☆

"WHAT'S WRONG?" she coos, cocking her head to the side like he always did when he thought he had her figured out. One inch. Calculated. Blue. That was always his fucking weakness. "Mmm. I bet you didn't see this one coming, baby."

Surprisingly, Blue snickers. The gun grinds against her forehead, a renewed threat in the subtle gesture. "Claws? Atom? C'mon, baby, I could take all three of you down right now."

"I doubt that."

It comes from behind her—heels clicking, jewelry clicking, a gun clicking. This bitch came prepared.

Her lips twitch. "You're outnumbered."

"Drop the gun, Blue," Claws says, a sharp warning in her voice. "Drop the gun. Now."

Those blue eyes flicker away from her, and she doesn't bother to follow, knowing that Claws has her gun pointed at Blue. Trust. It's something her and Blue never could grasp.

Instead, she focuses on the lull of conversation, a strand of the last-minute plan that they'd concocted just a week ago, unraveling to her side. Atom approaches Cadillac swiftly, but quietly, spewing the rest of the directions that will help them get this star out of the city... in a million fucking pieces.

"We'll drop it," she explains from the other side of the crane, pointing to the garbage barge beside the pier. "I'll let you know when you're lined up."

"You're going to destroy it," Blue murmurs almost wistfully. Understanding dawns in his eyes as he glances up at the glittering star, flushed cheeks and parted lips. His hand wavers; his breathing hitches. "No, you're... you're going to—"

"Shatter it."

Slowly, so fucking slowly, Blue swivels to meet her gaze. "You're going to fucking destroy it."

"Mmm." She shrugs. "Some people just want to destroy beautiful things."

"Don't."

Her fingers curl into fists, and her nails bite into her palms. There's a sharp command in his voice that drives her to the brink of insanity. Somehow, even after being crossed, or double-crossed, or whatever the fuck this was, Blue still thinks he can order her around. "Blue," she grinds his name out angrily. "They're not listening to you anymore."

A wave of cold air whistles along the coast, lashing and biting and stinging her cheeks; it tosses too many loose strands of hair up between her and Blue, separating them for a millisecond, and in that millisecond, everything spirals.

Cadillac starts the crane, and she takes a step back, and Blue... Blue staggers away from her with a gasp, limbs locked, panic flaring in his eyes, gaze flitting back to that lethally beautiful star. "No..."

"Blue," Claws warns. "Don't move."

But he does.

Blue is... lost in something, shaking his head, dropping this hand, staring, staring, staring, as Cadillac guides the star over the edge of the pier to the barge. Behind her, beside her, beneath her, the world hums in anticipation of the destruction. It was never about the crystals, or the money, or the escape for Blue. It was about stealing something beautiful, and fuck, this was going to burn.

This was why she wanted him here.

"No," he mutters. "No, I..."

A mess of emotions jumble together in her throat. Something about the stark desperation, that vulnerable plea in his voice, sickens her. Blue is supposed to always be... calm, cool, collected; Blue is supposed to be careless.

"Cadillac, you're good!" Atom shouts from her vantage point at the end of the pier, a silhouette framed in the moonlight. "You're good to go!"

Yes.

Her gaze skates across the empty gravel and into the open door of the crane to find Cadillac—looking at her, waiting, waiting, waiting for a command. Fuck.

Blue stiffens. Because he knows that look. "Don't."

"Ramón," she says softly. "Do it. Drop it."

"No!"

And then Blue whips around, a blur of darkness, and his hand raises, and everything is too quick, too quick, too quick, a ripple of gunshots cutting through the air, and—

—there's nothing but light, shards, sparks, fragments, shattering glass, three million crystals cascading down, exploding in a storm of fucking nuclear fusion.

Snowflakes.

Like millions of tiny, twinkling snowflakes, twisting in the hazy moonlight, raining, raining, raining—

Instinct attacks, and she dives, knees hitting the ground, teeth and bones rattling with the impact, but then Blue is beside her at the edge of the pier, fingers fumbling for the gun that is skidding away from them in the darkness, in the destruction, in the one fast, frantic motion of violence.

"No, no, no," she hisses, a strangled slew of curses bubbling up as she scrambles to grab his hand. Blue twists, yanks her, and when they collide, electricity crackles through them. His fingers dig into her arm. "Fuck."

"Bitch." Blue tosses her off away from him with a grunt. Glass bites into her back. Fuck. "Fucking bitch."

"Fuck you."

"I knew it," he breathes, reaching over her, warm liquid grazing her neck, bloody fucking fingers wrapping around her throat. "I knew it."

Her teeth grind together. "You didn't. You didn't know anything."

"I fucking knew. Because you don't care... about..."

"I don't give a fuck about beautiful things."

Beneath him, she thrashes, kicking and flailing, shards of glass digging into her back, black... spots... dancing in her vision, blotting the vision of dark, dark, dark eyes... and...

"I know."

A hand wraps around his wrist as she gasps, desperate to ease the vice grip around her throat that... is stealing... oxygen....

Oxygen.

Only massive stars create oxygen.

"Do you..." she chokes on the tight words. "Do you know what nuclear fusion is, Blue?"

Blue stills. "What?"

"Energy."

"What the f—"

"Nuclear fusion."

A dizzy sensation casts her from the conversation, only vaguely aware of words tumbling free, ripping from her raw throat, too tight, too soft, too...

"Nuclear fusion is beautiful," she says, or she thinks she says, swimming in a veil of darkness, her body and brain detaching somewhere in a black void. "Stars are beautiful."

"Like you," he rasps, a soft sort of admiration in his voice. "You are beautiful, Catalina."

Red flashes across her dim vision, and suddenly, every atom inside of her is churning and twisting, splitting with rage. Nuclear fucking fusion. "Fuck you," she spits, jerking in his hold. "Don't use my name."

"You made a few mistakes, baby."

"Well, so did you."

When she lurches forward, water rushes in her ears. Fingers slip along a rough edge. They're at the edge of the pier. They're...

"I'm not going down for this, Niko," she hisses. "Never."

A smile curls at his lips, jagged and sharp—like the cutthroat man that she barely knew. "Well, I might drop your name if anyone asks."

One inch.

"I doubt that."

Calculated.

"Why?" he asks, his voice cold, his smile cold, his eyes so fucking cold that she wonders if he's already... frozen.

One fucking inch.

"Because..." she whispers, letting the blistering wind steal the soft word, indulging in the cold. "Because Blue..."

One harsh yank.

Her fingers in his hair.

One hiss.

One fucking inch.

Blue reels back, and everything is quick, quick, quick, twisting fingers and tangled limbs, slipping her legs between their bodies, nudging him forward, both feet meeting his chest.

"Because baby, it's cold outside."

One inch.

The world tilts around them as she twists and kicks.

The world seems to still as they separate.

The world freezes as Blue tumbles over the edge of the pier—down, down, down into icy water.

Because baby, it's cold outside.

Because, baby, it should only take minutes, lost in those icy waters, stranded in the cold, to fucking die.

☆

**UM. WTF JUST HAPPENED. Sorry guys.  It's 5:30 in the fucking morning, and I am busting this out half-drunk, half-hungover. I think I legitimately just made our MC into a murderer, which... was not intentional, but... uh, yeah. ⭐️