Big tears fall down like puddles
When something cuts it bleeds
Big storms leave towns in rubbles
Shore just recedes
Take some time to secure
A stream of water to occur
But crying is a way to know
Your tears are how you learn and grow
So better off to let it flow
Stains on cheeks will come to know
Heartaches and hopes for healing
Through the raining of your tears
You'll learn the pain your feeling
That Saturday Shadow had left a note letting the five of them know that she had a party to go to that afternoon and wouldn't be back until later, so they found themselves in Leon's large two story home. It wasn't very personal, just some random home that held the few things that he possessed. But it was large and spacious, something they all liked, especially the fact that they got their own rooms. That morning it was pushing ten o'clock before the door burst in, and they were met with a large crowd from Shade's agency.
"Hello people!" Yuffie said cheerfully, jumping in. Tifa and Aerith followed behind them before Carter, Axel, and Zack came in.
"Hi guys." Kairi greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"We decided to drag you guys on a trip to Radiant Garden's mall." Tifa said. "Things slowed down today so everyone is taking a chance to take a break."
"Don't worry guys." Carter said. "There are plenty of video game stores to go around."
"Wimps." Yuffie said, sticking her tongue out at the group of guys. "Anyways, come on, I don't want to spend all day just hanging around here."
"Shouldn't we let Shade know where we'll be?" Roxas asked.
"Nah, she knows to give one of us a call for your guys' location." Axel said, waving it off. "Let's go. Guys with us, girls with them." He made a fake disgusted face at Yuffie and the others, which in turn earned him a smack on the head.
"This is going to be interesting." Riku muttered.
XXXXXX
He didn't realize how right he was until just a simple twenty minutes into the trip. They were just pulling into the mall parking lot and already he had found himself dodging a food fight, courtesy of a drive through run, having talk of the best gun to use on a sniper mission, and a mini war over the radio and whether it should play punk rock or heavy metal.
When he quickly slimbed out of the truck he looked over to see the girls climbing out of their own car, which happened to be a huge jeep Wrangler, a very nice one at that. They looked over at him questioningly until the taco wrappers fell out of the car as Roxas climbed out before they started to laugh. Both boys glared but got out of the way for the rest of them to get out. "Glad to see you made it in one piece." Yuffie said, grinning.
"Are you guys alright?" Aerith asked kindly, a small smile on her face.
"Just fine." Sora said, shaking his hair out and shreds of lettuce falling to the ground. "So any good stores in here."
"There are some great clothing stores for both guys and girls." Tifa said. "There's a huge music shop in there that Shade is always visiting, and a video game store. Then there's the arcade..." This got all three of the guys attentions.
"Arcade? It any good?" Roxas asked.
"One of the best." Aerith confirmed.
"Let's get going guys, I want to check out that new video game section Axel was talking about." Zack said, stretching his arms. Once they walked through the large double doors they found out the mall happened to be three stories tall and beyond huge, making a large circular shape for the building while the center was actually a three floor park setting with grass and trees where people were eating food that they got from the food court. The place was packed with people and music could be heard faintly in the background for the main store, then the stores all had their own playing through their speakers.
"Alright, meet you guys in the food court in a few hours." Tifa said.
"The usual." Axel agreed, and both genders split into their own groups.
"How long is a few hours?" Sora asked innocently.
"Normally six or seven." Zack replied, laughing at the horror stricken looks on their faces. "Relax, there is no problem keeping ourselves entertained while they go into the hellish stores."
The first place they visited was Hot Topic, which actually had some pretty cool t-shirts that everyone liked. Riku was looking at a Gears of War shirt when he heard a crash on the other side of the store, followed by plenty of cussing and laughter. Walking over he watched as Axel and Zack humorously attempted to calm the store manager down after he found one of his racks holding their various jewelry, a choke collar in Zack's hands.
Carter walked into the store, apparently back from the shoe place right across the way, and smirked, standing back to enjoy the show.
"How could you take down the whole rack when all you had to do was slide it off!" The manager yelled, having a goth look going for him.
"Hey, it was putting up a fight." He said innocently, hands raised defensively. "Not like I completely did it on purpose."
"Well you better plan on picking all of this up." He said, glowering.
"Um, not really." Axel said, smirking as well. A loud yell followed the group as they ran out of the store, dodging through crowds in an attempt to remove themselves from the scene of the crime.
On the other end of the mall Kairi and Namine were being more civilized as they looked at some skirts on the many racks throughout the store. Aerith was looking at the dresses and Tifa was in the martial arts store over looking at a pair of leather gloves with Yuffie. "Oh look! Namine this is perfect for you!" Kairi pulled off a long white skirt that had a light blue in soft wave motions along the rim. Her blond sister looked at it and smiled. "It is a nice skirt."
"Go on and try it on." Her sister urged, pushing her to the dressing rooms. They both paused as they heard shouting and from inside the store they could see a crowd in one of the park settings as what looked like a manager was cussing a group of guys out. They shrugged it off and continued back into the store.
Tifa came and looked over the rail, shaking her head as she saw Axel's unique hairstyle darting through the crowd as the shouting grew louder. "Is that the Hot Topic manager?" She asked the ninja next to her.
Yuffie frowned slightly. "Looks like it, my guess is they haven't hit the sporting goods place yet." Both of them sighed as they walked back into the store before Tifa's cellphone started ringing and she answered it swiftly. "This is Tifa Lockheart." She greeted.
"Hey Tifa, it's Shade."
"Hi Shade! How's the party?" She could hear laughing kids in the background.
"Not bad, barbeque is going and everyone is enjoying themselves. Apparently nothing but good things has been going around so the adults are OK with me, don't think they were told the part that I killed the bastards that kidnapped Samantha."
"People do tend to leave that stuff out." Tifa agreed, giving a thumbs up as Namine walked out of the dressing room in the skirt Kairi had given her.
"The guys with you?"
"Riku, Sora, and Roxas are with Carter, Axel, and Zack somewhere else in the mall, I think the Hot Topic manager is chasing them down. Yuffie and Aerith are with me with your sisters in one of the clothing stores. Namine found a really cute skirt."
"No doubt Kairi picked it out for her."
"Probably. When do you think you'll be back?"
"Couple more hours, she's pretty bent on me staying for the entire thing, apparently there is a big surprise later on from her parents and she wants me to see it."
"The kid has gotten attached to you."
"Unfortunately so." There was shouting in the background and Shade sighed. "I gotta go, time to cut the cake. Later Tifa, make sure I don't have to pay any bail fees."
"You got it." The line disconnected.
XXXXXX
11:00 - Get kicked out of Hot Topic. Avoid angry manager
11:20 - Check out Sports Authority. Find new baseball bats for agency
11:50 - Start complaining about being hungry.
12:00 - Call girls and tell them to meet at the food court.
12:15 - Stop by Game Stop.
12:15:25 - Cashier recognizes Axel. Quickly run out of store.
12: 20 - Food Court
XXXXXX
By the time lunch came around the adults had held true to their words and kept them entertained while the girls shopped. Granted, getting kicked out of more than one store wasn't always the funnest thing, but it kept them occupied. Sora found out he really did like the guys Shade worked with, and could see her putting up with them.
"Pizza or burgers." Carter asked as they walked onto the large section that was the foodcourt. Smells of various kinds floated through their nostrils and they quickly found themselves ready to attack the poor vendors.
"Pizza." They said at once, then noticed Kairi and Namine waving them over. Axel and Zack went with them while Carter went to buy the food and they had to drag three tables together in order to sit together. Shopping bags sat against the wall where they were seated while Axel carefully put down the five new bats they had gotten for when they played baseball or hit the batting cages.
"What is Carter getting?" Aerith asked.
"Pizza." Roxas replied, slumping in his seat. "All that running can make you seriously hungry."
"It will do that to you." Namine giggled. "You guys having fun so far?" In return she got groans which made the twins laugh.
Quickly the food was served. Two half pepperoni half cheese medium pizzas with a large everything on it pizza. Everyone quickly dug in and talking started to fill the table.
"OK, so if you have any questions you might wanna ask now because Shade's patience is going to start running thin when it comes to that soon." Yuffie said wisely, and the others agreed.
"Alright, so what did you guys do before you changed careers?" Sora asked.
"Dude, we were one of the best gangs out there." Axel said, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. "No one messed with us."
"One day my dad went and played the usual game of poker at one of the clubs. That was the night Shade's dad lost her in a bet and we met her the day after."
"All of us have done some form of robbery." Tifa said. "I think Yuffie was the one that pulled off the most robberies."
"Cloud was one of our best transportation experts. He took care of drugs and such." Yuffie said. "Not sure who was the number one murderer, unfortunately we've all had our fair share." The group was sobering up quickly.
"About a year after Shade came along that's when she got things to start changing. Instead of delivering drugs or whatever Cloud started to have a pretty popular, and normal, delivery service going on. Tifa took up training the students at the police and FBI academy. Zack and Sephiroth are squad leaders and they get called in when law enforcement needs back up, Sephiroth will travel around the country helping them out. Leon is still the weapon master, his job hasn't changed much. Now we're basically working along side law enforcement, which is pretty odd." Carter explained.
"So exactly how does Shade's job work?" Kairi asked.
"Like she said, she's a mercenary, and one of the best. The only other one that can also have that said for him is this guy, Vincent Valentine I think. She's worked with him a few times, something you rarely see. People from around the world will call in jobs for her, and she'll decide to take them on depending whether or not she thinks it's worth it. The chick has morals, and no one will be able to persuade her to ditch them." Axel said.
"Is that why this gang is after her?" Riku asked. "She refused a job?"
"Exactly why." Tifa said. "It was the normal body bag job. She did some scoping out of the target and turned down the job, ended up being the body guard for them instead."
"Why would she do that?" Roxas asked.
"Long story short, she didn't believe in the reasons why the leader of the gang wanted him dead, and his family helped solidify the fact."
The teens nodded and Tifa looked at Axel, giving him one of those shut-up-now-or-she'll-kill-you looks. "Finish up guys, we still have the other half of the mall to cover and that's a good four hour trek in itself." Yuffie said cheerfully. She was met with a wide variety of responses.
XXXXXX
Kairi hummed softly to herself as she sliced up the tomatoes for the hamburgers Shade was grilling, hearing Sora work on slicing the cheese on the counter behind her. Riku and Roxas were outside playing catch with Yoru while Namine was calmly sketching under a tree. Axel was talking with Shade while Cloud was just sitting back and observing. Tonight happened to be their nights off so their older sister had called them over for dinner, something Axel had no problem agreeing to as well as dragging Cloud to the gathering. Yesterday they had matched up all the passwords to the locks in the base and from the sound of it things were picking up at base. Kairi still wasn't entirely sure what they were hoping to accomplish, but she was sure that she didn't want the whole story. When Riku and Sora had come back from the questioning they were quiet, and when asked what happened they replied with a simple, 'She's good at her job.'
The barking intensified and Kairi looked out the window to see Riku stuck under Yoru, wagging her tail happily as his attempts to push her off were useless. She giggled at the scene, and saw speaking to her silver haired friend before he growled something back, so it was obvious the blond was teasing him. "Done." Sora said happily. "What now?"
She had just finished up her task as well. "Now we just leave it here on the counter until the meat is done." She replied. "Would you like something to drink?"
"She got any soda?" He asked, leaning over her shoulder as she stood in front of the opened fridge. "Holy cow, how many Vault's can she have?"
"She doesn't care for coffee, so she goes for sodas or flavored water."
"First person I've heard of that doesn't like coffee." He said, taking a couple Mt. Dews for him and the two wrestling outside. "Should we grab something for the rest of them?"
"Just for Namine, the other two already have beers and Shadow is working on her third Arizona Tea." The two of them walked outside, the sun in the horizon starting to turn red as it pushed seven that night. Riku had Roxas in a headlock while Axel was cheering the smaller blond on. Shade smirked as she watched them, opting for a seat next to Cloud as they sipped their drinks. "So how were deliveries today?"
"They were pretty scattered, I don't like long distance trips."
"So I take it Cid ordered some new parts."
"Yeah." He smirked. "And apparently when he demands extra parts, he doesn't mean just one box, more along the lines of seven or eight."
"He normally does." She agreed, rubbing her eyes. She was more than wiped out, she was exhausted. The late nights and work early in the morning were starting to catch up. Cloud glanced over and noticed this. "You didn't take that job in Twilight Town, did you?"
"The only real pain was the long drive, I had to leave at three this morning to get there, but it was a simple escort mission and I was home by seven before they got up." She motioned vaguely to the teens in front of them.
"You're falling into that overworking routine again." He commented, looking back in front of them.
"I always was a creature of habit." Was her reply, earning her a smirk. She got up and opened the grill, the smell of the burgers rising up to greet her. "Alright guys, food's ready." It only took a few minutes before everyone was scattered sitting on the grass in her front yard, easily striking up conversation with each other. They had no problem warming up to Axel, Cloud was still pretty quite but they didn't take it the wrong way.
Shadow had no clue how, but their conversation had some how gone from favorite home food to their more unique talents. This led to Axel explaining that he was one of the best fire artists out there, meaning that instead of useless explosions, he could actually make it look like something. "One time, Shade needed our help with a distraction so she could get into some files for a company, and I had the pleasure of blowing up the cars in the parking lot."
Cloud smirked. "It ended up looking like a skull, he took a picture from their roof after that."
"That is so cool!" Sora exclaimed. "What about you Cloud?"
"I'm a good driver." He said simply, taking another drink from the beer bottle.
"The dude can make sharp turns like nobodies business. If you didn't know him you'd think he was crazy behind the wheel." Axel laughed. "There was once a mission where we had to get away from this building before the place went haywire, and he drove this truck. When we were done the tires were rubbed raw, and you could literally see the streaks they left on the road for a good twenty feet. Never been that scared in my life." Shade smirked at this statement but didn't argue, it was definitely a more...interesting, car ride.
"Shade, how about you?"
"Career wise or something else?"
"Either one." Roxas said.
She thought for a moment before grinning. "I can fluently cuss someone out in eight different languages, nine if you count English." Axel was laughing, small tears streaming down his face while even Cloud was chuckling.
"How would you learn that?" Riku ask.
"I'm a mercenary, so I get a wide variety of clients." She replied simply. "Now career wise, I'm not entirely sure."
"Easy." Cloud stated. "One of the best weapon masters this place has."
"Definitely." Axel said, then looked at Kairi and Namine. "You're sister has wielded just about every weapon imaginable, knows the perfect weapon for each situation."
"Wow Shade. So you can cuss someone out in another language while gutting them with a katana." Sora said, earning laughs from the guys while Kairi rolled her eyes and Namine giggled.
Cloud glanced over at Shadow, and she smirked as they recalled that one time. Sora had actually summed the situation up perfectly. "Didn't you use Japanese that time?" He inquired.
"Yeah, wasn't really thinking. But when I'm that pissed off I do normally resort to Japanese." She grinned and shook her head. "Highly entertaining situation for everyone else though."
"Can't really blame us." Axel said.
"So what do you're guys' tattoos look like?" Roxas asked curiously. "Don't you get one if you join your gang?"
Axel's two teardrop tattoos spoke for themselves, but he pushed over his sleeveless shirt and they saw two circular and spiky weapons overlapping each other while flames engulfed them, the colors consisting mostly of red, silver, and the colors of the flames. "They're called chakrams, the only other weapon I bothered learning besides the sniper rifle."
Cloud just turned around and slid his shirt up slightly over his head, and his consisted of a detailed wolf that had a silver ring in its mouth. The colors were mostly black and grayish with silver for the ring. "It works for me." Was all he said as he slid his shirt back down and went back to his beer.
"Tifa has this martial arts symbol for hers and Yuffie's consists of a couple popular ninja weapons." Shade said after thinking for a moment. "Can't really recall Sephiroth's. Zack's is actually the first letters of his two mentors he grew up with. One is 'A' for Angeal, and the other is 'S' for Sephiroth. They're pretty close."
"Wow, wide variety." Sora said, finishing off his burger.
"Doesn't Aerith have her favorite flower as hers?" Axel asked, catching the teenagers off guard.
"She's part of you're guys' group?"
"Yeah, she's actually one of the nurses, but she splits her time between the agency and life in Radiant Garden."
"Wow." Namine said. "I never would have guessed."
"Most people wouldn't. If you saw some of the people on the streets in regular civilian clothes, the connection wouldn't normally be made." Shade pushed herself up and picked up some of the finished plates. "Be back." She walked into the house while the other two were pummeled with more questions, wondering if the well of curiosity would ever run dry.
Sliding the plates into the sink, she reached into the fridge to grab another drink for herself when her cellphone started ringing, playing Ten Thousand Fists by Disturbed which told her it was work calling. Guessing that Sephiroth had come up with an infiltration plan she answered it like normal. "Shade."
"Shade, it's Yuffie." The ninja was speaking quickly. "Listen, that prisoner we caught and got info out of suddenly came up with something new."
"What's wrong?" She could hear it in her voice.
"They have your address! They were waiting until a certain time to come for you and he started laughing saying it was today!"
She didn't have time to respond before she could hear gunshots outside. Dropping the phone she ran outside and saw Cloud and Axel already dragging them towards the doorway. Shoving the others in she closed the door and slid the locks in place, bringing up the security system and activating it quickly. "Guys, my bedroom, now." She said. "Cloud, with me." As soon as the group was in her room Axel went in with them to watch the window and add extra protection while Cloud went with her. She tossed him a shotgun which he caught and handed over to Axel while she pulled out and sheathed a couple daggers for her while giving a a rifle to Cloud, who nodded his thanks before heading towards the front of the house and placing himself in the kitchen, out of view from any windows while she she positioned herself at the end of the hallway, having a clear shot of the front door. She saw the cellphone on the ground but didn't get to it fast enough before the windows burst open.
Her front door blasted open and alarms went off as they attempted to file through, and she started firing with the guns level at her shoulders, hearing Axel take care of the ones in the back. She ducked to the side as she heard something come at her from behind, just contributing it to her senses as to how she heard it over the gunfire. She spun around and took the hilt of her nine millimeter to slam it into his neck, causing him to collapse as she fired at one in the hallway outside of her room before looking back, seeing Cloud doing one-on-one with one of the other intruders.
She ran forward and unsheathed a dagger, bypassing Cloud's opponent as she dragged it across the soft flesh of his neck before tackling one to the ground, the dagger sinking into his shoulder as she pushed herself into a handstand and landed, spinning around to rip the dagger out before turning back at the war zone that used to be her living room. She could hear Cloud yelling at Axel as she found three men quickly advancing on her.
Axel cursed as he covered both the window in Shadow's room and the hallway, Shade's sisters and their friends pressed into the corner with the guys standing in front of the girls. When one was able to get to him from behind he was shoved into the room and onto the ground, finding himself struggling with the person on top of him while another one climbed through the window. It's like a never ending flood! He thought angrily, then noticed how the weight suddenly disappeared.
Riku pulled the man off of him and brought his fist back, giving him an uppercut punch which sent the man reeling while Axel grabbed his gun and fired at the one advancing on the group. "Good job." He gasped, picking himself up. A crash came to their attention before they saw Cloud get slammed into the door to the closet at the end of the hallway, ducking down as the fist hit the wood where his head had been previously. "Where's Shade?" Axel asked, getting the man from the side.
"Front room, four guys." He grunted, running back. "We need to get the hell out of here!"
Axel silently agreed as he looked at the window. "Riku, you're taking lead."
Shadow dodged to the left before sending a roundhouse kick into the gut of one attacker and her fist into the jaw of another, jumping back as a knife came down before taking a throwing dagger that had embedded itself into her couch and returning the favor. Cloud appeared next to her and took down two with his gun while she handled the third one with a dagger. "They alright?" She asked, taking the back of her hand to wipe at the stream of blood at the corner of her eyes.
"He's getting them out of the house through the back."
"A fruitless attempt I assure you." They spun around and found themselves on the wrong end of multiple guns, the leader of the group grinning maliciously at them.
Shit.
XXXXXX
"Let me go!" Kairi yelled, struggling furiously as two men each held one arm and dragged her to the front of the house in the destroyed living room. She immediately stopped and looked on with horror at the bodies that littered the floor, blood flooding out of some while others didn't have a drop on them. To the right Shade and Cloud stood, glaring at the wielders of the guns pointed at them and looking like hell. She glanced over at them and Kairi saw brief anger flash in her eyes before they dropped back to their emotionless gaze.
"What the hell are you doing here." Axel growled, his arms tied painfully behind his back.
"Taking care of business." The leader said. "Now shut up and let us work." He motioned and two approached Cloud with restraints as well, but they didn't get that far before Shadow had one on the ground after slamming a foot into the back of his knees and her arm around his neck, cutting off oxygen while Cloud had one spun around and on his knees as well as he held a dagger to his neck while his other hand held his head back.
"I wouldn't suggest that." Riku growled a curse as he felt something come across his arm, leaving a decent cut on it for blood to escape through. The knife slowly crept up to the side of his throat but he just glared at the ground. Cloud and Shadow looked at each other before their holds on the attackers disappeared and they were shoved completely to the ground. He held still as they tied his hands behind his back as well before being led to the rest of the group.
"You alright?" He asked quietly, and roughly, to Riku.
"Fine." He replied. Shadow stood with her feet planted apart and her arms crossed over her chest, looking at the leader. "What do you want."
"Boss said that he wanted the revenge to be executed to the right length to make up for the humiliation you put him through. That was the order."
"Not my fault he can't take rejection well." She replied.
"But it is your fault for saying no in the first place."
"He wanted me to kill a guy who had never had any contact with him at all." She snapped. "And he wanted it done in front of his five year old daughter. You're boss is sick and a wimp to feel that threatened just because a deal didn't go right."
"You should have just done the job, it was your choice to do the exact opposite."
"I refuse to work for monsters." She replied, voice devoid of any emotion.
"Is that so?" He smirked and motioned with his hand and Shadow found them advancing upon her. "Remember, you have lives depending on your cooperation." Shadow glanced at the group being held captive at the door and silently cursed. This is going to hurt.
XXXXXX
She had been right, unfortunately, it had hurt like hell. She felt her body fall to the ground, but was to exhausted to get up all the way, and found herself only being able to push herself up on her knees. Her gut hurt from the multiple kicks she had received and there were more than plenty areas where blood was flowing over her, for sure one on her head where it had been slammed into the wall. Her legs felt weak beneath her and the room was slightly fazing out from the loss of blood. More than once she had heard screaming, and knew it wasn't her, so she guessed it was one of her sisters. The thought of them being forced to watch made her wince, and the leader took it as her hurting from the pain.
"Will someone get those twerps to shut up." He snapped, referring to the teenagers who were actively protesting.
Shadow looked over and saw Axel and Cloud held back by three men per, gagged and hands bound behind them. They didn't make any more in protest to the captivity, and she was thankful that they weren't stupid to endanger themselves like that. She gave the slightest of nods that they caught but others missed, letting them know she was holding up.
That was until a gunshot rang out and she cried out at pain flared through her left shoulder, the gunshot wound cleanly exiting the other side. This time they started to struggle as she barely held herself up, hand clutching her shoulder as she took deep and staggering breaths. "Start prepping the house." The leader ordered, handing the gun off to someone to have a dagger be placed in his palm.
He came over and knelt down next to her. "You know," He started, making sure the other two could hear him. "You were never part of their pathetic gang. You didn't have a place there. You're own father lost you in a bet, and it was to much work to just throw you in an orphanage, so they put up with you, but you never had that place, never earned it like the rest of them."
"Shut up." She gasped, working to stay conscious.
"It's true. And I was asked to make it clear that the truth conquers all." He pushed her shirt aside to reveal her dragon tattoo, the eyes of the dragon seeming to look directly at him. She struggled, but the pain was settling in and they were weak attempts. He shoved her to the ground and held her still by the neck, his thumb hooked through her shirt to hold it aside.
Axel's eyes widened as the dagger came down and cut through the tattoo, the flesh splitting apart to ruin the beautiful artwork that had been in its place. Tears streamed down Shadow's face silently as she winced, biting back a sob as she was roughly jerked up and the man whispered in her ear. Apparently whatever he had said hit a nerve because her shoulders were shaking now as she silently cried. He struggled attempting to form words with his mouth but being unable to do so. For a brief minute time seemed to slow and freeze around him, and all there was was Shadow slowly bringing her head up to look at him. He didn't need to hear her, the words almost seemed to fill the entire room even though in reality she didn't speak above a hoarse whisper.
"Mission before emotions." She looked at him with a gaze he had never seen on her before, one that pleaded, begging for him to understand.
And he did. But when he did, it terrified him.
A few of the men stayed in the house while the group was led outside. Kairi and Namine were crying, their sobs cut off from the cloth across their mouths. They were turned around to see the last of the gang walk out of the house, Shadow not with them, and one was carrying a gasoline tank held upside down so the liquid could fall freely from the container. They walked up to them and the leader grinned at the two agents while the gasoline finished being dumped. He took out a pack of matches from his pocket and the two realized what was happening.
Cloud and Axel started struggling, actually taking down a few of their captors. But it was to late as the flame was lit and fell to the ground on a small puddle of gasoline in the front yard. The flame quickly grew and flew up into the air, traveling through the front yard and to the front door of the house. Please no. Please don't! Axel was mentally yelling the words, but they were useless. As soon as the flame hit the front door the explosion broke free, and the entire house was engulfed in flames in mere seconds. Cheers erupted from everyone as they watched the fire, thinking it was a beautiful picture. But Axel didn't think so. He knew what art looked like, this was just sick murder.
Cloud fell to his knees, staring blankly at the house as it burned brightly in the night. He didn't even dare look at the teenagers, because he knew whatever he saw would just put him over the edge. Axel stared numbly at the house, still trying to register the words. She's dead. Shadow's dead. It didn't click. Shadow didn't die, she was impossible to kill. But the scene before him said otherwise.
"Get them in the cars, boss wants to see them." The teenagers were put in one van while the two agents got into a separate one, the guards not bothering to go in with them as they slammed the doors shut and darkness engulfed them.
It wasn't until the car started to move that the first tears began to fall.