A few minutes earlier...
Gray's body looked lifeless, sprawled on the stone, blood coloring his lips. His chest barely rose, his eyes closed.
To anyone else, he was out cold.
...Except that he wasn't.
[You're really just going to lie here and let them suffer?]
Gray's lips twitched faintly, unseen beneath Selina's trembling hand.
'They need to break,' he answered her straight away.
'If I save them too early, they'll never understand what it means to fall to the bottom.'
Jasmine chuckled softly at his words, but if anything, she sounded delight that Gray was back to his cruel methods.
[Cruel… you're enjoying this.]
'They hated me. Spat on me. Treated me like filth. Yet when the pain comes, where do they crawl? Right back to me.'
"Please… wake up…" Claire whispered, her voice trembling with despair.
Selina, broken and bloody, lay across his chest, clutching his clothes so hard her nails tore the fabric.
