Disclaimer: I do not own anything. At all.

A/N: I am 221% sure this scenario is impossible to execute in real life...

Chapter 7: The Ferris Wheel

"All right…Today, a certain person has paid a large sum of money for this man…Mr. Robert Harries, to be dead. Apparently he thinks he's important enough to give a speech at the opening of a new carnival in town, so we'll be there in a bit to take care of business." Moriarty said as he pushed a picture of the condemned man in front of Sebastian as they sat in the dining room.

"Isn't he that bloke who's running for some public office?" Sebastian commented as he swirled his scotch around while studying the picture in front of him.

"Well, he won't be running for anything permanently in a few hours." Moriarty said, standing up from his chair. "I've allowed Antonio a little break to see his family…You know, to keep him in line. So, we'll be driving ourselves there today."

"I'll go get my rifle and meet you in the car." Sebastian nodded after downing the last of his scotch.

OoOoOo

When they finally arrived, Sebastian tried his best to not raise any extra attention to himself as he carried his large case around the carnival, narrowing his eyes at the large crowd of people in the vicinity.

"Why couldn't we just shoot him while he was in a more private place? I'm looking quite suspicious carrying this big thing." Sebastian complained.

"Look! You'll be shooting from up there!" Moriarty said, ignoring Sebastian's comment as he jumped up and down pointing at the large Ferris wheel.

Sebastian took one look at the bright structure and answered with a firmly simple "No."

"Now, Sebby, I've locked myself in a room for quite a long time, destroyed a glass wall, and cut my hand all for this one plan. You are going to shoot from up there and that's final." Moriarty said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"But come on…A Ferris Wheel? Aren't there any proper places to snipe from?" Sebastian said, looking around for high, stable ground.

Sadly, there were none he could see that were properly isolated or hidden from the rest of the public eye.

"…Fine." Sebastian begrudgingly gave up. "I suppose there's no other place…"

Moriarty sweetly smiled. "I told you I thought of everything. It's our last possible option unless you want to take him down in a more visible area and risk getting caught. Now, come on! Let's go! He's going to give his speech in about fifteen minutes!"

Moriarty dragged Sebastian through the busy crowds past the laughing children and the game booths until they reached the Ferris wheel.

"Tickets, please." The man who was working the ride said.

Moriarty hand them over two blue ones and snapped his fingers at Sebastian to follow.

When they climbed into the carriage and waited for the ride to start, Sebastian immediately took note of his surroundings. Good…There was a large rectangular opening near the front of the structure that he could shoot from. He would've strangled Moriarty if he had to cut through glass or metal just for the one shot.

Let's see….

He obviously had to withdraw his rifle every time their carriage returned to the ground in order to prevent the man operating the ride from possibly seeing what he was doing…

"Right. You have a window of three seconds to shoot. The wheel's movement stabilizes slightly near the top for the slightest of moments, so you'll have to shoot then." Moriarty said as they waited for the ride to start.

"How many revolutions do we have?" Sebastian asked, waiting for the ride to start.

"Ten. Or at least that's what Jasper told me from the blueprints he acquired." Moriarty responded.

"Alright. I'll use the first five to set up and gauge a good angle to shoot from and use the others to shoot and pack up. I still don't know why we couldn't have just gotten rid of him someplace else." Sebastian said, snapping into action after the Ferris wheel came to life.

Up they slowly went, and as Moriarty grabbed a pair of binoculars and started scouting the position of their target, Sebastian went straight to work, taking out his rifle and assembling it faster than he remembered doing in quite a long time.

"Found him. He's right over there." Moriarty called out in his singsong voice.

"Good." Sebastian muttered.

"Aim there." Moriarty said, pointing northwest.

Sebastian pulled out his rifle and aimed his rifle and tried his best to locate the target as best as he could.

But, he couldn't find him the first time, so he simply pulled his gun back inside as his line of vision descended to mirror the falling motion of the carriage.

"Did you find him?" Moriarty demanded, waving casually to the operating worker as they passed him.

"No." Sebastian replied.

"Well, then find him next time." Moriarty dismissively said.

"I will." Sebastian said.

He didn't.

He couldn't locate him on the second time or the third time, and Moriarty was growing impatient.

"Do better." Moriarty said, his growing impatience showing in his tapping fingers and a raised eyebrow.

He did.

Sebastian finally located his targets in that tiny scope of his on the fourth time and held his position as long as possible, memorizing where it was.

"I found it." He said.

"Finally." Moriarty sighed. "Now shoot next time."

"No…I need one more go to practice holding the position and adjusting to the changing movement of the carriage before shooting." Sebastian responded.

Moriarty shook his head and clucked his tongue. "I hope you can do this, Sebastian."

Sebastian said nothing but waited for the next time they would reach the top of the wheel.

"Here's the sixth time we reached the top. Shoot now! Make sure to to—" Moriarty commanded, breaking the silence.

"Just be silent. I know what I'm doing!" Sebastian hissed, trying to hold his rifle as steady as possible.

He was ready to shoot, but then a sudden burst of wind rocked their carriage, causing Sebastian to swear loudly. Moriarty sighed and shook his head a bit. "You either get it right the next time or you will have failed me, Bassy." Moriarty casually reminded him.

"I know that. But if you could have had me shoot from a decent place, this wouldn't be a problem." Sebastian grumbled.

And so, they rode one more turn of the wheel until they were near the top of the Ferris wheel again.

"Get it right this time, Sebastian…" Moriarty said as they neared the top of the wheel.

Sebastian ignored him and tried to get in position again. He had, at best, only three seconds again to act, and he couldn't mess up again.

One.

Sebastian trained his crosshairs on his target.

Two.

Sebastian continued to adjust to his unstable position and hoped he could hit his target.

Three.

He fired.

There was only silence for a while between the two of them as nothing really…happened.

"Don't tell me you missed." Moriarty said, the tone of his voice turning unpleasantly dangerous.

Sebastian didn't know what to say. He never missed. But, given the ridiculous circumstances of how and where he had to shoot from, it was all entirely possible that he…happened to miss.

"I…" Sebastian started to say before he was cut off by a loud burst of screams.

Moriarty immediately grabbed his binoculars and looked out into the crowd.

"Well, well, well…It looks like you did hit your mark after all…Although, the bullet hole looks a bit off-center if you ask me…" Moriarty remarked, gleefully observing the ensuing chaos.

Sebastian sat own and buried his face in his hands. "I. Am. Never. Doing. That. Again." He growled through gritted teeth.

"I knew you could do it!" Moriarty continued on. "I knew I made the right choice choosing a sniper for a pet."

Sebastian furrowed his brows at the comment. A…pet. Of course, Moriarty had called him that a few times before, but…such a word was still derogatory to him every time he was called it. Why couldn't he be…just a sniper? Or just a flat mate? Or…maybe even an acquaintance if friend was far too much?

But for now he let it go and focused on packing up his rifle and its various parts as fast as he could in the remaining spin of the wheel left. However, he was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't pay attention to whatever Moriarty was rambling about until his boss lightly shoved him, jolting him back to focus.

"Sebastian, that was amusing. Why didn't you laugh? Why didn't you smile? In fact, I've never seen you smile at all." Moriarty scowled.

Sebastian shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention to you, Boss. But…sometimes I just don't see any reason to laugh…or smile."

"Hmph…I'll make you smile one of these days." Moriarty grumbled, pushing the sides of Sebastian's mouth up in an attempt to force that smile to appear.

"You can try all you want, I guess." Sebastian said, picking up his rifle case as their carriage gently lowered to the ground as the ride finally ceased.

The man operating the Ferris Wheel opened the gate to their carriage and grumbled as he looked out at the crowd. "Did you hear that? I don't know what it was, but it caused so many people to scream and rush out! Maybe something went wrong with the gun exhibition again? Goodness me…"

Sebastian shrugged and brushed past the man while Moriarty offered him a smug smile.

"Ah…do you hear that, Sebastian? Sh…just listen. Listen!" Moriarty closed his eyes as a smile spread across his face. He grabbed Sebastian's coat, forcing him to stop and comply.

Shutting his eyes, Sebastian heard only the overwhelming screams of panic that drowned out the rest of the noises of the game booths.

"Well, I suppose the whole place has probably figured out what has happened…" Sebastian remarked, opening his eyes before turning to look to Moriarty who was still frozen in his blissful state.

"I just love that sound. Ooh! The screams! The chaos! And we get paid to cause this? Oh I love it all…" Moriarty laughed, finally opening his eyes.

In that moment, Sebastian couldn't help but feel…content. He was content with his life, and he almost lifted the corners of his lips after gazing upon Moriarty's infectious joy.

Almost.

So, with something akin to amiable contentment in their hearts, Moriarty and Moran exited the carnival completely at ease in the crowd of screaming people fleeing from the gruesome scene the two of them left behind.