Between the Shadows

Chapter 6

"That little brat..."

"Calm down. It's not that bad"

"He is getting out of hand. even after what he had to do, he is still insolent"

"There is nothing I can do about that... It is your problem"

"He is your agent so get rid of him"

"Why would I do that? He is one of our best agents"

"Well you can't just leave him like that... He'll go wild!"

"Then we just need to reel him in a little"

"You need to stop protecting him!"

"I'm not protecting him.. I'm taking care of my agent as you call him"

"We'll just have to push him harder"

"If you keep on pushing him like that he will snap, just look at his last mission"

"Then take him out!"

"No... Give it a little more time"

"I'm not so sure about that, but it doesn't look like I have a choice"

It has only been a few hours since Shadow returned from the white domain. The night was getting colder and darker by the minute as Shadow waited on the rooftop. At that moment Shadow didn't care about anything. He was staring at the dark street beneath him, arms folded.

Shadow's clothes were still stained with blood. He was through and through wet from standing motionless in the rain. The wind howled in the streets, cutting through Shadow's clothes. This time Shadow didn't even notice the cold. It was all just a fleeting thought in the back of his head.

A cold that felt like it was trying to cut him into pieces.

The mission the leaders gave him this time had to be done quickly. He didn't even have time to wash his hands. Shadow balled his hands into fists.

He was so, so tired.

It took everything he had just to stay awake. Shadow didn't know how long he would be able to stay awake. He hadn't slept since he had to kill Ace. The cuts he got from Ace weren't bleeding anymore, even though some of them were very deep, Shadow didn't really feel them. Some of the cuts just burned a little. It didn't matter to him anymore, it was almost like he was moving in a dream and he could barely feel anything.

Shadow hunched down.

All of his emotions disappearing within the blink of an eye, hidden just like the leaders and the old first Dalee trained him. The First would have punished him for days when he showed emotions. So it came natural to him not to show anything.

Emotions were a bad thing. It caused a lot of trouble. Emotions made a person do things that would cause problems.

The only thing he wanted to do was to finish and go home. He didn't really care about the mission, he just wanted to go back to the apartment and get some sleep. It was hard enough just to keep his eyes open. Every time his eyes closed, he'd almost fall asleep where he was standing. His body was begging him for some sleep, even just a little, but he couldn't let that happen, not now.

Shadow hissed angrily and drove his fist into the concrete next to him with force. Pain shot through his hand and up his arm, enough to wake him up again. He heard the bones in his hand crack. When he lifted his hand blood ran down his arm. Shadow looked down at the broken skin.

It didn't matter, as long as the pain kept him awake for the mission. The hand would heal soon enough. A bit of discomfort for a while wasn't so bad.