Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 13 - No More Running

Serena finds herself in the training room the next morning alone. Her body is exhausted from the previous night's encounter, but her mind is wide awake. When she returned to the manor, Dawn and Misty were nowhere to be found with their hostage. Truthfully, she didn't have any energy to even worry about his fate and what that involved. She remembers the furious look on Ash's face and the thin line that stood between the man's life and death in his hands — Serena can stand to guess the sort of door to hell his life lingers in front of.

She makes her way to the shooting range and loads a set of bullets into the barrel robotically, a motion she grew more and more familiar with. The space she's in feels separate from the world above and she knows everyone will be rising to greet the morning soon. Down here, it's noiseless and lonely, and the only thing that keeps her company is the shadows of her own fear on the target straight ahead.

It comes and goes in her vision in the shape of ocean blue eyes pink lips curling over the blade of a white smile. She bites her lip and pulls the trigger, shooting dead center repeatedly until the gun clicks empty, her heart weighing no lighter. She huffs and strides down the gap to replace the shredded target with a fresh one before taking her spot once again, a new set of bullets loaded.

She thinks of Ash and the look on his face before she stopped him. The leader persona crumbled away to subtle shock, but Serena couldn't bear to look at him any longer before she felt like she could wither to the wind carried by the sea. The way he called after her with a gentle tone that traced the brushstrokes of her name tugged at her heart, but she was too afraid to see what it would have meant.

It doesn't mean a damn thing. Stop it.

The gunshots go off again and Serena clicks her tongue in frustration, the shots all over the target map in her distraction when the smoke clears. The weapon feels heavier in her palm and she sets it down on the table with a sigh, then drumming her fingers on the surface as if she'd find the answers in the grain. She's so lost in thought that she doesn't notice the new presence in the room until the door opens and closes and she's met with 'cuzzo' of her troubles.

Ruby eyes look past her at the pierced target before panning back to her. "Your aim's way off," Miette says plainly, and Serena's eyes narrow at the lack of pointedness there.

"Perhaps, you could stand as the target and I'm positive I would hit dead center then," Serena mutters, not meeting Miette's eyes. Her voice is of course different from Ash's, higher, disguised as honey-sweet when in fact it grates on Serena's nerves on a daily basis. But today's different. Today, she doesn't want to look at anything that reminds her of the boss floors above.

"You weren't at the bar this morning," Miette says instead, skipping over her opportunity to tease Serena again.

Weird.

"You're an adult. You can manage a day making your own coffee." Serena rolls her eyes and her hands settle on her hips.

At this, Miette frowns, unimpressed, and closes the distance. Serena nearly bristles before a finger pokes prods at her forehead to which she immediately swats at. "What are you-"

Miette's eyes narrow as she interrupts her. "It's not the same."

Serena blinks and purses her lips at the impassive look on Miette's face. Whether Miette meant that her coffee wasn't the same or that it simply wasn't the same without Serena, the former fashion designer who can make coffee doesn't know — both prospects are just completely strange coming from someone she rarely gets along with.

She decides to bite the bait. "I'm honestly just irritated, okay? What do you want, Miette?"

Miette rolls her eyes as if the answer were obvious. "What the hell happened yesterday?"