"Hey look at the time."

Niké gave Taurus a bit of a weird look, watching the man as he rambled some excuse before leaving. He couldn't quite grasp what type of person Taurus was, he was weird, seemed to change personalities every time he saw him, and he was a shit liar, that was for sure. Why make up some excuse like that when he was free to go whenever he wanted, neither him nor Alleya were trying to keep the man there after all. Niké actually felt a bit of relief seeing the man leave.

The grey-haired man returned his gaze to look at Alleya, she looked… Rough, to say the least. His and Theo’s disappearance must have been hard on her, at least Theo’s had to be.

The usually cheerful and talkative redhead was just staring at him, her eyes seeming to study him, looking right through him. It was honestly making him uneasy, like she could already tell the truth without him having said a thing. Of course she couldn't know though, he was just being paranoid and anxious, deep down he knew that.

“Alleya, I-” Niké started, his voice betraying him and cracking slightly. “Shit…” he breathed quietly, his gaze dropping to the ground. Despite having tried his best to prepare for this conversation, he had clearly failed. After nights with little to no sleep and days full of work, Niké’s head just seemed to refuse to cooperate, unluckily for him.

Taking a deep breath, Niké forced himself to look back, there was no reason to hesitate, he should just spill it, tell her the whole truth and pray that she wouldn't try to kill him. Easier said than done though, every time he tried to open his mouth and speak, it was as if he'd lost his voice.

“Alleya,” finally he managed to force his mouth to obey him, “You're going to hate me and I won't blame you… Just please, let me finish, for Theo’s sake…”

Pausing briefly, the young man shifted his weight off one leg to the other before looking around a little, thinking that he heard the sound of footsteps, it was probably just his sleep deprived mind playing tricks on him though.

“Um… Theo is in jail right now and I’m a police officer… I didn't put him in jail though..! I don't have anything to do with the arrest…” Niké told the woman, mostly it was true, but he still felt at fault for the whole thing. “He’s going on trial in two days,” he then added with a sigh, “He won't let me help him escape… He actually hates my guts…”

Once again Niké’s gaze dropped to the ground as he tried to keep from getting too emotional. Theo’s harsh words from the other day were playing on a constant repeat in his head and he already felt pathetic about having cried over and over because of them, he wouldn't cry again. He wasn't someone that cried a lot or got emotional easily so the fact that he had been the past few days annoyed him.

“If the gang wants to try and break him out then that will be your safest bet. It should just be one car with Theo and two officers but it will still be risky and I know that the last thing he wants is for any of you to get caught but he will be going away for a long time if they get him to trial and he's charged which I think he will be, unfortunately…” Niké sighed.

Searching through his pockets, Niké found a folded up note that he held out for Alleya, “I wrote down as much information as I could find out and if there is anything else you need then tell me and I can try to help at least…”

"Holy shit"

Here it came. Now she would start yelling at him, threaten to kill him, maybe even try. He had prepared himself for it though, he had accepted that yet another person would hate him, just like Theo hated him.

What Niké hadn't prepared for though was that Alleya would grab his wrist and start pulling him away from the house. The young man did nothing to protest though, instead he followed Alleya quietly, his eyes on the ground, carefully watching for where he would put his feet. He didn't know what Alleya was planning but he figured time would tell.

"Sit down. And slow it down. You're killing my head, Niké."

For a second Niké stood looking at Alleya quietly, she didn't seem like she'd attempt anything, at least not now, in fact, she didn't even seem angry with him. Finally the grey-haired man sat down, his gaze on the ground as he picked at the grass while trying to make sense of the mess going on inside his head.

“I thought that if I became a cop, things would be good, that I'd be happy… I should be, shouldn't I? Protecting the people and what not…” Niké started, deciding that he would tell Alleya everything, or most at least, there were things he would barely be able to tell Theo, if Theo ever spoke to him again that was. “I was never a good kid growing up, I did a lot that I regret but with no dad, mom always working and my brother gone, the gang I hung around at the time was the closest to a family I had.”

Niké paused and leaned his back against a tree, looking up towards the sky that was kept hidden behind leaves. “When I was 18 I got arrested, only this time they didn't let me go like many other times, which was fair I guess, that time I really went overboard…” he sighed softly, regretting so much that he hadn't told Theo all this from the start. “I got the choice of prison or joining this new program they had to become a cop. I thought I could switch my life around and I also didn't want to end up in prison.”

“This was gonna be my first assignment, they wanted me to go undercover since I had experience living a life like this or some shit like that but instead of that being a benefit, it made everything worse,” Niké paused again and took a deep breath before glancing at Alleya and continuing, “I missed this, I missed feeling like I belong, like I have people who give a shit about me. And Theo… I love him Alleya, I really really love him and I messed everything up. I wish I knew how to fix this but I don't, Theo is right in everything he said about me and no matter how much I want to change I can't.”

The young man turned his head away and took a deep breath to try and remain calm before he continued speaking, “I know he's not done what everyone says he has, someone is trying to frame him or something, I don't know, but I can't let him end up in prison. No one here is a bad person but bad people want to mess up what you have. I don't know, I’m trying to figure it out but first I need to know that Theo is safe, even if he never wants to see or speak to me ever again, I want him to be happy…”

"But every single one of us has changed because of Theo. He took mercy on all of us and formed us into a gang."

Niké bit the inside of his cheek a little, doing his best to control his emotions but it was hard, especially when he heard Alleya say that. If Theo could help everyone else to change then why wouldn't he help him? Not even when he was crying and begging him?

Of course Niké knew the answer but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. He knew that he had betrayed Theo’s trust and he didn't blame the man for hating him but no matter how hard he was trying, he didn't know how to fix it. He didn't know how to fix himself, how to change who he was. In Niké’s eyes, it was an impossible task that he had on his hands and the only person that he felt could help him, barely wanted to look his way.

"But I'm not the one trying to lead the gang. You need to speak to somebody who is. I'm just one person, I can't help you. And if Theo..."

The grey haired man turned his head slightly to look at Alleya, she knew he couldn't talk to anyone but her, surely she did. Going inside to the gang and talking to whoever was currently in charge would mean, at the best, that he'd get beaten to a pulp. Even if he wasn't at fault for Theo’s arrest, he doubted that anyone else would see it that way. Alleya had been his only hope and even with her, he'd been risking a beating.

"And if Theo doesn't want to be saved, we should respect that. I'm sure he has his reasons."

No. Niké just couldn't accept that. He couldn't let Theo end up in jail. There was no way he would allow it, how could Alleya? Despite his best efforts to control it, Niké couldn't help but to feel the anger rising in his chest, not at Alleya but at the situation, at himself. Why couldn't he get anything right and working as he wanted?

“Respect that he wants to go to jail when he hasn't done shit?” Niké question, his voice giving him no aid in hiding his emotions. That was probably one of the things he hated most about when he couldn't sleep, his emotions, one second he could feel completely numb and the next, he was feeling his emotions stronger than ever, displaying them so clearly that even the thickest of people could read them.

“He’ll be stuck in there for years, I’ve seen his file, if they can charge him for even half of what's in there then he can at the very least kiss the next 10-15 years of freedom goodbye. I can’t accept that Alleya, I can’t,” Niké explained, his voice was revealing how he was slowly going for anger to sadness, an emotion he'd experienced all too much of lately.

“I can accept that he hates me, okay? I can take it if he wants to hit me, beat me up, yell at me, whatever he wants, I deserve it. But I can’t see him end up in prison for stuff he hasn't done, he's a good person, much better than I’ll ever be, he doesn't deserve that. I need to at least try and do something…”

The young man sighed, his blue gaze returning to the ground once more as he picked at the grass straws in front of him, he truly had no idea what to do. Was he just supposed to let go and let Theo go to prison?

"He's going to hate you more, you know. For doing this. If he wanted us involved, he's very smart. He would have figured out a way to reach us."

Alleya’s words stung, mostly because he knew it was the truth, Theo hadn't wanted this and now Niké couldn't help but second guess himself for probably the millionth time. Was this really right? Was there really nothing else he could do that wouldn't make Theo hate him further and still get the man out of prison? Nothing he could think of at least.

The click of a tongue broke Niké away from his thoughts and he looked over at Alleya as she spoke once more.

"Hell, he's going to hate me too but let me go get somebody for you."

At that Niké’s eyes widen and he started shaking his head in protest, was she trying to get him killed? Maybe she was? Did she hate him as much as Theo hated him? Was she just better at hiding it than the leader was?

"I'll be quick. Please stay. Trust me."

Before Niké could find the words to protest and stop her, she had already turned her back to him and was making her way towards the house, the red-haired woman soon disappearing out of his sight between the trees.

Quickly getting to his feet, Niké felt the urge to just run, to get as far away as he could before Alleya could come back with the rest of the gang to kill him for what he'd done.

Panic rose in the grey-haired man’s chest as he put a hand on the tree next to him for support, his heart beating faster and faster despite not moving a muscle. He had no clue on what to do, could he really trust Alleya? He knew how much that woman looked up to Theo and how much she respected him, would she really let Niké get away unharmed for what he’d done to the man?

With trembling fingers, the young man reached for the only thing that could help calm his panicked mind, the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He looked down at the pack with a saddened expression, memories of his and Theo’s fight playing in his mind now everytime held them. Nothing made sense anymore, and if it was due to the lack of sleep or everything else… Well, he didn't know, all he knew was that no matter what, it was his own fault.

Quickly he grabbed a cigarette before showing the pack back into his pocket and finding his lighter instead, lighting the cigarette with a sigh as he tried to focus on nothing but breathing, breathing in the smoke before breathing it out and letting it disappear in the wind. Trying his best to forget all worries about wrong and right for a second, trying to calm his panicked mind and just believe that Alleya would stay true to her word.

Despite his best efforts to calm down, Niké had been left pacing back and forth, smoking his cigarette while debating on whether or not to take off running, to just leave everything behind him. It would be best. This was just supposed to have been a job, he wasn't meant to get emotionally involved, what happened to Theo and the gang now shouldn't be any of his concern.

But it was.

It was his concern, he had made it his concern, and that's why he stayed in place and waited for Alleya’s return.

A return that came sooner than what he could mentally prepare himself for. He was still a panicked mess and the sight of the irritated looking woman following Alleya did not help.

Niké knew he had to pick his words carefully if he wanted to avoid being killed by the woman but thinking wasn't exactly his strong suit at the moment, he was far too sleep deprived and an emotional wreck to think straight.

As Alleya introduced the woman to him, he eyed her carefully, keeping a bit of distance between them, wanting to at least have somewhat of a chance to get away if she tried to attack him.

“Hey,” he mumbled quietly, tossing his cigarette on the ground and putting it out with his foot as he tried to think about what he needed to say and how to say it.

“Theo is in jail, and if he gets to trial, it's not ending well for him at all…” Niké started, pausing briefly to glance around as he thought he had heard something but surely it was just his mind playing tricks on him, sleep deprivation was never kind on him and adding panic and paranoia on that, it definitely didn't help him.

“They are transporting him to trial in two days, I know the route and it's just going to be him and two cops. If you want him back and you're willing to break him out that will be the safest bet. I also think moving the gang is a must if you go through with it, cops have already been near the house a few times, it's just a matter of time before they find the gang and if Theo gets broken out then I'm almost sure they will look for him here,” he explained, eyes still darting around and eyeing their surroundings.