Warning! This chapter is graphic and may be disturbing to some readers! Viewer discretion is advised.
(One week later)
Clara was waiting for Shaun and Peggy to arrive while playing chess with Teresse. Clara and Teresse spent the week watching movies, playing games, and going out to places to eat. She had a rather fun week with the young girl, but it was time to say goodbye.
There was a knock at the door and Clara knew exactly who it was. Teresse gasps in excitement and dashes towards the door. Opening it, she is greeted by her parents. Teresse hugs both of them before guiding them into Clara's apartment. Shaun was more than happy to see his daughter joyful, but he wanted to make sure she acted on her best behavior.
"Clara, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Shaun asks.
"Sure."
Shaun tells Peggy to stay with Teresse until they got back. Clara and Shaun go outside to talk.
"Be honest with me, how was she?"
"She was a bit jumpy at times, but she was good overall."
"What all did you do with her?"
Clara didn't want to tell him about their encounter with fixers.
"We went out and got food, I read her bedtime stories, and we played chess."
"That's good. I'm glad to hear that she wasn't such a handful, or was she?"
Clara shakes her head.
"No, she acted fine."
Shaun smiles before replying, "Alright, let's go check on the girls."
Once they were back inside, Teresse and Peggy were no where to be seen.
"Girls?" Shaun calls out.
Clara and Shaun go to the kitchen to look for them, but when they got there, one of the chairs were knocked over. Clara also spots Teresse's bunny on the floor. Shaun started to worry so he calls out their names. Still no answer.
"Where the hell are they? They were just here," Shaun says in a panic.
They keep searching, but stop once they see one of Clara's windows open.
"Shit," Shaun mutters beneath his breath, "Where are they? What happened?"
"I can find them for you," Clara reassures him.
She ignores his confused look and pulls out her phone. She runs a search for Peggy and Teresse and their names immediately pop up. They weren't too far from where Clara lived. Shaun peeks over at her phone and sees their names.
"How did you-"
"I can track them through Ctos. I was with Dedsec," she interrupts them.
He nods in a sense of relief knowing where they were, but he was still worried.
"We'll need to bring weapons just in case." Clara tells him
Shaun pulls out a pistol hidden in the pocket of his jeans.
"You may need more than a single pistol. This could involve fixers."
Clara strides over to her closet and pulls out a grenade launcher and her daggers.
"I think I'll stick with my pistol."
"Suit yourself," Clara says before leaving the apartment with Shaun.
Peggy and Teresse were tied up in separate chairs. Their wrists were bound together by duct tape and they were being guarded by two men. It looked like they were in a large building and it looked to be old and abandoned.
Teresse was always into dangerous things, but she never would have imaged herself in a situation like this. The same went for her mother.
"It's ok, Teresse," Peggy tries to soothe her.
Teresse was too scared to listen to her mother. Peggy wondered what kind of messed up life Shaun was in. Perhaps she should have listened to Clara about taking these things seriously.
A hispanic woman enters the building and approaches one of the guards.
"I don't see her yet, Maria," The guard tells her.
She sighs.
"Well keep watch if you do. I want this Clara girl found."
Peggy knew which Clara Maria was talking.
"Why are you after Clara?" Peggy interrupts them.
Maria turns to her in surprise, but quickly glares at her sharply.
"Why is that your business?"
"Because you kidnapped us and I should at least have a right to know why."
Maria takes a few steps towards her before explaining, "She murdered my brother during one of her break-ins. He was a cop who was working night shift at a jewelry store. Clara killed him for her own greed and the reason why you two are here is so that she can come here."
Teresse doesn't say anything. She only sat and listened while looking back and forth at Peggy and Maria.
"But we had nothing to do with your brother's death so why should we even be involved?"
"Listen, I have no intention of hurting any of you. You're only here so Clara can be lured here."
Maria was about to walk away, but Peggy says something that makes her stop in her tracks.
"Would your brother want this?"
Maria turns back to her and scolds, "He wanted to live. He wanted to do his damn job and he couldn't even do that."
"But what if he were here now?"
Maria steps closer to her and warns, "I think it's best if you stop talking now."
"No, what you're doing is selfish. You're using your brother's death as an excuse so you can abduct us."
Without thinking, Maria pulls out her gun and practically shouts, "My brother is not an excuse. You either shut up, or I'll make you!"
Fear quickly overwhelms Teresse.
"No please don't shoot my mommy!" She pleads.
Maria looks over at Teresse and a part of her felt bad, so she withdraws the gun. She was about to walk away again, but she could have swore she heard Peggy mutter, "You don't have to do this."
Maria turns back around, "Yes I do. I need to do this in order to cope with his loss."
"There are other ways to cope."
"Oh I've tried them: the grieving, moving on, but it's not as satisfying."
"Well I don't find this very satisfying at all," Peggy snaps, "I'm pretty sure your brother would be dissapointed in you if he saw you doing this. What kind of sibling are you?"
Maria pulls out her gun once more and presses it against Peggy's head.
"I'm not afraid to shoot you and I won't hesitate."
"Mommy," Teresse whimpers.
Too overwhelmed with rage, Maria ignores Teresse and presses the gun harder against Peggy's head.
Peggy only glares at her and says, "At least I'm not a cold heartless woman like you, who abducts women and children to lure people in."
"Shut up!"
Maria pulls the trigger, causing blood to spill from Peggy's head.
"Mommy!" Teresse cries out, "No, mommy!"
Uncontrollable tears rush down her cheeks as she tries to break free from the tape. Not eanting to listen to anymore of Teresse's crying, Maria tells one of the guards to take Peggy out of the building. She then leaves the building. Teresse was left crying with her now lifeless childhood figure being taken away.
Clara and Shaun follow the trace and they are lead to an abandoned warehouse. Clara sees two entry ways, a front and a back door. There were armed men guarding each one.
"We should split up. You take out the men at the front door and I'll do the same on my way to the back door."
Shaun nods before they separate. Clara gets into cover and sees a group of four men blocking the door. She aims her grenade launcher at them and fires. The grenade lands right in the middle of the group. It explodes, instantly killing the men.
The back door was wide open for Clara to enter. She goes up to the building and hides in front of one of the doors. She peeks her head inside and sees two guards standing in front of Teresse. Clara didn't see Peggy, but she noticed that Teresse was crying. She was either upset about getting kidnapped, or something must've happened.
Clara whistles to lure one of the guards towards her direction. It works. Once the guard got close enough to where she was standing, she stabs him in the neck with her dagger. Clara then grabs the gun out of his hand and shoots the other guard standing in front of Teresse. Teresse looks up with teary eyes and sees Clara coming towards her.
"They took away m-mommy," she sobs.
"What do you mean?" Clara asks as she carefully starts cutting the tape on her wrists with one of her daggers.
"They...they shot her and they took her somewhere. I don't know where."
Clara knew that if the fixers shot her, she had to be dead. She felt pity for Teresse and Peggy. She even felt sorry for Shaun even though he wasn't here yet.
"I'm going to get you out of here," Clara tries to soothe Teresse while removing the tape from her wrists.
"But what about mommy?"
Clara closes her eyes in sadness before replying, "If she was shot and taken away, then she is gone."
"No..."
"Come with me and we'll find your dad."
Clara could hear gunshots from outside.
"Come on, we need to go."
Clara picks up Teresse and holds her in her arms.
"I want daddy," Teresse chokes out through her crying.
"I know, we'll get you to him."
Clara rushes out of the building with Teresse. Teresse had her face buried into Clara's shoulder while sobbing.
"Mommy."
Clara found a spot behind the warehouse where she didn't hear gunshots and starts rubbing Teresse's back while she cried.
"I know," Clara says on the edge of tears.
She said it in a way as if she understood her pain, which she did. Clara did know what it was like to witness her mother dying in front of her. Clara looks around in search for Teresse's father, but instead finds Maria aiming a sniper at her. Clara ducks down and dodges the bullet while taking cover behind the warehouse.
Maria had her sniper aimed where Clara was hiding and she was ready to shoot as soon as she would peek her head out.
Clara puts Teresse down and tells her, "Stay here, okay?"
Teresse doesn't answer, but huddles close to the wall. Clara pulls out her grenade launcher and gets ready to shoot. Even though Teresse was behind Clara, she could see her father up ahead. He was sitting behind cover with his pistol in his hands.
Teresse knew she had to listen to Clara, but she was desperate to see her father. She leaves her hiding spot and was about to run towards her father.
Clara takes notice and shouts, "Teresse, wait!"
Clara tries to grab her, but she was too late. As soon as Teresse started running, a bullet from Maria's sniper strikes her stomach. Shaun could hear his daughter scream in pain. He turns towards the noise and sees Teresse collapse on the ground.
Maria's eyes widen in realization of what she had just done. She meant to shoot Clara, but she ended up shooting a child. Not being able to handle the guilt, she runs away.
"Teresse!" Shaun shouts in anguish.
He runs over to Teresse and flips her over. There was blood splattered all over the flower on her white tank top. Tears fill Shaun's eyes as Teresse looks up at him and tries to say something.
"D-dad..." she tries to make out.
But her eyes close and her little heart stops beating.
"Teresse? Teresse?!"
Shaun shakes her, but she doesn't wake up. He holds her up by her back and presses his head against hers while crying.
"Teresse, please no."
Clara felt helpless in the situation. She only stood and wished she could have grabbed Teresse in time.
"Please tell me Peggy is ok," Shaun looks up at her.
Clara only shakes her head and tries to fight back tears. At that moment, Shaun felt like his whole world fell apart. His family was everything to him and now they were gone.
Journal #13
The weather of course fit my mood today. It was pouring down rain and I held up an umbrella for prevention of getting wet. Today, I am standing in front of Peggy and Teresse's tombstones along with a few other people, but Shaun was no where to be seen.
I turn to John, who was standing beside me, and I ask him, "Where's Shaun?"
John turns to me with a sad expression and says, "No one's heard from him. Hell, he won't even talk to me. I don't blame him. Poor guy has lost his family."
I only nod and turn back to the tombstones. I had Teresse's bunny with me, so I could put it next to her tombstone. I'm sure she would like it there. Everyone places their flowers on both of their graves. When it was my turn, I walk up to Teresse's grave and place the bunny next to her tombstone.
This reminded me of the toy sheep that was sitting on Lena's grave. That's when something hit me. The crimes, the killing, and Teresse. All of it was the same thing Aiden had done. He killed people, he was Lena's uncle and Teresse would call me aunt. I went through the same thing Aiden went through. I got a taste of my own medicine.
I let go of the bunny. I had to leave it, it was too much. I stride away from the funeral and the graveyard. As I kept walking, I reached downtown and it stopped raining. The sun starts to show as I sit down on a bench.
I didn't know what to think of the Black dragon anymore. My father and I have been pretty distant lately. Maybe I should quit. I need to talk to someone, but who? Perhaps I should go visit Shaun and see how he's doing. Lost in thought, a voice startles me.
"Is this your way of relaxing from your crimes?"
I look up and I see Kenshin. My martial arts teacher? What was he doing here? And how did he-
"Do you mind if I sit down with you?" He asks.
I shake my head and he sits down on the bench beside me.
"I've read the headlines about your break ins."
Well it looks like Dedsec didn't cover up everything.
"I want to know why you used the things I taught you for personal gain."
I sigh before replying, "I wanted my father to be proud of me."
"Your father was the man who came in with you on the first day, right?"
"Yes, and I hadn't seen him in a really long time. He told me he ran some kind of business called the Black Dragon," I start telling him the truth, "He said it involved stealing and it would be a tribute to my mother, who died of breast cancer. So thats why I came to your school in order to learn how to fight. Although, after stealing for a long time, I wanted to quit because I was tired of killing."
I go on to tell him about Peggy and Teresse's deaths, and I felt better after letting it all out. He seemed to understand.
"I can understand your commitment to make your father proud of you after not seeing him in so long. I also read about you working with Aiden Pearce. Did you enjoy your time with him?"
I thought about it. After saving him and T-bone, I felt like I was awake, or I was freed from some kind of prison called my new lifestyle. I sort felt like I was home.
"Yes," I admit.
"And do you still enjoy this new lifestyle of yours?"
I frown, "No."
"Then perhaps it is time for you to quit. I'm not telling you what to do, you can make your own decisions, but I'm only advising you to do something that can make you stop. Go where you feel most at home."
Maybe he's right. Should I go back to Aiden? Or should I leave Chicago and start a new life?
"Thank you, Kenshin. I'll think about it."
"I wish the best of luck to you," he says before getting up and leaving.
That will probably be the last time I see him. Talking to him helped me forget about Peggy and Teresse's deaths for a minute, but of course the thought creeps back in. Shaun must be going through a hard time if he didn't show up for his wife and daughter's funeral. I should check on him and make sure he's okay.