She'll Bring Honor To Us All (BWWM) ✓

Chapter 6: Goodnight

Rein's POV
The plane landed in New York around 1:45am. I gently laid Commander McGary's headphones back in his lap as the plane began to touch down. Both him and Aaron had taken the opportunity to get some rest, but I couldn't. It wasn't the fear of flying that caused me to clam up, it was the uneasiness of being unarmed. I could never get used to that feeling of not having any of my specialty tools with me. That venerability.

I glanced over at McGary as he slept with his head tilted my way. I hadn't been in this proximity with him yet, so when his eyes slowly opened and held mine, it took me by surprise by how grayish blue they were.

"I felt you staring at me." He replied simply with a slight smug.

"I wasn't staring. You felt my eyes on you." I corrected. "There is something we say in my religion that translates to 'The eye is the gateway for the soul. You exist only when they are open. When they are closed, you are not present.'"

"Is this why you can feel when eyes are on you?" He asked simply. Neither of us deciding to look away or back up a little as our gaze intensified.

"Exactly." I replied softly. As the plane touched the ground and jerked slightly, Aaron was awoken from his sleep.

"Goddamn. We here already? That felt like a 30 minute nap to me." He spoke, glancing at his watch.

"Make it to the hotel, then you can get a good night sleep in you." McGary replied, not looking away from me.

"Well let's go, you two. I've got a date with a hotel bed and I sure as hell won't be missing that shit." Campbell barked.

Here was the Director Campbell I knew.

I slowly pulled away from his gaze as I stood up and collected my black case from the compartment above us. McGary eventually did the same with his carry on.

~

We arrived at the hotel at around 2. One of Aaron's men had checked us in, so we just picked up the keys for our room. I gently traced the outline of my knife holsters as I felt the knowing feel of the blade handles push against me while we walked towards the elevators.

Aaron glanced back at me and as McGary carried in front of us, he hung back. "Are you better, love?" He whispered close to me, yet making sure to keep his distance.

I nodded back to him.

He was one of the few who understood my attachment to these knifes.

We entered the elevator and headed up to the private floor Number Five. I could see the lack of sleep eating away at the two men, yet I knew no sleep would meet me tonight.

"Your rooms are down this hallway. All three are conjoined with Rein on the far left and I on the far right. You have the middle room, Commander." Aaron instructed as he handed us our keys. "Goodnight." He said simply, before opening up his room and disappearing behind the door.

McGary chuckled slightly while we moved further down the hall. He set his bags down and slid his key in before getting the door open. "Goodnight." He nodded to me, lingering slightly before picking up his bags and walking in.

I continued to the last door before sliding my key in, and bringing in my bag and case. The room was simple, with a bed in the center and a bathroom in the far corner.

I set my things down before walking into the bathroom for a much needed shower. My hair had slipped into a loose ponytail and my skin looked slightly dirty from the hike through Montana. I stared at myself in the mirror before starting to strip down.

I pulled the turtleneck over myself, revealing the several holstered weapons. Once I slipped those off and set them on the table, my hand ran over one of the many scars that lined my body. I was brought back again to the night I had gained this injury...

The incision knife became a fiery red, and I knew it was ready. I pulled it out of the flame and let it cool before I laid my body back a bit. The arrowhead had stopped the bleeding, but I knew that once I cut into myself, I would have very little time to minimize the blood flow before I passed out from the blood loss.

I opened the bottle of whiskey and braced myself as I poured the liquid onto the wound. Instantly, the burning sensation surged through my stomach as the alcohol began to cleanse the wound. Immediately after, it left a numbing sensation and that was when I knew I had to begin.

It had taken me 42 minutes exactly to cut into myself, and remove the sharp jagged edge. The arrow had barely missed a major artery as I pulled the broken pieces out of my flesh. Blood had pooled around the cave floor as I barely managed to bandage up my wound before I fell to the ground unconscious.

The scar it had left was a nasty one that was right beside my belly button. As I stripped to nothing, I exposed the body I had learned to hate. Every scar told a story I wished so desperately to erase from my memory.

I caught a glimpse of the dragon that wrapped around many of my scars from my back to my arm as I headed toward the shower. The warm water running down my body stung at first like it always did, but it was a good kind of pain.

I could see the dirt being washed clean from my body as I laid my head against the stone tiles and let the silent tears fall.

---------------------------------