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Preface “Why are you doing this to me, Anthony?” I cried as we stood in front of my apartment. “How could you just leave me like this?! You know you’re the only one who cares about me, the only one who keeps the nightmares away!” Tony sighed. “It’s bigger than that. We’re talking about saving millions of lives, here. It’s not like I’m leaving you out of spite, because I want you to have nightmares.” “But after all we’ve been through...” I was fighting back tears. “And you might not come back.” “And I also might,” he pointed out. Stupid optimism. “So I’m not as important to you as all of those people?” I cried. “It’s millions of people I’m protecting here,” he said. “Sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself for the greater good.” A tear slipped through my bulwark and cascaded down my face. “How about sacrificing the one you love?” I whimpered. He sighed. “I do love you...but...” “I thought I was the most important person in your life.” “You are,” he said, wiping my tear away with his rough fingers, his tan face intense. “But there are some things you just have to do. And this is one of them.” I didn’t answer as another tear slipped out. He moved in closer to me. “You’ll be fine, Vi. You’ll get through this. You’ll have Roxy,” he reminded me. I shook my head. “’S not the same.” He looked deeply into my eyes. “I have to go.” My face crumpled, as did my insides. “I’ll write,” he said, and stepped away. “Good bye, Violet.” The rest of the tears fell then, and as he turned and walked away, I fell to my knees, letting the sobs rack my body, and dreading the next how-ever-many years of my life without Anthony.
Chapter One: Buzz-Killer Aura
