with some considerations

Hecate tensed when she felt Zach's arms wrapping around her. This was... unexpected. Heavily unaccounted. His words were partially muffled by the sound of her own thoughts and the sudden thud from her heart beating all too loudly in her ears. She didn't want to turn to him, lest she'd see the face behind his broken words. But she did and her resolve faltered.

She never returned the hug.

Hecate only turned her gaze away, staring at her feet as it they were more interesting to look at. Her voice was low — quiet when she spoke again. "How can you even say such a thing? I was sent here as your reaper. I'm supposed to bring you back to the man you loathe and yet you can still have the nerve to consider me a friend." She would deny saying she was holding tears back. "We're enemies, you and I. How can it be the other way around?"

To say Hecate didn't miss the warmth she had in Zach's embrace would be a lie. Instead, it only reminded her how alone she had been since she could clearly remember, remedying it with following orders down to a T and learning everything she needed to be a more functional soldier. She always just told herself she didn't need anyone to survive. And yet...

Hecate didn't move from her seat; she didn't even look up, knowing enough that if she dared to look at him again, she might break herself. She knew enough about the plans and maybe it was wrong of her to think it was okay. Yet his words rung in her mind: We may be enemies but I don't want to see you as a slave to Reintic. He was already surrendering to her, but she wouldn't even budge.

"I don't know if I can keep that promise," she said, her voice weaker than it had always been. She had no place to belong but as a peacekeeper. She couldn't tell him that. She wouldn't tell him that she had caught a glimpse of the blueprints of the experiment. She couldn't tell him that she suspected that the reason she was the one sent to find him, despite being ill-equipped to go up against the Alpha of the experiment, was so that they could keep her from knowing the truth. At least until she returned. It was possible that they no longer trusted her as they did before and as they spoke, it was likely they were creating measures to subdue her when she's caught. "I can't leave the project."

Hecate avoided his searching gaze. "I just .... I can't tell you why. I shouldn't stay here in this island. I don't belong in a place like this." she said, closing her eyes so he wouldn't see how cornered she felt, but the way she'd held his hand back said otherwise. It would have been hard to see but with Zach holding her hands in his, it was easy to know that she was shaking.

After a moment passed, she opened her eyes to meet his, meeting his with a hard steely look to hide her fears. "B-besides. There's no way I'd be a liability. I'm too good for them to get rid of so easily. Especially if I prove myself after bringing you back." Despite the fact she had managed to school a smirk into her features, she hadn't stopped shaking. Nor had she let go of his hands.

Today was a day of the unexpected, Hecate figured, but she couldn't think of any way she'd probably want the day to go. Hecate didn't push him back; whether it was because it was the shock or if it was because she wanted it, she wasn't sure to say. But she allowed him to close their distance and melted into the kiss. It wasn't like the kiss she had with Eden, no. Zach... He was kinder, sweeter and the kiss brought her comforting warmth that she didn't know she craved for.

She didn't realize the tears that rolled down her cheeks until they broke the kiss. She didn't pull away any farther, only resting her forehead onto his. "I don't have anything else but the project," she admitted in a whisper, as if she was scared that if anyone else would hear it, they would know her fears. "It's all that I have since they made me."

Why did he have to be this nice, Hecate asked herself. It wasn't like she really needed this sort of treatment. And yet she wanted more of it. Her hand instinctively followed to his hand on her cheek, holding it closer to hers so he wouldn't pull away. "How can I?" she asked weakly, "I'm not... I don't know anything else. All my memories... the only clear ones I really have are the months I lived in that lab." Hecate tried to wink away the tears that still threatened to fall but to no avail. "Without being there... Without my duties, I'm... I'm nothing."