Enough

Author: Lariat


I went in front of her and spread my arms out, trying to defend her. "Wait a minute, Hare!"

"Get out of the way. As your friend, I don't want to end up killing you too." The guy named 'Hare' threatened, still aiming the crossbow at his target, the person he was protecting.

"Just wait a minute!" His voice became a bit shaky, half in fear and half in shock. "We, we can't kill her!"

"Why not? She's the enemy."

"B-But! We... we... we just can't."

"...You... you saw that room, didn't you?" He gulped, unable to say anything in return, but stood his guard. "So... that's how it is. And here I thought that you wouldn't be above that."

"What I saw..." He argued. "What I saw... It... How could we do that?! It's no wonder that she... she..."

The girl behind him gave a look of concern and wondered what he was talking about -or rather, feared that he was talking about that. "Hey, Tiger... what's... the matter?" He looked back at her with pain and guilt in his eyes. Memories of stumbling upon that place flashed back in his mind. Along with them, he remembered those notable words she said to him once before:

"Watch me! I'll achieve anything better than everyone else! I'll be unlike any other, you'll see!"

He tried holding back the lump in his throat and choked out, "What you said back then... I think... I get what you meant by that. We... did that to you, didn't we? ...Sorry." The girl looked at him wide-eyed and grew more and more afraid of what he was talking about. "In any case... at least, let me make it up to you." He turned back to Hare with a determined look on his face. "I'm not letting you kill this girl, Hare! After what she's been through, she has the right to live!"

"She's just another one of them. Meaningless cannon fodder." He retorted.

"She's not like that! Shadow is... Shadow is Shadow! She's her own person, not one of those things! That's why I can't let you kill her... I'll defect from this place if I have to protect her!"

Hare scowled at those words, his eyes trailing over to the girl behind him. "...I don't know what she did to you, but she's really changed you. You're not 'Tiger' anymore, are you?" He cocked the crossbow and put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot. Tiger stood his guard. Hare couldn't believe the person he was seeing in front of him.

He muttered, "Traitor." a second before pulling the trigger and shooting at what used to be his friend.