AN: Ah yes, here it is, the chapter that I've been deliberating over forever. I've been debating how to write this chapter for some time, and in the end, this is the way that I settled for- and I think it turned out quite nice, in my opinion! With this, we're drawing towards the end of the story- it'll probably wrap up around chapter twenty!

To everyone who has stuck with me this far, especially those of you who have supported me in the form of reviews (really, you don't know how motivating getting a really good review is), I thank you! Stick with me a little longer, as everything is wrapped up!

Until next time!

Phantasmal Black

Chapter Seventeen

Black

"I don't suppose you would have any interest in telling me where Sherry is, before I drive a bullet into your skull."

"After all these years, you're still chasing her?" Shinichi asked, almost letting out a laugh- the hint of which Gin did somewhat twitch at. "Aren't you too old to be holding grudges against someone half your age?"

"Not at all." Gin said simply, narrowing his eyes. The sound of his boots striking the pavement filled the otherwise empty air, keeping both his gaze and gun level on Shinichi as he advanced towards him. Near as he could tell, the young man was unarmed- but if there was one thing that he had come to learn well about him, it was that he shouldn't let his guard down around him.

Vodka had, and it had ended poorly for him. He wasn't going to make the same mistake.

Though he had scouted the area beforehand, there was doubtlessly someone else around here that was watching them. He couldn't quite tell from where, but at the very least, he could sense their presence. That impressive bloodlust that they had given off upon seeing him was evidence enough of that.

"I see." Shinichi said simply. "In that case, I must refuse. Now, just like then, Sherry's location is the one thing that I'll never give you."

"So be it. Even if you don't tell me, it's only a matter of time before I smoke her out." Coming to a halt, Gin stared down the one who had caused him so much trouble, the one who should have died all those years ago. Poisoning him had been the mistake. Even with police officers still loitering around, it would have been a wiser choice to simply shoot him, right then and there.

If he had, things would have never turned out this way. But once he was gone, then he could truly focus his efforts into restoring that what once was, back to how it had been before the most unexpected of enemies burned it to the ground. With or without the errant extra member that they had picked up in the Organization's twilight hours.

It would have been an interesting plan, had it worked. He would have gone to watch it himself- Vermouth's Silver Bullet drawing his last breath, his life stolen from him by the last person he would have ever expected. For a time, he had been convinced it would work- but once word of Paikaru's hesitation had spread to him, he had already began to doubt that they had truly driven out that what once was.

When Gin pulled the trigger, it felt as if the entire world was holding it's breath.

Ran, he knew, could do it. As he was now, it was probably a feat that Heiji could manage as well.

In theory, it was something that he understood, but theory was one thing- he'd never actually had to do something like this himself. Still, after that time, he had vowed that he would never get himself into a situation in which someone would have to throw away their own life in exchange for his- and to that end, he had put some effort in behind it.

It nicked the underside of his ear, causing blood to trickle down his neck, to cling to his hair. But that was as far as it got. It was the second bullet, fired right after the first, that proved to be more of the problem. If he hadn't decided to go down, he probably wouldn't have avoided it, only managing to do so by a hair's breadth, his heart pounding all the while.

Ran could probably do it without so much as flinching. Once she took on a challenge, she refused to show any weakness- that was the sort of person she was. But he was no Mouri Ran, only just Kudo Shinichi- and this was about the best he could manage, under these circumstances.

Thankfully, they were all that he would have to manage.

The feet that hit the pavement were the second thing that he sensed- right after the surging bloodlust, one that Shinichi found himself very grateful wasn't directed at him. For a moment, he found himself wondering if it would have been enough to blow any of their auras right of the water- and mentally decided it probably was.

There was a moment of delay as Gin switched targets, going from the unarmed man at his feet, to the unarmed woman charging towards him. Mouri Ran, of course, needed no weapon- for that was what she was, when she cared to be one. A weapon that could be as strong as steel, not one designed to kill, but one designed to protect.

And perhaps to earn herself a little payback for all the pain that she had been put through. Not just her own pain either- but the pain of her friends and loved ones as well, all those who had suffered because of them. With that thought in her mind, it was no small wonder that just as he thought, she didn't even flinch as she darted to the side just in time to avoid a bullet, closing the gap between the two of them in a way that nearly reminded Shinichi of a predator chasing down it's prey.

The prey, of course, displayed no such emotion akin to fear on his face- even in a situation like this, he likely didn't regard himself as such. That was to be expected- after being at the top of the food chain for so long, he never would have thought that there could have been anything to topple him. Even as the gun was knocked from his hand, Gin barely flinched, instead creating some distance between the two of them, and reaching for another gun that he had hidden away.

Briefly, Shinichi found himself wondering how many of those things he had on him. Paikaru, he knew, had been carrying quite a number of them- though compared to the number of knives he'd had on his person when they'd taken him in, it was next to nothing. Well, he couldn't say that he hadn't planned for this much- rather, it was actually part of his plan that he had more than one.

"I see. So you brought your fiancee." Gin remarked, a cool smirk crossing his face, even as the heat of Ran's anger- six years worth of it- washed over him. "That saves me the time of having to track her down myself."

"You're the one who should be afraid in this situation, Gin." Shinichi told him, getting to his feet, placing a hand over where the bullet had nicked his ear. It had already almost stopped bleeding- good. It would doubtless leave a scar, but one or two more scars was nothing. "It's two against one."

Well, it was actually three against one, but for the moment, hiding an extra trump card was part of the plan. Ideally, it wouldn't even be necessary for her to come out.

"You're both unarmed." Gin noted. Even though he said that, Shinichi couldn't help but note that he had drawn the gun with his other hand, in spite of it not being his dominant one. After taking Ran's kick, he probably couldn't use it the way that he wanted to. Even in the dark, he could tell that at least one of the fingers was bent somewhat out of shape. "I would have expected more from you, Kudo Shinichi."

"I don't need to be armed to take one someone like you." Ran snapped, her voice all but commanding attention. Shinichi might be the one that he bore a grudge against, but she was here to protect him- as long as she was around, he wouldn't so much as lay a hand on him. "We might not have met before this, but I've got quite a bit that I need to pay back to you. I intend to do it in full today."

"Oh? Some impressive words you have there." Gin noted, a trace of amusement surfacing on his face. "But there was a situation like this before, wasn't there? But I doubt you'll get off as lucky as that boy did this time."

"If it's luck, I can guarantee that I'll be just fine." Ran declared firmly. "Hattori-kun's luck was always bad. My luck, however," the small step forward that she took was the only warning that she got before she was moving again- quick on her feet, darting through the dark as if she had been born to do so, "...is number one!"

The bullet that was fired grazed her shoulder- but she pushed past it, instead focusing her attention on what she needed to do. Namely, getting the second gun from his hand, and preventing him from focusing on what it was that Shinichi was currently doing. The cry that she let out was as much to get her blood pumping, as it was to draw his attention towards her, and solely her, as she once more knocked the gun out of his hand.

After she had become aware of the danger that Shinichi had been all that time, she had focused her attention on improving her karate even more. The first thing that she had learned was how to counter a gun, how to remove it from the hands of any attackers that she might wind up against. At one point, she had even been scouted by the Olympic committee for her skills- but in the end, she had turned them down.

Maybe if she hadn't, Heiji might have seen her face in the papers, and something in his memories might have been triggered. Maybe it wouldn't. She would never know.

The faint click that she made out behind her head was not the gun of an unseen accomplice, and thus invoked no fear from her. Even should it have been, she had already sealed such things away for today. Today, for everyone's sake, she would bring this long nightmare to an end.

"Not unarmed anymore, am I?" Shinichi asked, his eyes narrowing. As Ran took a step back, she carefully watched Gin's movement, monitoring him for any tell tale twitches. He wasn't a martial artist, so no matter how used he was to killing people, he was bound to give something away.

"I don't suppose you'll come with us peacefully to the police station, Gin." Since he already knew the answer, it wasn't really a question. "They're already on their way."

It was a bluff, but he didn't need to know that. He'd had no time to call them, and they currently had their hands full as it was already, even if Kazuha managed to get through to them. It didn't matter- if they couldn't get to them, then Shinichi would merely have to bring Gin to them. He wasn't invulnerable, a person without any weakness- although it had often seemed that way back then.

The Organization, with it's grand shadow, had been more dangerous than anything that he had ever faced, and likely ever would face again. But what made them so dangerous was the fact that it existed as a faceless shadow, it's leader hidden, it's motives unknown. They could be everywhere, and anyone, and because of that, he'd gotten used to glancing over his shoulder, to second guessing everyone that he met.

When the curtain finally fell, somehow the remains that had been left behind weren't as frightening in comparison. Even if one of them was the specter that had never stopped haunting his nightmares- without the reach and pull of the original Organization behind him, perhaps even Gin was nothing more than a nearly middle-aged man who refused to change his ways, and clung to what was no longer there.

In a way, it was almost kind of pitiful.

He would never feel anything close to pity for him, though. He'd done far too much, without anything resembling remorse or regret. No matter how he had ended up on this path, it wouldn't change anything. He was a true monster, and nothing more than that. Whatever was coming to him after this, without a doubt, he deserved it.

"You won't fire." Gin observed cooly. "I've seen the way you do things, Kudo Shinichi. You value life too much."

There was mockery in his words- as if holding life as something important was something laughable. To Gin, it doubtlessly was- all the more so when it was the life of one's enemy. He didn't care what he thought, though. This was his way of doing things, and nothing would change that. It was a lesson that he had to learn the hard way for himself, one that he would give to anyone willing to listen.

It was a lesson that he had to give to Heiji, once before. A lesson that had disappeared, somewhere alongside his memories... or perhaps not. A monster had been created, from the empty shell with no memories, but though it was a monster, it couldn't be called a true one. A monster for whom there was still hope, to one day become a proper human again.

"I won't fire to kill. But that doesn't mean that I won't do it all." Shinichi said simply, taking a step forward, keeping the gun trained on Gin. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as the other discarded gun was picked up by someone else- and he could only hold his breath as she did so. Not just because he didn't want to make Gin aware of her presence, were he not already- but because he couldn't say with one hundred percent certainty that she wouldn't.

It would be very hard to blame her, in truth.

"So it comes down to this." Gin observed simply. His gaze flickered behind him only briefly, enough for Shinichi to know that he was indeed aware there was a third person with them. "But I'm sure you'll regret it though. Without a doubt, I'll come back to haunt you."

"I won't regret it." Shinichi told him. He was trying to rile him up, trying to get him to throw away his own morals- even in this situation. If he managed to do that, then in a sense, he still would have won- but he wasn't going to give him the joy of that. "Just like your partner, I'll make sure you're sent somewhere that you'll never escape from, Gin."

It struck the sore spot that Shinichi had expected it would, leaving him to take a quick pair of steps back. Since he'd gone for a knife, it was obvious that he had no more guns with him- but if he managed to take back the one that had been taken from him, it wouldn't matter.

But if there was one thing that he had underestimated, it was the skill of the one that he had likely dismissed as just being the fiancee of the man he bore deep resentment for. He'd always felt that it might be the case, but watching Ran land a punch on Gin, in the dead center of his face, was perhaps one of the most emotionally satisfying moments he had ever borne witness to.

To other people, perhaps ending a six year long nightmare with a single punch might have been a bit anticlimactic- but for Shinichi, he probably couldn't think of any other way he'd rather have it end. Letting out a long breath and holstering the stolen gun, he pulled out the handcuffs that he had borrowed from the police ahead of time, confirming that Gin had been knocked well and truly out, before cuffing his hands behind his back.

"Contact Jodie-san." Glancing in Ran's direction, Shinichi couldn't help but beam at her. "Let her know that we need a car to come pick up an old friend."

"I got it." Ran said, nodding her head as she pulled out her cellphone. "What about Hattori-kun, though?"

"I heard that they had made contact, but I haven't heard anything from them since." Shinichi told her, shaking his head. He couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing. They had managed to wrap things up here, but he couldn't help but worry about how things were going over there.

"Should I send word to Hakuba-kun, just in case?" Ran asked, a slight frown crossing her face as her eyes darted around the area. She could have sworn... "By the way, Shinichi, have you seen Kazuha?"

"Kazuha?" Shinichi blinked. "Wasn't she just...?" Trailing off, he looked around the area himself, quickly confirming that Kazuha was nowhere to be found. And so too, did he notice that there was something else that should have been there that was now missing- the second that Gin had brought with him.

Kazuha had picked it up, and then...

Oi, oi. It couldn't be that she...?

There was no opening move that he could make that she wouldn't predict. At the same time, there was no way that he was going to allow the advantage that making the first move would give him- the one thing he couldn't allow, was to allow the flow of the battle to be determined by Merlot. If he did that, the fight was almost as good as lost.

There might have been mercy in their last fight, but there would be none of that this time. He'd made clear his resolve to her- and because of that, her intentions had changed. To call it a fight was quite the stretch- right now, her goal was to eliminate him. If he failed here, it wouldn't just end with him- everyone else around him would probably be wiped out as well, one by one. Anyone who might have heard anything about her would be erased from the world.

Until there were none left, and she could become a shadow again.

As he expected, no matter how quickly he had drawn his gun, she had been able to predict it. It wasn't so much that she had dodged a bullet, but rather, that she had anticipated where he would fire, and had already moved ahead of time to avoid it. That was a pro for you. Not wanting to waste his bullets, Paikaru quickly tucked his gun back away where he had hidden for it, instead reaching for his concealed knife.

In this area, even if they fired a gun, nobody would come. It was part of the reason why they had picked it- an out of the way location that wasn't likely to create any extra victims. He recalled asking Shinichi about how he knew about a place like this in Osaka, when he didn't spend much time here, and thus didn't seem to have any reason to. In response, he'd only gotten a look that told him without words that this was a question that he held the answer to himself.

But now wasn't the time to be troubled by his memories. If he didn't focus on the fight, it would be over in an instant.

But if he had to be honest, fighting someone while trying not to kill them was difficult. He had already been expecting that much- that sort of thing had been bred into him by now, after all, but he had clearly underestimated just how difficult it was. He couldn't fight as he wanted, knowing that he had his promise to keep.

Both the one he had made to Hakuba, and the one he had made to himself. No matter what, he had to bring Merlot back, alive. If he couldn't manage that, then he knew full well, that even if he were to regain his memories, what had been broken in him would never be able to be fixed.

And Merlot knew it, too. That was the worst part.

Of course she knew. She was the one who had taught him everything, had trained him to be this way. Everything that he was now, it was because of her. It was to be expected that she could read that much from him- that he wasn't fighting to kill, but rather, only had disabling her and capturing her in his mind right now. And because she knew, she was taunting him- not with words, but rather, with her actions.

Luring him, trying to entrap him, hoping to provoke him. She hadn't completely given up on her ambitions, or so it seemed. Though he hadn't said it in so many words, she could already tell- that he was set on proving himself to her. To proving that he wasn't just the whole of what she had made of him, to prove to her that there was still something left within him of the person he once was.

She knew that, and that's why she knew that if he killed her, in the end, she would still win. It would be a hollow victory that would cost her her life, but a victory nevertheless. With it, she would steal away from him any chance of ever leaving the path that he was on, without even so much as having to lift a finger.

That said, she had no intentions of letting him off easy, either. Curling up and dying wasn't in her nature, after all. If she happened to end up killing him, then so be it- she still wasn't so old that she couldn't find another pupil to train from scratch. Not one that would compare to him, who she had tricked and manipulated, going to lengths to create what she doubtlessly regarded as a glittering jewel.

Gritting his teeth, Paikaru quickly put some distance between the two of them, jumping backwards. His feet making a loud sound as they struck the metal of the stairs behind him, he reached a hand up, placing it over where he had been scratched by her knife. It wasn't deep, but even a little scratch could lead to precious energy being sapped away from him.

"What's wrong?" Merlot asked, taking a step forward. "Your fighting's sloppier than usual, Paikaru. You've been letting those friends of yours influence you, haven't you? You shouldn't do a thing like that." Shaking her head, she let out a long sigh, for all the world sounding like a mother lecturing her wayward son. "They're no good, you know. Filling your head with such unnecessary thoughts."

"They're not unnecessary. If they've taught me anything, it's things I already should have known. Common sense, you could say." Drawing in and letting out a long breath, Paikaru steadied himself once more. She was trying to rile him up- but he wouldn't let her. "And what about you? Don't tell me you're short on breath already, old lady."

"No, not at all." Merlot said simply. "I thought I would give you one more chance, Paikaru, before I truly decide to get serious. But that haphazard fighting style... as you are now, you'll never make it as a proper assassin if you keep going like that. It's almost as if you're trying not to kill me."

Narrowing his eyes, as if by instinct, Paikaru's free hand went behind his back, hovering over where his gun was hidden. Fingers twitching as he stopped himself from drawing it, he fought against the ingrained urge. If he drew it now, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from going for a fatal shot- and he wasn't going to take the chance that it would hit.

"You're really not, are you?" Merlot asked, for a moment, her expression shifting out of it's smiling mask. Just as quickly as it had gone, it returned, as she let out a faint laugh. "I see. They really have put some ridiculous ideas into your head. I suppose I'm the one to blame, though. I never should have allowed you to return to Japan."

"Even if you didn't, I would have remembered someday." Paikaru told her, doing his best to mask his lack of confidence in those words. "I already realized that you were lying to me a long time ago, Merlot."

"Even so, you didn't try and do anything about it." Merlot said simply, her smile growing as she watched him flinch at her words. "You should understand by now, right? That what I said before is true- that Hattori Heiji is dead, and he died by your hand. He won't ever come back."

"You say that like you don't share responsibility for it." There was no point in denying it- it was true enough, after all. Were it not for him, then Hattori Heiji would still be here. Because he was here, he would never be able to return, not as he once was. There was no reason to dispute that much. "Anyways, I'm done talking to you, Merlot. Let's bring this to an end already."

The fact that he would be able to read her next move was probably something that she had already expected. Though it was brief, the mixture of resignation and disappointment that were reflected in her eyes were enough to tell Paikaru that she had accepted the fact that her words could not reach him anymore- that her manipulation of him had reached it's limit.

It was a pity, but there was only one thing left to do.

The first shot was a warning shot. The ones that came next wouldn't be so kind. Before that, he needed to find cover. As the first bullet zipped past his cheek, far too close for comfort, Paikaru bit back the urge to draw his own gun, not having the confidence he could use it again without trying to kill her. He'd fired disabling shots before, but they had always been quickly followed up killing shots. If he drew it again, it would be as a last resort.

He never could have imagined that trying not to kill someone would be this difficult. For being able to fight against difficult opponents without feeling the urge to do so, Hattori Heiji earned newfound respect from him.

"Running away?" Merlot's voice carried through the warehouse. "That's not like you, Paikaru."

Biting back a quip that maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did, Paikaru carefully assessed his options. She'd already fired off three rounds, which meant that she had nine bullets left, judging from the model of the handgun that she was using. Ordinarily, the optimal time to strike back was when she was reloading- but she already knew that full well.

Still, he couldn't help but find himself really not wanting to lose. There was something waiting for him on the other side of this, and that was something that he wanted to obtain more than anything. For a long time, he had thought it had been freedom that he was after... but as it turned out, he was wrong about that as well.

What he really wanted was not freedom- but rather, something even more simple than that.

Drawing in a breath, Paikaru made out the sound of Merlot's feet striking the metal of the staircase. Narrowing his eyes, he sprung up from where he had paused to get his bearings, an action which was quickly followed by another gunshot. Her night vision wasn't as good as his was, so if he could lure her into an even darker part of the warehouse, he would gain an advantage.

There were two other advantages that he had over her as well- his agility, and his powers of observation. Even as he ran forward, he found himself scanning the warehouse around him, looking for anything that he could use to his advantage. With a quick grin as he spotted something interesting, he shifted the direction that he was heading in, planting a booted foot on the railing of the walkway, just narrowly avoiding another bullet.

Whatever the rope that he had grabbed onto as he leapt forward from the railing had been tied there for in the first place, he didn't much care- all that mattered was how he could use it now. With that, he was on the other side of the warehouse in a flash, landing on the walkway some distance away from Merlot.

Drawing his gun as he landed, Paikaru fired off a shot. Clicking his teeth as he heard the clang of metal against metal, knowing already that he had missed, he quickly began moving again. There was a staircase right besides him, which he quickly darted up, carefully tracking Merlot's position all the while.

There was a expression of frustration on her face that he could barely make out in the dark, and he had to admit, it was a pretty good look for her. She must have been realizing now that their current location was more to his own advantage than hers, and he was going to milk it for everything that it was worth.

Holstering his gun again, and once more drawing his knife, Paikaru made another leap off from the side of the railing, this time jumping downwards. For a brief moment, something about that tugged faintly at some corner of his memory, but he couldn't afford to let such a thing distract him now. Either way, he'd brought himself right behind Merlot, with just enough time before she reacted to plant his knife deeply within her lower back.

It had taken everything in him not to go for a killing blow.

Yanking the knife out, Paikaru quickly put some distance between the two of them, as Merlot pivoted on her heel, firing once more at him, the bullet just barely nicking his right shoulder. Six shots. She had six bullets left.

"You could have killed me then." Merlot narrowed her eyes, placing a hand over her knife wound. He had deliberately picked a place that wouldn't be fatal, but if she let it continue to bleed like this, it wouldn't be long before it started to cause her trouble. For the moment, she fixed her gun on her once pupil, freezing him in place with it. "You really have gotten soft."

"Maybe so." Paikaru freely admitted, allowing an edge of a grin to creep on his face. "Can't say that I don't like it, though. Either way, even someone like you is going to have trouble moving around with a wound like that. Why don't you just give up, Merlot? Cause I'm not gonna."

"I suppose in that way, the two of us are alike." Merlot said simply, a faint smile creeping onto her face. "I'm not fond of giving up either, Paikaru. You should know that much."

"Yeah. I know you real well, Merlot, though I wished I didn't." Paikaru simply remarked, already mentally running through his options. As she took a step forward, he took a slight step back, gauging how much distance he had before he ran out of walkway. Whatever he did, he had to do it fast.

He had gained an advantage, but if he managed to let himself get shot seriously, he'd just as quickly lose it. Drawing in his breath just as Merlot released the safety on her gun, Paikaru moved, darting to the right just as she fired. The bullet grazed his back, causing him to bite down on his tongue to keep himself from making any sound, but he continued, using the handrail to flip down to the ground floor from the walkway.

Seven shots, five bullets left. As she fired once more as he landed, something which he rolled out of the way to avoid, he reduced the count to four. Pulling out his own handgun, he fired it up towards her, adjusting the angle of the gun at the last second to avoid the head shot he had instinctively trained himself to make.

Apparently with enough fire in her left to follow him down the same way he had come, Merlot jumped over the side of the handrail. He couldn't deny that he found some enjoyment of the way that she flinched as she landed, the stab wound that she had taken to her back protesting such sudden movement. Still, he couldn't afford to let her bleed out from it either, and although he'd picked a spot from which that would be harder to do, it wasn't impossible.

Kudo wanted her alive. In truth, Paikaru very much wanted to kill her- but he wouldn't.

As Merlot fired another bullet at him, Paikaru knocked the count down to three. When she ran out again, he would take the chance to counterattack. With that wound in her back, her reaction time would be slowed. With that in mind, he just had to avoid her until she ran out.

Two. One.

With the last bullet fired, Paikaru felt a grin pull at his lips. Watching as Merlot reached for her reload, he decided to take this chance, switching once more from his handgun to his knife, closing the distance between them quickly, carefully watching her movements to determine what kind of counterattack she would make of her own.

It was that, in the end, that probably saved him. If he had reacted any later, the gunshot that she had fired would have been surely fatal- but it was in a bad enough location as it was, he thought, as he gritted his teeth, placing a hand just above his heart, trying to stem the blood flow. Dimly, he was aware that he had dropped his gun when he had been shot, but he couldn't afford to take his eyes off of her for long enough to find where it was.

If he didn't finish this soon, the one for whom it would be over was him.

"I thought I taught you better than that, Paikaru." Merlot's voice carried an amused tone to it as she took a step forward. "You miscounted."

"Only by one. S'not that bad." Paikaru retorted, somehow finding it in him to grin, in spite of the fact that his vision was starting to get a bit blurry. Crap, that was bad. Narrowing his eyes so as to focus his vision, he fought to draw in breath. There was no way he was going to die here, not after he had come this far.

"No." As Merlot lifted her gun, the dull steel managed to gleam even within the darkness of the warehouse. "By two."

Dimly, in the back of his mind, Paikaru could only think that something like this had definitely happened before. For the life of him though, he couldn't recall when and where it had been- so it must have been before he lost his memories. As the sound of the safety of Merlot's gun being released filled his ears, the only thing he found that he could think about was the fact that he was supposed to have his life flash before his eyes in a moment like this.

Even now, his memories managed to allude him.

"Heiji!"

It took him a moment to register the fact that the gun that had been fired wasn't the one that Merlot had been holding, and that a bullet hadn't been driven through his skull. But he knew, as if by instinct, to whom that voice belonged to- that called out the name that he strangely didn't mind hearing directed towards him when she was the one saying it. It was a moment, and only a moment, before other instincts took over.

As Merlot staggered backwards, clutching the shoulder that had been shot, Paikaru quickly located his own gun. Ignoring his own wound for the moment, and focusing his blurred vision as much as he could, he fried off another round, piercing the same shoulder Kazuha had shot just moments ago- the bullet piercing the hand that had been placed over it as well.

Faintly, he could make out the sound of voices behind him, but he couldn't quite make out what it was that they were saying. Lunging towards Merlot, he used this chance to slam his knee into her gut, toppling her to the ground. Placing one foot over her good hand, the one that still held her gun, he trained his own on her, gaze narrowing as he stared down the woman that had stolen everything from him.

It would be so easy, in this situation, to kill her. He had every reason to do so, and indeed, nearly every fiber of his being was urging him to do just that, to drive a bullet through her skull, and put an end to this nightmare forever. The only reason that he could find not to was because of something that for a moment, briefly almost seemed foolish to him, as determined as he had been to hold to it earlier.

There was no need to keep a promise to a dead man, one who existed as nothing more than a figment of his subconscious.

It must have shown in his eyes, because even in this situation, Merlot couldn't stop smiling. "You're not going to kill me?" There was no disappointment in her tone, only amusement. She, at least, had doubtlessly already come to the conclusion that he would pull the trigger, and in doing so, cross the point of no return.

"Come now Paikaru, I taught you better than this." Merlot said simply, closing her eyes, her smirk not fading, even as the shadow of death fell over her face. "You have to finish your target off, otherwise they'll only come back to trouble you later. You might have had an unexpected bit of help, but there's no doubt that you still managed to win this match."

Gritting his teeth, Paikaru felt his fingers drift towards the safety of his gun. Killing a person was the easiest thing in the world for him, had become second nature for him. What point was there in fighting back against it, especially when the one in front of him didn't deserve to live?

But even so...

Even so, he could hear her voice, calling his name. His real name, not the codename that he'd been given in place of it, these past five years.

As he thought, in the end, the one that he needed to prove himself most too, more than anyone else, was himself. To reject everything that had been forced into him, to reject the brainwashing that he'd endured... it was something that would take an enormous amount of strength.

But he could do it. Not just for himself- but also for her.

"Listen up, ya old hag, cause I'm only gonna say this once!" His voice probably came out louder than he intended it to be, for he could faintly make out the sound of the voices around him being thrown into silence. Faintly, he realized that he had slipped back into his natural accent, the first time since he had begun exchanging words with Merlot. "I've been tellin' ya this fer awhile now, but it seems like there's somethin' wrong with yer ears, so I'm just gonna say it once more!"

He would be lying if he tried to claim that he wasn't in pain, that he wasn't finding it a bit hard to breathe right now. But even so, as his gun clattered to the floor, thrown some distance away from them, the only expression he could make was that of a broad grin, one that felt deeply familiar on his lips.

"I'm not Paikaru."

It didn't feel like the truth, not yet.

Even so.

"I'm Hattori Heiji."