Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A Stained Rose

She felt the blade of the knife pressed to her throat and tightened the grip on the gun she had pressed to his temple. Both their eyes spoke of death as the mournful tune of Adagio played softly in the background.

Silence fell as they both struggled to regain their breaths. Her neck movement was limited due to the knife. He felt her obvious discomfort and smiled, pressing the knife deeper still, drawing blood though the cut was shallow.

"If I die, you'll die with me, Mr. Black," she hissed as blood trickled down her neck.

"Damn right you are, I have no doubt you'll shoot me the moment I slit your neck, but no matter. At least I'll die with a beautiful woman by my side, Miss. Wilcox," came his sardonic reply.

"You kid yourself Alex, because you'll be burning in Hell."

"Are you saying you're going to Heaven?" he chuckled. "All you MI6 agents think you're so great, working for the good side, but you're all wrong, so wrong. You see no evil. You speak no evil. You hear no evil, there still is evil, and there is nothing you can do to change that."

"Oh yes we can. By killing off people like you one day the world will be rid of evil. Even if it costs me my life, so be it. At least I die doing good," she said, though realizing how stupid she sounded.

"Doing good? How many men have you assassinated for a 'good' cause?" he shot back. "Killing people for the sake of an evil free world is good? Sounds goddamn ironic to me. You know, if there weren't evil in the world, your good would vanish. There is no such thing as good and evil. There is only life and death."

"There sure is hell good and evil!" she spat.

"No there isn't. Look at Tom, he was your husband. Another MI6 big shot. You think how good he was, you slept with him, but he alone assassinated many men, more men than you and I have combined. And you think that's good?"

"Don't bring Tom into this, you son of a bitch! He can't be compared to a murderer like you!"

"What makes a murderer?" he mused.

"Answer your own question," she retorted.

He smiled. "We're all murderers now, so what makes one person a murderer and the other your good next door neighbor? Might as well all be human and be done with it."

"Don't give me this crap."

"He was my best friend in school you know. He knew I was working against them, actually supported my choice, and then he joined the very force I was working so hard to dispel," he spoke with bitterness in his voice. "But no matter, he got what he deserved when he was killed." He paused. "They never did find out who murdered him did they?"

"It was you!" she gasped as realization hit her. "No, it can't have been."

"Yes."

"Tom loved you!" She stared at the ground, white faced. "All this time you had us believe you were dead, that Scorpia killed you for revenge. He grieved for you!"

"Some say love, it is a razor. I used a razor to carve him up. You could never imagine the love in his eyes as he took his last breaths," he said. He paused to let his sarcastic remark sink in and his eyes flashed. "You do not betray the ones you love."

"Alex –"

"Life comes, life goes. Deal with it."

Her eyes filled up with tears. "What happened to you Alex? You've changed so much." She lowered the gun though his grip on the knife did not waver.

"That Alex is gone now." His voice was hard and bitter.

"I loved Alex." Her voice was faint, a frail attempt to save her life.

"Alex didn't love you."

Sabina Pleasure dissolved into tears. She knew that this was what the whole conversation was leading up to. He had made her weak, knew what strings to pull. He let her cry until she had no more tears, and as she sat on the marble floor wordless, he removed the knife from her throat. It was a chance for her to fight, to escape, but she didn't take it. He knew he had her completely helpless now, though she had a gun in her hand.

He kissed her on her salty lips and she quickly responded, trying to find a scrap of the old Alex she had known buried underneath. But as the kiss grew deeper, he pulled away and looked into her deep blue eyes. Regretful almost, how they would cease to shine with life. She looked away, knowing the time had come.

"Go on, be done with it then."

"I'm sorry," he said. She looked up in surprise. Did she detect a hint of emotion in his voice? But then his eyes clouded over and became dark and unreadable again.

"No, you're not."

"Goodbye, Sab."

And with one fluid motion, he drew his knife across her neck. She gasped as it sliced through her pale skin. But as her body slid from his grasp onto the floor, he felt no sense of satisfaction as he thought he would. Only a deep sense of emptiness.

As her life flowed out of her body in crimson floods and tears escaped once more, she gathered the strength to ask one last question. "Why?"

He plucked a white rose out of one of the many vases that lined the room and dipped the tip of it into the growing pool of blood, staining the perfect petals with a big splotch of dark red. He noted with amusement that the white gown she had on was also slowly turning red.

Standing over her body, he let the stained rose drop onto her chest and gave a wistful smile. "Because happy endings are such a cliché." He turned and made his way out of the room, looking at himself in the mirror first. Impeccable, as always, not a single drop of blood had landed on him, save for the knife he still held in his hand. He made a note to get rid of it when he got out of the place.

And as he walked out of the room without so much as a backward glance at her, she couldn't bring herself to lift the gun to shoot him back.

A/N: Well let me see, I'm not gonna try and gain all of your pity by saying this is my first story, but hey wait, I just did. Oops. I didn't mean to saythat. Oh,I didn't mean to say that either. Anyway,I know it's not terribly good, but thanks for reading.

Anyway, a few things you all may be puzzled with. This is kind of a follow up to a story I wrote some time back but wasn't good, so I didn't post it. Basically, Alex works for Scorpia and Sabina for MI6, and they are both 25 years old. Yes, the Tom in the story is the one in Scorpia – book five. Alex's best friend, the one that helped him get into the Widow's Palace.

So, what do you all think? It's simple. Write a review if you like it. Write a review if you don't like it. Good day.