SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Twenty Four

Sage rushed forward, planting one foot into the ground and using her momentum to swing out her other foot in a kick straight for Leon's abdomen. From the corner of her eye she saw Leon's hand drive upwards, a dagger in his grip, so she pulled her foot back before it hit and dropped it to the ground, using it to push away and out of Leon's reach. Sage stumbled as she righted her stance, guard lifting, but found Leon was no longer advancing. Instead, he stood in a loose pose with his dagger swinging idly from his fingertips.

'What was that?' he said, like a teacher reproaching a student. 'You could have easily landed that kick before I struck you.'

Sage didn't offer a response, instead she withdrew two throwing knives from the pouch and loosed them like darts at Leon. The moment they flew from her fingers she charged forward again, watching as Leon deflected the small knives with his larger blade and then he was stepping to the side, avoiding her punch to his jaw.

Leon quirked his brow at her. 'Really?'

'What?' she said, exasperated.

Leon saw right through it. 'Don't play dumb. You're not focusing at all, Sage,' he said. 'You always seem distracted lately, so what's wrong?'

Sage dropped her stance, arms folding instead. 'I'm not distracted. Maybe I'm just rusty?' she said, and although to her ears she sounded convincing enough Leon was still doubtful. 'I'm not distracted.'

'It's been three months, Sage,' Leon reminded her. 'Your body and Kyra fully recovered from what you went through, so I doubt you have a single speck of rust in you. I'm not going to make you tell me what's going on, or recount the details of what happened to you while you were gone, but you know you have me to talk to. Okay?'

'Okay,' she said, pushing down the guilt that had begun to rise.

There were times when it felt like the last three months had moved too quickly for Sage, like her time with Raidan and the Shadow Soldiers was moving further and further away from her and she wasn't fast enough to catch the memories, but then there were times when the months had moved too slowly. She had felt like she'd never move on, like her memories were turning to ghosts.

Leon had given her space, of course. She had offered a few details about her time with the Shadow Soldiers, but the details were all insignificant. She had revealed that she had been tortured by the other criminals who had kidnapped her – RedEarth, which Lilith had made her swear to keep silent about until further information came to light – and Leon had supported her how he could.

Sage had barely spoken to Chase, and at this point she wasn't sure who was avoiding who. In the first few weeks after her return Chase had continued to ask her about what happened, and although she had offered him the same details she had given Leon that hadn't satisfied him. Whether it was because Chase could tell she was acting differently, or it was just his instinct that had him questioning what happened, Sage didn't know – but her issue with Chase wasn't his persistence for information, it was that every time she saw him she was reminded of Raidan.

Not because of their similarities, but because of their differences. And that wasn't fair on Chase.

Her other friends, of course, had never ceased their support. Sometimes they were too supportive, treating her as if she were cracked glass, needing to be handled carefully and gently lest she shatter. Sometimes it frustrated her, but if it stopped them from asking too many questions then she would play into their perception.

Sage's report to Lilith had been, as such as possible, truthful. She had explained all about RedEarth and Bryce Suragi, but she had skimmed the truth about what really happened between Bryce, Raidan and his uncle. She also decided not to tell the Renark how Raidan revealed he hadn't killed Dean, only because she knew the Renark wouldn't believe it, and it ran the risk of the Renark questioning Sage's credibility.