Shit.

This was an unexpected turn of events.

It brought the overwhelming sense of doubt into his mind. Had he misjudged? Was the young man too young to go out on a mission alone? Too inexperienced? He had proven himself more than self-sufficient on his accompanied missions, and this would have been a cake-walk for him.

Harry was still there, watching the live feed as it transmitted through Eggsy's glasses and streamed through to his computer; Pacing, hoping, praying that the young man would come home to him at the end of it.

It was with horror that he watched the young man walk straight into a clear ambush. With no warning, a dozen women appeared on the feed, and Harry froze, mid-pace.

"Shit," Harry muttered, and Eggsy was on the move, dodging backwards from their forward swipes. He narrowly missed a swipe for his midsection, as he dodged one that went for his neck. With each move, Eggsy grew less and less graceful. Each move came awkwardly, and it was all he could do to try to put some decent space between him and the women.

But every step he took back, every second he took to breathe, was filled by another attack. He tried once to block a swipe with his umbrella, and the tool was split in half by the oncoming blade, which sliced through his forearm. The cut was not a deep one, but its very existence spoke volumes.

As she stepped towards Eggsy, Harry took a swift, inwards breath.

"Eggsy," He muttered, "I don't mean to alarm you, but this woman is going to make an attempt on your life," Harry watched her as she swung her hips and walked towards his Kingsman. Her teeth were exposed in something Eggsy was sure was meant to be a smile, but looked far more predatory - like a lioness prowling towards her kill with sharp teeth bared.

"What do we have here?" She asked the group of girls, whose cheeks she touched lovingly as she passed them, as if they were her own children, "Another fallen Kingsman?"

In Eggsy's head, Harry's words echoed. How was that meant to not alarm him? 'By the way, you're going to die, but try not to freak out'. Eggsy swore that he would make it back to the headquarters just to give Harry an earful about what is and what is not okay to say to an agent out on a mission.

"If she does," Harry eventually continued, "You're not going to have many options for defence. You will be her seventeenth Kingsman claim," It was a challenge to keep the croak from creeping into his voice, "But if you can keep her attack on your non-vital organs, you may stand a chance."

"What a pity," The woman said, stopping just short of Eggsy's grasp. Her hands petted the hair of the other girls as they all huddled around her for a moment, before she waved them away, "You're quite a pretty one. Far nicer than the last Lancelot we took down," She paused, trapping Eggsy's cheeks between her thumb and forefinger; "You didn't replace him, did you? No? I suppose you're the new Galahad then," She released Eggsy's face, and tapped his cheek with her open hand softly; "You Galahads are so easy to kill."

Eggsy just stood there. Stood there and took it as his guts were swiped at with duel, curled blades. He stood there as the pain leaked from his stomach, and pumped battery acid into his veins. Eggsy didn't move an inch as the woman turned on her heel, purred, "Told you," and left him the same way she came in.

With a clenched fist, Harry took a seat at his desk.

"Arthur, sir - argh - fuck the formalities," Eggsy's voice was tipped with panic as the picture on the screen moved as Eggsy collapsed, "Harry. Harry are yah there, bruv?" The shock robbed him of his voice as he glanced down at his belly; his skin was ripped and bloody, and his internal organs were spilling from him.

"I'm right here, Eggsy," Harry spoke through gritted teeth, and fought to keep his voice steady. Uncurling his fist, Harry lay both hands out flat on the table in front of himself, either side of the screen, as he watched the transmission.

Using his hands to try to scoop himself back into his body, Eggsy's hard breaths broke into pained sobs. Each ragged sob that dragged itself from Eggsy's chest took the broken pieces of Harry and smashed them with a hammer. "Oh god, Harry, this is fucked, innit," His voice was breaking. Eggsy could feel the warm, sticky blood pouring over his fingers, and watched as is pooled around him.

Muting his microphone, Harry growled, his frustration rolling in his throat. His eyes pricked as tears threatened to break his composure.

"Harry?" Eggsy whimpered, breaking the silence the older man had let settle between them.

Unmuting his mic, Harry spoke with a clear, strong voice, "I'm still here, Eggsy. I'm not going to leave you alone in this," He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat, willing it to budge as he fed the young man the lie, "We've got agents en route. They're going to assist you with your medical needs, and bring you back, safe and sound," His flattened hand curled back into a fist, and it thumped against the table. How treacherous of him to lie to the man he lo-

No.

There was no room for that emotion now. He had to keep a clear head while Eggsy was still breathing.

Eggsy's breath gurgled in his throat, and as he coughed into his hand, Harry saw the fresh blood against his fingers, "How long?" He asked, rubbing the red liquid between his fingers, as if he couldn't believe that it was really his.

"You've got," Harry quickly measured the time he expected Eggsy had left before he died, "Ten minutes until your medical team and evac arrives. Just give them ten minutes," Urgency bit at his voice, breaking the illusion of calm for just a moment.

"And how long," Eggsy coughed again, "How long do I have left before I bleed out? Two minutes?"

Mute the mic.

"Shit."

Unmute the mic.

"Just hold on, Eggsy."

"Hold on for what?" Eggsy snapped. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. Harry almost cursed at him for ruining the fabric. But his front lapels were already sliced open and covered in blood; it didn't matter what he did from this point onwards, "There's nothing to hold on to, Harry. 'm clocking out, and all you can say is 'hold on'. That's fucking rich."

"Sometimes, and this would be one of those times, it would be wise to trust me without question," Tears were welling in his eyes, and as he blinked, one rolled down his cheek, "Your pain will stop soon, and you'll be brought back to the estate. I'll be waiting for you here. You have my word."

"Your word, ey?" Another gurgle bubbled in his throat, "What's that worth?"

"My entire world, Eggsy."

The line went silent, and Harry's heart froze. He realised he wasn't breathing, just in case he could catch the sound of Eggy's ragged breath on the other line. The seconds dragged on, and still no sound came from the other man. Harry lowered his head, and touched it to the desk.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Harry felt a sob shake through his body. Touching his hand to the comm, he tuned into Merlin's frequency.

"Merlin. I'm sending you some co-ordinates," He whispered, "Would you please do me the favour of sending a body-retrieval team out to them?" He closed off the communication line, not wanting to face Merlin, or anyone for that matter.

-.. . .- -..

When Eggsy's body was transported to the Kingsman estate, it came in a body bag. Dark green, and bulging. Harry watched it from the door to the hanger, and walked silently with it to the morgue. There, he stood by as the incinerator burnt Eggsy's physical form to ash. He might as well have taken his heart out and thrown it into the inferno.

Once the ashes were collected, by hands that would shake far less than his own, Harry left someone else to the formalities - in his haze, he didn't register who it was who took the ashes, to return it to the family. He took care of the short obituary, which he would have issued in The Independent.

It took three and a half hours to find the right words to say, and even when he sent it off, they felt like they didn't fit. But they had to do, for as soon as he sent them off, Harry retired to the floor, a bottle of gin tucked under his arm.

Unwin, Gary "Eggsy". On Wednesday, April 1. 26 years. Son of Mr Lee Unwin (dec) and Mrs Michelle Unwin; Brother of Daisy Unwin. Proud master of Jack "JB" Bauer. He was loved.