The irony isn't lost on Elizabeta that after countless risky heists; shops, pubs, and even a small art gallery at one point, it's a relatively easy target, chosen for its low risk outcome, that might just be their undoing. The Edelstein place is surprisingly unsecured. No iron gates close it off from the outside world, there's no watchdog standing guard in the doorway. The house isn't even fitted with an alarm system.
Yet it's all gone horribly wrong.
They've run through this, they're always meticulous in their planning. Vash is to exit via the bedroom window, disappear into the trees and come out the other side and onto the street. They can still pull this off with someone downstairs, and that's her only small comfort with Mr. Edelstein unlocking his door. She could distract him; pretend to be lost and act for directions so that she can buy Vash some time. But any salvation that brings them will only be temporary, Mr. Edelstein will inevitably make the connection between her the stranger, and his house being burgled.
So she acts on instinct and presses down on the horn, hoping to the high heavens that Vash will hear her plea. It's going against everything she's come to expect of herself; thieves are meant to be silent, they are meant to move in the shadows and disappear into the night, and avoiding detection is infinitely more important than whatever they could score in the Edelstein place. But she's not paying much mind to any of that now, panic has set in and overridden everything she once thought logical.
She wouldn't have thought it wise to rev the engine before today, but tonight the only thing that matters is getting Vash out of this mess and her every action revolves around it. She honks once, she honks twice, and she wants to honk again but fears it will draw attention so she waits. She waits and wants to call out to Vash on the off chance that he hears her. But she has enough sense not to make a scene, so she sits on her motorcycle and texts him, thinking that if the first three messages didn't get his attention the fourth will.
There's silence. Nothing but the soft hum of the engine and the frantic beating of her heart, then all at once there's chaos. First there's a buzz from the phone in her hand, and before she has the chance to check it, there's a shattering of glass, and she knows that something's gone awry. She knows what the sound must mean, but she refuses to believe it until she sees him.
It takes only seconds for him to reach her, despite the fact that he's running with an obvious limp. His shoulders are covered in shards of glass, but he doesn't look pained at all. Elizabeta thinks it must be an act, because if she's this terrified and was only the lookout, how could he possibly be so calm ?
But as much as she'd like her concerns about him addressed, there's no time for them to stick around. So she tosses him a helmet, and he climbs onto the back of the bike behind her.
The bumps in the road send waves of pain through him, and she feels him cling to her tighter and wince into her back. She tries her hardest to avoid potholes, and he does his best to make sure that she doesn't notice how he hisses each time the duffle bag beats against his ribs.
It's not Vash who caves first, but rather it's Elizabeta who decides what's best for him and guides them down a narrow country road. She steps off the bike, removes her helmet, and makes a face when Vash doesn't do the same.
"We should keep moving, the police are probably looking for us by now." He says, not budging an inch.
Elizabeta is confident that they weren't tracked here, and as always, she took great care in following a winding, erratic path in order to avoid such things, but the failures of the day are enough to cast some doubt. "We'll just rest long enough for you to gain some strength back, then."
Vash complies without a fuss. Though he doesn't like the implied weakness, it's true. He's battered and bruised, and can only hope that he hasn't damaged anything internally. So, with great ease on his shoulders, he drops the duffle bag to the ground and parks himself in the grass by the roadside.
"Careful, you don't want to damage them." Elizabeta says, crouching down and digging through the towels that pad out the bag to find the jewellery they stole. "How much do you think Alfred will give us ?"
"Nothing if he suspects their stolen. Go to Natalya, the pawnbroker at the corner of Cedar avenue. She doesn't ask questions."
Questions, Elizabeta has a lot of those. Everything happened so fast that she never got a chance to read the message he sent her, she hasn't had a moment to ask what went wrong, she doesn't even know how hurt he is. All she knows that for some reason Vash came hurtling out of an upstairs window.
Elizabeta sits down next to him and offers him the towel from the bag. "Are you going to tell me what went wrong ?"
"Read the text." Vash accepts the towel and uses it to shake the remaining smaller shards of glass from his hair. In doing so, the hem of his jack rides up his back, and Elizabeta can't help but notice the bruises already beginning to form. She grimaces at the sight but doesn't call attention to them, she knows he wouldn't appreciate it.
Doing as he says, she fishes through her pockets for her phone reads the message out loud. "It's locked. I'll have to break it and jump - that doesn't answer why you took so long."
Vash leans back and lies flat on the grass. If it were any other day, he and Elizabeta would seem like two young lovers taking life easy and enjoying a warm Summer afternoon. But it's not an average day; Vash has just robbed a man of his inheritance and he's been left wounded and unable to sit upright. But he says nothing of his pain and answers Elizabeta's question. "The jewellery was moved from a drawer to a safe, I had to bust it out, took a while."
Elizabeta frowns and pulls her knees closer to her chest. "A lot changed since we staked the place out yesterday, it sounds like Mr. Edelstein noticed we broke in."
"And if he didn't before, he knows now."
Vash doesn't touch upon the consequences of that, but Elizabeta understands sure enough. The goal of the day was to get in and out undetected, then sell the jewellery before anyone noticed they were gone. Shifting the goods will be difficult now, if not impossible.
Vash's actions might have all been for naught.
With aching bones, Vash climbs onto the motorcycle behind Elizabeta. He could do with resting a while longer, but it's probably best to get back home safe as soon as they possibly can.
Like always, he wraps his arms around her waist and waits for her to take off, but Elizabeta doesn't start the engine, instead she takes hold of the hands pressed against her stomach and squeezes
"Don't ever act so reckless again." She doesn't turn around to face him; some things are hard to say even without adding eye contact into the mix. And as much as she needs to let it all out, she doesn't cry, but her breath hitches as she speaks. "You could have gotten out safely, but you just had to get the jewels and you left it too late."
"I had no way of knowing he'd get hom-"
"Don't interrupt." She snaps, gripping him tighter. "You could have abandoned the whole thing, you know you spent too long in there. Don't ever risk yourself again because I won't forgive you next time."
Elizabeta lets him go and dabs at her eyes before taking hold of the handlebars. "Now let's get you home safe, okay ?"