In Hollywood: Glorybringer Fanfic.

Chapter Twelve: Glory

"Kestrel?"

Her stepmother turned, her eyes wild. Glory took a cautious step back. This was one of her fits. She took a deep breath and tried not to tremble in fear.

She expected her to beat her like she always did, but this time she didnt. She did something even more shocking.

She cried.

It was slow, agonizing tears. Tears fell, shoulders shook, sobs escaped her stepmother's mouth. She looked lost.

But Kestrel never cried.

She was heartless. She had adopted her and her four friends to get money from the government, and she beat them up at least once a week. The beatings- they were bad. Worse as they got older.

But now, staring at her, her bloodshot eyes, she looked-

-lost.

Then she spoke: "P-Peril?"

Peril. Who was Peril?

Then he came in. Her worst nightmare. Her worst - her worst- nightmare.

His black eyes were narrowed and he sneered at Kestrel, his fingers running through his dark hair. He spotted her and smiled.

Smiling. She felt a bang of fear in her chest.

Morrowseer. He was the violent boss of her stepmother that loved to grab her neck and push her into the sink when it was filled with ice-cold water for two minutes. Then she saw her.

The clicks of the high heels. Her calculating eyes, her lips, always a thin line. Her always perfect hair and her red purse, always with her.

Blister. Always Blister.

She sneered at her, her eyes calculating her every move. She tried to stop trembling and managed to calm her racing heart.

"Hello, darling," she said, and that was the first time she had ever acknowledged her like a human, which left Glory breathless. Blister leaned down, her face heavily applied with hideous makeup. She could smell tobacco from her mouth.

"Leave her alone!" Kestrel cried, her face still matted with tears.

Morrowseer laughed- threw his head back and laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. Glory shuddered.

"Beauty isn't everything."

He abruptly stopped laughing and his eyes lit up, his mouth curling into a cruel smile. He slowly reached for his pocket, and Glory backed away, her eyes looking at him, Kestrel, her.

Then, boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Three shots. Blood. Screams. Tsunami, looking shocked, her blue hair tied back into a ponytail, her eyes searching everywhere for threat, her hands curled tightly around a stick.

Glory then looked back. Morrowseer and Blister was gone, and she noted unconsciously the faint noise of an engine of a car leaving their driveway.

Kestrel was there, her body pierced with bullets, her eyes wide and empty. Her mouth wide open, mouthing one word:

Peril.

~

Glory wondered if headaches had the ability to kill people.

Her head felt like someone was hammering her skull with a 100 ton rock. Or she had been headbanging for hours on a rock concert of some sort.