Keep Your Enemies Close

Trigger Warnings: Grief, physical violence, blood

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It is said that the screams that filled the air that September night still echo through the city’s streets.

Many people whispered about the source of the noise. Was it a bloody stand-off between gangs? Had vengeful spirits taken to haunting the streets? Was it simply a stray cat yowling under the light of the full moon?

No one would ever guess that the screams came from one of the most feared criminals the city had seen in decades.

“Why? Why did you come here?”

Gideon held Casey in his arms. This detective was supposed to be on the other side of the country solving a major diamond robbery case. Gideon had arranged for him to be as far away from the conflict as possible. 

So why was he dead?

A figure emerged from the shadows. He sneered at the desperate man groveling at his feet.

“Oh, Gideon, did you really care for the man? Did all those years of playing cat-and-mouse establish some ‘unbreakable bond’ between rivals?”

Gideon staggered to his feet, clutching Detective Casey Dunn’s broken body to his chest.

“You weren’t supposed to hurt him, Zeke. We were the ones who were supposed to die.”

Gideon’s voice grew more desperate.

“He never did anything wrong. And what did he get? A bullet through the heart that was meant for me. Why, Zeke? Why?”

“Why?” A bitter smile stretched across Zeke’s face. “Don’t you think it’s so much more satisfying to watch your enemy drown in the depths of despair than to toss away their lifeless corpse? Better to make their life a living hell than to allow them to depart peacefully. Wouldn't you agree, Gideon?”

Gideon couldn’t take it any longer. He collapsed to his knees and sobbed, the skin of the man he loved growing colder with every passing second.

Casey Dunn and Gideon Hunt were two names regarded as legends within the city. Casey was a young and successful detective whose failed cases amounted to zero until the Shadow Lord—Gideon’s criminal persona—came along. Gideon’s identity was impossible to trace, as every piece of evidence was destroyed or blamed on some unlucky fellow. Every assignment Casey undertook seemed to lead back to this criminal mastermind. One could say they were rivals in every sense of the word.

Who knew that these two men on opposite sides of the law had once been childhood friends?

Gideon and Casey dreamed of joining a detective agency together. With Casey’s charisma and Gideon’s brains, the two would have been an unstoppable force. Unfortunately, the shooting that had taken Gideon’s parents' lives had scattered these youthful hopes before their eyes. After Gideon went to live with his Uncle Zeke, it was many years before the two boys would meet again.

As it turned out, Zeke ran a highly secretive underground crime syndicate and began to raise his nephew as the successor to his position as gang leader. Gideon’s young heart, overcome by grief and resentment towards the hitman who had killed his parents, was easy to manipulate. Any previous desire to join the side that fought against the darkness of the night was wiped from his mind.

Gideon still remembered encountering Casey for the first time in their adulthood.

“Mind if I sit here?”

Casey looked up from his coffee and gestured to a seat at the café table.

“Be my guest.”

The two men were silent, sipping their drinks and examining each other’s faces. Finally, Gideon spoke up.

“You’re probably wondering why I approached you.”

“Mn.” Casey smiled and set down his foam cup. “Everyone has a story to tell, but very few find someone willing to listen. I’ve made it my goal never to turn down anyone who needs a friend to talk to, stranger or not.”

“That’s a dangerous habit. What if the speaker means to harm you?”

“Then so be it. In my line of work, you wake up knowing you could lose your life that day. Better to enjoy your time on this planet and meet as many people as possible before you go.”

Gideon stared at the man across from him.

“But if you aren’t careful, you could end up bringing pain to the people whose stories are already deeply intertwined with your own.”

Casey raised an eyebrow, then laughed.

“You remind me of someone—a friend of mine. I haven't seen him since we were kids, but I think you and him would get along. He always called me reckless and would get mad at me if I started going on about ‘risking my life.’ Turned out fine though, didn’t it?”

Casey shot Gideon a cheeky grin.

“What’s your name, by the way? You look familiar.”

Gideon stood up from his seat.

“Gideon, Casey. It’s Gideon.”

He left before Casey could fully realize his identity.

Casey never knew how long Gideon had been risking his life from the shadows, fighting off the other criminals who sought the detective’s death.

One week ago, Casey was hot on the heels of his elusive target, the Shadow Lord. After hours of exhausting gunfights that left his right arm grazed by a bullet, Casey stood face-to-face with his prey.

He was left speechless at the sight of the man he had met at the café several months back standing before him. Gideon choked the cooling corpse of a man without mercy, his hands scarlet with blood and eyes shining with malice. This was the low-born thug who dared to shoot at his beloved detective.

“Gideon…”

Gideon whipped his head towards the voice. Spotting Casey’s trembling hands, Gideon threw aside the corpse. The detective stumbled back.

“Gideon, what the hell are you doing?”

“Casey…”

Casey buried his face in his hands and laughed.

“I’ve been searching for you for so long. I thought you were dead. They say you should keep your enemies close, but I didn’t think I’d have to take that literally.”

Gideon bowed his head.

“I didn’t have a choice, Casey. He was going to kill you. I had to protect you.”

“Protect me, my ass! I’d rather be dead than watch you turn into this. You should’ve found me. I would’ve helped you.”

Casey’s voice rose.

“Do you know how much I missed you, Gideon? Do you know how much my heart shattered when I thought I would never see you again? What happened to joining the detective agency together, huh? Or did your little friends in the underground offer you something better? Money? Fame? Prostitutes? What the hell made you leave?”

Gideon was frozen in place. His stomach twisted and his eyes stung.

“I love you, Casey. I just didn’t know how else to say it.”

Gideon disappeared into the night, leaving Casey kneeling with his head in his hands and a scream dying in his throat.

One of Zeke's men had seen the whole thing. When the man reported the encounter to his boss, Gideon knew his days were numbered. Zeke never allowed any of his followers to show mercy to the enemy and live to tell the tale.

Gideon knew that Casey’s life was in danger as well. The detective knew too many secrets about the organization and would have to be silenced.

I can’t let Casey suffer for something he has no part in. I might not survive the night, but at least he can keep living without me.

Gideon would take a last stand against Zeke, determined to take down his uncle even with death as his reward. He arranged for Casey to be sent far away from where this showdown would occur. 

How was Gideon supposed to know that the man he loved had seen through his plan?

Earlier that night, Gideon stood before his uncle.

“You came, Gideon,” said Zeke. “I thought you would run away like usual, but you stayed. How admirable.”

“I’m a villain, just like you,” Gideon said. “Even if you played a part in creating this version of myself, I chose this path. Now I must pay for the crimes I committed under your order.”

Zeke clapped, each sound emphasized by a short pause.

“Stop stalling. I know you want to kill me, and I want to kill you. Being related by blood does nothing to soften my heart towards someone who has betrayed me. You know I don’t make exceptions.”

Gideon pulled out a gun from his belt and pointed it at his uncle. His gaze was as steady as his hand, but his pounding heart revealed his anxiety.

“And you know that the only exception I’ve ever made is Casey. I’m willing to die to protect him, but only after I take down the man who murdered my parents.”

Zeke raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? How long have you known?”

“Casey told me at their funeral, the day you took me away from him. I only agreed to come with you because I knew you would kill him if I didn’t. Why do you think I followed you all these years? Do you think I like watching my victims’ guts spilling out onto the pavement? Do you think I enjoy hearing their families’ anguished screams as they realize they will never see their loved ones again?

“Gideon died a long time ago—the Shadow Lord only lives on to defend his beloved. After tonight, neither crime lord will plague the streets of this city again.”

Zeke drew out his gun with an impatient sigh.

“Then I hope you’re ready to meet your parents. Your dear Casey will be joining you soon.”

Two gunshots echo through the night.

One buried itself in Zeke’s shoulder but his eye only twitched.

Gideon waited for the other bullet to strike his heart and release him from the neverending grief this life had brought him. 

The pain never came.

A figure staggered a few steps before collapsing. Gideon rushed to grab the man. He lowered him to the ground and turned the man around to see his face. The Shadow Lord’s heart almost stopped beating without the help of any gun.

It was Casey.

No.

What was he doing here? He should be investigating the diamond robbery miles away.

“Casey…What the hell…”

Casey smiled weakly. Blood was soaking through his shirt from a deep wound in his chest.

“Gideon. You idiot. I told you to find me if you ran into any problems. I’m the country’s best detective. Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were up to?”

Gideon ripped off his own shirt and pressed it to the wound to try to stop the bleeding, but it was bathed with scarlet in an instant. Tears ran down his cheeks.

“You’re not supposed to be here, Casey. You weren’t supposed to find me. I was never supposed to see you again.”

Casey touched his friend’s face with the remnants of his strength.

“I still hate you, but you’re my friend. You’re more than that. I couldn’t watch you throw your life away for my sake.”

His hand dropped, and he closed his eyes.

“I love you, Gideon. Live a good life for me, okay?”

His breathing stilled. He was gone.

This was why the Shadow Lord’s screams rang out that night like an angel of death. Afterward, the tales of Zeke and Gideon’s reign ended.

They had disappeared without a trace.

Had they chosen another city to terrorize? Were they secretly arrested? Were they dead? It was a local mystery never to be solved.

Still, some people swear they have seen a dark figure sitting next to a lone grave on certain moonlit nights.

It is a man, mourning his beloved who will never again walk this earth.