For a while the only things keeping the silence out were the brunet's crying and the blonde's quiet words of reassurance. "I won't every leave you" and "it'll be alright". Nothing more than empty promises; I'm sure both of them knew as eventually Lovino would get sold to a pure and would have to fend for himself. But both of them seemed to ignore that fact at the moment.

Seeing the two left me with a strange feeling in my chest…it was weird how much they cared for one another…almost like family. On the streets, I was alone for as long as I could remember. Caring and wanting to protect someone other than myself was not something that ever crossed my mind.

Yet I couldn't help but wonder…

oooooOOOOOooooo

After a few minutes, both Mathew and Lovino had fallen asleep. Mathew had his back pressed against the wall while the smaller boy had his head against his chest. My eyes hurt from having only the small blue light from our collars barely making it though the dark, but as hard as I tried to close my eyes and join the others, the deafening silence caused by the absence of our argument kept me awake. I sat with my back against the wall simply staring up ahead. Figures moved though the dark and stared back at me with wide grins, but after realizing they didn't get close to me, I decided they were just trick my eyes were playing on me. So I just sat and stared. I wondered if this was the reason Mathew dreaded being stuck down here. Having to be betrayed by your eyes while you waited for something to make a sound though the silence. I didn't blame him… I definitely didn't want to come back here again.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but I must have as my eyes snapped open when a scream pierced though the silence. Lovino was hanging from Mathew's arm as the latter screamed and tried to pull away. I was immediately on my feet and next to the blonde who only tried to move back the closer I got. I grabbed his wrist to pull his hand away while Lovino held down the other.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the blonde screamed and thrashed around trying to get out of our grip. Lovino was thrown onto the floor and Mathew used his now free hand to claw at my eyes. I grabbed his wrist and turned my head away before he got too close, but it did nothing to stop his nails from cutting into my skin. As the taller blonde kept pulling back, I kept getting dragged forward refusing to let go. Lovino got back up and latched his arms around Mathew's stomach getting him off balance and I quickly tripped him so he had his back against the ground.

Lovino moved out of the way and I pinned Mathew's legs with my feet and his arms above his head as I sat on him to prevent him from moving and hurting himself or us. He didn't stop screaming until his voice became raspy and his face was stained with tears.

"PLEASE DON'T DO IT!"

"Mattie what-"

"ALFRED, PLEASE!"

I fell silent. Mathew stopped screaming and fighting, but continued to cry. I didn't know what to do. I turned to look at the brunet, but he was just as confused as I was. I slowly let go of his arms but he didn't move them from their spot.

"…Mattie?" I asked afraid to cause another reaction. He didn't stop crying but he moved his hands to cover his eyes. I reached out hesitantly and gently pulled his hands away. "Mattie…it's ok, you're not in any danger…."

"Gilbert?" I nodded and moved to the side to help him sit up. He looked terrible. His shaggy hair was a mess, his mouth was oozing blood from where he probably bit himself and his bruise colored eyes looked even worse as they were red and puffy from the crying. It didn't help that the blue light from his collar made him look sick.

"Hold on, don't move." I said grabbing the neck of his shirt and pulling it up to wipe the blood away from his mouth and chin "there, that's better."

"Gil…did I hurt you?" he asked completely disregarding his own bleeding mouth.

I moved my hand to my cheek and felt three small openings in my skin dripping a bit of blood "oh it's just a scratch" I said with a smile.

"Oh."

He didn't say anything else and neither did I. What were you supposed to say after watching someone scream in panic and cry out someone's name? There wasn't much I could say…or there probably was but in just didn't know.

"Are you ok?" it was Lovino who broke the silence. He was frowning but it wasn't his usual scowl, he looked worried.

"Yea I'm…fine…."said Mathew "I'm just glad I didn't do anything to you guys…"

"…Does this usually happen?" I asked even though I knew he was just going to brush off the question.

"Don't worry about it…its nothing…let's just try to sleep. It's a lot easier to pass the time this way" he said moving back and laying on his side facing away from us.

We didn't question him anymore and went back to lying down but none of us could fall back to sleep.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Two days later, the keepers came back down to get Mathew and I. It had felt like an eternity…or maybe a few minutes… I couldn't really tell, but apparently it really had been only two days. The flashlights of the keepers hurt my eyes after having been with nothing but the little blue lights and they knew this as they kept shining the light at us in a not so accidental way. The collars were removed and we went back to the metal bracelets we wore on a daily basis. It was strange but I was glad to have them back.

We were dragged out of the pit leaving the small brunet behind, and the moment we stepped into the main hall, my body hunched over in pain. If the light from the flashlights was painful, then the light from the world above the pit was torture. But it wasn't just my eyes that were burning; my skin felt like it was melting off.

I couldn't see anything as the light blinded me and I could hear or feel anything around me as the only thing in my mind was the pain I felt. I didn't know if I was screaming, or if I had fallen over, or if anyone around me reacted in any way, all I knew was that it hurt. My eyes started to adjust to the light a bit but I could only see blurs as I was carried off somewhere; however as we went thought the door, the room on the other side was even brighter than the one before and I was blinded once again. My skin was on fire and I could concentrate on anything else but I could vaguely hear people talking rapidly amongst themselves.

"You need to hurry up! Orders from the mistress say he has to be there!"

"There's not enough time!"

"The artists are already here!"

"I'm not going to be the one to tell her!"

"Why should I go?"

"It's not my problem!"

I really didn't know what they were going on about but suddenly I didn't feel anything anymore.

When I woke up, it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the bright light but it wasn't painful like it had been before. I was in a completely white room with people moving around dressed in white doing stuff I didn't give a shit about. I was lying in a bed and looking around I saw that I wasn't the only one. I was in the care center.

My first instinct was to get up and run, but all thought of escape abandoned my brain as I felt a bracelet around my ankle. I sat up with my legs off the side of the bed and followed the chain that was connected from my ankle to the floor. Of course they weren't going to make that mistake again.

I suddenly realized that the upper half of my body was wrapped in bandages and I started to panic before a medic showed up. Without even acknowledging me she started to unwrap the bandages.

"What did you do to me?" I asked frowning but she simply ignored me and walked away once she was done "alright then, I didn't want to know anyway" I said not really caring if she heard me or not.

I looked down at my arms and saw that the symbols where gone and my skin wasn't red anymore. I didn't understand why I was wrapped in bandages or why I was in here for so long but I didn't care as long as I didn't have to deal with the burning anymore.

The keeper walked in after a moment and dragged me out the care center and into the dome. I was confused as I thought I was going to be sent to the show, but when I saw that some of the freaks were gone, I sighed in relief realizing they left without me. I walked to our spot by the broken down table and sat underneath it with my legs crossed. I was glad I didn't have to go to the show, but I felt strangely alone without the quiet blonde sitting beside me.

oooooOOOOOooooo

At the end of the day I was dragged back into the basement by myself. Compared to the pit, the basement didn't seem so dark anymore, and I was grateful for the small amount of moon light that came through the window. I sat in the cage in silence staring at the empty spot beside me. It was strange but somehow the cage felt colder than usual.

The door to the basement opened allowing some light from the hallway to shine though. Keepers walked in and pushed their respective creatures into their glass cages. My cage opened and in walked in Mathew as the keeper walked away with the rest and shut the door once more.

"Hey, Mattie! Missed me?" I asked with a smile that disappeared once I actually looked at the blonde. His face was stained with tears again. "What's wrong?" I said standing up to look at him properly.

He didn't say anything at first but I waited until he did in fear of making him cry more. He stared shaking and his voice was small and broken when he spoke. My eyes widened as he answered my question and my heart dropped.

"Gil…the next freak show will be an auction."

YOOOOOOOO WHATS UUUUUUUUPPPPP DUCKLING HERE QUACK! Man this was a depressing chapter idk if i actually intended to make it this was or not but EHH OH WELL NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT NOW anyways so we got a small glimps at something going on in mathew's head I WONDER WHAT IT IS well thats for me to know and you to find out! also OMG GILBERT IS FALLING IN LOVE AND HE DOESNT EVEN KNOW IT trust me this is just as frustrating for me as it is for you ANYWAYS HOPE YOU DUCKLINGS LIKED THIS CHAPTER ILL SEE YOU GUYS NEXT TIME DUCKLING OUT QUACK QUACK!