Cover Art: https://pin.it/6H7kCAU
Carmen makes her way to a door at the end of the hall, a rogue vendetta poster proudly hung on the wall is the first thing her eyes graze. Beside it is the bed, and a boy not much younger than Carmen. Realising she forgot to knock, the thief raps on the door, watching Zack hardly look up from his comic.
"Who is it?"
"Your Boss." The thief teases.
He finally looks up, relaxed, "Oh. Hey, Carm."
She smiles, crossing the carpet to the boy in red race car pyjamas. He starts looking around for a bookmark, one Carmen has set eyes on a few times in airplanes and flight gates.
She spots it, the corner sticks out on the floor under his bed. The thief crosses her legs on the mattress and bends down, offering it to her getaway driver.
He sighs, "Thanks, Boss." However, the moment he's glanced at the book he has to finish the page.
Carmen watches in amusement as he struggles to rip his eyes away, "What's it about?"
The kid blinks, looking up to the woman cloaked in red.
"It's fan made!" He says, showing off the cover, Rogue Vendetta pictured in red bold letters, "It's like the show and transformers mixed in, it-,"
Carmen smiles, nodding along to the mumbled rampage that reminds her of Player's old obsessions, "Right!? Like it- are you going out?"
She shakes her head, "No?" Carmen glanced down to the see her red coat has yet to be hung, "Oh... no, no mission today."
Carmen expertly slides the book into a draw, lifting the hazardously drawn covers so Zack understands his cue is to slide under.
"You sure you won't sneak off into the night?" Zack jokes, but Carmen sympathises.
"I'll be here when you wake, Zack. Promise."
The Argentinian bends forward to press a kiss to the race car driver's forehead, ruffling his hair before backing away to the door, "Night, Carm."
"Goodnight, Zack."
Carmen takes a glance to Shadowsan's door further down the hall, she smiles, hand hovering the handle when she pauses. Big day, he probably doesn't wish to be bothered. Carmen leaves.
"Ha, we may finally be catching a break."
"I dunno, Red, it's not like that last caper was a big enough blow." Player says as Carmen hangs her coat.
"Well, any quiet streak good enough for me." The thief assures, picking up her phone and taking it to the charger by her bedside.
"I think it might rain." Red suggests after shuffling under the covers, spying the dark grey clouds sheltering the midnight moon.
"Goodnight, Player."
"Night, Red."
Carmen's eyes shoot open, slowly collecting her breathing to stare out at the night sky. It's pouring, a second streak of light flashes across her bedroom. The thief sighs peacefully, listening to the consequential shuddering of the sky.
Her eyes flutter closed thoughtlessly... but.
"Player?"
"Yeah, Red?"
"You ever get that feeling you're being watched?"
The thought crashes Carmen's brain just as the sky sends another sharp spark of electricity through the her window.
She remembers the tail end of that conversation, "Yeah! It means you probably are- let me pull up this article..."
Something stands out in the bright haze, a figure- a shadow at the foot of her bed. Carmen blinks, a yelp rids itself from her throat.
The thief restlessly shuffles to sit up, backing to the end of her bed and flicking on her bedside lamb.
That's when the light hits her team member, and he's absorbed with colour.
Carmen sighs and lets out a laugh, "Shadowsan, you scared me." She says, standing and reaching for her phone that his eyes delicately trace.
"Is something wrong?" She asks causally, grabbing the device and putting it in her back pocket.
She looks up and he hasn't moved, he's breathing heavily.
She tilts her head and his eyes follow hers, she frowns, a newfound tension zaps in her fingertips.
"Shadow-,"
Carmen's gaze shoots over to the window when another strike of the storm ricochets through her ears. She groans, sliding over her bed to close the glass. Immediately the rain is muffled and Shadowsan's presence somehow grows in volume.
"You want some tea?" The Argentinian offers, breezing past him when the ninja curtly opens the door.
"I probably owe you." He hums in agreement, following her in a trek down the stairs. The rain is louder downstairs, Carmen glanced to the windows at fault but does not close them.
She fills the kettle with water and puts it back in its place, pressing a button and setting a timer.
"So, why are you up?"
A pause. Carmen squints, "Don't feel like talking?"
"I do not."
Carmen moves to the dishwasher, putting away 6 bowls, 5 knives, 8 spoons, and 7 forks without help.
"Are you okay?" There's 4 knives on the rack.
"Yes."
Carmen's phone buzzes, she lifts it from her pocket and moves to swipe the screen... she never gets to.
"Hey!" The woman cries, watching the block of technology slide across the floor. She looks at Shadowsan for an apology and explanation but...
There's something in his eyes, something red and burning like a fire-
It flickers off... and like being set free from a program Shadowsan's face ignites in fury. Carmen gasps and he growls at her, revealing a kitchen knife previously concealed by his back. He slices the air for her head but she ducks, landing pointedly to her feet before launching away from the second strike.
The thief retreats to the couch, eyes wide, "Shadowsan?!"
Her phone has gone dark, both opponents stare at the device struck near the coffee table between them.
Shadowsan pays it no mind, instead lurching from his place for her, bloodlust in his angered yell. Frazzled, Carmen darts forward and rolls, holding her phone like a lifeline until it rings again.
"Red!" Player cries, "Are you-,"
Carmen's eyes narrow fearfully, suddenly widening when Shadowsan has disappeared. She wants so desperately to comfort him, knowing it was a nightmare but-
"No, Player, something's wrong with- GAH!"
The phone flies from her hand, Shadowsan has swooped down to land a deafening kick to her stomach. Carmen flies back into a beam outside the kitchen, the house shakes and a bolt of lightning explodes close to the warehouse.
The light is so bright it blinds the interior for a paralysing moment. Carmen bends forward, struggling to catch her breath when she eyes Shadowsan approaching with a high kick.
She ducks and rolls to her side, gasping in agony as her ribs shake. Shadowsan destroys the beam, she needs to lure him away. Carmen darts for the kitchen and reached for a kitchen knife, her other hand curled around her quaking side.
She jumps back from Shadowsan's punch, passing by the kitchen door she was pinned against and slamming it on his face. Losing the knife, Carmen quickly trashes the wood and locks the door, rushing for the stairs.
Carmen locks the doors to the siblings' rooms and sprints to her room for her coat. She locks the door behind, though from the disastrous noises downstairs Shadowsan has likely torn the kitchen door from its frame.
Carmen shrugs on her coat... it's quiet.
The warehouse has gone silent, she can faintly hear the confused cries of Ivy two rooms over.
The thief searches for anyway to contact Player, remembering her comms were due for repair in the garage and her laptop on the coffee table.
That's when her bedroom door slams open, Shadowsan at the head of it. What happened to him?? VILE couldn't have got to him so quickly on her watch- right?
"Shadowsan, please?" She tries, throat caught and confused and- "I-I don't know what's wrong or what I did-,"
"You left us."
"...I-,"
"You abandoned your family."
Carmen's eyes widen, VILE.
Shadowsan takes a dangerously calm step forward. Carmen stays by her window, sneakily rummaging through her dresser for just anything.
The ninja reveals his kitchen knife once more, taking another step forward, only the bed between them.
"Shadowsan... please."
"You stole from us." The blade shines, Lightning blazes outside and rain pelts against the large window.
Thunder shakes the ground, "I can-,"
Shadowsan rages forward, crying out as he flawlessly jumps over the bed. Carmen makes to dodge to the top of her bed- only to be caught by the neck. Mid air Shadowsan wrings her throat, before slamming her body into the wall.
But not just the wall, the window. The Argentinian's breath for a scream eludes her as her back slams into her bedroom window, the glass frame shattering to pieces as she flies through and grabs Shadowsan by the wrist.
He stands over the dresser- her hand shook from his. Carmen falls through the air, glass piercing every artery along her spine as she desperately grasps for a place to hold. Her fingers reach out and eventually her arm strains to stay attached to the line of bricks on the outskirts of her window.
Shadowsan glares down at her from the slabs, standing just beside her hand. His foot lifts.
She's breathless, forcing words past her beaten body, "Shadowsan."
"You killed him, Black Sheep."
Carmen's fingers falter.
She stirs to turbulence, something in her chest wreathing. The thief rolls onto her back, immediately recoiling at the reaction. She yelps, recalling the glass lining her spine at least 3 layers deep. Grey-blue eyes shoot open.
Her ribs are bruised, Carmen rubs her sore knuckles over the area, holding tightly as she sits up; grimacing as she feels some shards digging deeper.
She groans, stumbling at a familiar sound that makes her ears pop. That's when Carmen's hazy eyes lock onto airplane seats and the ground she's been dropped to.
The floor tilts and shakes, the Argentinian slides backwards, panicked, she holds her own and catches sight of a nearby plane window.
They just took off... she's on a plane, unrestrained, and... alone?
Did Player call for a new caper? Maybe Zack and Ivy are in the next cabin. Carmen catches herself as the plane slowly levels. That's when an overhead cupboard catches her eye, a first aid sticker standing out among the array of white and tinted green.
The thief comes up with a fully stocked kit, sighing in gratitude as she comes up with bandages and tape. She looks for the gauze when the same eery feeling catches Carmen's full attention.
She's being watched.
He's holding rope at the other end of the cabin... slowly Carmen remembers. Why glass shards trickle down her back, the burning malice that wrung her by the neck, the kick to her gut, and locking the siblings away.
Losing her phone and Player.
Losing her lifeline.
...being trapped in an aircraft with arguable the most dangerous person, let alone VILE operative.
The man stalks forward. She can't move- maybe he'll leave, forget her, maybe he's back, maybe she didn't have to-?
He towers over her.
Carmen swallows, hard, "Morning."
He says nothing, Carmen tries to back away, only for her back to suddenly crash into a wall and she's reminded of why she needed the first aid kit, "GAH!" The glass pushes deeper.
She recovers, losing the battle against anguished tears trickling down her face, "Shadowsan, please- I can't do this."
He takes another few steps forward, and the young thief almost loses herself to the fear of what her old mentor's become. That's when she closes her eyes, letting out the clogged exhale she'd been holding, just like at the academy.
They lock eyes, one of them snarls.
"I'm sorry."
"You should be." Carmen's eyes widen as he comes up with another weapon. The thief ducks and side steps from the crackle rod, watching it fizzle in Shadowsan's hand as he turns to face her.
Carmen holds her hands before her, unable to wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks, "Please."
He takes a step forward. Something screams in her head, shaking with her chest and mind- her breath catches and the only sound in the room is the panicked rhythm of her heart.
Run.
....But she can't leave him. "Please, please, I won't cause any trouble- I promise! I just need to stitch myself up." She pleads, backing away slowly as the stick of electricity is threateningly waved before her heart.
She sniffles, Shadowsan stops.
"So, on the... chance that I don't make it home."
But she was here... and it became clearer by each hours that one day she may never be again. Shadowsan's eyes widen, his hands bawl to fists at his sides.
"I need you, Shadowsan... I need you to take care of them." His tense shoulders suddenly slack, what?
"I need you." Her finger points to his chest, and Carmen finally looks up at the man she'd almost lost, "To look after them."
"Zack, Ivy, and Player."
"You will make it home, Carmen."
The woman sighs, her denial loosens for but a moment, "They think I'm invincible, Shadowsan." Her voice cracks and croaks, bags deep and hair thinning. Skin pale and fingers pruned.
"I know I'm not..." It hurts, it hurts so much more than she'd thought to say out loud. "Please make sure they're okay, make sure they're safe if I can't."
And the inconspicuous weight on her shoulders is not so invisible, as Shadowsan finally sees through this child he could never understand.
It was all on her.
Especially if she wasn't here.
The least he could do was put it all on him.
"Okay." He sighs, reaching a hand out to cup the woman's cheek and planting a kiss to her forehead. She's left in a state of shock, "I promise to protect them, and you."
His warm hand leaves her face, and he's walked off before the decision could be added to a pile of regrets.
Carmen bites back a cry, a grimace twisting her expression and forcing another hiccup to roll from her throat.
She listens to the clink of another glass shard hitting the table, squeezing the legs held tight to her chest. No matter how much it makes her chest cave.
Carmen holds her hair away from her back, trapped in its high pony. She feels the surgical tongs grasp another shard. It's close to her spine, the moment Shadowsan begins to pull the remains of her bedroom window out, a shiver rakes dangerously through her body to her brain. Carmen gasps hoarsely, instantly reaching for the wall for stability as a second tremble rocks the woman on the bench top and she whimpers.
A sob trickles past her defences as Shadowsan shouts at her to stay still. She pressed her head to the wall, "Why are you helping me?" She asks, watching Shadowsan walk past her to the sink.
"The faculty requested you in peak condition." He informs her darkly, the thief grows sick at the amount of her blood is on his hands and arms.
"...and you take orders from them now?"
"You would be wise to do the same." He warns.
Her heart thumps louder, "Where are you taking me?"
"Where else?"
Carmen lets the phrase and it's dark implications sink in, "...they're," she looks up at Shadowsan horrified, whispering, "going to make me like you."
His eyes darken, "You would be wise to watch your language."
"No!" She shakes her head, frantically grabbing the man by his collar.
"Shadowsan," her breath catches, "You were brainwashed, now they're using you to take my back to VILE."
He scoffs, shoving the thief off of him and causing her to stumble from the bench, "Impossible." He declares, forcing the end of their conversation...
But Carmen persists, standing directly in front of her assailant, eyes wide as she searches for his.
"What if I can prove it?"
"You cannot." He snaps.
"And when I do?"
Shadowsan pauses, no longer shaking Carmen off, "When you fail, you will face the faculty for your insolence."
"Deal."
Briefly surprised, Shadowsan steels to shake Carmen's hand, missing the frisk movements of her other.
"Take me back."
Shadowsan recoils, "No."
"There's all your proof right there, you have your own room, it's our warehouse!"
"I will not be the victim of one of your schemes, Black Sheep."
Carmen freezes, watching the man leave the sector just as quickly as she could register what he's said.
The thief reveals her hand, holding the man's VILE phone to the stale air of grief. She sighs, dialling the number most familiar to her.
Two grey eyes sharpen, tearing the curtain from her path and following Shadowsan before he could leave her behind any further, "That's not my name." She snaps.
He stares at her with a burning hatred, grinding his teeth and glaring to where she stands, "My patience has it's limits, Black Sheep."
"If you won't take me home..." Carmen glares, "Why don't we go to yours?"
The Argentinian has her arms crossed defensively over her chest, "I'll freeze. You've already taken my tools, it's pretty useless without them."
The man glares, finding it has lost the effect the more it's utilised, "Fine." He tosses the red coat to a red backed thief.
The woman rubs her abdomen and scoffs, "Peak condition."
It felt like being back at square one, an unwilling duo in which Shadowsan lacked collaboration. When she'd constantly have to drag him back onto the right path despite him still diverting to kidnap her friends or take out an operative to 'save her the trouble'.
That's when her brows crease and shoulders slump. They'd grown, he'd learnt to love her team.
He promised to protect them... and her.
But that's what happens when you trust, isn't it?
"Please, Shadowsan." She'd cried, reduced to a sobbing mess; her protests against the hand over her mouth, slammed in the gut with agony when her ribs suddenly shake.
He'd regarded her for a moment, then chuckled... face tight with joy.
Carmen's face creases, tears flowing freely down a navy blue jumpsuit. He's still grinning at his in triumph, leaning forward as if VILE were personally pulling his strings. Waving her friend like a toy- like he was a puppet and they just controlled him now.
This isn't you... she wants to scream, but when the gag is removed it's not what she tells him.
She screams the message in his face, watching it immediately steel. His fist collides with her ribs and Carmen falls forward, arms tied behind her back.
Carmen hides Shadowsan's phone in her coat pocket, smoothing the rumbles in the fabric.
The train breezes past them, Carmen hooks her coat to repel against the cold she'd been ambushed with the last time they dawned East Asia.
The thief glances at a map, predictably in the same place as last time. A hand stops her from walking towards it, "Do not attempt to run."
Carmen stops, looking up at the mixed sighted samurai, "I can't leave you like this." Is what she wants to say... and would have, if her pocket didn't ring.
The pair's eyes widen, Carmen immediately backs into a fighting stance, only for Shadowsan to sock an unexpected punch to her face. The woman flies back, scrambling to her feet and backing away.
She retrieves the phone, "We never made any deals about this." She tries, recovering from the flare to her bruised ribs and new mark to her cheek.
He stands tall, "It appears we have no deals left."
Carmen's eyes widen in fear, "No! Shadowsan, you can't walk away, we're so close!"
"Hideo is not alive." The ninja says darkly, his back to her and the rest of Japan. "Hand over the phone and we may go out seperate ways."
Carmen's eyes water for the millionth time that new day. She shakes her head, "I'm not leaving you, not like this."
He turns to face her and demand his property... only for the thief to have vanished. Shadowsan's eyes widen, he curses.
Carmen's breath lingers from the roof of a boarding train, "And you can't leave without hearing from the previous faculty, can't you?" The statement stings.
He growls, Carmen reveals the grappling hook he'd missed and propels herself in the direction of Matsumoto Castle, a ninja hot on her heels.
They're so close, Carmen bathed in the flickering street lamps by the museum's entry when someone grabs her by the ankle, forcing her hook to recoil, landing the both of them in the garden.
Shadowsan comes up with the morbidly green coloured phone, no longer following Carmen's path.
"Look!" She tries anyhow, directing him to Matsumoto, "Shadowsan, he's in there, I promise!"
"Enough games." He yells, Carmen freezes, "You killed my brother. Admit it."
A curator abruptly emerges from the museum, making their way to the bushes before freezing, "Suhara."
"Carmen!" The trio turn to see two red heads in the museum. The pair sprint towards the thief, tears sting their eyes when they affectionately collide with the thieving hostage.
Carmen winces, the siblings immediately pull back and the woman gently cradles her ribs. Ivy protectively steps toward Shadowsan, "Did y-,"
"Ivy!" The Argentinian hisses, biting down her impulses of agony as she hurriedly shoved the both of them far behind her. "Did you get it?" Her eyes stay locked on Shadowsan's.
A device is presented to Carmen. The thief hesitates, staring down at the odd white and blue crown, "ACME made it-,"
"Tell me later." Carmen stalks forward, "They brainwashed you, Shadowsan."
Shadowsan shoves Hideo protectively behind him, "Do not take another step."
"This will help you."
"I always knew you had no place with us."
Carmen stands tall, eyes narrowed, "You don't belong to them."
"I am one of them."
"If you really make that choice then I'll let you go."
"I have."
"You haven't." Carmen gestures to the device. "Please?"
Shadowsan shakes his head, preparing to retreat when he's suddenly forced forward, "Carmen!" Hideo yells, his hand extended for the device as he holds his brother down.
The thief rushes over and properly pins him to the ground, the device ignites and buzzes, forcing Shadowsan to immediately wreath.
Carmen's senses flood with light, her coat suddenly laps with the propelled wind of a helicopter. She looks up, horrified to see she's been spotted in a beam of light.
"Hideo, GO!" Carmen yells, looking around for the siblings when a younger shriek screams for her and Shadowsan's struggling has lessened, "RED!"
Player, Carmen spots him and the siblings pulling the kid back by his arms. She nods to them, swallowing hard as she sees the helicopter's door open and a rope fling out. Carmen simply glares, looking around for any sign of a concealed operative or faculty member.
That's when something flies from the aircraft, small enough Carmen just catches it with before the technology could crash into the ground.
Almost instantly the device floods to life, and she's met with 4 faces she'd rather not see.
Maelstrom opens his mouth to greet her, but Carmen beats him to it, "You take me or you take no one."
"I'm afraid that just won't do, Lambkins." Brunt gives her the snarkiest grin, "We have the means to bring Shadowsan back."
"I'm not afraid, and you won't do it."
The faculty blink, "Well, it ap-,"
"You take me or you take no one." Carmen yells, the device nearly cracking in her hold.
The faculty exchange glances, "I suppose-,"
"And one more thing." The super thief's voice drops to dark and threatening, "You leave my team alone." Malice oozes from her sentence.
Carmen drops the pad, stomping on the glass with her heel for good measure before looking up at the rope. The Argentinian bends down to the ninja, "Shadowsan?"
He groans, but his eyes don't open.
There's a tug on her rope, the thief sighs and scales the bottom of it, looping her heel with a trick so she's stable just as the helicopter begins to move. The siblings break, and Player sprints in her direction as the rope begins to ascend.
"RED!" He screams, and the thief can only watch as they grow smaller and smaller as her view skewers. A rough hand reaches for Carmen before she can register her proximity to the aircraft.
It pulls her up despite Carmen's struggling. Her back hits the floor and both of her arms are immobilised. A second cleaner approaches and a white cloth is held to her face. The thief holds her breath, trying desperately to get her legs on board and free herself from- it hits her.
Like a tsunami twice her height it hits her.
Shadowsan broke his promise, she broke her promise...
"Hel-,"
"Player? Listen to me caref-,"
"RED?" Carmen pulls the phone away from her face, quickly searching the airplane for somewhere to hide.
"Carmen is that you? Are you okay-,"
"Yes- No. No, Player, we're not okay, I need you to listen to me."
The thief sucks in a breath, "Okay, Red."
"Shadowsan's been... mind-wiped, brainwashed? He doesn't remember me- I think VILE got a hold of him and..." the thief rubs the tears from her eyes, "I'm going to stall him as long as I can. Player, I need you to find Gray and find out how he got his memories back."
"On it, Red..." there's a furious typing over the line, "What about you?"
Carmen shakes her head, heart in her throat, "I'll be in Japan, do not come unless you know how to fix this, and don't call this number."
"Re-," The call ends.
Carmen sighs, holding her knees to her chest.
It's all her fault.
It's hazy when they come to. Vision skewed like it had never once been right; like there were tears in their eyes... and maybe there were.
The first thing his eyes trace is a hacker at a laptop- no, family at his bedside.
"Shadowsan!" A young Bostonian man calls his name before his eyes can hazardously come to focus.
"Are you okay?" The scruff boy asks, the one with brown hair and a torn hoodie, "The doctors said you could have a concussion."
Doctors, hospital-
Shadowsan rushes to sit up, surveying the room but not seeing a specific dash of red, "Why am I here?" That's when his eyes catch it, red but not of his daughter. Red of a runny marker on a cast on- no.
"An accident."
"What happened to me?" Shadowsan demands, watching the young boy flinch. That's when he notices his arms chained to the bed and the bleak beeping of his heart.
"VILE brainwashed you, Shadowsan." The man blinks in shock, his family surveying him, "You aren't... still evil, are you?"
He takes in a deep breath that does little to soothe his ridged spine but relaxes his team, "No." he tells Ivy softly.
A chink fills the air and Shadowsan nurses his free wrists, the cuffs not nearly as tight as what he's had previously, "Where is Carmen?"
His question does wonders to suck the life from the room, everyone avoids his gaze until Ivy takes his hand, rubbing the wrinkles for her own stimulation.
"She... she's with VILE."
"What?"
"You know Carm and her need to self-sacrifice." The woman jokes, hardly lifting the room where the ceiling begins to tragically cave.
It floods his mind, walking alone until the multi-operative ambush, the device over his eyes and cuffs that drew blood. The cursed punishment he endured under the technology before being disposed into the real world without a single finger on his own movements.
The faculty's demands and single red light that became all he could see. "We need his muscle memory, when he sets eyes on our protege I will disable the enhancements."
That was happening to Carmen, and it's all his fau-
"How did you get me back?"
"You remember Crackle, Carmen's friend?" A subdued nod, "Turns out he got his memories back when ACME approached him, we stole their device and used it on you."
"And it worked?" He assumes, looking around to find grimaces and lacking an explanation for his sprained arm.
"Not for a while, you went a bit crazy and eventually fell of a ledge, you know the one around Matsumoto's garden? You landed on your arm." Player gestures to the bandages before turning back to his laptop.
"Is Hideo...?"
"Fine, he's talking to your doctors... I don't think he's going to let this go." Ivy forces a smile, but the implications only remind him of Carmen.
True to form, his brother enters, "Player, how do I make a new note?" The kid leans over unbothered, "That button."
"Suhara." Hideo begins, letting out a sigh as he takes a seat by his younger brother's side, "You never told me your ventures may lead to these depths."
The ninja bows his head, "I know."
"Who's Suhara?" Zack asks, and the man in question suddenly has four pair of eyes on him.
That's when he tosses back the bedsheets with his healthy hand and creates a small commotion within the group, "Suhara, you need rest." He ignores this, pushing through the hospital door.
Ivy puts a hand on Hideo's worrying arm as he jumps from his seat, "He just needs a minute."
"Yeah, he'll be back." Zack agrees, Player stays silent.
The thick hospital walls are whiter and bleaker than he'd imagined... or remembered. When he was abruptly travelling to a hospital in Sweden there was no time for sightseeing.
A gurney and three doctors at its helm rush past him, yelling to clear the hall before spouting facts about a patient's health that were frankly beyond him.
For a dizzying moment he sees Carmen in the rolling bed, and thinks to peruse; but it has turned the corner and barged through surgical doors lest he think about straining his weary limbs to stop them.
A staircase catches his eye, plain and simple but most importantly 'out of the way.'
He claims it as a seat, a sigh rolling tragically through his windpipe. A second breath chokes, and he's forced to relive the damage he's caused.
The twisted fear in an innocent young woman's eyes as she calls his name, each time more frazzled and panicked and- a feeling she didn't deserve to be paralysed by.
The awful words that came tumbling from his throat, the way he threw betraying malice in her face and she took it- confused but not hitting, out of her depth but not assuming.
He wasn't there- but she was still searching.
"You abandoned your family."
Treating a heart of gold as carelessly as he could, offering to 'help' just to twist the glass in her back and whiteness her vulnerable state, lest he lose authority over the situation.
And she still, still gave herself up for him.
Shadowsan brings his hands across his face and hair as the squeaking wheels of another gurney flicker pass him. No one dawns the stairs but he... he who spots something wet on his cheeks.
He who feels it again, and it's Shadowsan who feels himself succumbing to the grief of loss. They don't stop, each tear reminding him of the ones he caused Carmen to lose.
Her blood staining his hands until it was all he could see, as if her blood red coat was carved from his misdeeds. And in losing Carmen... he's never lost in life more.
It's his fault- it's his fault- it's your fault, Shadowsan, you-!
"Hey."
Shadowsan's eyes shoot from his lap, he can hardly think to wash away his grief as his dark eyes search for that- that voice.
A red figure stands stoic down the end of a hall, red coat shredded and jumpsuit torn like the look on her face that simply bends his heart until a snap echos through his ears.
Scratches litter her face like a cat's best friend, and beyond her torn sleeves and lost gloves he can see deep blood-drawing rings around her wrists that were no one's fault but his.
"I wasn't sure if I should bring flowers or something." The girl chuckles meekly, her steps slow and paced. She's searching him with an ounce of fear in her eyes- reasonable fear, she should be scared of him... even if it tears his everything into two.
Her smile wobbles, and Shadowsan shoots from the staircase. Carmen's hands bawl to fists but-
He catches her in an embrace, squeezing tightly and being unable to contain the pathetic sob that lurches from the depths of his pitiful being. Her shoulders are tense, and he doesn't think she'll ever reciprocate when the deep climb of her lungs and petrified shuddering of her heart is brought to his light.
"I am so sorry." Carmen's defence cradles, held just before the breaking point like a child she can't hold on to, nor a burden she wishes to bare but does so anyway. Her shoulders slack and she's forgotten how to breathe, he's okay... he doesn't want to kill her, and honestly could she ask for much more?
Her arms materialise around his back, a weep and thousands of uncontrollable sobs take hold of her conscious as she desperately holds him tighter, the both of them trying to prove to themselves that they're okay...
They're right here.
And they can't leave so long as they're being held just a little tighter.
"I'm so so sorry." Carmen heaves, her words incoherent as the both of them sink to the floor, almost laughing at their situation had it not hurt so bad. Had it not twisted their guts and forced a breakdown in a random hall in a foreign hospital.
Their hearts pour out onto the floor, uncaring for the world around them as feelings lay like puddles and two people succumb to the agony and anguish one mistake had brought. Broken sounds trail from Carmen's throat, her nails grieve difficulty against Shadowsan's shirt as she listens to his own sorrow.
Carmen rubs her nose on her sleeve, "God, Shadowsan... I'm so sorry I didn't realise in time, I didn't notice you were gone and I was off my guard, and got myself captured, I-," the lack of tears only brings more pain, Carmen's throat locks and her eyes nearly ooze from their sockets.
"Don't you dare."
"...what?"
"Don't you dare." He says again, glaring at Carmen, though it holds absolutely no malice, "I was careless and I hurt you," Shadowsan looks to Carmen's back, forcing a twisted grimace, "I was cruel, I dragged you through a torturous hell, and for that I cannot even begin to apologise." His face is wet, Carmen's lip wobbles, her hand cups his cheek.
Her chest is heavy and pained, stinging from hunger and misuse, Carmen's breaths soften to try and ease this, "You weren't yourself."
His head shakes, biting down and ignoring the pain his sprained arm brings. Carmen's twisted finger traces the red ink, "You should have let them take me."
Carmen's eyes widen, she can't respond but the message is clear... she sighs, wrapping her arms around the Japanese man's waist and laying drearily in his lap. Fatigue crawls at the four corners of her vision, she mumbles from her heart before it may beat a little calmer.
"I promise... wouldn't have given you to them."
"Neither would I."
BONUS: Added 5 days after posting
One door in the hall bursts open, making the pair jump, followed by the barrelling and scrambling of an anxious team, "Shadowsan?" A 19 year old shrieks.
"Suhara?" Zack points to him, "There!" And Immediately spots the second figure held close to his heart.
"...Carmen?" At his nod, Zack and Ivy sprint and slide their way over to the pair, shuffling down immediately to see the redhead blinking back her exhaustion. "Carm?" Ivy asks tentatively, searching for a hand to hold.
The thief gives her a soft smile, face damp with emotions and scars. Her breathing is still ragged and pained but she's okay. Ivy finds the hand like she'd done in Stockholm, but this time it hurts.
Carmen has pulled away from her, eyes shot open and immediately trying to sit up without the support of her scrambled wrists. Ivy helps, pulling the woman into a hug almost immediately joined by Zack and Shadowsan.
She shudders in the other woman's hold, too frail to hug back but too scared to stay put.
"We should... move." She slurs when the hold on her has loosened, standing without help— though she could seriously use it —and leaning heavily on the closest wall.
"Hideo." She says upon sighting him, the man respectably further away, "Are you well?" She asks almost immediately, ignoring the way her legs shake and vision grows dark.
He nods, offering to help the stubborn woman back to his brother's room so she may seek out a hacker.
Carmen stumbles into the room, almost immediately eying a red laptop perched on a tray table, "Player."
His head snaps over from what he'd been doing, no doubt searching for her— his eyes water and he stares at her in plain disbelief, "Red?!"
A sob trickles through her throat, mixed with a sour laugh.
"You sure, Carmen?"
"I think she's asleep, Ivy."
"...mmfine."
The exhausted thief had been coerced into resting on the extended part of Shadowsan's bed. He fiddled with her hair while Player spoke and her eyelids grew heavier.
But the moment a nurse had walked into the room Carmen was in the corner, fighting off her exhaustion while the nurse did their routinely checks.
She listened, though. Took in how roughed up Shadowsan was and debated how much of that was her fault.
"They wouldn't mind." Ivy says again, softly trying to get Carmen to accept a checkup. She shakes her head.
The nurse finally finishes, studying Carmen whole heartedly as she gave her report. She recognises you, you blew it, Shadowsan isn't safe because of-
"Pardon me, Miss?"
Carmen looks up.
"May I take a look at that?" The nurse takes a step forward.
Carmen's skin begins to crawl, but she's too shaky to walk away. Eventually, Shadowsan's nurse is able to pluck the wrist she'd been holding close. Carmen's other hand squeezes and wreathes, cracked into a fist should she decide to—
"We can wrap this if you would like."
"...what?"
"Your wrists, and also the cuts." She gestures to the less than comfortable wild stabbings and scratches that tear through her attire. "It will make it more manageable... but I can't get you any painkillers or proper treatment unless you sign in as a patient."
"I'm-,"
"She'll do it."
The pair turn to the rest of the team, Shadowsan being the one to call out. She stares at him, shaking her head even if it makes her stance wobble.
But she can't say no to the look on their faces... especially when the nurse promises to have her back in bed so soon.
The gauze stings, and the hospital's spare clothes (which the nurse had to swear had been washed) were unfamiliar.
Carmen was coaxed back onto Shadowsan's bed, hating how weak it felt to be cared for. But with him close, the nurse couldn't try anything.
Despite being assured multiple times before that the staff weren't going to- and that she didn't have to keep running to the corner when they appeared... Carmen still wreathed and pulled back- hid her pain but also used it to slowly convince them to give up.
At one point she even tried to negotiate them into checking on Shadowsan, hating how he was the patient and she was receiving attention anyhow.
But it was thankfully over after a half hour of Carmen's impatience. The nurse left, and Carmen went under the blankets, muttering to Player about how they've purposefully weakened the thief by holding her hands hostage. Though, they were more comfortable, like white boxing gloves.
She was begged to rest not long after with some, "Stop looking for trouble, Carmen." & "You just got back!"
Later that night she did, passed out leaning heavily on Shadowsan who was equally out. Player on her phone taking a nap under orders, then Zack and Ivy on the guests' couch.
Still, she manages to wake late at night, when an unfamiliar soul creeps in through the door she thought was locked- and pricks a needle into the cut she thought was healed.
...and breaks into the room Carmen thought was safe.
Welp, let's hope they keep that last promise (no promises) <3
Questions or lasting comments?
Fanart/cover art: https://pin.it/6H7kCAU
Happy Reading ❤️❤️