[seven]

Adri had encountered many near death experiences in her lifetime.

The worst ones were inflicted by her own father but nothing felt more painful than staring at Coren's fingers, battling from pulling the trigger. She tried to smile, to reassure him that she was fine, but it turned into a winced, the arseholes had punched her when she tried to jump out the window before. The cheeks of her face was starting to ache and the arm around her neck was beginning to feel almost like a strangle.

"Police?" His hand tightened around her neck, nearly choking her.

"Yes," Elijah replied excitedly almost giddy, it felt like he hadn't realised the severity of the situation, "can't you hear them?"

He even had the audacity to throw his gun to the side, walk around the two and wave animatedly at the window. It was as if the scene before him was just a bit of light entertainment and the real show was just arriving, from the sounds of it they seemed to be dangerously closer. Adri gaze followed him with mild amusement while the gunman questioned his sanity, he raised an eyebrow at Coren who looked equally as confused.

"Don't you want to see the pretty lights?"

Elijah twirled back around and pouted when he noticed that the gunman paid not even the slightest bit of attention to him but he raised an eyebrow when he saw Indiana's fingers twitching at the trigger. She had originally planned for them to sneak out during the police raid but Elijah had really gone off script, now all she wanted to do was shoot him. The fact that he gave her a thumbs up followed by a wink, didn't help either.

"Listen," the gunman began, completely ignoring Elijah.

"No," Indiana cut in, growing exhausted by how long they day had been and frustrated at how Elijah was acting, "you listen."

His stare which was on Coren, met hers with a mixture of surprise and temptation to shoot, he wondered as to whether they all wanted to get killed.

"I'm tired," Indiana cracked her neck as she took one step forward, she shrugged off Celeste's hand which was trying to pull her back, "I'm really tired."

Half-heartedly, she raised her gun and took another step with the reasoning of if he wanted to shoot them, Elijah would have been the first one dead but he seemed to be busy waving frantically at the window, even sticking his hands out. With a sigh, she took another step closer, the gunman's eyes widened by a slight fraction but he quickly composed himself and pushed his gun deeper into Adri's temples.

"It's been a long day," the sirens could be heard clearer now and Elijah couldn't resist jumping up and down like a kid on Christmas, "and I don't even know how I ended up here," the gunman tilted his head to the side with a confused expression.

Indiana was sure he didn't understand her but she didn't care.

"I don't even know how I'm going to get home," she continued with a tired sigh, not noticing how the gunman looked over to Coren who just shrugged in response, "but I'm tired and hungry so just do us a favour," she closed her eyes growing even more irritated seeing Elijah still wave out at window, "and just let her go because I'm close to killing someone."

After Indiana's outburst, three things happened; Elijah had stopped waving, Celeste had grown impatient so she had decided to take the risk, shooting the gunman's leg and Coren was quick to grab the man's hand so the shot fired, hit the ceiling.

"Run!"

Indiana wasn't too sure who had said that, but her body started to work by itself as if some part of her mind had turned on airplane mood, she grabbed Adri, and ran out the room. Elijah jumped over the man, who was bleeding out, and held onto Indiana's sleeve as they sprinted down the corridor.

"Nice work," Adri patted Indiana and Elijah's shoulders before she ran ahead of them, taking Coren's hand, they shared a small smile before heading into room at the end of the corridor.

Elijah smirked at Indiana who just rolled her eyes and tugged her arm, trying to get him off her but he just grabbed onto her hand instead. She couldn't help but notice how crystals on his wedding band still shinned, despite the bad lighting, majority of the bulbs were either broken or flickering.

It bugged her.

"Hurry up," Celeste yelled down the corridor by the doorway of where the other two went in.

Indiana ripped her hands away from him while he raised both of his hands as if he had been caught by the police with a slight chuckle. She ignored him and ran the rest of the way, making it just in time to watch Coren jumped out the window, quickly followed by Adri.

"No way," Indiana took a step back, falling into Elijah who grabbed her shoulders to steady her, "no."

"Get caught then," Celeste was the next one to jump out, she made it look easy.

Elijah ran past Indiana and grabbed onto the window frame with excitement, it reminded him of the jump back at the hospital but that time he broke his ankle. He leaned out and watched Celeste roll onto another roof, a few meters away. This fall seemed easier, he quickly lifted himself up on the windowsill and was just about to jump out but stopped short with a sigh.

"Hey," he called out softly while turning his head slightly to the side, "you alright?"

Indiana had been nervously walking from one side of the room to the other, it bother her how the walls seemed to be closing in. It was suffocating. The police sirens outside didn't seem to help either. As she started to bite her fingernail, Elijah sat himself on the windowsill and watched her with amusement, she looked cute.

"Indie," she ignored him and bit onto her next nail while walking back to the other wall, "Indiana?"

Elijah leaned his head back and started to grin but it wavered when his gaze followed the park police cars, just outside. Sighing, he jumped off the windowsill, it took him only three strides before he could grab her arms and turn her around to face him. She stared up at him and stopped mid bite from her pinkie nail. He lightly tugged her hand down and nodded to the window, she tiptoed and the any colour she had left, drained from her face.

"Crap," she muttered while trying to shrug his hands off her but he just shook her head, "get off me."

"We need to get out," the calmness of how he spoke paired with the crazed smile on his face didn't encourage her to leave with him.

"Get off me."

She managed to untangle her hand from his and let it fall to her side but was caught by surprised when she missed the warms of his hands. Biting back the feeling, she tried to move around him but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back to face him again. The gap between them was closer than before and that when Indiana was struck again by those grey flecks mixed in with his pale blue eyes. It reminded her of winter, with the windows all closed, curtain drawn as if there wasn't any living soul in there, like it was empty.

It made her feel anxious.

Elijah, as if sensing her discomfort, slowly lifted his hands away from her arms, living a featherlike trail, and cupped her face. She wanted to pull away, she should have pulled away but the warmth of his hands urged her to stay. Even the flashes from the police lights across his face, didn't bother her as much as they did before or their flickering shadows surrounding them.

"We've got to go," he whispered but made no move to leave, "let's go."

Indiana leaned back on her the picnic bench and started to play with the cap of the beer can. She couldn't remember what number she was one, but she new it was enough to make her feel uneasy.

"Look," Elijah pointed at the ferry that had just stopped at a close by dock, the men were unloading what looked to be beer grates, "ever think about where they go after?"

She never thought about it.

Their town was close to the loading port, ferries like that came and went every day, everyone was used to it. Perhaps it was the alcohol or the cold summer night breeze or the fact that she was starting to enjoy his company but instead of answering honestly, she nodded in reply. The instant grinned from him, made her feel giddy.

"Let's go find out."

Elijah jumped away from her, startled from the sudden gunshots out in the corridor.

Before Indiana could begin to blush, he grabbed onto her arm and dragged her to the window. She wasn't surprised when she couldn't see the other three, they must have grown tired of waiting for them and left.

"I'll go first," she silently watched him climb onto the windowsill but when he turned to look at her, they were eyelevel, "follow my lead."

The was a moment of hesitation but it was quickly squashed when he took a deep breath and jumped out the window.

Indiana could only stare as he landed onto the other roof and started to roll onto his back but her palms began to sweat when she couldn't see him move. She leaned out the window and squinted to see if there was even the slightest bit of movement, nothing. For a brief second, she closed her eyes, let out a frustrated sigh and questioned why she even listened to him.

"Great," she muttered sarcastically as she eased herself up on the windowsill.

The distance between wasn't that great, her aunt would have literally jumped at the chance to do this but she wasn't her aunt Maggie, she was Indiana. Just yesterday she had the simple plans of making her aunt happy, volunteering at the hospital but now, now she was about to make the stupidest decision. Biting back her fear, she held onto the windowpane and crouched, just like how Elijah had done, ready to jump.

"You!"

The gunman fired a bullet behind her but before she knew what was happening, she jumped.

Technically, she panicked and fell.

For a few seconds, she felt that familiar feeling of when she first rode her bike with her aunt. The fear mixed in with excitement, the weightlessness but she knew the crash would be fast worst. That was until, Elijah ran up and caught her hand.

She looked up at him, suspended from the side roof, he grinned.

"You did it," he muttered while pulling her up, narrowing missing a bullet, she fell on top of him.

Elijah instinctively wrapped his arms around her while she buried herself in the crook of his neck, his scent smelt oddly familiarly. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the drunken memories that were forcing its way afloat but when he held her tighter, she was fighting to breathe again. He kept them rolling, missing the stray bullets, until they were well out of reach.

"Hey," he whispered when they stopped, he conveniently made sure that he was on top.

"You're a liar," Indiana tried to push him off her, it was becoming suffocating but he just gave her an inch of space.

"How?"

"I thought you were dead."

"So, you came running for me," he grinned down at her, "or should I say you jump?"

There it was again, those damn grey specks caught her off guard, it twinkled under the moonlights while bullets flew above them.

If she squinted her eyes, they almost look like shooting stars.

"Get off," she pushed him again but this time, he rolled onto his back beside her.

They lied beside each other, Indiana was trying to control her nerves while Elijah tucked his arm behind his head and admired the flying bullets, they really did look like shooting stars.

"Why'd you come back?" He asked quietly, not looking away from the sky.

"What?"

"At the bar."

Indiana thought back to it, there was a great opportunity for her to run away but she didn't and she doesn't exactly know why. Perhaps it was the odds of her surviving alone wasn't great, that it was better they stuck together despite the fact he irritated her to death.

"Why were they after you?" She asked instead.

He sighed but didn't reply.

"Finally," Celeste hissed, startling Indiana upright, she was crouched a few feet away from them along with Adri and Coren.

"You waited," Elijah's perked himself up on his elbow while his hands rested on his chest, "that's cute."

Celeste rolled her eyes but if it wasn't so dark, everyone would have noticed the bright shade of scarlet creeping in. She coughed awkwardly and nudged Coren, who just sent Elijah a smile and nodded but quickly pulled his focus back to Adri, she didn't look so great.  One hand held onto his shoulder support while the other rubbed her ankle, Indiana noticed how it had turned to a worrying shade of purple.

"You okay?"

Adri nodded but it seemed forced.

Indiana made a mental note to check her ankle when they got back, she was pretty sure that it needed to be iced. It looked similar to when a girl had kicked her knee during a basketball matched. Her aunt had gone crazy in the game, managing to get her banned from attending any other matches but she still sneaked in. The reminder of her aunt hit her chest, she missed her. Her aunt had probably called the police, the second she found out Indiana was gone and was now panic eating ice cream while watching 24 hours in A&E.

She was probably crying at the bit about childbirth and eating pistachio flavoured ice cream while checking her phone every five minutes for updates

"We need to get going," Celeste nodded to the gun man, who was still shooting from the window but only stopped to reload.

Elijah jumped, dusting imaginary dirt from his trousers and walked over to the edge of the roof, the next building was slightly further and higher than theirs but he was pretty sure he could manage it. He had jumped from further back in the hospital. The thing that bothered him was that the only thing cushioning his fall was either the rows of cars or concrete.

"We aren't jumping, are we?" Indiana quietly asked as she got up, her gaze followed Elijah as he leaned over the edge, to inspect it further.

"No," Celeste shook her head and nodded to Adri, "she won't make it."

Indiana bit back her smile of relief, she knew the next jump would likely end up with a broken neck or some other fatal casualty. Elijah turned around with crossed arms and a slight pout, she rolled her eyes and walked over to help Adri up.

"How are we getting down?" Elijah asked, eyeing the gunman who resumed shooting at them, he cracked a smile and waved. The police were now on the first floor, making their way up to the second, they really needed to get out of here before they got noticed.

"The stairs," Celeste pointed at a door a few meters away from them, Indiana had only just noticed it.

Coren led the way, managing to kick the door down because it was locked, Indiana had offered to pick it but Coren insisted. There was a brief disagreement over taking the elevator, Elijah had preferred it but Indiana argued that the cameras would catch them, the stairs were safer, she won. Adri had made it two flights down before caving and going on Coren's shoulders, and he carried her down the rest of the way. Celeste had been locking and unlocking the safety key of her gun, it made Indiana anxious but she knew better then to tell her to cut it out.

"Why'd they kidnap Adri?" Elijah asked, catching up to Coren's long strides as they walked down the alleyway, Celeste suggested to take this route to avoid the police cars.

"Because of what happened at the bar" Coren started while shifting Adri back onto his shoulders, she had dozed off, "they thought we called the police."

"Why would they think that?" Indiana wondered, reaching out to adjust Adri's head back onto his back, Coren shot her a thankful smile.

"They are our, what would you say," he bit his lip, trying to find the right word, "business rivals?"

"Oh," Indiana replied the same time Elijah said, "cool."

"The police probably got wind of their drug business going on," Celeste added casually while checking the bullets in her gun.

"Drug business?" Elijah asked, a little too excitedly, "do you guys run a drugs cartel?"

"No," Coren chuckled but it turned into a strangled cough, he was still in pain from his own beating, "we steal stuff."

"How are you guys business rivals?" Indiana knew that crime was relatively bad but a drug cartel being compared to three individuals who steal stuff, seemed to be a bit of stretch.

"Maybe rival isn't the right word," Celeste mused with slight humour, "we are enemies?"

"Oh," Indiana nodded in reply, her eyes wondered to Elijah who had managed to grab the gun off Celeste and was now just looking at the bullets, "but you guys didn't call the police, did you?"

"I didn't," Coren denied and Celeste shook her head, Elijah had become a bit too fixated by the bullets in his palms.

"They must have followed us from the stations," Celeste seemed to be piecing a puzzle that Indiana had already partially completed, "no wonder it was so easy to get out."

"Maybe someone else called?" Elijah quickly offered, passing the gun and bullets back to Celeste, who just shrugged in response.

"Did any of them get caught in the bar raid?" Indiana asked Coren, who shook his head, "no."

Indiana's eyes wondered back to Elijah, she knew that they wanted him.

She just didn't know why, yet.

[candy by the rose]

footnote 110819:

are you french? bc eiffel for you... sorry, i couldn't resist it. sorry for the delayed update but give me some slack, it's eid? eid mubarak everyone! i pray that everyone had a great day (celebrating or not). i also hope you enjoyed this chapter

feedback is always welcome and appreciated