I do not own Gallagher Girls.
.Red.
Zach's favorite color is red.
In the quiet moments, where he's almost fully relaxed, he thinks it's because of leaves.
After all, fall has always been his favorite season. His father and him had a tradition, that every year on the last day of autumn they would slip outside in the middle of the night and collect the red leaves splayed through the dew on the front lawn. His father said it was a Goode family tradition; that he had done the same with his father years and years before.
Then he died, of course, and Zach thinks it's because of blood.
After all, P&E has always been his favorite subject. When his parents never came back, he couldn't help but let everything come pouring out, the emotion behind his punches and kicks concealed but raging incessantly in his ears. He would bleed crimson, and his partner would bleed, too, and for a minute he would flash back and it would be so satisfying.
Then he started Covert Operations, and Zach thinks it's because of them.
After all, he read somewhere that you should wear vermillion when you wanted to feel, if only subconsciously, protected. Discovering the Circle of Cavan was hot on his trail and thirsty for his blood -- well, it was sure a wake-up call that rocketed Cove Ops to the forefront of his mind. He was in high school; yet him and that Gallagher girl were number one on one of the most dangerous spy association's hit list. His dad would be proud.
Then he met her, and Zach thinks it's because of love.
After all, he hadn't had much experience with girls. Going to an all boy's spy school had that negative effect. So when he saw her for the first time, the only other person in the world just as vulnerable as he was, smiling blissfully at her twirling friend…well, it was beautiful. He couldn't help but follow her around like a dazed puppy dog -- and then when she wore that ruby dress to the ball, oh how he'd laughed about it later.
Then he turns on the news, and Zach thinks it's because of guilt.
After all, shouldn't it have been him that got ambushed in the roof, not his Gallagher girl? Instead, he was cowering. Stuffed underneath a wild wig and insane eyebrows, he wasn't there when she was in trouble and there was nothing he could do to change that. She continued sneaking out and he was ready to rip something up. This was all his fault, he knows it when his vision goes scarlet. If he'd just been there on the roof, if he'd continued tailing them like he wanted to, it never would have gone so far.
Then he's stripped of his legend, and Zach thinks it's because of fire.
After all, watching the van speed right towards Cammie -- his Cammie -- was like letting himself get hit by a bus; impossible. But when he clutched her elbow and the cardinal blood was oozing all over her hair and down her neck he was ready to scream until the whole flippin' Circle of Cavan died and rotted. The man recognized him, and he shuddered because his cover was blown. They'd had no idea where he was for a while now, but the Circle would be informed of his whereabouts soon. She's safe, though, and that's all that he can really focus on through the fire.
He doesn't think before he leaps, but of course Zachary Goode won't regret it.
No matter if his favorite shirt was ruined, forget that his cover had been blown through the roof, never mind the fact he'd ignored Solomon's direct orders. Someone had to jump.
She was safe. She was absolutely, positively, alive and well.
So Zach could sit back for a minute-- just a second -- and ogle the fascinating red (crimson vermillion ruby scarlet cardinal) blood oozing from his chest as the bullet jabs deeper into his heart.
Her thin, shaky fingers, tracing over the gaping hole in his chest, stained with his red blood, is the last thing he sees.
--
AN:
Yeah. I'd review that. ;]