Dawn's POV

On my way down to the Crater from Kaiden's office, I kept hearing someone call my name. I tried to stop and turn around, but with the flow of people behind me, It wasn't possible until the next platform.

Stepping off onto the very next platform, I turned around and scanned through the people to see if there was anyone that I knew walking down.

"Looking for me?" asked a masculine voice from behind me.

I turned around to see Jake standing behind me with a smile. I stared at him not quite sure what to say.

"Were you uh... calling my name down the stairs?" I asked while leaning against the metal railing.

He chuckled as he leaned against the railing next to me. "Yep that would be me."

"Did you need something from me?" I asked while looking around at the walls of the Crater.

"Well um......." he started to say awkwardly as he ran his hand through his hair. "I wanted to see if you were doing anything?" he coughed suddenly. "I mean anything of importance."

I raised my brow at him and gave him a curious look. What was going on with him?

Realizing he was staring at me I gave him a small smile. "I was just going to find my friends, i'm not sure if you consider that important or not." I looked away from him down at the metal rail. "Why?"

He shifted about almost nervously on the railing next to me. "I've noticed you've been working hard in training, and I wanted to show you something," he explained with a small smile. "I have a feeling you'll like it."

Looking back up at him I frowned a little. "Not to be rude....Sir," I switched to the more formal mode just as someone had stepped off the stairway and walked towards us. "But don't you have more important things to be doing than just showing me something?"

He looked slightly dejected as he looked away from me. "I've finished what I needed to for right now," he said looking back up at me. "I just thought I'd do something nice."

I looked down and thought about it. If I didn't go with him it would be really rude and I wouldn't get to see this thing that I would apparently like. Maybe I could even try and figure out what was going on between him and Kaiden.

Giving him a smile I chuckled. "I didn't say I wouldn't go with you!" I said while nudging his arm my own. "I just didn't want to be taking you away from more important matters that involve the entire gang!"

The smile returned back to his face. "Well how kind of you then Dawn," he said with a chuckle. "If you're ready then, may I ask you to follow me?"

I laughed and gave him a little half bow. "Please lead the way kind sir," I said while pushing off from the railing.

He nodded and pushed off of the railing himself. We walked the little ways back over to the stairs and we stepped back into the line of people walking down them. We made our way down to the floor of the Crater, falling in sync with all the other people around us.

Jake lead me through the crowd of people, going slow enough to where I could keep up and people weren't cutting me off like last time as I tried to follow him.

He wasn't saying anything which was a little weird with all the noise around us. It was almost as if we were in our own little world, our own little bubble where other people couldn't see us and didn't notice us.

Making our way through the mass of people, we walked down the steps into Ground Zero. He lead me over to the stairwell that led to the training floors, and needless to say I was confused.

We approached the stairs, but before we started to go down them, Jake looked over his shoulder and smirked at me. He almost seemed to be implying his enjoyment of my confusion. I rolled my eyes as he turned around and we started to quietly make our way down to the training floors.

Stepping off the beaten stairwell, we walked under the sliding metal door and into the main training room where Max happened to be sitting at his desk in the center of the room.

As we were walking through towards the door on the other side of the room, I could see Max smirking behind the stack of papers he had in his hand. Why he didn't say anything to us was beyond me.

I followed Jake through the door and wondered where he could possibly be taking me. This was slightly weird for me. I felt that my trainer, and even more so the second in command of the gang shouldn't be personally showing a lowly trainee something. 

Exiting the main training room, We took a right towards the courtyard where the Adroit was held. I had never explored farther down the long hallway past it.

Coming to the courtyard, Jake paused for a moment to look inside. My stomach dropped, realizing he probably took me down here for some extra training. That would be pretty normal.

A second later he turned away from the door towards me. "I just wanted to see if there were any trainees getting some extra work in," he said as he started walking down the hall again, leaving me standing next to the courtyard once again in confusion.

I peeked my own head inside the courtyard and it was completely vacant of any trainees, or anyone at all for the matter. The Adroit stood in still silence with the sun beginning to ease up it's beating rays as it started to go down.

Backing up out of the courtyard, I turned to start walking down the hall again, but Jake had stopped in the middle of the hallway and was facing me.

I gave him a blank look until he chuckled at me a little.

"Now that I think of it I probably should've taken you down here to get some extra practice in, it wouldn't hurt," he said while crossing his arms.

I raised my brow and crossed my own arms. "I thought this was supposed to be something nice because I've already been doing good in training?" I pointed out to him.

Jake laughed and turned around. "If only you knew," I thought I heard him mumble as he walked farther down the hallway.

Shaking my head I followed him, still not sure of where he was taking me.

As we neared the end of the hall I could see another beaten metal stairwell that went up beyond our limited view of it. Jake slowed his pace as we got closer.

I rolled my eyes a little at the back of his head. "Jake why did we come down here if we're just going back upstairs?" I questioned him.

He glanced over his shoulder as he started walking up the stairs. "Sometimes you have to go down before you can go up Dawn," he said with a small chuckle.

We climbed the many flights of stairs that were waiting above us. I'm not exactly sure of the number, but several flights and several minutes later we stepped up onto a flat landing of concrete. As we climbed the few steps before it, a short hallway came into view.

Jake waited for me to get up on the platform before he slowly walked past the hall. At the end there was a big metal door and a mysterious guy that was standing still next to it with a gun in hand. I glanced up at Jake I could see the smirk on his face. 

The guy stared at me as we walked by. He and Jake nodded at each other as we passed and continued to climb up more flights of stairs. I looked back before the landing was out of sight, but I couldn't see anything but the guy's black shoes.

We continued to climb even more flights of stairs. I was starting to get slightly out of breath when we finally stepped onto another platform. 

"Finally," I breathed out. "I don't think I could climb anymore stairs."

Jake laughed at me while walking towards the black door. "Are you ready to be amazed?" he asked while putting his hand on the door handle.

I thought about it, and I was excited. This whole thing was a little weird, but who doesn't love amazing things?

"Yes!" I exclaimed excitedly.

Jake slowly opened the door, only to reveal another dimly lit hallway. 

I frowned as I turned towards Jake, right before he burst our in laughter.

"I'm just kidding," Jake said while calming down a bit. "You should've seen you face though!"

Narrowing my eyes I growled at him. "Wow what an ass move," I said while pushing him through the door and into the hallway. 

He laughed as he stumbled and caught himself, regaining his footing and composure. "Whatever," he said with a smirk. "I can do what I want."

I rolled my eyes as we started to walk down the new hallway he had revealed. I really had no idea where I was or where I was going.

Walking down the hall we passed lots of unmarked doors that lined the walls. They were black wood, ebony I think they call it, but seemed completely vacant of usage.

"Jake?" I called to him as we kept walking down the hallway. "What are all these rooms? And why is nobody using them?"

He looked over his shoulder quickly before looking forward again. "They used to be dorms and classrooms for the trainees before Kaiden had them closed and abandoned," He explained almost hesitantly.

I shook my head. "Why would Kaiden have it all shut down and abandoned?" I questioned.

Jake shook his head as we came to the end of the hallway and another heavy door. "I'll tell you about it some other time," he said as he started twisting things on the door. "Right now we're here. Are you actually ready to be amazed this time?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded at him happily. I was expecting him to open the door right away like last time but instead he just stood there and smirked at me.

"Close your eyes Dawn," he said amused with me.

I narrowed my eyes at him and put my hands on my hips. "You aren't just going to toss me somewhere or leave me standing here like a fool are you?"

He chuckled before he smiled at me. "No I could never do that to you," he said before turning his smile back into a smirk.

Letting my eyes return to normal, I nodded and closed my eyes.

"Alright no peaking now Dawn, I promise you it'll be ruined if you do," Jake warned before I heard the creaking sound of the door.

I was wondering how he was going to manage to get me wherever he wanted me to go when my eyes were closed. I heard him walk away from me and I silently cursed knowing I should've kept my eyes open.

In the midst of angry thoughts in my head, I felt a warm hand grab mine and tug on my arm a bit to get me to start walking. 

Jake led me forward, where a warm breeze rushed past my face. I could sense that I wasn't enclosed by walls anymore, the secure feeling had left me. I knew I wasn't in the hallway, but where was I?

"Alright Dawn," Jake said when he stopped pulling me forward. "Are you ready?" he asked.

I took in a deep breath and had a feeling I was in some sort of greenhouse with lots of plants and fresh air.

 "Yes," I said quietly.

"Then you can open your eyes," Jake said happily.

I slowly opened my eyes and what I saw shocked me to the point where I had no idea what to say.

In front of me was the city skyline. The sun was setting in the background cascading off of every reflective object in sight, creating the most amazing sunset I had ever seen in my life. The clouds were pink and blue, almost like cotton candy that I used to get at the city carnival.

"Wow," I sighed to myself. 

I continued to look at the amazing scene around me. I glanced at the city streets below and realized how small they were from where we were standing. 

"Jake I think this is the highest I've ever been up in the city, or anywhere for the matter." I said in awe. "It's beautiful!" 

I turned to look at him but he was already staring at me with a smile and a weird look in his eye. I realized I was still holding his hand, so I let go and shuffled a few steps away from him. 

Jake wasn't saying anything to me, making it quite awkward considering the circumstances.

"Why did you bring me up here?" I questioned him, trying to force him to say something.

Jake looked down before moving around a bit and looking back up at me. "I know that you've lived in the city your whole life," He said quietly. "After being stuck in HQ for about a week I thought you might miss it." He finished with a small smile.

I looked out at the city again, still thinking that it was a little weird that Jake would take the time and bring me up here. Did he do stuff like this for all the trainees when they were working hard?

looking back at Jake he was staring at me with a worried look on his face. I smiled at him and I watched his worried look fade away.

"Thank you Jake," I said sincerely. "I really appreciate it, even though I've only really thought about training and not my old life," I said with a little bit of awkwardness. 

Jake nodded at me and we both went back to watching the sun continue to set over the city. There was silence between us, but this time it wasn't awkward. It was a comfortable silence.

I don't know how long we were quiet, but I figured now would be as good a time as any to ask about Jake and Kaiden.

"Hey Jake?" I asked while glancing over at him.

"Yeah?" he replied without looking at me.

"What's been going on with you and Kaiden?" I asked slowly, hoping not to upset him. "You guys have still been acting sort of weird."

I watched as he squirmed a bit, he seemed to get uncomfortable. 

"Well it's..... complicated Dawn," he said as he looked at me. "I can't exactly tell you."

Rolling my eyes I laughed. "Let me guess, yet again it's because i'm a trainee. right?"

Jake shifted a bit next to me before he nodded. "Yeah I guess you could say that."

I thought about it and realized that Kaiden had said the exact same thing to me. If that wasn't weird then I guess I just didn't know the true definition of that word.

Silence fell around us again and I took a seat on the ground near the edge of the buildings roof we were on. Jake copied my movements as he took a seat himself next to me.

After awhile the sun had started to fade a bit from the skyline. The sky had turned fiery reds and oranges, the pink fading while the blues snuck in from above the cloud line.

Jake stood up suddenly, scaring me a bit. He chuckled and smiled at me when I looked up at him. "We can head back now Dawn," he said while scratching the side of his face. "I'm sure you have to go do..."

"Can we stay up here for awhile longer?" I asked while cutting him off. I really didn't  want to leave the view behind just quite yet. 

He paused and seemed to contemplate my request for a moment before giving me a small smile. "I don't see why not." he said while taking a seat next to me again.

We were sitting close to the edge of the roof, but I realized I hadn't looked over the edge and straight down at the building. I scooted closer towards the edge.

"Dawn what are you doing?" Jake asked with a scared tone to his voice. 

I looked at him with a smirk before I scooted all the way over to the edge and dangled my feet over the edge, feeling gravity tugging down at my legs.

Jake scooted over next to me but didn't dare get as close to the edge as I did. "Why would you want to do that?" he questioned me seriously with an icy tone.

"Because it makes me feel alive," I answered him simply. "I could easily slide off the edge of this building and plummet to the ground," I said before pausing and looking at him listening to me with wide eyes. "And the same feeling that makes me realize I'm so close to death makes me feel like I'm so much more alive."

I stared off into the distance before I looked back at Jake, who was looking at me curiously.

"What?" I asked him curious myself as to what he was thinking. 

He shook his head as he moved closer to the edge and dangled his own feet over the side, sitting shoulder to shoulder with me. 

"I'm just trying to figure you out Dawn," he said while looking down below us. "You think about things so differently."

I glanced out at the sun which had almost fully set and disappeared from the sky. How was I so different? 

Jake looked back up at me with a smirk and a glint of something in his eye. "I find you quite fascinating Dawn."

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Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I don't know about you, but i'm somewhat suspicious of what's really going on.....

Thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy that the story has been able to come this far! 

Please consider giving this chapter a vote if you enjoyed it! I'd appreciate it! 

Also, feel free to leave your thoughts or even some feedback in the comments for me! That'd be cool too.

- Delaney :)