TW: Guns

Erik's mother wants something that Hazel never had. A fourth stacking doll in the set her father gifted her when she was seven years old.

"But...I don't—" Hazel can't help but reply and doesn't get to finish her thought.

Ms. Denholm raises her pistol, "What did I tell you about speaking without permission?"

Hazel has never had a gun pointed so purposefully at her before. She takes a step back and her fear impossibly deepens because the woman told her she would be shot if she did that again.

Is this night to be her last?

Hazel's life starts flashing before her eyes—

—the fun times with Ros, times she fought with her brother, hugged her father, when her mother kissed her goodnight, all the bugs she'd collected, when she played darts, went to the beach, got her hand stuck in a pickle jar when she was five, when she had a crush on Cedar Wellington but he didn't know her name....the mundane moments, the specific moments, the moments she felt happy, sad, or scared running through her mind a million miles a second but all stop when she hears the loud screeching of a door paired with a desperate shout.

"Mama! Don't!"

Erik is heaving in breaths of air as he slides in front of her and stares down his mother, "Don't! Her father will not trade what you want if you hurt her. Not all parents consider their children disappointments."

Hazel lets out a sob of relief that she is still alive, her ears ringing with the throbs of her heartbeat.

"And you are biggest disappointment of all, Erki," his mother lowers her weapon and sneers.

"I heard car parking. I think it is time," Erik says and seems to ignore his mother's insult.

"Good, I will check. Stay here and keep watch. If anything happens that is wrong, you know the plan."

His mother goes through the doors and leaves them in the warehouse. It is quiet again. Erik runs his hand through his hair, his face breaks into melancholy.

"Erik, your mother is a sociopath," Hazel states and the words seem to echo heavily in the hollow room.

He merely sighs and doesn't contest it.

"Let's get you out of here, quickly."

Before she knows it, Erik has grabbed her arm and picked up pace. She tries to keep up in her high heels as they exit the side door and emerge into the night. She recognizes the large aqueducts of Scandalica City. They are most certainly in the warehousing district - a place with many old brick buildings and defunct packaging plants.

"We should go a few blocks and lay low, so Mama can't find us," Erik says.

Hazel still doesn't trust him, "but you wanted to get revenge on my Dad!"

He doesn't contest that statement either.

They fall into an alleyway between two buildings and sit to catch their breaths. Hazel feels the cold on her back dissipate when Erik leans against it.

He is supporting her.

She clasps her hands together, "Why are you helping now? Didn't you want to use me to get back at my Dad?"

He sits silently, deep in thought, and then finally says, "None of this was my plan, Haschel."

"I knew Mama wanted the doll, she had been searching for it for years. I wanted to help. To prove I could be good to her. I just never..." his voice breaks a bit, "I never knew she hated Papa and wanted him to die anyway."

Hazel feels a shiver, and not from the cold. She can't comprehend to be disdained so much by a parent, "Why is she so mean to you even when you help her?"

"I remind her of Papa, I suppose."

Hazel feels a tightness in her chest at his admission but it clenches into a vice when he adds, "I let your father take away stacking dolls, too concerned with Papa, lying in his own pool of blood that night. She blames me for the loss of it."

"I'm sorry," she whispers and means it. No one deserves that sort of burden or blame at such a young age.

"It's no fault of yours," he stands and wipes his hands on his jeans before offering one to her.

She stares at his open palm and hesitates, reminded of how his mother thought him incompetent because he was distracted by a 'pretty girl.'

"One more question," she asks and takes his hand. It encloses around hers and he gives a slight nod.

"Did you ever really like me? I liked you...quite a bit." She hides a blush by looking at the ground, and then hides her admission with some sarcasm, "It's unfortunate that you had to go screw it up."

For a moment, she thinks she has offended him the way his hand seems to stiffen. But his stare softens as he pulls her to a stand, and steps closer to her, "I have bad dreams and can't sleep well but when you are there...it's peaceful."

She knots her brows with confusion, "When I'm where? In your...dreams?"

"Yes, ever since I met you," Erik's hand rises and cups the side of her face gently.

Her breath catches, and her stomach knots in a competing feeling of fear and flutters. His lips are so close and she wonders if this strange, mysterious boy who she knows she cannot trust will be the one to bestow her a first kiss.

His thumb rubs a mark of dirt away on her cheek that she'd acquired somewhere along the way to the warehouse. She sees him smile slightly but it quickly turns to that same melancholy.

He does not make a move to kiss her and instead withdraws, like a man who was staring down a dream and has just awakened.

"Yes, I like you Haschel, but it is as you say, 'unfortunate.' We were never meant to be. Not with families we have, not with my past."

Like Romeo & Juliette.

His arms slide down and she finds herself being unexpectedly embraced by Erik. She knows she could kick him in the shin now and run away but...something...about the way he is hugging her keeps her rooted in place. It feels like he's genuinely regretful that he's involved her at all.

"Thank you, for being the good in my life these last few weeks," she hears him whisper.

Then they hear the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked from behind them.

"Get. Away. From. Her."

Hazel gasps and Erik releases her, stands in front of her to shield her if worse turns to worst, but freezes as he finds himself in the familiar position of his nightmares...

...or was it from his memories?

Hazel feels a mix of fear and relief at seeing Adagio. Relief because it's her father, who has always protected her and loved her. Fear, because the sight of him is entirely new.

She's never seen him look so dangerous before.

"Daddy!"

"Step away from him, Hazel. He's dangerous."

No, because she can see Erik is trembling. He's unarmed. Her father, however, looks absolutely ready to do violence.

She doesn't make any attempt to move away from Erik and tries again, "Daddy—"

"Damn it Hazel, why aren't you listening?" Adagio growls with frustration, noting his daughter looks worse for wear, which causes his glare to deepen.

"Are you going to kill him too? Just like you killed his father? If anyone is dangerous right now, it's you."

Adagio lowers the gun slightly with an expression of regret and surprise.

"Strawberry, his father was a bad man—"

"That doesn't make Erik one," Hazel stands her ground, about to explain why but...

For the second time that night, a gun cocks from behind them. Both teens whirl around to find something even more dangerous than Adagio Hart.

"Erki, this was not the plan."