[FIN] Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran frowned and made a noise of displeasure. "Perhaps she hoped to take credit for killing me alone? Stupid b***h." There were a lot more messages, perhaps they would shed some light but they would have to wait; Zevran shoved the phone back into his pocket and strode over to gather up the deceased Crow without hesitation or ceremony. After he'd checked around for any blood splatters he turned to Abel and nodded. "We should move."

Amigo, who had settled on the bed, trilled anxiously and fluttered into the air again; Zevran gave him a rather hard look. "Be silent as we leave and stay within the illusion, we cannot afford a mistake." The look Amigo gave him in return made Zevran balk and glance away, how strange that he could now read such an alien face well enough to see hurt and confusion written so plain. "I mean I... we cannot talk here Amigo, we need to go. I am sorry." He glanced up at Abel then and for a moment fear and sorrow showed through the mask of chill. "I am sorry," he repeated softly, and then his expression chilled and hardened again. "Let's go."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel hesitated a moment or two at the interaction between man and pokemon, but he opted to respond to the latter comment first. "You don't have anything to apologize to me for. I'm not gonna pretend I haven't dealt with death before -- or caused it," he said with a small shrug as he moved to the chair to fetch their coats, then gestured to Amigo with a slightly warmer expression for the pokemon so obviously unused to these sorts of situations. "You can hang on Sonia's shoulders and hitch a ride if you want to Amigo. She's going to be in the back, and Zev and I'll be in the front. Sound good?" Once assured that all of them were okay with the suggestion, Abel nodded his head, pressed a finger to his lips, then held the door open for Sonia to step out first.

The Zoroark immediately slipped out on well-practiced, silent feet, throwing her illusion out in the hallway around them. A moment later - after making sure the way was clear and no one was nearby - she stepped away from the doorway to make room for Zevran and Abel to follow her out. Abel waited for Zev to leave first, given his hands were rather full, and once he did he carefully shut the door as quietly as he could behind them, unable to keep from aiming a momentary frown at the door. He had a pair of wonderful leather gloves he'd used on occasions like this; where were they? Back home, of course. With the door closed, Abel headed in front of Sonia to walk alongside Zevran with equally silent, stealthy footsteps down the hallway, through the mercifully empty lobby and out into the chilly night air. Once outside it was only a short walk to his car, which he unlocked in short order before he glanced over to Zevran and murmured, "Trunk or backseat?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Amigo was only too pleased to grab onto Sonia's shoulders, closeness with a friend was all he wanted right now but Zevran had made it clear he wasn't welcome.

"I..." Zevran met Abel's gaze with some difficulty and nodded. "Yes. Let's go then."

They were outside soon enough, and completely unobserved thanks to Sonia. "Trunk," Zevran said softly as they neared the car, "easier to clean if needed, and not conspicuous." Once the trunk was open Zevran placed the body inside and looked down into her blank eyes for a few moments before closing it quietly and moving around to the passenger door.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once Zevran deposited his burden in the trunk, Sonia unceremoniously dumped the dead woman's things in along with her before moving to the side of the car. Abel opened one of the back doors for her and the Zoroark paused a moment to encourage Amigo to get off her shoulders and onto her arm, or to get into the back himself - she had no intentions of squashing him - before climbing in. Abel shut her door then got into the driver's side, promptly buckled himself and started the car up, and once assured they were all inside and ready, he guided the car out of the parking lot and out onto the street.

He drove in silence for some minutes as he navigated through a couple turns, his gaze frequently flicking to the roads they passed and to his mirrors to ensure they weren't noticed or followed, but eventually he asked in soft tones, "Where should we take her, d'you think? The forest outside the city?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Mmh, yes, that would work," Zevran agreed, turning his face away from Abel to look out of the window into the dark night. How long would it take? Kodo was a small island, it wouldn't be long. Perhaps he could travel to that port town and get a boat from there to- to was not important, away was important. Would they go after Abel if they had connected the two of them?... No probably not, they wouldn't imagine that he was more important to him than his own life. Abel was more important to him than his own life, but he had to leave him to preserve it. Was it even worth it? It would be easier to give in, let them find him, at least he had been happy for a while.... He didn't want to die.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Alright." That was good, given he'd already started heading in that direction in case the answer was 'yes.' Changing course would've been an easy affair had the answer been 'no' though of course. After another silent minute or two Abel hummed thoughtfully, briefly, before posing another question, "What about her things?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Mmh. "I'll look through for anything useful, I can get rid of the rest around the place," Zevran replied distractedly, the dead woman's stuff was the least of his concerns. He had known this couldn't last but he had been forgetting it lately, losing himself in happy dreams of a life that belonged to people unlike him. Why had that b***h had to wake him up? It had been a good dream.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel started to nod because the first half made sense, but something about the second half made him think twice. 'The place'? What place? He chanced a glance over at his boyfriend but couldn't catch his eye; no, he was too busy looking out the window looking... rather distracted. Not that he could blame him at all. Dealing with this sort of situation was rather... stressful, to say the least, and it wasn't one he had much experience with, but having Zevran there to help with it made it better...

What would he do now?

What would he, himself, do in this kind of situation? When it had been him with Alyssa, he'd been prepared to die to solve the problem. Was that how Zevran felt in this case?

Promptly abandoning that line of thought, Abel adjusted his grip on the steering wheel as he made another turn. "Around what place?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran shrugged, it took him a couple of moments to gather his thoughts enough to reply beyond that. "Just around. Dumpsters, thrift stores, whatever. Is that really important at the moment? Mh. Break the phone once I have read all the messages, it might have a tracker."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The taller blond opened his mouth to reply but paused when Zev continued, and opted to reply to the last comment first. "Breaking it's probably the best idea, and toss it somewhere. And," he took a moment to gather his thoughts, to puzzle out how best to phrase things; careful, gentle, "I'm just trying to plan ahead so I know what to do next." As they pulled up to a stoplight Abel leaned forward to fold his arms over the steering wheel, chancing a glance over at Zev, "I'm not used to doing things like this."  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran was still gazing out of the window and though his eyes remained blank a knife-edged, humourless smile curved up one side of his mouth. "I am. It was foolish of me to think it was over, that I had escaped. The Crows do not maintain their reputation by allowing traitors to escape but I..." The smile faded and Zevran closed his eyes, swallowed down a feeling of nausea. "I thought they believed me dead. Why could they not have believed it?" It was no more than he deserved, he could not claim it was unfair after the things he had done for the Crows. To have the same done to him was a fitting end. "I wonder what the price on my head is? I hope it is high, if not-" he had to pause for a moment to keep his voice steady "-if not I shall be most insulted." If he had to die then Taliesen might as well profit from it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Because that'd be too easy," Abel said with a sigh as the light turned green, so he leaned back again and continued driving. Clearly they knew him well enough not to assume he'd be dead, because he clearly wasn't. No, Zevran was too clever. So why...

He was trying to act like it was fine -- or at least that he was fine. But Abel didn't miss the pauses, nor did he hesitate to assume their meaning. A moment or two of deliberating passed before he asked, "You're not giving up just like that, are you?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran opened his eyes again and continued his disinterested inspection of the world outside the car window. "Mmh. Taliesen was always stubborn, I suppose he would have wanted to be sure." Perhaps his one-time friend had at first followed the course of his last mission hoping to help him, that was the sort of thing he did. Unfortunately killing friends who turned out to be traitors, or were thought to be, was also the sort of thing he did.

As for giving up, to that he could only shrug. "I don't see a way out of it. Soon enough they will realise she is dead and that will certainly annoy them. It might even upset some of them for reasons they cannot bring themselves to examine." Love was weakness they said, romantic or platonic, but since leaving Antiva and getting to know Abel he rejected the idea that even those who sneered at it the most did not feel it in some twisted form. "And when they realise she is dead," he continued, "I will be twice a traitor. Perhaps they will forgo subtlety and simply shoot me in the street, it is impossible to hide from a patient sniper unless you never step outside again."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Mmh, that made sense... Not that he liked it, of course, but it made sense. They'd been good friends - or as good as could be, considering the circumstances - so of course he'd be interested in finding out what became of his friend...

This was... not an enjoyable topic. Not at all. There they sat, casually discussing the fact Zevran's old comrades were now out for his head. It opened up a cold, yawning pit inside him and he subconsciously tightened his grip on the wheel tightened a tad. Before he could respond, though, something Zev said stuck out to him and brought a mirthless smile to his face unbidden. "Usually, yes, but there's ways. Zoroark are excellent at hiding people who don't want to be seen, for example."

Sonia huffed a bit from the back seat.  

[TawnyAngel]

Abel wanted another outcome to be possible. Zevran turned his head slowly to study the details of his face, shadowed by the gloom of the night but intimately familiar. They'd had a good time together, a wonderful time, and he should be grateful for what had been rather than regretting what had to come but he couldn't help it. He wanted more; more time, more dates, more laughter, more soft kisses and tender murmurs. Of course Abel wanted another outcome to be possible; he did as well.

"Well... perhaps. We can worry about the future once we have dealt with the present, yes?" Zevran suggested with a forced smile. He couldn't imagine it working - was he to spend the rest of his life invisible? - but he saw no reason to say that to Abel right now.