"I know what you're thinking, but believe me. I know what I'm doing!"

She sighed in frustration and looked at me more than a little annoyed. Still, I felt like I was getting through to her and although I tried to suppress it, I couldn't help but get my hopes up.

"Don't we have enough information about them already? Can't we just kill them?" I fell silent and merely looked her straight in the eye, shaking my head briefly as if she was making an obvious mistake. She still hasn't learned how to handle silence, how to stand up under pressure. Deep down I smiled maliciously, she was still a beginner.

There was a reason she was paired with me.

"Okay, you got me. But you better end it quick, understand?" I gave her a big smile and thanked her like the most obnoxious idiot ever. She had no idea that she had just saved her life with that answer.

The moment we parted my smile disappeared completely, there was no longer any reason to keep up that facade. To act like a clueless newbie like her. I've been in this business for so long, there's nothing I haven't done and nothing I'm not willing to do. And yet this is my first time.

My fingers tingled with excitement. It's been so long since I've spilled blood and I can't wait to see their faces. The realisation that I have betrayed them will rob them of all their confidence and turn them into mere prey for them to feast on. I will take the time to explain to them that it is not about the money, the fame or any of their countless enemies. It's much easier, to the point where it's almost comical how obvious it is.

I've started to like my target, experienced something like friendship for the first time in my life, and I don't want to lose it. This warm, cozy feeling is something I hold very precious in the cold world I grew up in. And I will do anything to preserve that sensation, even if it means betraying the people who raised and nurtured me. I feel no remorse, after all, I was raised to do nothing else.

And after I wipe them off the face of the earth, sink their last remains in the sea, I will return to my friends. Smiling and laughing as if I had not ended countless human lives because of them.

Glad you enjoyed it ^^

Time has become an absurd concept for me, years and centuries pass and yet I remain the same. Not in the prime of my youth as portrayed in some stories. Despite the years that have passed, I still look the same.

You heard me right - I'm not getting any older. Whether you believe me or not is your choice, but there's nothing you can do about the fact that it's the truth. This is my reality. Being caught up in the world of the dying, watching them blossom and then wither, has become my very purpose in life. I have seen so many things, the most heinous places where life began, and I have just sat back. I watched to see if they would take root or rot.

Of course, I could have acted, cleaned up the mess and put life in a small, carefully chosen container. But I never considered that as an option. I would be denying reality if I really tried to do something like that. Where there is beauty, there is filth - how could a flower grow without the filth giving it the foundation and nutrients it needs to sprout?

There is a reason why things are the way they are - a reason why people grow older, die, and leave their loved ones behind. That is what I choose to believe.

I don't yet know why I am different, why I am excluded from this cycle of life and death. Is it a mistake? Am I just not worthy to follow in their footsteps? I was scared and thought for hours about what I did wrong. How I could make it right.

Until I just stopped. It sounds strange, but when I opened my eyes, I was surprised at how much time had passed, how much people's lives had changed - tears streamed down my face. It was such a beautiful sight. At that moment, I realized my role in all of this: to observe and recognize the beauty that is as resilient as a dandelion in the wind.

And yet, my time seems to have run out. Last night I noticed a single hair growing on my head - it wasn't long before all my hair was doing the same. And it didn't stop with my hair. My once tight skin became saggy, and so did the rest of my body.

It won't be long before I'm no longer here.

And I'm happier than I could ever be.

The gift you gave me I will keep in my heart.

Even though my time will eventually run out, I will never forget the beauty of which I am a part.

This is the cycle of life and death.