Delinquents And Dominos

Chapter 4: Choose.

A diversion, was what he was going for, something that he'd done a countless times to escape similar situations like these. He figured it sounded a bit plain, like the same old trick over and over again, so he decided to do some quick think-ups to make the plan seem more efficient.

Then,

Bang, The sound of the silver Magnum echoed across the alley and bounced onto walls and into random directions.

And he forgot everything he needed to remember a few seconds ago.

Gaston's hand had been stabbed with the bullet. Fresh blood the shade of bright crimson writhed out of his index finger's knuckle. He squirmed and clutched his right hand.

"Change of plans, I think I'll murder you right away." Aureo thumbed the hammer and the chamber rotated with a sharp click, hot lines of grey smoke billowing off the barrel. "No time for your resorts."

Sh*t, Gaston told himself, the visual construction of his genius plan was now shattered into microscopic pieces by the shocking blow of the bullet hitting his forehand, that now all he could do was think of something else that would benefit his last moments in this place. He tried to visualize some fond memories, then realize he had none to remember. He pressed hard onto his wound instead, and got up to his jittery knees.

"Last words, I assume?" Aureo smirked, it was over. Gaston was doomed. No more dirty tricks so now he could go back home and sleep in, stress-free.

"Famous ones, indeed." Gaston stifled a guilty grin. Anyway, he had to make this last chapter of his life fun and positive after all, despite all the wonderful desires and goals he had planned to fulfill in the future. Then, after realising his own pitiful demise, the grin slipped into a sad grunt and small combination of a sob and a cough . The wound on his hand had settled, now was the empty place in his heart and the scars in his life that needed tending to.

"...how weird that you gave in to emotion so quickly." Aureo huffed a small laugh, lowering the revolver as he watched Gaston kneel and cry a river while whimpering in absolute misery.

He knew this was no trick. Gaston was really a lost cause, an infamous French thief who only wanted the normal life of a human, and due to all the time wasted on his robberies, he had wasted his life. So now it all came to this moment of life and death. Gaston was finally cornered and had run out of magic tricks, at this point he might as well die, four hours worth of a cat-and-mouse chase had to be benefited at the end with the mouse dead, of course.

Aureo took his time and waited for Gaston to finish his groveling, and tried to make a decision about whether to end Gaston's life or to let him be free and become a better man. He had stopped worrying about bedtime, since all this fighting and emotional suspense would probably keep him fully wake even when he flopped onto his mattress.

He'd had his share of copies of books on Ancient Roman philosophers and Chinese Emperors who say the weirdest things like, 'It's better to show your morals when fighting the enemy and not going on a murder spree.'. People back then had the most bizarre points of views on life. But Aureo found that most interesting, that these Ancient idols can sustain their morals and refuse to give in to mindless genocide intrigued him a lot in his adolescence.

Gaston continued to pour out his tears in hopeless regret.

The yellow dimly lit brick alleyway fit nicely between two business buildings, under the pitch-black starless sky lined with a permanent roof of grey clouds that partly blocked most of the sun. Even during the day the sad sun could only stick out a few pricks of light onto Italy's buildings and its people, since two huge nuclear winters caused an irremovable awning of opaque dark clouds and shield every part of the Earth. Thus, most humans have evolved to develop larger pupils and irises to bring in more light than usual, and the trees in the forests have grown taller and higher until they stabbed through the clouds in a magical Jack-and-the-beanstalk fashion.

Aureo adjusted his steel mask with his fingers and aimed for the sky. He pulled the trigger, causing Gaston to flinch frantically shriek, eyes and face thoroughly wet with his own tears of misery.

"Quit your bawling, I'm buying you dinner." Aureo reluctantly sighed and kept his revolver back in the holster hidden in a belt underneath his white coat. "I decided to not care about my paycheck. Because my employer is also a scummy one."

"H-huh?"