#recon-sniper

[layla-the-courier]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope you’re all doing well!!

Somewhere in a bunker Layla came across a Persona 4 Arena manual and found some very easy closet costumes out the situation.

Layla as Mitsuru Kirijo

Isfet as Akihiko Sanada

Boone as Jack Frost

[layla-granville]

Reunion

"If he's not here, they'll know where he's hanging out," Layla said as she and Boone neared the doors of Camp Golf.  She'd been delayed, but it was time to find her brother. 

"I'm surprised Chief Hanlon didn't send word, but then again I've got a bad feeling he's been helping Tony more than me.  Freaking rangers..." She shook her head.  "I just hope we find him before he punches someone else.  Poor Isfet."

[layla-granville]

After Party

It was funny.

Awful funny.

How everyone disappeared when it was time to do the dishes.

Sure, almost everyone had other places to go.  Other families besides their little group.  Layla knew that.  But she also knew they could have waited a few damn minutes before they wandered off.

Oh well.  She continued attempting to scrub the burned on spot on her big pot.

[yournewbestfiend1]

It had been... what, months? Maybe longer than just months. Isfet didn't take much stock in keeping track of time, but he knew it had been a while since he'd ventured too far from South Vegas. But it was time.

There was a bit of hesitation, a bit of procrastination, but there came a certain point where a man was having trouble getting ahold of water and decent food and he'd just have to wander off and find a good supply. And the hesitation wasn't entirely unjustified, considering the last time he'd traveled as far as the Grub N Gulp, he and the courier had been abducted by legionaries.

...Yeah. That wasn't a situation he was going to think too hard on. 

But regardless of the less-than-pleasant associations, he also trusted the food there. And the water. And with a scarf across his face and goggles down over his eyes, he was pleased to see that the two workers there, Lupe and Fitz he remembered now, didn't seem to recognize him.

They did, however, seem to be carrying more weapons, keeping them nearby as they did their cooking.

Isfet wasn't particularly keen on the idea of paying for his food before he'd received it, but apparently those were the rules, and he sat in rather awkward, fidgety silence as he watched the squirrel bits he'd purchased being seared over a grill. Lupe and Fitz seemed to be occupied enough bickering about one thing or another, and he was content to just let that sound drown out.

[layla-granville]

Perchance to Dream

No one could hear her.  They couldn't just be ignoring her as she screamed and begged them to stop and help her. The crowds that walked by her as she slowly died on a telephone pole didn't even look up as they passed. 

She hadn't been able to recognize the people who'd passed her; sometimes she couldn't make out any features, sometimes they were grotesque and frightening.  But the most upsetting was when it was normal people who just didn't look up.  Like the idea of her up there was so regular it wasn't worth lifting their heads.  Like she was supposed to be there.

But she didn't want this, she wasn't supposed to be here, she wasn't she wasn't she couldn't be-

Layla sat up with a ragged cry.  For a frantic moment, she flailed in her tangled covers until she'd freed her arms.  Panting, she looked down at her wrists; they were bandaged still.  She wasn't on a cross, she hadn't been for a while.

A small whimper squeezed her chest as the courier remembered her dream; when she was awake, she'd been able to ignore the ugly thoughts that loomed in the back of her head.  When she slept, she was trapped again, hopeless and frightened.

But it was okay, she was okay.  Layla reached over to the other side of the bed for Boone, only to find he wasn't there.

There was a burst of fear at that; where was he?  Was he okay?  He was supposed to be here.  Did he leave her?  Would he be back?  Was she alone?  Layla wrapped her hands around herself and started trembling.

[layla-granville]

Layla's relationship songlist (WIP)

I thought I'd put these here.  The list is small and likely to grow with time, but these are the only ones I've found appropriate songs for at the moment:

Layla x Boone:

I Remember by Kaskade & Deadmau5

Feeling the past moving in Letting a new day begin Hold to the time that you know You don't have to move on to let go Add to the memory you keep Remember when you fall asleep Hold to the love that you know You don't have to give up to let go Remember turning on the night And moving through the morning light Remember how it was with you Remember how you pulled me through I remember

  Layla + Isfet:

Watercolour by Pendulum (sorry Toasty)

When I'm falling down Will you pick me up again? When I'm too far gone Dead in the eyes of my friends

Will you take me out of here when I'm staring down the barrel When I'm blinded by the lights, when I cannot see your face?

Take me out of here

  Layla + Gautier:

Lament (from Into the Woods) by Stephen Sondheim

This is the world I meant. Couldn't you listen? Couldn't you stay content, Safe behind walls, As I Could not? Now you know what's out there in the world. No one can prepare you for the world, Even I. How could I, who loved you as you were? How could I have shielded you from her Or them...

  Layla + ED-E:

Electric Eye by Judas Priest

Up here in space I'm looking down on you. My lasers trace Everything you do.

You think you've private lives Think nothing of the kind. There is no true escape I'm watching all the time.

I'm made of metal My circuits gleam. I am perpetual I keep the country clean.

[layla-granville]

♡

What?  Oh fine.  You perv.

[layla-granville]

An Alternate Ending

((Another way things could have gone))

Her teeth had clacked together again.  What was she doing?  Boone was obviously hurt badly; she needed to get to him.  Which meant getting through the Fiend first.

She popped out of cover and shot a round of fire in the direction his voice came from.  Ducking back down, she waited to hear Isfet yell something back or to fire.  She poked her head around the vat and looked around for the Fiend as silence stretched out longer than it should have.

He was on the ground, not moving.

Layla sprang up from her cover and ran up to the man, not stopping to think that he could be playing dead just to get her closer.  Once she got close enough, it became clear he wasn’t feigning an injury. 

She’d shot him clear through the chest. 

Isfet was laying on his side; Layla reached down to turn him over.  His eyes had been closed until his back hit the ground.  Bloodshot, tear-filled eyes looked up at her.  There was blood everywhere.  Too much; what had she done? 

The Fiend opened his mouth, but no noise came out.  Layla reached for him, she had to comfort him she had to …

By the time she’d put her hands on his shoulders, Isfet’s body had stilled.  The huge wound in his chest wasn’t leaking blood like it had been. He wasn’t breathing. 

He was dead.

Layla had killed him. 

She stared at him for a moment, thinking he’d blink or breathe… but he didn’t.  Her hands were still on his shoulders; she moved one hand over to close his eyes, but she couldn’t do it.  That would mean he was dead … he couldn’t be.  She hadn’t really done this.

She took a sudden, hard gulp of air; Layla hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath.  With the sudden intake of oxygen, the cloud of shock and denial had disappeared. 

She put her arms around his neck and screamed.

                                                 *.*.*

Boone managed to get himself down the stairs, and found Layla with the dead Fiend. 

The sniper frowned deeply; he’d wanted to kill the man to spare Layla from having to do it.  She had been friends with the Fiend; this would haunt her.  He didn’t want her to have to live with that kind of pain.  He knew it too well to want her to have it 

When the courier wailed in anguish, Boone looked around the factory.  There weren’t any other rusted ladders or broken pieces of machinery ready to fall; no other dangers he could detect as well.  So, knowing Layla was safe, Boone moved for the exit of the building, limping somewhat.

He’d traveled with the girl long enough to know what she’d want.  Time alone, and a grave dug.  As he got near the door, he found a convenient shovel and grabbed it.  As he continued, he pulled a couple stimpaks out of his pockets and administered them.  The Fiend had managed to hurt him pretty badly, but he had more work to do. 

The area outside wasn’t much to look at; Layla would want a spot that could be camouflaged anyway.  He found an area near a boulder and started digging. 

He couldn’t blame Layla for this; she may have ignored their warnings about the Fiend, but how could he blame her for caring too much.  The sniper hoped this wouldn’t twist her.  The courier was strong, stronger than Boone had been.  He hoped. 

A while later, he had a good, deep hole dug.  His head was pounding and his vision swam a few times, but it was done now.  Climbing out, Boone went back into the building.

Layla was where he’d left her, still clinging to Isfet’s body.  The screams were done; she was quietly sobbing into his shoulder. 

He stood just away from her… from them.   Eventually, Layla noticed him and withdrew from the dead Fiend.  She looked up at him with puffy eyes that still were leaking tears.

“I… I killed him.” 

Boone merely nodded.  When the hurt in her face intensified, his own frown deepened.

“I dug a grave,” he grunted.  Layla nodded with a choked sob, then looked back to the Fiend.   After another long moment, she stood.  Boone stepped up and picked up the body.  He tried not to be too callous with how he lugged the corpse out the building; he could hear Layla’s sobs as he went.

Once they were back to the hole he’d dug, he lowered the body in, then stepped back. 

                                                *.*.*

Layla moved into the grave and arranged Isfet.  She straightened his legs, then went through his pockets.  There was little more than a handful of caps and a knife.  In one pocket she found a few wooden beads.  They looked like they’d been a bracelet.  The courier hadn’t seen him wear something like that; only the purple shell bracelet that was still around his wrist. Eventually, she replaced them all, then crossed his arms over his chest, covering the wound. 

With a long moment of hesitation, she bent down and finally closed his eyes.  She took off the Fiend helmet’s remains, tossing it out of the grave.  Finally, she dug the an old bandana out of one of her pockets. 

She held it in her hands; she was going to cover his head with it.  It would protect him from the dirt that would cover him soon.  It also meant she’d never see his face again. 

The thought had broken through the stoicism that came with preparing the dead.  She took a deep breath, stopping herself from getting too distraught before she could finish. 

“Tindahwh Dios este con usted, whimamigo.  Xa’gyn’luego,” she said out loud, then leaned and kissed the man on the forehead.

“Goodbye, Isfet.  Go home.” she whispered so he could understand, then covered his face. 

She climbed out of the grave with Boone’s help.  The courier looked at Isfet’s body one last time, then nodded to the sniper.  He moved to start covering the Fiend with the earth he’d dug up to make the hole, and Layla turned away.

Sinking to the ground, Layla started sobbing again now that her job was over.  She didn’t know how long she did so, but eventually she felt Boone’s arms wrap around her.  He smelled like earth and gunpowder, and she leaned him to him, crying harder. 

Eventually, she calmed enough to tell the sniper she wanted to go home.  They made sure the grave was hidden to protect Isfet from scavengers, both human and animal, then walked back to the Strip.

Later, with considerable effort, Layla stole Isfet’s scarf from Giselle.  She wore it from them on; either around her neck under her clothes, covering the fading scars from the dog tags, sometimes on her arm, but most of the time wrapped around the stock of her shotgun.  It was there to remind her of many things, but primarily to remind her of the man she befriended just before she killed him.