[color=gray][hr][center][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1070792705547980842/1080131799591686314/Haleigh_Banner.png[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=SILVER][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [i]Stadium[/i] - [i]Dundas Islands, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=SILVER][b]First Class #2.47[/b][/COLOR] [I]Heart on Your Sleeve[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][sub][color=SILVER][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]Trace [@psych0pomp], Iñigo [@Mao Mao] & Mackenna [@Tackytaff][/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=SILVER][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Honor the Memory[/I][/right][/SUP]
[INDENT]Betrayal.

The feeling had been the only emotion Haleigh felt as she watched Trace, Mackenna and Iñigo leave Blackjack for another team. It was like a knife in her back. It'd been only a week since they had lost Cass to Hyperion, and now she was forced to watch more of her teammates leave her and the rest of them behind. 

Perhaps it was her own doing that drove the knife deeper into her back. She had been hung up on Hyperion since the Plateau; her emotionally-fueled choice of words at the funeral proving that. But perhaps it was also how the three reminded her of herself and her own past, a fact Haleigh hated. She had held nothing but scorn and disgust for her past actions. Always afraid of the problem at hand. [i]Always running from it.[/i] Regardless of how many times she tried to shake it away, Haleigh could see only her own twisted reflection in each of their faces as they raised the sigil of a different team.

Haleigh glanced at the rest of Blackjack. Luce hadn't showed up at all, Calliope had fire within her eyes, and the remainder of Blackjack looked to be on the verge of tears. Could they still be considered a team? Sure, there were some new recruits that desired to swap teams. But those few applicants didn't change the fact that Blackjack proper was actively falling apart.

She looked back at Trace and the others. The only one who dared to [i]say[/i] anything was an outsider. The only one who dared to [i]do[/i] anything was an outsider. It was funny, albeit the depressing type of funny. Blackjack couldn't even stand up for themselves. They were doomed to fail; to collapse under the weight of their own emotions and other trauma-induced factors.

No. That wasn't going to happen. Not under her watch, Haleigh swore. Regardless of what differences they might've had in opinion, Blackjack was her home. She had declared it so all the way back at the plateau campsite when Jim had originally brought up the Team Swap, a position that grew ever so solid upon Hyperion's assault upon the school. There was no way she wasn't going to let Blackjack crumble into dust, at least not as long as she still had something to do with it.

[color=d94a3f]"Enough, Iñigo."[/color] Haleigh snapped in an assertive, commanding tone. [color=d94a3f]"Drop the act. You know she's saying what we're all thinking."[/color]

Summoning all the courage she had, Haleigh stood up and pushed away the wheelchair. Although Tad had assured her back then that the inhibitor he had given Haleigh would allow her to walk as long as she wore it, she didn't quite trust him at the time. But this was different. She couldn't keep allowing things to hold her back; she needed to face things head-on.

Seemingly terrified, cautious steps soon turned into a full walk as Haleigh approached the center of the triangle where the four had stood amongst each other.

[color=d94a3f]"Maybe I was... a little too harsh earlier. I'm sorry. I've been stressed out since the incident. We all have been. But she has a point. Blackjack needs each other more than ever. We need [i]unity[/i] more than ever. I know some of us have had... differences in opinion, to say the least, but I don't want to see us fall apart like this. I know it'll probably be difficult, and honestly I'm probably making a fool out of myself here because you've likely already made up your minds, but please reconsider. If not for me, then for everyone else. We can work things out. I'm sure of it."[/color]

Haleigh held out her hand, hoping at least one of them would take her offer. She made an attempt, time would only tell if the three would leave her feeling spurned once more.[/INDENT][/INDENT][/color]