Sorry my chapters are late, I was having problems with Fanfiction. Anyone else unable to log in for the longest time?
The man that stood before her was not Shawn. In a sense it was, but the man she saw had changed so much he was almost unrecognizable. His cheeks were hollow, giving his shadow hidden face the illusion of a skull-like appearance. He looked as if he had aged years since the last time she saw him, but it was his eyes that shocked her. 'His eyes' she thought. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, but there was nothing that she could see in those windows. They were wild, untamed. Similar to the eyes of people she had already seen fall to madness. She held we gun steady, but at this point was unsure that she would be able to do the simple motion if pulling the trigger. Physically it would be easy, but mentally she knew it was hard to do. Flick a single switch, and know the person you pointed at was a goner. That they wouldn't come back. "Nat!" she heard Mal say over her walkie-talkie "did you find anything?".
"Shut it off" said Shawn suddenly.
"You're not in control here". Then he did something she had never seen him do, a clearly nervous gesture. He was wringing his hands, clearly distressed. "Nat? Can you hear me?". Natara did as she was told, not wanting to push him in this emotional state. Mal's voice ended as she flicked the switch. She was alone for this.
"Lock the door" he commanded. She slowly walked to to door, and noticed now that Shawn had a gun. It had been lowered, but as she neared the door he raised it at her. She did as she was told, her first instinct to do what he said. She was determined to bring him in alive, and until she thought of a plan of action she needed to stall.
"I want answers Shawn, how did you survive?" she said confidently. She thought she was trying to provoke fear in her, and if she remained calm he wouldn't kill her until he got what he wanted.
"I have have my ways" he said elusively "And some help from 'other's'".
"And by 'other's' you mean Genevieve" she said. Something shifted in him as she said that name, his speech became forced and strained. He ran a nervous hand through his short hair, clearly unnerved.
"She…she was using me…wanted you…" he said. Natara only listened. "…I got away…but I had to tell you…".
"Tell me what?" she said. Suddenly she realized, each message, each 'gift'. They were Genevieve's idea, up until a point. The ones that seemed controlled and perfect, they were her doing. The arrow must have been when he started to break away, and was a desperate cry for help. 'Hunting is not a game…To see if it will break…I can tell I am messing with your head…There's nowhere to run…'.
"You were trying to protect me, to warn me. Genevieve was trying to send me a message, and so where you." she finally said. There was a moment, a split second where a trace of the old Shawn seemed to come back. Then it was gone.
"And you needed to get my attention, get everyones attention so someone would figure it out" she said. "You didn't kill that girl, not willingly. It wasn't you, Genevieve manipulated you". A sudden noise startled her, someone was pounding at the door. "Natara! Are you in there?". This seemed to agitate Shawn, and he began to pace like a lion in a cage. 'Do not open until the time is right'. She had forgotten about the note until now. She quickly pulled it out, quietly opening it so not to attract Shawn's attention. With a shaking hand she pulled out a single piece of paper, and written in an untidy scrawl were the words:
'Finish it'.
At that point she knew Shawn was long gone, had died long before Genevieve had fished him out of the sea and patched him up. That he had truly died before he had even fallen into the water. In one of his few moments of sanity, he had written this. He didn't want to hurt anyone again, and wanted to be free. He didn't want her to know until just before, or else she might back out and try and save him, and he was to far gone. She knew what she had to do. "Shawn" she called again. He looked up, and Natara knew she wouldn't be able to do it if he was looking at her like that, despite the fact he has asked for it. She raised her gun, not planning to shoot until he made the first move. Some kind of instinct, one that was almost animal-like, seemed to take over. He charged at her, and when he did was when Natara fired. Once, twice, three times. He fell to the ground in a heap, three bullets embedded in his chest. He was dead before he hit the floor, and as if on cue Mal finally broke the lock on the door, bursting onto the roof. "Nat! Are you okay? I heard-". But he stopped when he saw Shawn. When he saw Natara once again walking away.