My blood ran cold. Hard shudders rocking down my body as my hairs stood on end, my stomach turned, throat tightening  I resisted the urge to gag. The image of Krism lying dead on the floor, bullet wound in the centre of her forehead - smoking gun in my hand was enough to fill me with the desire to vomit.

"You want me to what?"

The back of my throat burned as I forced the words out of my mouth. "Please (Y/n)" her voice was shaky, thick with tears and heavy with desperation. I

"You're the only one I can ask" she whispered.

"I was a stranger to you not a few months ago, those guys have their lives displayed to the public, you know them way better than you know me" I reasoned.

"I know the personalities they show on the internet, not them, not really. But you, you've been real with us, you haven't lied, or pretended to be someone else. Hell- you saved our lives, in more ways than one, I can't-" she took a deep breath "I can't ask Minx to do this, I just can't".

"Why are you asking me to do this, Krism? What makes you think I'm strong enough?" my voice caught in my throat, an easy representation of how weak I felt in that moment.

"You're one of the strongest people I know. You break and you fall but you always, always get back up again. You fight and you keep on fighting and if that's not what being strong is all about, then I don't know what is" she whispered, giggling to herself quietly.

Krism quickly broke off into coughing fit, even muffled through the thickness of the door, it was easy to hear the nasty effect it had on her.

"I can't keep going on like this, (Y/n)" when she had spoken again, her voice was winded, weak and raspy. The cough had taken it's toll on her, her breathing hard and rigorous.

"I'm in so much pain".

My heart broke at her words, but I knew. Of course I knew, we all did, how could we not? It was clear on her face when we had caught a glimpse of her before locking her up like some kind of animal. An animal which she would soon turn into.

"Minx wants me to live, she wants me to fight it, but I can't (Y/n). It's a disease, it's horrible, and it's devastating but it's still a disease and I can't just will it away. I don't want to become one of those things, I don't want Minx's last memories of me something like this. I don't even want her to know. She was happy when she left, she was laughing, that's how I want to be rememberd, making her laugh like that."

I gulped, eyes falling closed I leaned my head back against the door.

"There's no changing your mind, is there?" I whispered quietly, hand slowly reaching behind me to grasp the handle of the gun tucked into my pants.

"No, there's no changing my mind" she whispered.

"For you, I'll do it for you" I whispered, "I don't want you to be in pain any longer".

"Thank you, (Y/n). Even though we haven't known each other for very long" she paused to inhale deeply "you're one of the best friends I've ever had".

The gun slipped from the tight confines of the waist band of my jeans "open the letter plate" I whispered. Following my weak orders, I heard the quiet squeak of metal as she did as told. Turned to face the door, I gulped as I slowly opened the outside flap.

The nozzle of the gun slipped through the hole, passing through the solid wooden door until it came to an abrupt stop with the back of Krism's head.

"Say goodbye to everyone for me? Tell them if they blame you, I'll haunt them" she broke off into a weak chuckle. Her voice was thick with emotion, trembling with clear sadness. My fingers trembled as I balanced my index finger on the trigger.

"And tell Minx I love her" she whispered.

I panted shakily as  I clenched and unclenched my jaw "goodbye Krism".

--

The silence after the loud bang of a gun going off is eerie to say the least, the aching of the joint between your thumb and pointer finger from the force of squeezing the trigger. And the adrenaline pumping through your veins cast a veil of blank dazedness over oneself.

The next thing I knew, strong fingertips were embedding themselves into my upper arms, a grip that would surely leave a bruise. With a strong pull I was yanked away from the door, gun ripped out of my hand. I stumbled, heels of my boots catching on the uneven wooden planking of the porch.

Even as I tipped backwards, landing hard on my coccyx, I didn't flinch. Taking the moment of white noise and quiet ringing as a moment of peace for her, for Krism.

Faintly I could hear Minx screaming, tears and snot running a flurry down her face as she threw the door open. Faintly I could see Krism's limp body collapse, staining the white wood a deep red. Faintly I registered the sounds of the other's yelling questions and confused obscenities.

As the ringing in my ear faded, the knowledge of what I had done suddenly rushed up to meet me.

"What have you done?! (Y/n), what have you done?!" Minx cried, Krism tucked against her chest, unmoving, but peaceful in her death.

Struggling to stand, the twinge of pain shooting up my spine made itself apparent. With a pained grunt, I slowly picked myself up, brushing away the hands offering to help me.

"I did what she asked me, I did what needed to be done" I mumbled, and even with the tears steadily building in my eyes, I kept my expression solid. Even as my voice trembled, I made sure that I was strong.

Minx laid Krism down gently, hurriedly scrambling to her feet, she rushed towards me "you bitch! You killed her! You killed my wife!" Mark and Nova rushed to restrain her. The woman thrashed in their hold, desperate threats dissolving into unintelligable garbles of broken reminiscence.

Cole hurried to step in front of me, broad chest blocking my view of the girl on the floor. "Go inside, wait there".

I didn't oppose his instruction, turning on my heel and making my way back towards the house that I had left this morning.

--

I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at the dusty carpet that the bed sat upon, tracing the tacky pattern with my eyes. I couldn't quite tell how long I had been sitting there, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours.

With each blink, the brief millisecond my eyes fell closed I could see her. Her cold hand laying in the pool of her own blood, her limp expression nestled against Minx's chest. With each flash of the darkness behind my eyelids I could hear the sound of the bullet going off.

As my eyes fell closed once more, a gentle knock on the door caused my body to go rigid. My eyes to snap open and my breath to run short. Heart palpitating in my chest, I gulped and glanced over at the door, willing myself to relax "come in".

The brass hand turned slowly before the door was pushed open, the edge of a white mask peeked from behind the door.

"Cry" I whispered quietly.

Stepping in, he closed the door behind him. The masked male approached slowly, as though I was some kind of startled deer "stop being so cautious, I'm not going to break if you sit down too hard".

Jumping at my voice, he let out a sheepish wince and picked up the pace, sitting himself down beside me.

There were a few minutes of silence, in which I returned my gace to the floor below. Cry cleared his throat after a few moments "she asked you to, didn't she?".

I inhaled deeply through my nose, tilting my head back to shift my gaze to the ceiling. It was a question that I had expected, but not a subject I was keen on lingering on. "She was in pain, she didn't want to be one of them. I couldn't say no" I whispered.

"I know, we all know, even Minx" he lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck "she knows, it'll just take a little time".

Slowly, I laid myself back "I keep seeing her face, she hates me, Cry". I mumbled quietly, arm lifted to drap across my face. I hid my eyes in the crook of my inner arm "and I can't even chastise her for that, I killed her wife".

A comforting hand settled itself on my thigh "she doesn't hate you, she's just mourning. And you didn't kill Krism, you-" he bit his lip "you saved her".

Peeking up at the male from behind the sleeve of my shirt "I don't feel anything Cry, I keep seeing her lying there but I don't feel anything. What's wrong with me?".

His fingers gently squeezed at my thigh "there's nothing wrong with you" he whispered. Taking my hand, he slowly lifted me into a sitting position, tugging me against his chest. Cry kept me braced against him, face hidden in the security of his neck.

"Absolutely nothing"