A.N- I took my time, sorry. And thank you for reviewing reamr, idek and symphknot (great to have you as a reader again!). I wasn't getting email notifications so I was like, oh I'll take my time then since it's not like anyone's waiting, but it was just a muckup and they came, so extra thanks!

Hope you enjoy.

4

Craig Tucker wasn't bad with the handling of ancient cards. He had learnt it from his mother: the different games and rules, how to play, how to shuffle, and even how to cheat, although that's what got her shot in the end. Craig didn't like to cheat, and in most cases like this night, he didn't have to. His skill and luck won him a few coins in his pocket and he was returning to his cell somewhat satisfied for the night, that was, until a garden of red hair ran into him. Craig would have made a cold remark or two, but the redhead quickly apologised and ran off without giving Craig the chance to say a single word. But that was enough for Craig to recognise his face. That fucking princess-whore again... The brunet straightened himself up and sent the running boy another glance. Why was that princess running away from the cells before lights-out anyway? Not like it was any of his business.

He continued to take his steps up the stairs but his legs were heavy from a nagging thought, although he disguised it as laziness. His pace gradually slowed until his game-mates disappeared up the stairs, leaving him behind. He came to a complete stop and turned back, noticing what he was looking for, not that he cared at all.

He moved his eyes back straight and jumped up the stairs as if regaining the pace that he had lost, and then as he turned at the landing of the stairs, he crashed into someone, again. Great. Craig grasped onto the handle to stop himself from falling, and as the world twirled, he managed to take a glimpse of the boy he had bumped into, although, all he caught were the eyes. He half froze at the almost transparent black of his orbs, like black gems, but it wasn't enough to keep him from flipping him off. And at the same second he showed his middle finger, he heard a light clink echo behind him.

Craig looked back, and found one of his well-earned coins rolling down the stairs. He didn't even look back one last time at the boy before he jumped down after it. It was a precious coin, but more than that his body had moved like it was an instinct, like a dog running after a thrown ball. He followed the coin, and to his amazement, it didn't stop at the end of the stairs. It took a gradual curve onto the floor and kept on rolling down the corridor as if it had a mind of its own. It was comical, if not creepy. But finally, it did come to an end. It wobbled awkwardly, but before it could fall naturally, Craig stopped it with a smash of his foot on his precious coin.

'Fuck me…' Craig muttered to himself as he picked up the coin, his voice showing no sign of the astonishment he was feeling inside. But even the sense of amazement he was feeling disappeared as he rose back up. His eyes swayed up, catching a view of the continuing corridor now turning dark, and from that dark tunnel he could hear the hint of voices being carried down the eerie air. His face remained like a stone, but his blink almost turned to a squint as he focused on the voices. He followed the sound, realising that it was probably coming from the cinema, and wondered what all these people were doing just before lights out. He continued to take his steps, slowly, for all he wanted was a small glimpse inside from behind the open door without being noticed. But even that stopped when a sudden blond came running out the cinema and crashed into him, creating a bruise on his shoulder, again. Craig was sure of it now: he was jinxed. The blond wasn't big, but his running made it enough to create a third bruise on Craig's shoulder. He wanted to swear at him, but the boy spat at him before Craig got the chance to.

'Watch it bitch!' The boy said it with a scowl, but it turned into a sneer a second before he turned and continued to run on before Craig could say a word back. So instead Craig flipped his finger to the blond's back and turned back to the cinema. For a second all voices had stopped, until he heard something being thrown; he didn't know what it was, but it sounded painful. He edged in closer to the open door, just behind the doorframe, and looked inside.

'Do you really have time to play around?' He heard a familiar voice say. It was strange, because Craig had been hearing so many voices since he had come to prison and did not bother to remember any of them, but this one rang in his head like a bell. And to his surprise, he recognised the face the moment he set eyes on him. That fucking princess! He had bumped into him only a moment ago, so how, over the past few minutes, had he got himself into this situation? He was being surrounded threateningly, and he already seemed hurt (probably been hit by that chair lying beside him). Hell was drawing in for him…

Craig turned around, pulling his face away from the doorway to lean his back against the wall. His face was still frozen, but his breath was quick and light through his mouth. They were on the same bus that brought them to prison, and they shared the same first gust of air— not that that meant anything. He was a stupid bitch that humiliated him… tried to give him bread on the first day as if he was some charity case… Speaking of which. One of the bigger attackers looked a lot like that guy who took his dinner off of him on the first day. Craig paused, his nails digging into his palms as his hands curled into fists, and then they relaxed. It didn't matter to him. He couldn't care for revenge and especially didn't care to help anyone.

He turned back to the way he came and made his way back with a quick pace, trying to avoid being held back again. He flew up the stairs, skipping a step at a time and not bumping into anyone, and he was quickly where he should have been. He was on the floor of his cell. As far as he could tell, all the prisoners had returned back to their cells, which made the corridor quiet enough for Craig to hear the voices downstairs replaying in his head. It wasn't something uncommon; people got attacked all the time.

And then he arrived at his cell. He stood there, his hand taking its time to travel to the doorknob, until the sound of a door closing a few cells down made him come to a sharp halt. It didn't matter, but Craig looked back to see who had came out into the corridor anyway, and then to amazing coincidence, it was the princess' cellmate. He knew it, although he only saw them together once at dinner on the first day, but the man had an exceptional presence that nobody could ignore or forget.

'Hey,' Craig's eyes widened as he met the blond's glance. It was him who had called out the word, and he immediately regretted it. Why did he do that?

'What?' The blond answered, to Craig's surprise. Well, he didn't have a reason to lie.

'I think your boyfriend's in trouble.'

'What?' The blond asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

'The princess with the curly red hair? He's kind of skinny and weird? He's being attacked by a group of guys in the cinema room downstairs.'

The blond didn't say anything, but his eyes thinned at Craig's words.

'So?' Craig blinked. He didn't move or speak as the blond turned and went back into his cell without another word. The door shut behind him and Craig was again the only person in the corridor, frozen.

That was all. So? The guy was right though... So what? It didn't matter if the redhead was being attacked, or if anyone else was for that matter. It didn't matter. Not to anyone.

Craig turned back to his own cell and entered, letting the thoughts of the redhead flow out of his head. He wondered though, why had that blond come out of his cell, if he would just simply return after hearing Craig's words? Wasn't he going somewhere? Did he change his mind? The door closed behind him. Not that it mattered.

.

By the time the cell door closed Kenny had already fallen onto his bed. He closed his eyes. So his bitchy cellmate was being attacked was he? So what? It served him right for kicking him in the shin and running out the door with the last word. Wait… didn't Kenny just leave his cell for something? Didn't someone just knock? No? He forgot why. It probably wasn't important… Kenny twitched his nose as if he could catch the scent of something unpleasant, but it was all just the words in his head.

'You're a coward!'

Icy blue eyes flung open as those hot words echoed in his head. That fucking little bitch saying as he pleased without showing a single speck of fear or even uneasiness towards him. Maybe Kenny had been too easy on him just because he was his first cellmate. He could have fucked up that little princess himself, but no, someone was going through that trouble for him. Kyle was always going to get it with his look and attitude, especially his dumbness. Kenny couldn't believe how stupid he was; it was definitely irritating. It was as if Kyle had a lack of survival instinct, and that's what comes with being protected all his life.

Kenny closed his eyes again. When morning came, he would have a wounded cellmate… Or he may not have a cellmate at all.

.

Kyle wanted to scream out of frustration and anger. Why were these people attacking him as a group and not individually? Wasn't it embarrassing to gang up on him like this? Were they anxious to face him one by one? Ha, no. They were just pitiful, disgusting, sadistic crap for people and Kyle hated them, especially the one holding him from behind at this point of time.

'Let go of me!' The redhead struggled but neither force nor slithering would help. In fact, the more he struggled the more the other seemed to have fun and squeezed him tighter with his arms. What's so funny, you snake! And so Kyle hopped and kicked with his free feet, an action he seemed to be getting a hold of. It hit one of Trent's followers square on the nose and he fell, but that hardly mattered in the end. Trent was able to grab both his feet this time, stopping them from kicking, and without getting a single blow to himself. Kyle continued to kick his legs, but it was as useless as trying to swim through quick sand. Trent continued to pull him by the legs as the boy holding him from behind in place, stretching him out like a cloth on a table until he was laid on the ground.

Kyle's kicking and thrashing strengthened as he felt the cold floor sink into his back, but it instantly stopped as an angry foot flung into the left side of his stomach. He groaned a choke, but couldn't respond to it as his limbs were held down, and neither could he wipe his tearing eyes. Trent had let go of his legs, but the boy holding his arms was sinking his weight into them, digging his arms into the floor and making them throb. He curled his legs and breathed through his teeth to hold in the pain, but that all stopped the second he felt someone kneel on his stomach.

'Ah!' He cried a loud voice of pain. The voice continued as the knee kept on digging into his stomach, until it finally released. The voice stopped but Kyle breathed shallow breaths, feeling a tear finally escape his eye. Why was he even here? Oh yeah… Butters. Kyle opened his eye as he felt more weight on his body, and found the violent boy climbing on top of him.

'I'm gonna enjoy this…' the boy said. Kyle noticed a trace of blood around his nostril from the kick he managed to smash into his face. It was a satisfying sight, but not nearly worth all the anger he had brought out with it, especially as the boy bent Kyle's knees up against his chest.

'No!' Kyle hissed, forgetting the pain and beginning to struggle again. The familiar sickness was returning to his stomach and panic sank in like blood slowly boiling in his head. He glared at the boy pushing his thighs, until a large face appeared in his vision upside down, and he noticed it was of the boy holding his arms down behind him.

'Struggling will only make things harder for you,' he said, but Kyle didn't listen. He gathered all the saliva in his mouth and spat it at the face above him. It was his first attempt at spitting at something, but his aim was a miracle. The spit sprayed into the boy's eye and he yelped, letting go of Kyle to grab at his spit-filled eye.

With his arms free, Kyle shot his upper body up straight, slamming his fists into the boy bending his legs. Even without having the largest muscles, the sprint of springing up straight made his fists fast enough to cause a satisfying pain on the attacker. He let go of Kyle also, and even fell to the ground holding his nose, blood flowing from behind his palm. But Kyle didn't observe this. The second he was free he began crawling, knocking a few chairs down out of his way. As he began to calm he grabbed onto a chair, pulling himself up into the air with it as support. One of the healthy followers was already moving his way, but Kyle turned with a swish of his chair, keeping the attacker away at a distance.

'Stay away,' Kyle warned, from the boy inching up on him to Trent who was still leaning against the wall without any sign to be aroused by Kyle's fierce defence.

'You're definitely breaking the deal now,' Trent simply said with a smirk.

'Didn't make a deal that I wouldn't pick back up another chair.'

'Smart ass,' Trent finally leaned off the wall. 'Put that ass to a better use and give up kid.'

'No.' Kyle said firmly. 'I've been passive all my life and now I'm finally alone on my two feet defending myself, so I'm not going to stop; I'm not going to give up. Even if I don't have a chance against fighting all of you, I won't lose this battle I started against myself.'

'Poetry,' Trent spat with a smirk. 'Well good luck with that.'

Trent took a step forward, but Kyle wasn't too distracted as he saw his follower jump at him from the corner of his eye. He through his chair at the attacker like Trent had done to him, and turned to run. He heard his chair hit someone but it didn't help to relieve him. The boys he hurt were completely recovered now and on their feet, angrier than ever. But who caught him in the end was no other than Trent himself, and he only did it with a quick reach as Kyle ran by, grabbing him by the wrist. Trent swang him around, almost pulling his arm out of its socket, and slammed him against the wall that he had been leaning against a second before. A sharp yelp escaped Kyle's mouth, and then he froze as he noticed a chair held up in front of him, securing him against the wall between its four legs. Trent wasn't smiling as he held the chair.

'You know, the intention was to hurt you. We weren't gonna kill you or anything, that'll be a waste. We just wanted to scare you a bit with pain.' He said without his eyes quivering an inch away from Kyle's. But Kyle couldn't help but squint as the chair legs began to move up against him, making a subtle eerie screech as the legs dragged up the wall. 'But now I think my poor friends deserve a little compensation from the damage you caused to them.' The legs lifted off the wall as they reached Kyle's armpits and lifted to his face. Trent's eyes still didn't move as he pressed one of the chair legs against Kyle's lips, and then slowly twisted it into his mouth. Kyle wanted to gag at the dirty rubber sole sliding against his tongue and the cold metal flooding his whole mouth, but staring back at Trent's eyes was the only thing he could do. 'Don't you think so?'

Kyle grasped at the chair leg stuck in his mouth but it wouldn't move an inch. …Oh God, it was beginning to feel as if his lungs were swelling up and weighing inside his chest like a sponge in a bath. The fire inside him now was nothing but a small match, and he hated that it was Trent's cold eyes and words that were making him this way. He closed his eyes to see if the breaking feeling was really there inside. All he saw was black, but in the darkness behind his eyelids he could almost hear the ticking time bomb of his heart about to explode. Wait… no, he could really hear it. Tap, tap, tap, like footsteps, light and rhythmic, unlike that of anyone's in the room. The sound was becoming clearer and clearer, and Kyle opened his eyes at the very realistic sound. And once they opened, his eyes kept on widening at whom he saw at the door. It wasn't the ticking of a countdown; it was really footsteps.

Trent's brow twitched, and he followed Kyle's gaze past him to the opened door. 'Shit…' Trent clicked his tongue and moved away from Kyle.

The redhead coughed as the chair leg drew out of his mouth and wiped the saliva that stringed down his lip and chin. His heart was racing like a fuming train, but everything and everyone was quiet. Kyle couldn't blink, or even move his eyes away from the door and the tall boy leaning against its frame; everyone was looking at him.

'Kenny…' Kyle breathed the name, barely audible even to himself. The blond didn't seem to hear, and he cocked his eyebrow at everyone's frozen glance questioningly.

'What's wrong?' He said to Trent, who Kyle noticed gulped down a chunk in his throat. And then Kenny looked to his followers. 'Who told you to stop?'

Kyle instantly felt his heart sink, no, he didn't feel that; he felt nothing. He tried to process Kenny's words but even after he did that, it was impossible to believe. It was when he felt a fierce grip around his arm that he jumped out of his trance, and then he was dragged onto the floor once again.

Trent hadn't moved and wasn't even looking at his followers attacking Kyle. He was focused on Kenny with thin eyes, the blond now reaching out for a chair and sitting on it, leaning forward onto the back of the reversed seat. There was a smile on his face as usual, completely unreadable, hollow or cold. Trent shivered with a glare as he looked at that face: those eyes and the rise of those lips. He felt cold as he looked at the person he feared, not cautioned, but truly feared without any reason but the instinct in his gut. But Kenny barely gave him a glance; his eyes were staring at Kyle being attacked on the ground by Trent's followers, showing nothing on his face, if he had any to show at all.

'Kenny—'

The sound of Kyle's cries seemed so far from the silence the two tall boys held. His attackers didn't seem to care if they were being watched as long as they weren't interrupted. They attacked him like a group of zombies on living flesh, holding him down with force and shut him up with pain, trying to get what they were doing quickly over and done with. But Kyle didn't want anything over and done with. The one that had hit Kyle repeatedly was now placing himself between his legs, lifting them out of his way as he towered over him as if Kyle hadn't escaped the first time. Kyle froze as he felt friction against his arse and growled in disgust and anger, but he quickly dropped back in the exhaustion of frustration and hurt and dare say it— despair.

'Kenny!' He cried to the blond watching him from across the room, squeezing out what he had left deep inside him. 'Help me!'

Kenny's lips parted for a second, but other than that nothing changed on his face. But even that mouth quickly closed and he shrugged to himself.

'I dunno… I guess I'm too scared to.'

Kyle's eyes widened as he heard Kenny's sarcastic remark of repeating what he had told Kenny over their heated conversation. How pathetic… Kyle was beginning to approach the brink of rage, and not towards his attackers, but at Kenny for that one comment. So he had remembered what Kyle had said to him, and was now getting back at him for it by watching him suffer? How pathetic. And this meant that Kyle's words were true if they had any affect on Kenny.

'Of course you are… You're a coward!' Kyle yelled ignoring the bodies shuffling around him, focusing on nothing but the cold blond hiding everything behind that fake smile. 'You're scared that you might not get out, you're scared that you might die here! You're scared when you're awake so you act like ice, and you're scared when you sleep so you hide your presence! You're scared of getting hurt so you hide your feelings under that chilling smile and act as if nothing matters! You're scared of getting close to someone, to trust people, yet at the same time, you're scared of being alone. You hold no hope because you're scared of disappointment!'

Kyle groaned at the boy's movement on top of him and grit his teeth to try and ignore the humiliation. But out of impulse, he head-butted the forehead that he could reach. Although it caused Kyle a numb fuzziness in his brain and a thumping pain, it seemed to have caused more damage on the boy on top of him. He grunted and fell back, knocking the other boy off behind him as well, letting Kyle free enough to jump to his feet. He was stronger than he thought, and kept on impressing himself with it. Regained hope again Kyle ran, but not towards the door. He ran straight to Kenny and grasped the blond's collar with his hands, forcing his burning eyes into Kenny's icy ones.

'You're a scared all the time for everything. I figured all that out in the first hour that we were together. But what have you found out about me on your own? Everyone is scared here Kenny. Everyone is scared to death. That's why it is such a living hell…' Kyle gasped as he was hurled back from Kenny, but didn't take his focus off the blond even as he was being dragged back into his nightmare. 'But I'm not scared Kenny. Not here. I'm not scared of calling for help and I'm not scared of responding to it because I'm not afraid of rejection. I'm not scared of making friends and I'm not scared of making enemies. I want to live through this, and I have hope for it. That's why I intimidate you; that's why you're scared of me. Because I'm stronger than you.'

Kyle ended with a shot of breath, between relief and exhaustion. He had squeezed out everything inside of him, thoughts he didn't even knew he had. His own words let him become aware, but did it have any affect on Kenny at all? He had said everything out of impulse; how could it have affected anyone but himself? His blurred eyesight began to focus on where Kenny was sitting, but there was no one in that chair; Kyle thinned his eyes in confusion.

A sudden yelp cried behind him and Kyle felt the weight drain away from him as one arm was let free. But Kyle couldn't rejoice; he was frozen without his brain comprehending the situation. Everything happened instantly and he couldn't even blink as he looked up to see what had happened. And he met a smile, or more like a challenging smirk looking down on him. He knew that smirk well, but the eyes left him in a trance. It was hard to believe, but Kyle thought he felt a hint of warmth hiding in those icy-blue orbs.

'You're stronger than me?' the blond said. 'In your dreams, princess.'

One boy was already down with Kenny's single blow, and before Kyle knew it, his other arm was flung free as the next also fell to the floor without even letting out a yelp. Everything went by instantaneously, to make it sound bad, it was almost anticlimactic. Trent's followers that Kyle fought so hard to resist were falling one by one by Kenny's movements that Kyle couldn't even make out with his eyes. But he knew that it was either Kenny hiding massive strength in his slender muscles or him hitting hidden nerves in the body. One thing he could tell though: Kenny was fast, from every joint to muscle. His movements were clean, swift, even beautiful, like the wind. Within a minute it was only Trent left glaring quietly at the Immortal Prince.

'Son of a bitch,' Trent bit as if he was angry that Kenny had hurt his precious followers.

'Well at least I do it quickly and don't play with my food like your gang does.' Kenny nodded at Kyle who was standing there amazed by Kenny, forgetting his own bruised and hurt body. 'So what's it gonna be? You gonna try and resist my kicking your ass or do you want to let us pass?'

'Get the fuck out,' Trent growled. 'But don't think you won't pay for this.'

'Fine,' Kenny shrugged and pulled Kyle by the arm, bringing him out of his trance. 'But I won't recommend hurting this princess again. Because if you hurt him and he gives me another stupid lecture over it, you're dead.'

Kyle let himself be pulled out of the cinema, slowly regaining the control of his limbs and mouth. He stared up at the blond who kept on walking without a single bead of sweat on his neck. Who was this person? This person who has immense strength. This person who's feared, and for good reasons too, yet is scared. This mysterious person who acts as if he cares for nothing, yet is moved by a few simple words by Kyle.

'When Butters said he'd call for help I wasn't expecting you…' Kyle muttered to himself with a weak smile. Kenny frowned in confusion as he heard the words. 'Is he okay by the way?'

'What do you mean?'

'Butters.' Kyle emphasised the name and they came to a halt. 'He called for you, didn't he?'

'No,' Kenny said as if it was a ridiculous suggestion. But to Kyle, everything lost sense with that word. The air froze around him as he stared at Kenny with round eyes.

'Then how did you end up here?'

'Some kid told me you were in trouble.'

'Was he short and freckled? With light-brown hair?' Kyle described the boy that had taken him to Butters' aid.

'No. He was tall-ish with black hair. You know him though. I think he's the guy who called you princess-whore when you tried to help him on the first day.'

Kyle twitched from the puzzle.

'Craig Tucker?'

The blond shrugged to show that he didn't know the name, but Kyle was pretty sure. The only thing he didn't know was, how did Craig find out? And then a brief memory flashed up in his head, the face of the boy he had bumped into on the way down here, and it was Craig's face. He had bumped into Craig and he didn't even notice. But that was strange. The boy hated Kyle, so why would he bother to follow him and then go back up and tell Kenny? However it was, Kyle now owed him one. He owed Kenny too now, and still that boy with the obsidian eyes… Kyle didn't mind being in dept to people; it meant that someone had done something for him, maybe even cared for him, and that was a comforting thought, a little distraction from this prison to keep his mind occupied with. It would all have made sense though, if it had been Butters; maybe the blond wasn't well enough to call for help.

'I wonder if Butters is okay…' Kyle murmured to himself, but Kenny heard him.

'Dude, why do you keep on mentioning Butters? What does he have to do with any of this?'

'Well he was the one being attacked when I went there.'

'Wait, Butters was attacked by Trent and his gang?' Kenny asked as if he had just chewed on something bitter. But he didn't go into it once Kyle gave him a confirming nod. 'Huh. And you went down there because?'

'Because a boy told me that Butters was in trouble and needed my help. He brought me here, and then went to get more help. I managed to get Butters out. And he said he would call for help, not that I counted on it too much. I mean, who would come for me?' Kyle blinked, and then gave himself a weak chuckle, but stopped as he caught Kenny's eyes. Someone did come for him in the end.

'You managed to get Butters out?' Kenny repeated with exasperation. 'You sold yourself for him didn't you?' Kyle didn't answer but his smile dimmed, and Kenny took that as a yes. 'I can't believe you. Really. You're a fucking nut-case.'

'You saved me too didn't you? You could have got yourself hurt.'

'No. I did it because I knew those pansies don't have what it takes to even scratch me. I'm not suicidal, like you.'

'I'm not suicidal either!' Kyle answered, taken aback as he followed Kenny who began walking again.

'Well, you've got some fucked up death wish I'll tell you that.'

Kyle didn't say anything, but a soft smile was on his face as he walked beside the blond. He had just experienced hell, but all he could feel now was the warmth of a happy ending, like feeling the light finally engulf him after exiting a long dark tunnel. He wouldn't exactly call himself happy-go-lucky, but when surrounded with shadow and living in darkness, even a small light really does shine bright.

'So are we friends now?' The redhead tested, looking up at the blond from the corner of his eye.

'In your dreams, princess.' The blond answered with his previous words.

'But you saved me?'

'I saved you because I'm not a coward. To prove you wrong. I'm not scared, especially not of you.'

'Not even becoming close to me?' Kyle teased, unable to contain himself as he found that his words had actually had an affect on the ice prince. Kenny rolled his eyes and sighed at Kyle's words.

'Go to hell.'

Kyle grinned.

'I'm already there.'

A.N- thanks for reading. And that's a wrap for Trent for now! On to the next level…