Bad news and final goodbyes
One second, one second was all it took for Shadow Cat to lose complete control. In a blink of an eye he was standing in front of boss/ half brother lifting him up by his neck. "You touch her and I promise you nothing will stop me from ripping your head off" he growled. Shadow squeeze this throat tighter trying to send a message but upon seeing his half brother's face begin to turn purple he released dropping him on the ground harshly.
After what seemed like an hour of a coughing fit and fighting to catch his breath Michael spoke again. "You think it's just me? They know, they all do, every single one of our enemies. You really think that little stunt you pulled went unnoticed? You really think that they wouldn't find out you had left her alive? Your little graduation present was all they needed for confirmation that you loved her. Your mothers ring was a nice touch by the way.
They are coming Shadow, they are coming for us, for you, this is the war of all wars and now they have their weapon. They will use her to destroy us to destroy YOU!" Michael's words were like a bullet to the heart.
All Shadow Cat had ever wanted to do was protect Marie, he even left her so he could keep her away from danger but he had fucked up. He fucked up badly, and now she was in deeper danger than he could have ever imagined. He had to do something, he had to find her, to rescue her and take her away from here and it needed to be done now before it was too late. Snapping out of his thoughts Shadow began to run.
He ran all through the building bumping in to any of the other members of the gang that stood in the way. Finally Shadow reached the door, swinging it open in a hurry only to find himself coming face to face with his best friend.
AJ held a look filled with a mixture of worry, confusion, anger, pain and shame? Upon seeing this best friends face Shadow Cat filled with worry even more. Had something happened to Marie? Had he been too late? AJ promised to watch over her but then why was he here? "Shadow I have been looking everywhere for you. It's about Marie" AJ spoke nervously. "Where is she AJ, is she okay, what happened?" Shadow Cat grew impatient as his friend seemed to show a small amount of fear and struggle to find his words.
"AJ speak, tell me what happened now!" Shadow raised his voice as his worried raised also. "Yeah something happened but she looked fine um she told me to give you this first and let you read it yourself." AJ handed Shadow the letter along with the boxes. Being impatient Shadow Cat ripped the letter open first and began to read it.
"Dear Luke,
If you are reading this it's because I am done waiting. You are officially too late, but before we get that far let's start with a secret I had been hiding from you for months. I bet you are reading the letter before looking inside of the boxes right? Of course you are you were always a bit impatient. Well, stop right here for a sec and look inside the small rectangular box first."
Feeling hurt from the first sentence and confused Shadow did as it was written and stopped reading reaching for the rectangular box. As Shadow opened the box his eyes widened and he gasped loudly, the letter falling off his hands. His hand shook as he reached inside the box to pull out the small white and pink stick.
A pregnancy test! But not just a normal test one with the word pregnant on it. Of course, the visits to the doctor, it all makes sense now. Shadow's eyes began to water as he looked towards his best friend in shock but only saw as AJ lowered his head in shame not being able to look him in the eyes. Shadow remained silent and bent down to pick up the fallen letter to continue to read.
"Surprise! Didn't see that coming did you? Yeah I am expecting your child. I am officially 7 months 1 week and 3 days pregnant to be exact. Remember that night cat?
The night you revealed your identity to me, the night you asked me to officially be your princess forever, the night I promised myself to you and told you I'd be yours and only yours. Yeah, that night was special. It was the night we became one. The night I gave myself to you. Want to know my favorite part of that weekend cat? You probably don't but I'll tell you anyways. It was the night after, the moment I realized you lied. The moment you left me, you left us! I gave myself and my entire heart to you and you left me here to carry your child on my own.
You failed me, you left me to deal with the consequences of our so called love on my own. Without you! And you want to know what was the dumbest thing? Even then I waited, I waited and waited for you to come back to me. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and there I was still waiting for you to come back for me for you to show up and tell me you loved me but you never did. Instead the only thing I ever got from you was this. Please proceed to open the next box."
At this point Shadow could not hold back his tears and each of them landed on the letter before him. Once again Shadow stopped reading the letter and looked at what seemed as a familiar box. Before opening the box he looked up at AJ again and this time their eyes met. AJ saw the anger and pain in Shadow's eyes and his eyes watered also. Shadow inhaled deeply and clenched his jaw together in anger. Not anger towards AJ but towards himself how could he have been that stupid why didn't he come see her sooner.
Shadow then looked down at the box and opened it letting out a small sob as he looked down at the diamond engagement ring he had given her. AJ silently gasped at the sight. Not only had he ever seen his best friend cry before but he had never seen him so heart broken. He never expected Marie to return the ring and just end it all. Shadow ignored his best friend and closed the box holding it tightly before continuing to read the letter.
"Once again I ask are you surprised? Didn't see that coming either did you? Just in case if you don't understand what I am trying to say I will spell it out for you. WE ARE OVER! Like I said before I am done waiting for someone to show up when I know it will never happen. So I am returning your ring. You have no idea how many times I looked at it hoping you would show up and place it on my finger like you said you would. You have no idea how many night I cried myself to sleep because I worried that you were dead and you would never come back.
I believed you Cat I believed your every word, I believed that you really did love me, I believed you when you said we could go to America and start a future together but you lied. I know now I was a fool to believe you and I was a fool to wait for you. It turns out that a person can get tired of waiting, and most importantly we hate being played like a piece in a chess game. So I am officially done. You once said that you did all this for my happiness, well now I am doing this for yours.
I am giving you freedom. Now you no longer have to pretend to care, pretend you want to change, and most importantly you no longer have to pretend to love me. Now you are free to be whatever you want. You are free to be yourself, A Criminal! In fact, you should be proud, you were after all the criminal who stole my heart. Keep your promise and stay away because neither I nor MY baby need you. GOODBYE FOREVER CAT."
No longer your princess
Marie
Shadow falls on his knees sobbing "No, no, no why princess, please tell me this is not real" shadows looked up at AJ but once again AJ couldn't keep eye contact. This only upset Shadow even more, getting back up on his feet Shadow grabbed on to AJ's sweater and pulled him up in the air. "Did you know? Did you know she was pregnant with my child? Why would you hide this from me?" He yelled in rage. AJ shook his head in fear.
"No I swear, I only just found out today, she had hidden it so well." "What else? Is there something else happening? Is she, is she safe?" Shadow questioned AJ. "Well there is one more thing" "What? What is it AJ talk!" "She said she had a date tonight, which I found odd because we had spoke often and never once did she mention anyone else" AJ responded nervously.
Shadow shut his eyes tightly trying to calm down. He then let go of AJ and rubbed his face in frustration. "Let's go, I have to find her" Shadow spoke angrily making AJ nervous. "Shadow she doesn't-" "Shut up AJ I said let's go, I might be too late to come back for her but I still have time to save her life." Shadow then ran towards AJ's car with AJ running after him. "What do you mean save her life?" Both men got in the car as AJ drove off.
"Marie is in danger. The Kyojin know and they are coming for her."