DROWN ° tobias eaton

𝒊𝒙. compassion is weakness, not strength

Tara threw her remaining knife at the target and it hit the figure in the head. Not where she had aimed — but satisfying enough. With a deep exhale, she shoulders fell, the grimace on her face softening slightly. She stood there for a while, eyes glued to the wall in front of her, unbeknownst of the minutes that passed until his voice woke her up.

"You have a bad technique."

She spun around to meet the voice and found him standing almost right behind her. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him in annoyance. "Yeah, I fucking know."

"It's not gonna get you far," Four's words were about at encouraging as a brick wall.

"What's your point?" she raised her eyebrows as she stared into his deep brown eyes. He had the kind of eyes one could lose themselves in. "What, are you just here to tell me how bad I am? Because I already figured that out."

Four sighed and looked around for a second before his gaze landed on her. "I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't give up."

She scoffed. "Did it look like I was going to?"

"Depends on who you ask." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose, annoyed at her stubbornness. The way she conversed reminded him of someone he once knew, the way they both knew how to itch his nerves. "For me? No." He leaned his head back. "For Eric? Yes."

"I don't care what he thinks." She grimaced, turning to her right to watch the said Leader exit the facility. "It's not like I'm trying to impress him."

His head tilted slightly, his interest spiking. "Well, who are you trying to impress?"

"It doesn't matter," Tara said quickly, and watched as his eyebrow arched nonchalantly. "Don't flatter yourself."

"It matters to me," Four continued, "and to the people giving the scores."

She took a step back and placed her hands in her back pockets. "Yeah well, it's none of your fucking business."

He mimicked her movement and sighed, sometimes it felt like he was talking with a brick wall. "He tried really hard to get you into the bottom ten, you know that right?" She knew he meant Eric by the tone of his voice.

"No, I didn't. But it's no surprise." She lied. Of course, it surprised her. She knew they disliked each other, they had years of history to account for that, but she never thought he would do something like that, take advantage of his power against her. Was this his way of seeking revenge?

"Why is that?"

"—Hey where am I on the rankings?" Realization hit her as she repeated the words he had spoken.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"But—"

Four waved his hand in front of him. "You need to keep practising. It's going to be hard to stay in the top ten if your knife skills are slacking like this."

Her lips parted slightly, and there was a slight curve in the corner of her mouth. "Does that mean I'm still top ten?" she asked.

"I'm serious."

"Oh, I can tell," she nodded sarcastically.

He looked to the ground before pointing at the table behind them. "I'm going to leave these here, and I trust that you won't take them with you to hurt anyone."

Her eyes flickered to the knives on the table and raised an eyebrow. "Bold of you."

He ignored her statement and continued. "These targets are here for a few more days, you should use the time you have."