When Diane woke up, she found Alex fully dressed in linen khaki pants and a blue cotton shirt with a plunging neck. He had taken a shower and was ready for the day, which made her question about her own situation. It took her a minute, but she realized that she had fallen asleep right there and couldn't help but sheepishly smile. Wasn't she supposed to help him with her research? He didn't seem upset when he turned around and set his icy blue gaze upon her.
"Morning, sunshine."
"MMhhhh... I'm sorry I fell as--"
"Don't mention it. Yesterday was quite heavy on you. You needed that sleep. Today you're well-rested, so you're sharp again. You should tackle that mission with a clear mind and a belly full."
"I have worked under worse conditions, you know?" -She pointed out "But you're right, I needed to sleep it off. I'm determined to catch that bastard. I also acknowledge that there is no talking you out of helping me." -he smirked and nodded. She was right about it. He wouldn't be talked out of helping her ever again-
----
1 year ago, London, air B'n'B:
"I want to see you, Enora. All of you.- " The Jackal said, almost pleading with her-
"You won't like what you see, Charles..." she sternly claimed. "Nobody can stomach it, not even me."
"Try me!" -He said in a stern voice.
The Jackal's tone startled Ghost who blinked several times. Why did he insist on seeing her naked body in the light? She thought he would be satisfied with having sex in the dark but apparently, it wasn't enough for him, at least that was what she thought-
"Sit on the bed then. I'll stand up and turn on the light. I swear to God, Charles, if you ever make me feel like a monster, I'll kill you." -She warned.-
He couldn't see her but could hear her voice tremble. He knew she was about to cry and he felt a pang in his heart. He hated the panic in her voice, the quickness with which she stood, and the fact that she was preparing herself to be rejected. Why would he reject her? She was shaking from head to toe but resolved herself to remain pro-active. She swallowed a lump and turned on the light. He watched her, a side he was familiar with. Her thick legs came first, with a few scars on them. He noticed one on her knee, a deep cut caused by a sharp object. He noticed the other scars on her legs. Bullet wounds on the top of her left thigh. They seemed more recent than the one on her knee.
He noticed her taut belly, also bearing scars: a mix of knife and bullet wounds. He could tell that these were recent and almost faded. He then noticed her face. She was defiant but he could see her shake. Her lips were still trembling and she swallowed a lump. His own gaze softened up as he wanted to encourage her to turn around. She took a deep breath, then another, and he watched the scar on her upper lip. He never asked about it but it became obvious that something sharp cut through her lip and he wondered when she got that cut. Was it when she was young or was it the business that caused that scar? She lowered her head and swiftly turned around. She rested her forehead against the wall and bit at her bottom lip, hard, enough to draw blood to her teeth.
The sight made his heart skip several beats. Her back was covered with scars. He could tell they were old given how they blended well with her skin. Something sharp gave her deep cuts, a knife? Maybe something bigger. He could figure out a couple of gunshot wounds, one on her shoulder and the other on her lower back. He also noticed the type of scar that only a body trailed over rubble could do. Had she been trailed over when she was younger? He couldn't quite figure out what had happened to her but one thing he was certain of, was that someone did it to her. Anger, cold-blooded anger overwhelmed him and he raised on his feet. He quietly walked towards her and put his hand over one of hers. She was still shivering and he could feel she was barely standing so he wrapped his powerful arm around her waist and leaned his chin against her shoulder.
"I am sorry for what happened to you. All I see is that you've been hurt and all I feel is anger towards those who hurt you. I am not leaving you, Enora. I am /not/ leaving you." -he kissed her neck and nuzzled at the crook of her neck. The more he was giving her affection, the less she could hold it together, so she leaned into him and slowly slid down the wall so they ended up sitting on the floor.- "I have one question."
"Shoot." -She faintly said. He still didn't let go of her hand nor did he stop holding onto her waist, which surprised Ghost-
"Are the ones responsible for this dead? If not, I will find the ones who are still alive and I will kill them myself."
Ghost pinched her lips together, unwilling at first to speak about what she went through. The weight she carried on her shoulders ended up becoming too heavy for her, so the young woman sighed deeply and stopped fighting. The Jackal was the first person to actually stay after they saw her scars. He was the first person to actually hold her and the first to ask about those who were responsible for them. She felt that she could trust him with her burden and share her pain with him. It wouldn't change what happened to her, but she knew she wouldn't be judged if she spoke about it. She could trust him. Couldn't she?
"I was 8 years old when that happened. I used to live in a very small city, almost a village in DCR Congo. I had good parents and a very fun and loving younger brother. I thought that my life would always be good because I was born into a good family. They sent me to school and on Friday I was allowed to help my aunt at the orphanage she was running. I would do some chores, I would help with the babies... It was a good life. One day, a couple weeks before I turned 9, our city was attacked. I was at the orphanage with my aunt so I couldn't figure out what was happening at the time. My aunt tried her best to protect the youngest of the orphans. She hid us in the church's basement but they found us. When they took us out, I saw the carnage, all the older orphans have been killed, and raped. my aunt was still alive, gravely injured and bound so she could watch her precious children die one after the other. The babies were killed swiftly. The children... Well... some were killed instantly, others were beaten and tortured, and I... I caught the eye of one of them."
She shook harder and started to cry. Jackal's heart twisted in rage. He knew what was to come, and he hated that it had happened to her. Ghost moistened her lips and wiped the snot and tears off her face with the back of her hand. She had to continue telling her story, even if she sounded very stoic and distant from the events she was describing. She had to keep going. The Jackal remained silent, as he wanted her to keep talking until she couldn't before he said something. He couldn't take the risk to stop her as she was telling the story.
"I tried my best to fight him off but he was just so strong. He grabbed my arm and took me to the unfinished side of the church. Some of his buddies followed him because they wanted to watch what he was going to do to me. I felt helpless and I was so shocked, I couldn't even call for my parents. I couldn't speak. He tore my clothes off of me, pushed me on the rubbles on the floor, and raped me. Once I realized he wouldn't listen to my pleas and that my pain was arousing him, I stopped fighting. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me in pain anymore so I remained there, lifeless. That angered him. It angered the other men with him. So he took his knife and he slashed my face. The scar above my lip that goes into my cheek? that was him. He thought I would give in to him again and that I would scream but I couldn't. I didn't want to. I cried still, but I made no noise. So he took me harder. He hurt me but at this point, I was hurting so badly that I didn't care about how rough he was. I wanted to die."
How could he blame her for wanting to die? Anyone would want to if they were in her shoes. He knew that the story she would tell him would make his blood boil and it really started to. He had a code of some sort, he only killed bad people. He only killed adults. He loathed those who killed, tortured, or assaulted innocent people. Heck, he even killed his own squad for killing innocent wedding-goers! He held onto her tighter and pressed his lips to the top of her head. It gave her some warmth and she found the strength to keep talking.
"I prayed that I would just die but then I realized that my aunt was there and she saw me. She saw the blood between my legs, she saw my naked body violated by this monster. She heard them laugh at me, calling me names and she couldn't take it, so she managed to grab one of the guns within her reach. They had tied her hands in front of her, which gave her an edge I guess. She grabbed the gun, shot at the man she took it from, and killed him. That angered the rest of them and the man who was raping me. I watched as they killed my aunt whose only crime was to try and protect me. That sent me into a rage. I wanted to kill them all instead of dying, I wanted them to die. So I looked at their faces, looked at what they were wearing. I wanted to remember everything just in case I survived."
Ghost couldn't stop crying as she told her story. She realized that after keeping her story for so long, speaking the truth felt like taking her first deep breath. In this room, with the jackal, she was at her most vulnerable, but she also felt the safest.
"And the man who raped me? well, he couldn't finish if he wasn't killing me so he turned me around. He took me from behind while he slashed my back with his machete. He cut deep and I felt him cum inside of me as he tore my skin apart with his blade. There was blood everywhere on him. When he grew tired of slashing me, he withdrew from me and stood up. He grabbed his gun and shot twice at me, just to make sure that I was dead. I didn't move because I needed him to believe I was dead. He didn't even bother to check my face. He simply left. I waited until I heard the noise of their truck to painfully stand up and walk my way to the window, so I could see the type of truck they drove."
The jackal gritted his teeth as she kept talking. his mind was racing since he was trying to keep the details of her story in his mind. He already made a mental note to ask her about the man who assaulted her. He needed to get his name and whatever he could possibly use to track him down. He needed to know what she knew about him in detail so he could help and could kill that man himself. For her. For his selfish desire to see him gone from this planet.
"It was a military jeep. They were wearing tactical gear, calling each other with military ranks... These guys were or at least had been in the military. I walked to my parents' house, but they were all dead already. I remember I cried and passed out and only after a couple hours, was I found still breathing, by the survivors.. those who fled to the forest and later came back. I survived by sheer luck and determination. That day, all I wanted was to find these men and kill them. I still had an uncle, the one who found me. He treated me well, made me go back to school, and gave me to his British friends so they could take me to the UK and give me a proper education."
She didn't have to tell him how she came about becoming Ghost but he acknowledged that she felt the need to tell her story to him. He acknowledged the trust she had in him and planted another kiss on top of her head, mind-absently so. Unlike him, her past shaped her decision to become a hitman. She got blood on her hands out of revenge and a need to punish the bad guys. Somehow, for someone who claimed she didn't have any humanity, he found out that she was in fact, far more humane than he thought.
"I researched, fine-tuned my skills, and learned to become an efficient killer once I was ready, I went to see my uncle on his deathbed and promised that those who came to our home and destroyed it would pay for it. He gave me his blessings and I went to work. One after the other, I found them all. Ex-military turned mercenaries; That's who attacked us. they first worked for Wagner and then left because they wanted to make more money. One by one, I killed them and I made sure they knew it was the little girl in that small Congolese town who was cutting their throat. The only one I was able to find but couldn't kill was my rapist. He... Every time I see his face, I just freeze and I can't shoot. I can't stab... I can't get close to him so he's been eluding me for years now. I need to find him and I need to kill him so I can finish what I started and I could make him pay. Why aren't you disgusted by my scars? Charles? Why are you still here? Why did you want to know?" She ended up sobbing, unable to contain her tears any longer-
"Why would I leave you, Enora? Why would I be disgusted by your scars? I was in the military, and I've been to war. I know the horrors of war. If anything, this is familiar to me. What I want right now, is to find the bastard who did it to you and put a fucking bullet in between his eyes. He would pay for what he did to you and to countless others. He will pay. I swear!"
He then gently cupped her chin and lifted her head so she could stare at him. She couldn't believe her ears but she could see that he was genuine. So she nodded and sobbed harder. That night, she wouldn't be able to speak more about what happened to her. She wouldn't be able to talk about /that man/. But she promised him that he would know soon enough. When she's ready to talk again. He put her back to bed and turned off the light to help her fall asleep again. As they found each other under the sheets again, this time Ghost knew that she was safe and the Jackal felt that there was no turning back from then.
"Alex. My name is Alexander Duggan." -He admitted as he wrapped his arm around her frame and pulled her into a tight hug.-
"Diane... My real name is Diane."
Indeed... There was no turning back from this.
----
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