Disclaimer: Once again, ToL and its characters belong to Namco.
Author's Note: Most ToL fans think that Chloe is "all that and a bag of chips" for stabbing Senel in her Character Quest. I'm one of the few people who believes that it was horribly wrong, and monumentally stupid. This fanfic was written to show why I feel this way.
P.S. This is probably the darkest ToL fic I've ever written...
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Prologue
"Chloe, please, stop th—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Senel felt the sharp pain in his abdomen as Chloe shoved her sword straight through him.
"I warned you," she said in her cold voice. "I told you if you were not prepared, you would die."
"Chloe...argh..."
Chloe looked up at the black, rainy sky. "Now that I've done this to you, I no longer have a place I can return to."
Senel lay on his back, also looking up at the sky. Each breath brought yet another surge of pain through his body.
"That fact only strengthens my resolve," Chloe continued. "Thank you, Coolidge."
Senel clutched his stomach tightly, bearing the pain as he pushed himself to his feet. "You think I want...to be thanked for that!? I won't accept it..."
Chloe watched the Alliance Marine as he slumped over. "Why did you come to stop me?"
"You're my friend...I...care about...you..." Senel spoke in between rasping gasps. "Don't...go..."
Chloe looked up at the clouds yet again. "I wish I could just accept those words..."
"Chloe..."
Chloe found that she could no longer look at him. "Don't say anymore. Please, don't say anymore."
Senel reached out towards her with his bloody hand. "Don't go, Chloe..."
"Your comfort brings me nothing but pain..." Chloe calmly left the graveyard. It was too late to turn back now. It was time to fulfill her resolve.
Senel dropped to his knees before falling face-first to the ground. "Chloe...don't go...don't go..."
But Chloe was gone. Time seemed to stand still. Senel dug his fingers into the dirt, grabbing a fistful into his hand.
"Chloe...no...I won't...die like this..."
"Senel!?"
Senel perked up painfully as he heard the young girl's voice. "Shirley...?"
Suddenly, his body was turned over, causing yet another gush of pain. He then found himself resting in Shirley's lap, looking into her tearful eyes.
"Senel, hang on!" Shirley held her hands over his wound, casting her crystal eres. The wound closed up from the outside, but the blood stain in Senel's uniform remained.
Senel coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Argh...can't...breathe...Shirley..."
"Senel, please hang on!" Shirley cried.
"I'm sorry...I...I couldn't stop her..."
"Chloe...she did this to you!?"
Senel weakly reached up towards the braids that hung from Shirley's face, grasping one between his fingers. "Shirley...please stop Chloe...please..."
His hand dropped to the ground lifelessly. Shirley gasped as she looked into Senel's eyes, watching them as they closed softly.
"Senel? Senel!!" she cried frantically. "Senel, please wake up! Please don't go!!"
When Senel didn't respond, Shirley held onto his body tightly, beginning to cry. She felt the emotions welling up within her more and more, until she could no longer contain them. She threw her head backwards, letting out a scream that pierced through the night. She then cried again, burying her head into Senel's chest.
And then time stopped again.
"Shirley!" Moses ran up, stopping a few feet away to see what was happening. "Shirley, I heard ya screa—shit!!"
He ran up to her, kneeling down beside Senel, opposite from Shirley. "What the hell happened here!?"
Shirley straightened herself with tear-stained eyes, breathing heavily. "He's dead...Senel's dead..."
"But why? How did he die!?"
As if on cue, the black mist began to form around Shirley's body. Her face became blank as she heard Chloe's voice in her mind.
"I told you if you were not prepared, you would die."
"Chloe...she said that to him?" Shirley muttered aloud. "Damn her..."
"Wha...?" Moses asked, raising his eye. "What'd she say to him?"
The black mist faded, and Shirley's expression returned to normal.
"She said, 'If you were not prepared, you would die,'" she replied.
"Damn, that's cold," Moses remarked. "She's serious about avengin' her family, ain't she?"
"But she didn't have to kill him! She didn't have to!"
"You're right. So what do we do?"
"We have to tell the others."
"And leave Senel here?"
"It's only for a little while," Shirley told him. "We'll give him a proper burial, and then we'll stop Chloe."
Setting Senel's body gently on the ground, Shirley stood up and quickly left the graveyard.
"Where're ya goin'!?" Moses called after her.
"I'm going to tell Will!" Shirley called back.
"Hey!" Moses called again, but then stopped to ponder his next course of action. "She'll tell Will and the others in the city...so I'll go and tell Jay."
The bandit quickly left the graveyard also, leaving Senel's corpse alone...