"When do you predict you'll have the job done?"
It was a question typical to his clients and his boss, Guzma, was no different.
Gladion peers down at the manila file as his fingers gracefully flip the top open. The silence, although normal for him, caused the white haired man hiring him to squirm. His eyes scan over the file with meticulous precision nonetheless.
A name he recognized caught his attention.
An address he's been too sparked a recollection
And several pictures paperclipped to the top confirmed his thoughts.
"Ain't she a sweetheart?" The question Guzma asked was hypothetical, but Gladion's silence was enough to prompt Guzma to continue. "A woman of danger and malice, hiding behind an innocent facade. You know better than to be fooled by a pretty face."
Gladion couldn't help but scoff at the accuracy of his statement; and the strange reaction prompted a curious gaze from Guzma. But Gladion already knew what he was going to ask, and it was best to leave it unanswered. Gladion quickly closes the folder and pushes it away from him. His intense glare meeting Guzma's as he swallows the truth only he knew.
"What has this girl done?"
Gladion could hear the leather upholstery tighten under Guzma's group. "In this world, what haven't we done? We all have killed. We've all stolen, cheated, done something we shouldn't have. But this girl," the seat squeaks under Guzma's weight shifting forward. "This bitch," he spits. "She stole my empire of crime from my cold, nearly-dead fingers."
Gladion finds his own hands balling up into fists as Guzma continued his rant.
"But Enforcer, why do you ask these questions," Guzma leans forward, his chair squeaking under the weight shift. "You know very well what she's done."
Never did Gladion think he would be going directly into the lion's den. From ex-gang members on the run, to other crime syndicates; the list of people this girl wanted her revenge on ran long, seemingly without an end…
And he knew he was right at the top.
But revenge was a two-way street.
And he needed answers, in addition to her death.
He slowly pushes the door to her room open and steps in. The room was seemingly abandoned, only for him to be startled by the sudden slamming of the door. "Ahhh, an intruder."
He lifts up his weapon immediately before he turns his head to see Moon standing right there with her hand on the door. The cover-up she had on was failing to do its job as it drooped off her shoulder. Her hair seemed darker, still short, the moonlight coming through the window emphasized her pale, milky skin, her voice sounded like just he remembered, and the coy smile sent chills down his spine.
"So Guzma finally sent his hound after me, huh?" she teases as his eyes widen and he clicks the gun in place, ready to shoot at any moment's notice. But instead she walks forward, the lack of fear on her face tantalize him every step of the way. "But a dog always returns to his original owner with his tail between his legs."
He finds himself stunned at her presence, at her beauty, at the imminent threat.
He's lost the upper hand.
"You never had it, sweetie," Moon answers, as if she could read his internal thoughts. And as she takes her final steps forward she places her head on the end of the barrel, now entering a game of chess with her assassin.
"It's been a while, Moon," Gladion whispers as he fights to keep his composure, but all she does is laugh in response.
"My name on your lips doesn't have the same appeal as it used to," Moon notes as she watches him carefully. "So why would Guzma send you of all people?" She sees a flash of guilt cross his face almost immediately.
"Oh," realization strikes her. "Your boss knows about us."
"There was never anything to us," Gladion spits as his resolve returns. She was referencing a romance that should have never been. A romance that caused him to lose everything near and dear.
"I would beg to differ, babe," she responds as a series of clicking firearms could be heard from all around the room. "I also would drop the gun before you get shot prematurely."
The gun clatters onto the tile floor almost immediately. His breath catches in his throat as he finds himself trapped. And all Moon has to do is push him towards the wall in one quick swoop.
"Us is what got you here," she begins as her elegant fingers splay out on his chest. Her neutral face continuing to taunt him as she continues. "You came to my side of the town, begging to learn. You honed in on skills only my most talented men and women could teach you. You worked your way up fast enough to capture my interest."
Moon leans in closer. "Us, is what made you powerful. But alas, a relationship can't work out when you have a spineless mutt involved with an alpha."
Her words caused something to snap in him as he grabs the petite girl's wrist and twists it uncomfortably. Her neutral face finally showing a semblance of discomfort under his grip, but her free hand signals to the henchmen to not shoot quite yet.
"Why are you here?" she demands through the pain, as the realization that his life is under her control dawns upon him. "You're the one who betrayed me, my trust, my love. I could kill you in an instant knowing very well you deserve it."
Gladion's brow furrows as he feels Moon squirming in a feeble attempt to escape. "I betrayed you? MOON, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MURDERED MY FAMILY," he yells only to feel Moon halt her movement completely.
"Who told you that I murdered them" she asks slowly in disbelief as Gladion tries to understand her shocked reaction. "Everyone knows that Guzma in an attempt to disarm me, stained his hands with your family."
Gladion finds his grip loosening as he looks at Moon incredulously.
"I thought you knew."
His eyes scan hers searching for a lie.
"And I always wondered why you would go to the side of someone who has destroyed what you loved…"
Her voice turns into white noise. He's been led around blindly. He backs up until he hits a wall.
Suddenly he feels her hands cupping his face with the utmost care. Gentle, concerned. She looks at him softly as she parts her lips to speak ever so quietly.
"I would say go ask him for the truth, but just like us, it's forbidden."
Gladion's eyes widen as he hears the threat laced within her sentence, but he couldn't find it in him to beg for forgiveness. To ask her to spare his life. She snaps her fingers and the weapons that previously were on pause were now all on him ready to finish the task.
"It's the end of the game, Gladion."