"is everything good?" fez asked, looking over at custer with a confused look on his face. seraphina slowly walked to the couch, resting on the arm of it, staring at custer.

"yeah, before you go bro, i really gotta talk to you about something."

a deep sigh left fez's throat as he leaned on the counter, "like what, man?"

"everything."

custer looked at seraphina with a strange look, something that had her stomach doing somersaults. something bad was coming.

"fuck is you talking bout bruh."

ashtray's eyes met with seraphina's and he shook his head, eyes darting to the door, wanting her to just walk away and stay in the other room, like she promised.

"the fucking cops found mouse's body."

a chill travelled down seraphina's spine, as she knew very well who had killed mouse. she jumped slightly at the sound of glass smashing, looking behind her to see faye had dropped a cup.

"sorry," she said, bending down. seraphina squinted her eyes at the scene unfolding in front of her. fez was staring down at her, as if faye was telling him something.

"did you hear what i said?" custer asked, causing seraphina to scoff. "yeah, we did."

"i thought you told me that laurie killed mouse," faye said, staring at her boyfriend with a confused look. "i never said that, what are you talking about?"

"yeah, you know, laurie? the drug dealer that lives in the apartment complex off kemper."

seraphina was confused at first, and as she turned to look at ash, so was he. what was she talking about? she also noticed that ash was fiddling with the knife in his hand.

shaking her head lightly, so as to not alert custer, she tried to tell him silently to not use the weapon. "i never said that," custer said, frustration evident in his tone.

as faye and custer argued, seraphina felt her heart quicken at ash moving slowly up off the sofa. "alright now, i think it's time for you to get out of here, big fella."

"bro, we gotta figure out what the fuck we're gonna say."

seraphina jumped quickly off the couch when ashtray approached custer, shouting, "ash, no!"

but it was too late.

the knife was already lodged in custer's throat before anyone had the chance to convince him otherwise. he began chortling, choking on his own blood.

fez acted quickly, pressing his hand over his mouth to quieten him, ashtray tugging seraphina's hand for her to stand back.

she swatted him on the shoulder, staying quiet because fez had his finger on his lips, pointing over to custer's phone on the side. they were listening.

ashtray had a frightened look in his eyes, as it felt like forever for custer to die. and when he did, seraphina felt like her legs were going to buckle under her.

fez made ash pass him the phone, as he walked over rather wobbly to a cup, dunking the phone inside.

"what the fuck?" seraphina gasped once the phone was in the cup, hands running through her hair as she stared at custer's body.

"i'm sorry," ashtray whispered, but she couldn't even look at him yet. there was a lump in her throat that she couldn't swallow, and it was painful.

fez walked over and slapped ashtray, sending him crashing down onto the floor by her feet. "sorry bruh, but we have to make it look like you ain't do this."

as seraphina held her hand out for him to take, he stood up as fez said, "get out man, the cops are gonna kick down that door any second, bro. even if they know you did this, i'm still gonna go down."

their foreheads touched as seraphina had to sit down, hands shaking as she thought about what was going to go down.

"phina, go with him," fez ordered, her mouth agape as she slowly sat from the couch, following ash who quickly running to the laundry room.

"ash, come on. we gotta go, ash."

he blanked her completely, opening the door of the dryer, pulling out guns of all sorts. "baby, please. you're not thinking straight."

"i am."

giving her one last look, he pushed past her, limping with the guns strapped to him. "ash, stop playing, i need you to walk out this door right fucking now, bruh!"

"ash, please. stop it!"

he unloaded everything into the bathtub, seraphina trying her hardest to push him out of the door. "get out of my way," he groaned, pushing her harshly.

she fell to the floor, hand moving to her head as she felt blood fall from her forehead. "give me the gun, bruh."

he shook his head, not taking his eyes from fez, as the tears fell from his eyes. "i'm not finna let nothing happen to you, so give me the gun."

"ash, listen to him, please," she cried, looking at his shaking body. fez looked away at the sound of pounds on the front door, giving ash time to hit him on the head and lock the door in his face.

"what are you doing, ash?!" seraphina screamed, scrambling to her feet. fez banged on the door, pleading for him to open the door.

ash grabbed seraphina, pulling her into the bathtub with him, sliding down with the gun pointing at the door. "ash, you're gonna get us killed!"

"i'm sorry for dragging you into this mess, phina. i really am," he cried, hand dropping to hers and rubbing it slowly.

"there's still time. we can get up and leave," but before she could finish, the front door just open and yells of the police filled the house.

eyes widening, seraphina looked at the door with a scared look on her face. ashtray loaded the guns, making sure they had bullets in them.

"don't shoot, don't shoot! they're kids, there's kids in there!"

the sounds of fez's cries haunted her.

listening to his wails and protests, begging them to come out form the bathroom, it hurt her. but she couldn't open the door.

if she did, they'd shoot straight away.

a shot through the door caused seraphina to let out a scream, ashtray alarmed. he immediately began shooting, fez letting out a scream as well.

it felt like everything was slowed down as the police stopped, ashtray stopping too. "i never did ask you to be my girlfriend," he cried, letting his hand move a piece of hair from her face.

"i will. we can be, if you just stop and surrender. please, i am begging you."

it was too late.

"i love you," he sobbed, hopping out of the tub and lying 9! the floor. "what are you doing?" she asked, confused as to what ashtray was doing.

the door opened, a cop opening it and pointing the gun straight at seraphina. "he's down, but there's one in the tub!" the cop shouted, but before seraphina could raise her hands in surrender, ash shot up and fired his gun.

it felt like everything went in slow motion as seraphina slid out of the tub, collapsing next to ashtray with a horrified look in her eyes.

and as ash kissed her on the lips, mumbling soft apologies, she accepted them. seraphina didn't have much to live for anyway.

two red dots travelled up both of their bodies, as she reminisced on all of the times. how she never got to say goodbye to rue, or even go on a proper date with ash.

his hand was clasped with her own, and before they could say anything, two shots rang out in the room, their bodies falling to the floor with a thud.

+

authors note.

i know this is incredibly rushed and terrible, and i'm sorry i killed them both off, but i couldn't picture seraphina with ashtray. and seeing as though she had nothing to live for, i decided this was the best way for her to go.

thanks for reading and supporting my book!