The Hacker and The Sparking Genius

-Crypto-

"Nat!" I had called.

I didn't believe it. I couldn't!

Did she really love me, all this time? I asked myself.

I knew Octavio was drunk when Elliott had led him next to the place I was standing, but I didn't expect him to let something slip about Nat like that!

When he pointed towards her, I had turned to her in surprise, when I realized she had turned away and started running.

I, ran after her, desperate for a chance to explain.

But I didn't see her anywhere. Instead, I saw Elliott and Wraith running towards me from the bar.

"We were looking through the bar window, when we both saw Nat running out of the gate," Wraith said seriously.

"Yeah!" Elliott piped in, "she looked pretty mir-mise-misa-sad! What happened, old man?"

"Octavio let out a secret about a plan to hide her feelings," I told them, "and she overheard."

"See, old man?" Elliott said, grinning like an idiot, "she does like you!"

"That's not the point," I snapped, "she ran out of the gate, in what looked to be close to tears, and we don't know where she is!"

I saw Wraith's eyes turn white, which meant she was conversing with the voices.

"She's in an alley," she said, concentrating, "you should be able to hear her cry in the one that she's in."

"Okay," I said, turning and making it out of the gate.

I walked on the sidewalk, close to the buildings. I heard the usually quiet sound of Wraith making a portal suddenly much louder, responding to the silent night, as if it was trying to drown me.

I knew Wraith and maybe Witt were following me, but at that point, I couldn't care less. My sole purpose was to find Natalie.

I suddenly heard cries coming from an alley in between two brick apartments. It was quiet and muffled, as if it was trying to be hidden. Knowing Nat, it was. She never wanted to give another legend to underestimate her. I knew she only let her close friends see her like that.

I hesitantly stepped inside the alleyway, my black shoes tapping against the stone floor. I then heard sniffling, and then nothing at all.

"Natalie?" I called softly, not wanting to scare her.

A sob sounded out, and I followed the noise to almost the end of the alley, where it was dark, shadows blanketing everything in dark greys and black.

I was able to see Nat sitting near the end, back against the brick wall, her face buried in her knees.

I slowly sat down next to her, carefully wrapping my arms around her. She tensed, and then relaxed when she realized that I wouldn't let go.

She cried for about a minute. After that, her sobs died down to little sniffles, and she laid her head on my shoulder. She did it very slowly, and seemed to hold her head right above it as if she was waiting for me to move. When I showed no signs of wanting to, she relaxed again.

"Why did you follow me?" she asked, not unkindly, breaking the silence that had settled.

"Because I had been worried about you," I replied, taking one arm away from her and my other arm across her shoulders so I could look forward, "you just ran out after Octavio said...that..."

The silence that followed was uncomfortable. Nat awkwardly shifted at the mention of the plan she had came up with.

"Why did you pretend you liked Octavio?" I asked suddenly.