They were skipping rocks at the river during sunset.

"You know," Hayley said, "I saw you training with Damian today. You're really harsh on him. Don't you think you should let up?"

Thomas looked at the setting sun and shook his head, once. "If I don't push him, he'll die."

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Dramatic, much?"

"Damian needs to learn ruthlessness." Thomas' voice is quiet. "He's good at what he does, but he's not ruthless enough. There isn't an intention to kill."

"Maybe he hasn't found enough motive yet. It is just training."

"The intention to kill doesn't come suddenly in battlefield. If you can't kill while you're training, you won't be able to kill during real missions. I guarantee it." For a second, there was a haunted look in Thomas' eyes. "That's why so many fresh recruits die on their first mission. They couldn't bring themselves to kill, and in that second of hesitation, they are killed instead."

Thomas gripped a rock tightly. "Damian is the only family I have. I can't lose him."

Gently, Hayley took his hand in his. They sat there for a moment, in shared silence.

Hayley was the first to break it. "I heard him cursing your name twenty times the other day during his post-training stretching."

Thomas laughed. "Twenty! That's a lot of vehemence."

"He hates your guts, you do realize that, right?"

Thomas looked up from the grass and smiled. "If that saves him in the end, I'm alright with that."

|*|

Kaylan held two guns steadily in both hands. One pointed right at Re, and the other at Jasper. 

"Shoot her," he said calmly, "and you're both dead."

Jasper's finger jerked, a mere inch away from pressing the trigger. Re turned his head discreetly and muttered something into his shoulder. There was a crackling sound from Kaylan's waist, and then Re's voice echoed out,

"Barat's team, come in. Barat."

Kaylan turned, so we could see the walkie-talkies of all three Jasper's men hanging from his belt. He turned back - and then Kaylan Hood smiled. It was a familiar smile, and I realized it was the same kind Jasper wore. 

Cold, humorless, yet full of pleasure.

Dimly, in the less shell-shocked and grief-stricken parts of my mind, I found a little voice whispering, 

No amount of teen rebelliousness could have allowed a so-called high school "bad boy" to take down three professional Blackcroft mercenaries. Only someone with incredible skills, and several proper years of training could have done that.

I looked up, and felt the floor spin a little dizzily beneath my knees.

Who are you really, Kaylan Hood?

As if hearing my thoughts, Jasper stood up, forcing a chuckle. Still, he kept the gun trained on me, even as Re lifted his gun at Kaylan. 

"Well, well, well! It seems that Hood junior is a lot more skilled than Hood senior would have let us to believe. Taking down three of my most skilled men is not an easy task." Jasper's eyes narrowed. "Who are you, exactly?"

Kaylan looked at me. I'd known him well enough by now to notice that sliver of anxiety in his eyes, asking me if I was alright. I watched as his eyes travelled over to Damian's dead body and rested there for a long moment. Kaylan looked back at Jasper, and his voice burned.

"I'm the person who's going to kill you," he intoned, a note of finality in his voice.

Jasper gave a nasty smile. "Rather ambitious, don't you think? Considering that it's two versus one."

Kaylan gave his left hand a light wiggle. "Not in terms of guns, it isn't."

Jasper laughed. "Oh, the innocence of youth! Do you really believe that you can fire off two simultaneous, accurate shots? That's the stuff of movies, Mr Hood, and extremely hard to pull off in real life."

"I've done some pretty hard things, Mr Blackcroft. I don't think you have to worry about me."

Jasper pushed the muzzle of his gun against my temple. "You know, the last time one of my sweetheart's friends tried to fire a gun, it didn't go very well. How's Emrys' arm, darling? Is it healing? Does that mean I need to pay a visit to him again?"

I shot Jasper the most poisonous glare I could - and that was when I noticed Damian's gun, just a little beyond Jasper's shoes. If I did a little lunge, I would be able to get it. Re was intently focused on Kaylan; it was clear that although Jasper didn't find Kaylan a threat, Re was not about to dismiss him so quickly. A wise decision, if Kaylan really had taken down Barat's team all by himself. 

My heart beat quickened. Slowly, my hands began inching under and up the back of my shirt, toward my bra clasp. Where I always had a knife kept. I could only hope Kaylan kept Jasper distracted long enough.

"I suppose I must not have managed to kill every person in this building," Jasper was musing thoughtfully. "I know that Black and Tan brat got away. Is that who helped you? That pesky little ten-year-old?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about. You'll find that I don't need help taking you down. I certainly didn't need any when facing Barat."

My hand had reached the hilt of the knife. I began to pull it out. Jasper glanced down at me and I froze. He gave me what I could only assume he thought was a disarming smile, but which only reminded me of sewers and various kinds of shit.

When Re spoke, it caught everyone by surprise. 

"Have I seen you before?"

The question echoed around the space and silence hushed, a beat too long. 

Jasper frowned. "Well of course you have, Troy." Troy. So that's Re's real name, huh? "He's Kaylan Hood. We tried to saw his thumb off once, remember?"

"No." Re hesitated. "I - I'm quite sure I've seen him somewhere before - "

The knife was in my hands and I began to push the sharp edge, as hard as I dared, against the cable tie around my wrists and away from me. I took a deep breath. Once the zip-tie snapped, I would have to act quick. There would be no time for any sort of pause or delay in action. Any second now, Jasper or Re would sense something, and shit wouldn't just hit the fan then - it would go straight through the roof.

The thought occurred to me that I was about to kill - or at least, attempt to kill - for the first time. Unbidden, the warehouse scene with Emrys came back to me, when I'd tried to plead for my life by saying I'd never killed anyone before. If I killed someone now, what would that make me? Would I be able to face Emrys again? Could my actions be justified because I was defending my life? But if so, wouldn't that make Jasper and Re equally unguilty?

The thoughts whirled around my head.

Kaylan said, "I've never seen you in my life."

Both our eyes met. I wonder if he knew what I was doing. Any moment now, the cable-tie was going to snap. I could feel it giving way. 

"But - you look so familiar - " I heard Re saying.

Then, Kaylan winked. 

I reacted. The cable-tie snapped and I dove forward, right behind Jasper's knees. My hands closed around the gun. At the same time, I saw Kaylan fire at Jasper. Right on the heel of that gunshot came Re's - but then it was my turn.

I aimed the gun at the back of Re's head and depressed my trigger. He fell forward like a puppet whose strings had gotten cut. 

Kaylan's bullet had found its mark. Jasper laid on the floor, gasping at the new hole in his chest. Still, he clenched his teeth and aimed his gun at me. Before I could even think, I had directed my gun at him and fired. This time, I could see the bullet's damage more directly - it ripped a clean hole through my fiancé's arm and the gun clattered through the ground.

Jasper let out a scream of pain. I scrambled up, kicking Jasper's gun away and putting some distance between us. My foot bumped against Re's body, crumpled right next to Damian's. Both their eyes were wide open, and stared at me like an accusation.

Kaylan walked over, his eyes never leaving Jasper. "Are you okay, apple pie?"

"I - " Am I okay? Were things okay? Damian was dead. I had just killed someone.

Jasper gurgled, a dying's man last sounds of breath.  "How dare you fire at me - sweetheart - you - " I shot Jasper a look of pure loathing.

Kaylan knelt down beside Jasper and pressed the hot muzzle of his gun against the bullet wound. Jasper let out another scream. Kaylan's eyes, that once reminded me of blue summer skies and sparkling oceans, were now dark and stormy. And cold. His entire expression was so frightening, as if all emotions in him had ceased to exist in that second.

Jasper's fingers scrabbled at Kaylan's shirt. "Who are you? Re is right - you are - familiar - "

Kaylan leaned down and whispered in Jasper's ear. Jasper's eyes widened. He began to laugh, a bubbling sound as blood frothed in his mouth. 

"I knew it - I - you - " Jasper choked. He wheezed. His eyes fluttered close, and then his body went limp.

My heart went thud-thud-thud in my throat. 

Reaching out a hand, Kaylan closed Jasper's eyelids. "You didn't have to pull off that risky move, you know. I could have taken care of them both."

He looked up at me, only to find a gun pointing straight at him, albeit a little shakily.

My voice was clear. "You aren't just Kaylan, are you?"

There was a long pause. "Apple pie, I - "

"You aren't a high schooler. You aren't a normal boy. I - if you were normal you wouldn't be able to do that." I could feel my breath coming in and leaving me way too fast. The thought that Kaylan, the one boy whom I had always seen as reminder of how the grass could be greener on the other side, was in fact, not on the other side, scared me. Is he another Emrys?

"You told me you had no part of your father's business," I continued. "All this while I'd believed that you were just an innocent victim caught in the middle of our gang war. You told me that you weren't part of Black and Tan - you told me!"

"I am not part of Black and Tan. I didn't lie to you, Hayley."

"Then how could you do all this?" 

The back door of the storage bunker chose to slam open at that moment and Emrys stepped in, supporting the limping form of Eric. My brother must have lost at least 10 kilograms since I last saw him, and he was all shades of disheveled and beaten up. New scars and bruises that I had never seen before dotted his body like miniature tattoos.

Momentarily, I forgot about Kaylan in my relief to see they were both alive. "Emrys - "

Emrys held both hands up. With significant effort, Eric did the same.

Roxy sidestepped out from behind them. She pressed her muzzle against the side of Emrys' head. 

"I think," she said, looking in my direction, "that I have the answer to your question."

|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|

And so we close another character's chapter. 

How do we feel about Jasper's death? I know most of you have been rooting for it for quite some time now (y'all straight up brutal smh but that's why I love y'all heh)

Also ... Roxy?

What could she be doing here?

:)

This one's dedicated to Imagine-that-chica! Thanks for all the love!