"For how long have you known?", you asked, standing on the other side of the room while watching him smoke as if this was just a day like any other.

"Not long.", he admitted. "I started to notice you said the same things over and over again. There's no place for us, we wouldn't find happiness. You would protect me from the worst. It wasn't like you."

"So you suspected I was a spy?"

"Or that you'd run for the hills soon. But I never thought you'd be one of Perseus'. All those years. The war...", he looked at the halfway smoked cigarette, unsure what to do with it.

For a moment, you stared at the grey strands of smoke, how they danced between his fingers and mingled with that brown hair of his.

"I wanted to.", you said after a moment, as honest with him as you had never been. "I wished I could have taken that offer."

"Why didn't you?", he asked out of the blue, more offended by that than the fact that you betrayed him.

"What good would that have done? I would have been a liar. We would have had a fundament of lies and mistrust."

He swallowed.

Then, without making a fuss about it, he took off his glasses.

Bright blue eyes met your (E/C) ones.

It felt like a knife was piercing your chest.

"My whole life I've never been betrayed like this.", he said, while more emotions shimmered inside his eyes than you had ever seen in all of the years with him. "I feared the day you'd betray me. Was it worth it?"

For a moment, you avoided his gaze.

Then you put your gun away, pushing it to the back while letting it hang from a belt and stepped closer.

Now, you were able to feel like you were talking to him heart to heart.

Your eyes fell onto the cigarette.

He offered it to you.

Unsure, you looked at it for a second.

"Do me the favour.", he said in such a soft voice that he hated it. "One last time."

And you did. With shaky fingers you did take the cigarette and brought it to your lips.

The familiar scratching filled your lungs. It tasted so bitter, so much like ashes and burned memories.

It felt like celebrating a funeral.

Adler's funeral.

"I stand with what I said.", you managed to gift him a soft, honest smile. "I stand with you till the end. And I'd do anything to keep the worst from happening to you."

Letting out an annoyed sound, he tilted his head and licked his lips.

"We're here.", he said and had to think for a moment. "We could... you could still make it home."

"America has never been my home, Russell..."

"And it will never be?"

It hurt to hear him still try.

It wasn't like him.

It was so much not like him it almost scared you to realise that your existence was still able to turn this man into a completely different version of himself.

A soft whimper escaped your lips as you took another drag from the cigarette.

It would be the last you'd share with him.

"Why?", you asked, fighting back tears. "I've done the worst to you. Why do you still care?"

His eyes wandered over your face, lips pressed into a thin line. The scars on his face pulled together.

Immediately, you placed the free hand on them.

He didn't pull away.

"One last time...", he whispered and leaned into the touch. "I want to feel your hands one last time."

He sounded sad. Maybe even at the verge of breaking.

"Russell.", you pulled him closer to let your forehead fall against his. "I won't kill you."

"Come with me.", he insisted.

"As what? A prisoner? Another Bell?"

"If you give us all the intel you have, everything you know, they will pardon you."

"I'll never live a free life anymore. Not like I used to."

"I will watch over you. I will stay by your side."

"As my executioner."

He took a shark breath. With a painful expression in his eyes, he squeezed them shut and leaned even further into your hand.

It felt like he wanted to melt into you, keep you as a part of himself till the end of time.

You took the last drag of the cigarette and threw it away.

"It's time.", with gentle force you managed to free yourself from him. "There is a hidden tunnel system underneath the floor of the next hall. It's old, so you will need to put some effort in to get down."

You pulled out a thin stack of floppy discs and offered it to him.

"What's that?", he asked, not even entirely present.

"The nukes locations. Killing innocents just to fuck with the States is not my definition of what the Union stands for. We are better than this."

He took the discs.

"You're risking your head."

"I have nothing to lose anymore."

"Come with me. (Y/N).", he grabbed your arm and tried to pull you close again. "I will find a solution. We can show mercy."

You smiled softly, but didn't pull away yet.

"Russell Adler.", you whispered, finally relived that you had gotten everything off your chest. "You always made the impossible possible. But not this time. Even you have your limits."

With both hands on his chest, you pushed him towards the other exit.

Tears were burning inside your eyes.

At first he tried to resist. But as his back hit the door, he froze.

"One last thing.", he asked.

You looked up.

"One last thing.", you allowed him.

Slowly, he raised his shades.

You expected him to put them on, asking you to push them up for him.

But he didn't.

Instead, he placed them on your nose and pushed them up. Then, he leaned forward and stole one last kiss.

It tasted so bitter, so cruel that you couldn't help but let the tears run down your cheeks.

The world turned dark.

"You are an angel.", he said. "Because somehow, you always saved me."

Not allowing for any more words to be said, you gestured for him to leave.

And he did.

He actually turned around and walked away.

"Goodbye...", you whispered after him. "Russell Adler. I loved you. I really did..."

But he didn't hear it anymore.

He was already gone.