He glances up at her face, pressing the end of the needle to her arm, not quite letting it slide in yet.

“Are you sure?” He asks, a note of desperation in his voice. She nods.

“You have to let me go.” Tears fill her gets and begin to spill over her cheeks; He brushes them away with the back of his palm. She reaches up and grabs the back of his neck, bringing his head close to hers until their foreheads touch.

“I love you,” he whispers, his hot breath ghosting over her lips.

“No.” She responds, surprising him. He looks down at her, a question in his eyes, swirling with hurt and confusion. She smiles, though the curve of her lips looks watery, like it could slide off her face at any time. “Don’t say that. Don’t act like you’ll never see me again; You will. In just a few hours, after the plan has succeeded. I’ll return to you.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “I promise.”

Though she knew the promise was void. There was no way she survived this mission. He began to sob, his whole body shaking as he tried to regain his composure.

“It doesn’t have to work,” he said in an almost begging tone. “You don’t have to go, we can run away together, somewhere nobody can reach us; we can be safe together, just you and me.” She raised her hand to rest it on his cheek.

“You and I both know that’s not true. There’s no such thing as safe, not as long as they’re after us. We have to stop them.” There was resignation in her voice. She knew what had to be done, and what the consequences were. He nodded, apparently coming to the same resignation, and pressed the tip of the needle into a vein in her arm without looking down, instead pressing his mouth to hers and pulling her close; A vain attempt to distract her from the pain as he pressed the plunger down. When he pulled away, he looked into her eyes and watched as her pupils expanded, turning her irises from their wonderful violet to a pitch black.

_Time to save the world._