-- BRRING BRRING BRRING --

Viktor's alarm rang out into the single-bedroom apartment, rousing him from his comfortable sleep and letting him know that his day was ready to start. He stretched his body, which was slightly above-average in height, and threw back the covers. He tapped the remote on his bedside table and smiled as his blinds opened up and sunshine poured in. His phone buzzed once and he saw a message from his fiancee: Hey there, handsome. Still on for breakfast?

"It's gonna be a great day. I can feel it," Viktor said to no one in particular, smiling softly as he looked out at the cityscape beyond his window.

After brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and eating a bagel, he was ready for breakfast with Claire. He made his way to the elevator and traveled the 8 floors down to his apartment building's lobby, where he walked out the door and onto the sidewalk towards the cafe. A few minutes later, and he was sitting across the table from a beautiful brunette with hazel eyes, ordering a hot chocolate with whipped cream and enduring a playful glare from the love of his life.

"Excuse me, mister Faust, but I think you've forgotten to order breakfast. Again," Claire said, eliciting a smile half-sheepish, half-amused.

"I may or may not have eaten a bagel on the way out this morning," Viktor replied. Claire leaned back and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"All this time, and you still don't eat in front of me unless you have to. You know we're supposed to be married in-- what, three months? You're gonna have to get used to it eventually," she informed him with a grin.

Viktor grinned in response, "Two months and 23 days, to be precise. And yes, I'll have to get used to it... But until then, I'll eat breakfast and keep the food fragments out of my teeth in front of you. After all, then you might not think I was so handsome, and where would we be then?"

Claire sighed dramatically in response before raising a single, incredulous eyebrow, "This coming from the gilded-tongued Viktor Faust, the self-proclaimed king of charm? The man who could sell water to a fish, and sand to a beach? Perhaps I was mistaken, and you really are just a handsome face with a bit too much modesty. Why, a woman could swoon from such gracious humility," Claire teased. Viktor chuckled and took a drink of hot chocolate.

"The beauty is only in the eye of the beholder. And you have such exceptional eyes, my--" He was cut off as he lurched forward, grabbing Claire and pulling her off of her seat. A moment later, it was clear what he had seen as an SUV barreled towards the cafe window, crashing through and smashing a quaint wooden table into smithereens. A chair went flying and hit Viktor in the side of the head and he fell to the ground like a sack of bricks, Claire still on the ground from when Viktor had pulled her off the chair and thrown her out of the way. She screamed as Viktor fell, her eyes racing around the scene of carnage: Two other patrons were also injured, and a large man was getting out of the black SUV. The man had rugged features and a bulky body as he looked around drunkenly, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the girl behind the register.

"Money!" He snarled, waving the gun around recklessly. "If any- hiccup-If anyone tries anything, I'll blow their fucking head off!" He roared, words slurring. Sirens blared off in the distance, and Viktor slowly recovered from the chair hit. I've just got to stall, he thought as he heard the sirens. No, he's drunk and clearly unstable, I've just got to make sure Claire doesn't do anything stupid. The priority is staying safe. He corrected his game plan as he slowly started to sit up, holding his head as Claire looked at him with worry.

The criminal looked at him suspiciously, whirling to make sure Viktor wasn't doing anything to stop him before letting out a yell. Another customer had leapt forward and grabbed onto the guy, attempting to wrestle him to the ground. The robber cursed and shook his assailant off, shots ringing out throughout the cafe as he discharged the gun several times in all directions, only a couple of the bullets hitting their intended target. Viktor flinched back and turned to look at Claire and ensure her safety, but it was too late. His fiancee laid on the floor, eyes blissfully blank as a stream of red trailed from her forehead down her face, a small hole marring her otherwise perfect skin.

"C-Claire?" He whispered, leaning forward over her and ignoring the confrontation behind him. "C-Claire? Can you hear me?" He asked her, cupping her face with one shaking hand as another shot rang out. "Stay with me, okay honey? We'll get you out of here, okay? I'll deal with this, don't worry," He reassured the corpse, two tears gently streaming down his cheeks. With his promise, he turned and stood on wobbling legs. The drunken man stared at him apprehensively, not nearly as violent as a moment before. Something in Viktor's eyes, glazed over and unseeing, unsettled the man. He raised his pistol but didn't shoot.

"H-hey, man. Stay down. You don't want what happened to your little girlfriend to happen to you, do you?" He threatened Viktor, who took one step forward without replying and flung a half-hearted punch at the robber. It bounced off the man's prodigious chest, and he retaliated by backhanding Viktor so hard that Viktor collapsed to one knee.

"Now stay down," the robber commanded Viktor as the latter rose again to swing another, stronger punch. Again, the man barely reacted as he hit Viktor onto the floor. Viktor stood up and began to attack again, but the man had had enough.

Time seemed to progress in slow motion as he raised the gun, taking careful aim as he seemed to sober up from the adrenaline of the previous confrontation. His finger tightened on the trigger and a bullet traveled ever-so-slowly through the air. Viktor stared at it, his body nonresponsive as the bullet gently floated through the air. Viktor's eyes couldn't cross fast enough to trace its path as it got closer. Then, everything went black.

Viktor had been wrong. It was not going to be a good day.