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ultimaxell · 7 years

Text

Testing Fate

Wordcount: 11143

He felt like home.

Safe, like, if she was in his arms, nobody could touch her. As long as his hands were on her, as long as he was there, around her, nothing could hurt her. He was warm against her frozen flesh, his suit wrapping her in the comfort of smells that she had grown to love, cigarettes and woods. A smell that haunted her waking hours, the smell lingering over her clothes long into the school days. He even smelt like home, or at least what she wanted home to be. The familiar feel of just being generally wanted rose up the back of her throat as his fingers threaded through her hair, his nails grazing lightly over her scalp to produce a relaxing motion.

There was something almost magical about those fingers, something that had her completely wrapped up in within seconds. She needed him. That much was undeniable now. Now that he had left her for a whole week. He hadn’t opened his apartment door to her knocks, didn’t return phone calls or text, no response on any social media. The boy had not even shown up to school. He had just left, disappeared without any sort of trace, right along with the other three. And no one seemed to be worried, not a single person seemed to be out looking for him. Not a single person bothered in any sort of absence of the bubbly blonde boy.

Besides her, that was.

She closed her eyes to the feel, trying to keep out the incessant buzzing that seemed to be blaring at her through her blonde haze. She could feel him speaking, his chest rising and falling against her cheek, she could even feel his heart beating, her own trying to slow down to match his. Her fingers came up to bunch in the fabric of his suit, pulling him closer, as if, if he was not touching her that she would explode into some sort of wild array of something probably pretty important to keep together.

She wanted it to be a blonde bundle of overly excitable boy, she wanted it to be the boy that she had been longing after for two years. Kasmir. She wanted him to be hers, she wanted her to be his.

He was speaking now, his words only hushed hums through her ears, even as he took hold of her chin, forcing her to look up to him, she could not understand. But she watched those lips move, watched as those icy eyes pulled her into some sort of daze that she could not possibly understand. But she watched those lips form each word, diligently. Saw his pink tongue dip to touch his lips and she saw the small quirk to his frown as he watched her.

There was a pause between his words though, as he waited, for a response she supposed. That was the norm. To respond when someone said something to you. But she had not heard him, his words literally going over her head. Instead the buzzing still rang in her ears as her thoughts raced across the channels that she seemed stuck on. It was shrill, loud, brought a shiver that wracked her bones as she tried to pull back into the warmth of his chest.

“Liam… He doesn’t like astrology. Says it’s a waste of intelligence. Intelligence better to place somewhere else. He doesn’t know any. Not a single constellation… You do. You care about things. You care about me?”

Her eyes lifted from his lips that drew her in, seeking something, to the bridge of his nose, exploring his cheeks as she spoke. Her words flowed easily from her mouth now. There was no stopping them, not once she had started. Not once she caught on to the small obsession she had been holding on to with him. Her own fingers came up to caress his jaw, her finger running soothing circles over his skin as he let worried eyes rest on hers.

The affection that bloomed in her chest for the boy was alarming, something that her mind cold steadily focus on through the euphoria that was clouding out the bad. He was always there, he was always ready to defend her to the hell and back, but Emmy had only been able to appreciate it through a false facade of just friendship with him. A tick that she knew right off the bat that Kasmir did not appreciate. But here she was, in his arms, uncaring of their surroundings. Instead she was trying, with every ounce in her to hears his words. To understand why he looked so forlorn. But try as she might she couldn’t seem to focus beyond the string of thoughts running through her head.

‘Why did he leave you for so long if he really cared about you?’

‘He probably got sick of your excuses and just wanted to get away from you.”

‘It’s your fault for choosing Liam over him. Why should he have to say anything to you when he decided to leave?’

“You could have at least said goodbye.”

--------------------------------

She wasn’t listening, or she couldn’t listen, that much Kasmir was able to tell as he watched her eyes move along his features, tracing them with her gaz as he tried to draw a response out of her. She didn’t fight as he moved, his hands sliding along her body so that he could hook her legs in the crook of one of his arms, pulling her close to his body as he held her, her arms wrapped around him as she pressed her body harder against him.

Her voice spilled, fall as he turned away from the massacre before her, her eyes wide and unseeing as she spoke of a boy hours past dead, her head rested on his chest as she spoke whatever it was that came to mind. Her question to him made him pause his movements, Kasmir looking down at the woman in his arms with something of a surprised look, confused but there.

His mouth opened, lips parting as he took in a breath. All words seemed to catch in his throat, to stay stuck to a gummy tongue as he swallowed thickly to try and speak again, but he found he had no words, not a single clue as to how to answer her. Kasmir was a bright boy, not the top of his classes but damn near close, but no amount of studying or reading had prepared him to give voice to the emotions she brought to life in his chest. He wasn’t Davy, he didn’t know how to find the words to name these emotions, didn’t have the skill to string them so artfully together as his friend did even if he had managed to find the words. He didn’t have the words for what she really meant to him, and even trying felt forced and felt flat on what he really wanted to say. There wasn’t a way to voice it, this heat, this need , this fire that boiled his blood. There was little he wouldn’t do for his friends, but there was even less when it came to the woman in his arms, her touch, her kiss, her body on his drove him crazy in all the best of ways. He needed her, needed her in his apartment laughing as she found his baby pictures again, In his kitchen, clinging to him with her legs and arms wrapped around him as she begged him to cook something for her because she was starving, and if she didn’t eat, right now, she was absolutely going to die. He needed her in his bed, completely on top of him with her hair falling in his face, nearly drowning him as it got caught in his mouth but what did that matter if it was her in his arms?

Kasmir loved her. The words were weak and tired and overdone, but they were true.

“Of course I do. You know that, Emmy. I’ll always care about you“ He muttered as he pressed his lips to her temple, walking past the bodies of friends and men he called his family. His words were spoken against her temple, light brushed of his lips on her skin, nuzzling into her as he walked them both toward the only exit in the school.

“You know I love you. I won’t let anything happen to you…. I got you, It’s okay, just relax…”

He was thankful, suddenly, absently, that he didn’t really have to deal with the same struggles his friends, his brothers had to, the ones who were now starting the hunt to track their girls down, the ones that were now turning from the bloodshed of the masses to those who had either wronged them or they desired. Kasmir didn’t care really either way, his mind having heavily settled on Emmy since the moment this plan had come to fruition, only a few other names added to the exempt list because of him. His mind was wholly consumed by her, and he thanked whatever gods may be that Emmy had simply walked straight to him, into his waiting arms with only a mumble against his chest.

She was shaken, in shock, but she came willingly, and that was what stuck with him.

“I won’t leave you, not ever.”

----------------------------------

“Hmm? Who?”

There was a hum as he snapped his gaze up, pulling it away from the blood that was starting to pool at his feet, to seep into his shoes and collect about the sole. He didn’t know why he bothered to look really, considering Neferox didn’t see himself as a particularly bright boy, names often slipping from him almost instantly after him learning them, the effect of a few too many concussions left untreated. He leaned into Vaughn’s Touch, his kisses, the little smile on his lips widening with every press of his lips to his cheek. Blood soaked hands moved along the back of his brother’s suit, the fabric wet and sticking with the blood that coated him, to reach of the little strip of cloth that had been placed in his pocket, pulling it out to wipe off his hands. The handkerchief, quickly changed from white to pink to red, stained forever with a memory he carved, painfully, into his mind.

The small little gestures of affection pulled a laugh from his lips, a chuckle building in his chest before he looked to his brother, catching the same mismatched gaze he held boring into him. There was a smile on Vaughn’s face, a pull to his lips he hadn’t seen in so long that he had almost forgotten what it looked like, what his brother looked like without the troubles of another bully, or the wounds from yet another fight that they had found themselves in littering their skin, bruise blooming under his eyes, lips pulled into a deep frown as he fought to stop the bleeding from his nose and split lip. Everyday had been the same thing, over and over and over, the same fights, the same bullies, the same beatings from people who didn’t have the courage to face the Matthews brothers on their own. They had endured it, had learned from an early age that life was not, would not, be fair. Fair was for bedtime stories and kindergarten classrooms, a non existent concept anywhere else. They had learned that there wasn’t anyone who would help them, had learned from a young age that they only really had each other, and over the years, that had taken a toll on their morale. Neferox could hardly recall the last time he had seen Vaughn really, genuinely smile, and to see it lighting up his brothers face now made his chest tighten with an affection he could not name.

If Nothing else came out of tonight…. At Least Vaughn was happy.

Neferox turned his gaze away from his younger twin, dual colored eyes flicking toward the sight of Neket and Audi as Neket drew in the taller boy easily, the same sort of knowing movements that had Neferox’s hand moving to his brother's hair, fingers running soothing little lines along his scalp. He glanced at the set of twins before them, the vivid pastel purple and the glimmering fake strands of the girl next to her, and it took a moment for it to click, the names coming back as he drew in an excited little gasp. His eyes widened as he allowed his own smile to drift over him, hands moving excitedly for a moment.

“Oh! I actually know this! That’s Lunthe and Braithe! Neket’s wifi wifey, and Audi’s eye candy!”

There was pride in his eyes, a flash of it as he turned slightly toward his brother, before pulling a face at hima twist to his expression as it became just that slight bit darker, that little shift that had his smile sliding straight from a puppy like adorable tick to a smolder of darkness that had been present on his face before, the sadistic flair to his features as he turned them away from the sight. The laughter bubbled in him, in his chest, the feeling foreign and almost new, a memory he had about another life. He had never felt so wonderfully free, wonderfully justified and righteous and god he felt Powerful, lives taken by his hands, his tormentors, the ones who had specifically made his life hell.

“But they aren’t the important ones…. Now are they?”

His voice changed slightly, a dark velvet hum along the scent of blood that now hazed the air like a lingering fog.

There Was the minor sound of gurgling blood behind him, the slight shift in tone as someone let out a dying breath, the plea silent but there, present and unanswered. The sound sent a shiver down his spin, a jolt straight to his gut to pool and simmer with need.

“I know I personally have no real interest in Lunthe and Braithe…. Not tonight at least.”

--------------------

He could hear the concern lacing each word, the thoughts projecting the caring tone in his voice. He could hear the slight agitation that seemed to build up at the fight that his Khaleen put up. A valiant attempt to protect a sister that they both knew she could not. At least not for long. But he couldn’t bring in him to spill his guts at this moment. Not while his eyes were on Lunthe, not when he could see the shivers running up her spine and the chill to her blood. Her heartbeat was a roar in his ears as he made his way over to the girls and his bleeding heart of a best friend. Not an etch of the concern was in his features, they were all hard edges and mockery. That was until those caring hands reached out for him, fingers wrapping around the back of Audi’s neck to press him closer to Neket.

There was a twinge, a small quirk to his smile as the mask crumbled just that little bit. Just that fraction for just that split second as those multi colored eyes landed on his, shifting his attention entirely to his Dhouti. There was a crack somewhere in the armor he wore for Neket, there always had been and he was sure there always would be one. He just slipped under his skin, warmed his very veins and on the bad side, brought a lump to his throat when he thought about even trying to lie to him.

Audi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his free hand coming up to cup the back of Neket’s neck. He let the small connection soothe him, let the calm wash over him at the feel of his own Dhouti. His fingers smoothed back strands of wild black hairs, twirling the locks between his fingertips before answering.

‘I’m as fine as I can be… Let me just get this done so i can get Lunthe out of here.’

There was a pause a subtle flicker of acknowledgment as he heard the sigh rip between the two, Neket’s lips parting to let out small sigh. The smile on his lips turned into something sweet for a moment, Audi’s hands worked quickly, pulling Neket’s forehead down so that he could press a soft kiss to the crown of his head. His own smile lifting as he kept his lips pressed for a second.

The truth was, this night was not meant for him. Honestly, he could not even tell you if this life was fit for him yet, but it was perfect for Neket. Suited the King more than it suited others, more than it suited the Michaels at least. Or just him, his brother seemed to be stepping into the position as shadow king very well. But point being, there was a spot in his heart that was just for his Dhouti, strictly. And that spot enabled the boy to be able to get in and pull on some heartstrings, enough to get whatever he wanted from Audi.

Even now, Audi could feel it, the need in Neket for Audi to be just as happy. And it was that need that built the smile up just a little bit more. There was a need rising up in his own guts to give his Dhouti exactly what his Dhouti wanted.

Dhouti’s get what they want.

Lee’s, they take what they want.

‘Don’t worry about me, Tovak. Besides,... you have bigger things to worry about. Do what you came here to do.’

He let go reluctantly, his eyes stuck on Neket’s for a moment longer. He wanted him to be happy, could honestly say that he wanted almost nothing more in this world than for his Dhouti to be safe and happy.

But they were there for bigger things, than the small connections that they needed to feel from time to time.

The second he turned his eyes from him though he could feel it, the dread pick back up as eyes as blue as the ocean swept him up. A fear hidden behind them that caused his heart to absolutely stumble in his chest and threatening to rip him apart from the inside out. She was scared, terrified, her heart erratically pounding against her chest, her eyes were wide, tears on the cusp of falling, droplets sprinkled across thick lashes as her eyes shifted from him and Neket and back again.

There was sorrow that raced through his vein for her, and he was moving, the ache to soothe those fears encompassing him before he even knew what he was doing. His hand moved almost on instinct, moving to rest her cheeks in the palms of his hands, his thumbs coming up to wipe at unshed tears.

He shushed her, his body bending so they could look at each other on an eye level . There was concern, genuine running through him. He could understand, her need to stand up, to protect the one person in her life he knew she needed. He could understand her fear of him as he pulled her into his arms, letting one single hand move to her hip. He could understand the punches that she threw.

Hell, she didn’t know what was going on. Had not a single clue as to why it was this was happening around her. But she also didn’t know that she was safe, that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. That nothing,... horribly bad would happen to her sister. At least not fatally.

It was not her fault that she didn’t know their plans, she didn’t have any sort of clue what she had in store at this point.

“Calm down, Khaleen. You’re fine. I’m not here to hurt you.”

------------------------

“They aren’t even looking this way. Break the window.”

“Jess, they are going to hear i-”

“Just break it Thomas. I swear to god. I’m not trying to die tonight.”

They were all talking, they were all whispering among each other as the shots rang out, their eyes wide as they focused on nagging each other instead of the situation at hand. Their scared and panicked tones kicking up into the air to create a thick layer over the already tense atmosphere. Brown eyes shifted, watching each movement from her corner of the room, she watched as they argued and nitpicked, their hands coming up to push at each other as their words got more and more heated. But she knew. Knew what fear could do to a person. Even if it was quite possibly the worst decision they could possibly make in a situation like this.

Circee ducked into the corner, her back sliding along the cold of the wall as she dipped down to the floor. Logically speaking, none of them were going to be able to hear the window breaking. Not over gun-shots. They would have to be right in the general vicinity of the classroom. Which since they the shooters thought they were all stuck in the gym, they would not be. Really, Thomas was being the fucking idiot here.

And he was going to be the reason they got caught.

“Jess, listen. We can just go see if the exit’s are open there’s one that's not too far down the hall.”

“It’s locked. And you heard his announcement.”

“They couldn’t have locked them all. Not that fast. Come on.”

“Thomas,...”

“Trust me”

‘Don’t do it Jess, you’ll regret it.’

“Alright. Fine”

‘Fucking Idiot.’

The thought was short, blunt. But they had decided on their own death. And their was nothing Circee could say, let alone wanted to say. The girl followed the dumb jock to her death again. And they would end up being the romeo and juliet of the sunday header of the newspaper.

That's what they had decided their lives could amount to.

“Come on, baby. I got you don’t worry.”

Thomas was gonna be able to play tough guy up until the moment that those gunshots were heading straight his way, then Jess would be left out in the dusk. But Circee supposed she was really going to die one way or the other so what happened.

“You’re right baby. You’re right.”

They shuffled in their spots for a minute, unsure on their next movements, but with a small touch to the small of the little black haired girls back, Thomas was able to move her forward. Her hands reached for the door, turning the knob as quietly as she humanly could. She didn’t move, didn’t dare breath as they opened the door, the soft click of the lock catching as the door shut behind them was almost jarring in moments like these.

But what was it she was supposed to do to escape from the same hell?

But the world around her went quiet, the shots fading almost just as fast as they had begun. The screams that had echoed died, and there was only quiet now. Something that seemed to shake her even worse than just the terror that had just been rising through the air.

Circee was not a scared girl, she didn’t shy away from danger. Hell, usually she ran face first into it. Taking on any sort of challenge as she seen fit. Bungee jumping, sky diving, tank diving. She’d been surrounded only the best, all of her friends or family willing to jump head long into the danger of it with her.

But right now. She was shivering, and not just from the cold that clung to her skin, her heart was jerking erratically against her rib cage. Right now, she was not a strong girl .She was not brave. She was scared. Intimidated. Cowering in the corner of a classroom with her hands brought up over her ears to only deepen the bone chilling silence that was resonating now.

‘Breathe. Just breathe. In through your mouth and out through your nose. No one knows you’re here.’

She couldn’t sit here and call people names when she could not even gather the courage to stand up, to look for some sort of exit. She couldn’t even lift her eyes as something rang out low in her ears, the words or sound all together inaudible, but it was long, and if she had to guess it was probably screams. Probably Romeo and Juliet themselves getting caught up in an idiotic plan, that Romeo that was the ‘smart’ decision.

‘No one knows, no one knows you’re here.’

There was a crash, loud, reverberating through her bones again causing her to jump. The sound rocketed off again. Soaring through the night air as a loud holler of enjoyment echoed through the halls. The twins sounds collecting into a noise that she wanted nothing to do with. She shuffled, resting her forehead on top of her kneecaps, er ears still covered by both her hands.

‘Someone had to have called the police by now. They are probably on their way here already...’

The bangs shifted, turning into loud low shrieks of shrill metal running across the hallway bricks. If she had to pin point the sound it sounded like an aluminum baseball bat colliding with the hard brick that was the foundation of their school. But that was not the part that had her trembling, that part was that the noise was getting closer, louder as it approached. The scream of metal obnoxious in her ears, even through her hands, even through her desperate attempt to quiet it. Her body shrinking in on itself to the best of her abilities.

But then it disappeared, gone past the door to continue on through the halls. Until finally she was dipped into the silence again. At least for that moment.

---------------------------------------------

His words were nothing, something she could only call a hum of background noise as her mind suddenly came to screeching halt as she took in his looming form. moving through shadows and oceans of blood before he came to a alt before her, her eyes locked on him but his attention for the man before him, his eyes flickering over to her before he turned to reach for the smaller man that was already reaching for him. Her eyes flickered between them, the Snow that kept her sister glued to her phone, who her sister stalked and fawned and laughed over, who she cried for when she told him she couldn’t talk to him anymore. She still remembered her sobs, the gut wrenching churn in her own gut at hearing them as she watched her sister's phone light up in her hands, His messages falling through before she could manage to pull up the contact she would need to block him from reaching Braithe’s phone.

‘Braithe, Wait.’

‘Please Don’t do this.’

‘Braithe please i can’t I can’t lose you’

‘I can deal with nick, It’s not like he can make my life worse’

‘Braithe don’t give up on me i need you’

‘I can’t do this’

‘Please don’t let me go’

‘You’re all I have left’

The last of the messages before she managed to block him hovered in Braithe’s inbox, and Lunthe could remember looking at her sister as she screamed into her bed, holding her stuffed animals as she sobbed her misery over losing possibly the only man she had ever seen her sister really, truly care for, Lunthe had deleted them, the whole of their conversations, and continued on the mission that Braithe had asked her to do, To Block him from reaching her on any social media, because Braithe didn’t have the heart to do it herself, but she couldn't let Nick Destroy Neket Snow.

And she had. She had done her job as her Older sister, had done what anyone would have done to save the person that meant everything to them from further pain. But it had apparently backfired splendidly, as now Neket let go of the taller man, his smile unhinged and his eyes snapping back to the silent younger Durandal.

Lunthe hardly noticed Neket, could hardly focus on anything as Audi turned his gaze to her, locking her in her place, froze and unable to even so much a breath.

It was him. It was him, it was him, it was him. She felt the tears start, the burn behind her eyes falling to burn along her skin. She shook, her hands trembling as she sucked in a little, her eyes on him as the realization hit her that it really was him, Audi Michaels, the silent boy who had managed to steal her attention away without her even realizing it was happening. She didn’t really know when she started to look for him. She could remember having him in a few classes, mostly required classes she decided to take a little early or electives, and he never said much, was never really involved with the rest of the school. She could remember watching him, watch as he ignored the school around him, as people passed him for a partner, for homework, almost like he wasn't there. It had started somewhere around her noticing him, her seeking him out to be his partner on projects or lab, her taking a seat next to him in classes when she saw him. There was something about him, something in his clipped responses and him looking away from her as he responded to something she had said that pulled her, the boy a mystery she wanted to know, an ocean with hidden currents. She found herself thinking about him, wondering as she laid in bed at night with her sister cuddled next to her about what he was like,w hat his room looked like, his favorite color or his life.

Audi was a mystery, but a mystery that had already started to seep into her veins. Even now she felt it, that strange allure, but it was tainted now, a dark thread of fear tracing through her blood to make her body tremble. Audi had always been quiet, but she had never seen him as violent, never seen him so angry and free and unrepressed. He moved easily over the floor, straight to Neket without so much a a flicker of his lashes, uncaring about the lives around him. There was the instant fear, the shiver of terror that closed her throat and had her hands clenching tightly to Braithe.

It hit her like a freight train.

She was going to die tonight.

He stole the breath in her lungs as he moved. His hands found her cheeks, pulling her to him, His words sliding along her skin as she moved to fight, to struggle and pull from his hold. Her eyes were wide, fear rippling through dark blue eyes as she gasped in surprise, his arms steel she could not bend. She pushed, getting nowhere as she heard Neket move, shifting as she heard her sister’s twin gasp. Her heart stalled, eerily silent in her chest before it reappeared in her throat, pulsing out a roar in her mind that made everything else fade away.

“Everyone’s Dead. Everyone… I know is dead.” Her Words fell, her eyes wide as she pushed, though her strength had died long ago. Her hands clenched now, pulled at his jacket as she stared, vivid, distant eyes, terror apparent in the shine of it.

“I didn’t mean to make anyone angry.” she was babbling now, her mind starting to frizz over with the harsh static of fear,

“Don’t kill her, don’t Hurt Braithe.”

-----------------------------------------------

Arsen was going to be sick.

The scent of death hung heavy in the air, the reek of dead bodies seeping through the heavy wooden door Arsen had locked behind him. His stomach curled as he stifled a gag, his eyes snapping away from the door, his hand moving to cover his mouth for a moment, before he dragged it down along his face. Arsen had never had a particularly strong stomach, not able to handle the bloody gorey movies Heru and Neket seemed to love so much, or the particularly bad food combinations that the High minds of Neferox and Vaughn, or Inness and Oberon liked to make. He never had a good tolerance for things he found absolutely disgusting, and as it was, it turns out that people in general were one of them.

People were absolutely disgusting. Rotten, sewage from the inside out, only proven by the stench of death they emitted when they passed. Spilled blood created a thick stench of metal decay, a burn along his throat as he breathed in, his tongue tasting the rot and curling in on itself, waging war with his self control.

This past week and taught him the importance of scents. He was able to pick out the healthy from the sick, the sober from the drunkard and the weak from the strong. Everyone had a scent, but Arsen had found that every human he had ever come across smelled the exceptionally awful, lingering rot following in their wake. Their true stench was one of decay, rancid to the core and pungent enough to make his eyes water and his stomach to heave. He was lucky there was nothing solid in his stomach as he turn to walk out of the front office, taking in a deep breath as he stepped outside those confines.

God He hated blood.

“Ugh…. Someone tell me That the announcement went all the way through the school… I’ve had it with the gun play.”

The words echoed in his mind, along the bond where he could feel the presence of each one of his squad members, the minds of each of them bubbling along his own thoughts as he tried to shake the vaguely sick feeling from his gut with a ruffle of his hair, his eyes closing as he breathed.

“What? Can’t Handle a little Violence, Mr.Trigger Happy?” Oberon’s voice purred along his thoughts, the rumble of his Twin’s laughter following immediately after. The twins were notorious for getting under people’s skin, and now it appeared that they had set their sights on Arsen.

“Took the first kill away from Neket and everything. Greedy.”

Arsen rolled his eyes, hardly acknowledging them as he heard the warning snaps from His Dhouti, before he just sighed, his arms crossing as his stomach slowly started to settle down. Oddly enough, this connection, one he had once thought would be more embarrassing or strange and hard to get used to, was actually surprisingly comforting, a low constant hum of activity over him, an anchor he needed to remain grounded. It was them, his friends, the only ones who had remained by his side, lingering in the back of his mind. It was hard to explain how it worked, much like talking but all completely mental and over longer distances. He felt it with all of his kind, with the man He called his father and the others who had saved his friends, and feeling them there was soothing over his nerves, by himself but never really alone. Even the insults and teasing light remarks fell short of irritation, Arsen simply shaking his head.

“She shouldn’t have treated me like a dog. Either way, I wanna get this going. I’m already sick of staring at these walls again.”

“Then let the Hunt begin. Everyone knows the names of the people who are off limits, so if You find anyone you don’t recognize from it. Off them. The less people left alive the better. I’d rather not have the police arrive a little too early.”

The smile curled along his lips, spreading along his features like melting butter. His eyes narrowed, his back straightening as he turned to make his way down the hallways. His head tilted as he listened, hearing the groan of a building settling, possible for the last time it would hold students within it’s walls.

Ryker was here. Somewhere… Somewhere in this maze of classrooms and halls and lockers.

And he would find her.

--------------------------------

“Shh, shh, hush now, Khaleen. Everything’s going to be ok. I promise. It’s going to be okay.”

His words were low, whispered under hushed breaths as he watched her, his fingers moving to capture her tiny wrist into the palms of his hands. His own fingers a velvet cage around her fragile flesh, cradling her as soft as he possibly could in his hands.

His words seemed foreign, even on his tongue, just a mimicked way to make the only girl who had ever caught his attention seem somewhat safe in his arms. He knew that in her eyes, everything was probably not gonna be okay. Even ‘if’ she did make it out of this. Her whole world was going to change, her entire logic and sound mind was going to be twisted until he was her very rock. The person she would cling onto for affection the only person that was ever going to be able to satisfy her again.

She was going to be his, so everything, in the end of these grand schemes was going to be okay. There was no real lie behind his words.

There was a moment where all he could do was watch her, her reactions, the way she felt in his hands, the way her eyes screamed with so much built in emotions. There was a moment where he could only marvel at the woman that he had only dreamed of holding thus far. The girl he had let hold his imagination during those nights where he just could not bother to go to sleep. Lunthe Durandal, the girl that he only dreamed he could possibly even stand a chance with.

Those chances slide right into his fingers in the grace of his King, the grace of the only man who had made this possible for any of them to be here. It was all thanks to NEket that right now the very definition of human perfection stood right in front of him, in his hands, crying for him. Yes, he knew it was for Braithe and herself, schoolmates that he had personally never got onto a friendly level with that was making her actually cry. But it was him she begging, it was him that those eyes were finally focusing on. It was him that finally had all the attention that he had so rightfully deserved. Lunthe had no choice but to acknowledge him, she had no choice but to plead to him, she had no choice but to choose him.

He wasn’t giving her the option. Not anymore.

“You didn’t make anyone mad baby, no. This isn’t your fault… “

Not when she had chosen so wrong for so long.

Audi let his knee hit the ground as he stared up into wild blue eyes. There was another tug on his heart, the world already hazy seemed to blur into nothing but blank ground. Her skin felt nothing like the way his late night fantasies had felt, silk and satin held no candle to the pale flesh under his. Her eyes more blue than he had ever expected, the bright flecks of sapphire more vibrant in her eyes than had ever been able to see. In this sort of despair, the sort of defeat that was beginning to cling to her like a second skin, she seemed fragile, so easily broken that he needed to keep her. Had to keep her, by his side, protected, endeared and loved properly for the first time in her life.

He needed to provide for her the safety that she had never been offered before from this world.

“Lunthe, listen. As long as you cooperate, as long as you listen, Braithe is safe. She won’t die tonight. Okay?”

One of his hands shifted pulling both of those wrist into one of his hands, his other hand came up to push violet strands back behind her ear, his finger coming down to trace the pattern of her jawline until his thumb caught up under Lunthe’s chin, tipping it backwards slightly so that she had to catch his eye. And entrancement took over him, petty and weak to the ways of his violet haired queen.

“Lunthe, you do understand me, right?”

-----------------------------

It was quiet in the gym now.

Derek marveled at it as he sat in the bleachers, bright blue eyes flickering over the bodies of people he had grown up with, people he had sat next to in class, had given paper to when they had been out. His eyes danced over faces that had sneered at him, faces of people who had made his life a living hell and laughed as they watched his misery unfold before their eyes, not a single one of them lifting a hand when the world seemed to be closing in on him. They passed im, ignored him, for something as trivial as the person who had helped conceive him’s sins.

None of them had helped him. None of them had reached out a hand for fear he would be like the man he was forced to call his biological father, for fear he was like a man he didn’t even really know, a man who had been in his life long enough to leave the ragged scars over his body and heart and soul, his mind ravaged and bleak, but not a single person had lifted a hand to help.

Why should he help them as they beg for their lives now?

He listened for a moment, the heavy feeling of his phone in his hands as it lit up once again with another text message, listened and ,used on the sound of their hearts, the rapid fire beats that filled the air, silent to those who had not made the change and strangely comforting to those who did. Namely. Him. Derek listened to the hearts as they started to stutter, slow, but the sound of more, or harsher heartbeats covered the last dying soft beats with rapid, vivid pounding, the course of blood singing in their veins before he shifted, lifting his phone backup to read the little box that held Kasmir’s message.

Derek was happy for him. Honestly if there was anyone in their group who had deserved a no fight capture of their girl, it was Kasmir. Now, don’t get him wrong. Derek Loved Emmy. Adored her really. She had easily become one of their group when she had started hanging out with Kasmir, her intergration not nearly as awkward as he had anticipated it to be. She fit in well with them, mismatched as they were and as Rowdy as they could potentially become, Emmy had become sort of dear to them, the past two years seeing her on a near constant basis. Derek loved her, but he didn’t love her like Kasmir did.

Derek could honestly say it was almost sickening how much Kasmir loved the girl. For years, all he would draw was her, little doodles on homework that Derek was trying to copy because work took too much of his time, on paper probably best left untouched but kasmir couldn’t ever find it in himself to care. Derek could remember rolling his eyes as Kasmir went off, again, about her, some thing she did or something she had said that some how made the sun shine out of her ass. Watching him was nauseating. But he was happy for him, happy he found some who made him feel that way.

At least he had the courage to start something with the girl he loved. Derek had never so much as said a word to his in real life.

His heart rate sped has he thought of her, the one girl who had managed to ensnare him with nothing but the wave of her hands and the glance of her vibrant eyes. Derek had never really spoken to Romi Masters in real life, but he had developed something of a crush on her early on in his school career. It wasn’t hard to see why. Even when they were younger, Romi had always been pretty, a child everyone loved to be around and tried to befriend. Derek had watched from afar, the heavy cloud of his father’s last name following him everywhere he want, preventing him from basking in the sun with her when all he was meant for were shadows. Like every other boy his age, he had developed a crush on the girl, and his feelings never wavering but never intensified either as he made his way through the grades. It just was, she was continuously the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and it had remained as simple as that.

Until he found her online.

He hadn't been looking for anything discriminatory when he had found the website. Rather, he had been curious, bored enough to go through the effort of searching, a long hot night of summer that found him skimming over blue links as he typed away. It wasn’t until he notice a few words, over and over and over again that he found the tumblr in the first place. He could remember the panic in his veins as he saw video after video, picture after gif after gif and picture of her, bent over in various degrees of undress and that had been the start of his slow decent into madness. There she was, a practical goddess, a queen of his school, talking and laughing and joking, her private snapchat and her private accounts available with a monthly subscription.

Romi Masters was a Cam girl, and she was a damn good one, and Derek was not a strong man.

He had started looking for a job the next day.

Derek closed his eyes now, breathing in as he felt his body shake again.

Looking back on it, it all seemed just so innocent. An Innocent crush. He was just like the rest of the men who followed her, lead by hormones and teenage impulse. He had never expected it to lead to this, to lead to this burning aching feeling that lingered in his blood long after she had gone to bed for the night and told him goodnight.

But it saved her tonight. Her ability to pull his heart strings with a bat of her lashes saved her from the massacre that he watched indifferently.

“Kasmir’s on his way back to the Hold. Emmy’s all sorts of out of it, but she’s not putting up a fight. If only we all could be so lucky.” Derek’s voice snapped out of the silence, amplified slightly by the open air of the now near empty gym. He stood easily, sliding his phone back into his pockets as he allowed his foot to slip of the bleacher, catching himself mid fall with the other foot to send a loud resounding bang out across the acoustics.

His mind was filled with the pretty dyed white and brunette, his thoughts lingering on her as he settled on the ground floor, taking in a deep breath as he heard the heart beats racing at the sound of his footsteps.

“Do you hear that?” Derek’s voice purred as he tilted his head, missing as his brother rolled twin colored eyes, though one was a much lighter blue than the other, scares spilling down one half of his face as a reminder of what this night was really about.

“Yes Derek, Because there isn’t ten thousand other sounds going on right now.”

“Shut up Helix, I mean that thrumming.”

His gaze shifted over the bodies, listening, as his body tense, lips pulling slightly in the slightest of smirks.

“Someone’s still alive in here.”

-------------------------------

It hurt. So bad. She could not recall a moment in time when she had ever felt any sort of pain this bad. Not even the time she broke her leg in third grade falling off the fireman's pole. Even then she had been able to keep a smile on her lips, hell, she had been the one to comfort her parents. Her mom was in damned near in sobs, her father had tears running down his neck. But Romi, she had kept that smile on, let them believe the pain was nothing. But not now. Now she cried, her heart stuttering to a halt before picking up pace again in her throat. Pain bloomed in a wild array,her head throbbing right along with arm, the bullet still lodged into her shoulder. Now pain was the only thing that she could concentrate on while the world around her was going crazy.

She couldn’t recall a time where there had seen so much blood, slipping through her fingers to cruise down the length of her other arm as well. No, there was not a single memory she could even try to connect to as much blood there was in this moment. But the scene played behind wet eyelashes hundreds of time over now. The kid that had decided to have just the right amount of courage to ask her to prom, all smiles, sweet. Aaron Weatherly. His hand wrapping over her shoulders as Arsen Michaels began to talk. A valedictorian she had not even heard of before, but he was way too serious, more than anyone should be at prom.

Aaron let her rest in the crook of his body, warm and protected almost, as he bent down to whisper sweet little nothings into her ear. Which she really couldn’t lie, they were working, blush crawling its way up her neck as he spoke softly. Words only meant for her. Words that distracted her from the problems that were pursuing on stage, as she pulled closer to him, her arms wrapping around his waist.

It was a good night. All the fun and magic that she had heard of. To be honest the night had been exactly what she had wished for it to be. She had a hot date, who knew how to treat her, she had the perfect dress, people were staring in awe.

That was until the shocked gasp ripped through the air, another person she really could not name taking the stage with a swoop of enthusiasm that the other boy just didn’t seem to hold for the night. And that’s when her night turned sour. The magic seemingly disappearing in an instant.

The scurry, the crowd clattering, running over one another to get to the doors before the shooters could get to them. There was a sickening calm as they had been huddled back into the gym. This new figures words echoing through the room, only to cause more panic. Shots rang out, wild and coming from every angle. There was a rip, an audible one she could hear. But it wasn’t just the sound, it was the pain, the burn that blossomed in her shoulder that made her realize what had just happened.

But there had been no time. No time to collect herself, to try to get somewhere safe. No in the frenzy of the crowd.

She had lost Aaron, not a second later. Almost immediately, his body collapsing on hers in a messy heap. His body completely limp as he looked down at the world with dead eyes, his mouth open, blood already swelling to pour over what she had once or twice that night thought were rather pretty.

It wasn’t the initial terror she would have thought would have went through her mind, it was confusion. A deep rooted confusion that had her head spinning. It took only seconds for the disgust to build up, another one she had not expected if this situation had ever occurred. But even that subsided as realization hit. A scream of terror ripped through her lips as shifted, desperate to get out from underneath her dead date. Her fingers clawing into the cloth that made up his now ruined suit jacket.

“Here,... Romi grab my hand!”

Electric blue filled her vision, gold eyes penetrating her as a pale hand was offered, even though his eyes reflected the panic that she could feel rising there was a certain courage that he held that she knew she didn’t. But she moved, latching onto Tanner’s extended arm.

An from there that how they had found themselves here. Huddled in the back corner underneath the bleachers, with Tanner’s hand trying to pry away blood soaked fingers. She could vaguely see the furrow of his eyes brows, the concentration that he was exerting to move her hands, the small plea in his eyes as he flickered from the wound to her and then back again.

“Romi,... I have to stop the bleeding. You have to let go.”

He was crouched in front of her, back to the darkness that surrounded them, his only concern helping a girl that felt utterly helpless.

“Do you have your phone on you? We gotta call the cops or something…. I can’t find mine.”

Her voice came out softly, barely a whisper, almost what she would call inaudible. She shook, with pain, her voice cracking underneath the pressure of her tears. But she didn’t move, didn’t lift her fingers from the wound even as his fingers pried.

“No, i don’t… But someone had to have already… Romi… I need to see your arm.”

“It hurts.”

Silence bristled between the two for a few seconds. The thick atmosphere not any clearer back here than it was out there. But she could feel his body warmth over her, the protection that he was exuding was something she clung to now, in this moment there wasn’t anything else she could really concentrate on. Her fingers pulled away, only to rest on a clean cut suit, bunching the fabric in her fingers.

“I know.”

--------------------------------

It was strange. Death was not something new to the black haired girl. Death was something she had seen, and witnessed up close and personal. She had never personally had a hand in the death of another being, having never been the one to land the last blow that ended a human being’s life, but she had seen it, witnessed it as her brothers tried to move her out of the way, tried to block her vision but never quite being able to fully shield her away. Death wasn’t something new to her, but this was something more than just death, something more than the brush of inevitability, The light at the end of the tunnel that everyone would see.

The massacre she watched unfold before her was nothing more than pure, cold hearted revenge, such brutal violent acts could only be spawned from the hatred that must have boiled in their blood, found home in hearts blacker than coal. There had been only one instance she had seen when the rage in their movements, their laughter, the wicked gleam to their smiles, in another person, and it had been years ago, days long past but now, she felt like she was reliving that horror all over again, but in a scale so grand it both dazzled and terrified her.

This was not how she had thought she would die, and the fact had long since settled in her gut, a thick pill to swallow but done easily with the fear that now raced through her veins, her heart hammering in her chest to pulse out a beat of her terror, fast paced and loud in her ears. Her eyes were stuck, locked on the sight of boys she knew, boys she used to hang around when she would be waiting for Heru to leave a class or a meeting with a teacher, boy she had watched grow up as she did, had followed behind as their school existance got darker and bleaker, and Nephine found that in the deepest parts of her heart, she could not pass judgement…. At the very least, not for the actions they chose.

Pushed enough, tempered enough, hurt enough…. Everyone had a breaking point. It just seemed that These boys had met thiers.

Nephi breathed as she huddled behind the curtains on the stage, her heart hammering as she glanced around the shadows surrounding her, once again to try and find a way out they may not have thought of. She already knew the doors to the gym were a no go, one already sealed shut in some sort of way, the other guarded by someone who was plucking off daring would be escapees one by one. The bathrooms on either side of the stage were a no go was well, she would have to walk down the stairs to get to the bathrooms to even attempt to get to the windows that lined the bathroom walls, running a higher risk of being heard. Nephine’s heels were already resting in a forgotten corner of the stage, her breaths shallow as she tried to breath as silently as possible.

Gunfire had slowed to nothing, and now she could hear the soft murmurs of voices, too muffled to make out words but just clear enough to hear tone, for her to make a guess on who it was. She could hear them as they converse, bits and fragments of sentences as they moved, the rippling sounds of sobs the only other accompaniment to the laughter and purr of voices along the gym’s floors.

In times of trouble you can’t sit still, Nephi. You have to move, you have to try and get yourself away and get to one of us. It’s harder to hunt a moving target, so make sure you're the most difficult target there is.

Cain’s voice drifted to her mind, her heart rate slowing as her Eldest brother’s words ran over her again, a soothing tone she had always found comforting. Her eldest brother was a little over protective of his family, far more than willing to do whatever he had to to ensure their safety. He had taught Nephi how to survive in the streets, how he had, how to fight, that fair was fair but victory was dirty, and you always strived to be the victor. His voice sparked to life a little flicker of an idea, growing as she breathed in, her eyes closing as her tried to calm herself. Her heart slowed, just the tiny bit, her head clearing slightly of the haze that terror had created, her thoughts falling to one single sentence.

She had to find Cain.

The thought hit her, even now, oddly. She felt like a child for it, felt like a child because it was the first thought she had. Nephi’s single thought was to find her brother, simply for the fact that Cain was Cain, and he always had the answers. It was like this since as long as she could remember, where Cain was always able to solve the problems of his Younger Brothers and sister, always had the answers to any question, and problem that popped up. It was a long shot, she could give it that. Besides the fact that her school was locked down and there was manic killers left on the loose, boys she once knew but could no longer recognize. There was also the fact that her brothers, all eight of them, had suddenly up and disappeared. About a week ago, Nephi could remember waking up to a silent house, something unusual for the family of nine. Her house was not known for quiet, wasn’t known to be peaceful. It was hard to maintain any level of order when there was eight boys crowded into a house, regardless on how much space her brother had. So when she had woke up to silence, She had been confused. Later she found all her family gone, left with coffee still steaming in the pot and a note from Cain that simply said “Use for food and emergencies” and instructions on how to use his credit card. It was true, there was some times that Her brother went on ‘business trips’ and oftentimes many of her brothers went with him, be it for protection or intimidation, Nephi never got to hear,but it was never all of them, certainly not Sterling, the only other protected Child in the family besides herself.

She knew part of her plan was because she missed them, but a huge part, the larger part, was the scared little girl that would run to find comfort in her brother’s , the girl that ran to them when ever she got bullied. They were nasty, they were crude, they were assholes, but they always protected her, and right now, all she wanted was the familiar. They had been gone for a week now, and it would be a huge jump, but she could go to Cain’s hideout, where his office resided and he could usually be found, if not that, then a clue as to his location.

If nothing else, if by some miracle she found him, he would be able to keep her safe, would be able to fend off any monsters that might creep into her nightmares, would fix this and help her find Ryker and Braithe and Lunthe, visions of them, uncharacteristic but there in Nephi’s fears, huddled away as they shook in fear, Her heart plummeting at the thought of Ryker’s breath catching in her chest as her body worked itself into overexertion. Worry hit her harshly, and she squared her shoulders and pushed off the floor, hands braced against the floor as she started to move.

Her only option at this point was to try and get to the back door of the stage, the rarely used exits of the dressing rooms. She started to move, her mind scream at her as she tried to silence her raging heart, bare feet hitting polished wood as she sucked in a breath, heading straight for the stairs that would lead to the back maze of dressing rooms, and hopefully to one of the few girls Nephi would give her life for in a heartbeat, be it the pastel twins or her little golden girl.

She stood as she came to the door threshhold, her nerves on fire as she pause to listen, to try and hear if anyone could hear her. She heard nothing as the door moved silently only, thankfully , oiled hinges, her eyes scanning the area before moving on, allowing her feet to hit the stairs as she felt around in the dark for the rail. She pause only for a moment as the door closed, allowing her eyes to adjust to the pitch black, before she continued on, a determined look across her face

Keep moving…. Don’t stop…

Nephi breathed, trying to keep herself quiet, finally down the stairs and into the dark. There was a sliver of light from the little glass rectangle in the door, where she could see them standing, just a few yards away from the stage, backs turned toward her. She would have paid it no mind, would have turned away from them if it wasn’t for the flash of pastel purple strands and bright pink gloves and rainbow shoes.

The twins.

Her heart dropped as she watched them, her hands on the wall as she stood on tiptoes to see them, the hands of the abnormally tall Michaels wrapped around Lunthe’s body, the lavender colored girl pushing and shaking her head. She still couldn’t hear words, but she saw Neket, the mirror image of her own demon, move toward a practically vacant Braithe, the small girl’s eyes locked on him, never moving.

She knew it was stupid, knew that her best plan of action would be to find a way to get help, to get to her gang leader brother and get back up, weapons, anything, but she couldn’t leave them, not like this, not in their hands. She couldn’t just do nothing, and so she moved, biting back a curse as she stepped back into the darkness, looking around for something, anything she might be able to use as a weapon. Most props were pushed to the sides, on top of one another in a rush to get things ready for prom. She shifted, creeping until she felt her hand close around something solid and small, long enough to swing and heavy enough to do some damage. She wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be, some sort of cane or staff of some sort, gnarled wood with of black along it, smooth but bumpy.

That’ll work.

There wasn’t much time to plan, as she knew she would only have maybe a second or so’s opening to do anything, so she moved, creeped slowly until she was in front of the door, green eyes lifted to peek out again, this time t judge carefully for her opening. Her hand moved, placed on top of the light switches just inside the door, hoping and praying they were what she thought they were, a connected set that would turn off the lights to the gym.

Her gaze never wavered, her heart a steady pulse in her ears, her breath caught and stuck in her lungs. She wouldn’t allow them to kill them, wouldn’t allow them to take her friends.

Not without a fight.

Okay...GO!

Nephi’s hand swiped down on the lights next to her, her prayers answered as the whole of the gym descended into darkness for a moment. The bright lights stopped, only the disorienting flash of the colorful strobe like lights moved along the wooden floor, music pulsing the back ground to cover the groan of her opening the door. They looked up, blinking as they tried to adjust back to darkness, off guard for all of a moment. They didn’t see her as she moved, creeped along the floor, before she burst forward and swung, eyes closing as she threw her weight into it. She felt it connect, but she didn’t wait before she turned, using her moment to strike at the other.

She didn’t look to see what she had done, only moved to pull a Stunned Lunthe and a shocked Braithe to their feet, pushing them to run as she pulled them along to the now guard free door.

“Run. Run run Run Run Run Run!”

Nephi couldn’t remember speaking them, but she heard it, a chant in her mind and on her tongue as she bolted, ears ringing and her heart pounding as light flooded behind her again.

Oh God what had she done. She was a fucking idiot, why didn’t she just go for help, they were going to shoot them, holy shit….

135 notes · View notes

ultimaxell · 7 years

Text

Testing Fate

Word Count: 9386

“What the hell was that?”

There was a soft click of metal on metal as the stall door shut in place behind her, dark eyes turned to the brunette she called her best friend. Who, in this instance looked just as confused as her. The voice was strong, confident as he spoke out loud. His voice carrying more authority than he really ever had before, or at least more than she had ever heard from the dainty looking Michaels.

Arsen was not a confident man. But the man on the stage? He was. He was confident and proud and was for once standing up for himself. Something she had been saying they all needed to do.

‘Good for him.’

“Lee? Who the fuck is Lee? You don’t just fucking disappear for a fucking week and then come back with a new fucking name. You’re friends are fucking idiots.”

Buster smiled, looking up at Axel through a rim of thick lashes, letting her forearms rest on the cold granite of the sink, brown eyes finding green a little too easily. The brunette only offered her a stoic expression and a eye roll, her lips pulling carefully into a sarcastic smile herself.

They both knew damned well that the small group of misfit loser had become more like family to them. They both knew that the group was like a second home, would either of them admit to the truth? Never. But that didn’t mean it was not true.

No matter how ‘hard’ Buster wanted to pretend she was, her boys would always have a little soft part of her heart.

There was a pause between words though, a shuffle that she couldn’t quite keep up with, instead she turned her attention to the sink she currently had her hands under. The water was warm, refreshing where the air around her seemed frozen. Like it had dropped twenty degrees with no sort of announcement. She knew she was going to get cold. It’s part of the reason why she originally planned on wearing a tux. Before Oberon had said yes to her, that was.

She could feel the sting to her cheeks as she thought about it, a sting of shy that she was nowhere near used to having, crawled its way up her spine. Trickling through her veins until she felt as if her entire body was lite up like a fucking christmas tree.

Oberon fucking Mathers.

Just the thought of him, his name alone, brought a warmth to her chest. One that try as she might she could not squash down.She still hadn’t seen him tonight, though he had left her many instructions. Including taking the damn limo that had got herself and Axel there. To be honest, after a week of no messages or never seeing the familiar faces at the school she had thought they dipped out on her and Axel. She thought they had all decided to take themselves away from the girls.

But she had seen Neket, she had seen Heru and Brahm. Heard Arsen even now. They were here, if the others were. They basically didn’t exist without the little squad.

-----------------------

Axel wasn’t sure who Buster was trying to fool, but it certainly wasn’t her.

The smirk curled along her lips, pulling like the slow spill of ink over a white canvas as she leaned against the counter. Her Eyes flickering toward Buster as she leaned against the counter, that little blush drifting over her features, almost invisible, hidden so well that if Axel hadn’t known her for years, she might actually think that Buster had no cares about anyone in the squad, had no qualms about them and couldn’t care less about what happened to them, like she did for most of the people who had ever come in contact with her. But as it was, there was no one who knew the bond like Axel did, and she would see it, the light tint of pink over her cheeks as her mind drifted, as it always did, to the one one who had managed to wrap the strong willed Xander around his fingers.

Oberon Mathers.

Axel wasn’t sure how the two hadn’t fucked already. It was obvious that the two cared for each other, regardless of the insults that seemed to flow between them like one might give a lover kisses. She had watched her train with him, watched her as she had spoken to him longer than she did most, the soft little motions they gave to one another when they thought no one was looking, how they only continued if nothing was said, the slightest of questions enough to get their guard back up and the curses flying again. There watched each other when the other wasn't paying attention, always seek each other like they had been apart for years rather than hours. The past week had been pretty horrible to watch, watching Xander, her best friend, one of the only girls she could actual claim to love, get her hopes up as doors opened and she waited for a head of platinum blond hair that would never show. Her heart ached, but she kept her mouth shut, her lips sealed from making any comment on it that might embarrass her or make matters worse.

Because she was missing a Blond Haired, Storm Eyed Mathers of her own,and Axel knew first hand the hurt that could be accompanied with a name.

Axel sighed as she looked back to the mirror, running her lips stick along her lips before she pulled back, taking in her whole expression, wholly stoic and free of any emotion besides complete and utter boredom. She watched herself, the vision of a girl with infinitely aching heartbeats and spiraling nerves, a girl she knew too intimately and could hardly guess at. Axel tried to make herself pretty, had learned all the tricks and tips to make her eyes pop, to make her lips look fuller, to make her hair fall in just the right way to bring to mind thoughts of tangled limbs and silken sheets. She had struggled to make herself someone to be seen, someone people wanted to be near… because that was supposed to make him want her, supposed to make him see her. Everyone loved beautiful people. So she became pretty, so that he would love her.

There was a moment of pause before she pocketed the useless thing, not sure why she was even bothering if the boy she wanted to see her tonight hadn’t bothered to show.

Axel wasn’t stupid. Despite how he acted, what he said, what he thought, Inness wasn’t completely heartless. He wouldn’t have left her in the dark if it wasn’t something important,a grain of truth she held onto when night fell and sleep evaded her because her messages had went unanswered, again. He was, at the very least, Her friend, someone she had grown to lean on, to care for, maybe possibly more than she should have. He didn’t usually go this long without answering her, without telling her off for blowing up his phone or for being outside his window, throwing rocks, acorns and climbing his tree so she might just knock on the window to see if he was there. This past week, she hadn’t seen him, hadn’t heard from at all and while this was strange… She knew he had to be here, having seen a few of the members of the Squad, had even caught eyes and waved to Neferox as he slid through the crowd. They didn't go really anywhere without each other, and the squad would not leave the squad behind on prom night. She just hadn’t seen him, and the thought of maybe he was trying to avoid her sprung up, unwanted but possible. She supposed it wasn't anything she could really be mad at.

After all, He had never told her to fall for him. He hadn't told her to be attached to him. He hadn’t told her to want to be around him or talk to him nearly every second of the day...

Axel was just an Idiot.

She sighed as she tilted her head, listening as Arsen spoke up, his voice clear, strong, distant and muffled in the sort of way that she could not really hear what he was saying, more understanding the tone. She smirked as she listened, turning back to the refection in the mirror as she lifted her hands to her hair.

“Sounds like Mr. Valedictorian grew a pair.”

She hummed, before she heard the rumble of confusion and the shriek that followed. There was a sound, something she could not describe before she heard it, the single fire before the screams ripped through the air and footsteps started to roar. Axel’s heart dropped, her lips parting as her eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat as she whipped around to stare at the door.

“Lock the door Buster.” the words were spoken lowly, whispered as she felt her heart sink and slam into her gut, lungs not getting enough air.

“Where’s my phone…?”

-----------------------

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

The words slipped through her lips, barely audible but spoken to Axel nonetheless.There was a mixture of confusion that was swarming, buzzing in her head with enough intensity to throw the blonde completely off. Her eyebrows were narrowed at the door as the screams tore through the gym, shrill and enough to leave a chill up her spine. She could hear Axel’s frantic whisper, eyes wide on the door. Just as much of the confusion that Buster felt was painted over her best friends features.

“Did he say Neket? He said Neket… Neket’s doing this?”

It was real. This was really happening at their high school. Someone had really decided to shoot up their school on prom night. Someone had actually showed up, dressed to the nines and looking more than likely the best they ever had in their life and decided that this was the perfect time to get rid of their problems. And from the sounds that swarmed outside of the door, it sounded like every breathing person in the school was a problem.

It was seconds later and another shot fired through the air, those terrible screams stopping momentarily. All of them coming to halt as she heard the shuffling begin to pick up. She heard the soft click of heels against the wooden floor, the hard clunks of students dragging their feet in defeat. There was a silence again, only the low sobs of distress, and a hollow laugh picked up. Loud and clear through the quiet of the night. Buster’s heart plummeted, dropping until she could no longer feel the organ. A hand pressed into Buster’s shoulder, yanking her attention from the sounds of horror that lay outside the thick door.

Buster let her eyes fall back to Axel, momentarily before Neket’s voice picked up again. Just the sound of his voice sent a tremor up her neck, setting her hair till it felt like it’s ends. He was unhinged, completely lost in some sort of madness that he had found.

“Lock the door….”

There was a hesitation to her moves. They were her friends she thought. Neket, Arsen, all of them. They were supposed to be the boys that had a shit time in highschool but once they were out. You knew they were gonna make it big. She used to say it. All the time. Mabe not in so many words, but they were her boys. They were supposed to be by her and Axel when they graduated. They weren’t supposed to turn on her. They weren’t supposed to turn on Axel. They were supposed to be there when times got too hard for them.

Though from the looks of it, she was never there during their hard times.

“Lock the fucking door Buster!”

Buster moved, launching herself forward until she was against the door, her fingers shook as they turned the gold lock into place, the click louder than she would have liked. But still she pressed her ear to the door, listening to the words that Neket was speaking to the crowd, their cries becoming increasingly louder.

“Get to the window, see if you can reach it. If it opens.”

It felt like a black hole was starting in her chest as she skidded to Axel’s side, who was already turned to the bathroom stalls.

----------------------

She didn’t hear words, didn’t hear really anything as she watched Buster moved, launching herself at the door to lock it with trembling fingers. She watched her as she pressed her ear against the door, her own heart drowning out the words that spilled past her lips, her body already turning, eyes snapping toward the small square windows that lined the bathroom wall. Her hands were shaking, her vision blurring as her breath felt like it was caught in her lungs, shallow pants accompanying the sting in her eyes.

She had heard his voice, Had Heard Arsen Michael's Voice, then she had heard the noises, the screams that had burst and bloomed along the night, to join the cry of the cicadas outside. She had heard it as his voice disappeared, heard the calls of another familiar voice, once that she had last heard a week ago as it mumbled something about needing space and time, the notes to that voice so melancholy it broke her heart. There was nothing of that sorrow now, as his voice rang out in confidence and pride, resounding victory interlaced in every word as she moved through the stall, her hands pressing against the white wall that held the windows, her only chance it felt, at surviving.

She didn’t know what to think anymore.

She thought she knew them. Axel had spent years by these boys side, years spent hanging out with them, getting to know them, growing closer and closer to the boys until she couldn’t imagine a life without them in it, all of them, their differences so vivid and bright, people she proudly, and often proclaimed as her boys. They were supposed to have each others backs, supposed to care about one another, but now, if what she feared was true, they had turned, betrayed them, and Axel was left in the dust now, wondering about whys and what ifs.

Her mind raced, hearing those shots again, every little sound making her jump slightly as she reached, lifted her hands so she might graze at the bottom of the sill. She reached, not able to get much leverage in the heels she had decided to wear, grunting as she reached for something just beyond her grasp.

“I can’t reach it.” the words were strained, tight as she left out a frustrated sigh, her heart hammering as a certain kind of anxiety slid along her spine, making her feel heated, hot, like there was a beast breathing on her neck that might finally catch up to her, jaws snapping against soft skin as she jumped, trying to reach it. She heard her moved, the soft click of her shoes as the screams got louder, her hands finding axel in the dark, the lights slowly, methodically, turning off.

Axel nearly let out a whimper and fear closed around her throat, tightening like solid fingers over her neck as she gasped for air.

Axel didn’t want to die. Her heart hammered with desire, a lightning hot flash of desire to live, the desire for the life she had always fantasized for herself.

Axel wanted to see that new horror movie that was coming out next week. It was supposed to be wicked scary, completely and totally out ranking the old ones on gore and scare, and she was hoping to ask Inness to go with her.

Axel wanted to go to the mall with Buster tomorrow. She had presents she had to shop for, little graduation gifts she wanted to buy her boys and little party favors for the parties she would throw just for them. She wanted to buy Buster those new boots she had been eyeing, wanted to spoil the girl she had come to care so desperately for. She wanted to take her to her favorite places, wanted to hold her hand as she walked down the boardwalk.

Axel wanted to own her own auto shop, a place she would love to hate and love to love and work, placing all her love and interest into a single place, a place she could just work on cars and learn new tricks or just relax as she did what she loved, working on a new car for herself or for him because let's face it, she was a sucker for that half smirk that was more malice than joy and a blond with pretty grey eyes.

She wanted to get her own apartment, realize she hated paying bills and be an adult but still live with it because the house would be hers, the tiny little slice of an apartment would belong to her, and it wouldn’t be much but it would be a place she could make into a home,A Place He could go when life around him seemed to be to hard, a place to call his home away from home, where she could protect him and black out all the hate the world seemed so determined to throw his way.

She wanted to live. She wanted with everything she had to live.

Buster pushed her up, axel’s hands catching the sill of the window. Axel was never a strong girl, fast but weak. Her arms shook as she pulled herself up, trying to fight with the lock on the window as her mind raced and pushed her shaking hands to work faster, her eyes widening as she felt it, the danger creeping up on her and Buster. She shook, but finally shaking fingers had their day, the lock finally releasing as she pushed, the heavy window feeling like it hadn't been moved in centuries.

“Push me up!” Axel spoke, her hiss accompanied by her eyes flickering over the moon lit courtyard of her school. She wasn’t that high up, she realized as Buster pushed her farther up, but it would take a minute to jump down without hurting herself.

“Okay, Come on.”

Axel held out her hand as she shoved herself halfway through, dragging Buster up with her as her body started to slide down.

Just a few more minutes…. And they would be free.

--------------------

It was every where, it was on her hands, across her chest, her neck, splattering across pale cheeks, she could feel the blood dripping off her fingertips as they dangled off the sides of the bench. The droplets hit with a light tap against the floor, barely audible in her ears as she stared out the wide windows of the gym. The world was a haze around her, blurring objects around the edge of her vision, all the while she tried to concentrate on the moon. Tried to take the constellations in but through the slim confines of the tiny windows she could only see the moon and clouds that seemed to be devouring the sky.

Or at least the view. Even the moon dipped, under the cover of the clouds. Almost as if the scene that was unfurling in front of it was too unbearable to watch. Stas peeked from the clouds, dotting the sky in a shining brilliance before receding back into the comfort and safety of the clouds.

“Ursa Major…. Aquila…. Lyra….”

There was a buzzing behind her ears, a dull thump roaring to life just to disappear just as fast as it appeared. There were dull unearthed screams, humming of the tragedy that was her living nightmare. Serving as a dim reminder of what was happening feet away from her. But blue eyes were unphased by the surrounding. Her lips still moved to mumble each of her memorized constellations, her mind trying with all its seeming might to block out the gathering frenzy around her.

The words came out a little louder than before, trembling around each word as it passed her lips.

She wasn’t ok.

“Orion… Scorpius…. Cygnus….. Draco, Taurus.”

Emmy moved her hands, the shaking digits came up to push against the wood that she rested on. But all she did was lean forward, her eyes shifting to the floor, and back to the window.

She wanted to stop trying, she wanted to stop fighting, she wanted to give up. She wanted it to be done with. She wanted someone to take her out already, she wanted to stop feeling. She didn’t want to feel the terrible tremors running through her veins anymore. She didn’t want to feel this deep rooted dread that thrummed evilly through her body.

There was a moment's breath as she stood from the bench, her eyes turning from the window to the wave of people that seemed to be falling one by one. She could see the blood filling the floors, feel it slick under her heels. There were familiar faces, faces she called friends and some she only knew from a meeting in the hall. Some alive,... some dead. Some of them stretched, reached out with blood splattered hands out to her.

But she couldn’t feel it. Couldn’t feel the sympathy to bend down to any of them. She couldn’t find the drive to tell them it was going to be okay. That they would get out of this. What was the point in lying to people who were already dead? What was the point in lying to them when there was no sort of real hope that anybody was making it out the doors alive unless these people so willed it.

“Ursa minor, Pegasus,.... Cassiopeia, …. Persuess.”

Her eyes glanced over one of the perpetrators, his grin alive and crawling with evil, his multi colored eyes grazed over her. But there was not a single reaction, his eyes quickly going back to the task at hand, back to the malevolent acts, that smile unwavering. Others passed her, never even batting an eyelash towards the girl.

But Emmy barely noticed, instead her attention was on the soft clicks of her heels, the sound becoming louder as the screams began to die off, the guns unloading less frequently. She could hear the groans of the people on the floor that were still breathing. But her eyes were on the wildcard blonde that she had once called her kryptonite.

The person that she knew ultimately would steal her life away from her one way or the other. The man that had taken her breath away in whispery kisses and late night conversations. The only person she could truly say if she had lost she would not know what to do with herself. He was her… her friend? Lover?... Possibly killer.

But she couldn’t even really concentrate on him, her eyes shifting back to her feet, her hands were shaking, uncontrollably, her eyes shifting over the little group she had grown to love bit by bit. Even if it was rocky at first. Davy. Derek. Dean. And Kasmir.

Each of them sported a gun, each of them sported the same splashes of blood across their clothes as her and about everyone else in the room. They were lethal, she could feel it in her bones. The way they carried themselves now, each of them different. Physically, mentally. They looked professional, like they did this every tuesday and then went home to sip on jack afterwards.

“Volans,... Leo. Pyxis. Uh,... there has to be more.”

Even her words were shaking now, playing through her mouth with a chatter to her teeth. Wet hot streaks spilled down her cheeks, something she hadn’t noticed until tears began to roll down her neck. She let her hands come up to her neck, wiping uselessly at the tears, her bottom lip jutted as the tears began to build up. Burning behind her eyes. But there was no stopping them when they began to fall, there was no ridding her from the threat of her tears overflowing.

“I can’t remember them all. There’s more. There’s more than that… Maybe. I-i I don’t know…. I can’t think…”

---------------------

He couldn’t do it anymore.

There was only so much that he could take, the wave of nausea hitting him, rolling over his spine as little shivers shook his body. His stomach heaved, jolted in his throat as he turned away, his eyes closing as he sucked in a weary breath... Arsen wished he could be like them, wished he could be like his friends and like Heru, able to reveal in the direct destruction he was able to cause. His body moved, turning away, his lower back resting on the podium as he fixed his eyes on the wall of curtains behind him, his heart pounding out harsh irregular rhythms in his mind as his chest shook with every reverberating beat.

He almost didn’t notice when the principal moved, shifting as they finally let go of the young student president to bury their face in their hands. The old man’s voice wavering as he sob his prayers, words no one would hear, words that meant nothing more than wishing.

“Please God…. please god, no…. Make it stop...”

He could hear the sobs, hear the whispers of running tears and the sniffle of a running nose as the Principal crouched along the floor, huddle in his hands as he shook, blood pooling around him as he tried to gather himself in a ball as small as possible, trying and failing to keep out of the blood. Arsen watched him, and oddly distant look to his gaze as it stilled on him, hardened and cold even as he caught his breath.

“God?” He heard himself ask, his voice smooth, slow, questioning in the heat of screams that smoldered around them. He heard the music sing, the strangely soft embodies purring over the scene around him, mingling in the momentary bloodshed, the slowly quieting screams as one by one by one, they were all picked off, the laughter of his friend echoing off the walls. His footsteps sounded hollow, cheap wood with cheap labor matched fault for fault, as he closed the distance between them, his gaze never leaving the man’s hands, watching them as they shook, every little twitch and clench memorized as he pointedly ignored the bleeding body next to him. He didn’t look, did not allow his eyes to drift from the man before him, the man who looked up with a shivering gaze and a blubbering sob that disgusted Arsen to look at.

“Has he answered you?” He continued, expression hazed over, a strange distant look to his eyes as he bored into the older man’s, “He never answered mine…. Maybe I wasn’t important enough to save….” He mused, mummering quietly to himself as he leaned back on his heels. He tilted his head, looking upwards for a moment before allowing his gaze to fall straight back onto his, a dark burn lingering in his eyes as he watched the man sob.

“I wonder if He’ll save you? Up. Now.”

Arsen snapped the words, The principal jumping as his tone suddenly changed. There was a growl to his voice, a ripple in the tone as he flicked his hand up and stood, eyes narrowing on the man the refused to move. He looked confused, blinking at him with wide bleary eyes, earning only an eyeroll from the irritated boy. He moved, reaching out with strength he should not have, pulling the man to his feet. The smaller man trembled under his hold, the tall boy scowling as he moved, pulling the man along as he made his way over the stage, hallow footfalls leading him to the stairs, drawing them out of the white hot spotlight that filled the stage.

“I don’t have all night, Morath. Don’t waste my time.“ the words were double edged, the blades of which found their mark as Arsen heard him whimper, the memories clear as they sprang to the forefront of his mind, flooding his thoughts and Arsen’s as he took them to relive him seeing a fifteen year old Arsen Sobbing in the chair before his desk, brown hair ripped and pulled, nose clearly broken, his eyes nearly swollen shut. He saw his bruises as The principal had that day, and heard him as he spoke, his tone irritated as he shoved the box of tissues toward the hurt boy and sneered.

“If you're just going to cry about it, then just go home already. Don’t waste my time.”

He had sent him on his way with a kick, the words of an over worked principal who hadn’t heard many of the other stories stinging along the last hope Arsen Micheals had ever held. He had wanted to believe that his school would save him, that this wouldn’t be like elementary or Middle school, where they used the phrase ‘Kids will be kids’ at him enough that he hated the phrase, that they would hold people accountable for their actions.

No such thing happened. High School was just like middle and elementary school, but with more social pressure and raging hormones. People didn’t care about you, people didn’t want to deal with you...You had to deal with your own problems.

Arsen allowed a single quirk of his lips as he pulled the man past Audi, through the hallways that held the rest of the students, the people who had managed to slip by them and the ones who were not to be harmed. He could hear some of them, light panting and hearts that fluttered like a fly in his ear, a low hum, a buzzing in his ear that followed him through the familiar halls, the lockers, the darkened hallways. Up the stair cases he knew so well, along the twist and turns and classrooms before he finally found the front office.

“Open the door.”

The principle let out another whine, only moving as Arsen’s hand pushed, shoving him forward to slam against the door. He brushed his hands off on his suit as the man searched his keys, frowning as he shook his head at the feeling of having touched someone like him for so long. Violet eyes narrowed on the figure, little more than a silhouette in the dim orange light of the street lights outside. He pushed open the door, Arsen’s hand coming up to hold the door as he stepped through. He grinned as he shut the door behind them, his hands falling to his pockets as he turned to look at the Principal one more time.

He was so much more suited for things like this, the parts of the plan that did not involve gallons of blood.

“Get in your office, and turn on the intercom. I want you to repeat after me….”

-----------------

“Attention, all Students! ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! Congratulations, first, for making it this far. This did not prove to be an easy feat, as the good majority of you now are…. lying dead….. along the gym floor. Oh God Please-”

There’s the sound of a scuffle, the sharp sound of something heavy hitting wood, the sharp cry of pain followed by the slow cries and sobs of a broken old man.

“... For those still alive, The game has Changed. You did well to Hide, But now…. It’s time to Seek. We are going to hunt you down. We are going... to get what we want. ... “ Another sob, more scuffling. The sobs changed, are strained more somehow. There’s a whisper, a hum along the waves that can’t quite be picked up.

“See... if…. you... last any longer than I- PLEASE DON’T-”

SNAP.

There’s a low thump, then silence.

And the intercom shuts off.

-------------------------------------

Kasmir was weak.

This much he knew, without a shadow of a doubt. He was angry before, filled with vivid rage that seemed to consume him wholly, Had spilled from him in the form of a strangle battle cry as he had launched himself at Liam, words flowing from the bastard's mouth that only added fuel to his anger, white hot and painful in his limbs as pain exploded on his knuckles. He knew that it was stupid, that he was already better them him so he didn’t have to prove a thing, but the moment he saw him, Kasmir forgot about the change in his blood, forgot the new legacy he had taken like a crown, forgot everything. He was suddenly nothing more than human, and he was overwhelmed with the hate he could have for the man who held a claim on the woman who had claimed him. He had beaten him, ripped him apart with his own two hands and Kasmir had reveled in it, his grin widening as he laughed, and laugh and laughed, unable to express his fury in any other way.

He was his first kill, and the memory of it was enough to burn in his body like his blood was made of gold the sounds of violence to loud to drown out, the soundtrack that would be his prom now seared into his veins. The other had only watched him, had pulled him off when Liam was nothing more than a corpse, shot full of holes and bean in bruises that bloomed over paling skin. They had been the ones to direct this new found energy into the revenge before him, though that really came as no surprise, considering these boys were the closest he had to a real family, people who cared and loved him completely unconditionally, accepted him in all the ways the world would not. That anger had not dissipated, had not waver for some singular moment, held fast and steady strong as he watched the bodies pile up as the screams turned to sobs, tears of people he would not touch and those he would love to watch die.

Until he saw her.

Kasmir was weak, his will and steel backbone melting as he finally saw her, hands lowering as he turned from Davy to look at that figure he was watching, the silhouette of her fame materializing out of the gloom that had started to settle in with the darkness around him. She moved easily; smoothly, like she wasn't thinking on the blood on the ground or the bodies of the people she knew, but rather was just mildly irritated, a stroll in downtown on a particularly windy day. She moved with a purpose, like there was a mission set in her blood and she would burn from the inside out if she did not see it through to the end. She walked toward him, her eyes flickering from him and his friends to the ground and hands before her, her lips moving but he could not quite make out whats he was saying, the thrum and reverberation of gunshots just too loud to let him hear. As she got closer he could make it out, confusion sliding over his features before he moved, taking a few steps toward her as she neared his friends. She stepped right into his arms, his arms moving, coming out to drop the metal gun in his hands to pull her to him, her face pressed into his neck, free of any blood, as she started to let those tears fall.

Arsen’s announcement started, his words drifting over the dying sounds in the room. Kasmir hummed, before moving his hand, trailing it so that it cupped the back of her head to press her into him, not letting her up as he held her to him, one ear over his heart and his lips near the other whispering soft little words to her so that he might take away some of the fear still lingering in her gaze.

“Shhh…. Shhh. it’s okay. It’s alright Emmy.” His words fell softly, lowly, a soothing hint along the purr as he pressed her into him. He sighed as he heard her speak, her words something that would make no sense to others, to most normal people, but Kasmir’s mind instantly went to the nights he had spent with her on the roof of his house, night spent with a few pillows under their head as they rested on his thickest blanket, comforter pulled up around them, her hands pulled tight around him, for warmth and pleasure. Her words drifted over him, a song he loved and craved as she carved out the figures in the stars for him, her head resting on his chest, directly over his achingly thumping heart, hand moving to trace messages and figures in the night sky with only her imagination. She traced the patterns again and again for him, night after night after night, and Kasmir could just barely remember them, the names she gave and the smile that graced her lips as she pointed them out. Stars were a mystery, fascinating to be sure, but Emmy was just that much more captivating.

It was hard to keep his eyes on the stars above when all he wanted was to count galaxies in her eyes.

He ran his hands through her hair, nails running soothing paths through her brown hair, his heart aching but unable to take away her pain, no matter how much he wished it. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, brushing his lips over the crown of her skull as he played soothing patterns on her back, in her hair. He held her, pressed her too him, trying for all the world to be whatever it was she needed.

“You don’t need to remember them all…”

Finally the announcement was done, a furrow to his brow as he pulled slightly away from her, not allowing her to look away from him as he moved his hand to her cheek, fingertips brushing, running over her soft skin as he took her in. Her eyes were wide with fear, lost in her mind as he locked his own blue gaze with hers, a drew in a breath.

He could remember trying. Trying and trying and training and failing to count the stars in her eyes, the seas that drew him in and begged him to come explore their depths. He could remember the color of her eyes vividly, but in the past week he hadn’t had that, hadn’t had colors or emotions or anything. He had felt as he had before when he would see her with Liam, almost empty, filled with nothing but rage and revenge. But when he looked at her now, he didn’t have to remember, because the color bloomed to life before him, radiat skies that made his knees weak and his breath catch as he struggled to find himself in her eyes.

She was absolutely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. H had always thought this, but new eyes took her in, aching, bubbling with all the emotions he had thought she had lost.

More than beautiful, she was his. Only his now.

“She okay, Kas?” He heard Derek speak, his voice turned and twisted, concerned mixed with trepidation. He was worried, that much was sure, But he could see it in the eyes of the other, Dean and Davy that were looking over their shoulder to their little honorary member of the group.

They worried about the Squad. They worried most about their own. Emmy was theirs now, and so their worries over the other bleed straight into their worries about her.

“I have to get her out of here.” it was his only reply, the only thought that did not circle about Emmy. He saw Davy cast a look to to Derek and Dean, catching their eyes to pass a look between them they thought he couldn’t see. Kasmir ignored them as he shifted slightly, leaning so he could speak to her lowly, her heart hammering in his ears.

“Emmy. Emmy, baby, My love, I’m gonna pick you up now, okay?”

---------------------------------

There it was. That steel she had been waiting for, the anchor in the turbulent storms that she called her emotions. Braithe’s words hit her, harshly, and she felt herself dig her teeth into the soft flesh of her tongue, trying drawing vivid blood red to the surface, to fill her mouth as she swallowed thickly around the need to tell her how wrong she was.

Now, really was not the time, and the Purple haired sister cursed as she realized she would have no time to try and dislodge those ideas forming in her mind.

She sucked in a breath, fighting the urge to speak her mind, knowing that every minute she spent arguing was another minute spent in the growing open. She moved, keeping her sister’s hand locked with hers, the feeling the weight of her hand in hers the only thing striving off that fear from taking over her again. There was a mission now, a goal she had in mind,a living breathing desire that she held tightly with her hand as she moved, pulling the girl in the remembered direction of the school bathrooms. She didn’t bother to look around, trying to hide in the shadows as much as possible, screams drifting into an almost non existent shiver over her hearing as she pulled Braithe along.

She had to get out of here, she had to get Braithe out. She crept along the floor, crouching low to the shadows as she pulled them back towards the walls. Her free hand moved, other clenching at Braithe’s fingers like they were a lifeline, painted nails lightly grazing over the weirdly thick paint that seemed to cover all public schools. She crouched, forcing her sister into a low crawl as they crept along the walls, slowly but surely making their way to the only bathrooms in the gym.

She didn’t get to go very far before she heard him, the scuffle of shoes on the wooden floors of their gym stopping her as she heard his laughter spill past his lips. Her heart raced,panic in her blood as she stood slowly, her body rising without her telling it too, before she felt the heavy weight of something cold and silver on her shoulder. She could feel it as her throat closed, swallowing thickly around the lump that had formed as he let out a low whistle, taking his cane off her shoulder as Neket Snow moved, danced into their line of vision.

He looked…good. It was a strange thought, but in a sick, twisted, strange sort of way, Neket had never seemed happier. He looked free, a light to his eyes she had not seen before lighting up the mismatched gaze that seemed to drift, constantly, toward her shivering sister, the girl she pulled back behind her, placing her body between them. He moved easily, eyes shifting back to her, ands he was able to see the worry lifted off his expression, his body relaxed, casual, like he was just walking down the boardwalk.

The smile on his lips practically spread from ear to ear, his shoulders, usually slumped slightly, weighed down by the burdens his life had become, were sight, squared as he moved to swing the showman’s cane until it was resting on his shoulders, other hand moving to catch the other side like one might a baseball bat.

“Well, well, Well Look who it is…. The guests of honor!”

His voices slid uneasily along her spine, her body instinctively moving her and Braithe back a step as he moved forward. His arms spread in grand gesture as he spoke, a pause as he watched her move, the smile only growing wider as he carefully shifted his expression, a clearly mocking look of surprise on his face.

“You’re afraid of me? Oh that’s just fucking HILARIOUS!” His hands moved, cane swinging as he crossed his arms over his torso, laughing heartedly as he bent backwards slightly, black hair falling as he jerked back up. His eyes were wild, untamed as he snapped his eyes back to hers, locking on them as he rolled his shoulders, fingers and hands moving the cane idly, a dangerous ripple of lethal ease sliding under his skin.

“You should know better by now….. It’s me, Neket! Loveable, droppable, dangerously homicidal! … Neket. Now, you know you never answered my Question Braithe.”

It was like she wasn’t even there. His eyes slid past her, moved to her more sullen sister, her eyes wide as she clenched harder to Lunthe. The purple haired girl let out a hiss of displeasure as Neket moved forward, eyes only for her twin sister, his hands playing with that cane, tapping it against his hand, his leg, his shoulder as he swung it up once more. Lunthe held up a hand, fingertips pressing lightly into his chest as she pushed back lightly, trying and keep him apart from her pink haired sister.

“Stop… Neket, please, don’t do this.”

-----------------------

It was fun. This was supposed to be a fun night. And it was. All the fun he could have imagined and more.

Revenge was a foggy haze in his mind as he moved forward, his arm coming up to rest around his brother's shoulders, the other coming up to pull the man closer to him. His lips found Neferox cheek, pressing adoring kisses all over the tanned freckled skin of his big brother, the last one sounded off with an obnoxious pop as his fingers pulled the chin closer to Vaughn cheek. He was happy, what could he say? Something that did not happen very often in Vaughn’s case. But it was a special night. A, to put it into Arsen’s words, ‘night to remember’. Corny bastard.

The smile that broke over Vaughn’s lips was anything but innocent, the sound of Neket’s laughter pulling up the bubbling giddiness that played a twin, running through his veins. He let his cheek rest against Neferox’s, his eyes moving over the screaming students, his fingers unable to keep still, running their lengths over the fabric that was Neferox’s tux.

Honestly, there was not anybody else that he would rather be here with him. No body else that he would have wanted to share these moments with than all of the squad, his brother.

This was what he supposed to be doing. He had always been meant for this. Him and his squad. It suits them well, more than any of them really cared to contemplate over. But he knew, in the bottom of his little black heart that him and his brother. His friends, cousins. All of them, they were born and fated to be kings. It had just taken a little while and a little pain to get to the position they so rightfully deserved. For the world to finally right itself of its past mistakes.

They were happy, truly happy. Beaming, god damn it.

Not an ounce of pity behind those smiles that they wore tonight, not an ounce of self loathing or any guilt that would have wracked them usually. Instead, there was a genuine happiness running through them, connecting them all to one another. There was nothing and no one that could take them on, not with them finally feeling the most alive they ever had. Not when they knew they were on top of the world, above them all.

But the scene was coming to a swift end, the blood that had been flying across the room was fading, instead there seemed to be a gathering lake of it. People who were crawling across the floor, smeared it, uncaring in their state that they were ruining their nice attire. There were plea’s now, plea’s that bleed through the thick air around them, those who were left begging for their lives, hoping that in some way they could possibly have a hope, some sort of escape from their inevitable death.

He felt nothing for them, no remorse, no guilt, not even the vague tingle of shame as he watched them, his grin only spreading as pain filled eyes turned up to the boys. Really the only emotion he could equate for them was the fact that they had been able to do what only one other person had been able to do. Only one other person seemed to flare the ‘emotion’ to life, much like the students littering the floor. Only one other person brought this sort of warmth in the pit of his stomach, blossoming in its heat as he watched. And it was that one other person that could soothe it, the only person he would allow.

“Rock fucking solid, my man.”

He didn’t have to ask Neferox to know he felt the same, he didn’t have to even look at his brother's expression. He could feel it, thrumming through him, feel his cheeks move as those lips pulled into a sadistic smirk. A twin of the smile on his own lips. He had seen some of the actions he had chosen, seen some of the things that he had done to the few students that he had specifically marked as his.

Neferox was marvelous, at his absolute prime. The glimmer in his eyes alive and well as he huffed out the shook breaths that held him. His heartbeat was singing in his ears, screaming at the enjoyment that he had raised from the occassion.

Vaughn shifted, pulling himself apart from his brother, his fingers came down to run his hand over the confines of his slacks, his hand running over his covered dick for a moment, before restraining, pulling his hand back up to the back of his neck.

Just as the announcements began Vaughn shifted, his eyes moving to Neferox and back to the doorway. That Audi was moving from, his eyes on the purple haired siren that he held eyes for. A clear ‘battle’ bubbling as he pushed his way through the mass of dead bodies, his eyes never shifting from the girl, the one who seemed too ready to lay down her life for the pink haired one.

His head dipped, lulling on his shoulder to catch cognac eyes. Vaughn feigned a frown, his lips pulling down in an exaggerated display, but his arms came back up to cross over his chest. There was no denying the fact that he knew the girls, saw them or heard about them on daily basis, thanks to Audi and NEket. But the interest never seemed to stick, their names and faces easily slipping from his memory.

“I can never remember names. Which ones are those?”

---------------------

“She speaks! A little odd, considering. You’re not really the one I saw begging me for anything.”

Revenge was going wonderfully. It was more than he had ever dreamed, the screams of the people who had tormented and robbed him of the life he should have had, the dying light fading in their eyes, the disappearance of which made his heart sting with a memory of watching his own burn out, watching his light fade with every passing year. He couldn’t remember when it had died, just waking up one morning to look in the mirror to see the eyes of a corpse, a dead man walking and talking and breathing, but he was no longer there, a part of him detrimental to healthy human life gone. Their pain made his heart warm, made his body feel light and bright, like his veins were filled with fire. He could still smell it, the blood that flooded the floors of his gym, the salty tang of metal that hung like candy in the air. He breathed in, taking in a deep breath to feel it as the scent filled his lungs, his gaze trying, valiantly, to remain in Lunthe as she pressed her tiny little hands into his chest, like that would keep him at bay.

Courtesy kept him at bay, and only the ties of loyalty saved her from the fate the rest of her classmates shared. Neket didn’t dislike Lunthe, Rather, back when he had still been nothing but a human, he had actually rather liked her. It helped she was Braithe’s twin, easy enough to look at when she looked exactly like the one you desired, save the mismatched colors. They had gotten along, mostly talking over Snapchat or texting when he wasn’t attached to Braithe’s, He didn’t dislike her, But the fact of the matter was, she was becoming a problem, a hurdle between him and his one. And to him, though he liked her, cared for her…. That made her expendable.

However, her saving grace was that she belonged to, not only a squad member, But Neket’s very own newly crowned Lee, the one he would give his life for if it came down to it. She was not his to touch, not his to play with. Lunthe may have looked, a whole awful lot like his, but he knew better than to try and take what was Audi’s.

Neket moved, his gaze never leaving Braithe for long, as he reached out, felt the strenuous tremor of the bonds that connected him to the rest of his Squad now, bonds that connected him and his thoughts and their minds to his with a simple thought, his words drifting, seemingly into nothing but knowing that Audi would hear them, that all of his Squad would hear them as he thought them into the bond. His head tilted, the heavy wood of the cane laying heavy over his shoulder, taping once, twice, as he flicked his duel colored gaze toward the man already shifting through the bodies.

Come get your girlfriend, Tovak. I promised I wouldn’t hurt her, but She starting to get in my way.

There was no malice to the words, only a slight, light warning laced into the tones. He grinned, turning his attention back to the twin girls before him, pink and purple fluffs that hid their crazy colored hair under synthetic wigs, though usually they were far more lively. Neket stepped back, seeming at ease with it all as he cast a wink to Brathie.

“So tell me, my darling, Did. You. Miss. Me?“ He purred, his hands still moving that cane around, this time his fingers circling over it to bends and twist, playing with the thickness, trying to see how much pressure was too much as his hands shook with anticipation.

“Really, i’m just Dying to know…. Not as much as everyone else, but i’m pretty damn close to second.” He amended after cast the Gym a look, his face falling as there was a moment's pause between his words, his gaze narrowing on the sea of bodies next to them as he played with the hem of his pocket, cane on his shoulder again as he turned to face the approaching brunette with a smile and a light filling his eyes. His hands moved, almost like a reflex, his body turning to step forward toward him, his hand moving to reach out and pull the man to him, arms finding their place around his body, hands trailing before finding his cheeks, fingertips on one hand and his palm resting on him as he looked up at the taller boy.

His expression fell as he took in his gaze, took in the features of the face he had come to know so well.

My Audi… Tell me you're okay. The words were there, silent but hanging in the thoughts between them. Neket’s expression fell slightly as he pulled him closer, so that he could lightly bump his head against his, forcing him to look him in the eyes. Neket needed Audi to be okay. He needed it if tonight was going to be anything close to perfect, and he could see the worry in Audi’s face, the slight difference in expression. His eyes flickered back to Braithe and lunthe, who stood rock still in their spots…. Which was smart.

It wasn't as if they could outrun them anyway.

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