The man took a step forward when she saw how the stranger kicked Alleya but once again she was quick to defend herself, yelling back at the rude man before kicking him and Niké could hear the snap from where he was standing. A snap that was followed by a scream and the man collapsing to the ground while gripping his knee.

Alleya grabbed him roughly and he had no other choice than to start running, the woman was surprisingly strong for her size and Niké didn't have the energy to struggle against her, plus he didn't want the blame for the man with the badly injured knee.

Finally they stopped in another alley and he watched how the woman started crying. Just great…

"I'm a horrible person. All I do is cause trouble."

With a soft sigh, Niké leaned against the wall next to the woman, he felt bad for her, he did, and he didn't like seeing her cry but he didn't have the energy to try and comfort her.

He stood in silence, fighting the urge to close his eyes, worried he'd fall asleep if he did. The grey-haired man just looked up at the night sky while listening to Alleya’s crying.

After a while he finally spoke, “There's people who are worse than you… You're not that horrible now I'm sorry but can we go? I don't care where, back to the gang or a hideout near here, just somewhere,” He asked, his tone was flat, void of any emotions currently. He was bad enough at comforting people when he wasn't on the verge of passing out so he'd spare the both from an attempt to do so now.

“We can talk about everything tomorrow… It's just been a few bad days, not our faults” he added, trying to not sound too harsh, he didn't want to make the woman feel worse after all but during the past three days he probably hadn't slept more than 5 hours or so and they'd barely eaten, his body wasn't used to it like it once had been.

Niké had never thought it would but the pillow stinking of death and the raccoon pelts that acted as his bed back at the gang’s current location seemed extremely comfortable right now. Just laying down and shutting his eyes would be wonderful but he couldn't, not in this alley while he barely knew where he was and not with Alleya crying like she currently was.

"Let's just stay here tonight. I'll keep a lookout."

Niké looked around the alley once more, he'd slept in worse places but that didn't mean that he was a fan of it. Then again, would they be able to find a better place tonight? He wasn't sure of where they were and he didn't know if Alleya did.

"You can't travel any further. You're starting to look sickly, Niké."

At that the grey-haired man turned his head towards the woman, narrowing his eyes slightly, “I’m not. I feel absolutely fine,” he stated. It was a rather obvious lie though, Alleya was right, he was starting to look sickly. Even if he wanted to believe that he was strong enough to make it back to the gang location, he wasn't, he needed at least a few hours of sleep.

With a loud sigh the man slid his back down against the wall as he sat down, really he knew Alleya was right, even if he didn't admit it with words.

The man shoved his hands into his pockets digging out his pack of cigarettes. Of course he wasn't going to sleep without having a last smoke for the day, even if it had been a bad day and he felt shit in more ways than one, he still had his cigarettes.

After lighting one, Niké shoved the pack back into his pocket and he leaned his head against the wall behind him, closing his eyes as he took a drag from the cigarette. Despite everything they had gotten lucky, it wasn't too cold out, it could definitely have been worse but it wasn't to the point where you'd be scared of freezing to death once you fell asleep.

So much had happened since they’d first left the gang, who wouldn't be exhausted? It was almost so that Niké regretted his decision to go with Alleya and not Taurus. He still preferred Alleya over the idiot that was Taurus but at least he’d be back at the gang location now and able to go to sleep and have some type of shelter, anything that wasn't an alley would be better really.

The male took a few more drags, his movements growing slower with each one and soon, despite having almost half a cigarette left, he stopped making an effort to finish it, he just held it loosely between two fingers while his hand rested next to him.

Soon Niké’s breathing had slowed, his chest moving in rhythm with his calm and peaceful breathing. It hadn't taken long for the man to drift off to sleep, quicker than he’d imagined since he didn't have time to even finish his cigarette or get comfortable, and if he was asleep or passed out from exhaustion, it was hard to say but most likely the latter, given his history of sleep problems.

Normally the man would wake up at the slightest of sounds around him and touching him would definitely wake him up immediately but this time it didn't, when Alleya moved him so he was laying down he didn't do much more than let out a low groan.

While the man appeared peaceful on the outside, he was currently busy facing his demons in his head, the ones he usually avoided by waking up several times a night but not tonight. Tonight he was stuck with them. Tonight he had to stand by quietly and watch every single thing that had ever gone wrong in his life up until this point. Tonight he couldn't pretend like he didn't remember.

Usually that was all Niké ever did, pretend. Pretend to not remember, pretend to not be a cop, pretend to not care about those around him. Pretend, pretend, pretend. It was easier that way, much easier. Even if it meant hiding from the truth and never being who he really was. He wanted it that way, at least he'd convinced himself that.

~~~

A shadow figure stood in the doorway. Even if it didn't have any visible facial features he knew it was staring right at him, he could feel its gaze burning into him. The shadow figure radiated hatred and anger from where it stood. Niké’s heart was pounding like crazy, if it hadn't been for his ribs stopping it, his heart would probably have jumped right out of his chest for real.

The sound of heavy breathing came from the shadow but other than that it was deadly silent, only moments earlier the house had been filled with the sound of loud music and upset screams but that had all stopped now. At first he’d thought that meant she'd gone to sleep but he was proven wrong when the shadow had opened his door.

It felt like hours since the shadow had first opened his door and their staring match had begun. Even if he’d wanted to, the brown-haired boy didn't move a muscle, he couldn't. As long as he was staring back at the figure it didn't seem to do anything.

The boy was mistaken though.

After what felt like hours of silent staring, the shadow figure moved, it moved quickly too.

It was charging right at him.

~~~

“No! I’m sorry I’m sorry!” The man screamed out suddenly, his voice panicked as he brought his arms up to protect his head. “I’m sorry it won't happen again please I'm sorry! Don't please…” Slowly the man’s voice faded into silence as he kept his eyes tightly shut, hands trembling.

Roughly 5 hours had passed and surprisingly Niké had stayed asleep for all of it. It was first now, as the morning sun had just started painting the sky all different shades of pinks and oranges, that his body allowed him to wake up. The grey-haired man was still stuck in his dreams mentally, not having realized yet that the shadow figure was long gone and that the only ones around him were Alleya and Iris.

Alleya’s touch first made the man flinch and caused him to tremble even worse. Soon though, Niké’s trembling slowed until it stopped eventually and the man slowly started relaxing again. His breathing got more calm and peaceful again and slowly but surely his heart stopped pounding as if it was trying to break out of his body.

At some point during the dawn, Niké found himself waking up to find the woman asleep, her head on his arm, forcing him to stay in place no matter how uncomfortable it was.

A low purring could be heard and the grey-haired man looked around slightly, noticing how the tiny white kitten had squeezed in between the two, most likely to keep warm and now it was purring happily. Niké couldn't help but to smile, despite all the bad memories that had come flushing back. Seeing the little kitten so content with life despite everything that had happened did in a weird way give him a bit of comfort.

His gaze panned over to Alleya and in silence he studied her face, the woman was incredibly tough for everything she'd endured yet she was still so fragile. There was still time for her to turn her life around and not live a life on the streets or with an abusive partner but he knew that saying that could be seen as suspicious and he wanted to keep his real job a secret, he didn't want people to even suspect it.

While these past few days had really exhausted him completely and he’d been tired already before going with Alleya, he was still happy to have done it, well happy was an exaggeration, he knew he'd made the right decision to come with her. She was safe, not that he’d done much to ensure that, she was fine on her own, and he'd gotten time almost completely alone.

Once she woke up they’d be on their way, he would make sure of that at least, they'd already been gone for longer than they'd told Taurus they'd be and they didn't want people to get worried.

Feeling much more well-rested now, Niké wouldn't be going back to sleep, not with Alleya asleep. The man was still tired but it was more the usual amount compared to yesterday where he’d barely been able to keep his eyes open.

The grey-haired man rolled over on his back, keeping his arm still for Alleya’s sake, she had to be tired if she'd been up most night keeping watch. With his free arm, he reached over and started petting Iris gently while waiting for the woman to wake up on her own.

"Please tell me you didn't kill him."

The young man met her gaze before he watched Alleya stand up. It did catch him a bit off guard. When he'd noticed that the woman was starting to wake up, he didn't expect those words to be the first to leave her mouth.

Niké sat up slowly, still petting the kitten as he glanced down at his hand, noticing how his knuckles had been pretty badly bruised and how his hand was covered in dried up blood.

“He was alive when I ran after you, it was only two or three punches..” he muttered, he wasn't proud of last night’s events, he didn't like the person he'd become for that brief while.

After a few moments of silence Niké turned his pale gaze towards Alleya, “He did deserve it though, and you're right, he's not that bad, he's worse,” the man stated as he stood up and wiped some dirt of himself, “He’s a piece of shit and he had it coming. People like him have to learn that they don't own the world.”

He did regret the way he'd lost control of himself but he didn't regret that he'd beat the man, Alexander had deserved it, anyone like him deserved it. Niké was tired of privileged people acting like they pleased, all his life he'd had to deal with people like him.

When younger there had always been those privileged kids that had always looked down on and made fun of people like him and he’d had to pretty much fight for any ounce of respect. As he’d gotten older and had started the police academy in order to avoid prison he’d still had to deal with those people looking down on him and he'd struggled a lot, pushing himself in order to prove that he wasn't just some lowlife even though that was all those they saw him as. It had always annoyed him and seeing how Alleya’s ex treated her, it had set him off.

“We should find our way back now, we’ve been gone for way too long already,” he finally muttered as he started walking out of the alley, he didn't feel like having this conversation with Alleya right now, he wasn't proud of what he'd done but he'd done it and he didn't regret it.