Chapter 7

Eve stiffened at those two words.

Rinslet's dead.

Jenos didn't look at them or freeze when Sven said those words. He didn't even seem to make a sound, but kept hold of Rinslet even as the sound of sirens steadily drew nearer.

Eve tried to move her feet, but she was glued to the ground. There was nothing she could say that would appease for anything.

"It was Bade, wasn't it? What did he do to her?"

Sven took out a cigarette, lit it and took a long drag. He let the smoke out in a whoosh of steam and glanced over at Jenos.

"I called Jenos as I ran to help her, but when I got there, Bade had injured her pretty badly. She couldn't move at all. All the while, that son of a bitch was laughing," Sven took another drag of his cigarette. "I shot at him. He dodged every bullet, despite having been shot in the leg. He came at me so quickly I wondered if I had to use the Doppler Eye. But it got to the point that all I could do was dodge him. Jenos arrived a little while later. When he saw Rinslet, he went crazy. He was out for blood—you could see it in his eyes."

"I bet," Train muttered. Eve wondered if it was the same look that Train had when Saya was killed that shone in Jenos' eyes.

"When Bade left, it was all I could do to get Jenos to stay. Eventually, I convinced him that Rins needed him and he hasn't let go of her since she died."

"In his arms?" Train asked. Sven nodded. Train turned away. "I should have gone with you."

"That doesn't matter. You can't blame yourself for this. I asked you to stay."

Train nodded. "It doesn't make me feel any better."

Why are you feeling guilty? Eve thought. I killed her. I shouldn't have gone to get you. I shouldn't have stayed at home. I should have waited to tell Train…

Eve turned on her heel, finally finding the strength to move and ran home. Train grabbed her arm before she could run farther.

"Eve, what the hell are you doing?" he shouted. "If you go out there, who's to say that Bade won't find you again?"

"Damn it, Train! He's already killed Rinslet because of me!"

Train didn't let go but studied her with hard eyes.

"She died because she tried to give me time to get help. If I had just stayed with her, she'd still be alive!"

"How do you know that?" Sven asked; his voice level and calm. "How do you know that she would still be alive if you stayed with her?"

Eve averted her gaze to the ground. "I could have done something to stop him," she said; tears began to trickle down her face. "I should have done something—anything—to prevent this. Rins shouldn't have died. She didn't need to die."

Sven gently wrapped Eve in his arms, shushing her. "It's not your fault, Princess," he whispered, using Train's nickname for her.

"There's nothing you could have done," Train stated. "I told you, Bade's insane. He would have just killed you too."

Eve knew that her emotions were coming out too much now. She never noticed the police cars or the ambulance. She didn't want to see Rins's body, let alone face Jenos knowing that she could have done something to prevent Rins from dying.

The paramedics took Rins's body to the morgue, and officers questioned Jenos.

"Did you see what happened?"

"I got here as she was dying, goddammit!" Jenos shouted.

"Sir, calm down."

"Don't fucking tell me to stay calm!" Jenos bellowed. "My fiancé died right in front of me and you expect me to stay calm!?"

Eve balled her hands into fists. She wanted to say something to get them to leave him alone, but her words were choked by sobs and she could say nothing.

"Sirs," an officer said, addressing Train and Sven. "We need to know how you were involved in the accident."

"This wasn't an accident," Sven told him calmly. "It was a murder."

The officer blinked. "Murder?"

"Why? How was she killed?" Eve asked, shocked that they couldn't deduce that.

"She looks as though she was hit by a car or something. I never seen anyone murder someone and make it look like a hit and run. The woman, from what the reports say, had a nasty head injury, leading to a concussion, both legs broken and a broken arm. The radius broke through her skin. She may have choked on her blood from internal bleeding, but the autotopsy will figure that out."

"Autotopsy?" Eve asked.

"Well, if your father claims that she was murdered, than we'll want to verify that. If it really was a hit and run, then it'd be a murder anyway. No one could do that. They'd have to be—"

"A monster," Train finished for him. The officer nodded.

"Exactly." He walked away and Jenos joined them. Eve averted her gaze. She didn't think she could face him. Not with the pain evident in his face.

They walked back to the hideout; the air was too tight to say a thing. Eve felt too tense and each step seemed like led. She leaned against Sven for support. She glanced at Train, wondering if he felt betrayed by her choice to seek comfort in her segregate father. His expression was unreadable.

Entering the house, Eve headed to her room and listened at the door, wondering what would happen next.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Jenos snarled.

"We all feel that way," Sven agreed. "But you saw what happened to her: we have to be careful if we want to succeed."

"Screw that, the next time I see him, I'll erase him."

"You know how Bade's like, Jenos," Train said. "We can't take him head on."

"I know that! But what do you want me to do, Train? Huh? Just bide my time? Wait and plan it out? I already know what I'm going to do that bastard."

"They labeled Rins's death as a hit and run, Jenos," Train stated. "We can't just go after him as we are now. We can't let our emotions lead us astray."

"Didn't you?" Jenos accused. "When you left Chronos to chase after Creed?"

There was a pause and Eve held her breath.

"I admit that I did. But I didn't leave just to go after Creed. I really did get sick of following orders and left so that I could learn to live for myself. When Creed came back, I did want to finally avenge Saya…"

"But…what? You changed your mind and decided to take him down like a sweeper without taking his life."

"And now I'm glad I did because I think we're going to need Creed's help to capture Bade."

More silence followed until Sven broke the silence again.

"We'll discuss this later while Eve's at school."

"She's not going to school tomorrow, Sven," Train stated. "After what happened today, I thought you'd have more reason than that."

"Knowing Eve, she'll need the distraction."

Eve knew that that much was true, but that's what books were for.

"She's got plenty of things she could do here if she needs a distraction," Train said. "And I'd rather her stay home for a few days."

Another pause. "Fine," Sven said. "You're right. I just don't want her to feel as burdened as she already does."

"What do you mean?" Jenos asked.

"She's blaming herself for Rins's death."

Another moment of silence and Eve held her breath waiting for Jenos' verdict. "I would never hold Eve responsible for what happened to Rins," he said.

Eve let out a sigh of relief, but it didn't stop her from thinking that she should have done something.

Well, that's that, she thought. I'm going to kill Bade on my own, for Rins.

She then went to bed and slept a dreamless sleep.

It's ansty...why is it angsty? Sorry guys, I don't know how long I'm going to have them angsting for. Thank you for being understanding so far for my killing Rins off...I still feel bad about that.