Whew, now that I'm done with Deathly Hallows it's time to get back to work. Thanks to Animegirl1129 for the beta. Much love to ya girl.

Chapter 11

A frightened cry tore from Paxton's mouth as he was grabbed from behind by two pairs of large arms and his anger and fear completely over took him as Natalia's laughter rang out in the darkness.

He screamed, fought and kicked as much as he could as the two large men drug him down the hall even though a part of him knew it was no use; these men were much larger and stronger then him. A loud, ear shattering scream reached his ears as he was drug past an open doorway and as he whipped his head towards it his eyes saw a masked figure cutting into someone's shoulder with a bone saw.

The air was filled with more screams and cries of pain as he was drug further down the grimy hall and the sights he witnessed only grew more horrid; a man tied to a chair and being beaten severally with a bat, another man getting his groin crushed by a pair of bolt cutters, a shaking figure getting his throat cut...

His fear peaked, sending every single nerve inside his body into a full state of panic and he doubled his struggling. He managed to land a kick into the thick leg of the man on his right but the monstrous figure didn't even stumble from the impact.

The men neared a door and despite the immense struggling and kicking from their captive, pulled the American inside a vacant room and handcuffed him to the room's lone chair. Pax groaned loudly as a large fist was thrust into his stomach and over the sounds of his wheezing he could hear the two men leave the room.

A small click sounded behind him and soon the room was thrown into a deep, suffocating darkness. He tugged on his cuffs and wiggled his arms disparity, hoping against all odds that he'd be able to wiggle himself free.

The floor rocked under his feet with a intense jolt and he found himself thrown up against an imaginary wall to his left. Through the heavy darkness he wasn't able to see anything but he sure as hell felt it when his shoulder crashed into something cold and solid.

With a groan he felt a heavy fog surround his head and before he could shake it off he felt the air around him shift violently.

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Pax jerked awake as the ground under his feet rocked heavily and his head bumped something hard. His heart was thudding loudly inside his chest and with a shaky intake of breath he opened his eyes and saw them reflected back at him by a thick glass window.

Endless green and yellow scenery lined the countryside on the window's other side and Pax watched it pass by as he sleepily rubbed his eyes, feeling his heart slowly starting to beat normally as his shaking body calmed down from his nightmare.

He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep; the last thing he remembered was sitting in this exact same spot keeping one eye on the passing countryside and the other on Josh. Upon thinking about the other American, Pax turned his head and moved his eyes towards the seat across from him. Like him, Josh had also fallen asleep from the motion of the trains movement with his long frame stretched out across the compartment's second seat. His eyes were lightly closed and Pax was relieved to see there was no movement under their shut lids; he honestly had no idea what he'd do if Josh had a nightmare or worse, if he started bellowing out what had happened to him again.

The floor rattled as the train pulled its self up a small hill and Pax rocked in his seat and was thrown against the window again. He righted himself with an angry grumble and kicked the railing lining the seat with his foot.

(Is it too much to ask to reach Vienna alive?)

When the cabin stopped rocking, Pax glanced over at Josh and was greatly surprised to see the blonde still asleep and shook his head.

(Josh could always sleep through an earthquake.)

He shook his head again and moved his eyes towards the compartment's glass door when he saw movement. A few shadows of people wandering up and down the aisle-way were cast on the wall outside of their compartment and after watching them for a few moments, Pax sighed and got to his feet. Even though a part of him knew he shouldn't be wandering in the open he didn't care at the moment. He was bored and if he stayed in the tiny compartment for much longer he was afraid he'd fall asleep again.

After taking a quick look over his shoulder at Josh as he slid the door open and wedged it closed behind him. The small hallway held a few people moving in and out of compartments but not in a large enough number for Pax to turn around and duck back into the small space behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder at the door behind him and after deciding Josh would be safe if he left him alone for a moment – he made sure to snag the one at the fair end of the train car so not many people would walk by it – he started down the small aisle.

He encountered a few people as he moved to the front of the car. The floor rocked under his feet once again and the small impact made him stumble and sent a passerby bumping into his shoulder.

"Bloody hell, sorry about that mate. Lost my footing." The man apologized roughly as he straightened his wrinkled clothing and then gave the American an intrigued look. "Oh, hello again."

Pax blinked and quickly ran his eyes over the man's face. He recognized the man almost instantly, it was the same man who stood behind him in the ticket line and the sudden feeling that bothered him the last time of seeing the man somewhere before tugged at his mind again.

"It- it's fine." Pax shrugged nervously.

"Fucking tosser needs to learn how to work this bloody thing. So, you're heading to Vienna then?" The man asked, his thick British accent giving off a sense of playfulness.

Pax eyed the Brit closely, wondering if he should answer truthfully or not.

"Um, yeah." He shrugged, deciding the man looked harmless enough. "Goin' there for some...fun."

He kicked himself mentally for sounding so fucking dumb when the man gave him a questioning look. Luckily for him, the Brit quickly broke into a smile.

"Fun, huh? Well, that's what youth is all about right?"

Pax heaved a deep relieved sigh in his head. "Right, that's what everyone tells me. Enjoy it while I can you know and–"

"No thank you, I prefer to eat with my hands. I don't believe in using tools to eat meat–"

A cold sensation tore through his entire body and Pax felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as a tiny, Dutch accented voice drifted into the hall from a nearby compartment.

(Oh, god, no, not him.)

The man standing in front of him gave him an odd look. "You alright, lad?"

The American ignored him and fearfully moved his eyes along the glass doors until they spotted a round head with thinning brown hair sitting two compartments away. His back was turned and even though his face wasn't visible, Pax knew who it was.

There was no mistaking it, that was the sick fucker that tortured Josh; the Dutchman.

"You still on our planet, lad?"

Pax jumped and jerked his head back towards the man in front of him. "Sorry, I- I gota go. Nice running into you again and all."

He quickly turned on his heel and started back down the isle towards his cabin. As he moved a short ways down he heard a soft clicking sound behind him and he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the man snap his cell phone close and tuck it into a pocket. Without even making eye contact with the American, he turned and causally strolled away in the opposite direction.

Paxton watched him as he turned the corner and frowned slightly. He knew what that clicking sound was; the man had taken his picture on his phone. Before he could dwell on the thought further another more pressing one entered his mind; the sick Dutchman was on the train with them!

Without wasting another second, he sped towards their compartment and slammed the door closed behind him. He felt for a lock and cursed when he remembered there wasn't one and threw himself on his seat once again. That fucker was on the train, he was only a handful of compartments away from them, away from Josh.

His arm acted on its own accord, pulling his backpack into his lap and diving into it's belly in search for a weapon. He pulled out the knife and after tucking it into his jeans, he moved one of the handguns into one of the pack's side pocket, where it'd be easily reachable should he need it.

A soft moan sounded across from him and when he moved his head towards it, he was met with the sight of Josh's blue eyes staring at him sleepily.

"Pax, something wrong?" The blonde asked quietly when he noticed his friend's uneasiness.

His chest was no heaving painfully and the cold chill was still embedded into his body but he forced himself to speak.

"N-no. Everything's f-fine, Josh."

(Aside from the fact that your torturer is sitting less then a hundred feet away from us.)

The blonde gazed at him sleepily before leaning his head against the window and watched the countryside pass by. Pax's eyes were boring into the glass door on the opposite side of the compartment, hoping none of the moving shadows belonged to the tiny Dutchman.

(You're not going to touch him again you sick fuck.)

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"Welcome to Vienna. Heißen Sie willkommen nach Wien."

The train jerked once again as it crept to a stop just outside of a dark-stoned station but Pax didn't rise from his seat just yet. The sounds of compartment doors sliding open and people talking in a variety of different tongues filled the air around him as the other passengers slowly filed out of the cars.

Josh eyed the groups of people outside their window and gave the darker-haired American a confused look.

"Aren't we getting off here?"

It took a few moments for his question to reach Pax and draw him out of his shaky trail of thought. "Yeah, just waiting a moment for the crowd to thin."

His voice was small and fearful, no matter how hard he tried to conceal it, and he tired to cover it up by clearing his throat.

"Uh, alright." Josh shrugged and leaned back in his seat. "Where we goin' after this?"

"I don't know. Hopefully we can find another train out of here and soon."

His voice cracked on the last word and Josh caught it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He replied almost instantly.

Josh stared at him silently for a moment and then drew a knee close to his chest as he turned his head back towards the window. Pax eyed him the entire time and bit his lip. He knew what that gesture meant, Josh was nervous and after taking a moment to study his own behavior he could see why. Whenever he was afraid that meant Josh should be.

He took a long moment to compose himself and rose from his seat. Shadows loomed once again on the hallway outside their door and he waited for most of them to disappear before he pulled the glass back and stuck his head out into the isle. A few people were moving about the car but none of them were tiny with a thinning hairline so Pax felt it was safe enough to move.

He looked over at Josh and jerked his head. "Come on."

Josh grabbed their backpack from the seat and shrugged into it on his way to the door. After looking the car up and down once more, Pax slid the door all the way open and stepped into the small hallway. Josh trailed a short ways behind him, his eyes staring darting back and forth between the few people around them and the back of Pax's head as they approached the open mental door.

Before they jumped down the steps, Pax cautiously scanned the area with his eyes, making sure there was no sign of the tiny Dutchman before he hoped down on the ground and helped Josh down from the mental car.

He pulled the blonde into the crowd a moment later, hoping they'd blend in with the moving wall of people inside the packed station. He knew Josh was feeling more then confused by his actions but thankfully the blonde didn't speak on it and just let his friend move him through the hundreds of people lining the lobby.

Upon seeing that none of the moving bodies around them resembled the figure of Dutch man Pax felt himself relax slightly. Hopefully the man was already gone, hopefully boarded another train or exited the station. Hell maybe he was just seeing things, that could've been anyone on the train.

(But that voice...it sounded so much like him.)

They reached the top of the stairs a handful of seconds later and Pax's feet slowed to a stop. There he was. Through the crowd of people filling the lobby his eyes immediately noticed a short man with thin brown hair wading through the crowd several yards a head of them. His back was to them so he didn't even notice the pair of eyes burning into his back as he dispatched himself from the crowd and moved towards the hall leading towards the restrooms.

Pax watched him leave and a cold feeling settled inside of his stomach. There was the son of a bitch that raped Josh, there he was walking around like he hadn't a care in the world while Josh's grip on reality was completely shattered. There he was walking away...

His stomach coiled as something dark clawed away at his heart. No, there was no way in hell that fucker was going to walk away like that scot free. With a deep mental growl, Pax turned his head towards Josh. The blonde hadn't noticed his torturer standing less then fifty feet away from him and Pax was grateful for that.

"Josh can you go get some more food? I'm still hungry." He asked, trying hard to keep his voice even as he dug his wallet out for some cash.

The blonde accepted the money that was offered but gave him a confused look. "Where are you going?"

Pax pointed at the sign labeled 'Restrooms' a few feet away. "I'll be back in a few moments, okay."

"Okay."

He could easily see the nervousness in Josh's voice and he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"It's okay, I'll be back before you know it."

After giving Josh's shoulder a light squeeze he pointed out a food vender and branched off towards the restrooms, lightly rubbing his fingers across the switchblade in his front jean pocket. His other hand was still holding the wallet and he rummaged through it as he walked, pulling out the Elite Hunting card with Josh's name etched into it. He noticed the card with his name on it was missing but he forced that thought to the back of his mind as he neared the door with 'Male' written in German.

He cautiously looked the area around the door over as he pulled it open and when the coast was clear, he flipped the sign over on the door so that the bright green letters read 'closed' and closed the door after him.

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I have a character list for this story on my Journal, if anyone is interested I'll send ya the link.