FOURTEEN

❛ You lot argue like fucking children. ❜

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HEADS TURN THEIR WAY as soon as they shuffle slowly through the sliding doors. Two men, clearly father and son sit opposite one another, while Ladybug raids a snack cart. The son grunts lowly as he wraps a belt around his own bullet wound, a towel pressed under it; just like Vanessa.

"Nice to see you're alive," Ladybug tries his hardest to put a beaming smile on his face.

Vanessa grinds her jaw, not even bothering to look at him as she snarls, "Wish I could say the same to you."

Tangerine barges past Ladybug roughly, their shoulders hitting against one another, sending the blonde man tumbling down into the nearest seat with a loud groan.

Nodding at one another, Tangerine and Lemon slowly lower Vanessa down into a chair to the side of the older man. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Tangerine rubs her shoulder comfortingly.

"Fellas," Ladybug stand sup once more, returning to the snack cart, "Lady. We need to come up with a plan."

Tangerine stills in front of his wife, the sound of the American speaking sending anger rolling through his body. Beside him, Lemon can tell something is going to happen, as he watches his brother's hand curl into a fist. Lemon drops his gaze to Nessa, who meets his eyes and just shrugs lazily; knowing as well that her husband is about to do something stupid.

"You shot my wife," Tangerine snaps, whirling on his heel to face Ladybug as he raises a finger to jab it in his direction, "You fucking shot her!" He marches towards him, Lemon close on his heels.

The other shot man raises from his seat quickly to slide in front of Lemon, "And you fucking shot me!" He yells.

"Yeah? Well I'll shoot you some more next time!" Lemon roars back in his face, "You and your partner, Keira Knightley!"

Ladybug raises his arms in a surrender, his eyes never leaving Tangerine's furious expression, "When we are so quick to anger, we are slow to understand."

Rolling his tongue over his teeth, Tangerine pounces forward, sending a hard punch across Ladybug's already bloody cheeks, sending the man tumbling back slightly. The blonde man grabs the snack cart, sliding it across the isle to separate both of them, while Lemon continues to argue with the other dude.

"You're such a fucking cunt!" Tangerine points at him harshly, "I should kill you."

Ducking down slightly behind the cart, Ladybug points back up at him, "When you point a finger at someone in blame, there are four fingers pointing back at you."

Tangerine jerks his hand forward, curling his fist around Ladybug's collar and dragging him towards him while the blonde smacks at his tattooed arm helplessly. Vanessa groans, dropping her temple to the seat back next to her as she meets gazes with the older man. He sighs at the sight of her, his eyes flowing over to the fighting men and he shakes his head in disappointment.

"Gentlemen!" He roars, slamming his walking stick on the ground before sliding from his seat and stepping out into the isle, causing all four men to pause and turn around to look at him, "A plum does not resent the hungry man, but the farmer who planted the tree."

Ladybug takes a step back from Tangerine, raising his brows at the old man in confusion, "He resents the farmer?"

"So how do plums have fucking resentments?" Lemon snaps harshly, causing his brother to hum in agreement.

"Don't really make much sense, mate," Tangerine mutters, running hand through his hair to remove a few curls from his eyes.

"Listen," The wise man states simply, "The white death is the farmer."

Ladybug tilts his head, "So. . . we're the plums. We're the plums?"

"It don't make sense," Lemon throws his arms up into the air in frustration, "Why are you motherfuckers using metaphors?"

"He fucking shot my wife!" Tangerine shouts, raising a hand to motion at the blonde roughly.

"And your brother shot my son!" The man bellows back, silencing the whole train carriage, "We prepare together. . . Or we die alone."

Ladybug nods enthusiastically in agreement, turning to the angry brothers, "That's all I was trying to say."

With her eyes squeezed closed, Vanessa joins the stupid conversation with a low mutter, "You lot argue like fucking children. Have you forgotten where we are right now? And that the White Death is looking forward to murder people?"

Biting his leg, Tangerine steps over to beside his wife, gently grabbing her head and moving it to rest on his leg away from the dirty train chairs. She hums at the more comfortable surface, but her eyelids remained sealed as she recognises the soft touch of her husband.

"The White Death waits for you with his army of assassins," The older man begins to explain, eyes pulling away from the couple to focus more on his son and Lemon, "Killers from all countries. But he has no idea my son and I are on this train. If fate wills, I will get my revenge."

"I'll head to the back and stop as many as I can," The son interjects, his voice rough and stern as he tries his hardest to speak through the pain.

"Tangerine and I will go to the driver car and get us the fuck out of here," Lemon adds with a sharp nods towards his brother, "Vanessa's staying with us."

The older man sighs, "We may need her down here to fight. It is not necessary for three of you to be in the driver car."

Tangerine's face screws up confusion and shock at the idiotic idea, "No. Are you alright, old man? Fucking look at her," He motions down to his lady leant against his side, who peels her eyes up to glare at him.

"My son will be suffering too," The man speaks gently, not at all phased by the cockney's rough tone, "She is a good fighter. We'll need her down here."

Tangerine shakes his head as he lets out a scoff, "Nah. I'll stay down here, and she can go up with Lemon. How does that sound, yeah?"

Vanessa groans, and pushes away from her husband, who gaze immediately snaps down to her at the movement, "I can stay down here and fight. I'll be fine."

"You said that last time and you ended up getting knocked out and shoved into a fucking bathroom," Tangerine snarls, "You're off with Lemon."

Rolling her eyes at him, she leans to the opposite side, so her temple is pressed against the train seat just like before, "I'm staying down here."

Running his tongue over his teeth, Tangerine laughs, "Like fuck you are."

"You can't just tell me what to do, Tangerine," She hisses up at him, "I've been in this fucking game for three quarters of my life. I've fought with stab wounds before. I will be fine."

"A stab wound is very fucking different to a bullet wound," He emphasises, raising his head to his brother, "Lemon, fucking tell her."

Running a hand over his tired face, Lemon slowly nods at Vanessa, "I'm sorry, Ness. But he's right. You'll be much safer at the top with me. You'll be able to fight then, if they reach that far."

"No, she fucking won't," Tangerine is quick to cut in, "She ain't doing any fighting with a bullet lodged in her bloody stomach!"

Vanessa let's her eyes to close as she rests slightly, her ears blocking out the familiar arguing of the two brother's above her. She'd gotten quite good at blanking them after many years of practice.

Noticing how his wife's has downed out, Tangerine sighs and runs his hands back through his hair in annoyance at himself before he looks at the older man, "Lemon, Nessa and I are off into their driver's car, got it? If you have a problem with that then I don't really give two flying fucks."

Lemon shakes his head, knowing that his sister in law will not like that plan in the slightest. Then he glances over at Ladybug, who's just been watching the argument from afar, "What are you gonna do, joburg?"

After pulling his longish hair back into a ponytail, he reveals the briefcase to the group as he smirks, "I'm gonna buy us some time."

Nodding in understanding, Lemon moves over to next to his brother before grabbing his bullet proof vest from the chair he previously left it laying on. As he straps it over his body, Tangerine smirks.

"What did I tell you, eh?" Tangerine knocks his knuckles against his brother's chest, "Stops you from getting shot in the chest."

Lemon snorts, "And you still thought I was fucking dead. What happened to checking people's pulse?"

Remember the problem he had with Vanessa's pulse, Tangerine rolls his jaw, realising that he should have down the same for his brother, "I thought you had holes in your fucking chest because you told me that you didn't have a vest on."

Lemon shrugs, "Yeah, I lied, didn't I?"

"Well, obviously, Lemon," Tangerine snarls, before kneeling down in front of his wife and taking her face in his hands, "Love?"

"What?" She grumbles, her eyes still sealed.

After glancing out of the window for a moment, Tangerine informs her, "We're coming into Kyoto now. We're gonna need to get you down to the driver's car."

That makes her eyelids fly open and she glares over at him and his brother, "Are you deaf, or somet'? I said I'm staying down here."

Humming lowly, Tangerine begins to move one of her arms over his shoulder, while Lemon does the same with the other. She can't even be bothered to fight, and just insults them harshly under her breath.

. . .

not proof read in the slightest

i fucking hate this chapter
i'm in such a slump at the moment

my new maths teacher predicted me a THREE  for end of year and i'm fuming