Thorn's POV

There are moments in everyone's life where the world seems to just freeze. Where it feels like all the oxygen has been sucked out of it and you can do nothing but stand there and watch as the cosmos crumbles around you.

I've partaken in a few of these moments but now was not one of them.

The second Mason's blade slid across Genesis's throat I was moving, straight for the person who was once my closest ally but was now my biggest enemy. But Mason had always been quick and fast on his feet, one of his biggest strengths was his  undeniable swiftness and how he could outmanoeuvre any opponent. Today was no exception.

Mason swung the knife at me once, producing a minor cut to my forearm before dodging me and escaping throughout the back door which lead towards the industrial estate.

Axel moved next, sprinting to Genesis barely catching her as she hit the ground. His hands immediately went to her throat to stop the bleeding. "Get him!" Axel screamed at us and as much as I didn't want to leave I knew there wasn't a chance in hell I was letting that fucker get away with what he'd done. I had to trust Axel could take care of Genesis on his own and hoped that the reverberating gunshots alerted Reagan that we needed assistance.

Together Jake and I careened after Mason out the back door and down towards the old factories that were stationed about half a mile away. I knew that was where Mason would go.

We bolted and bound after our former friend, dodging cars as we tried to track Mason. He was visible but barely a dot in the distance as he nimbly hopped the fence that lead into the industrial estate.

Jake was over the chain fence first and didn't wait for me as he sprinted after Mason, I followed after him and was slightly proud that we managed to catch up to him enough to watch as he ducked inside an old abandoned building that looked like the stereotypical place one would find a murder victim in a horror movie.

It was out of character for Mason to corner himself like this but I didn't let myself think about that as Jake and I chased him through the building and up some crumbling stairs onto the roof.

It was a moment too late for Mason to realise he had no escape unless he wanted to through himself off of a six storied building. He had no choice but to face us and what he'd done.

In one quick turn, Mason turned towards us and waited. I reached for my gun  as did Jake but he  stopped me from shooting him point-blank with a look. We'd get real answers first, then decide what to do with him.

"Time for a yeet and greet motherfucker. I'm gonna yeet you off this roof and your face is going to greet the tarmac at terminal fucking velocity." Jake growled with so much vehemence that even I almost flinched. Jake Affleck did not get angry often but when he did no one would even think about crossing him, that including me.

"I just did what I had to do Jake."

"Trying to kill our friend is not something you just have to do." I spat.

I waited for a flash of guilt, fear, remorse, anything but Mason's face remained blank with fury, if anything my words only succeeded to piss him off more.

Mason was one of those people who when he got angry he let that rage control him. He would get so lost in the moment and the torment his brain was in.

You'd first see it in his eyes, then the tension of his muscles, his inability to think clearly soon followed. The rational Mason was offline and the primitive Mason who reverted to his almost prehistoric instincts where they acted first and asked questions later became prominent. Suddenly his rational ideas were gone, his ability for refinement and emotional ascendancy was gone too.

His anger comes like an impossible build up steam, burning him on the way out, burning us on the receiving end. I would bet on it that every time he ever blew he reckoned the other person deserved it. There was the explosion and then the mental framework afterwards to avoid guilt, avoid owning the shame that was his.

Mason's intense disdain and ferocity had grown at an intangible speed but if anything that just made him weaker.

Eyes blazing with hysteria, Mason took a threatening step forward. "She was never my friend."

"Yes, yes she was!" I growled as I lifted my gun to stop Mason from coming any closer.

"You don't understand Thorn, she took everything from me. People like her only care about two things: themselves and who they're going to kill next,. They don't have emotions. She doesn't care about you or us, she's here for as long as the job takes her then she will be gone without a backward glance." He argued, voice so loud it echoed off the nearby buildings.

"You're so blinded by your hatred and pain that you can't even see the similarities. I am no fool, I know who and what Genesis is but how many lives have we taken Mason, how many deaths have we sanctioned? How many times have we made someone bleed for fun? Sure Genesis may be a killer but so are we."

Mason shook his head, fists clenching at his side. He still held the knife, the would he had potentially ended the life of our friend with. It was still slick with her blood.

She couldn't possibly survive a wound like that, could she?

Genesis was strong and exceptional at her job but at the end of the day she was still human, still had her limits.

"Mason," Jake said suddenly but quietly from beside me. His posture was still stiff but there was a dullness to his eyes that reflected his inner turmoil and his lack of belief at what this guy had just done.

The man in question's eyes flickered over to Jake whom he had called family for the majority of his life and I didn't know what he saw there but it was enough to make him drop the knife.

When Jake spoke again his voice was firm but soft. "I can't even begin to explain what I would do for you. How far I'd go. How many lines I would cross for you without a second thought if you'd ask me to and you know that...you-you've known that for years. Or...or at least I thought you did." He trailed off for a moment as if he didn't quite believe his own words, then shook his head and set his eyes firmly on his brother. "So why not come to me? To us? Why not talk to me? There were other ways to fix this that did not involve murdering our friend."

The aggression drained out of Mason like water draining from a tub, slowly but consistently. You could visibly see it as it happened. His eyes dropped, his shoulders slumped ,his chest heaved, his knees buckled and his feet shifted.

While his anger abated the hurt and despondence that had been building up for years finally settled upon his shoulders. More evident than ever before. A lone tear trailed helplessly down his cheek but Mason made no move to wipe it away. I had known Mason for just over a decade and I couldn't recall a time I had ever seen him cry.

With his bottom lip quivering it was clear to see he was barely holding it together, whether that be with his strong will or just pure spite. The need to comfort my friend was formidable and sudden but I didn't because I don't think he could be considered a friend anymore, nor did he quite deserve that emotional support.

Some part of me thought that he deserved this, I thought that this is what he should feel for causing so much turmoil but another part of me almost understood why he thought this was his only option. Mason was stupid to think he was alone and that he couldn't have talked to us about this new information about Genesis's involvement in his parent's deaths but that did not mean I agreed with him.

Mason's eyes became glacier blue under the sheen of water, constant, yet allowing the tears to flow without pause. At that moment, in seeing him fall apart I understood the depth of pain that had been sitting below her skin.

Anger, pain, sadness - it is all so intertwined like singular piece of thread connected to make an stronger form of rope. While they were separable it took time and was frustrating. Together they were just as strong as the more positive emotions if not more deadly. 

"I saw no other option." He whispered, voice breaking alongside his heart.

"Or," I began, dragging myself back into the conversation. "You could have swallowed your goddamn pride and asked us for help. We're family Mason, if you can't lean on us who can you lean on?"

Mason's lips twitched as he tutted. "Ah yes," He nodded in earnest. "I could have but I heard pride leaves a bitter aftertaste and I think I was all out of whiskey to wash it a away with."

"You hate whiskey," Jake stated simply, fingers tightening around the handle of his gun he had aimed angularly toward the ground.

"Yes well, it sounded a lot more sophisticated than asking for a Capri sun, no?" A dry but nonetheless sad laugh left him before he clicked his tongue once and I watched as some type of understanding, peace almost settled over him. His fingers twitched.

"I'm sorry it ended like this Jake. You were my brother and you and your family loved me when no one else would." His eyes flickered to me. "And Thorn you gave me a home and I will forever be grateful for that." Then in one some movement he pulled his gun from the waistband of his jeans and held the gun by his side. "I didn't get a chance to make a choice then but I'm making one now."

Then he opened his mouth pushed the barrel against his tongue and pulled the trigger.

The world stopped breathing for a moment. 

My feet remained planted on the concrete roof, my lungs froze, my head swam.

Mason was dead. His blood pooling around his head like a demented halo or a portal of death that would drag you to the underworld if you looked too long at it.

Was this what people considered justice?

Was this what I considered justice for an attempted murder that I didn't even know was successful?

Did he deserve this? Perhaps. There was something almost ironic in the way he stole his own life from him before he even knew the outcome of his version of justice.

Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he only wanted to cause enough damage to leave a lasting mark. A memory.

Did he plan this? Maybe he did, maybe he had decided that no matter what today's resolution would be he was going to put a bullet through his skull regardless. Maybe the pain was too much for him and after so many years of bearing that weight on his shoulder, he decided that it was easier to end it than to keep on fighting.

Maybe he decided to end his own life before someone else could.

Is that what I wanted? To see the guy I had considered family dead? Did I want him to pay with his life if he had taken Genesis's?

Maybe.

Maybe.

Maybe.

So many questions that I don't really believe have answers. So many questions that perhaps will never be answered because they died with Mason.

The possibilities were endless but the facts were not.

Mason had tried to kill Genesis.

He jabbed the blade she had gifted him herself under her rib cage into her lung then slid that same knife across her throat.

If it didn't kill her it would definitely scar her.

Mason shot himself in the head. A single bullet up through the roof of his mouth to his temporal lobe and finally his parietal lobe effectively ending his life.

Mason was dead.

Genesis might be dead.

What was I supposed to do now?