Hello my lovelies! Yes, I'm cruel for the cliffhanger. Gotta keep you guys on your toes! Sorry about the delay, I've been nervous to post this so I've been hyper-editing.

21

She turned around, facing her apartment. It was too quiet, where was-

"Sydney?" she called out as she looked around, taking a few steps forward as she shrugged off her coat and hung it up on the wall next to her hall table.

However instead of Sydney cat greeting her, she heard a familiar voice that turned her blood cold.

"Honey, you're home."

For a couple of months after she saw him for what she thought was for the last time, his final words had haunted her:

'Mark my words bitch, you're not rid of me. I'll be seeing you again!'

She'd believed him; knew what he was capable of. For a while after that his voice followed her; a customer at the grocery store, a classmate whispering in the lecture hall, she even once heard his actual singing voice on the local radio station while driving and broke down crying and had to pull over.

It had been at least a few more months since she'd purged his voice, imaginary and real, from her mind and memory.

But it was his voice she heard now.

And she wasn't imagining things.

"What's got you out so late? You know how I hate it when you stay out late."

Her skin turned colder as his voice filled the silence, she heard his heavy boots – she knew how heavy they were – thumping on her hardwood floor, soon appearing in the doorway to her living room. He stood there, watching her, his large frame blocking the light; with his black curly hair, freckles, leather jacket and all.

Her hands were shaking as she dropped her keys into the bowl on her hall table. And on the underside of it was the gun Eggsy gave her. She'd installed it as soon as Roxy had left, using leftover nails and her IKEA tool set to attach the holster to the bottom of the table.

She moved fast, bending over to reach under the table, her heart falling when she felt the holster – but no gun.

"Looking for this?"

She stood up straight, her eyes coming upon the gun aimed right at her.

"This is quite a piece you've got here, nothing I've ever seen before… but it's not a toy, you know," he said, though with the way he was waving it around, he treated it as such.

She took a small step forward.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

He winced and shook his head, making a dismissive and belittling 'tch'ing noise.

"Language, babe."

She bit her tongue and refrained from biting his head off with a string of curse words while at the same time wanting to scream for help.

He was acting normal; as though they'd seen each other just that morning and exchanged pleasantries. When they were together such mornings meant her avoiding his gaze as she quietly made breakfast for both of them, focusing on getting the eggs just right and not spilling a drip of coffee to stay safe. All the while he would go on about something or another while he lounged at the table, smoking a cigarette and acting as though the night before he wasn't connecting his fist with her face, stomach, her ribs…

He was now acting as though the fight, the hospital, and the court proceedings never happened. She realized she was back where she was with him: hopeless. Again. He was the one holding the gun.

Should she make a break for it? Yell out for Eggsy?

"Where's Sydney?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"That damned thing? Thing scratched me so I stuck her with some glass. Probably curled up in a hole to die, we can only hope."

"You fucking son of a-"

"Ah, ah, ah, language," he said, shaking his head and raising the gun.

She stopped, taking in a shaky breath.

He said something about glass… she turned to look at her back door and saw a mess. The glass panels were broken in, the soft curtains ripped and in a pile on the floor. She was pretty sure it was a small trail of blood she saw that headed down the hall and up the stairs.

Sydney.

She took another step but Mikey made that 'tch'ing noise again and she stopped. She raised her hands to show a sign of surrender as she kept her calm, trying not to scream in anger as she begged.

"I won't do anything – just let me see if she's okay," she said slowly. She wanted to say 'please' but that would elevate his level in the situation.

Mikey titled his head.

"I told you she scratched me. I'm hurt, Ariel. What about me?"

She swallowed her dry mouth, trying not to roll her eyes despite her inner panic attack.

"Let me get some antiseptic, I'll patch it up for you," she said, trying her best not to look at the gun. A semblance of a plan was going through her mind, but she couldn't let Mikey know it.

She met his eyes and almost flinched. She recognized that glazed over look: red-shot eyes, pupils almost at half mast. Whatever he was on now, she knew it was mixed with alcohol; she could even smell it. But his actions: him breaking through her backdoor, acting as though they were together again... he was on something else as well.

"Don't want it to get infected," she continued, mapping out her house in her mind. The wall she was closest to was on Eggsy's side… if she got to maybe the bathroom, kitchen, even upstairs, she could bang against the wall and get his attention – if he was still awake. She could only hope he would have trouble sleeping and go out to his balcony… he'd have to notice her broken door.

This wasn't a situation she was prepared for. Mikey was a wild card. The smallest thing would set him off when they were together – she didn't want to imagine what would happen when she set him off while he was holding a gun.

"Here," she said, taking a step down the hall towards the bathroom and kitchen. She felt cold metal push into her neck as Mikey grabbed her from behind, turning her and shoving her face first into the wall – she turned her head at the last moment and winced when her cheekbone hit the surface. He stepped close behind her, crowding her body with his, reminding her just how big he really was. She closed her eyes, trying not to cry, picturing to herself that he wasn't really there, bringing up how weak and useless she felt when he was around her.

"You stay right there. I'll go get the Band-Aids and shit."

He pressed the nuzzle of the gun deeper into her neck and she took in a breath.

"Okay," she said shakily, her eyes still closed.

His body and the gun left her and she heard Mikey's stumbling steps down the hall. She opened her eyes to watch him finding the bathroom, disappearing through the doorway.

She slipped her feet out of her heels and took soft steps down the hall, barely making any noise with her stockings.

Mikey was muttering and making a mess of her bathroom, she could hear as he opened drawers and a crashing noise echoed down the hall. She reached the doorway and peeked through, risking moving one eye around to see what was going on. He was cursing now because one of the drawers he'd pulled out had fell and landed on his boot.

With Mikey so occupied she raced to her kitchen, grabbing a knife and rushing to the wall she knew was on Eggsy's side, banging her fist a few times.

She stopped and waited to see if Mikey had noticed, but she heard only more cursing and sounds of things being thrown about as he searched for Band-Aids – which were under the sink – she'd never really had a need for Band-Aids that much.

She frowned, thinking of something else that could get Eggsy's attention. She needed his help. He had guns. He had spy training. He could take Mikey down. She'd probably suffer worse injuries that Mikey had ever given her if she tried to fight back on her own now... he had her gun; he could kill her.

But she wasn't dying tonight.

She opened one of her cupboards and grabbed two mugs, rushing back to the back door, coming up to the balls of her feet to maneuver around the mug the best she could, using the ripped curtains to step on.

She stepped onto her balcony and turned, throwing the first mug over onto Eggsy's balcony. It didn't break… just bounced and rolled, making a clang as it hit the far railing.

"Shit!" she cried out softly. She shifted the knife she had to her left hand and stepped up to the railing, coming up on her toes and throwing in a down arch, putting everything she had as she threw the second mug.

It broke, shattering into pieces.

She didn't have time to exhale in relief as someone grabbed the back of her head, pulling on her hair.

"Fucking bitch!" Mikey seethed behind her.

She cried out and moved her hand back with a shove, bringing up the knife to stab at him. His grip released and she looked towards Eggy's door again. She couldn't stay on the balcony, cornering herself like this.

Last hope…

"Eggsy!" she yelled out, close to a scream.

She turned and stepped around Mikey and didn't bother tiptoeing around the glass, cursing when she felt a small cut on the bottom of her foot.

"I swear to god I'll shoot, bitch!" she heard him yell, hearing the crunch of glass under his large boots as she stumbled back into her flat.

She ran to the bathroom slamming the door and leaning against it, her heart and even her brain pumping heavily, her head throbbing.

The mugs were her last hope, and now she was alone to fight him off.

Eggsy could've been dead asleep already. Maybe he had to rush out for some mission. Maybe a neighbor heard the commotion and was calling the police. Maybe… maybe… maybe… that's what her fate was riding on. If he didn't have her gun, it might've been different…

The door rattled behind her with a thump. She let out a sob as she pushed on the door, willing for the lock to hold. It only took Mikey two more kicks before it cracked open, throwing her forward.

She turned, arching her arm with the knife, barely nicking his jacket before he grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm at the wrong angle. She cried out, her hand losing it's grip, the knife clattering to the floor as he wrapped his arm around her neck from behind.

"Good girl," he slurred into her neck. She tried to twist away, bringing up her other hand to try and wedge it between him and her body, but he kept his grip tight, cutting off her breath as he brought the barrel of the gun to her neck again. "Stay still… good girl," he said as he took a step back, using his arm around her neck to drag her into the hall.

"What are you doing here? How – how did you find me?"

"That kid… Dylan was his name, yeah? Your mum and dad's little lapdog."

She froze, her breath catching at the words, and more-so at the fact he still had an arm around her throat.

Didn't Dylan know about Mikey? She was sure that Dylan knew about him, she'd gotten into fights with her mom about him in the lab when the first bruises started showing. She vividly remembered the embarrassment of her mother's raised voices while the other students pretended they weren't listening as they did their work and she knew for a fact Dylan was one of those students that heard it all.

She saw something out of the corner of her eye and struggled in Mikey's grasp so she could look without being obvious.

She almost cried out in relief when she saw Eggsy on her balcony: gun in hand, pointed at them. But she stayed silent, her mind reeling. He couldn't kill Mikey… they couldn't just cover that up so easily – a policeman's brother?

"No!" she cried out, shaking her head, using the movement to turn and meet Eggy's gaze. He blinked, his eyes widening, his arms slightly falling.

Mikey, with his head still in her neck, didn't notice him and thought she was replying to him.

"Yeah, he didn't recognize me, the idiot. All those times I came to your parent's lab. Your bitch of a mother never-"

She yelled out and raised her foot, kicking back at his knee and dropping her weight to wrench out of his grasp as soon as it relaxed. She turned as soon as she got free, her fist flying, hitting Mikey right on his jaw, adding another punch to his Adam's apple.

Mikey choked and stepped back, her gun finally dropping from his hand as he reached to clutch at his throat. She stepped forward and was able to get in an uppercut, his head flying back and hitting the wall he was leaning on. She drew back to punch him again but he kicked her stomach. She fell back, hitting the wall as she yelled out.

She heard another yell and saw Eggsy flying through the air as he hit Mikey hard, tackling him to the ground.

They rolled down the hall and Mikey ended on top, his fist coming down hard on Eggsy's face, his head snapping to the side. Mikey pulled his arm back to hit him again but Eggsy caught his fist and twisted around his arm, kicking off the floor to land on top, getting in a few punches, a squirt of blood erupting from Mikey's nose. He grabbed Mikey's jacket to lift him up and then slam his head on the hardwood, Mikey letting out a groan as his arms became limp.

Eggsy stopped and rolled away, coming to his knees and looking at her.

"Ariel, are you-"

"I'm fine. Don't-"

"Where's the gun?"

"Eggsy!" she cried out, her eyes widening and she could only watch as Mikey's foot arched around and hit Eggsy's side. She turned away wincing, but she had to find the gun.

She crawled to the hall, the sounds of the two men fighting filling the air as she looked around. She scrambled to her feet when she saw it lying on the ground nearby. With shaking hands she picked it up, testing the weight in her hands as she walked back her living room, following the sounds of the fight.

When she turned around the doorway she saw Eggsy sitting on top of Mikey again, his arms flying, the sounds of punches echoing in the air. His knees were on either side of Mikey's large frame, locking in Mikey's arms.

Eggsy stopped soon enough, grabbing Mikey's collar and shaking, his head banging against the hardwood floor again.

Ariel stepped forward, still unnoticed, the gun tight in her grasp.

"She's mine," Mikey spat out, more blood from his mouth and his nose flying.

Eggsy shook his head and fidgeted with his fingers. Ariel noticed he was wearing a pinky ring, which he was pressing at with his thumb and she heard something like an electric charge before he brought his hand to Mikey's neck.

Ariel could only watch in surprise as Mikey's body twitched about – as though being tazered, and she swore she heard the faint sound of an electrical charge.

"I don't think so, bruv," Eggsy seethed as he drew his hand back, Mikey's body finally coming still. He only let out a choked and broken laugh, though, still conscious.

Eggsy reached into his jacket pocket – he still had his suit on – and brought out a pen, twisting off the cap. Ariel raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell he could do with such a menial object but gasped when Eggsy brought his hand down and stabbed Mikey in the chest with it.

Eggsy flipped up the small clip used to keep the pen tucked in and brought a hand to Mikey's neck, lightly strangling him.

"If you liked my ring, you'll love this. Its poison, you know what that is, right? I flip this little switch and you're dead in seconds," Eggsy said, his tone of voice so menacing; nothing that Ariel had ever heard before.

Mikey stilled and stopped struggling against him. Eggsy grinned, his own mouth bloody as he looked down at him.

"Now listen here, an' listen well. You made a huge mistake, comin' after her."

Ariel stepped forward, wanting to hear everything, wanting to see the look of defeat on Mikey's face – even if it wasn't her that put it there.

She almost smiled at the sight of Mikey looking helpless like she did so many nights: the blood and cuts on his face, even the pen sticking out of his chest had Ariel feeling some sort of relief.

"But I'm feelin' generous, so Imma let you go. But if I eva hear your name, if I see ya face ever again, I'll finish you," Eggsy reached up and pushed the pen further into Mikey's chest, ignoring the cries of pain as he continued, "I don't care about your connections, bruv, I know about your brother. Even think about coming back, I'll make ya regret it. And if I see you again, I'll make sure you never see her or anythin' else, ever again. Ya get me?"

Ariel's heart caught – she could even feel Eggsy's rage.

"Ya get me?" Eggsy almost yelled it this time, leaning even closer to Mikey, pushing the pen further down a little bit more so the small switch was almost reaching Mikey's shirt. When she heard Mikey whimper, it was as though the sound stirred her into action.

She cleared her throat, stepping forward again, raising her arms to aim the gun at Mikey, using both hands to hold it like she saw Eggsy had done.

They both turned to look at her, but Ariel kept her gaze on Mikey's bloody face. He looked back at her through one good eye, the other bloody and swollen shut by Eggsy's doing.

"Ariel…" Eggsy said slowly, but she shook her head.

"Why wait for him to come back?" she asked, noticing her hands and her voice were shaky, but she readjusted her grip and held on tightly to the gun, her finger ready to pull the trigger but not touching it.

"Ariel, give it to me," Eggsy said softly, standing up, taking a step towards her.

She looked over at him, his hand reaching for her, waiting. She shook her head, walking around them, the gun still aimed at Mikey. Thankfully the bastard was staying silent.

"Self defense," she said, her voice as shaky as her stance, "He came to me. I'm not in breach of the fucking restraining order if he came to me."

"You don't-"

"He attacked me. He broke in."

"Ariel…" Eggsy faded off. She tightened her grip on the gun as she aimed it at Mikey.

She wanted to kill him, forget him rotting in jail. She wanted to end him, easy as that. Make sure that no one else was on the receiving end of his sick and twisted mind, his violence, his abusiveness, both mental and physical...

She was aiming at his heart. She'd never fired a gun before, but knew if she kept her stance, kept her tight grip, she'd hit her target.

Mikey took advantage of the moment - surprising in his 'influenced' state, throwing Eggsy off of him as he stumbled to stand up, his gaze fleeting around the room until he saw her, taking a step forward as his gaze turned almost deadly.

She kept her arms straight, but her grip was shaky.

"Weak little-"

He was cut off as Eggsy dropped to the floor on his hands and kicked his legs out, knocking Mikey off his feet. She blinked at how quick it was, but then focused on Mikey kicking his legs to crawl away as he rested on the wall.

She found her steady grip again, her aim pointed right at Mikey's chest again.

"I swear to god if you take one more step, if make another move towards him I will fucking shoot you."

Mikey coughed and spat some blood at Eggsy's feet before turning to face her. She blinked at all the bruises and cuts on his face, mostly covered in blood, the pen still stuck in his chest. He followed her gaze and winced as he pulled it out and tossed it to the side.

"No you won't babe. You're too weak."

She let out a shuddering breath, her knuckles turning white she was gripping the gun so hard.

Mikey shook his head.

"You're the weak type, could see it from a mile away. It's why I chose you. A weak little duckling ready for a beating-"

She lowered her aim and pulled the trigger. She jumped back at the loud noise, followed by a cry of pain. She blinked at the ringing sound in her ears quickly fading as she watched Mikey clutching his leg, a spot of blood in his jeans growing.

Ariel took a few steps forward, still holding the gun. She knew that he'd listen to her now.

"Do you remember your broken nose and arm, or should I re-jog your memory, though these will be with a little more kick."

Mikey stayed silent, still looking at her.

She opened her mouth to continue but suddenly there was a crack and her door was thrown open. A big, scruffy looking man stepped forward, eyes wide.

"What's goin' on? Thought I heard a gunshot-" he stopped mid-sentence at the sight in front of him. "What… the hell?" he said, looking at Ariel, then at Mikey and Eggsy on the ground. He raised his hand which had a cell phone in it, his finger about to tap the screen.

A whizzing noise broke the silence and Ariel saw a small object hit the man's neck. He didn't have time to say or do anything else as his eyes rolled up and he crumbled to the floor, unconscious.

Ariel turned to look at Eggsy, sitting against the other wall, his arms raised with his hand on his watch. He sighed and rested his head against the wall as he dropped his arms, swallowing as he looked up at her.

"You were sayin'," he said softly, his eyes at half mast. Ariel frowned but Eggsy gave a short nod as she turned back to Mikey, remembering what she wanted to say before the stranger interrupted.

"Do you remember the last time you hit me, Mikey?" she asked.

His eyebrows twitched, his eyes glaring at her. She grinned, and nodded.

"Yeah, you do. I fought back, remember that? Didn't expect that, did you? Tell me, did you hit all of your girlfriends? Did you abuse them like you did me?"

Mikey coughed and winced, groaning, but then he grinned, showing a mouth of blood. She didn't waver from his gaze.

"Only you, love," he spat out, more blood flying from his mouth.

She raised her arms again, closing one eye as she aimed at a specific point on his chest, taking in a deep breath to steady her aim before she pulled the trigger on him a second time.

Mikey yelled out, his body seizing for a moment before he went limp.

Ariel sighed, not even surprised as tears rolled down her cheeks. She dropped the pillow and the gun, stumbling back, falling to the ground when her back hit the wall.

Eggsy was there the next second, holding her face, turning her head to look up at him.

"Ariel," he said slowly, one of his hands moving over her face, the other running down her arms.

"I got his spleen, I think. I didn't kill him," she muttered, her eyes out of focus. Eggsy took in a shuddering breath but nodded.

"I called in for some back-up the second I heard ya yell out. They should be here soon."

She found herself nodding as more tears streaked down her face.

"Ariel," he said again, and she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her onto his lap. She tucked her knees in and savored the feeling of his embrace, as she started sobbing and he muttered comforting words to her.

She frowned when she felt his grip slowly soften and then release on her, his body falling limp.

"Eggsy!" she cried out, turning in his lap, her hands coming to his face. She gasped and pulled back, only now realizing how beat up he was.

Mikey looked beaten up enough, but the blood on Eggsy's face had her crying even harder, her body shaking as she gripped his face, yelling his name.

"Eggsy!" she flinched as she slapped him hard on the cheek, but he stayed unconscious. She brought her hand to his neck and let out a breath of relief at the faint pulse under her fingers.

But then it hit her - her dad had taught her enough that falling asleep after any kind of head injury was never good…

"Eggsy," she whispered before she slapped his unconscious face again, hoping he would wake.

But he didn't. She slapped and yelled and screamed, but he didn't wake up. She stopped, knowing it was hopeless, and let the tears come. She tucked her head on his shoulder.

"Stay with me," she whispered, holding him tight, her own vision blurring, her head feeling weak. But she made sure to stay awake. Staring at the bullet wound on Mikey's abdomen slowly bleeding out onto her hardwood floors kept her eyes open.