blooming in the darkness

chapter five

curt walked into owen's room, feeling a little awkward being there. he noticed owen had finished eating, so he took the plate and set it on the table. he silently exhaled before sitting down on the bed next to owen. he could sense owen bristling beside him, but stayed facing the other way for a moment. he took another breath, then turned to face the brit.

owen's eyes still looked like steel. they almost seemed colder than they had before, although curt didn't know how that was possible. curt stared at him for a moment before speaking. "do you feel anything for me?"

owen quietly scoffed before answering. "i thought i'd made it quite clear that i hate you. i hate you for leaving me in that facility to die, for leaving me to end up in the hands of chimera, for everything that has happened. i blame you for all of it.

and do you know what the worst part of it all is?" owen looked at him with a fire in his eyes, and that same fire was laced through his voice. "i waited for you. i waited so long for you to come and save me. i remember hearing someone sitting through the rubble and thinking that you had come back, but it was just the beginning of the chimera agents. i waited so long for you to find me and get me out of chimera's facility, but you never did. that's the worst of it."

curt realized his eyes were burning, and he blinked as he tried not to cry. curt looked down at his lap before responding. "i couldn't tell if you were dead or alive. i desperately wanted it to be the latter, but i couldn't see you breathing. i thought you'd died on impact," curt looked upward, staring into owen's eyes as tears began to well up, "i figured that you would want at least one of us to make it out of there alive."

owen watched as a tear fell, and curt wiped it away. he looked down at his hand in his lap. what was he thinking? what was going through his head?

"that doesn't change my feelings, even if it's reasonable. i still resent you for all that happened to me," owen said, voice barely above a whisper.

curt nodded slightly, before whispering, "i understand." with that, curt stood and left the room.

curt could hear owen softly crying once the door was closed behind him.