GREEN [complete]

CHAPTER 33: Mars

In the hours after Sekam and Bek left for the city in the mountains, Dylan unraveled. They spent the first hour tapping their fingernails on the arm rest of the chair, the next fifteen minutes chewing their fingernails down, then the rest of the time alternating between pacing and staring out the tiny window on the far end of the room.

Mars watched them move, shifting every now and then to accommodate his new organs. They felt good—whole—and the wounds were healing over as well as they could, but he knew they wouldn't last. In a few weeks, he would need new ones again, and Reddington had made it clear that this was the one and only time that the hospital was going to help him.

He tried not to worry about it. Instead, he focused on more present issues, like Dylan. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Dylan stopped pacing to fully turn toward him. "Waiting."

"What are you waiting for?"

"I wanna make sure Bek is gone before we leave."

"We're leaving?" Mars pushed himself into a more vertical position, trying not to wince at the pain in his belly.

"Mmhm. How are you feeling? Do you think you can travel?"

"Why? I don't want to leave."

They sat down heavily in the chair in front of them, they're stare hard. "I don't trust Bek. We're gonna be gone by the time she gets back. Please trust me on this, Mars. We don't have a lot of time. Something is very, very wrong here, and I think Bek's a big part of it."

"I don't believe that."

"That's because you're too trusting. She tried to tell me and Sekam about how Jones manipulated her and killed her daughters, which is just a bunch of shit in my opinion. I don't think she ever even had daughters."

"Helian and Chrysa," Mars said. The pain he felt from Bek wasn't the kind of pain that a person could fake. It was a part of her—maybe a part that she was able to hide most of the time, but she'd let him feel it and he believed her. "The green killed them."

"Well, I don't trust her. And even if I did, I don't trust any of these people. I don't have time to explain it, I just need you to trust me. Please just trust me."

Mars wanted to, but he didn't. Not in the same way that he had before. Dylan had always been nice to him, and always looked out for him, but they hadn't been acting right. They refused to speak for him and expected him to do everything they asked him to do. He was done doing it blindly. "No. Tell me why you want me to leave."

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck." They stood up from their chair and turned their back to him. "Why do you have to do this to me? I'm just trying to keep you safe!" They spun around, desperation written all over their face.

"If you don't tell me, I'm not leaving. You can leave, and I'll wait here for Sekam and Bek to come back." He wasn't going to leave without them.

"Fine," they snapped, flopping back into the chair. "You want me to tell you, I'll tell you. I don't remember. I tried, and I want to, but I don't. I just know that I saw a sign outside that said Ascension and I think it has something to do with the memories I lost."

"Memories?"

"Yeah, you know. I was supposed to kill you, that was why I went to ORCTech in the first place. But they took my memories. I remember what I was supposed to be doing, and I remember believing it was the right thing, but everything else is blank. I don't know who sent me, or what they wanted, okay? But I think it has something to do with these people. I think it has something to do with Ascension."

"It's a coincidence," Mars said, "if they wanted to hurt me, they wouldn't have helped us."

"It's more than that." Dylan shook their head. "I don't know how, but I know. I can feel it. It's right there, and if we stay long enough for me to remember, it will be too late. You just have to trust me. Okay? Just fucking trust me and I'm going to make sure you're okay." Panic skittered just beneath the surface of their skin. Each one of their words came out faster and louder than the last.

Mars didn't agree with them, but he understood their fear—that primal need to get out, to escape while they still could. "I don't want to leave without Bek and Sekam," he tried again. "Why can't we wait until they get back?"

"Please just trust me. I don't have any proof or whatever, but something is wrong here and I need to get you out. Bek might not have anything to do with it ... but I just don't know. I can't know. Sekam will find us, okay? She'll find us soon, and by then we'll all be out of here and safe and you'll be alive. You just need to trust me. Just trust me."

"Okay."

"Really?" Dylan said after a long moment, breaking their stunned silence.

Mars nodded. "Make sure you bring water," he reminded them.

A relieved smile washed across their face. "Okay. Okay. We're doing this. We're doing this right now. I'll be right back and we'll leave." They slipped outside of the curtain, and their footsteps retreated. A few minutes later, they returned with a bag over their shoulder and a fresh blanket. "So you don't get so cold," they said, briefly lifting the blanket before jamming it in the already-overfull bag.

Mars slid off the bed very carefully, thankful that most of his body was intact. His muscles ached and his bones still hurt, but his new organs felt much better than the old ones. He hoped that they wouldn't hurt too badly when the pain medication fully wore off.

Dylan circled around the bed to help him. "You're ready?" they asked, speaking almost too fast for their tongue to keep up with.

"Yes." Mars confirmed the word with a sharp nod. He didn't really have a choice, they were leaving now whether he was ready or not, and it would do him no good to say otherwise—it would only worry them more.

The door opened before they reached it, and Reddington faced them with a generous smile. "I hope you don't think you're leaving so soon," he said. A pair of his security guards stepped into view, one on either side of him.