Tavi and Vi

by Master Koschei

Chapter 4

Octavius was awoken by the sound of something falling downstairs. He sat bolt upright in his bed, instantly awake and alert. He swung his legs quietly over the edge of his bed and stood, grabbing the pistol that Vinyl had insisted upon when they had gotten their own place. He loaded it and snuck out of the room, creeping to the top of the stairs.

He carefully peaked his head around the corner and looked down the stairs, trying to see what was happening. He caught sight of a shadowy figure dashing into the living room. He practically tiptoed down the stairs, taking a deep breath before stepping into the room, leveling his gun at the intruder.

“Freeze,” the cellist commanded. “Hands where I can see them!”

The intruder locked up, then slowly raised their hands, turning to face Octavius. The figure appeared masculine underneath their pitch black clothing, but the low light made it difficult to identify them. Octavius was about to reach for the light switch when he heard a floorboard creak behind him. The cellist swiftly turned, sidestepping an incoming ball bat. Another figure, this one feminine, drew that bat back, readying for another swing. The first thief reached into their pocket, pulling out a knife.

“You seem a bit outnumbered, pal,” said the one with a knife. Octavius thought the voice sounded familiar. “What say you go back up to your cushy little bed and forget you saw us?”

“And why would I do that?” Octavius kept shifting his aim from one target to the other.

“’Cause if you don’t,” the one with the bat replied. “We’re gonna have to hurt you. Badly.” To emphasize her point, she took a threatening step forward.

Octavius pointed the gun at her. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Bad choice, pal,” said the first. He slowly approached Octavius, as did the one with the bat. Octavius took aim at the woman’s leg and fired. She jumped, crying out in shock, the bullet hitting the floor between her legs. The man took the opportunity to jump at Octavius, bringing the knife around to try and stab the cellist in the chest.

Suddenly, as Octavius grappled with the man, a lamp came down hard on the back of the intruder’s head, making him collapse. The woman, just as shocked as Octavius, turned to see Vinyl, standing there over the man’s body. She turned to face the mysterious woman with a smirk.

“Now who’s outnumbered, bitch?” Vinyl flashed a cocky grin as the woman growled in frustration.

Octavius pointed the gun at the woman’s exposed back. “Now, let’s try this again,” he said calmly. “Who are you?”

The woman sighed and turned to face the cellist. “What’s the matter, Tav-Tav?” Octavius’ blood ran cold as the woman spoke. “Don’t you recognize me?”

Octavius lowered the gun, his breathing growing shallow. “Dash,” he whispered. “Why are you doing this?”

At this point, the man whom Vinyl had knocked out had started to come to, groaning and sitting up slowly. “Because,” he said in a familiar smooth accent. “You have the money to pay for all these things. While her and I have to live paycheck to paycheck to take care of our own families!”

Vinyl put her hands to her mouth. “David,” she said quietly, tears flowing down her cheeks. “If you’d asked…”

“Puh-leese,” Dash said, rounding on the DJ. “You guys were so caught up in your little love fest, you didn’t notice your two best friends were going under!”

“So we took matters into our own hands,” David continued. “We figured we could come in, swipe a couple things, and get out. Worst case scenario, you noticed a few missing things, filed a report, and everything blew over in a week or so. “

“But then Octavius had to butt in!” Dash glared back at the cellist, who’d long since dropped his gun. “Scootaloo has to worry if she’ll eat, and I run a fucking diner!”

“And Ditzy,” David said. “Ditzy can’t do for herself. She needs my help more and more everyday. And her and I both know the day is coming where I won’t be able to do anything for her, and she’ll have to go to a ‘special home’ as we call it. She wakes up every morning afraid she’ll have to leave, but by breakfast she’s forgotten all of her worries. While I have this time with her, I don’t want her to do without, even if it means I have to.”

David stood up and looked at Octavius. “So I’ll say it again,” he finished. “What say you go back up to your cushy little bed and forget you saw us?”

Octavius was speechless. Vinyl stood silently in the doorway. Dash turned to David. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Right behind you,” the man said, following her out of the door and into the night.

Vinyl slowly walked into the room, sitting beside Octavius on the couch that he’d sunk into. He looked over at her. She looked at him. “Violet,” he said quietly, but didn’t finish his thought, letting the air grow still between them. He looked down at his hands folded in his lap. Vinyl placed her hands on his, making him look up at her.

She didn’t say anything, but instead stared sadly into his eyes. He pulled her into a hug, which she returned. She pulled back slowly, staring at him sadly.

“Are we bad people, love?” She looked down at her lap.

“I don’t know, hun,” he replied. “I thought we’d been doing quite well, but…”

“I suppose we haven’t,” Vinyl finished with an empty laugh. She placed a hand on her belly, looking down at it. “Have we lost sight of what is really important?”

Octavius placed his hand over hers and looked at her. “That depends,” he said after a moment. “What do you see as really important?”

Author's Note:

I hope you like this chapter, everyone! I feel it definitely does raise some questions for Octavius and Vinyl regarding what they find important and how everything and everyone around them is changing. If you liked the chapter, I'm really glad, and if you didn't, I'd love to know why. Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you soon.