Rosekiller

(Holding on to the memory of lives that have passed us and ones we might never see…)

Remaining Players: Evan, Barty, Marlene, Dorcas…

Eliminated Players: Regulus, James, Sirius, Teddy, Remus, Raba, Frank, Alice, Narcissa, Emmeline, Mary, Bellatrix, Rita, Dora, Fleur……..

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(Alice P.O.V.)

It’s been a few days since christmas, but to her it felt like years. A few hours after she woke up Frank came in with paramedics, along with Raba laying still on the stretcher, Sirius, Remus and Teddy came in soon after,

Teddy seemed unharmed, just a little shaken, but Remus and Sirius had it bad. After that, Fleur and Dora, then Mary and Emmeline, then Bella and Rita…all of her friends, the people she cares about,
Stuck in critical condition, four of them missing and her Wife next to her…sleeping thankfully.

She jerked her head to the window, looking out at the city lights…why?

That’s one question that’s been on her mind since the first box, why—no how the hell could one person be the cause of so much pain?
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She got her answer two days before new years eve..

She quickly slipped passed the night guards stationed at the front of the hospital, her wound throbbed with every step she took,

But she had to do this, if she wanted her questions answered this was nothing but a small price to pay.

A turn and a bus ride later. She made it to the station. Her steps began to slow as she reached the interrogation room, earlier she called in a favour with Ted, she wanted someone transported for a little bit, and all of the evidence she and her team collected this year.

Ted was waiting outside the door, along with someone else, the closer she got the more she saw the guy’s face, her heart dropped..what was he doing there?

Ted regarded her for a moment with a quick mumble of.. “I hope you know what your doing” before walking back to his office…

“Frank” she said, he turned around to face her, he looked a little annoyed as he crossed his arms over his chest…

“What?, did you really think I wouldn’t be here for the closing?” she sighed. “What about Raba?” he shrugged.

“Woke up, told me to give you a hand before you do something stupid–and this” she points to the man behind the glass, his hands were chained as he sat smiling at all the evidence on the table…
that same smile he showed to Barty as he taunted him in that same room..

“--Is honestly not that stupid….do you really think it’s him?” she hummed, keeping her eyes locked on the guy.

“Rita said something to me in a voice message-” she cut herself off as she took her phone out of her pocket, she opened up her call logs and played the message.

Rita’s shaky and exhausted voice filled the silence..

{Alice, it’s me, a while ago Evan ran into me and told me to…tell you to–uh, shite what did he say? Um, right!, something about Queen’s forest and a guy in a hat, oh this dude would have a birthmark of a paw? I think on the side of his head..call me when you get this–and stay safe please)

There was a long beep after that and she put away her phone.

“Queen’s Forest…that’s where” she nods..”Ready to go in there?” he nodded…the two walked in.
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(Dorcas P.O.V.)

She stared at the woman before her with tears in her eyes. She was supposed to come alone.

That’s what S.P. said, she was tied to a tree as Marlene was bleeding on the ground, her breaths were slow but she was alright….she had to be. If not…where would that leave her….sirens sounded in the distance and she found herself smiling..

“You hear that Marls, we’re gonna be okay”

A car pulled up and Alice and Frank got out wearing bulletproof vests, Frank went to Marlene’s side and Alice ran up to her…and started un-tying.

“How long were you guy’s out here?” she asked quickly..

“Boxing day” she answered. “I was supposed to come alone, Marls followed and–well here we are”
“Why were you in the forest?” she shrugged herself free from the rest of the rope around her.

“Evan called for help…I–Is she going to be alright?” Alice’s face softened and she nodded..

“Did you find anything on Evan–” she was cut off by two gunshots in the distance…

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(A Few Something's Earlier in Barty’s P.O.V.)

He walked slowly along the trail, a machete in one hand and a severed head in the other…he knew Evan was there…god he’s tired, all this running around. All the killing, he's sick of it all.

“Ev?” he called out, no reply. Not that he expected one.

“Rosy?...come on out, they’re all dead–just you and me” he stood still, his chest rising and falling with every word he spoke, he just wanted to go home…preferably with Evan.

His eyes land on the moon, the smell of blood, sweat and sorrow all mixed together in a perfect, yet fucked up way….he wished he could paint it, take a bush and dip it into the blood that soaks his hands, face and body.

“‘Nothing’s gonna harm you…not while I’m around’” he let out a humourless laugh. “A perfect moment for this song, wouldn’t you agree?”

There was a sharp click of a gun behind him…safety off…

“Don’t turn around” he did anyway and god…Evan looked wonderful, his hair was a bit messy, and he had a lot of blood on his hands and a little on his cheek,
He had bruises around his neck and a few cuts here and there…but overall he was okay..

Apart from the life lasting Therapy he’ll need after this…

“Ev..I’m-”

“Save it and shut it….from the moment I met you I actually believed, that maybe, just Maybe I found a guy that, didn’t mind my interests and that wasn’t an abuser..but no you turned out to be a serial killer, taking inspo from my novel’s and using them”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you–”

“Didn’t I just say ‘Save it and shut it’ I don’t want your excuses I want the truth”...

The two stayed silent as they stared at each other…

“Fine…that night when we found my father I didn’t cry because I missed him or anything…I cried out of relief…I was relieved that he was still dead–that it wasn’t a dream and that I actually killed him…

We had a fight. I killed him with the help of another judge, then it just went on and on and–I couldn’t stop, and I hear them sometimes, but it goes away the days when I’m next to you, It’s like I have nothing to worry about..cause you're there.

But I sometimes get this spark-”

“Spark?” he nods. “Yeah then I black out and…”

“Kill” Evan finishes. “Right again, and I paint because I want to remember them, remember what I did…It’s not art for me, it never was. It's something along the lines of a drug you could say…”

He hummed.

“Shoot me” he seemed a bit taken aback by this but he quickly fixed his expression.

“what?”

“Shoot me if you want, but please Rosy, don’t stop loving me–without you I’m…lost, is that the right word for it?” he shook his head.

“Alone?” he offered.

“No, Afraid…I’m scared that your the only good thing I have left in my life..if Reg or the other’s knew”

“They won’t”

“But if they did, what would they think of me?”

Evan let out a breath.

“Go”

“What?”

“I hear sirens, just go, I’ll think of something before they get here…”

No ... .no I don’t want that I–make him stop, make him stop covering for me…he wouldn’t hurt so much if he didn’t care about me ... .but if it’s hurting him..

“I take it back..shoot me and don’t care about me”

“Bee just—go okay, and when you go stay away, and stop with all the bloody murder, have a life…or at least build one–”

“Rosy-”

“Let me finish” he nodded.. “And when you do that, come back….if you still care about everyone, and me you’ll come back once everything has died down”

“Are you asking me to lay low? And leave the country?”

“I’m asking you to be smart about this…I don’t doubt that Alice would cover for you, but I’ll just tell them that..you’ve been gone since christmas and I haven’t seen you”

“You’d lie for me?” he rolls his eyes. “I’m mad at you…I guess–actually I’m handling it way better than I thought, but you told me the truth and that’s all I wanted, no secrets or anything..now how fast can you run?”

He had a sad smile on his face, he dropped what he was holding along with a small box..

“It’s your gift” Evan wordlessly tossed him a similar box.. “Fucked minds think alike”

“Just run”

He did, in the distance he heard two gunshots, he ran until he came across a road, a car stopped right next to him…

“Are you okay dude?” he smiled and nodded.

“Can I borrow your phone?”
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Few years later…..

(Evan P.O.V.)

Ever since he was a child, Evan has never seen a happy ending. In all of the books, podcasts, movies, everything he'd seen, It all ended tragically...he supposes now it's the same for his works..especially his latest one; the one he's currently getting an award for: Rosekiller, a tale between a serial killer and a writer. He's read it once or twice, and God would he like to go back and punch his twenty-four year old self.

The sound of congratulations mixed with that of praise and drunken laughter, mostly from Sirius no doubt, the man in question is clinging onto his husband, the literature professor is in a conversation with his son...

Teddy had expressed earlier that month that the reason he's not bringing anyone home is because of his Aromatic-Asexuality, since he's Twenty-six now he'll have a kid by next week..his words. Over to the side he sees James and Regulus, the youngest black brother is as drunk as the oldest but thankfully his own husband is there, the two adopted a child a few years back, a boy named Harry, despite being adopted he shared quite a few similarities with the two.
A year after Haz was adopted Pandora Gave birth to his niece: Luna, Xeno had been the donner, but Lily and Panda refused to not have him in Luna's life. Narcissa and Alice have two baby boys,
Draco and Neville, their around the same age as Haz and one year older than Luna, Mary and Emmeline have settled down and reopened Emmy's, Dorcas and Marlene are still pursuing their passions, Rita has retired and is now living with Bella in the French countryside,
Frank and Raba got married earlier in the month and adopted a baby girl: Kayla a few years back....look it's safe to say everyone's got their happy ending somewhere, his friends and family were lucky enough to find it in people they love and trust. He on the other hand will be alone forever, yes that is very dramatic, but it's true, what he felt with Barty he could never feel with anyone again.

He clenched the award in his hand as he made his way outside for some fresh air, he leaned against the same wall he did all those years ago, looking up at the night sky, it was strange, the stars seemed...brighter?. His thoughts were broken by a voice, not Barty's, but the voice of his niece.."do you think he'll come back?" She asks, her tone is nonchalant but her eyes have a strange twinkle in them.

He gives her a look of confusion "who?" She smiles. "Uncle Bee" he looks back up at the sky. She had taken to calling Barty that after reading Rosekiller and the stories he told her, he might have changed the names in the novel but he can tell she knows...this is just the proof he needs.

"I'm not sure...but it doesn't make a difference if he does"

a light tap on his shoulder made him turn back to her, she was still smiling, and that glow in her eyes remained but there was something else, almost like she knows something he doesn't, Pandora had that same look the day he told her why Barty left, it was like an unspoken promise, one that he still doesn't understand. She removed her hands from behind her back and handed him a red rose.

"Why are you giving me this?" She shrugged.

"'Tell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway'"

The words stuck with him as she carefully placed the rose in his hand and without another word she left, he takes another moment to stare at the rose in his hand as he leans back against the wall.... please, he thinks as he turns his gaze from the rose to the stars... please, please..he doesn't know what he's begging for, it can't be--for him can it? "Come back to me" the quiet words fell from his lips like a prayer, he blinked his eyes a few times to stop the tears from falling...he heard footsteps making their way towards him.
He couldn't bring himself to care, not even as they leaned back against the wall right next to him, not even as they let out a sigh and took out of their pocket what could only be a pack of cigarettes...

"I'll say, London's cigs have always been the best..." the man sounded oddly familiar, his Italian accent was mixed with a British one.

Yet the former was more prominent...no, he has to stop pretending that this is some big mystery, he knows who this is. "Oh-sorry forgot to ask" he turns his head lazily to stare at the man next to him: he was taller, not taller than him but he was getting there, he had a few gray hairs mixed with dark brown, he still had the same tattoo's, plus a new one...Rosy, it was tattooed in his handwriting on the other man's chest,
His dark velvet shirt was unbuttoned, and he wore a pair of black trousers and matching black dress shoes.
He stared back at him with a small smile, the same one he wore when that first met, his dark green eyes focused on him like only he was important and that nothing else mattered. "Want one?" He couldn't help but offer a small smile of his own. "Sure" the two stayed silent for a while, staring at the sky whilst smoking,
That was until Evan broke the silence.

"Where have you been?" He could feel Barty's eyes on him, he was never very subtle about staring. "I was in Italy, made a living selling my art...though a week ago I got a call from a lovely girl named Luna Rosier-Evans, she had sent over a book: Rosekiller" so that's what that weird twinkle was.

"And so what, you came back to look for more material? Sorry but I didn't think you're one for redoing your work" he huffed a laugh.

"I've left my serial killing days behind me....now I'm just a guy in his late Thirties or some shite, looking for the love of his life" he hums as he steps on his cigarette.

"Any luck?"

He turns back to him, they stare at each other. "Found him, just not sure if he still wants me" of course I do...

"Maybe he does, maybe he just wants you to be honest this time" his smile softens as he cups Evans cheek…

"I can do that..god-please Ev don't tell me go away again" he smiles as he places his hand over the other man's. "I won't and if I do...don't leave" it's the last thing either of them say before Barty pulls him in for a kiss.

It's a reunion, a promise that this is only the beginning for them, they pull away and Barty suddenly laughs..Evan frowns "what's so funny" he waves him off... "Did Raba tell you about the bridge thing?" He rolls his eyes... "Yes, you know you could have been more specific" he shakes his head... "oh who cares..it made for a pretty good memory"
"that it did"...

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Ever since he was a child, Evan never believed in happy endings, he'd always call them cryptic since you never knew what took place after,

Pandora used to tell him it's different for each person, and now he can finally say that it's true, sure you might not need romance to have a happy ending, you may not need kids or a good career, you might just need the people around you the most, the ones who stick by you no matter the cost, for him,
he has all that, it might have been hectic at first and that's putting it lightly...but even so for every good moment there's a trial, a moment of pain that you work through..and Evan knows that for the rest of his life he'll be glad he spent those moments of good and bad with Barty…

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Author’s Note:

…..Hi, so this is the end of ‘Rosekiller’ I guess, this note is just me rambling a bit…you can skip it if you want…

__The idea for this came from a tick tock I watched a long time ago (not long prolly a year ago or smth) and I thought “woah this would be cool as a Rosekiller fic..”
So I wrote the first chapter..it was for shite’s and giggles at first but then I posted it and it got a lot of hits….(I did not know what hits was at that time….I thought it was smth bad)
Then I got my first comment and well here we are…anyway thank you to my sister for uhh, saying i could do it I guess ... ..oh and thanks to everyone who supported this and stuck around…also I mentioned Peter in the tags and he was there for like one chapter…so sorry Pete..
Anyway thanks so much for reading…I have another fic..that I won’t be posting for anymore until I get my story straight…but in the meantime before I write another long fic (longer than this) I’ll be writing one shots for a while…
Updates for that might be slow cause I’m also working on a novel….for myself…anyway see you guys….
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