The wind blew balmy, stirring Mal's hair lightly as he stood rooted to the ground. Raising his arm up, he twirled his gun around one finger and pointed it confidently at the beat up man in front of him. He could feel the comforting presence of his partner close to him, facing side on and also defiantly pointing a gun at the man. "Give up." Mal calmly stated. "You are cornered. You have nowhere to run. You're beat up pretty good. And there are 2 guns being pointed at you right now". The man trembled in fright, his hands beating themselves against his knees. "Who says I'm done?" he whispered, his voice breaking. "Who said I don't have anything up my sleeve? Because this isn't over." Swiftly, he whipped out a snub-nosed revolver from under his sweat soaked shirt and shoved it in the general direction of the 2 of them. Mal's eyes widened with surprise for a quick moment, then narrowed menacingly. "You don't want to do that." Natara's voice wafted towards the man, resonating loudly in Mal's ear. Feeling her hot breath on his face, he sucked in a deep gulp of air, and briefly closed his eyes. "Why? Why wouldn't I want to do that? I could just shoot you and be done with all of this." Hearing the man's voice, he wrenched his eyes open. "You know the reason already." Natara replied knowingly. The man's eyes glazed over with the tears filling inside of them. "Cathy..." he breathed, a single tear streaking down his bruised and battered face. Mal glanced at Natara who nodded back at him. "That's right..." he murmured cautiously. He walked towards him, his gun still trained on him. "Cathy... Your kid. Would you really want her to think of you as... A murderer? A wrong-doer? If you shoot us, you'll still go to jail. You'll never be there for your child." Mal swallowed deeply as the mournful memories of his incarcerated father flooded his mind. Shaking his head to and fro roughly, he stared down the man driving out any thoughts of his father from his head. "You... You're right." he whispered, his tears coming thick and fast now, creating a waterfall down his face. He slowly bent down and started to rest his gun against the floor. "That's it." Natara coaxed, her grip on her gun relaxing ever so slightly. He stopped, lightly tipping his head to the side. "No. You are wrong." He smiled an evil demon grin which stretched to both sides of his face. "If I shoot you, I'll never go to jail." It all happened in an incomprehensible rush. The man pirouetted swiftly and gracefully to face them. Scooping up the gun and grasping it in one blue-veined hand, he thrusted it at the 2 of them. He glared at them with contempt, all tears gone. He jerked the pistol to Mal's right. He took careful aim. And he depressed the trigger. It whipped through the air speedily, just a silver blur in the evening sky. It was ethereal, a beautiful sight for something that would destroy not only the victims, but the ones they loved. Mal watched it soar across the parking lot, shocked into silence and stillness. He could comprehend nothing, knew nothing of what was happening. All he heard was a high, feminine shriek of pain and all he saw was a figure collapse like a tower made of blocks onto the chunky gravel. He heard the sound of feet thumping, getting fainter and fainter. But all he saw was Natara on the ground, a fast flowing river of red seeping from her abdomen, staining her shirt a bright red. "NATARA!" He sprinted one step and leaped, reaching her in one bound. Frantically, he pressed his shaking hands against the large puncture wound in her stomach. Blood dripped down, coating his broad hands in a glove of red. "Mal..." Weakly, she stretched a trembling hand towards his face. Mal smiled wanly, the smile not reaching his eyes, and took her hand, pressing it against his face. "It's all right..." he coaxed, not so much for her, but himself. "You'll be fine... Just focus on my voice." Natara tried to concentrate on him, only him, but it was getting harder each second. Her breaths came in quick short bursts of air, and her eyelids felt as though they were weighed down with 100 pound weights. Mal kept flickering in and out of view, punctuated with a deep, torturous wrench of pain in her gut. "Please, keep your eyes open." Mal desperately pleaded with her. She groaned loudly, crushing Mal's fingers with one squeeze. "Th... That's it." His voice sounded so far away, as if she was underwater. "Squeeze it as hard as it hurts." She could hear the distant wailing of an ambulance in the background. "Help will be here soon." Mal let go of her hand and ran his fingers through her smooth, glistening hair over and over again. "Mal..." she trailed off feebly. "Yes?" he clutched her hand again. Natara tugged on his jacket, balling up the fabric in her hand. Her eyes slowly slipped close. "Nat? Nat, open your eyes, please!" Mal shouted, his voice breaking. She summoned up all of her willpower and levered her eyes open. "They're open." she murmured faintly. The world became dizzy, and the bright, pulsing lights from the ambulances joined together to create one blinding orb. "Can't fight... Any longer..." Mal squished her fingers together so hard she thought they'd crack. "No, Nat! You have to... Nat? NAT?" The world turned black.