OLD GHOSTS | ANASTASIA & ZARA — @hcwlings
One decision was all it took for Ana to turn her entire world up side down. One decision and she could no longer return home, though she wondered if her small, cramped flat ever felt like home. It was not a warm place, nor had it ever felt safe. In fact, she had always dreaded going back there after a job. Really, she should have packed up her things years ago, moved from place to place as a safety precaution, but she never had. There was one person who she wanted to have a way to find her, not that she ever came knocking on her door; Anastasia had respected her decision and left her alone. Not once had she demanded to know why she’d left, not once had she pleaded to her old partner in order to find out why she had been cast aside without even a goodbye. The betrayal stung, but Ana had tried her best to move on from it, even if she had traced her ex-partner’s new location. Ana always told herself she had done it out of concern, but on numerous occasions she had had to talk herself out of visiting; out of asking why.
Now she had no choice. There was no one else Anastasia trusted to go to in a time like this. A time where she had targeted her bosses only for them to turn on her as well. It was karma, she had told herself. Karma for all the evil deeds her employers had done. But in reality, it was revenge. Revenge for the murder of her parents, revenge for them molding her into the killer she now was. They had lead her onto the path she was now on, one she couldn’t walk back from and so she would complete her self appointed mission, even if it killed her. She was not afraid of death, not any more, but she did need a place to lay low until she could get back in the open again. Until she could target the next name on her list. So covered in blood, none of it her own, she fled from the scene of her crime to the one place she thought she might be safe.
The blood had dried by the time she came to a stop outside of Zara’s new home. Nerves bubbled in the pit of her stomach, wondering what her plan now was, but this would be the last place they expected Ana to go. Even if they were aware of where Zara now resided - which Ana highly doubted since they would not simply allow them to leave their chosen profession - they wouldn’t come looking for the brunette here. Not with the way things had ended between the two women. Ana’s moods swung from hot and cold about that time, from anger to heartbreaking betrayal. She wouldn’t be here if she had any other option. This was what she told herself over and over again, even as she stalked up to the door, looking over both shoulders to make sure the coast was clear. Sneaking up on an ex-assassin wasn’t the wisest move she’d ever made, but she didn’t trust that Zara would allow her inside if she knocked on the door. So Ana made the decision to pick the lock, silently entering the house to find a bathroom, believing her explanation would be better received if she wasn’t covered in blood.