Authors Note: Chapter is a lot shorter than normal. Normal chapter lengths will resume soon.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Haruto hissed, leaning against the wall.

Everything had happened so fast. They had hid when they saw Soul from the window, and when he entered the apartment— now he was on the floor, the white of his hair turning red from the blood. The bat discarded on the ground beside him. There were ropes around his wrists and ankles, a fat lot of good it would do when the weapon eventually wakes up.

The officer had come in soon after, kicking the door open and yelling, having likely heard the commotion. Haruto had stood helpless as Ichiro lunged at her, dislocating her wrist with a sharp twist that forced her to drop the taser, smashing her head against the wall hard enough there was a smear of blood left behind. Hard enough that it had knocked her out as well. She too got tied up.

It had been a blur, Haruto felt like he had been fading in and out of conscious during the whole experience, as though he was there, but not, like he was watching a movie but could not stop it. he could not even say how much time all of that took, how fast Ichiro incapicated the two, if it was fast at all.

Haruto brought a hand to his mouth and bit down hard on his thumb in a desperate attempt to bring some calm. It didn't work.

"Fuck!"

They had knocked out a DWMA agent, they had attacked a fucking cop! This was bad. This was so fucking bad! Haruto was gasping as he bit harder into his hand, tasting the coppery tang of his own blood on his tongue.

Mara was upon Ichiro, fury in her eyes as she jammed a finger into his chest. "Are you out of your mind? You're supposed to be smart! But even a boulder would be smarter than you right now!" she screamed, and though she was small in stature, in that moment she seemed to tower over him. "Do you even realize that you may have made everything worse?"

Ichiro wasn't smiling, he wasn't laughing. His expression was cold as he looked to her and then looked to Soul. "Does it matter? Regardless of what I did, that thing and the officer would have taken Haruto away," he answered, wiping blood off his hands with a rag. "He already saw the photos, he's no fool, he would have realized who our dear sister is. Add that in with what happened to those thugs? My dear, like it or not, I'm protecting him by getting rid of these threats."

Dragging his hand from his mouth and running it through his hair, Haruto turned on his brother. "Those thugs—those douchebags—I-I didn't. That wasn't me," he said, his words breaking in his panic. "I didn't fuckin' kill em! I sure as hell didn't ask for that psycho to just up an' murder them for me, either!"

"We know you didn't, but do you think the police care if you claim innocent?" Ichiro asked. "Do you think the DWMA cares? They'll decide you're guilty and lock you up—if they don't kill you and take your soul instead. And don't even think you can argue your way in court; there was a witness! Or did you forget about the screaming woman as I dragged you out of the alley?"

"Fuck!" Haruto whirled around, still pacing. Ichiro was right. There was a witness, she saw him, not the psycho who did the deed. That's all that mattered.

He felt like he couldn't breathe, his body felt hot, sweaty, he was freaking out. This wasn't something he planned for. He just wanted to live life unnoticed, and now he was going to be a blimp on every fucking radar out there! This was so fucked up.

Bare feet padded across the floor and soon Beatrice was at his side, tugging him on the arm. "What are we going to do now?" she asked him

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Haruto quickly dropped to his knees, taking hold of her by the shoulders, partly to try and comfort her, partly to calm himself. "I don't know, Bea. I…I'm still tryin' to figure that out. But, I know we can't stay here," he was trying so hard to keep his voice level, he only half-succeeded. "We can't stay here. So… so grab a bag, pack everything that ya think's important. We gotta… we're gonna to leave, that much I know for sure."

She hesitated, not wanting to let him go. Then, slowly, Beatrice nodded. "Okay…" and she let go.

He watched her leave his side, heading to grab some trash bags to bag what things they could take with them, to pack what would be necessary.

Who knew how much time they'd have to do that, though? Ichiro had hit Soul pretty hard with the bat, but he wasn't dead. He might wake up in an hour, might wake up in a minute, there was no way to tell. Plus, he had a partner who could sense souls. Did she know that he was coming to them, was she keeping an eye on their souls to see where they went?

There were too many variables and it scared him. It terrified him.

"Caleb! Why, we could give Caleb a call!" Ichiro said suddenly, smiling so happily it was easy to forget he just attempted to kill someone. "He can easily get us out of this city—out of this country, even! He can send us straight to Rosie's, they'll never be able to find us then! We'd be gone before anyone even knew it."

Haruto scowled, "Are you fuckin' mad? That's a surefire way to get the chick comin at us, and you know Caleb won't do shit when there's a meister in town!" he snapped. "Bein' suspected fer murder's one thing, but they find out we're chillin' with sorcerers, we'll be at the guillotine in no time!"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Ichiro walked closer to him, not even caring that he stepped on Soul in the process. "What do you propose then? We've not many options when it comes to travel."

Mara frowned, gliding across the floor until she was bumping her shoulder against Haruto. "He has a point. There won't be any busses this late at night, and we'd have to go to another town to use the trains," she pointed out. "We certainly can't just walk the distance, they'd catch us for sure. Our options are limited."

Haruto growled, shoving past her as he started tearing down photos off the wall. "I know!" he yelled, not caring if he disturbed the neighbors. "We're fucked, we're screwed! I get it!" he hiccuped, smacking his head against the wall, against the photos. It was overwhelming. His anxiety, the fear, the terror, he felt like he was drowning, like he couldn't breathe, his lungs shutting down. His fingers twitched and trembled, his head throbbing. He felt like he was going to be sick.

He hadn't felt this emotionally overwhelmed in a long time, not since he had been a little boy.

Haruto hated this feeling.

It felt like every choice he made was just going to screw them over somehow. Caleb? As soon as he removed his soul protect, Maka would be here with the entire police unit like a vulture to carrion. Didn't matter if they weren't there anymore, they'd have all the more reason to hunt them, and that'd guarantee more DWMA brats would be on the lookout for him.

If they walked, well, there was only so far they could go on foot. Haruto could walk the entire distance from Pocklington to London if he needed without complaint, he'd done longer distances with less than the bare minimum of supplies. But Beatrice? He couldn't subject her to that, not even for as dire a situation as theirs was.

And where even would they go? He was no doubt a murder suspect, and now they had proof of child abduction. Rosie's would be the safest, but would he even be able to make it there before getting caught?

"We could steal a car."

Haruto stopped and turned, staring at Ichiro as though his brother grew a second head. "The fuck are ya getting at?" he asked, slowly, unsure if he had heard the man right.

Ichiro nodded to the cop they still had tied up. "These two got her in a car. We can steal the car, get some distance between us and this town before they even know what's going on," he said. "We can ditch the car once we're far enough away to steal another, then hop on a train. So long as we keep moving, they'll lose our scent."

"They don't know you, they don't know who you're associates are, where you're from, where you've been," Mara added thoughtfully. "They won't know where you might go. That gives you an advantage."

Haruto grabbed his head. "Now we're addin' theft to the list? Are ya out of your mind?"

"Well, compared to what we'll be charged for if they find us? Theft isn't so bad."

Breathing in deeply, Haruto stared at the two. Then, without a word he marched to the cop and knelt in front of her. Someone might have felt bad, or embarrassed to be rummaging around a woman's clothes, sticking their hands in her pockets and such, but right now Haruto really didn't give a shit about what was okay or not.

He found her car keys in the back pocket. Then, after brief consideration, took her can of mace and taser.

"Now we're talking," Ichiro grinned as he saw Haruto stuff the mace in his pocket.

He ignored his brother, instead fishing for a fresh mask to put over his face. "Bea," he called out. "We're leaving, now."