„Maybe this is a shitty idea," she chewed on her bottom lip, sitting inside Everett's beat-up Ford, their eyes hanging on the obnoxious neon sign of the gas station in front of them.

The boy next to her huffed out the smoke of his cigarette, her inhaling the smell of cheap cigarettes, drinking in the memory. In other cases, she would just look at him in awe, wondering how he managed to look so good so effortlessly, but right now, anxiety made her mind sober up from her love-sickness.

And what they planned on doing was complete bullshit.

„It will be fine," Everett dismissed, tossing the remaining of cigarette out the window, huffing out the lingering smoke from his lungs. „We just have to be quick."

He was way too calm before committing a robbery, and it kind of made her more nervous. This will be their biggest score yet, being the third-ever robbery they will be committing. The first one was a small shop in the suburbs, the owner of the shop lingering in the back, leaving the open cash register out in the open. He probably didn't even notice when the two teenagers got inside, quickly pulling out a few bigger banks from the register, and bolting out into the night afterward.

Their second hit was a store, where they sold some pretty pricy undergarments. He wanted to surprise her with one, but since they didn't have financial stability and they were only seventeen with no jobs, they decided to steal some things. She adored the black lace bra with a matching thong to it, getting a lot of wear out of the ridiculously expensive underwear.

But with this one – it was a slightly bigger gas station in one of the worse neighborhoods, and it was the end of the week, knowing that there will be probably a lot of cash. The nightfall provided some extra cover for them, as they sat in the midnight blue Ford just a few houses away, hidden in the shadows.

„Rory," he called, causing her eyes to meet his, her heart skipping a beat at the sound of the nickname. To everyone else, she was Aurora or Rora. To him, she was Rory. „It'll be all right. Now, c'mon, the sooner we start, the more time we will have to think of ways to spend the money."

He cupped her cheek in his hand, pressing a quick kiss on her soft lips, her eyes fluttering shut in the process. With a devilish grin on his face, Everett reached into the glovebox, pulling out their mask. They were a signature now: a black, skull-printed one for him, a white one for her to disguise them.

Her hands were slightly tremoring as she reached for the white one, grasping the soft fabric between her fingers, her eyes glued to a loose thread hanging from its corner. Yeah, the gas station was her idea, but she never thought that they would actually make it happen.

But as time went on, Everett became more and more confident, even cocky with their shenanigans, the fear of getting busted by the police fleeting his mind. She wondered if it was because of the success of the other crimes they committed, or the drugs getting to his mind.

„C'mon, Rory," Everett pushed open the door, shutting it behind him with a loud thud, making her flinch.

Her gut feeling told her that something was not right, her mind screaming at her to run away, but like always, Rory listened to her heart – her heart choosing the only man she had ever loved, the one with so many dark secrets and dark past, that if she wasn't careful enough, he would consume her whole being like a vortex.

°•○●⸸●○•°

Fuck, not now!

Shaking off the trauma that tried to emerge from the back of her mind, she quickly pulled out her hand pistol from the thigh holder, firing multiple shots at the man that shot at them. Seeing the other soldier fall to the ground, she pushed herself onto her feet, grabbing the edge of the lieutenant's vest with both of her hands, and dragging him behind the fairly large rock behind her.

„Fuck, you're heavier than you look," she groaned, pulling him harder so both of them were covered now. She dropped to her knees, her hand quickly searching for the bullet wound. Her hand tremored slightly, and she liked to think it was because of the exhaustion because he was indeed heavy, not because of her trauma coming back for her ass.

A low groan caused her eyes to snap back to his face, her icy orbs meeting with the dark lenses, and she wished she could see his eyes.

„Hit me in the vest," Ghost said, pulling himself into a sitting position. He let his eyes travel alongside her face, taking in her features.

He never got to truly look at her, mostly because she always managed to piss him off, but right now, her signature smirk was gone, the mischievous glint in her eyes was now taken over by a worried look. Her eyes were such a brilliant blue it caused his brain to stop for a moment.

That moment only lasted for so long till he noticed movement, reaching for his throwing knife and flipping it through the air, hitting another man in the neck. Rora watched the blood splatter from his neck with slight disgust on her face,

„Show-off," she huffed out, getting into position to shoot down some more enemies.

„Nine," Ghost said, already back in a crouching position, throwing her a full clip for her rifle. She almost failed to catch it.

„What?" confusion took over her beautiful features, her attention wandering back to him as she watched the side of his face. He turned his head slightly to her way, then back to his rifle.

„Kill. It's nine," he repeated, and despite his rough voice and the same edge in his voice like his knife, a smile appeared on her face, one of the most genuine ones. He was counting the kills, too, just like her.

„You getting shot almost makes it a zero, don't you think?"

„Don't make me regret it."

„Okay, I'll shut up!" Rora was quick to pull her rifle back on her shoulder, now with a full clip. „Like, right now."

„Would be bloody great."

After shooting some more enemy soldiers, they were clear to continue their way towards the bridge, the only way they could escape this hellhole. She liked trees and the forest, but after this, she was sure as hell that she didn't want to see any other forests for a while.

Following behind Alejandro, she wiped a hand over her forehead, sweat and dust smudging on her pale skin. She got a little tanner over time, but she despised this type of warmth and humidity, her heart wishing she could be somewhere else, while her body was trying its best to get her to somewhere else, somewhere safe.

„There's the bridge," Alejandro pointed it out, her eyes following his gaze. Hope caused her crystalline eyes to shine brighter, it making a sharp contrast against her dark hair and dirty face.

„No visual on extraction," Soap commented, causing her good mood to plummet slightly.

„Comms didn't get through," Rodriguez sighed beside her, his statement followed by a few Spanish curses, at least by the tone of it, she reckoned it was cursing.

„Same, Rod, same," she murmured, her eyes scanning the horizon in hopes that they will find a tank or a helicopter that somehow just happened to be there to help them. She found none.

„We'll radio when we're down there," the Colonel expressed, trying to hold up the spirit in the squad. It did little to none, but she still appreciated his efforts, deciding to spare him from her snarky comments.

Her gaze followed his steps, him haltering at the edge of the rock they were currently standing on, looking at a smaller ledge not far under them. It could be a risky jump, but if she was careful enough, she was sure she would even look cool doing it.

And if she looked cool doing something, Rora just had to do it.

„Land carefully, hermana," Alejandro grumbled beside her, earning a cheeky grin from her.

„'Careful' is not really my thing, hermano," Rora remarked, him mirroring her smirk, amusement glinting in his dark eyes. He had such a warm energy, she didn't feel uncomfortable the slightest like she usually would, and it felt great, even in this situation.

Not waiting for his answer, Rora jumped down, breaking her fall by rolling on the ground, jumping to her feet at the end of her roll. Dusting off her pants, she threw a glance above her shoulder, seeing the men staring down at her, Soap being the first to finally break from their trance, following after her. His landing was less smooth than hers.

„This way," Alejandro took the leading role again, placing his foot on the smallest ledge she have ever seen, doubting that it was a safe idea. But after giving it a second thought, she shrugged her shoulder, knowing damn well that this was not the right time to consider taking the safer route. „Watch your footing here."

Alejandro leading the way, Ghost right behind him, Rora leaving a step between them, Rodriguez and Soap following after her.

Rodriguez said something in Spanish, capturing her attention. Never once came the urge to learn another language, but the more she heard Spanish, the more interested she got in it. She liked the way it rolled off the tongue, and just knowing that she could watch so much more soap operas was kind of another reason to learn Spanish.

„You know your way," Ghost decided to break the silence, directing his words to the Colonel next to him.

„We used to cut school and play here," he remembered, the memories of his childhood flashing in front of his eyes as they continued their way across the tight ledge.

„That's so cool," Rora exclaimed, a smile tugging at her lips. „Without the fucking Mexican Army shooting at our asses, it's sure a lovely place."

„It was," Alejandro's voice was now heavier, anger and nostalgia pulling his brown brows together in a knot, his jaw clenching. „Until the cartel came. The narcos changed everything."

Rora opened her mouth to ask further questions, like how did they found this place, did he ever went skinny dipping or something, but her stupid questions were forced back down her throat by a loud shot, making her jump, whipping her head around.

She just happened to watch as Rodriguez on her right got shot, him falling lifelessly down the ledge. A gasp left her mouth as the body collided with a sharp rock, his body knocking against it with a horrifying crack, him rolling down further the mountain.

She just watched one of her teammates die.

„Sniper! Move!" Ghost yelled over the gunfire, urging her to force her legs into a quicker pace, fearing that if she wasn't quick enough, she or Soap would be the next target.

When her foot finally touched solid ground (well, as solid as it could get, finally off the small ledge to another, bigger one), she crouched down, her eyes immediately snapping towards Soap, who mirrored her motion, a determined look on his face. Without his usual smirk and glinting eyes, he actually looked almost scary, his biceps flexing as he clutched his rifle closer to himself, his eyes scanning the horizon, trying to find the spot they were shooting at them.

He was actually quite easy on the eyes, but other than that, he didn't move inside her anything. She came across men that looked like him before, but none of them could compare to Everett.

„Sniper's down!" Alejandro exclaimed, pulling his rifle back and standing up.

„Bloody good shot, mate!" Ghost actually sounded impressed, and for a moment, jealousy sparked inside her, knowing that never in her life would she earn a compliment like that.

It was always Fucking hell, Wells, why. Never You did good, Rora.

They barely got any time to address Rodriguez's death as the army started to catch up on them, forcing them to push forward. Making another big jump, Rora didn't manage to land as softly as before, slightly hurting her ankle in the process. Winching at the sharp pain, she tried to shake off the feeling, the fear of getting a bullet in the back of her head being stronger than the twinging pain shooting up her leg whenever she put weight on her ankle.

Sliding on her side down a muddy slope, she was quick to jump on her leg at the end, trying to get some weight off her left ankle. Her heartbeat pumped in her ears like a drum, her breathing getting heavier as she came to a halt, her eyes jumping from Ghost to Alejandro, both of them standing at the edge of the ledge, looking down.

„You led us to a dead end, mate!" Ghost grumbled, slight annoyance deepening his voice as he sent a side glance to the Commander beside him.

„We jump from here! Don't lose your weapons!"

And with that, Alejandro was already off, shooting through the air like a bullet, clutching his rifle close to his chest, landing foot first in the river down below.

Ghost turned to look at the duo behind him: Soap's eyes widened in surprise as he followed Alejandro's form with his eyes, watching him disappear into the water.

„That's a hefty jump, bloody Jesus," Soap mumbled, and despite his disbelief, he took a step closer to the edge, bumping his fist against Ghost's before he followed after the Colonel.

The lieutenant's eyes fixed on her.

„No fucking way," she shook her head, already getting dizzy from the height. She didn't know she was afraid of heights, until now. The thought of missing the water or just landing on a rock, all of her bones shattering at the impact was enough for her to not want to jump down.

„Wells, c'mon!" Ghost hurried, motioning to her to jump already. „Get slaughtered by the Mexican Army, or swim. You choose."

„I can't jump, Ghost," Rora uttered out, finally lifting her gaze from the water to meet his glasses. In the reflection, she saw what a mess she was, but right now she just couldn't be bothered by the filth clinging to her face or the few strands of hair flying by her face.

„I can throw you," he nodded his head towards the water, the gunfire coming closer from behind them.

Shutting her eyes for a brief moment, she managed to gather some courage, just enough that she was able to take two strides, pushing herself off the ground, not even thinking about the possibility of many deaths as she flew through the air, the water under her getting closer much sooner than she would like to.

Her last thought before impact was: I fucking knew he would throw me off the mountain.