SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Six

There wasn't a moment where his mind left him, where his body took over when his mind couldn't comprehend what had happened – what was happening – because it wasn't an option. His mind was sharp, focused, and even though his body was exhausted from the many days of travel and the lack of food, his mind never faltered.

Until now.

He had reached the border of Sunlight Falls, a region of Zone located on the western coastline and, more importantly, far away from Lion Crest.

With the heat bearing down on him, Raidan Suragi took a moment to rest beneath the shade of Sunlight Falls' large elm trees. He cast a look back in the direction he had come, and though Lion Crest was leagues away he could see it clearly between the trees.

'Forget it,' he told himself. After all, he would be labelled a criminal now and the news would've surely spread across the south of Zone. It would take a little longer to reach the north where he was headed, which meant he had enough time to find a place to hide before making his next move.

The images of his dead best friend, of his mortified brother and mentor, and of the crying face of Dean's little sister, were pushed out of his mind as Raidan continued on.

They didn't know, they didn't understand – and they probably never would.

It was a year later when Raidan found himself ambushed by four Soldiers in uniform, but not of a uniform that belonged to any region. They wore dark clothing and their coats were long enough to skirt the heels of their steel-capped boots.

Raidan prepared to fight, but he found that his ambushers had no intentions of doing the same. Instead, one held out his hand and opened his palm to reveal a tattoo of two S's, one aligned like a shadow to the other.

'We have a proposition for you, Raidan Suragi.'

'You're Shadow Soldiers,' said Raidan, lowering his sword.

The man before him smiled. 'Tell me, Raidan, have you ever heard of RedEarth?'

And now, four years from that moment, Raidan Suragi looked over the porcelain-skinned girl – woman – lying on one side of the bed. He regarded her features, how she had a small, faded scar above her left eyebrow, another near the right corner of her bottom lip, and how the rounded face he remembered had become soft, feminine angles. Her dark hair fanned across the pillow around her, the colour a contrast to her complexion, and with the calm expression on her face as she slept, she seemed exquisite, ethereal almost.

But she was also dangerous.

It hadn't even crossed his mind when he pursued her who she could be, not with how he remembered her as a child. Yet when he had heard the name spoken through her radio, his mission had been forgotten entirely and his sole focus had been finding out who she was.

And when he did, he should have killed her.

So why didn't he? The mission was to kill a female Soldier from Lion Crest who went by the codename River because they had heard whispers that she was actually an informant for RedEarth, but, looking at Sage now, Raidan couldn't believe that to be true. Then again, he wouldn't have believed how skilled she had become had he not seen it for himself. Much had changed.

But he had brought her here, and compromised himself by doing so. With this on his mind, Raidan went about removing Sage's belt that had several palm-sized throwing knives attached to it as well as a pouch full of medical supplies. She also had a dagger strapped to her thigh which he unclipped and then he searched her small backpack for anything else, but found only a bedroll, some rations, a spare uniform and hair pins. She clearly carried all her weapons on her, which was smart. What good was a weapon stashed away in a bag?