Inception {Dreamnotfound}

11 | Unknown Ocurrences | 11

-Zak's POV-

I finally found them.

These people aren't as easy to track as everyone else. I'm thankful to have been an assassin, especially an elite assassin, so I knew what to do. You wouldn't be able to find them without experience; they cover their backs well. But not well enough, it seems, if after only three weeks, I'm on their trail again.

Nothing seems any different.

A prideful part of me wants to believe I scared them badly enough that they haven't tried anything since in fear I'll retaliate, but I know that isn't true. These people are crazy, and their leader isn't rational. If they wanted to get something done after I left, they'd have done it already.

That means two things: either they've managed to sneak around me, or what they're planning doesn't require any noticeable action.

Yet.

Either way, it's made me even more suspicious of them. I've tried to follow their every move, knowing that if anyone can, it's me. As far as I know, nobody else that they've used has lived to this day. That gives me an advantage, but also leaves the possibility that they're not willing to let me be the exception.

What I did shocked them. Nobody else found out who caused such a scene, or why. The fact this group are so secretive is both a blessing and a curse in that aspect. It keeps everything out of the public eye, but also leaves people blissfully unaware of their power, and the destruction they could cause with it.

In a strange, morbid way, I'm almost impressed.

Though I'm still clueless as to how these people ended up in the position that they're in, or how they've kept it all a secret for so long. As far as I know, even Techno is unaware of them, and he's got eyes all over this city. Definitely incredible, but in the worst way possible.

Theoretically, if they manage to do it, someone else could too. But I know deep down that this group isn't like all the others, and certainly isn't a common occurrence. I'm almost certain there won't be another one of them, but the knowledge does nothing to calm my nerves.

How could it, when those people are most likely still after me?

Or at least, that's what I thought. Have been expecting for the past three weeks in which, to my knowledge, they've done nothing. Stayed silent, probably focused on finding a new place to take over after I destroyed the last one. It would make sense, and explain why they've been so quiet. Yet I've searched the entire city over more times than I can count, checked every abandoned building I came across multiple times to no avail.

Then I found them here.

In their usual fashion, it's very far out. Almost completely out of the city, I noticed, realising that there was only one more, desolate street until the broken buildings are swallowed by the forest. Unlike the elite assassin's, I've never seen this group use the market square, or anywhere remotely populated for that matter. Probably to avoid any curious, unwanted eyes, part of the reason they've managed to stay unknown for so many years.

I have no idea what they're doing here. As soon as I caught sight of one of them, I followed, was led here to the rest of the group, including the leader himself. He seems agitated by something, standing in the centre of a crumbling apartment and muttering orders to anyone close enough. Everything he says is inaudible to me, but I can't risk getting any closer.

For a second I do contemplate it though, the crazed side of me that caused that fire aching to see them shiver in fear again. Like they made me do so many times, took advantage of my desperate state. All I wanted was to be left alone, make sure nobody I cared about ever came within reach of them. But that ultimately ended in me losing them anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. None of that matters anymore.

All that matters now is that I get rid of these people, and make sure they never hurt anyone else the way they hurt me.

Nobody deserves to go through that, end up the way I am now. Still living in fear of them, of what they'd do to Darryl if I revived him. Probably resort back to the way everything was before, start the cycle over again and use me again. I refuse to be twisted by them again, made to go against everyone and everything that I've worked for, including my own soulmate.

I never even told Darryl why. He never knew about them, what I went through to ensure his safety. Even when I was almost forced to let go of him for the final time, I didn't tell him. He was never given a reason for what I did, nothing to explain why I refuse to revive him.

He probably thinks I don't care anymore.

Despite that thought, I want to believe it isn't true, that he knows I'd never willingly do such a thing to him. That there had to have been a good reason why, something to justify something so against everything this system gifted us.

I'll keep telling myself I had to. No matter how wrong it was, how bad it felt and how much I didn't want to. My intentions were good, and I have to keep reminding myself of that fact every time I'm tempted to return to the tracks and look for my band.

I still love him; I don't think that'll ever change. But he's in the Pre-Outcast world now, two days away from fading. He's got next to no connection to this world anymore, and soon, it'll be nothing at all. My band, wherever it is, will disappear, and he'll go with it.

I wish I could've told him, but it's too late for that now.

My band is destroyed. It has to be. Has to laying in that open carriage still, smashed into tiny pieces. Irreversibly broken, way past the point of fixing even if I wanted to. The fact I broke it is what manages to stop me from going back there. The damage has been done, there's not way to reverse it. It's too late.

Too late, until it isn't.

The next few seconds are a blur. Everything seems to stop, clouds merging into one and buildings spinning in slow motion. It's all distorted, the mess of incomprehensible colours seeming brighter in my blurred vision.

My knees hit the floor first, collapsing into the stones that scrape my skin bloody. The windrush feels worse in my ears, so I cover them. The world becomes more saturated and sickening, so I close my eyes. All that's left is my own screaming echoed back at me, the sound swirling around me on replay. Mixed with someone else's I manage to notice, then more yelling, panicking.

A scene flashes before me, somehow still there behind closed eyelids. At first I hope it'll fade, but after quickly realising that I can't escape it, I decide that my only choice is to pay attention, see if I can work out why this is happening.

There's a boy, a teenager, screaming impossibly louder than me. Hands clasped tightly over his ears, screeching until the sound scrapes his lungs raw. I'm drawn to the bracelets on his wrists, one on each. A grey and a black, looking oddly like...

Soulmate bands.