Neither of Us Will Be Missed

[KamiKaze]

"SHUT UUUUP!"

Mary pulled harder.

[Applesintime]

Anthony pulled even harder.

Rip.

The De Lisle was in his hands now, the tattered and ripped remnants of the sling sliding out from the little hooks he had put it in. But that wasn't his main objective - well, maybe it was, a little. Trying to shoot with it again would only take too long.

Mustering up all his strength, all that rage, Anthony directed it into throwing the gun at Mary's face as hard as he physically could.

[KamiKaze]

Mary stopped screaming when the gun hit her face.

That monster.

He was taunting her with Leah's name just to distract her. She only just now realized.

She lunged for the gun again.

[Applesintime]

In one smooth motion, Anthony's right hand pulled out the flintlock, pressing it against Mary's stomach, and pulled the trigger.

What felt like an eternity of silence and anticipation followed. Had he loaded it right? Had he fucked up somehow while firing it? Did the gun get jostled too much during the expl-

There was a pop, grey smoke filled the air, and Anthony's heart soared.

[KamiKaze]

Mary let go and fell on top of Anthony.

[Applesintime]

Anthony pushed her off of him, tossing the flintlock on top of her. It had served its purpose, and it would take far too long to load it whenever he could just ensure he didn't fucking lose his gun in the first place. Pulling the bolt of the De Lisle back and loading a new cartridge, Anthony stared down at her, wondering if he should just put a bullet in her head and move on. But he could already see the blood pooling. The ball he had put in the flintlock had been pretty big. All he would do is waste a bullet. She'd bleed to death. Or, Anthony wondered, looking at the slowly expanding inferno, would she burn first?

Was this what Lot's wife saw looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah before the angels turned her to salt? A blazing inferno, God's wrath cast down on the Earth?

"Was it worth it? Leaving her to be murdered by a maniac so you could live?" There wasn't any taunting, any hatred in Anthony's voice this time.

[KamiKaze]

Mary felt him push her to the side. She curled up, clutching her stomach. She felt tears pushing out of her eyes again.

She remembered staring down into the dark depths after running away from the pool and burying Leo at sea. The memory made her tremble.

"She... wanted it. Asked S-Y to do it, so S-Y... I... couldn't convince her otherwise... so..."

When you're in those deep dark depths, it's hard to get pulled out of them. Mary knew from experience. She remembers begging Leah not to go through with it, only to run away. It wasn't a cold-blooded murder, it was...

No.

"You're disgusting. You know that? Probably the most disgusting..."

She trailed off.

But she knew what she wanted to say. Anthony was probably the most appalling person she'd met. Not only was he doing what he had been doing, but he dared taunt her over the fact Leah chose death. He only gave her more reasons to hate him.

[Applesintime]

"You could have killed her, you know. Seo-yun. I may have been a mad bastard, but even I wouldn't have faulted you for taking out the deadliest killer. You could have saved their lives. Her life. Matias and Gabriella's lives. But you didn't. You ran away like a coward." Anthony spat that last word. Maybe he should have gunned them both down there. Taken one away from Seo-yun. Mary was going to die to him no matter what happened, but if Seo-yun was missing one kill things could have been so different.

It didn't matter now, though. Mary was a dead person pretending she was still alive. It was time to change that.

He could leave her to bleed to death, but she didn't deserve such a kind fate. He could only wonder how hot it was burning inside the pit. It seemed only fair to give her a taste of her eternal punishment. Giving her a boot in the head to stun her, Anthony started to half kick, half roll her towards the burning pit.

[KamiKaze]

She felt him kick her. She felt things around her get hotter. Hotter than anything she was familiar with back home. She saw the bright, glaring orange out of the corner of her eye.

She wanted to retort. She wanted to skewer every argument. She wanted to tell him that not everyone was some weirdo fundie like him. She wanted to tell him that even watching that set something off inside her. That she spent some time staring into the ocean afterward, wondering what it’d be like to be pecked apart by the ocean life. That it hadn’t been the first time she thought that.

Instead, Mary squirmed and screamed.

She dug her nails into the flooring with one hand, attempting to get a grip so he couldn’t push her closer.

She tried grabbing at his ankle with the other, to stop him from kicking her closer, to drag him down instead, anything.

“STOP IT! YOU’RE... YOU’RE INSANE!”

[Applesintime]

To give some credit to Mary, she did try to resist. Grabbing his ankle, digging her nails into the floorboards. She didn't just lie there and die. But that didn't matter, because she was to die and Anthony was not. The heat and flames only grew more intense, sweat breaking out on Anthony's unburned parts of his face, but he kept going. When Mary tried to dig her nails in, Anthony stamped on her hand until he felt something break. When she grabbed his ankle, Anthony kicked her in the face until her body forced her to let go.

Eventually, they were near the very edge, and even then the pit only threatened to expand, floorboards crumbling and collapsing into the raging hell below. A part of Anthony's mind wondered where the sprinklers were; maybe the explosion had knocked them out, too. He could see little dribbles of water coming down from broken pipes in the ceiling above, the open sky above casting an ethereal moonlight on the scene below it.

"Burn."

With that, Anthony gave her one more kick, and watched as she fell over the edge to burn in Hell.

[KamiKaze]

There was another scream. Then a loud thud.

After that, the only response Anthony got was the sound of the flames licking at the edges of the hole.

((Mary Cheung continued in Valley of the Dolls))

[Applesintime]

And just like that, Mary descended into the pits of Hell to burn for all eternity. Anthony couldn't particularly say that he was sorry to see her go-

Bullets whizzed by him, just barely missing, and Anthony stumbled backwards, watching the area he had been standing on collapse into the floor. This place was going to go up fast, and then what would happen to the cruise ship? Would they move out to the other boats? Could he say goodbye to Beau one last time? But someone had just shot at him - something automatic, by the sounds of it, and there were only a few people who had automatic weapons here.

All of them had murdered her.

Pulling his shirt off, dousing it in water, and wrapping it around his face to protect him from the smoke, Anthony stormed off, De Lisle in hands, to enact vengance.

((Anthony Golden continued in This Confession Has Meant Nothing))