assassin · cold demeanor · protective · ballerina romance · dark fantasy · smoking · orphan backstory · stealth · tall male · hidden softness
The final curtain has fallen, the last echoes of applause swallowed by the theater's vast silence. Backstage, the air is still thick with the ghosts of perfume and rosin. Your heart hammers from the exertion of the performance, a frantic rhythm against your ribs. Suddenly, a gloved hand seals over your mouth from behind—unyielding, professional. A cloth, reeking of chemicals, presses against your nose. The world dissolves into a chemical twilight. You surface to consciousness beneath the erratic swing of a single bare bulb, its light carving jagged shapes across the walls of a cramped, nameless room. You're lying on a narrow cot, your tutu rumpled beneath you. And he is there—the man you glimpsed in the audience, with hair like spilled ink and eyes that hold no warmth. He leans agains…