"We're here," Alfred said grimly.
They had pulled up to a large, wooden warehouse, built on the side of some weather beaten docks. Leaning against a post was Berwald, whom Alfred had called as back up. Slowly he approached them, as they got out of the car.
"Wh'ts the pl'n?" he asked, squinting at the cyclopean building in front of them.
"We go in."
"Alfred, shouldn't we wait for the rest of our teams to get here?" Arthur asked, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. He was unsuccessful.
"The deal could be going on right now, and we could be missing our only shot," whined Alfred. "I say we go in now."
Berwald frowned. It was true that back up would take awhile to assemble themselves and arrive, but the thought of going in without them seemed unwise. "We sh'l'd go," he sighed. Before he could say anything else, Alfred interrupted him saying:
"That settles it."
Stealthily the three of them set off for the large warehouse. As they got closer they found that all the ground floor windows were boarded up. "Wait here," Alfred whispered. Silently he crept up to one of the windows, and peered through the crack in between two loose boards. Through them he could see a young man with sandy hair, talking to another with dark brown hair. There seemed to be a lot of nodding and discussing. Alfred smiled, old Toris has done it again! When I see that chap again I really must buy him a decent meal. Seeing all that he needed Alfred returned to where his companions were waiting.
"They're making a deal alright. If we really are going, we go now," Alfred said almost cheerfully.
Arthur nodded with apprehension. He pulled out his gun, and began to check and see that it was loaded. Alfred did the same, before putting back in it's holster.
From his pocket Berwald pulled out a dog eared photograph. Arthur could see that it was of a petite man, with light hair. His arm wrapped around the shoulders of a small boy with blond hair and thick eyebrows. Both had large grins on their faces. Berwald kissed the photo and murmured something to himself. Putting it away he said, "Let's go."
The three police officers made their way to the door of the warehouse. Silently they opened it and made their way past large crates and boxes till they made their way to the center of the room.
"Freeze," called Alfred pulling out his gun.
The two men, who had been seen earlier by Alfred, turned to face their guests. Before anything more could be said there was a clattering of footsteps.
"Stop please!" cried the voice of a young woman.
"Lili?" Alfred asked in a puzzled tone. He turned and saw her racing towards them.
"It is a trap. You must get-" before she could say anything more the sound of a single bullet leaving the barrel echoed around the cavernous room, and she stumbled and fell.
"Lili!" Cried Arthur. Together he and Alfred advanced to where Lili lay. Her white blouse was quickly being stained by her own blood, the light in her green eyes fading away.
"Stay with me," Alfred cried grabbing her hand.
Arthur put a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "It's too late. She's gone."
"No," shouted Alfred his voice cracking from pain and fury.
"Arth'r!" Berwald cried.
Suddenly Arthur felt himself being pushed aside. He fell onto the hard cement, and watched in horror as Berwald's body was pierced with bullets. Still standing in the middle of the room were the two gentlemen from before, only now in their hands were smoking guns. Arthur crawled over to where Berwald lay dying.
He struggled to breath in, "t'll m'wife I lov'd 'im, and t'll m'son g'd'bye."
Arthur nodded, tears filling his eyes.
Through gritted teeth Berwald growled, "G't beh'nd th'se crates. I'll c'v'r you." He panted. "J'st m've me 'nd pr'p me up 'gainst someth'n."
Arthur dragged Berwald over to some crates and propped him up into a sitting position. Where Berwald then pulled out his gun and began firing at the two men fleeing from the center. Arthur ducked behind another crate and began shooting up in the rafters, where he had heard the bullet that killed Lili come from. In another direction he heard running, and more shooting which he guessed was probably Alfred. Soon even the echoes of the footsteps disappeared leaving only silence.
"Berwald?" Arthur asked. He made his way back to where he had left his friend. He found him dead, with a bullet between his eyes, one hand around his midsection trying to staunch the blood from his wounds. Another still holding his gun. On his face was a look of pure determination. Arthur fell to his knees crying, "thank you Berwald. Thank you, for everything."
"Arthur?" said a voice curiously.
Immediately Arthur spun around, his gun cocked, only to find Alfred. He dropped his gun, and the loud echo filled the silence. "Oh it's only you," he sighed wearily.
"Yeah," Alfred said. "I think it's over now. I-I searched the whole place, no one's here but us."
"Did you manage to catch anyone?" Arthur asked bleakly.
"No," Alfred sounded bitter. "I shot some chap in the leg to stop him from escaping, but when I started to question him, he blew his brains out."
Arthur flinched. He looked around at the corpses of his friends. Hoarsely he whispered, "so this was all for nothing then?"
"Don't you dare say that!" Alfred's head had snapped up. "I will not allow the deaths of Berwald and Lili to mean absolutely nothing. God wouldn't be that cruel! Don't you for one second suggest that their lives were wasted! Don't you think that I wish it could be another way?! Don't you-"
"Hush, love," Arthur crooned. "Of course I know. They were my friends too."
Alfred visibly drooped. He fell to the ground, and lay with his head in Arthur's lap sobbing. Arthur soothingly ran his fingers through Alfred's hair, murmuring things like "it's alright" or "hush, love. I know". He let his own tears fall, and be buried in Alfred's hair. This is how their co-workers found them ten minutes later.
Hours of digging through the crates yielded nothing that could tie Ivan Braginski to the place. The crates had been filled with old news papers and straw, and the lease for the building was under a false name. Tired and defeated the police left, taking their fallen compatriots with them.
The drive back for Alfred and Arthur was mostly filled with silence.
"H-how am I going to tell Vash? The ole chap will be heartbroken," Alfred murmured weakly.
More silence ensued. Arthur reached his hand into his breast pocket and pulled out a purple, ribbon.
"What's that?" Alfred asked.
"I never gave this to her. I- I was supposed to give this to her, but I-I forgot," Arthur said, a new wave of grief hitting him.
They finally arrived at the home of Dr. Vash Zwingli. Tiredly Alfred knocked on the door.
Vash opened it, "what is it old boy? What's happened?"
"Will you just let us in, please?" begged Alfred.
Vash nodded, and showed them in to his poorly furnished sitting room.
"I have some bad news for you," Alfred said, forcing the words from his mouth.
"Well? Say it," Vash said seriously.
"You will remember that I had gotten a lead on this case, right?" Alfred asked stalling for time.
"That was the reason you left in such a hurry I know," Vash said tiredly. "Lili left in such a state as well. I wonder where that girl has gotten to. It's not like her to stay out."
Alfred's shoulders sagged. "It's because she came to warn us."
"Warn you? Warn you about what?" Vash's face grew concerned, and then suspicious.
"It was a trap, the whole thing was a trap. Those pikers had torpedoes everywhere waiting for us to come in, and your girl was caught in the middle of it-"
"Get out."
"I'm awfully sorry-"
"GET. OUT." Vash said rising from his seat. He walked over to his desk and pulled from it a small pistol. "GET. OUT. NOW."
"Come, Alfred," Arthur said, pulling at his arm in vain.
"Look, I said I was sorry-"
Vash's face contorted with more pain and grief. "She looked up to you! Did you know that? She trusted you! She admired you! She was helping you, and you? You let her die, Alfred. You are no hero. Everyone around you gets hurt. Your brother, Arthur, and now Lili. My Lili is gone. Gone because of you! Now get the hell out of my house, or I will shoot you."
Alfred's face had turned ashen, and he seemed to forget how to move.
"Come Alfred," Arthur said briskly. "We are leaving."
This time he was easily able to pull Alfred away, leaving only a heartbroken doctor in his now forever empty home. As Arthur closed the front door, he could hear the heart wrenching sobs of a man who had lost his fiance. Shaking away another wave of grief, he led Alfred to his car. Together the two of them drove off. Leaving nothing but a house of sorrow behind them.
Well that was really depressing. Sorry for not updating in awhile, I've just been super busy lately. I hope that you guys liked it, I know that I suck at writing death scenes..so any pointers or comments would be welcome. Seriously I love reviews, and it would be awesome if you left just one, before leaving this page. Even a itty-bitty one is appreciated. So yeah! Please leave one! And thank you to everyone who has been reading this since the beginning. I love you guys! ~T.W.o.W. PS, it does get less depressing..eventually I promise, more romance is on it's way~