FINAL EPISODE: “No One Leaves Clean”
Location: Abandoned observatory, outskirts of the city23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8kMNKoMIi
Time: 2:17 a.m.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrd6W9QlCp7
Mission Status: Compromised
The cold bit into my skin like it had teeth.
I climbed the broken staircase of the observatory, every step echoing like a countdown. The message she left on the burner phone was short.
“Meet me. One last time. Come alone.”
I didn’t trust her. Not anymore. Not fully.
But I needed answers.
And some part of me—the part that used to believe in love—needed to see her again.
When I reached the dome, she was already there. Back to me. Hair in a tight braid. Wearing all black. Just like the first time we met, when she "accidentally" bumped into me in the school library and smiled like she didn’t already have a file on me.
“You came,” she said softly, not turning.
“You ran,” I replied.
“I had to. They flipped your file, didn’t they?”
I hesitated. “Yes.”
She finally faced me, and I hated how much it still hurt to look at her. The same girl who used to fall asleep on my chest, now holding her pistol like an extension of her arm.
“They told me who I am,” I said. “Or what I was supposed to be. Prototype asset. Programmed to infiltrate enemy families. I was born to be a ghost.”
She nodded. “They wanted us to eliminate each other without ever knowing.”
“But now we do.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “And now we get to choose.”
That’s when I noticed it—the red laser dot crawling up her sleeve.
Sniper.
Not mine.
Not hers.
Third party.
And they were done waiting.
“Down!” I shouted, lunging for her.
The first bullet cracked through the dome glass like thunder.
We hit the ground together. Rolling. Breathing hard. She fired back blindly. I pulled a flash grenade from my jacket—I didn’t even know I was carrying it until that moment.
Instinct.
Training I never remembered receiving.
White light exploded.
Screams.
Silence.
When the smoke cleared, the snipers were gone.
Dead? Retreated? I didn’t care.
I looked at her. She was bleeding—shoulder wound. Not fatal.
But her expression told me what I didn’t want to hear.
“I sent them,” she said.
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“I told them where we’d be. I thought I could hand you over. Cut a deal. But the second I saw you walk up those stairs… I couldn’t do it.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I saved you.”
“You used me.”
“I loved you.”
I stared at her. My hand hovered near my sidearm.
“You still can walk away,” she said. “They think you're dead. You can start over. Disappear.”
“And you?”
“I don’t get to disappear. I made too many deals. Burned too many names. But I can buy you five minutes. Maybe more.”
Tears burned my eyes. But I didn’t let them fall.
“I could kill you right now,” I said.
She smiled. “I’d let you.”
I didn’t move. Neither did she.
Then I turned and walked away.
EPILOGUE
Six Months Later.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlLSpHMCGB
Undisclosed location.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2iAFDFIfh
Alias: “Ash.”
I run a secure channel now. For ghosts. People like me. People like her.
They say Neeka didn’t make it out of that city.
But some nights, I catch movement on the surveillance cam outside my safehouse. A flicker. A shadow. A whisper of a girl who should be dead.
And I tell myself it’s just paranoia.
Because if I admit the truth… that she’s still out there…
Then I’ll never stop looking for her.
And I don’t know what I’ll do when I find her.
THE END
(or is it?)
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