Survival Of The Fittest

This tug of war was finally over. The flare had exploded, but it was too late. Quinn had won.

The railing was already broken. Danny and Quinn's combined weight just created more wood splinters as they collided with it. The flare's explosion engulfed the upper part of the building on fire. It was rather beautiful. Danny never had an eye for the aesthetic, but he found it gorgeous. Perhaps it was because he was dying, or maybe because he was just awestruck, but it looked like the fireworks he used to see as a child with his parents.

Danny was glad that Quinn wouldn't see this. Whether or not she was dead, Danny made one thing clear to Quinn. His last words were addressed to her.

"Eat shit and live."

His body crashed with the broken wood. Then, it all went black.

Shauna just barely maintained her balance as she staggered against the statue. She attempted to straighten herself up, avoid stumbling, letting out a low whimper as there was a crash from above. She didn't need to look, not after the sound of splitting wood was followed by a meaty wet thunk, a garbled, defiant growl. Danny was--Danny had--he'd just laid down his life for her. What kind of place was this, when that was something that made sense? When it was sane at all? Why did she deserve Danny's life, when she was just her? She barely even knew him, and he was doing this for her when she'd basically--she'd pretty much killed him. But he'd done it anyway, and that left her and just for once she needed to not screw up and waste the shot he'd given her.

Her breathing would have accelerated if she wasn't already hyperventilating so hard that dark smudges were crowding around the corners of her vision. Out. Out out out out. Quinn had just gone off an upper floor drop. She couldn't just walk that off, right? She had to be stunned, hurt, maybe she was even dead too and Shauna hated being glad to think of that but after this, after before, Quinn didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Shauna started to limp for the exit.

Behind her, Quinn rose to one knee. Her head snapped to the side, fixing on Shauna's back.

The boy breathed his last with a final curse, a wet and defiant growl that held little more bite than a geriatric dog. Quinn exhaled, and only a little of the hitch had to do with exertion. Her lips twitched, twitched. Not the same as last time, but that was all right, it didn't need to be the same. That made it a little less special, if each was identical. He put up more of a fight, and a scowl slowly crossed Quinn's face as the whiff of smoke from above drifted down to her. If his aim hadn't been terrible, he could have hit her, sent her up in flame, left her writhing in agony and screaming her life away.

Thoughts like that were almost enough to steal the excitement and energy from her. Tempering the enthusiasm. Maybe that was a good thing.

Panicked breaths drifted through to Quinn as she rose to one knee, and she snapped around to track the noise. Ah. Right. She was forgetting someone, wasn't she?

Quinn rose, rolling back her neck, closing her eyes for a moment. The impact from the upper floor had been heavy, but the boy had absorbed almost all of it, only rattling her slightly. All right, steady and healthy. All things considered, she'd emerged from this in good condition. A shame the boy's bag had fallen from his shoulder in their struggle, but that couldn't be helped.

She sprang into action, darting after Shauna's retreating back. The other girl had never been fast, certainly not compared to her, and even as the building's doors swung closed behind Shauna, Quinn was sliding in between the gap without breaking stride. She must have made a noise because Shauna looked back over her shoulder and let out a strangled yelp before redoubling her limping pace.

Pathetic.

Quinn went low in behind Shauna, scything her down at the knees in an ungainly heap. Quinn rounded on her instantly, pinning her down at the shoulder with a knee and unslinging the rifle, planting its barrel against her forehead.

Her finger hovered on the trigger. Shauna clenched her eyes shut, mumbling something that might have been a plea, might have been a prayer, might have been both.

It would be easy, so, so easy. Really, Quinn had known that the second she'd laid eyes on the pair approaching the aviary as she peered out from within. It was half the reason she'd gone ahead and concealed herself, waiting for the pair to enter. Shauna was simply not strong enough, not stern enough, not enough. She was never going to put up a fight, and Quinn knew that. Because she knew her.

"Quinnquinn, please, quinn, please."

Irritating as ever with her babbling. What a feat it was, to be just the same as ever in a life or death situation.

Quinn... didn't feel bad. But perhaps she felt a little bad for not feeling bad. Shouldn't this be bothering her more? A teammate. Somebody she'd shared experiences with spanning many years, quite literally one of a small number that Quinn had spent more time with than any other. And she still just didn't really care. Wanted her to stop snivelling, and that was more or less it.

Though, the team. That was something to think about. If Quinn did something to Shauna, they'd surely round on her. Sam, Aleksandra, Luca back home, they'd be furious too. Perhaps that was a suitable reason to. Did caring that she didn't care mean that she did?

She removed the barrel from Shauna, stood up, and departed without a word.

((Quinn continued in a thug changes and love changes and best friends become strangers))

Shauna's eyes remained closed for a long time after Quinn left, lying there trembling, tears trickling out from underneath her lids.

If she opened them again, it meant that Quinn couldn't be there. Couldn't be there, couldn't be there.

But no bullet came, no stabbing pain, nothing.

Bit by bit, she finally creaked them open.

Alone. Not safe, but alone.

Shauna picked herself up piece by piece and stumbled away.

((Shauna continued in The Spirit World))