Lego House

xxx. Absolution

She didn't kill him. She knows that because she can still hear him faintly cursing and breathing these shallow, pathetic breaths. She rushes over and sees blood in a lot of different places. Michael and Rose are sitting on the ground in front of the computer, where Paul is still hunched over, hardly fazed, their hands covered in blood as they rest over Rose's shoulder. So, not dying.

Mr Trestail hand and arm are also covered in blood. That would have been one of the shots fired following Irisa's shot at Maust. As he was shot, he must have tensed and fired the guns, though not where he probably would have liked to. The other bullet seems to not have made any contact with anyone. Irisa breathes a sigh of relief. They are fine. They are fine. It is fine. "Ris, are you –"

"Shut up," she says quietly, cutting Michael off as she walks towards Maust, stepping through the pool of his blood. She crouches down beside him, smiling cunningly. Her gun is still in her hand, just resting there, waiting to be used again. "Tell me how we delete those files. Tell me how we stop all of this insanity."

"I'll kill you," is all he says. He coughs and blood spills from his mouth.

"Not if I kill you first," she snaps, holding her gun to his head. Her hand is shaking, her breaths are shallow. He laughs, smiling, with blood on his thin, pink lips.

"You can't do it, can you?"

"There are far worse things than death, Mr Maust."

"Can't even come up with your own quotes," he retorts quietly. He is clutching his stomach with both hands, but blood is still dribbling from the wound.

"Someone get a bloody doctor in here! We have three wounded!" His wife scrambles to her feet and rushes out of the room.

"You really trust her to get a reliable doctor?" Maust chuckles. "She's my wife – our family isn't super popular for our reliability and level of trustworthiness."

"Your son and daughter are pretty reliable and trustworthy, despite being raised by a bastard like you," Irisa hisses. Maust rolls his eyes, pausing from his annoying, cocky remarks for a moment.

"You liked being here. Admit it. You liked the drug."

"No," the word comes out of her mouth choked. She admitted it to herself once. She enjoyed the feeling. Not caring, not feeling. If she chose not to, anyway. And that, she surely did. She awaited his orders and did what was told. Carefree. Blissful. Even if it later meant all of the guilt and regret she'd ever felt.

"I saw Autumn and Jarrett – they hated it, really. I could see it on their faces every single time. Aleyah, even. But, you, no – you had a different expression throughout every order, and even after the drug wore off."

"Stop," she snarls. Mrs Maust enters the room, followed by two doctors and a nurse.

"Admit it, and I'll tell you."

"Gunshot to the stomach, gunshot to the shoulder, gunshot to the shoulder. Please, patch them up. Restrain this one." Irisa couples her orders with pointed fingers at whoever was being referred to. She is now standing, turning around the room as she watches the doctors and nurse tend to their patients.

"Irisa?" She swivels back around to face Maust. "You'll know how to delete the files. But that isn't the end." He is lifted onto a gurney, and wheeled away to, Irisa assumes, the medical centre. She kneels beside Roselle, who awaits the same treatment. She is still in Michael's arms, with their hands pressed over her wound.

"You should get checked over too, Ris, you were out there fighting."

"I'm fine," she replies, offering a small smile as she holds Rose's free hand. She glances up at Paul, who shakes his head as he types away. "You almost done, Paul?"

"Yeah, I deleted the original files. But the backups are insanely backed up. There are layers upon layers of encrypted data to get past. His research is important to him."

"You almost there, though? To deleting the backups?" Paul nods with a sigh.

"Yeah. I guess so." He returns to focusing on the screen as the nurse and doctor who transported Maust now also lean towards Rose.

"I want to go with her," Irisa says. Michael opens his mouth to object. "You go with your dad, Mikey. I'll watch Rose. You need to be with your parents, okay?"

"Autumn," Michael says quickly, and Irisa nods.

"We'll find her. For now, be with your parents. Catch up, I don't know. I don't know what I would do if my parents were still alive." She feels tears stinging her eyes as Rose is lifted and their hands separate. Michael's smile is sincere and loving. "Thank you for everything."

"I'll see you soon. We'll go from the medical centre to find Autumn, okay?" Irisa nods, and jogs after the gurney, where Rose is still clutching onto her arm.

"Hey, you're gonna be okay," Irisa assures her.

"But so is Maust," Rose sighs.

"I should've killed him."

"Why, though? Why kill him?"

"I don't know. Revenge?" Rose holds Irisa's hand as they walk.

"I'm proud of you. You chose the high road," she says quietly, squeezing her hand lightly, a firm reassurance.