some hours ago when the shooting started. What she did wasn't something a normal high schooler could have done. Not with that accuracy nor with that calm she kept while shooting. At the memory of what had happened, I couldn't help but flinch a little.

While I was having those thoughts, Rachel, who seemed to have been bored while waiting for me to say something more, started talking herself.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't try to hide it. To be honest, I didn't see a reason to do it. You know, I came into this organization a long time ago, although I don't remember who brought me there or how. You could say that I was raised here. But...slowly, I started to hate that place, so one year ago, I escaped. And that's when I went to your school."

I listened in silence to what she said. I knew that there were more things that she wasn't telling me, but since I wasn't in the mood for arguing, I didn't say anything.

That was our last conversation until we reached Boston, and even though it had only been a little more than a week, it seemed like it had been months since we left.

We rode in another taxi, that again, was waiting for us in front of the airport. After a short ride, we finally reached the "library" Ashen Moon, and entered right away. We got into the hidden elevator in the warehouse and went down.

When the elevator doors opened, what greeted us was a familiar face I hadn't seen in a long time. 07 was there waiting for us with a small smile on his face.

"It seems you came back. Come on, the Boss wants to meet you."

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Hi, author here!

I will start apologizing for the late chapter, that I expected to post yesterday, but, yeah, things got complicated. Anyways, another thing. Some people have told me that the POVs things are confusing, so I would like you to tell me if I should stop doing it.

By the way, the first mission was completed!! Tell me your thoughts about this in the comments.

As always, if you see any mistakes, let me know. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!

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