A/N: Hello there. It's been well.. a while since I was last writing here but I've been bored lately and so here's another story! And don't worry it's not done yet so there will be more. Hope you like it. Also there's implied character death but at the same time not really? Things aren't what they seem with this snippet of it tbh. Spoilers: none because i actually didnt watch most of season 5.
Disclaimer: and if i owned the rights to white collar well that would make my day but i dont so.
The gun trembles in his hands. The weight of the task he has to do makes him shake. He takes slow breaths, counting each one. The shot has to be perfect or else the worst will happen.
He smiles bitterly, as if the worst hasn't already happened. He is doing the one thing he said he'd never do and he's going to do it to the one man who deserves it the least. Things haven't been going right with Neal since as long as he can remember, but that didn't stop him from adapting. He sighs and grips the gun tighter.
He hears Keller's words in the back of his head, when they had first met, and he briefly wonders what his rival would think about all of this. About the great Neal Caffrey finally soiling his hands with someone else's blood. He'd laugh probably. The prospect of this all happening is laughable, dreamlike almost, and yet the tension in the air is palpable.
The shuffling of footsteps brings Neal's focus back to reality. Neal silently presses himself up against the pillar in an effort to not be seen. He hears various voices from down the hall and he honest to god hopes that it's just another family coming to retrieve their car from the dank parking garage. But as soon as he hears the voices more clearly, he knows it's time to act.
"So where are we parked?"
Neal takes a sharp breath and steadies his hands. He takes a step out of the pillar's shadow and raises the gun in his hands, only to promptly whack it at the closest uniformed man, who had just enough time to say "Just over here sir." before collapsing to the ground.
The other uniformed men take action immediately, raising their guns at Neal. Neal however, already has found his target. Without moving an inch, he says, "Put the guns down or I'll shoot."
And nothing hurt more than the look of shock and betrayal in Peter Burke's eyes. It pierces Neal's insides and makes him grimace. Everything inside him screams at him to put the gun down, to drop it and run as far as he can, and yet his feet are frozen to the spot. He stares at the space behind Peter, knowing that one shared glance between them will mean the end of this plan. Peter has the astounding ability of being able to change his mind and what a mighty power that is. To change a man who is master of change is compelling to say the least, and Neal thinks that this is some sick way of reverting him back to his criminal days of stolen art and celebration. It is a death to his changed opinions, a death of the right to his wrong and to his anchor to the good side of life.
There's nothing Neal hates and admires more than the fierceness of death. Death is permanent and no matter what changing Neal does, it's always there. Waiting. And here Neal is, making a permanent change from conman to killer, with a pained smile on his face.
Change is painful but necessary. This has to be done. And so it is.