Your stomach lurches. Oh gog. What the fuck are you supposed to do?
Time begins to crawl by, but you can't bare to stare at Feferi's expression. Only the gun pointed at her temple. The man notices your stare and shoves the barrel more forcefully against her skull.
"Everyone, freeze!" he screams. Quoting the movies, you note. Maybe he was an amateur.
An amateur with balls, but nonetheless. Your breath hitches as your already tense muscles freeze into place. Feferi's whimpering and crying has slowed to muffled snips for fear of the trigger. All of her beauty, her grace; washed away with fear for her own life. This knotted in your gut worse than anything you've ever felt before.
Was it fear that you could lose the girl because you were scared? Was it that her expression- this helpless, utterly frightened girl- reminded you of Aradia's dying moments?
Oh gog. Don't think about her, you scream in your head. Your knees begin to shake and wobble, threatening to collapse. How could you be so weak? Feferi needed your scrawny ass. Get it in gear!
The man adjusts his grip on the handle. He's scared, too. He's shaking. With fear, you hope. But then you get it.
This sick fucker isn't after money. He's not after anything that this mall, above any other ones, could ever have to offer. And he isn't after Feferi as an individual.
He's after the thrill. He's shaking from anxiety. There isn't a fiber of his being that wouldn't give his own heart to pounce on the trigger. But if he shot right away, it wouldn't be as fun. And he would undoubtedly do jail time simply for having a hostage. No. This man would draw blood. He would shoot. He would kill.
And knowing this washed away every grain of fear in you, instead, replaced with pure rage.
You snap forward, blinded by anger. Your left hand latches onto Feferi's shoulder, and your right hand grabs the barrel of the gun, ripping it away. Feferi screams loudly.
You can feel your heart in your ears. You can hear the man curse and scream. His elbow recoils back and thrusts forward, jamming the gun into your chin. This sends a jolt of pain through your body, and you collapse backward.
Feferi screams. "Sollux!" she shrieks, but the man has wrapped his arm around her abdomen and pushed her forcefully onto the floor. Her skirt catches, and her head slams against the tile.
Your vision is blurry and you struggle to sit up. The man has his boot dug into her side, and the gun aimed...
At you.
Your eyes widen as your glasses fall of your face. They clatter to the ground. You see the wicked look in this murderer's eyes. He's done it before.
As you purse your dry lips to try and scream, you hear the click of his finger pulling back. Your shoulder recoils violently and blood spurts from the impact of a metal bullet diving into your flesh. You want to scream, but it seems as if it's happening too slow. Feferi screams for you, trying to knock the man off his feet. He aims the gun at her.
You watch dully as a bullet digs into her upper thigh. Blood soaks her once light pink skirt. You feel yourself melt against the ground.
You had failed.
Your hand reaches up and latches onto his wrist. The barrel of the gun is still warm, and you're shaking. Your gaze lifts up and locks the man in the eyes. A deadly stare.
"Don't. Take. The. Girl."
He searches your eyes and bellows with laughter. He doesn't have to fight you to get the gun pressed squarely in the middle of your forehead.
"I like your ambition, punk." you can feel his grin. His blood-lust. "I won't kill her. Maybe."
And he pulls the trigger.
Feferi screams louder, tears pouring down her cheeks.
It was a blank.
Your body jolts into movement. The chances of getting a single missed bullet were second to none. The man pulls away from you, knocking the butt of the gun against his hand. "Gog damnit!" he swears, struggling to aim it perfectly at you again.
It doesn't matter. You run at him, butting your shoulders and head against the lower of his abdomen, and you run, pushing him against the nearest railing of a set of stairs. You're fueled with rage, and you hoist his legs up and over your own shoulders. Your body begins to shake as you watch him slide off the side of the railing, screaming and flailing as he plunged a good two stories down to hard tile.
Crack.
His skull breaks open like an egg, and blood pools around his body. Your hands shakily grasp the railing, overexerted from strength you never guessed you would have.
You are Sollux Captor, you remind yourself as you sink to your knees. And you just killed a man.