DELTAREI: A Deltarune AU. [16+] (NOW COMPLETED)

Chapter 22: Partners In Crime.

-SATURDAY JANUARY 28TH, 2023.-

I woke up on Saturday morning and had breakfast with Risk, who was leaving to go to work soon. It felt strange to think that Risk was my mentor and yet he worked at a boring job like everyone else. I wondered what he did at work and how he got into this life in the first place. After Risk left, I met Dave at school and we headed towards the closet where the Dark World entrance was. It was strange to think that a couple of days ago, this closet was a normal place, but now it was the entrance to another world. As I entered the Dark World with Dave, I couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the landscape. It was dark but beautiful on the cliffs. It was strange, but there was something about it. We walked through a wooded area, following a narrow path. I noticed that there were other paths that led off into the woods, but we stuck to the main one, not wanting to get lost in case we needed to make a quick exit. As we walked past FOHAD and into the Scarlet Forest, we saw a gleaming object up ahead. It looked like a staff, made of gold and silver with a purple gem on top. It was radiating an immense amount of magic, almost like a beacon of light in the center of the forest. Dave stopped in his tracks, The gunfire rings out around us, the sound echoing in my ears. Dave pulls out his pistol with a determined look on his face, pointing it at the gunslinger. I'm shocked that Dave has a gun and wasn't aware, but I have no time to contemplate this as the gunslinger retaliates, firing at us with his rapid-fire guns. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my cool as the Darkener pointed his guns at me. Dave stepped up beside me, ready to defend us if needed, but I didn't want to risk a shootout in the middle of the forest. "Look," I said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "We were here first, so we deserve the staff more than you do."

The Cowboy narrowed his eyes at me. "I've been here longer than you," he snarled. "This staff belongs to me."

Dave and I exchanged a quick look, before I spoke up again. "We're not just going to hand it over to some stranger with a gun," I said, my voice firm.

"Give me the staff, or I'll shoot," the Darkener growled, his grip on the guns tightening.

My heart was racing as I took a step back. I didn't want to get shot, but I knew we couldn't just hand over the staff either.

Dave stepped up beside me again, his hand drifting towards his pocket. "We're not going to give it to you," he said, his voice low and dangerous.

The Darkener sneered at him, his attention now split between us. "You're just a couple of humans," he spat, his eyes flickering between us. "I could take you both down without even breaking a sweat."

Then, the gunslinger starts firing at us, and Dave tries to shoot back, but his shots miss as the gunslinger's guns continue to rain down on us. We quickly dive behind a boulder for cover, the sound of the bullets hitting the rock and tree creating a deafening sound.

As we take cover behind the rock, I begin to talk to Dave as we're being fired at.

Jack- "DAVE WHAT DO WE DO?!??!?! WE'RE GONNA DIE HERE IF WE DON'T COME UP WITH SOMETHING!!!!!!!!"

Then, after that, Dave offered for me to take his gun, I was really nervous, and I didn't seem to exactly wanna do it, like, in all honesty, I just didn't know if I could, but he wanted me to, and since I never shot a gun before, the gunslinger, as he reloaded was clearly giving me a chance, so I took the gun, and started firing at the gunslinger as the last two bullets of his fired, and the moment he emptied his two clips I shot at the slinger with his Ruger Max-9 Micro pistol, two hands on it using the last 5 bullets, getting one in his heart as he fell to the ground and died after this dropping both his guns, and two in his shoulders as he fell, one more in his crotch, and another in his left foot, as once I tried to fire again, the gun ran out of ammo, and the clip fell out, as Dave was impressed by my shooting skills as I dropped the gun. This was the second person I've ever killed, with a gun, over a staff? I didn't feel right about this, but Dave didn't care, as he then took the staff for himself since it had electric powers and he never one of those before, and then after that we both left as he pocketed it to his inventory, the guy dead behind us.... and as we exited the Dark World at night as usual, and the flakes stopped as usual but it was still snowy and an hour before midnight as Dave and I said bye to each other and he ran off, I couldn't help but think what I did that day, why I did it, and what it was all for, really, even if the staff that Dave now owned was pretty cool, I'll admit.