Alastor's POV

I was in a rage.

That bastard.

This entire time he's just been...right there. Pretending to be our friend.

Pretending to be my friend.

Why Niffty...?

Why the hell after all these years would he suddenly decide that she needed to die. She loved him. He seemed like he loved her, so there's a piece I'm not getting of this puzzle.

I was upturning furniture, breaking everything in my path. Basically, I was trashing this house because fuck him and fuck his stupid home.

This was going to get ugly, so I need to send Fawn back to Edith's to get Julie and wait for me at home.

Turning around, I called her name.

"Fawn–" my voice froze when she wasn't anywhere near me. I couldn't see her.

Where'd she run off to? Maybe she already went to get Julie...

Though, something tells me that's not the case. She's been by my side for almost a decade, and she wouldn't leave without knowing I'd be ok.

But she also has a heart that's far too big for her body...meaning she ran off to find that cocksucker before I could, and she's going to get herself hurt.

"Fawn!" I yelled, and ran back to the foyer to scan the room.

"Dammit, Fawn..." I mumbled, and then looked up towards the upstairs balcony to see one door opened with the light on.

My feet immediately started moving towards the stairs and I practically took them three at a time as I sprinted to the room where I could now see shadows moving inside.

When I burst into the room, the sight made me freeze.

Tom had her at gunpoint, and the moment he saw me he pointed the gun straight at me and pulled the trigger fast.

The noise was deafening and I immediately reacted by throwing my knife at him and hitting him in the hand, causing him to drop the gun with a yell.

My hand went over my side and I drew in a deep breath through my teeth as I looked down to see blood beginning to stain my jacket.

"Alastor!" Fawns voice screamed out and she ran up to me, and touched my face, looking from my eyes to my side worriedly.

"Y-you're hit we have to get you to Edith!" She said, trying to pull me away.

I didn't budge, and pulled another knife out of my vest before looking down at her.

"You gotta get out of here, Fawn...I'm taking him down, and I want you and Julie safe..."

"I'm not leaving you here! Julie is fine, she's with Edith, you are not!" She started to cry, and shook her head, "let's just call the police, they'll deal with him..."

"Oh don't worry about that..."

We both looked at Thomas.

He began to laugh, holding his bleeding hand as he approached us slowly. I grabbed Fawn and put her behind me before summoning my shadow.

I looked at it, "protect her."

It nodded and went behind me to do as I said, and the look on Thomas's face was pure befuddlement. He shook his head and motioned to me.

"Since when can you do that?" He asked and I spit blood out on the floor towards him.

"Since fuck you, that's when."

He chuckled and held his hands up.

"Ok, I admit...maybe I went a little overboard...but that damn station just wouldn't go down! I mean, I bought out all of your sponsors, and you still kept it up!"

My eyes widened before I narrowed them in disbelief.

"What?" I hissed.

He rolled his eyes and we were slowly circling one another like lions. He was wearing a shit eating grin, and I was wearing a menacing sneer. Nothing made me angrier than seeing him look so damn cocky.

"You really think I just handed you the station because I wanted to? No...Alastor, I gave you that station because my invention is going to run the radio into the damn ground. I've been trying to sink your station for years, and tonight I was going to!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He's been playing me like a drum for eight years.

Eight. Years.

"But Niffty...little Niffty...couldn't keep her nose out of places it didn't belong, no..." he scowled and ran his hand back through his hair, "I didn't even want to kill her! I actually liked the woman, but I couldn't have her running off to you with my plan! So I shot her."

Three times. He shot her three times. That's not an accident. That's not unplanned. That's personal.

He just kept talking. Spilling his guts like he was at Sunday confession. His voice kept getting higher and more wild by the second.

Something tells me tonight got a bit out of hand for him, too.

"But then, I thought to myself...hey! I can just blame it on the radio freak since you're the serial killer."

Now that made me stop where I stood. He knew?

"How the hell did you figure that out." I growled at him, and he started to laugh like I'd told a hilarious joke.

"Oh, Al! Really?! I'm surprised you went this long with how sloppy you are, I mean it wasn't hard to figure out after I watched you gut that poor butcher...ah, but he was a douche, I don't blame you."

He chuckled and picked my other knife up off the floor and pointed it at me.

"However, I do blame you for how shitty this night has gone. It would have been so easy, but you two had to come walking down the damn street and I was forced to leave my fucking car there."

Well, that explains why I found the back door of the station wide open.

"And then, once you got put away forever, I'd finally be able to stop killing all these disappointments that called themselves women...because I'd be there to comfort Fawn and she'd have no choice but to come and be with me instead...but you just have to ruin everything."

When he said that, I finally snapped and lunged at him. I could tell I caught him off guard when he nearly fell backwards, and I slashed the knife at him, getting him across his right eye.

He yelled and his hand went over his eye as blood poured down his face.

"Fuck! You bastard!"

"You're the bastard! You pretended to be my friend! I trusted you!"

He scoffed and dodged me when I swung at him again, moving away from me with each step he took. He's night fighting.

He's avoiding.

I watched his feet closely, counting his steps and clocking his moves. He must not be good at close quarters combat...he's trying to circle back around to where he dropped his gun.

"Oh please, Alastor. You and I both know you can't trust anyone in this world. If you trusted me, that makes you an idiot."

His movements became predictable to me, and I finally found an opening. Looking up, I smiled and led him towards where I needed him to be.

"I may be an idiot..." I said, and then my smile darkened before I rushed him instead of sidestepping. His eyes widened and he tried to back up but hit the wall, and it took a split second before my knife was hilt deep in his stomach.

His knife clattered to the ground and he choked.

"But at least I'm not dead," I said through grit teeth, and twisted the knife.

He groaned in pain and then started laughing. Blood was on his teeth and leaking out of his mouth and I narrowed my eyes.

"What's so damn funny?"

Blue eyes met mine as he matched my narrowed stare. The look in his eyes was still as if he'd won...smug.

Confident.

There were a few bloody coughs before he started to speak.

"Y-you...you think I didn't know you'd come here to gut me?" He strained.

My teeth grit harder and I twisted the knife even further. He winced and I could tell he was starting to lose too much blood to stay conscious.

Though that stupid smile was still on his face.

"Police are on their way..." he said weakly, "you got a few minutes max..." he coughed blood up all over me and then began to chuckle as his legs gave out and I pulled the knife from his stomach and watched him fall.

My blood felt like ice as I stepped back slowly, looking at his body.

He knew I was going to come and kill him...and called the police...

He told them my secret.

I guess my time is up.

Something in the distance snapped me out of my daze. Through the window I could see the lights and hear the sirens. Panic struck my chest as I realized Fawn was still here...oh god, I have to get her home, I've got to get her to safety!

The room felt a little blurry, and I could feel the blood pouring through my fingers through the wound in my side.

My entire body felt like it was on fire, and I guess I couldn't get lucky twice. This gunshot seems to have hit something important.

That didn't matter.

I turned towards Fawn and the shadow that was protecting her. It came back to me, disappearing as I ran up to her.

"Fawn, baby we have to go, ok...I've got to get you home."

I grabbed her and started to run. She could barely keep up, but I couldn't slow down, not now. Not here.

We made it outside just as the police pulled up and I darted past them with her behind me. I could feel my heart in my throat and hear it pounding in my head.

"Alastor!" She called out to me but I shook my head and just kept running, dragging her behind me as I desperately tried to reach the woods before this blood loss makes me collapse.

The edge of the forest came up, and we ran inside. I could hear the police behind us. Shit, they must be persuing on foot...

She and I were running through the woods, and my breathing was heavy and labored. My lungs felt like they were on fire and I could feel tears in my eyes as I realized this is it.

This is it...

My girls, my life...all my sins have finally caught up to me, and the devil has come to collect my debt.

Finally, my legs couldn't physically hold me up anymore and I went tumbling to the forest floor. I grunted, a sharp pain shooting up through my leg.

Fawn was on me in a second, and she turned me over and leaned over me.

"Alastor!" She cried out, and I could see the tears falling down her face, "get up, they're right behind us, we've gotten get home!"

Oh, sweetheart...it's over.

I gave her a smile and coughed, tasting iron on my tongue. Thunder rolled overhead, and I watched lighting strike across the sky before raindrops started falling.

"Go on, sweetheart...go home. Run. I'll be right behind you, I promise..."

Please, run. I don't want you to see what's about to happen to me...please remember me the way I was.

She shook her head, "you're lying..." she sobbed, and just then I heard what sounded like barking in the distance.

Fuck, the dogs.

Using the strength I had left, I sat up and cupped her cheek. Bringing her forward, I kissed her and pushed her hair back.

"I love you, darling...you're the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I promise I will be right behind you. I will always be right behind you. Please..." my voice was softer now, and I ran my thumb over her cheek, "go."

Her lip quivered and she drew in a sharp breath before she hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her and felt her shake as she cried.

"I love you..." she whispered, her voice shaky.

We stayed like that until the barking got louder, and she pulled away to look where it had come from before turning back to me. She shook her head and gave me one last kiss.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Those were the last words I heard her say before she got up and ran off into the woods. There was a content smile on my face as I watched her disappear into the rainy night, holding onto the hope that at least she'll be around...she'll get to live.

Once I couldn't see her any longer, I grabbed my knife and smiled wider as I waited for those damn police and their dogs.

Fawn's POV

I couldn't see a thing as I sprinted away. I couldn't look back. If I looked back, I wouldn't be able to leave, but he wants me to live.

I need to live, I have to make it home. I have to call Edith, I have to tell her what happened.

I have to be here for Juliette.

The rain hitting my face was cold and painful, and I squinted as I stumbled through the woods, my lungs burning from running and crying.

It's so dark...

My brain was a complete mess of emotions, and then one sound made the world go quiet.

A single gunshot echoed through the night, and I froze in my tracks as it felt like the air got sucked straight out of my lungs.

My hands were shaking and my face contorted in pain as I choked on a few heavy sobs.

It finally hit me square in the chest that this is it.

He's gone...

Flashes of our life went through my head as I shook with sobs, my volume rising and getting drowned out by the whirling wind around me.

I finally let out all of my current emotions in an anguished scream, my face up towards the night sky.

At the same time, I watched lighting spiderweb across the sky and a loud clap of thunder before another bolt of lighting came down and struck a tree near me.

I gasped sharply and watched the large tree as it smoked and splintered, split straight down the middle from the blast.

Then another strike hit the ground closer to me.

"What..." I whispered, backing up and becoming more terrified by the second. I turned to keep running, but lightning would strike my path any direction I tried to go.

It kept me in a circle, never letting me go further than a few feet until I snapped and screamed.

"STOP!"

At the same time, there was a loud thunderclap, and a bright flash of light followed by an excruciating burning throughout my entire body.

I shrieked in agony, unable to move an inch as it felt like my flesh was melting off of my body.

And then everything went quiet.

Everything went dark.