Arthur streaked down the road, almost two meters ahead of Matthew and Alfred. They reached the house Arthur had only been to once after what he hoped wasn't too long. He knocked on the door once before slamming the door open a second after. He rushed through the living room, down the hall to the room he knew was Lotti's.

He stopped in the doorway where he could see a man he assumed was Lotti's father with his friend pinned up against the wall by her neck.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't get rid of you right now?" He screamed in her face, unaware Arthur and two other boys stood behind him.

"Because if she dies, then you do, too!" Arthur shouted at the man. He turned around, letting Lotti drop onto her bed as she gasped for air while clutching her neck.

"Who the fuck are you? Who said you could come into my house? Get the hell out of here!" Lotti's father screamed at the boys, but they didn't move, they didn't even flinch.

"No way, dude! There's no way we're leaving!" Alfred yelled back, "The hero has to protect the damsel in distress!"

"You think you can be the hero and save her?" He began laughing evilly at Alfred, "She can't be saved! You're too late, she's damaged goods! Go find some other chick to bang, kid!"

"Don't talk about her that way!" Arthur screeched at the man, "The only damage there is to her are the bruises and scars you've given her!"

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are? I've given everything to this family since she was born, and no one has ever bothered to even say thank you!" He yelled back.

"Yeah, you've definitely given your all to your family! All your rage that you can't keep to yourself! You have to hurt someone else to make you feel better. Even if it's just little girl, who the bloody hell cares, right?"

"You've got some nerve, kid!" Lotti's father raised his arm high in the air, it came down and collided with the side of Arthur's head. He fell sideways onto the floor.

"Hey! Don't treat my bro like that!" Alfred yelled as he jumped into action. He leaped into the air with his leg out, he kicked Lotti's father down onto the floor a couple meters from where Arthur was just getting back on his feet.

Arthur took that opportunity to run to Lotti who was still sitting on her bed, still catching her breath. A purple line had begun to show around Lotti's neck, she clung to it, Arthur knew it must've hurt a lot.

"Lotti, are you okay?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah … I think so," She choked out, "Thanks for coming." She pulled him into a tight hug, which they both quickly abandoned when Alfred began screaming at the man lying on Lotti's floor. Alfred was sitting on his chest, his fists going back and forth across Lotti's father's face.

"Never ever call Lotti damaged! You're sooo much more damaged than her! You don't even have a chance!"

"Alfred! Stop! You're going to kill him!" Matthew told him from across the room.

"Who cares? He fucking deserves it!"

"I don't care! Stop it!" He screamed at his brother. That was the loudest any of them had ever heard him speak. Alfred's fist dropped to his sides in astonishment, he sighed, stood up and began walking towards his brother.

None of them noticed the presumably unconscious body lift itself up onto his hands and knees until he lunged for Alfred's legs.

"Alfred! Look out!" Arthur yelled, making Lotti cover her ears. Alfred spun around, just in time to see the body grab his legs and force him to fall to the ground with him. He pinned Alfred down to the floor, cackling maniacally.

"You're going to regret doing that, kid. You'll never see the sunlight ever again." Lotti's father raised his fist once more, he hit Alfred, sending a spew of blood across the messy floor. Matthew screamed out for his brother, but seemed to be otherwise paralyzed, as was Lotti. She couldn't let go of Arthur's sleeve even if it meant costing Alfred's life.

"Alfred!" He screamed as Alfred took another blow, Arthur reached out to his brother, but couldn't get to him.

Then someone appeared behind Matthew, it wasn't Lotti's mother, the figure wasn't at all feminine. Arthur recognized the face after a second, then remembered seeing it on the street when he, Alfred and Matthew were running to Lotti's home.

"What the heck are you doing?" Ludwig yelled at Lotti's father. He looked up and the newest trespasser, just in time to see his face before he pulled him off Alfred and threw him against the wall.

"Alfred?" Ludwig shook his shoulder gently.

"'M 'kay," Alfred mumbled as he propped himself up on his elbows, Lotti and Arthur could see the blood gushing from his face from across the room.

"Are you sure? Be careful. It looks like you really took a beating."

"Dat's wha de hero does … to save de ones who count on 'im," He grinned up at Ludwig.

"What are you doing here, Ludwig?" Lotti asked, absolutely amazed by his appearance.

"I saw you guys running here, it looked like something bad happened 'cause I don't think I've seen any of you run like that, and the looks on your faces. So, I followed you and then I started hearing all the yelling and screaming so I came in. I hope you're not angry I trespassed."

"I think the only one that would object is him," Matthew nodded at the man pushing himself up onto his hands.

"You brats..." He cursed them all under his breath.

"Mr. Dodd, what are you doing?" Ludwig wondered, he never suspected the man of being abusive.

"Get out, Beilschmidt, I don't want to get your family caught up in this. Take these boys with you. None of this is your business." Lotti's father balanced himself with his hand against the wall.

"I don't think I should do that," Ludwig crossed his arms, suggesting that he would never leave.

"Fine, but if something happens to you, it's not my fault," He said as he raised his fist to hit Ludwig, he succeeded, though only because Ludwig let him. Ludwig grabbed his forearm, he somehow forced the man onto the ground in a split second. He began cursing and swearing at Ludwig loudly and violently.

"Has anyone called the police yet?" Ludwig growled, at the mention of the police, Lotti's father began thrashing around even more and demanding that Ludwig let him go.

"Does it look like we've had the chance?" Arthur scowled as Lotti clutched his arm.

"Well, then someone do it!" Ludwig shouted, mostly at Matthew who had been standing next to the doorway helplessly the entire time.

He didn't react for a moment, then grabbed the phone from where Lotti had dropped it. Matthew punched in nine-one-one and held it to his ear.

"Lotti! What the hell are you doing? Don't let them call the cops!" Her father screamed at her, "Do you know how angry your mother will be? She'll be furious, fucking furious! They think you're in danger with me? She'll do worse once I'm gone!"

"T-that's not true!" Lotti countered, surprising everyone in the room, including herself, "She's never hurt me before. It's always been you!"

Her father didn't say anything for a moment, he was completely astonished his victim was finally standing up to him. He didn't like it at all, "I was punishing you for all the crap you get into! Once I'm gone, someone else has to keep you on the right track!"

"I don't care! If she hits me, I'll just hit her back!"

"You can't throw a punch to save your life!" He laughed.

"That's not true, Dodd, she punched my brother a couple years ago," Ludwig interjected.

"What the fuck were you thinking? Getting into trouble with his family? They could have gotten you into a lot of crap for that!"

"No way! It was self defense! I was there!" Ludwig told him, "The principal let it go because it was self defense!"

"Oh, fucking well! You still punched one of the Beilschmidt boys!" Dodd yelled, "Will you let go of me?"

"No!" Ludwig shouted in his ear, making him start cursing all over again.

"They'll be here in a few minutes!" Matthew said from the doorway. Dodd began thrashing around as well as swearing, it was getting harder for Ludwig to keep him pinned to the ground. Alfred stumbled over to help him. Lotti was finally able to let go of Arthur a minute or so after that to let him help out the other two boys. Matthew went to the front of the house to wait for the police.

They showed up a couple minutes after the boys finally won full control over Lotti's father. They locked a pair of cuffs around his wrists and roughly pulled him to his feet before pushing him through the house to their car. A couple of them took him away, while the other two stayed to hear the story from the five kids.

"There's a good chance he'll be locked up for a while, kiddo, with this many witnesses," The one patted Lotti on the shoulder before climbing into the car with his partner.

They watched the car disappear before saying anything to each other. Lotti was the first to speak, another surprise to them all.

"Thank you so much for coming. I can't believe it's actually over... I can't … even. I don't know what else to say," Lotti's eyes were watering as she hugged Matthew, then Alfred and Arthur.

"It was no problem," Matthew smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, what else is the hero supposed to do?"

"You're our friend," Arthur said when she hugged him, "And as much as we'd like to stay, we'll probably get in trouble if we stay out any longer and go back with Alfred looking like this."

Lotti nodded, "I understand, I'll see you tomorrow." She waved to them as they started down the sidewalk at a pace that was suitable for Alfred's condition.

Lotti turned back to the house, and realized she had completely forgotten Ludwig was still there, standing on her lawn.

"Thank you, Ludwig, so much," She said.

"It's the least I can do to make up for Gilbert," He replied.

"You know, you don't have to make up for his actions."

"It's mine I'm making up for, or at least the lack of actions. Arthur's right, I should stick up to my brother."

"It's okay that you can't, I understand your position, I mean, until today, I couldn't stand up to my dad like that! That's why I never said anything when you would apologize to me for him."

"I'll still try."

"Okay," Lotti smiled at him weakly, which he returned.

"Do you want me to stick around until your mom gets home? My parents won't care if I'm a bit late for supper."

"That would be nice, I guess..." They went back into the house and made themselves comfortable in the living room.

After Lotti grabbed a couple glasses of water, they sat on the couch for a few minutes in complete silence, then Lotti ended up blurting out a question out of the awkward that plagued the room.

"You were the one that convinced them it was self defense?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I mean, really, he provoked you. He deserved it," Ludwig said, "W-were all those bruises from your dad that day?"

"Yeah, he didn't appreciate me going out without telling him the day before and got pretty violent. When the school called, he thought it was about the bruises. That's probably why he doesn't remember the call about me punching Gilbert. After that, he was a bit more cautious."

"Wow, I can't believe I never figured it out. I'm so stupid. He was always a horrible man. And the bruises. I should have put it together. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Well … I told my teacher that they wouldn't take my brother to a doctor before he died ... and when he did die, they checked out our house to see ... if it was actually an unfit home. But it passed inspection and after that I though nobody cared. That's when he actually started..."

"I can't believe it. I've known you since before that! I should have seen that something was happening!" Ludwig groaned, he bent over, holding his face in his hands out of disappointment in himself.

"It's okay. How were you supposed to know, anyway?"

"I don't know, I just ..."

"It doesn't matter any more. You helped me in the end. And Alfred, Arthur and Matthew."

"Yeah," He sighed, "I guess I did."