Reputation: Book One

Qrow

Little Toy Guns- Carrie Underwood

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark- Fall Out Boy

I Hate Everything About You- Three Days Grace

"Stand down!" Autumn screams to Tripp. He ignores her and keeps walking closer to the treeline, holding onto the trigger. My pulse quickens as the gunshots get louder and louder, faster and faster until I couldn't even hear myself think.

"What are you doing?" She yells over his firing. "You're gonna get yourself shot!"

I finally see the one girl come into view as she tries to flee again and Tripp kneels down, takes a moment to calm, focus, and then he fires.

Bang, bang, bang.

She cries out, clutching her left knee as she falls to the leaf-littered ground. My jaw drops in shock. I wanted to think that was a lucky shot, but when it comes to Tripp... It's not. Just skill. And I envied that.

Tripp stands up from the pine needles his knees had been set in and starts towards the girl, his stride long and determined. I tuck the pistol he lent me into the waistband of my pants, slip out of his car and runs after him, Autumn following.

I approach Tripp's side, Autumn shortly following, both of us quietly panting from running. The girl tries to crawl away, grunting and clawing at the damp earth beneath her.

"Yeah you know who I am," He says in a low voice. "Don't try to run."

I snap my head in his direction, furrowing my eyebrows. They know each other?

Tripp grabs her foot and pulls her across the ground, the rocks and leaves raking across her belly. I wince.

He demands something in a language I didn't understand, pointing his gun in Hanaya's face. I flinch as he speaks again, this time saying her name.
Hanaya.
I know that name.

That was the name of my ex, Athena's maid when I lived back in Germany. She had always talked about the pros of the Myonaridans and the good they were doing. And now, she was one.

Hanaya was almost twenty-three when she worked in the castle, and that was almost five years ago. But that didn't matter. She was innocent, she had to be. Her eyes locked onto mine and her face fell, her mouth open in shock as familiarity crept onto her face.

She gasps and outstretches her hand to reach me, but Tripp violently grabs her by the shoulder, pushing her up on the tall pine tree behind her. She tries to say something but just coughs, uttering a groan of pain. I eyed her wounded knee warily as blood poured out of it and dripped onto the brown and gold leaves that blanketed the forest floor.

She rasps something out in the same language Tripp spoke in, gasping as she peels the stretchy pant material from her bloodied knee.
Tripp thrusts the gun in her face as he tells her another thing, voice stern.

Hanaya snarls in return. Tripp sets his jaw and lurches forward, grabbing her throat with his large hand. She gasps and her hands fly up to her neck to try and pry his hand away, her emerald green eyes now filled with shock and fear. Using the gun in his other hand, he pressed the barrel of the dark, cold pistol into her knee. She tries to cry out, but it comes out as a sickening strangling sound. I uneasily glanced at Autumn who stood lifelessly beside me, watching the Tripp we thought we knew slowly crumble into the one he used to be. Angry, evil, thoughtless... A murderer.

This side of him was scaring me.

I wanted to run away. I didn't want to watch this death slowly unfold right here, here where our hangout spot is, here where we party, where we kiss, where we cry. I would never see it the same. Thinking about how a woman I personally knew was strangled right here in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

"I'm not going to play games with you," Tripp finally yells in French, spit flying from his lip and landing on her pale face. A numbness crawls its way up my spine, down my arms and legs and my heart pounds so loudly I figure Autumn and Tripp can hear it too. Tripp's grip tightens on Hanaya's throat and she starts to cough, her legs kicking wildly as she tries desperately to suck in a breath, his knuckles turning white. My chest rises and falls quicker and quicker as I give him an alarmed look, my fingertips tingling. Sixty more seconds and she'll be dead. Tripp was going to kill her right in front of us.

"Die, bitch," He snarls. Rage flickers in his eyes as he presses on her neck harder. I wondered what she had ever done to him to deserve to die like this.

Hanaya's stomach begins to move abnormally and I see her start to weave in and out of consciousness, her body writhing in strain. I start to panic as life begins to drain from her, the skin on her face becoming whiter and whiter as her lips darkened. I couldn't let her die. I needed to ask questions before it was too late.

"Stop!" I yell, stepping forward aggressively. Tripp ignored me, bringing up his other hand and wrapping it around the first. My lip began to quiver. I didn't want to watch this happen. I didn't want to watch Tripp, of all the people I have loved, strangle a woman to death.

"Tripp, stop!" I yell, grabbing onto his tense bicep. My efforts did nothing to stop him. He still held fast to her neck, staring her down with pure hate as he drew the life from her lips with each second he held onto her. Her eyelids started to stay closed longer and longer with every blink. When they finally closed he let go, slowly standing up and backing away, revealing a bright red handprint that coloured her whole neck length. Her body slumped and her head fell forward then swung to the side, her body soon following through. I stared at Hanaya's lifeless, crumpled body, tears building along the rims of my eyes. I turned to Tripp.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I cry, voice breaking. "I just watched you slowly kill a woman who was guilty of nothing!"

His face softened. "Qrow, I-I'm sorry-"

"No!" I interrupt, throwing my hand to my side. "'Sorry' doesn't cut it this time. You promised yourself you would never take a life unless you had to," I yell. Autumn shifted uncomfortably beside me.

"You explained to me that you hated killing innocent beings because of the fear you'd become your father. I was there when you said it," I continue, my voice raising with my anger. "But you don't have to try. As a matter in fact, you are more like your father than I would have ever thought you would be," I finish. Autumn's mouth fell open as Tripp set his jaw, his nostrils flaring.

"I hate you," I say, backing away as I shake my head at him, the feeling of a hot tear rolling down my face making me shatter inside. "I hate you."

Hey you! Thanks for reading all this way; it really means a whole lot to see your support in my writing. Please vote, share with friends, and click that plus button to stay up-to-date on updates!

Jawbreakers02