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Gem knew contacting the villains was risky. She knew it would only push the public’s opinion of her further from vigilante than it had ever been.
(She knew having to face her old friend, twisted into someone dark from rage and grief, would hurt more than leaving her behind the first time.)
But it was something she had to do. If she wanted to take down the organisation, if she wanted to stop anyone else from becoming like her, Boatem was her best chance. She just hoped they’d send anyone for the meeting except-
“You’ve got some nerve, Refraction. Asking us, asking me for help, after what you’ve done?”
“Eclipse. I thought I was going to speak with Conductor.”
Gem kept her voice even despite the knife at her throat. Refraction didn’t show emotion. Refraction couldn’t show any form of weakness. Maybe she would come clean after her job was done, but it was safer for everyone if she remained detached.
“He decided to let me take the lead on this. My first real mission as one of them, deciding whether we help you…” The knife pressed further into her throat, a trickle of blood warm against the cool of the night. Gem tried to pretend the thumping of her heart was from adrenaline. “Or whether you bleed out right here, right now.”
She let out a long laugh, high with a hint of madness, and nothing like the warmth her laughter used to hold. But it wasn’t productive to think about the past. Not yet.
“Is this how Inferno felt? When you trapped her in a burning building? I’m sure you thought it was all very ironic, or maybe you thought it was justice, ” Eclipse hissed into her ear. “You make me sick.”
“I don’t see how she’s relevant to this. Villains aren’t supposed to be attached to heroes, and you don’t have to like me to give me the information I need.”
In a moment Eclipse had withdrawn the knife, flipping her onto the ground with a force that took the air from her lungs, showing nothing but rage as she shoved a knee into her chest to keep her down.
“Inferno was a better person than you’ll ever be. If anyone would have been able to change the system from inside it would have been her. But you robbed her of the chance to even try.”
“Inferno was an idiot!” Gem shouted, anger shattering her carefully even tone. “She was just another pawn for the heroes, never once questioning them! She wouldn’t have changed anything !”
Admittedly, it wasn’t a smart idea to piss off the villain currently in a murderous mood, but she couldn’t stand the thought of being martyred. She hadn’t ‘died’ a hero, in any sense of the word, and she’d certainly never been smart enough to see through the cracks of the organisation in life.
The knife slashed across her face and she had to scramble to keep her mask attached, caring more for her identity than the wound itself.
“I was going to get her out.” Eclipse’s voice was flat. She was never calm , always full of emotions, and the emptiness was almost scarier than her mania. “We had a plan. It was just a matter of waiting for the right time to explain things. Then you took that chance away.”
“Why do you even care? She wasn’t your partner, and I know you wouldn’t be this worked up if it was someone like Glacier.”
“I care because I loved her!”
The world stopped. Eclipse’s breath was harsh and her eyes were wide, like she hadn’t meant to admit it, but the words seemed to echo through the otherwise quiet night. Gem couldn’t help the response that slipped out.
“You… you loved me?”
After a pause, a devastatingly long moment in which they were the only two people in the world, Eclipse reached down to tug away her mask.
“...Spark? You’re- why didn’t you tell me ? You let me think you were dead , I was about to kill you for- for murdering yourself !”
Gem allowed herself a moment before she acted. A moment to imagine reaching up, pulling Eclipse, Ray, Golden, whichever of the thousand little nicknames they’d come up with together, into a hug so tight they could never separate again.
The moment passed.
She shoved Eclipse off her, scrambling up and pulling the crystal from her neck to hold it towards the sky. The moonlight shone through it and she used her power to amplify it until it was blinding.
By the time it cleared, Gem was gone.
Conductor delivered the information she needed three days later.