This is a long one y'all. Also, don't forget to mind spoilers. Enjoy.
By now it was utterly dark outside of the team's dorm room, which if Eve was being honest, was not the top concern at the moment. "A-a mole… at Beacon?" Eve stammered in shock, Automne's declaration slapping against the walls of her skull rather loudly. Her periwinkle eyes bounced between her teammates, searching for some kind of comforting sign. Surely one of them would break into giggles at the notion of a mole. But the evidence, the same evidence suggesting that mental torture was the best way to defeat her, was preventing anything like that
Eve ran eyes over her teammates again as she tightly clenched her hands. She tried to steady her breathing and continue on as the sickening truth whipped up waves in her stomach. "B-b-but that c-could be anyone."
"There are hundreds of people at the school." Ty's voice stern, his hands loosely grasping the laptop, and a crooked scowl lightly tugging his lips. "Could be a Professor… maybe one of the guards," A chill ran through Eve as Ty, at a snail's pace, looked over his teammates suspiciously. "More than likely though, it's another student."
A cold sweat began to break through Eve's skin as Automne and Petunia joined in the act of throwing suspicious glares at one another.
'T-they can't think… b-but what if it is?' Eve cautiously glanced over her partner, her leader and her best friend. The idea that any of the three could have betrayed her swishing and swashing through her mind like a mixture of mercury and snake venom. By judging them she'd be judging herself and every gram of faith she had placed in the three over the past few months.
Eve swallowed hard. 'T-they can't be the moles. I-I know them… they're my friends.' The sentiments did little to stop the quickened rising and falling of Eve's chest. 'I…I know them… I trust them.'
Outside of Eve's mind, with the exception of some unsteady breathing, the room remained silent. The four teammates nervously ran eyes amongst themselves and, for a moment, tension seemed to weaken. In this brief moment, Eve was capable of looking over her teammates, her friends, and without any doubt she was capable of convincing herself that she could trust them.
Eve let out a nervous, shaky sigh and looked between the three again, ready to hear what they thought.
With a steely expression Ty turned away from the group and began to slowly walk to the other side of his bed. Ty rounded the foot and as he approached the other side, Petunia, without warning, leaped over Automne's bed and slid under her own.
This in turn prompted both Automne and Ty to dive to the floor in a panic. From there Automne tossed one of his Escrima sticks to Eve, who fumbled with it for a moment before dropping it.
Not even slightly phased by Eve's failure, Automne pulled out his pistol, and popped off the ground like a spring just in time to participate in an armed stand-off with Ty and Petunia.
"Put your gun down!" Ty shouted at Petunia who was struggling to decide if she should point her shotgun at Ty or Automne.
"Put your gun down!" Petunia responded, her words somehow inspiring Automne to turn back to Ty and point his gun at him.
'What is happening?!' Eve screamed internally as she stiffened like a board and tried to avoid irritating the gunslingers.
"Automne, don't point your gun at me, you jackass! I'll shoot you, you piece of shit." Ty growled, now struggling with the decision if he should point his gun at Automne or Petunia. "Point your gun at her, she's the mole!"
"I'm not the mole, jackass! Automne's the mole!" Petunia's words prompting all guns to be turned to Automne.
Automne quickly looked back and forth between the two. "I'm not the mole, you fucking idiots! If anyone is the mole, it's Ty! He's been working with dirty cops!"
"I have not been working with dirty cops! And if I was, I didn't know! Besides, I was the one who said we should keep pursuing Arsenic, why would I do that if I was the mole?!"
"Because you're trying to turn him over so you'll look like a hero!" Automne's logic winning him Petunia's shotgun barrel of approval.
"That is absolutely retarded! I'd never work with him! I would have put a bullet in his head the first time I met him!" Ty's fiery glare, and gun, turned from Automne to Petunia. "That sounds like something the resident attention whore would have done to shove herself into the spotlight!"
Petunia's eyes darted between the two, her muscles nervously twitching as Automne turned his aim towards her. "Oh, screw you Automne, and fuck you Ty! I'm not the mole!"
"You would only have things to gain if you stuck with him or turned him in. And you're the one whose been pushing us after him this whole time." Ty added, throwing accusations at her like stones.
"That only proves that I'm not the mole. If I wanted to get famous like you're saying I never would have went and found the servers to begin with. And if I was flippin' on Arsenic, then why the hell would I have even bothered with these stupid ass files?! If I wanted to turn on him I would have just made up some story about how I found where he lived!" Petunia shouted before turning her iron sights to Automne. "Automne, on the other hand, has never once agreed with us about going after Arsenic! He's the mole!"
"Screw you, I'm not the mole!" Automne yelled, his body quivering from either fear or adrenaline as he tried to focus his gun on Petunia.
"You've been nothing, but unhelpful this entire time. And recently it seems like you just don't want us to find him at all." Petunia shook her head at him, her lips twisting into a scowl as she tucked the butt of her shotgun into her shoulder. "I never liked you, I always got a bad vibe off of you, and this is why. You're the mole!"
Automne slackened slightly, shaking his head at her, he gave the girl a hateful glare. "The reason I am unhelpful is because every time we go on these stupid missions I'm the one who ends up with an open wound and a lot less blood. I have nothing to gain by going out on these stupid little adventures with you, and you know what?! If I was working with Arsenic, why the hell would he have attacked me that night we went to the club?! I was barely a threat to him and he went out of his way to stab me! Explain that, genius!"
Petunia stared at Automne fiercely, her eyes signifying that she was cutting up and processing his story. After a few seconds of no one declaring anyone a mole had passed, Petunia swiftly turned her gun toward Eve. "Eve's the mole!"
"What?" Eve screamed in shock, her stomach lurching at the prospect of betraying anyone.
"You've been playing us all along with that whole innocent nice girl bull! You act all sweet and polite, but then you'll write down all our secrets and give them to Arsenic." Petunia's accusations physically harming Eve.
"Petunia," Eve whimpered softly. "How-how could you- You're my friends." Her throat quavering as her partner assaulted her with allegations. A weak smile, asking for empathy twitched on her lips as she closed her hands together and held them out as if she were praying for mercy.
"Don't pull that on me." Petunia coldly rejected, her gun aimed at the center of Eve's chest. "And you know what, it all makes sense. The way you led guards to us at the abandoned base, the convenient way you got sick around the time of our mission, and this whole time, you have never been supportive of stopping Arsenic. Every time we bring it up you get quiet, and defensive, and you make excuses. What's the matter? Can't keep a smile on when we're trying to kill your boss?"
"Petunia, shut the fuck up." Automne demanded stepping out in front of Eve, his gun pointed at Petunia's face. "Eve's not the Dust damn mole, you idiot."
"Oh yeah, well if you know her so much better than the rest of us, then why doesn't she want to stop a murderer? N' why does she spend so much time by herself?" Petunia asked with a venomous lilt. "She's already so quiet and disinterested in everything we're trying to do. Why is she always trying to get away from us, Automne?"
"Because, after long days of dealing with suicidal idiots like you who tricked her into doing something she doesn't want to do she deserves some alone time. Besides that…" Automne paused and slowly stepped backwards until he was standing directly in front of Eve. Briefly, he removed his gaze from Petunia to glance back at Eve, a comforting glint within his hazel eyes lifting away some of her pain.
Healing, she flashed him a small smile and with that Automne turned back toward Petunia, and with confidence and hostility he continued. "I spend just about all of my free time with Eve, just like I did today. And in all the time we've spent together I've never once noticed her do anything suspicious. I didn't even see her glance at another student today or do anything remotely suspicious. So, I will vouch for her, with complete certainty, when I say she is not the mole."
Petunia lowered her weapon slightly, her eyes skeptically bouncing between the two. "Oh my Dust… you two are having sex in public places?!"
"What?!" Eve screeched, the sudden whiplash leaving both her and Automne slightly disoriented.
"You are, aren't you?!"
Blood rushed into Eve's cheeks setting her skin on fire. "We are not having sex! We aren't even a couple!" More than a bit of spite coming from her embarrassed exclamation.
"You two have just been running around the school for months having sex in random places! This explains literally everything!" She paused for a moment while embarrassment and horror consumed Automne and Eve "Wait a minute…" Petunia stopped and stared down at the floor. She gave a large gasp and quickly turned back to Automne and Eve in shock. "Oh my Dust… Eve, are you pregnant?!"
It was right about there when Eve's face managed to go up a whole two shades of red. "I-I am a virgin!"
Petunia gave another gasp. "You're doing it in the ass?!"
"Petunia, shut the hell up!" Automne barked, his own face a red mess of embarrassment.
Eve was pretty certain Petunia had another unwanted piece of advice in mind, but once Ty discharged a couple rounds from his sidearm into his bed the subject of unorthodox exhibitionism fell through the floor.
"First off," Ty started. "Eve, congratulations, I'll make sure to get the baby something nice."
"I am abstinent!" Eve responded, with the stomping of her foot.
"You're doing a pretty poor job at that then." Ty jabbed with a proud smirk.
"Ty, shut the hell up!" Automne ordered, placing a hand on Eve's shoulder to prevent her from going ballistic.
"Okay, I was just trying to keep things light, because I have some good news for all of you. None of us are moles." Ty's smile considerably less playful and his voice much more serious. "While Petunia was interrogating you two I decided to go through the profiles the mole had written-out. The four of us are all listed as 'threats' and we all have equally revealing profiles." Ty placed the laptop down on his bedspread and turned the screen around for the others to see. "While I want to say it's safe to assume we can trust each other, we just found an entire archive listing off information on a majority of the student population and a number of the Professors."
Eve, mostly cooled from the teasing, calmly stepped forward. Her cheeks still a warm pink and her eyebrows drooping in dismay she looked to her leader and asked: "What are we going to do?"
Ty gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand over his mouth. "I'm not sure."
"Why don't we try and use it against the mole?" Petunia suggested, stepping around from the other side of the room to join the others around the laptop. "If we can find the mole we can bend their arm and have 'em lead us to Arsenic."
"Yeah, that could work." Ty responded unenthusiastically. "But until we actually find them we don't know who we'll be able to trust. Like, what if Arsenic asked them to kill us while we were in a training exercise. And what about this info? We can't just let Arsenic hang onto the profiles of dozens upon dozens of Huntsmen and Huntresses."
"What're you thinking?" Eve asked, logical thoughts beginning to reemerge in her mind as she looked between her teammates.
Ty gave a weak sigh of contemplation, his chin cradled in one hand as he turned to stare at the laptop. "We have to turn what we found over to Ozpin."
Petunia swiftly turned to Ty in shock, "Dude!"
"Petunia, we can't hang on to this any longer. There is a mole at Beacon studying every student, and judging by the information here it could even be a Professor. We can't risk the lives of other Huntsmen just to catch Arsenic." Ty gave a resigned sigh as he made an effort to keep his chin up. "As of right now, this is something we cannot handle. We need to hand it over to Ozpin, tonight."
Ty briskly turned, his gaze still sitting low he went over to their base of operations, and grabbed a thumb drive.
'Yes!' Eve's subconscious cheered, her prayers answered as the nightmare that was the search for Arsenic approached its end.
Petunia, grinding her teeth in a silent fury rolled her weapon into one hand and squeezed it tightly. "Ty, you can't seriously be thinking about handing this over to Ozpin after all we've done." Petunia snapped, stepping forward she seized Ty by the wrist.
Ty pulled to wrench his wrist from her grip, but rather than continue to struggle stopped and stared at the laptop with resentment. "Do you remember what I told you when I said I'd allow you to dig into these files? I told you that we'd be doing it because 'it was the just thing to do'." He quickly turned back to Petunia, her expression stony and untouched by his words. With little effort he ripped his wrist away. "I cannot and will not let you hang on to these files for your own reasons…"
As Petunia continued to glare at him her spirit unwavering, he stopped again to glower at the laptop.
"Don't get it yet?" Ty's voice bitter as he cut deep into Petunia's harsh magenta eyes. "Team Ruby, profiles on all of them." Ty growled as he picked up the laptop and began to scroll through the list of students. "Team Cardinal, profiles on them. Team Juniper, profiles on them. Team Sepia, Profil-" Ty stopped and stared intently at the screen.
Eve and Automne stood by mildly confused as Petunia's eyes flickered between Ty and the laptop a couple times.
"What is it?" Automne's voice a bit hoarse as he stared at Ty, unaware as to what was so special about Team Sepia.
Without missing a beat, Ty calmly turned to Automne and explained. "Sienaerde Gewehr-Tänzerin, one of the top students at this school, has nothing on her profile."
"What?" Petunia's anger turning to curiosity as she swept over to Ty and took her laptop.
"But," Eve chimed, confusion bogging down her mind as the events took a turn into the day's happenings. "I-I thought everyone had a profile on there?" She asked coolly as she subtly turned to Automne. Hastily glancing him up and down, his unsettled expression and nervous posture signaling that he was just as surprised as she was.
"What's her profile say?" Automne's voice cracking slightly as he fixated his eyes on the laptop.
"That's the thing," Ty responded flatly, glancing up from the laptop for a brief moment. "All it has is her name and her profile picture. No eye color; no description of her weapon; no mental weaknesses, and you know how we had the status of 'Threat' she has no status, none at all."
Eve's mind buzzed like a wild bee hive as mental images from earlier in the day and first impressions of a gentler Sienaerde collided with the concept that she could be some sort of mole. While Ty and Petunia launched into a discussion about the plausibility that Sienaerde was the mole Eve silently tugged upon Automne's sleeve. With a skittish look in her eyes she watched as the dirty blonde glanced over to her. Quickly her eyes darted to Ty and Petunia, and when she was certain they were distracted she mouthed the words, "Is she?"
Automne's eyes sat upon Eve's for a few long moments, their depths swimming with a cool sadness. Slowly he turned back toward their teammates and shook his head.
Eve stared at the side of Automne's face for a moment before turning back to her team and tuning into the conversation.
"It fits." Petunia exclaimed confidently as she gestured toward Sienaerde's profile. "She fights in some of the top tiers and how hard would it be for her to get access to Professor's records. All she'd have to do is sneak in when no one's looking, and she's such a goody-goody that no one would suspect her."
"Yeah," Automne piped up, his voice poorly covering his bias. "But why would she just fight with us throughout the semester? All that would do is call attention to herself."
"Who knows?" Ty declared disinterestedly as he shoved the drive into the side of the laptop. "Sienaerde is the closest thing to a suspect we have right now." He gave a few swift swipes and taps to the trackpad and turned to his teammates with a stoic face. "Here's the plan: Automne, once this drive is done copying these files, you're going to take it directly to Ozpin. We can't trust anybody in the school except for ourselves and Ozpin, so you're going to get it to him without being seen. If you see somebody coming your way, use your semblance. We need to get this to him tonight and nobody can know about it. Got it?"
Ty's dry, serious voice pressed harshly on Automne as the dark-haired young man cut into him with his eyes. A sour frown hung upon Automne's mouth and refused to stretch, twist, or shift as he gave Ty a simple nod.
And as weak of a confirmation as that was Ty refused to dawdle. "As for Sienaerde, we have no idea how she's been getting information on Professors. For all we know she could be working with one or she could be by herself. Either way, if we hand over the files to Ozpin she might run. Petunia and Eve, once Automne takes off with the files we're going to head down to the locker room, gear up real quick, and pay Sienaerde a visit."
Dismay swept over Eve. "Wh-what are we going to do to her?" Her view shifting to Automne in concern.
"When we find her," Ty continued, not even slightly disturbed by Eve's input. "The three of us are going to capture her and bring her to Ozpin or security. We'll tell them she's a mole working for a criminal organization and they can take care of her from there." A flinty look in his eyes he glanced over all of them and gave a slightly morose sigh. Ty set the laptop down on his bed and stared down at it with as straight a face as he could manage. "I know when we're in over our heads, guys, and I'm not going to let this go on any further." Proudly he turned back to them and gave them an inflexible scowl. "Tonight we are officially handing this off to Ozpin, no ifs, ands, or buts."
With Ty's speech done Petunia gave long, groan and rolled her eyes. "I still think we could do this on our own."
Ty shot her a resentful frown. "Like I said before, we're in over our heads, and knowing what we just found out I can't let us go on like we've been doing."
"Yeah, well, that doesn't make this any less bullshit." Petunia griped as she raised and ejected a shell from her shotgun with a pout.
"Yeah, well, deal with it." Ty snapped as he turned back to the laptop to check on its progress. "Automne, I'd suggest you start getting ready. Once this thing is done downloading I want you out the door and headed straight for Ozpin."
"Yeah, alright, but Ty," Automne's glum voice splashing against Eve like droplets of ice water. "Eve and I were kind of talking about something before we came over here. So, if you don't mind we'd like to get back to that before we go off on… this." Automne said softly as he looked back at Eve and gestured for her to follow him.
Ty gave an exhausted groan. "Alright, fine, make it fast, dude. You only have a few minutes."
With a couple uncertain glances to Ty and Petunia, who were now standing about looking gloomy, Eve silently shuffled after Automne. With a brief stop to close the dividing curtain, the pair made their way across the room and over to Eve's bed. Undoubtedly worried for their privacy, both shot one more skeptical look at the curtain before seating themselves on Eve's bed.
With matters settling in Eve's mind like a thick haze she let out an exhausted sigh and slouched forward. If she weren't under any time restraints, she would take every second she had to mull over her thoughts or let her nerves settle. Right now however, she was under a time restraint, and a strict one at that. With one last sigh to steady her voice she looked ahead at the dorm's plain wallpaper and whispered. "Thank you."
Automne, following suit, leaned forward to rest his elbows upon his knees. "For what?"
"For standing up for me." Eve muttered, peeping over at him from the corner of her eye. "You lied to defend me."
Automne delicately nodded his head. "You're not the mole. It seemed easier to tell her we were together the whole day."
"But…" Eve fiddled with her fingers as she resisted the urge to face him directly. "How could you have known that I wasn't the mole?"
Automne gave a single short chuckle and knocked his knee against hers. "Eve, you're not a mole and I know it."
A meager little smile sprouted upon Eve's face for a moment before wilting to a frown. She hastily glanced at Automne legs and swallowed back the reluctance lingering over her next question. "Automne… I know you and Sienaerde have gotten… close," The last word burning eve's mouth like dry ice. "But are you sure she's not the mole?"
Automne didn't immediately respond, he sat and stared at the floor, discomfort slathered over the little face Eve could make out from the corner of her eye. Calmly, he took in a deep breath and exhaled before replying with an unconvinced, "Yes… I'm certain she's not the mole… She's a good person, Ty and Petunia just have the wrong impression about her."
Eve paused for a brief moment, her thumbs pushing against each other. "What about the profile?"
Automne exhaled deeply. "I don't know… Maybe Arsenic changed her profile to throw us off or… something. All I know though is Sienaerde is not the mole."
The two fell silent. Thoughts stirred the ice water in Eve's head as she stared at Automne's legs. She did not doubt a word he said, or rather she did not doubt that he believed what he was saying, but after the horrible revelation that there was a mole amongst them she had to doubt him. That in itself, that vile, disgusting fact sent tremors through her body.
"Eve," Automne's voice cracking through her stupor as he turned to look her in the face.
Catching her off guard she flinched and quickly straightened herself into a proper seated position. She softly cleared her throat and replied with a simple, polite, "Yes?"
Automne opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment before clearing his throat and saying. "Wh… Back in the garden, you wanted to tell me something."
Blood rapidly rushed to Eve's cheeks. "Oh… Yeah… that."
'No!' Eve screamed internally as the room grew to an uncomfortably sweltering temperature.
"I-uh, I figured since we have a bit of time, maybe we could finish that conversation."
"Ummm, yeah, sure. Why not?" Eve slurred, the words hastily jumping from her mouth to commit suicide as she struggled to look Automne in the face.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" A friendly smile spread across Automne's lips.
"I-uh I-uh- wanted to-"
'Say something you look like an idiot!'
"-To-to tell you that IIIIIIII-"
Just then the light bulb delivery cell showed up in Eve's head to install a new bulb.
Eve gave a small gasp. "I-uh, I've been gaining a lot of weight lately and I need to go on a diet."
Automne stared at her blankly. "You need to go on a diet?" He repeated, making the voices in Eve's head scream even louder.
"Ye-yes!" Nervousness assuring Eve that volume was the proper way to deliver a point. "Yes, your cooking is really unhealthy and I-I need you to stop making meals for me."
'Wait a minute.' A voice in Eve's head piped up as it realized what Eve was asking. 'This means we have to give up all his desserts! And his dinners! And Chicken and Waffles!' It was also around this point that Eve began to contemplate the mentality of sacrificing sweets, carbs, and sugars just to hide emotions.
Luckily for her Automne clearly wasn't buying into her story. "Eve you don't need to go on a diet. You look fine right now."
"N-no I don't." Eve stammered. "I-I've gained seven pounds in the last month."
Automne gave a small chuckle. "So what if you've put on a few pounds, you look fine. You're just as svelte as when we met."
Eve gave a gasp. "Don't call me that. That word is-"
"Accurate?"
"-Inappropriate. You shouldn't call me that." Eve huffed, her cheeks practically searing the rest of her face.
"Do you even know the definition of 'svelte'?" Automne asked with a large smirk.
"I know it's a compliment and it's a compliment you shouldn't be giving since you have a… a girlfriend." The second part Eve softly hissed through her teeth as she cast a cautious glance back to the curtain.
"Okay, first off, that compliment is fine to give out," Automne raised a hand to his mouth and whispered. "Even if I have a girlfriend." He stressed with a clear sassiness in his voice. "And second, it's a true statement, so I'm not going to take it back, and third-"
"Automne!" Ty's stern voice called out from the other side of the curtain. "The drive is ready. Let's go."
All traces of playfulness fell away from Automne and Eve. In an instant every one of Eve's frivolous concerns were quickly washed from her mind as she stared into Automne's eyes. Her strong expression quickly crumbling as uncertainties created unpleasant thoughts.
"Last chance," Automne muttered to her; fear, sorrow and something unidentifiable creeping into his eyes.
Eve's eyelids lightly drooped as she lowered her gaze to his chest. Without raising her eyes she moved over to him, buried her face in the crook of his neck, and wrapped her arms overtop his shoulders.
Small, warm waves flowed off her and into his body as she delicately rubbed against him. Her glasses jabbed and brushed painfully into her face as she nuzzled his sweater and scarf. Gently his arms were placed around her back, and when he squeezed her softly, tears welled in her eyes.
"Automne let's go!" Ty called again, his voice digging into Eve painfully.
Eve gave an inaudible whimper. "Ty's afraid… I've never seen him afraid." Eve muttered into Automne, her voice shaking as her hold on him tightened. "Please… be safe."
Automne gave a heavy, pessimistic sigh as the fabrics of their clothes softly moaned in unison. "You too,"
"Dude, come on!" Ty growled, the sound of the curtain being pulled aside ringing in Eve's ears.
"Gimme a minute!" Automne spat hostilely as he gently lifted his arms from around Eve. With a hesitant breath he placed them on Eve's shoulders and lifted her away from him, her wrists still crossed behind his neck.
Eve slowly pried her eyes open to stare in horror at a miserable little smile sitting beneath Automne's nose. She knew it was there to reassure her, and that only made her fears worse.
"Don't worry," Automne remarked, "It'll all be okay."
Eve let Automne remove her arms from around him with no struggle and watched as he rose from her bed and made his way over to Ty.
Without a word Automne took the small drive from Ty, and in a startling move quickly wrapped his arms around his leader, bestowing upon him a hug and a firm pat on the back. Eve almost felt the urge to smile as her leader stood stony faced through the entire thing, but she knew what it meant and resisted her urge.
"Hey, drama queen." Petunia called out to Automne as he pulled from his brotherly embrace. "You're going to Ozpin's office, not your funeral." Her arms contently crossed behind her head as she laid stretched out on his bed. With a smug grin she raised his other Escrima stick into the air. "Either way, you might want this."
Automne's eyebrows jumped in surprise for a moment only to fall back into place as a placid smile grew on his lips.
Shutting her eyes tiredly she threw his Escrima at his chest, and happily listened to the sound of him fumble with it. She gave a light snicker as she peered out at him through barely opened eyes. "See you in like a half-hour you stupid spaz."
Eve gave a whimper-like giggle as Automne scowled at Petunia and attached his weapon to his belt. A small flame flickered in Eve's chest as Automne glanced over at her with a warm, if not apprehensive smile. Quietly, she watched as he looked between his teammates once more before disappearing from sight. With a click the door opened, just wide enough for someone about Automne's size to slip out, and then shut.
'It's alright.' Eve told herself as the room fell jarringly silent. 'He has the easiest part. He'll be fine.' Eve took a deep breath and gently rubbed at her damp, sticky eyes. 'Like he said, it'll be okay.'
"Eve, you good?" Some concern penetrating Ty's dry voice.
Eve gave him a simple nod.
"Are you going to give us some big melodramatic goodbye next?" Ty's concern now replaced with sarcasm.
"No," Eve grumbled through a sniffle.
"Petunia, how about you? Any big proclamations of love or anything?"
"Eve, I love your cute, firm ass and ever since Automne started to fatten you up your tits have been getting a whole lot better." Petunia's confession of love appropriately coming along with a thumbs up. "Like seriously, it's starting to look like you have some actual boobs now."
"Petunia!" Eve screamed as she bolted to her feet, grabbed her pillow, and hurled it across the room at her.
"Oh come on!" Petunia laughed, her arms held out in defense as Eve looked for more things to throw at her. "One of us in here actually had to profess our love, and I for one loooo-"
"Petunia, that's enough." Ty stated before Eve could whip herself into an emotional tizzy. "I was just giving Automne a minute to get down the hall. Now, if neither of you have any objections, let's go gear up, and catch our mole."
A small shock burst through Eve's mind as she remembered the role she was about to play in their little operation.
'Automne thinks she's innocent.'
Petunia gave a heavy sigh, rolled off Automne's bed with a grimace, and raised her shotgun up to her shoulder. "I honestly hope Sienaerde resists so I can bash her across the back of the head. Seriously, if I don't get to rough 'er up then this thing will have been a complete wash."
"If she resists, then do whatever it takes." Ty responded nonchalantly as he opened the door for Petunia. "All we need to do is turn her over to security. We don't need to be nice."
'She can't be innocent, she had no profile.'
Eve distractedly stood beside her bed, her hands squeezing themselves whilst dry air passed through her open mouth like a fine sand.
'Automne must be wrong about her… I… We can't take any chances.'
"Eve, come on we gotta go." Ty impatiently called from the doorway.
Eve blinked rapidly as she turned her gaze up to her leader. "I-uh- sorry." Eve stammered, her feet clumsily skittering across the floor as she lowered her head and made her way past their beds and towards the door.
Her head bowed, Eve, Ty, and Petunia silently slipped from the dorm and made their way down the hall.
Eve internally took a deep breath of air and told herself: 'If she's innocent, she's innocent.' And with that she let the waters of her mind fall as calm as they could.
The three shuffled up the dormitory stairwell in silence, or at least Ty, Petunia, and Eve were silent. Their weapons and their armor, along with their numerous accessories, lightly jingled, clicked, clacked, and rattled as they climbed the stairs with serious expressions.
And that's how it remained until Petunia, following right behind Ty, looked her leader in the back of the head and asked, "Is this really the plan?"
"Yes." Ty's short gruff reply filling neither of his subordinates with much confidence.
"We're just gonna walk up to the door-"
"Ask if she's there, and if she's not we'll go in and wait for her." Ty continued as he stepped onto the next floor and turned around. With a serious frown he crossed his arms to deliver unto them a lecture in plan formulation. "It's her dorm and it's already getting late, she has to come back to it at some point."
"Unless she doesn't." Petunia suggested with a scowl, bumping him aside so she could make her way into the deserted hall.
"She doesn't know we're coming, so she has no reason to avoid her room." Irritation budding in Ty's voice as he jogged up to Petunia to give her a shove in the side. "So, get over your stupid personal shit and focus."
Eve gave a small sigh and nervously squeezed the shaft of her weapon while Petunia punched Ty in his chest plate. While her teammates tried to keep their physical dispute at a reasonable volume she quietly stared at her weapon and mulled over her thoughts.
'What if she… We already decided… besides, this is for the best.' Her weapon resting against her shoulder she ran her forefinger across its long wooden body. 'After tonight it's all over. No more worrying about criminals, or files, or drama, we'll just go back to classes and things will be normal… And if she's the mole, maybe he'll-' "Oof!"
"Ack- Hey, watch it."
"Huh?" Eve chimed. Snapping back to the real world she quickly realized that she had just tried to walk through her teammates who had, at some point, convened around a door bearing the number 187.
"Eve, pay attention, we're here." Ty sternly ordered as he adjusted his gear. Once he had assured himself that his weapon was properly fastened to his belt and that his chest plate was strapped on tightly, his eyes shot up to Eve and burrowed into her. "You've been quiet ever since we left the room."
Air seeped out of Eve in painful quantities as her gloves tightened around her weapon. "I'm- I'm just a bit nervous." She replied softly, her periwinkle eyes skittering everywhere.
Ty gave off a short sympathetic exhale, raised his fist up to the door and a rapped his knuckles against it. "Don't bring up the plan or anything we've found out. Just… try and be casual about it."
"I'll make sure to keep that in mind while we're holding them at gunpoint." Petunia scoffed, tugging at her jacket to illicit a soft clatter from the shotgun on her back.
Ty made to turn back to her, but a light shuffling from the other side of the door made him spin back around like a top. "Petunia, stow it." Ty slurred rapidly as the door gave a metallic click and slowly began to creak open.
As soon as the light from the interior of the dorm struck them the three tensed and with bated breath and twitchy fingers stood by and watched as the door widened. Blurs and blotches of beige obstructed by light gradually began to take form to reveal a young man dressed in a snappy four piece suit.
His face was mostly cast in shadows, but it was clear from the way his thin pointed nose and tired eyes swept over Ty, Petunia, and Eve that he wasn't judging them very fairly. His churlish tone reflected that observation as well. "Can I help you?"
Ty barely lapsed for a moment before taking the lead. "Hi, Ecru, is it?"
"Yes," The dorm dweller in the doorway replied, his tone not softening. His cobalt eyes sharpened as his eyebrows bowed in the middle. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah," Ty's voice struggling to remain polite. "We're looking for Sienaerde, is she in right now?"
Ecru gave an exhausted groan and rolled his eyes. "Like I told your friend, she's not here right now, and I already told him where you could find her. Now, if you'll excuse me-"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Ty's cool demeanor thrown aside as he raised a hand to stop Ecru from closing the door on them. "What friend?"
Ecru gave another small groan. "Your teammate, the one who can turn invisible. He came by here about ten minutes ago and asked where Sienaerde was. I told him she wasn't here, but he insisted on seeing her, so I told him she was taking a walk by the cliffs." In a single movement Ecru raised up a small book and wiggled it around. "If you don't mind, I was in the middle of my novel, good night." With that he receded into his dorm, slamming the door in Ty's face.
Eve's heart twitched painfully as an endless stream of questions poured into her mind. Sadly, Eve had more than enough answers.
Ty turned to look at both Eve and Petunia sluggishly. The skin of his cheekbones was stretched low in a confused, furious frown. His lips slightly shaking he held up his index finger and tried to convey his emotions. "Wh…Why would… why did-"
"Eve," Petunia's harsh and irate voice chafing Eve's body as she turned to her blue haired partner. "Do you know why Automne came looking for Sienaerde?"
Eve's eyes darted away from Petunia as her burning magenta glare seared her skin. Her eyes hastily flew to Ty who was also cutting into her with his own contemptuous look. Back-and-forth her eyes shot between Ty, Petunia, the floor, the ceiling, the middle distance, and whatever parts of her body she felt were cooking beneath their rage filled glares.
Trembling Eve opened her mouth. "Au-Automne and Sienaerde ar-are dating." Her eyes went between the two as the revelation swept through them.
Petunia clearly, and absolutely frustrated turned away and began to slowly pace. Her fingers, sticking from the ends of her fingerless gloves, clenched and unclenched themselves as she glared down at the floor. Like an animal her back arched up as if she were ready to let out some blood-curdling scream of fury, but she wasn't the one Eve was afraid of.
"Why the hell wouldn't you tell us this?" Ty's voice devoid of any sensitivity as the words slowly came at Eve.
A chill ran through Eve as she tried make eye contact with her livid leader. Crumpling her arms up against herself she hugged Starlight Marionette tightly as she tried to explain. "Au-Au-Automne d-didn't want me to tell you that they were a couple. He said you wouldn't understand."
"Eve, I don't care who Automne's fucking right now." Ty spat, his words slowly stabbing into her. "What I do care about is the fact that Automne is going behind our backs to tip off Sienaerde."
"N-no, it's not like that." Eve's emotions and logic blending into a nightmarish mess as she tried to defend herself and Automne. "Automne said Sienaerde wasn't the mole. He said-"
"If Sienaerde's the mole she has enough knowhow to trick Automne's stupid-ass into believing she's not the mole!" Petunia growled through her teeth as she stomped on the ground violently.
"Oh my dust." Ty hissed in a low voice, his glasses lifted so he could drive his palms into his eyes. "If Automne came through here less than ten minutes ago, then he didn't have enough time to deliver the drive to Ozpin."
Petunia gave an exhausted, ire riddled groan. "Meaning, Automne still has the drive, and if he went to warn Sienaerde-"
"He's likely handing over all the cards we have and putting his own life at risk." Ty fumed as he rushed forward, intentionally pushing Eve aside as he began to sprint down the hall.
Eve gave a short hard gasp as her body unclenched from the tirade. "Automne," She whispered under her breath as she took her weapon in both hands and sprinted after Ty.
"This is just Dust damn perfect." Petunia furiously growled from behind her, the pounding of their feet creating a peace-crushing rhythm.
'This is all my fault!' Eve screamed from the inside as she leaped down the stairwell, her legs and feet hurting as she franticly struggled to descend as quickly as possible.
"I'm sorry!" Eve yelled to the world. Her innards squirming and aching as they jumped down the last flight of stairs and pushed their way out a set of double doors onto the campus.
"We'll discuss this later!" Ty shouted back at her.
'How could I be this stupid? Why didn't I tell them?' Cool evening air burning Eve's throat as she panted wildly. Her eyes didn't even have the opportunity to fill with tears for the wind coursing around her whisked them away and dried her eyes. 'I'll never be able to forgive myself if anything happens to him. It will have been all my fault.'
Air whipping harshly through her hair and lights dimming around her, her running intensified as she and her teammates approached the front of the school. Air passing heavy from their mouths and forming large clouds they frantically ran past the statue resting in front of the school as they made their way towards the cliffs.
'I should've known he'd do something stupid. He always does something stupid and I'm the one who's supposed to catch it. I'm responsible for this whole mess.' The onslaught upon herself only inciting more pain as the three ran down the pathway in front of the school.
'Please, please,' Eve internally pleaded, her hands fastened painfully around her weapon. 'I just want him to be okay.'
"There they are!" Ty called out as he pulled his sword from his belt and gestured to the very brink of the darkness where the landing pads began to take shape.
At the edge of one of the platforms overlooking Vale Sienaerde stood glaring at them as they approached. Tall and domineering her brown figure stood beside a dark blotch seated before her knees.
Eve gave a horrified gasp, for as they grew closer the blotch took the form of Automne who sat choking and kicking, Sienaerde's rifle being pulled up into his throat. She stared at Automne's face in horror, her strength and her anger fluctuating as she watched him sputter and gasp for air. Cautiously, she, Ty, and Petunia ran to the center of the platform and drew their weapons a meager fifteen feet away.
"Let him go!" Ty demanded at the top of his lungs, his shuriken unfurled and ready to be thrown through the brown haired girl.
Aside from the sound of Automne's choking and his feet scuffling against the ground silence fell between the two parties.
"Drop your weapons." Sienaerde's cold voice barely rising over the sound of Automne's choking.
Slowly her brown eyes crawled over the three of them and when she had confirmed that none had even flinched she tugged upwards on her rifle to illicit louder coughs and wheezy gasps from Automne.
Chills coursed through Eve as she watched spit drip and fly from Automne's mouth while his bloodshot eyes bulged in their sockets. The blade of her weapon visibly jerked and jittered in the low light of night.
"It won't be difficult to choke him to death." Sienaerde calmly continued. "I'd simply have to pull up." Her arms flexed beneath her clothing as she rolled the rifle lower onto his windpipe, allowing some air to flow into his lungs. "Then again, asphyxiation isn't a death sentence. I could always sever his spinal cord, leave him a disabled husk."
Her eyes slowly rose to Eve.
"And if you still feel undaunted, feel like you can rescue him before I am capable of doing any permanent damage, I'd like to remind you of my whereabouts. I am currently standing a step away from a sheer plummet into the bay of Vale. Given we don't fall upon any rocks, a person in his condition would not likely survive the impact. Or, if we'd like to keep it simple, I could break his neck in an instant."
Sienaerde's eyes darted between the three, all weapons shook gently as their wielders stared at her with both contempt and fear.
"I am going to give you five seconds." Sienaerde's voice made Eve quiver fearfully.
Terrified, Eve looked over to Petunia and Ty. Hate dripped from their expressions like the sweat on their faces. It raged in their eyes like an inferno, but paled in comparison to their fear. They tried to hide it behind stiff lips and stern glares, but shaky chins revealed the pure and utter fear hiding in their gaze.
"This is your last chance to drop your weapons." Her eyes rolled across them all one more time before she began. "Five…"
Without hesitation Eve pulled from her attack stance. Cautiously sliding into a crouch she tossed her weapon forward onto the ground with a wooden clatter.
Sienaerde's eyes darted to the other two. "Four…"
"Alright!" Ty called out to her, collapsing his shuriken to its sword mode and tossing it forward onto the ground.
"Leave his dumbass alone." Petunia spat, ejecting a shell from her shotgun before switching the safety on and throwing it down next to Ty's weapon.
Sienaerde's eyes scanned them over again. "Your secondary weapons as well. That means your pistol Inuhoozuki."
Ty gave a heavy exhale as he stuck his right leg forward and crouched down.
"Slowly." Sienaerde ordered, pulling upwards on Automne's throat to create another violent cough.
"Alright," Passivity in Ty's voice as he carefully pulled up his pant leg and removed his pistol from his ankle holster.
Meanwhile, Eve, lightly trembling, reached into her back pocket, pulled out a switchblade, and dropped it onto the ground before them.
Sienaerde's gaze fell upon Petunia. "Do you want me to kill him?" Frustration burning in her voice as she jerked the softly wheezing Automne to the side so he could stare at Petunia with a fish eyed expression.
The sound of Automne's weak, soft, scrapie breathing flowed like glass through their minds as Eve, Petunia, and Ty stared at him.
Petunia ground her teeth together and twisted her face in a furious misery. Dramatically she pulled open one side of her jacket for Sienaerde to see the inside, and with her other hand she reached into an interior pocket and pulled out a grenade. Her gaze glued to the floor she chucked the grenade down and they all listened to it bounce with a metallic clatter and roll around.
Sienaerde looked between the three of them and gave them a confirmatory blink. "Now, here's what's going to happen."
Eve cringed and averted her eyes to the landing pad as she pressed her rifle further into Automne's neck. 'Do what she says. Just do what she says.' A voice in Eve's head croaking miserably as horrible outcomes budded in her mind like nightshade.
"Howlite, pull out the marionette string from your weapon, use it to tie all of the weapons together, and then slide the bundle across to me."
With no extra coaxing and no eye contact, Eve knelt down on the ground and set about doing her assigned task.
"Once she's done with that, the three of you are going to get in a line, put your hands in the air and then we're going to move clockwise until you're standing exactly where I'm standing." Automne gave a loud wheeze as Sienaerde pulled her rifle into his windpipe. "Let me be absolutely clear here. If any of you stop moving or make any sudden movements, Noire dies. If you use your semblance or it even looks like you're attempting to use your semblance, Noire dies. If I give you an order, you follow it, or Noire dies."
With a quiet sigh Eve secured the knot binding her team's weapons together. Nice and easily Eve rose to a crouch, placed both hands on the bundle of weapons and gave it a strong push in Sienaerde's direction.
Watching it slide awkwardly across the landing pad and up to her Sienaerde stomped on it with her foot and dragged it back in a single motion to send the weapons off the cliff.
Ty and Petunia grit their teeth in fury at the display, but with no options raised their hands in surrender.
Sienaerde's eyes glanced over them and when they arranged themselves into a short line she said, "Slowly, start walking."
Eve, at the head of the line, carefully marched forward. Her hands in the air and her teammates marching behind her, Eve stared across at Sienaerde fearfully.
Staring them down as she sidestepped into position, Automne let out terrible agonized coughs, for rather than let him walk with her she dragged him on his knees. In a futile attempt for traction his knees kicked and rubbed against the landing pad while Sienaerde stared daggers at his teammates. "Space out you three. Don't stay so close together." Sienaerde demanded as Petunia came a bit too close to Eve's heels for her liking.
"This is bullshit." Petunia whispered under her breath as she let Eve gain a bit of distance.
"No talking." Sienaerde's voice cutting down Petunia as if she were a weed. "Stop." Their captor ordered as she stepped into the spot that had once paralleled her Cliffside position. "All of you, turn towards me and back up against the ledge. I want your heels to be at the very edge."
With venomous glares and a resigned sigh from Eve they followed her orders to the letter and put their backs to the cliff.
The wind dangerously tugged at her hair, beckoning her to go over the ledge as she gave Sienaerde a miserable look. Her face and body quivering from the night air, which sapped warmth from her like a leech, she dared to open her mouth. "W-we did what you-"
"Quiet!" Sienaerde said sternly. Hesitant she glanced over the three for a solid, silent minute. Her shoulder length, chocolate brown hair whipped wistfully in the wind as, in a single motion, she removed the barrel of her rifle from beneath Automne's throat, took a couple steps to his right, raised the gun to her shoulder and aimed it at her hostages.
Automne fell forward onto his hands and knees and let out a horrible deep throated cough. "Ghuhuuuuuughkk!" He wheezed as he took in air only to cough it back up painfully.
Eve's eyes held upon Automne fearfully. "Automne, are you-"
"I said quiet, Howlite!" Sienaerde demanded shaking the barrel of her rifle at Eve to assert her dominance.
"Khaaaahakaka!" Automne coughed as he pushed himself off the ground. Wheezing slightly he took a few deep breaths and pushed the goggles on his forehead down over his eyes. Panting heavily he turned in Sienaerde's direction. "You-" He gave off another visceral cough and returned his gaze to the ground. His breathing steadying he spit a glob of mucus and turned back toward Sienaerde. "You didn't have to be so rough!"
"Sorry, I wasn't sure how capable of an actor you were to pull off asphyxia." Sienaerde casually replied stepping over to him and pulling his Escrima sticks from the back of her pants.
"You're one to talk little Ms. Socialite." Automne retorted in a rasp as he took his weapons from the girl and staggered to his feet.
"Oh no," Ty whispered, his voice distant and hopeless.
Eve's mind struggled to fill in exactly what was wrong with the scene before her. It looked like the two were working together and the whole hostage situation had been a ruse, but that wasn't possible. That just didn't make sense.
"You son of a bitch." Resentment heavy in Petunia's voice as Automne pulled his scarf up over his mouth and transformed Twilight Harmony into a pistol.
"Au-Automne," Eve stammered as disbelief weakened into doubt. "Wh-what is this?"
"Eve," Petunia chuckled, her voice slowly devolving into a frustrated cackle. "Don't you get it? Automne and Sienaerde are both working for Arsenic. They're the moles."
"Actually," A coarse voice called out through the darkness. Appearing from the shadows, a man in a brown trench coat wearing a wide brimmed hat could be seen coming down the pathway. "They're more operatives than anything… but yes technically they are moles. But here's the thing Ms. Kapelle," Professor Baula said with an upbeat cadence as he strolled onto the landing pad to stand behind Automne and Sienaerde. "They may work for Arsenic in an administrative sense, but at the end of the day, they work for me."
Chills ran through Eve's body as she attempted to comprehend what was happening.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Ty whined, a scowl stretching across his face as he glared at Automne who was standing by with his head lowered. "You traitorous son of bitch!"
"Oh come now, Mr. Inuhoozuki, Mr. Noire has always known where his loyalties fall. He's been working with me for years." Baula gently placed his hand onto Automne's shoulder and gave him a light rub. "Same with Ms. Tanzerin, isn't that right."
"Yes, High General." Sienaerde replied quickly, her rifle still aimed at their prisoners.
"B-but," Eve stammered, her eyes locked onto Automne "W-what about that night at the club? They attacked you; Arsenic hurt you."
Baula gave a heavy sigh, "After Mr. Noire failed to keep you all in-line at that weather outpost a few months back, we quickly realized we couldn't go by his written reports alone anymore." Baula gave a small chortle. "It's not that we didn't trust him, we just wanted to know everything you were doing with our archives. So, we installed a recording device in his Scroll that night and when he returned to your dorm, he placed it in the perfect little niche. We've been listening in on you ever since that day."
Rational thought quickly began to vacate Eve as reality flipped in her mind. "Wh- Bu-But, Automne… w-why?"
Automne glanced up at Eve from behind his goggles. He calmly took a deep breath and turned back to the floor. "When I was eight years old a King Taijitu killed my mother." Anger dripped from every word as he shook his head miserably. Slowly he cocked his head to the side and stared at his teammates. "You wanna know what I found out when I was thirteen? I found out that the village we had lived in had asked the government right here in Vale for assistance nearly a dozen times." Fire animated his muscles as he raised his pistol to his head and rested the barrel against his temple. "They were denied every time. All because they didn't have enough money to pay for aid."
Eve choked on her reaction as she processed his story. His pain washing into her as she watched him shake his head angrily.
"Are you kidding me?! Get over yourself!" Petunia shouted at him her hands of surrender now balled into fists.
"Quiet, Kapelle, or I'll put a round through you!" Sienaerde exclaimed her rifle shaking slightly as she stood listening to Automne' story.
"You're nothing but a little bitch with mommy issues who's willing to let a terrorist take over Vale just so you can get revenge." Ty scoffed, his scowl grim enough to break a mirror. "You're pathetic."
"Is that what you think this is about? Revenge?!" Automne laughed, the misery in his voice unyielding. "We're working for the people, you idiot!" Automne shouted his pistol pointed at Ty's head. "Thousands of people die outside of the cities every year, and those are just the ones who live near Vale. If Baula comes to power we can help them! We can get rid of this bureaucracy and this-this red-tape and actually do something for the people outside of the kingdoms! We can give them the protection they need, and once Baula creates a military where our Huntsmen and Huntresses are able to assert their power we can launch an assault on the Grimm and wipe them off the face of the planet! No more cowering in fear of those monsters and no more innocent lives lost to those beasts!" The last part of his declaration coming in a whimper as he struggled to suppress tears.
With a sympathetic smile Baula placed his hands on Automne's shoulders. "There, there Automne. No need to feel down, we're working towards something beautiful for everyone."
Eve's eyes swiftly bounced between Baula and Automne. "Automne, don't listen to him!" Eve pleaded, stepping forward. "He's just using you! He's-"
BANG
With a clatter the casing from Sienaerde's rifle fell to the ground. Her hands shaking and her eyes budding with tears she shouted, "That is your only warning shot Howlite! Get! Back!"
Baula gave a sigh as he slid his hands off of Automne's shaking shoulders. With disappointed eyes he looked between Ty, Petunia, and Eve and shook his head. "Truly, I wish you children could have seen our logic. Mr. Noire vouched for you on a number of occasions, but I'm afraid you are just too ignorant to see our goal, and too reckless for us to ignore you." He gave another short sigh and pulled back his sleeve to look at a chrome watch. "Either way, our plans have already been set into motion."
Baula gave a small wave to Sienaerde.
With a nod she stepped over to Automne and firmly gripped his pistol by its suppressor.
"What's that supposed to mean? Your master plan about to start any minute?" Petunia mocked, her hands of surrender now turned to bold middle fingers.
"Actually," Baula replied nonchalantly. "It means that, as of five minutes ago, you three have officially been framed for the disappearances of Mr. Noire and Ms. Tanzerin. Two exceptionally smart and decent young adults who had fallen under the impression that you, their fellow students, were illegally documenting other students fighting tactics and distributing the information to criminal organizations. All we've been doing here is ensuring that my computer technician has been able to forge the profiles you found earlier to look like you had produced them." A smirk spread across Baula's face as he placed his hands into his jacket pockets. "I have also personally removed all evidence from your dorm that you three were hunting for Arsenic. All we have to do now is make three pesky teenagers inexplicably disappear. And considering that your charges will range from espionage to premeditated homicide, the authorities will have a pretty good inkling of why you left."
Eve shook with a pained frown, 'This can't be happening. This can't be happening.'
Sienaerde gave a heavy sigh and released Automne's pistol.
"Again, I really wish you could have seen the logic in our motives, but I can't just allow you to run amuck while we're trying to form an empire. Mr. Noire,"
"Yes, High General?" Automne obediently raised his head and tightly gripped his pistol with both hands.
"This is your mess,-"
'This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.'
"-take care of it."
Automne took a few steps forward, ejected his magazine, and replaced it with one from his vest.
'No, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!' Air escaping Eve in a stunned panic.
Calmly, Automne walked over to Ty. Standing a good ten feet back he raised his pistol and aimed it at his forehead.
Silence fell across the platform as the two stared each other down.
With all eyes on Automne time on the moonlit platform slowed to a trickle.
With a quivering mouth and burning eyes Ty stared into his partner. "Well, you stupid, traitorous son of a bitch, why don't you do it? Oh that's right, because you're too much of a cowardly, wimp that still smells like his dead mother's cun-"
Pop
The gun fired off in two bursts, but Eve only heard the first shot. She didn't mind the sound though, as graphic as it was, the pop of the gun and the clatter of casings against stone. It was all dressing. What touched her was the splatter of crimson red as Ty fell backwards. Two long streaks of blood arching from his face as he fell into darkness.
Tears quickly flooded Eve's eyes as she lost control of her voice. "TYYYY!" She screamed out in horror as she stared at the blood stains signifying where he stood a minute before.
"You bastard!" Petunia screamed at Automne with watery eyes, as he stepped in front of her and raised his weapon. "I never should've trusted you, you low-down lying-"
Pop Pop Pop
All three rang out this time.
Blood splattered, thick and red from her neck and face before her body toppled backwards over the ledge.
Eve didn't have the energy to scream Petunia's name. All she could do was weep, her hand pressed to her mouth to suppress what visceral pain she had managed to vocalize.
'I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Not like this! Not by him!' Eve screamed and pleaded on the inside as Automne tentatively walked over to her and stood a solid ten feet back.
Tears flowing from her eyes in thick hot streams, she removed her gloved hand from atop her mouth and lowered it to her waist. Her mouth trembled painfully as air escaped and entered with her sobs.
Slowly, Automne raised his pistol and aimed it at her face.
Eve let out a loud whimper and wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
His gun shook wildly in his hands as he tried to center it upon her head. His breathing loud he readjusted his hands to stop the trembling, but to no avail.
Pained, Eve muttered. "I-I-I thought w-wwe were ffriends."
The trembling intensified to the point that he could no longer center his aim.
Sucking in air Eve muttered, "Au-Automne,"
Automne quickly shot a hand to his face and ripped off his goggles, tossing them to the ground. Bloodshot and filled with tears his hazel eyes stared through her with an intense combination of sadness, regret, and frustration.
Eve's whimpering slowed to a halt as she stared into his eyes. Sniveling she muttered again. "Automne,"
"I'm sorry." Automne whispered.
Swiftly he raised his gun and aimed it at her heart.
Pop
The first shot stunned her.
Sending an icy burning feeling through her body, her weight immediately abandoned her.
Pop Pop
The following shots did little in the way of damage. All Eve felt was iciness as she lost her balance and fell backwards over the cliff and into darkness. Her vision began to fail as everything in the corners of her eyes disappeared while Automne, who stood at the center of her eye atop the cliff, slowly shrunk away.
To be continued
-CS