| Fan Fiction |
by x.shuang.dao.x
Ashley didn’t falter in her resolve despite being shocked from the gunshot. She pushed the knife into Kale’s stomach once, then pulled it out and stabbed his thigh. She withdrew the knife again and waited for him to fall to the ground.
But Kale wasn’t the only one who fell. Behind him, Owodog staggered backwards a few steps and then backed himself slowly into a wall so he could lean against it. Kale’s shot had hit him in his right foot, leaving him crippled, just like Kale was, except it was the other foot in his case. The only reason why he hadn’t been hobbling around was because he had tied his foot up tight, so tightly he couldn’t even feel the pain. All that plus the adrenaline rush he got from anticipating the kills, Kale hardly remembered that his foot was injured.
Ashley ran past Kale, straight to Owodog.
“Quan,” she whispered as she knelt down next to him.
“I’m fine,” he said, before she could ask.
It was her cue to turn to Kale, anger flashing in her eyes.
He was struggling to get back on his feet, and was clearly having more than just a bit of difficulty. Ashley would have smiled at how piteous he looked right then, if not for the fact that he was still alive and they were still pretty much in danger. Knife still in her hand, she walked towards Kale. He was wincing as he managed to prop himself up against the couch.
Ashley pointed the knife at his throat. “What do you get out of the things you do?” She asked. “Is it satisfaction? Some kind of perverse pleasure? Glory, perhaps?”
Kale did not speak.
Ashley slit the knife lightly across the loose and delicate skin on his throat. It drew blood, but was not deep enough to hurt him.
Owodog’s eyes widened. Whatever Ashley was doing, however much Kale Chou might deserve it, definitely wasn’t right. He would have to stop her.
“Have you ever thought how it must feel to have your head rammed into a hard, rough surface so many times you wish you could just die instead?”
‘Oh God,’ Owodog gasped inaudibly.
Ashley grabbed Kale’s head by his hair and slammed it into the coffee table. The sound was so loud that it resonated through the room.
“That’s for what you did to Yu.”
Owodog closed his eyes and sighed. Ashley shouldn’t be doing this. She should be calling Landon instead to get Kale arrested and dragged off to prison. He hobbled to his feet and grabbed Ashley’s hand, the one with the knife. Then he tugged it gently out of her grip as she stared at Kale so relentlessly he thought she was going to kill him with just her glare. “Ash, leave it.”
Kale was slumped over the coffee table; the impact had obviously left his head and grey matter in a dazed state.
Ashley ignored Owodog. She leaned forward, hauled Kale up by his collar and shoved him backwards into the couch. Then she sent a kick full of hatred right between his legs where it hurt most.
Kale yelped.
“That’s for shooting the man I love.”
Ashley looked as if she was going to deal another blow to Kale but Owodog held her back with all the strength he could while balancing on one foot and trying to ignore the bursts of pain shooting up from his right foot. “Ash,” he breathed softly next to her ear, feeling somewhat lightheaded from being referred to as the one she loved; yet at the same time feeling a need to stop Ashley from continuing acting on impulse again.
She relaxed a little, and Owodog’s grip on her slowly loosened. She waited till she was sure he thought she wasn’t going to try anything again, then she shrugged out of his hold and went for Kale’s left foot. Ashley literally jumped on it.
“And that’s for my Monkey!” She spat and suddenly felt as if her world was crashing down on her. She staggered backwards into Owodog and felt the threat of tears, but it wasn’t like she was going to give in. Owodog wasn’t stopping her anymore, only because he didn’t feel that there was much point; and Ashley was just about to snarl at Kale again, when too late she remembered about the gun he had used just a while ago.
It still lay within Kale’s reach.
Another gunshot rang out in the air and blood splattered all over her back, drenching her clothes in red. Ashley didn’t have time to scream; she wrenched the gun from Kale and turned it against himself.
Kale chuckled weakly. “You wouldn’t kill me. You wouldn’t want a death on your hands if you could avoid it,” he said, “It’s a pity though.”
“What is?” Ashley hissed through clenched teeth.
“That you can’t have all the people you love just because I can’t have you,” Kale stated simply, a smirk revealing itself on the face contorted with pain and pride, “That you condemned so many innocent people unrelated to you because you were running away, that you were the one who brought this upon yourself, and everyone else.”
Ashley fought to not let her expressions betray her.
“You might have won this fight, but you’ve lost everyone else. I am the real winner.” Kale whispered sinisterly.
Ashley pulled the trigger.
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“I can walk on my own,” Owodog insisted.
“No, you can’t,” Ashley retorted.
His arm was slung around her shoulders, and she was holding him by his waist as he hobbled along. Kale’s second shot had hit him somewhere in the ribs, but Owodog reckoned it wasn’t a big deal because he was still alive. The initial ripple of pain had shocked him into unconsciousness for a short while, but he had regained his senses soon enough.
Then Ashley had begun hauling him out of Kale’s underground hideout, due to the fact that there wasn’t any communication device that could be used to contact Landon and the rest, which meant that it was almost impossible to wait for rescue. She had been silent most of the time while they were escaping from that hellhole, and Owodog couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten to her.
“Ash?”
She didn’t reply, and Owodog decided not to prod.
They managed to walk all the way to the outskirts of the forest, and waved to a random stranger for help.
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“ARE THE BOTH OF YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MINDS?” Matt yelled. He didn’t care that Owodog was injured and lying in a hospital bed. Neither did he care that he was in a hospital, albeit Owodog’s ward was a private one.
“Sorry, sir,” Owodog and Ashley muttered at the same time.
But Owodog thought Matt could at least be a bit more appreciative.
They had found Kale severely injured, but alive. He was recovering in a ward heavily guarded by police officers, and his trial would be held in about a week’s time or so. Owodog would be there even if he had to crawl there.
Ashley had escaped largely unscathed, except for bruises and cuts here and there. It was a welcome change for her from the last time they were in a death match – the Sarah case – where she swore she would rather be dead than suffer from the pain of being stabbed by stilettos. None of their cases ever came down to such precarious situations; they mostly ended with the criminals being caught by other officers while they watched from the sidelines and gave each other high-fives for their good job done in finding enough evidence to apprehend the then-suspect.
Matt rubbed his temples and sighed. “Well, I guess, since the both of you are alive, and so is Kale Chou… I’ll just leave you guys to yourselves.” He turned around to leave, but before any of them could say anything, he continued, “I want a VERY DETAILED report on this, or the two of you are going to get it when you return. Ah, I need a really strong coffee now to plan what the fuck I’m going to tell the Boss.” He had mumbled the last line to himself, but Owodog and Ashley heard him.
The door swung close with a click.
Ashley sat on a chair next to Owodog’s bed and held his hand.
“I’m sorry.” She avoided his gaze.
Owodog seemed puzzled. “Wha… Why?” He almost retorted with a “what?!” but settled for a soft “why?” instead.
“He was right, you know. If it wasn’t for me, nothing would have happened to the three of you.”
“He was just trying to mess you up by saying all that! Plus, you couldn’t help it that he chose you, of all people, right?” He squeezed her hand tightly, trying to reassure her that the consequences were hardly her fault.
Ashley would have shot him back with a dozen witty retorts, but she felt too tired for it. So she simply sighed and laid her head down beside his chest and pulled his hand to cover her face. He stroked her cheek absent-mindedly, knowing very well that Ashley’s great sense of responsibility wasn’t likely to give way at all.
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A couple of days later, Owodog had felt well enough to get out of bed. The first thing he wanted to do was to visit Fabien, whom he had heard had gained consciousness that very morning. So he made Ashley push him to Fabien’s room in a wheelchair.
The two men would have leapt at each other in a tight embrace if given a choice, but Fabien didn’t really feel like he had enough strength to jump up, and Owodog wasn’t sure if Ashley would allow him to leave his wheelchair. So they settled for a tighter-than-normal squeeze of each other’s hands.
“Yu,” Owodog smiled.
“Quan,” Fabien replied, then grinned, noting that both of them were acting like long-lost lovers instead of best buds. Then his gaze slowly shifted to the female form hovering above Owodog. He gasped. “You’re the girl in the weird dreams I have,” he started slowly, then raised his brows a little, “Am I supposed to know you?”
Owodog’s breath caught in his throat. He snapped his head up to look at Ashley.
She merely smiled and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, her gaze not leaving Fabien yet. She finally blinked and looked away, saying, “I suppose I should leave you two brothers to catch up with each other. I’ll… be outside.” Then Ashley walked out of the room with a pace too fast.
At that moment, Owodog could only manage a wan smile at Fabien.
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In another few days, Kale had pleaded guilty to everything he was charged with, and even confessed to a few more crimes. He figured there was no escape for him anymore. There was only one route left for him and it led to death. But at least he knew he would die somewhat happy.
Detective Ashley Wu was the one who had launched him into his path of never-ending mistakes. And he had managed to get back at her sufficiently. He had managed to ruin her life. Detective Owodog Zhuang might be still alive, but the guilt of what she had caused to Richard Xie and Fabien Yang would be enough to weigh her down.
He accepted his sentence with a smirk on his face.
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And Owodog and Ashley’s lives had resumed. She didn’t seem so caught up with her remorse anymore and Owodog hoped it would stay that way. Fabien still hadn’t remembered anything about Ashley, but Owodog didn’t mind. All he wanted was his best friend alive, and Ashley supposed she was happy enough that he was alive too.
Their first day back at work passed by almost uneventfully as they were both still working on their reports. They had an inexplicable urge to jump each other’s bones the whole day whenever their eyes met, and Owodog grimaced each time as he thought about the past few days. Ashley had refused him outright each time because she had insisted that they should wait till his injuries had fully recovered.
Owodog reckoned he needed some kind of reward for all the ridiculous shots and pain he had to endure during their final face-off with Kale.
Ashley obviously hadn’t felt the same.
She finished her report the next day and sent it to Matt. Owodog was still working on his because he was apparently a lot more distracted than she was. Add that to the fact that Owodog kept thinking about their impending separation and he was quite screwed for his report. Partners weren’t allowed to have any more than work relationship or friendship between them. Now that they had something more, Matt was bound to split them apart.
Ashley would have waited till most of his wounds had recovered more, but it wasn’t like she had all the time in her life.
Owodog decided to stay in the office after office hours because he knew that doing his report at home would only result in a total of zero words typed. He had told Ashley to leave first, and when he spotted her empty desk he supposed she had done exactly that. Feeling more focused on his task, he typed furiously. He didn’t intend to stay there the whole night.
When he reached home that night, he was in for a big surprise. There were more than just a few candles lit around the living room, sending wafts of the scent of rose to his tickled nostrils. He locked the door behind him and walked towards the couch. Ashley was nowhere in sight, but her bloody cat Sam was. He was sitting like a king in the middle of the couch, looking proud.
“My, my, Sam,” Owodog said, “I never knew you were into such romantic stuff. Gay, much?”
He earned himself an unlit candle at his head for that statement and would have cursed if not for that fact that Ashley had appeared from behind him and pushed him down to the couch, sending Sam flying away into the floor.
“Sam.” Ashley said.
Sam gave a disgruntled meow and stalked off to the balcony where his little cat house was.
“Um…” Owodog started.
“Shut up,” Ashley said as she wrapped her hands around his head and sucked at his lips.
Owodog surrendered with a sigh. He manoeuvred his position until he was sprawled out length-wise on the sofa. Ashley was crouching over him with her legs spread so her knees were taking most of her weight. He took care of that by moving his leg outwards so it caught hers and caused her to lose her balance and lay fully on him.
He looked at her face for a moment in the dim light, and was about to caress her fine features when she assaulted his mouth again. His hands gripped her butt firmly, pushing her to himself so she could feel his hardness prodding her through the layers of clothing that separated them.
She pulled out of his devouring mouth and lapped kisses from his jaw to his neck, all the while unbuttoning his shirt, then slowly planted kisses and licks past his chest right down to his navel. At this time, Owodog was starting to tug at Ashley’s blouse, but she stopped him, and it wasn’t like he was going to retaliate. She ran her hands over the bandage that covered the wound above his stomach, then glanced briefly at his face before she resumed her kneeling position as she unzipped his jeans. She was still crouched over him and blowing warm breaths onto his stomach when his boxers were pulled halfway down his legs just like his jeans.
Owodog thought he would explode when she blew lightly on the tip of his erection, sending spasms of pleasure hurtling through his body. He knew he was going to hit the roof before he even had a chance to peel off her clothes. But he wasn’t complaining. At least, he wasn’t going to complain yet. The sight of her bent over his lower throbbing head and then taking him into her mouth was too much for him to bear.
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Owodog roused in his own bed in the morning, feeling a grin split his face as he remembered the events of the past night, including the numerous times Ashley had declared her love for him. She had given him a fucking mind-blowing blowjob and then they had made love a couple of times through the night.
He was surprised, however, to find that there wasn’t a dead weight lying on his chest and no brown curls with blonde streaks tickling him. Stretching, he got out of bed. She wasn’t in the bathroom either.
“Ash?” He called as he left his room, not bothering to pull on any clothes.
The only reply was Sam strutting into sight and meowing at him. He didn’t know why but he picked the cat up and cuddled him in his chest while he walked around his house.
Then his heart grew cold and he almost dropped Sam when he saw a white envelope lying innocently in the middle of his couch. ‘Puppy’ was scrawled on it in a slightly cursive script. A sunflower lay bright and cheerful beside it.
Setting Sam down on the couch, he picked the envelope up and opened it.
‘Quan,
I’m going to look for Monkey, whatever it’s going to take. Even if he can’t hear my apologies anymore, I would make sure I bring whatever’s left of him back where he belongs. I’m sorry. To you, to him, and to Yu. I know nothing can change what has happened anymore. And I just want you to know that I did love you, and I still do. That’s why it’s probably best if you carry on your life without me. Tell Yu for me that I’m sorry. The two of you deserve a lot better. Sam is in your care now, I know you can do a better job of taking care of him than I could ever do.
Take care, and love always,
Ash.’
The letter fluttered to the ground.
She was gone.
And so was his heart.
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->shuang.dao (to be known as P.Catt soon ^^)
I'm sorry there wasn't any fluffy ending. I wanted one but decided against it. (Plus I need to leave an opening for ACA3, if I ever have one. Haha.)
I hope you guys have enjoyed ACA2 and thanks very much for the support! I would list all my commentors in a long thank you note, but being me, well, I'm kinda lazy haha.
So... THANK Y'ALL! :D
'Til we meet again. ^^ (Fiction updates on my blog at woaiweier.blogspot.com :D)