It started to rain as I walked down the empty street, and within moments I was soaked. The drops were icy and stung as they struck my skin, but I didn't stop. I had to do this, had to complete what I had started. I fingered the gun in my jacket, steeling my resolve as I neared the school. Honestly, I had no idea if the men would be there or not, but it was a hunch I had a strong feeling about. Something told me that I would find them there, and I needed to trust my instincts.

Eventually the school came into view, and I sped up, determined to end this as soon as I could. The rain was falling even harder now, and I felt welts rising where the needle drops slashed against my bare skin. I bowed my head, my hair plastered against my cheeks. It seemed so clichéd to me that it was raining. In any movie, when the good guy died, it rained. This wasn't too good a sign, in my opinion. I was expecting a bullet in my back at any moment.

I climbed the chain-link fence bordering the school and hopped over, my feet thudding loudly onto the ground below. I was on a soccer field that was devoid of any grass. The rain had churned the dirt into a sludgy mud, and soon my shoes and the bottom of my jeans were coated in the thick, gritty substance. I slowed my pace, unsure of where to go. What if they weren't even here? Where would I go now?

The razor click of someone removing the safety from a gun answered my question. I felt the freezing barrel placed against the base of my neck, but I didn't jump. I had been expecting this, after all.

"Congratulations, you found us. And I thought we were going to have to come hunt you down."

"I had a feeling you'd be here," I said, slowly slipping my hand into my jacket. My fingertips had barely brushed the metal of my own gun before the pressure of the gun muzzle increased ever so slightly. I removed my hand from my jacket and let it dangle by my side.

"Don't try any tricks with us, you hear me?" The muzzle pressed even harder against my wet skin. "You'll be dead before you get your finger on the trigger."

A figure came toward me through the pounding rain; I recognized the thick-set man that had beaten me. He stopped a few feet in front of me, eyes cold and glittering above the cloth that covered his face. I gazed steadily back at him, no trace of fear in my expression. I had made my decision a long time ago, and nothing would frighten me now.

The man behind me jabbed at my neck with his gun. "Get on your knees," he ordered. I complied without a word, the freezing mud quickly soaking through the knees of my jeans. "Now, tell me. Who told you that we would be here?"

"Roxas did," I replied. "Remember him? You were planning on using him as a threat to Riku. Now you tell me—is it humiliating to fail at blackmailing Riku twice?"

The man in front of me kicked me suddenly and viciously in the face. I hit the ground hard, my cheek pressed into the chilling mud. Rain still pounded down around us, the sharp drops against my face keeping me conscious. The thinner man behind me grabbed me by my collar and yanked me up so that I was halfway off the ground.

"You little bastard!" he snarled. "We were going to kill you quickly, but you've changed that plan."

The man in front of me punched me one, twice, three times in quick succession. My head lolled limply, blood pouring in a thick stream from my mouth to the ground like syrup. I managed to smile weakly; I was numb inside, and there was not a trace of emotion in me. I had lost my mom. I had lost Riku, the one person I lived for. I had lost every friend and family member I had. I realized at that moment that I had not come to the playground to kill these men; I had not come to try and salvage what future I had left.

I had come here to die.

Somewhere deep inside, I had known that I could never beat these men. Hell, I didn't even know how to properly use a gun. But by ending it here, by letting these men win, I was finding closure on a life that was no longer worth living. As corny and cliché as it was, I couldn't live without love, and that was what I had lost. And so, I couldn't keep doing this. I was ready to go.

The man behind me let go of my shirt, and I rolled onto my back with difficulty. "Is this how you get your kicks?" I laughed, blood spraying from my lips as I coughed violently. "Beating up defenseless people?"

A shot cracked through the air as the thin man fired his gun, and for a moment I was certain that I was dead. He hadn't aimed at me, however—the bullet buried itself in the mud several feet to my side. He came to stand over me, dark eyes cold as stone.

"I will take great pleasure in watching you die," he hissed.

I had to stop myself from laughing. He sounded like he was straight from an old movie.

"Just get it over with already," I said. "I'm getting bored."

The man cocked his gun and aimed the muzzle just inches over my heart. It seemed like slow motion as his finger squeezed the trigger, and I closed my eyes, waiting to die.

Three things happened all at once. There was a shout from behind us as someone came racing toward us. Caught off guard, the man jerked his head around in surprise and fired his gun. The bullet tore into my arm, but it wasn't half as bad as it could have been. And I, taking the opportunity at the men's surprise, rolled onto my stomach, whipped out my gun, and fired blindly. My bullet hit the heavy-set man in the leg, and he dropped to the ground with a groan.

I jumped to my feet, blood running in ribbons down my shaking arm. I spun to face the thin man, but he had forgotten I even existed. His gaze was fixed on the man that stood about twenty feet away, the sheets of rain obscuring his face. But even though I couldn't see him, I knew in my heart who had come.

"Leon, Cloud," Riku said, his familiar, cold, detached voice sending shivers of happiness down my spine. "How nice to see you again."