There was a loud surprised cry of pain before Jack crumpled to the ground, clutching his leg. Somehow, against all odds, Eli hit him in the knee. Eli wanted to cackle.

Instead, he dropped down from the container, not caring about the throb of pain in his legs at the hard landing. He steadied himself and hurried to Matthew's side, gun still in hand.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm very glad you have good aim," Matthew said as Eli took a look at the wound on his side.

"I was aiming for the chest," Eli deadpanned and was answered by a snort. Which quickly turned into a look of panic as Matthew threw himself over Eli and flattened them both to the ground. A sword—the same one Jack used on Matthew and still stained with his blood—flew past them.

"I am going to gut you assholes," Jack growled as he struggled to stand. Eli didn't hesitate to grab at the gun, fingers scrabbling for it, before he raised it and shot Jack once more. It was oddly satisfying. "Fuck!" Jack yelled, clutching his other leg. Sadly, it was not another knee shot.

"What the hell, you absolute dick?! You and your freaking knives have got me fed up!" It was nice to let some of the anger out now that Jack was probably not getting up any time soon.

He still shot them a glare that was so vicious, Eli was surprised they'd not dropped dead. He was also surprised when Jack laughed. It was funny how unsettling a sound it was, but then, anything resembling joy seemed twisted when it came from Jack. Eli watched as Jack gave up on remaining upright, laying on his back as blood sluggishly spread around the bullet wounds on his legs.

"Can't say this is how I meant for things to go. Kind of disappointing," Jack muttered as his laughter faded. His voice was laden with frustration, but there was still something sharp in his smile as it spread across his face. "But, I did plan for something like this."

Eli watched, confused, as Jack reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a small black object. He flipped the top open and looked over at them with a bloodstained grin.

"Always wanted to go out with a bang."

Eli wasn't sure what happened after that.

He thought he saw Jack press on the object in his hand, but Matthew was already moving to cover him. There was a deafening sound from somewhere and a loud creaking sound, like the grinding of metal that tore at his ears. The floor shook and mixed into it all, was the sound of laughter, half mad and half gleeful as everything around them seemed to collapse, and then Matthew was getting up and grabbing Eli to drag him away. When things settled enough for them to stop, the area was a wreck of metal. Jack was nowhere to be seen and in the distance, Eli thought he could hear the sound of people yelling in panic as they hurried out.

Both Matthew and Eli stood, miraculously unharmed. At least, but what had just happened. It was a moment later that Matthew finally sank to the floor.

"Shit, You have to get out of here," Matthew said through a grimace. He clutched at his side and cast a look at Eli that made him realize what Matthew had in mind. Again, Eli wanted to smack him.

"Fine. Come on then, let's go." He stood on shaky legs, feeling off balance, but still reached to grab a hold of Matthew.

"No, you go," Matthew said, trying to pull his arm away from Eli's hold. They stared at each other, neither willing to give in. Of course, Matthew was the first to falter. He let out a sigh, shoulders slumping as he sat there, hand still doing its best to stem the flow of blood. "I don't know how far I can go," he said, looking up at Eli, face pale and bloodstained.

Eli didn't know what to feel. He looked down at Matthew—at someone who at times seemed invincible and at others so painfully vulnerable—and wanted to be angry at being in that situation. Instead, he pushed away all the frustration, all the pain, and focused on doing what needed to be done. Matthew was ready to give up, so now it was Eli's turn to step up.

With the sole thought in his mind being surviving, Eli knelt grabbed Matthew and did his best to pull him to his feet. Which was nearly impossible, given that Matthew had about a foot on Eli.

"Get your ass up," Eli grunted, pulling at Matthew's ass. "I'm not leaving without you, you asshole, so if you wanna sit around and die then I guess we might as well make it a couple's activity."

Matthew snorted like the absolute jerk he was. It made him wince in pain, which made Eli feel a bit better, but at least he wasn't talking about dying. Eli counted that as a win. He ignored the way Matthew looked at him—didn't want to see any sort of pity in his eyes because Eli just wasn't able to give up. After a minute, Matthew finally shifted slowly, face stiff as he did his best to keep from grimacing. He got to his feet, Eli still uselessly hanging onto his arm, and shot the redhead a little lopsided smile.

"Always knew you were an optimist at heart." Eli rolled his eyes.

"Well, I did see some reason to keep you around." Matthew huffed in what might have been a laugh under different circumstances.

With that, Eli slung Matthew's arm over his shoulder and did his best to support him as they made their way out.

For the most part, Eli had no idea about where they were going. Fortunately, Matthew wasn't that clueless, even while bleeding out. Eli liked to think that at least he chose someone dependable even if he could have been a little less insane.

We'll work on it later, Eli thought. He was doing a pretty good job at convincing himself that there would definitely be a later.

It was with much relief that they ducked under the last bit of twisted metal at the top of a short metal stairway and came upon a door. Eli had to put his kicking skills to use, but it was fortunately one of the things he was best at. The door opened with a couple of well placed hits and Eli was instantly hit with the weak light of the setting sun and a crisp sea breeze.

"Wait, what the fuck?" He looked around, mouth hanging open as he took in their surroundings. "We're on a fucking ship?!" Once again, Matthew huffed, as if Eli was just supposed to know these things.

"One of Fisk's," Matthew commented as he limped out with Eli's help. "Adria mentioned he fixed up a particularly large boat of his to transport cargo undetected. Jack must have taken it along with Fisk's territory."

"Well, that's great and all, but how the hell are we supposed to get off this thing? Because we're way the fuck away from land." Matthew looked around, frowning as he spotted the docks in the distance.

"I don't know, when I made it on the boat was just setting off. Adria had a way out."

Needless to say, Adria wasn't around at the moment. Eli tried not to think about where she might be. And just when he was starting to hate her a little less.

"Well then, we're fucked," Eli decided, finally giving on the idea of being positive.

"You can try to swim for the shore," Matthew pointed out as he decided he was done being on his feet and sat against the wall.

"I can't swim," Eli commented casually, as if that didn't guarantee him a watery grave. He was also ignoring Matthew clearly not expecting to be able to make a swim for it either. For the time being, Eli decided to focus on making sure Matthew wouldn't bleed out until they could both drown. He sat next to him, and started rummaging through his pockets.

"That's unfortunate." Eli snorted. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for bandages so you can stop bleeding all over the place." Eli refused to look at Matthew. He was fairly certain there wouldn't be an encouraging look on his face. "What the hell?"

Eli paused in his search, his fingers knocking against something small and cool to the touch. He frowned, brows furrowing as he caught the small object, feeling the thin band and pulling it out. Matthew glanced down to see what caught Eli's attention while Eli stared at the gold ring in his hand.

For a moment, they both stared at the ring in Eli's hand. It was fairly clear what it was.

"Why do you have this in your pocket?" Eli was impressed at how calm he sounded. Then again, there was a sort of distance between his physical and mental forms at the moment because he was finally reaching the limit of what he could handle.

"Uh, well, for safekeeping?" Eli wanted to laugh.

He also wanted to throw Matthew off the stupid boat, but realized that would be counterproductive to his goal of keeping the both of them alive.

"So you kept it in your stupid suit?"

"Of course not, I had it with me at the convention." Eli stared.

"Tell me you were not going to give me this there." He could actually see himself strangling Matthew in front of his adoring fans if he decided to propose at a convention celebrating his stupid alter ego. Matthew laughed, a sound that sounded more pained than amused.

"You would have killed me." At least he knew him well enough to know that. "I didn't want you finding it by accident. Seeing as you like going through my things." The man had the gall to shoot Eli an accusing stare.

I go through his Vigilante shit once, Eli thought.

"Oh my God, I hate you."

"Is that a no?" Even with all the pain and exhaustion in Matthew's voice, the cautious hope was hard to miss. Eli was considering simply jumping into the ocean.

"You know what, I will marry your stupid ass and then I'll divorce you and take everything." And with that, he slipped the ring on and valiantly ignored the way his face heated up while his heart made an attempt to beat its way out of his chest.

Matthew made one more attempt at laughing. He was covered in blood and his face was deathly pale, but his eyes were still bright with cheer as he looked at Eli. It made something in him ache at the sight. The feeling just intensified when Matthew raised a still gloved hand to Eli's face. He found himself leaning into the touch, not minding whatever blood got on him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do better," Matthew said, and his voice was too soft. It was thin and distant and Eli hated it.

"Yeah, well, I always figured you'd propose in the worst way possible. This is honestly not as bad as I expected." Eli had almost expected Matthew to make any sort of proposal very public and equally embarrassing. Barring the horrible circumstances they were in, it was kind of nice.

"I meant to ask you before," Matthew said, his hand lowering. Eli reached for it, holding it in place. He reached out to hold Matthew's other hand—to add whatever strength he still had to Matthew's in an effort to keep some pressure on the wound. "That night. We were supposed to go to dinner."

Eli wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry at the knowledge. The night it had all started—the night Matthew had left him at home to go chase after Fisk only to run into a crazed mercenary. It felt like such a distant thing now.

"You still owe me that date," Eli said, and he could feel his eyes burning.

"Sorry, honey." Eli stared at Matthew, felt a lump in his throat and his heart squeeze in his chest and the hand in his grasp all but hanging limply.

"Don't be sorry, just take me to a good burger place."

Matthew grinned. Blood stained his lips and the sparkle in his eyes dimmed as he struggled to stay conscious. Eli had to press a bit more against the wound on Matthew's side as Matthew's strength waned further. He tried not to think about how much longer he'd have to do so.

The sea was getting closer, the ship slowly sinking as it took in water and the shoreline looked like a much too distant thing. Eli looked at Matthew and figured it wasn't too bad a way to go. At least neither of them would be alone.

His only real regret was the stupid shirt he was wearing.

Eli was just wondering if he'd be able to haunt Tucker and Collin for making such shitty products when he heard some scuffling over the side of the ship. He looked over, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to see better in the fading light of the setting sun. If asked, Eli would deny having shrieked when Mikey, of all people, popped up and hopped aboard with the ease of someone who wasn't the size of a decently sized cow.

"What the fuck?" Eli breathed, wide eyed as Mikey approached.

Mikey ignored him, grunting as he knelt and looked at Matthew. Without hesitating, he grabbed Matthew and threw him over his shoulder with an ease Eli envied. He was about to comment on Mikey's lack of care when he was grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and dragged over to the edge of the ship. Before Eli know what was happening, he was being tossed over the edge.

He had a single, terrifying moment in which he thought this was how he died. It was, in the end, a really stupid death. And then, he saw Adria looking very unimpressed. Eli also saw the boat she was in and was relieved just before he hit said boat and nearly got knocked out.

At any other time, Eli might have taken the time to complain about Mikey being a rude asshole. Right at that moment though, Eli had other concerns. He scrambled up in time to see Mikey settle back into the small boat, setting Matthew down on the back seat.

"Jesus, what the fuck happened to you two?" Adria said, getting a look at the both of them. Eli could understand where her shock was coming from. Frankly, they looked like shit. He'd complain later. Especially as Adria settled into the driver's seat and took off.

Choosing to ignore Adria, Eli hurried over to Matthew's side while Mikey pulled out a first aid kit. Eli could just barely see some of the blue of Matthew's eyes as he struggled to stay awake. He found his hand and held it, figuring it was about all he could do while he let Mikey work.

"Guess we have to invite Adria to the wedding now," he said, Matthew's mouth tilted into a little lopsided smile. He didn't say anything.

The boat was speeding away, hopefully somewhere where they could get Matthew some medical help. Eli just hoped they'd make it there in time.

The sun seemed to sink into the dark waters as they neared the shore. It might have been beautiful if Eli weren't so preoccupied with the hand he was holding. His eyes were burning and his heart was pounding, vision blurring as they neared land, and yet all Eli focused on was the hand in his grasp and the fragile hope that it wasn't too late.

# # #

Eli walked up the little stone path that split his mother's front garden. It felt odd, walking down that path and up to the porch where his grandmother used to sit in the afternoon. Things had changed so much and yet so much had also remained the same. It was the same with him, he supposed.

He could still see a lot of the person he was when he left home, yet there were parts that had shifted over the years. Things changed—he changed, or was changed—and Eli couldn't say he disliked the person he'd become. Even with all he'd gone through. All he'd lost along the way.

As he set his bag down next to him and knocked on the door of the cheery little house his mother had inherited, he wondered what she'd say. There was, after all, a lot that had happened since she'd left. Eli did his best to prepare himself for all he'd have to talk about. He still didn't feel like he'd succeeded at that by the time the door opened.

"Hey, Ma. I'm home," he said, because he didn't really know what else to say.

His mother looked at him for a moment, brown eyes sweeping over him. She took in his tired look, his still healing bruises, and the next thing Eli knew, he was being smothered by his mother as she attempted to squeeze the life out of him with a particularly strong hug.

Slowly, Eli hugged her back, and couldn't help but think that it was nice to be back home. 

# # #

If you're reading this, I've already gone into hiding. :D

But I do hope you've all enjoyed this chapter even though I killed Matthew. But I did leave Eli alive, so there's that. Am I not generous? c: So yeah, next chapter is finished and will be up in two weeks! In the meantime, you can check out my other stories here and on Tapas, where I have an edited version of Vigilante and with that bit of shameless self-advertising, I wish you a great weekend!

As always, thank you all for reading!