Notes: Hello, everybody!

As usual I am very late, and as usual, I'm really sorry...

Thank you so much for all the kudos I've got. I hope you guys came prepared to suffer, because things are about to get even worse.

Yes, it's possible.

Yes, it's going to happen.

Once again, this is not beta-read, so I'm sorry if my mistakes are too terrible.

I hope you still enjoy it, though ;)

Chapter 14

Merlin sat on a chair by Maya's bed. The monitors were beeping steadily, her chest was rising and falling, her eyes closed.

The doctors were watching her closely, since she'd lost a lot of blood and they were worried about infection. She was deathly pale and breathing through machines.

Merlin shouldn't be here. As soon as he found out about her he should've run as far away as possible. He couldn't. He'd fought the pull for so long –so many years –that the idea of leaving while she was like this was a physical pain.

Soulmarks were complicated and even modern science couldn't explain them very well. There was no rhyme or reason for how people were matched and it was impossible to predict or manipulate it. Erasing it was nearly impossible and fighting it was futile.

Some people actually believed there was a god called Fate that controlled their whole lives. That there was someone up there somewhere mixing names for some reason, pushing people to go to places, turn corners, miss a bus; all so they could meet their soulmates. These cults were as common as the ones that believed that soulmarks were the devil's work.

Merlin had heard all about the pull; his mother loved telling the story of how she met his father. She was an Art student who deeply despised rugby for being a rough sport, but –for whatever reason –was convinced to watch that one particular match. His father wasn't from the town, his team was just there for a friendly game. He never smoked before a game, but decided to smoke before that one, because he was feeling nervous.

They met on the parking lot.

It was Fate, because that was how Fate worked. That was how Harry managed to come across a prostitute in his side of the town. Fate had a fucked up sense of humor and loved playing with them all.

Merlin could've done a million things differently in his life: he could've waited more to see if his mark would appear, he could've abandoned the Kingsman as soon as it did appear, he shouldn't have looked for her.

However, he did all of these things, and the point wasn't even if he was right or wrong, because the time was over, it was done. He couldn't go back and wish that things were different, because they weren't.

Maya was still way younger than he was –so much he didn't even want to think about it-, she was still an agent on an untrustworthy agency and she'd slept with Eggsy and Caradoc. Merlin was pretty sure she'd done it on purpose.

She was defending herself against him, she was putting walls, making sure he'd never look at her as anything other than a Rose.

That was how he should see her, a mark shouldn't change that. But it did.

The pull was so strong it was hard to breathe. Maybe it was because she was hurt, perhaps even dying, but Merlin couldn't stomach the idea of leaving her alone there. He couldn't get up and get out of the room, even though it would be for the best.

What did he think it was going to happen as soon as she woke up? Yes, she was waking up, there was no other option. But then what? They couldn't hug and make up. She didn't want him and he shouldn't want her.

But he still did.

He wanted her so badly he could barely think straight. He'd wanted her before she was in his life, and he wanted her even from very far away. He waited for her to grow up, kept his distance because it was the right thing to do, but in the back of his mind he was just counting the days until he could see her.

He knew he couldn't so he stopped waiting, even if he didn't stop wanting. It felt like it was impossible, and here were Caradoc and Harry proving that, despite all the good reasons, ignoring a soulmate so close was infeasible.

He looked for her that one time, because he needed to see. It felt wrong –it was wrong –and it was what kept him away all this time. He struggled with the desire to see her again, to know about her.

He had no right to be in her life right now, and he'd never have gone looking for her.

She was here anyway and she still wasn't his to keep.

But he still sat by her bed.

He was weak like that.

xXx

"Arthur?" Eggsy came in the cell, a frown on his face. "What happened?"

Nobody was looking at him. Harry actually looked ill, like he'd rather be anywhere but there.

"Galahad." Harry's voice was serious, firm. "I need to see your mark."

"My mark?" Eggsy repeated confused. "Why?"

"Please." The man asked.

The "please" confused Eggsy. He also didn't want to show his mark in front of these women, because they couldn't be trusted. He turned to Harry and opened his shirt, that way only the man could read the name.

"Monica Mary Fitzgerald was born on 21 March 1971." Monique informed them from her place, she wasn't even looking at anyone in particular. "You won't find any information about her, because she was born in a cult and they don't to paperwork. Gary Peter Unwin was born on 7 August 1992, and he became Galahad in 2014."

Eggsy turned to her in shock. "How do you know about her name?"

"I'd never forget it, Gary." She finally looked at him. "It hurt like hell when your name appeared on my chest. It hurt even more when they tried to burn it off." She pulled her shirt and showed them all at once.

It was hard not to look at the burn mark first: it was an ugly scar. It was old, but still there. If she was born on a cult it made sense, because it really looked like someone had tried to burn the mark, but she'd moved at the last minute, and it burned the other part of her chest.

The name was very clear on her skin: Gary Galahad Unwin. The final part of Unwin was hidden under the burnt tissue, but still… Pretty obvious.

"No." Eggsy shook his head immediately. "No! This is impossible! She can't be…"

"It's a real mark, Eggsy." Harry put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"You can't be her!" He yelled at Monique.

"Trust me, darling." She told him dryly. "I don't want to be her."

Eggsy took a step behind, like he'd been slapped.

"Hey!" Roxy protested, stepping closer to him.

"What?" Monique turned her freezing stare to Roxy. "There's no need to lie or sugarcoat. I gave my soulmate up, just like your precious Arthur and Merlin did."

"Why?" Eggsy demanded. "Why did you decide I wasn't good enough for you?"

"Are you blind, kid?" Now even Monique seemed to lose her cool. She turned fully to him, and the agents put their hands on their guns. "Look what your name did to me! Do you think I wanted to be burned? Do you think that this was fun?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Eggsy protested, as irrational as it was.

"It makes no difference!" She ranted. "If you didn't exist I wouldn't have this. If you didn't exist I wouldn't have been held down by my father, while my mother prayed for my soul, my baby sister cried and a man put a hot poker to my skin."

A shocked silence fell on the whole room. Eggsy couldn't even look at her right now.

"So yes, you didn't choose to be my soulmate, you didn't put this on my skin, but you existing? It wasn't a favor to me. It was a curse." She was calmer again. "I didn't want you back then and I sure as fuck don't want you now." She turned to Harry. "Are you happy now that you put him through this?"

"I'm gonna shoot her!" Roxy declared, pulling her gun out.

Pippa got to Roxy first, grabbing her arm and twisting it. "You touch her, I'll kill you."

"Everybody stop this now!" Harry ordered, but it fell on deaf ears.

Things were about to get ugly.

xXx

The Kingsman tailor shop was in a charming part of London. The place itself was small but tastefully decorated.

Lynda could barely wait to see it go up on flames.

"Madam. We're about to close." The younger man behind the counter said.

"No, you are not." She informed him, pulling a gun and shooting him in the middle of his forehead.

She then turned to the other man there, this one older. Five of her own men had already entered on the store and closed the door behind themselves.

"Call your bosses." She told the man gently. "Now."

xXx

"Tell you girl to let go of Lancelot!" Harry ordered Monique.

"Tell your people to lower their weapons." She threw back, way calmer than he was.

"You have to stop this." Caradoc snapped at her. "The only ones that'll be harmed by this are you."

She arched a brow in his direction. "Does that mean you're going to let them shoot at us?"

Caradoc looked around. Pippa still had a hold on Roxy and Gareth and Urien were pointing guns in her direction. Eggsy and Harry didn't have their guns out, but Bors had one pointing at Agatha.

Dagonet had his aimed at Beatrice's head.

Shit.

"Arthur, stop this!" Caradoc barked at the other man.

"This has gone too far. Pippa, let Lancelot go!" Harry ordered the redhead.

"Tell your dogs to stand down first." She replied dryly.

"Just shoot one of them already." Urien said, not helping at all.

Dagonet cocked his weapon. "With pleasure."

That was when Caradoc pulled a gun on his teammate.

That actually made everybody else freeze.

"Caradoc!" Harry called, his voice shocked.

"Don't pull a gun on my soulmate." He hissed at Dagonet.

"You don't want to do this." Dagonet warned him.

"Caradoc, stop." Gareth called. "Or I'll shoot you."

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Agatha rolled her eyes. "Would you all stop this? I can't even keep track of who's gonna shoot whom."

"Not helping, Agatha." Beatrice hissed from her place.

"I don't give a fuck." The blonde informed. "They might as well kill us now. It makes no difference to me."

"Stop being overdramatic, Agatha." Monique chided, like they were all at the dinner table.

It was fucking ridiculous, all things considered.

Harry wasn't sure of what to do. His own agents were pointing guns at each other, Monique didn't seem inclined to help at all and he didn't trust Pippa not to kill Roxy at the slightest provocation.

This was the time his phone decided to ring.

Everybody turned to look at him, like he was the crazy one now. He even considered ignoring it for a moment, but this number was only known to the people of the agency; if someone was calling it, it was likely urgent.

"Nobody moves." He ordered, then pulled the phone out. "Arthur." He said as he answered.

They all saw his face changing, becoming darker, closed off. Something was terribly wrong. "We'll be there." He spoke to whoever was on the other side.

He then turned to Monique. "The Syndicate took the store." He informed her. "They're demanding that I bring you and your agents or they're going to blow the block."

"They would." Monique confirmed.

"So as you can see, I have no choice."

Monique arched a brow, somewhat amused by it. "Better let them kill us, right?"

He just nodded.

"Let Beatrice here." Monique asked. "And we'll all go."

"No!" Beatrice protested immediately. "Why do I have to stay?"

"Because we can escape later." Monique explained simply. "You won't be able to."

Beatrice pressed her lips together and refused to reply to that, so Monique turned to Caradoc. "Take care of her." She said seriously.

"I will." He promised.

Pippa let go of Roxy and came to stand by Monique. "Plan?"

"Let them take us." Monique confirmed. "Let's see what they want."

Agatha sighed. "Torture. Slow death. Pain and suffering." She offered.

"Likely." Monique confirmed.

Harry took a deep breath. "I'm going along. Lancelot, Urien and Bors are coming too." He decided.

"I wanna go!" Eggsy protested.

"No." Harry was firm. "Not when she's involved." He indicated Monique with his head.

"It makes no difference to me." He insisted.

"You will stay." Harry spoke firmly, leaving no room for arguments. "All of the others, we're going now. Caradoc, I need a word." The two men left to the side for a bit.

Monique patted Beatrice on the shoulder before leaving. She didn't really think she'd see the woman again. They'd probably die inside the shop.

xXx

The trip to the shop was done in the most suffocating silence ever. There wasn't one person there that was happy. Roxy was with Harry, Agatha and Monique on a wagon, while Bors and Urien had stayed behind with Pippa to get the next one.

Roxy remembered very well the night she saw Agatha for the first time; she'd thought that Harry's soulmate was amazingly beautiful. Even after the mission and being thrown in a cell, she was still a beauty queen, with her perfect platinum hair and amazing blue eyes.

Yes, she was beautiful. But she was also irreparably broken.

The same could be said for Monique: she was damaged beyond repair. Not because of the scar she had on her chest, but because of her soul.

Pippa had said it: they were pretty and broken, possibly beyond repair.

Roxy had lost her soulmate and she didn't think she was as destroyed as those women were.

"Do you know about Maya?" Agatha asked suddenly.

Roxy looked at Harry, deciding that it was best if he was the one to answer the question –or not.

"She had to go through surgery and they almost lost her. She's alive now, but she's in a bad shape." He answered honestly. "She is young and strong, so she might be able to get out of it, but the doctors are keeping an eye on her."

"Thanks." Agatha murmured, looking at her lap.

Nice, they were back to silence.

Just lovely.

The wagon stopped and they stepped out of it. They stood there waiting until the others arrived, just a few minutes later.

Harry turned to Monique. "The Syndicate destroyed your office and killed your boss."

Monique arched a brow, but just nodded at him.

"Is there anything they can offer you to get you on their side?" He asked.

"They killed Bridget. There's nothing they can give me that will make me forget that." She spoke, her voice serious and decided.

"That's what I thought." Harry pulled a small pistol from his jacket and gave it to her. "But we wait and see what they want."

"Deal."

"Arthur…"

"It is okay, Bors." Harry cut him. "I'll take responsibility for this."

Bors took a deep breath and offered a gun to Pippa. Urien remained stubbornly still, so Roxy gave one to Agatha.

"Let's see what they want."

The lift took them up to the store. Monique had hidden her gun on her pants and Harry had the barrel of his on her back.

Monique wasn't sure if the was doing it for show or not.

When they got out of the dressing room all of them assessed the situation as fast as they could. There were two of the tailors of the shop kneeling on the ground, each with a thug pointing a gun to their heads. There was a body –another tailor –peeking from behind the counter. They had brought a total of seven men.

There was a man in a suit –probably around his 50's –and a woman that…

"Lynda?" Monique called in shock.

Harry didn't know that Monique was capable of expressing emotions. They all had been through a roller coaster of them and she never even blinked. The closest she came to express any kind of feeling was when Merlin said that Eggsy was sleeping with Maya. Other than that she always appeared to be perfectly composed.

Not now.

She was frozen in place, like she'd seen a ghost. That made Harry look at the woman.

She was so similar to Monique that it was scary. They had the exact same hair color –which was beyond strange, considering it obviously wasn't their natural one -, the same shape and color of eyes, the exact same mouth…

"Hello, Monica." Lynda gave Monique a warm smile, even if something in her eyes didn't match it. "It's been a long time."

Monique cleared her throat, her normal mask falling perfectly in place. "It has. I go by Monique now."

Lynda snickered. "I'm sure you do." Lynda turned her eyes to Harry. "Arthur."

"Miss…"

"Mrs. Graham." She smiled pleasantly. "This is my soulmate, Robert."

Harry nodded at the man. "It's a pleasure."

Robert ignored him and looked at the women. "There were more of them." He commented.

"One of them died when we captured the hacker." Harry informed him. "She was shot and bled out. The other we killed because she tried to steal secrets from the agency."

"Fair enough." Lynda came closer to Monique, then pulled a butterfly knife. "You're still revoltingly pretty."

"I was always the pretty one." Monique shrugged.

"Ah sister dearest…" Lynda tapped Monique's cheek with the tip of the knife. "We have so much catching up to do."

Monique just snorted.

"Take that somewhere else." Harry asked, though his voice was mostly bored. "We already have enough blood on the carpet, we don't need more."

"You'll have to change it anyway." Lynda offered, but she put the knife away.

"We gave them to you." Arthur said. "Are we done?"

"Of course." Lynda said easily. "I have no problems with you. You're actually good for business."

Harry arched a brow. "I beg your pardon?"

"You take care of the lesser criminals that are a bother and the smart ones come running to our side for protection." Lynda informed Harry, her voice dripping conceit and smugness. "So you can keep doing a good work for us."

Harry was very glad that Eggsy wasn't there, because he knew the boy would want to shoot this woman and Harry wasn't sure he'd stop him.

"So all of this was personal?" Urien asked. "All of this mess so you could get your sister?"

Roxy rolled her eyes. Trust Urien to want to analyze the villain of the week.

"There's nothing more important than family, right, Monica?" Lynda asked her sister. "All that conversation about loyalty and family…"

"Is that why you are pissed, Lynda?" Monique arched a brow. "Because I left?"

"You know what I remember very clearly, Monica?" Lynda hissed at the other woman. "I remember being 12 and crying before the ceremony and you telling me that it was the right thing to do."

Monique just shrugged.

"And I also remember how that was exactly the opposite of what you did!" Lynda snapped.

"Well, when it was my turn I realized I didn't care for being burned." She said simply, completely unrepentant.

It was the wrong thing to say. Lynda grabbed Monique by the hair and pulled her down, until she was kneeling on the ground.

Roxy noted that Agatha and Pippa were becoming restless, since they treated threats against Monique as very personal.

"I only survived that night because you were there for me." Lynda hissed against Monique's ear. "All your kindness and courage, how you said you'd trade places with me if you could…"

"Not my fault you were stupid enough to actually believe that part." Monique offered.

Lynda balled her fist around Monique's hair, making the other woman gasp. "Well, I'm not stupid anymore."

Monique's eyes went to Robert. "Considering that you shacked up with your soulmate, I'll have to disagree."

Lynda pulled Monique up again. "We're going to have so much fun together. Catch up on a few family traditions…" Lynda's eyes dropped to Monique's chest on a significant way.

Monique didn't answer, just remained stubbornly quiet.

"I'll attack you." Agatha murmured to Harry. "Pretend I got my gun from you. Get your guys and get out."

"There are too many of them." Harry tried to keep his voice low. "You're not gonna make it."

"I'm pretty sure we all prefer to die like this. Stay down." She whispered, before pushing Harry and pulling his gun.

Agatha shot down two men, even before Pippa grabbed her own gun and shot another one.

There was a momentary scuffle, when Monique managed to break free from Lynda. She didn't get very far, since Robert grabbed her and pulled her back against his chest, using her as a shield.

"Drop the weapons now." He commanded the other women.

Agatha did it immediately –she had actually grabbed Arthur's weapon, so she had another one hidden -, but Pippa didn't.

"Get out of here." Harry ordered his agents.

"Arthur?" Urien called confused.

"Go now."

"No, sir." Roxy shook her head. "If you're staying, I'm staying."

"If you don't put your gun down, I'm going to blow her head up." Robert informed Pippa.

"Sorry. I'm a psycho, I don't give a fuck." Pippa informed him.

"Shoot him, Pippa." Monique ordered.

A shot ring and Agatha fell to the ground. "AGATHA!" Harry took a step in her direction.

"That was the warning shot." Lynda informed them.

"Yeah, well…" Pippa drawled, "This one isn't."

Pippa shot Robert in the middle of his forehead. It was a clean shot, perfect in its simplicity. It was also fucking effective, since he dropped to the floor.

"ROBERT!" Lynda screamed.

"Shit!" Bors cursed, pulling his gun and shooting the others around the room with the help of Urien and Roxy.

Pippa pulled Monique behind herself, giving her cover as Harry went to pick Agatha up. Two other men came in the shop and started pulling Lynda out, but she was screaming and cursing Monique.

"Should I kill her?" Pippa asked.

Monique was about to say "yes"; it was on the tip of her tongue. It didn't matter Lynda was her baby sister, it didn't matter all the nights they held each other when their parents became too crazed on their rants. It didn't matter she hadn't actually lied to Lynda the day she was burned: she would have traded places with her baby sister.

This woman wasn't her Lynda.

But… "I'll do it myself another time." She assured Pippa. "Let's go."

They turned to leave, following Harry that was carrying Agatha –even if they didn't know why they were doing it.

"Monica!"

Monique started to turn, but it was perhaps a bit too late. She heard the shot, it sounded fucking loud even in the middle of the chaos. She expected to feel the pain of the bullet –another one, since she'd been shot so recently -, it just never came.

The scream, the body that fell wasn't Monique's.

Notes: So yeah... A lot of bad moments.

Merlin sitting by Maya, Eggsy finally meeting his soulmate (surprised?) and the shooting...

Someone is about to die. Who do you thinks it's going to be?

I hope you liked it!