"God fucking damn it all!"

Emil hurried behind his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze as a sort of reminder of where they were. "Lukas, I'm upset too," he whispered in Lukas's ear, looking around them nervously, "but you really need to keep it down!"

Lukas looked around too, but then shook his head and grumbled, "What the hell does it matter, anyway? He has the spell book and all of the spells at his disposal." His volume started to rise. "Let him fucking hear us!" He gripped his forehead with his palm and heaved heavily, stomping towards the stairs. "He's going to find us and kill us without lifting another damn finger and we can't do anything about it!"

Emil shook his head slowly, even though Lukas didn't see it. "No, I don't think he'll do that..."

Lukas stopped and turned towards his younger brother. "And why not, Emil? Why wouldn't he? That fucking bastard has pulled every trick he could think of to keep us trapped in this god-forsaken mansion and to leave us as defenseless as possible, and that spell book is just another damn torture toy he can- and will- use against us!" He punctuated his rant by slamming his foot into the wall, leaving behind a foot-sized hole in it. After huffing a few times, Lukas pressed his face into his hands and groaned loudly, the sound muffled by his palms.

Emil turned his brother around by the shoulder and clasped onto both shoulders tightly, boring his eyes into Lukas' as he whispered harshly, "Hey, hey! Listen. Calm the hell down, would ya? Did you forget what you said in the bathroom earlier, about Mathias wanting to play this game of his fairly?"

"You mean before we found out that he stole my spell book and used one of the spells to make me forget that it even existed, along with god knows what else he's planning to do with it?!"

Emil shrugged and shook his head. "Maybe it's just that one spell, Lukas, we don't really know." He a reassuring squeeze to both of Lukas's shoulders to calm his older brother as well as to rid the panic rising in himself. "I mean, he found the book, yes, but we're still alive for now. We're still here and breathing and... You said it yourself that we still have a chance against him and to run out the clock until we're free."

Lukas nodded slowly, taking in Emil's words bit by bit through the haze of fury. Although a small part in his mind didn't believe any of it and still wanted to curse and kick at things until Mathias comes to kill them off, the look of determination on his baby brother's face started to ebb away some of the fear. "Yeah... Yeah, I guess being alive so far should mean something." He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced around some more. "And if we go through with that two-on-one attack against him-"

"We could totally win against him and finally be free!" Emil finished for him ecstatically, grin wide with eagerness. "We probably wouldn't even need that book to retaliate against him!"

"But we still need to somehow ambush him, and that's gonna be the most difficult part of winning this game." Lukas reached back to scratch the nape of his neck as he thought aloud. "We know that Mathias is going to follow us when he sees us running because this is basically all just cat and mice, but how do we go about it without making it so obvious? I mean, Mathias is super oblivious at times, but this is one of those situations that he treats like a war to win, and he's always aware during a war-"

"Shush, wait!" Emil grabbed the crook of Lukas's elbow and yanked him into a nearby room, Emil's guest room, as he heard the creaks of a door opening and closing. Moments after Emil gently but swiftly closed the bedroom door to a crack to peek through, Mathias stepped into his view, shoulder slumped and hands in his pajama pockets, looking around in a genuinely indifferent gaze. He stood there as if waiting for the last two guests to come out of hiding and make hunting them easier for him.

"Is it him?" Lukas whispered, massaging his sprained wrist and wishing it would heal faster.

Emil turned around slightly so his voice wouldn't go through the door. "Who else would it be?" He whispered back. He then winced and hissed, quickly glancing down at his ankle and retching at the sight of his unlaced stitches and the dark blood oozing from the reopened wound. He squeezed his eyes shut before reopening them and forcing himself to pay attention to Mathias instead. There will be time for nursing wounds later.

"Shit, Emil, your ankle!" Lukas stared at the injured area too in alarm, eyes bulging at the slow downpour of the blood from the grossly-infected wound down to a little puddle underneath Emil's feet. He looked around the room for an item to use for the injury, whipping his head around in panic and spotting the pillows on the bed. He went over to the bed quietly and grabbed a pillow by the unopened end of the case. He then shook it gently until the insert fell out and went to kneel down by Emil's leg, where he tied the pillowcase as best as he could around Emil's ankle and ignored the agony of his own wrist as he did so.

Emil continued to watch Mathias as his brother worked on his ankle and eased the pain, making a mental note to thank him later- if they could even make it out alive from all of this. His thoughts were interrupted though, as Mathias pulled a device out of his pocket. "What the hell...?"

"What is it?" Lukas asked as he leaned around Emil's leg to get a look through the door too. He didn't see much, though; from his lower angle, all Lukas saw was Mathias's back from the shoulder blades down, and it seemed that Mathias was concentrating on an important object in his hands; his arms kept moving slightly and his head was bent down, as if reading...

He has my book, that bastard! Lukas thought venomously, feeling an intense urge to pounce on the man's back and strangle him from behind right then and there like a lion ripping into a gazelle. However, his mistake was corrected when Emil replied, "Mathias has some little black device in his hand. I can't really tell what it is..."

As he said this, Emil squinted to see what exactly Mathias did have. It was about the size of the remote control Mathias used to control the nanites in their bodies, so it could be that. If so, maybe they both can try to attack him now and snatch the remote out of his hand to switch off the little robots and break free from this mansion-turned-prison, or maybe shove some of those nanites down his throat and push him outside while the barrier's active so they can both watch him electrocute and writhe in pain on the cold, wet, muddy ground...

Again, Emil's vengeful thoughts were cut short before they became more absurd as Mathias frustratingly worked the little black tool in his hand, and when he twisted and turned the object in his hand, Emil caught a glimpse of the glowing screen. "It's a cell phone!"

"What?"

"Yeah, he has a cell phone with him. And it looks like he's on the news?" Emil shook his head and tried to crane his neck to look at the screen's content. "How can he even get on the news site? We're in the middle of a forest with all connections cut thanks to him."

Lukas finished patching up Emil's ankle and stood up to observe the phone in Mathias's hand. From where he stood in his new angle, it really did look like a news website. Mathias scrolled down the screen, where it looked like there was a long article and a few graphics in the paragraph breaks. As Mathias read whatever was on his phone, he twisted and fussed over a tiny black piece plugged into the headphone jack, even waving the phone around in the air, which gave them both a clearer view of the device.

"I think that's an adapter," Lukas whispered to Emil. "He's using an adapter to be able to use his phone during the cut off. Step back!"

Lukas pulled Emil away from the door as Mathias looked up from his phone and started to move. They both held their breaths and listened to the padding of his feet grow softer and softer in the distance until they were sure they heard him go down the stairs. They sighed in relief and crept out of the room once they were absolutely sure they were safe. Back in the middle of the empty hall again, Lukas and Emil stood in silence, thinking of the situation at hand.

Mathias has Lukas's spell book. He also has an adapter for his phone so he can communicate with the outside world at will, or whatever reason he's using that phone. With Emil and Lukas suffering injuries that's debilitating in one way or the other, they were at a major disadvantage in fighting Mathias, even if they fought him together.

Emil glanced down at the pillowcase tied around his ankles as he asked his brother, "So what now? Do we follow him and try the attack?"

Lukas looked at his brother as he took his injured wrist in his hand and rubbed it gently, wincing as that slight touch sent splintering pain up his arm. Upon closer look, he saw that purplish bruises were spotting his pale skin. Damn, he thought. "Hm... I guess we could try it now, if you're up to it. Remember, even with us both, it'll probably be a tough fight to bring him down."

"Yeah... We should've followed him then, we don't know where he's going."

Lukas started towards the stairs. "He couldn't have gone far in the house, especially if he's looking for us. Let's go."

He hated it when the damn adapter doesn't do its simple job and kept disconnecting his phone from the wireless network; it made loading the rest of the online article and obtaining some much needed information slow to do. And time was not something he could spare, even if he was winning.

Mathias twisted and jiggled the black accessory on top of his phone to get the connectivity back on his device, but after a few minutes of trying to get it to work properly, he simply grunted and threw up his hands. He scrolled back up to the top where some of the article was already loaded and read that part instead, seeing as how it was the same as all of the other economic news he came across.

"Stocks up twenty percent- ha ha pretty damn good... trading ports and imports looking good... Holy shit, she signed the contract yesterday? Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Mathias pumped his fist in the air and cleared his throat; he glanced around to see if the last two guests heard him; he didn't want to alert them and scare them off if they were nearby. Still, his face lit with satisfaction as he pocketed his phone and continued on his way to the kitchen, working to keep down the hardening in his pants that the excitement was forming. He wanted to save it for later, for whomever he catches next.

He cut through the area and sprinted down the cellar stairs. In the lower level, he stopped in front of his most recently imported bottles of wine, reading through the silver plaques nailed to the shelf beam below them. He took one bottle out after the other, reading the labels and placing them back in their hold. He'll admit, maybe it was too soon to start planning the celebration, but the perfect victory needs the perfect wine.

He checked out the next bottle's label and smiled sadly at it, at the one-man celebration that this wine will serve. It would've been nice to invite someone to come out and party with him, but he knew that a lot of questions would be raised, and trying to explain the absence of the other Nordics would prove to be difficult.

He shrugged it off.Well, more wine for me, I guess, Mathias thought. He jammed a thumb nail under the cork and pressed hard until the cork popped and flew away across the room. He brought the bottle's opening under his nose and gave it a good sniff. "Aah, man, definitely this one... Dammit, where did that cork go?" He spun around and looked over his shoulder, searching for the cork he wish he was more careful with. As he searched, he caught something at the corner of his eye. A shadow flew by- no, two shadowy figures- within the confusing maze of shelves. The quick footsteps that came along with the shadows seemed to move everywhere, probably due to the echoes of the cellar or the unplanned movements of the two figures as they skittered from one place to the other. Perfect.

Mathias snickered and slowly lowered the wine bottle to the floor so it wouldn't clink on contact. Dusting his hands on his clothes, he crept around the shelves to the last spot where he saw the shadows. He quickly checked his watch as he moved and nodded with delight. Admittedly, Mathias never thought that his guests would actually follow his rules and move out according to the time cycle he set up for them; the other day, it definitely seemed like Emil wasn't going to follow through with the rules and just go about wherever he willed, but after the little run-in with Mathias, it was good to see he changed his mind and went with the flow. Much easier for the both of them.

"He's stalking us now, right?"

Lukas looked over his shoulder, placing a finger in front of his frowning lips as he and Emil crept around the cellar's level as loudly as they could. Although the younger man only whispered, within the cellar's chamber-like structure, anything could be echoed and passed around, something that could completely blow their plan. Still, Lukas looked beyond Emil and within the tiny empty bottle cells on the shelves, and then turned his gaze everywhere else as if he was looking for something. He couldn't tell really well from just that one quick glance, but those were definitely wide, blue eyes focused on them like a lion finding its next meal in the wild. Now to set it all in motion.

Taking Emil's hand with his uninjured one, Lukas sped up their pace and led them deeper into the cellar and closer to the adjoining laundry room, trying to think of how to actually set this off. He had a detailed idea in mind that's more than turning around and jumping Mathias right on the spot- which, if it didn't set off Mathias' thirst for a challenge that the two hurt runners didn't need, it would definitely send him running for safety, another thing the two didn't need at this point. Now what he needs is enough privacy and time to give Emil a brief explanation and see if the other can pull it off despite the rip in his ankle. Lukas cut through one row of shelves and turned a corner, finding himself and Emil in a square area of kegs in the furthest part of the cellar.

They each crouched behind one keg and grew silent except for the soft panting. Lukas stretched his neck up and honed his listening to the heavy padding of Mathias' feet, paired with low chuckling that made Lukas's spine shiver. It was the kind of giggle that he can remember late at nights, after their lovemaking when Mathias would chuckle and sigh with content as he held Lukas close to him, when Lukas saw the most wonderful person of his entire life lie next to him instead of a disgusting monster bent on killing. Before all of this shit that Mathias took obvious enjoyment in.

Just as fast as those memories came into his head, Lukas immediately shoved them down in a black hole in his mind. He didn't need that now. He cleared his mind and determined how much closer their hunter was coming to them. He sounded close, then he sounded far, close and far and probably going around in circles in a frantic search for his last two victims.

Lukas leaned towards Emil. "Okay, Emil, we're going to start the ambush."

Emil nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"In order for this work, we're going to have to split up." Lukas put his hand up and quickly cut off Emil's protest by continuing, "It won't be so difficult; we just need to split up, run the perimeter until we're on either side of Mathias so we could come at him from both sides. If he's as exhausted as we are, it should be easy to take him down when he's focused on trying to fight one of us. But if Mathias starts fighting you, I'll distract him so you can escape, so you better run."

"Lukas, no, you are not-"

"There's no damn time for protesting! Just listen to your big brother and try to stay safe!"

Emil's lip twitched peevishly. He started ripping off his watch. "Fuck it; then at least have this!"

"Emil, what the hell am I going to do with-"

"Take it, dammit!" He snatched the watch off his wrist and shoved it in Lukas' chest.

Lukas held the watch out, getting ready to pitch a protest himself, but Emil stood and ran off to carry out his part of the plan, limping just once as the movements disturbed his injury again. Muttering a swear, Lukas quickly fastened the watch on his wrist and stood up to run the opposite way, pausing from time to time to be sure that Mathias doesn't spot him or Emil too soon.

Mathias slowed down, looking around him without turning his head much so they wouldn't notice that he was looking for them; he smiled as he heard the quick footsteps circling him and edging closer. As pleased as he was that they were coming out of hiding to make achieving his plan easier for him, he also felt insulted; what was with the old ambush trick? Was he so out of the hunting game that they thought he didn't know any better?

His eyes caught another shadowy figure moving behind the shelves, its speed matching the hurried foot steps he can hear closer to him. With a shrug, Mathias started heading to it; he wasn't going to complain anymore about his fortune changing for the better. A few steps in, though, a horrified scream came from the shadow he spotted, causing the man to halt and almost trip on his own feet from the heart-stopping pitch.

The palms of his hands pressed tightly to his mouth when he realized that he screamed. He shouldn't have screamed, Emil knew, he shouldn't have blown his cover when he could hear Mathias so close to him. But this was just too horrible; it awoke too many nightmares he had in just those few days and brought back all of his cowardice and betrayal from yesterday. His hands shaking, Emil felt his legs go weak as he stood stock still above the young body, tears brimming up as he watched the wide blue eyes stare lifelessly back at him.

His legs finally lost strength after a few moments, so he crumbled to the ground, his pajama legs soaking up the blood that pooled around Peter's cold, pale body, doubtless that it came from the many jagged stab wounds all over the boy's torso. Emil was going to be sick; he could already feel vomit gurgling up his throat, and if his eyes roam any lower, he knew he was sure to spew whatever was left in his stomach on the body, and the child didn't need anymore shame, especially in death. Out of the corner of his eye, Emil could definitely see his bottoms and underwear ripped and pulled down to his ankles, something white splattered all around Peter's thighs.

Emil sniffled and let out a sob, reaching out to gently close Peter's lids over his dry, red eyes. "Peter... Peter, I..." he stopped, trying to prevent himself from vomiting that was surely inevitable.

Which was worse? That this happened to a damn child, a baby compared to all of them, someone so innocent and only wanted to spend time with his family, or that he, Emil, had a chance to save this baby, but didn't because it was easier to save himself?

He didn't even care that he could hear Mathias's once obnoxious, now fear inducing loud laugh come closer to him; the trap's not going to work. It shouldn't work. Emil doesn't deserve to be out when he didn't allow Peter that fighting chance.

Lukas didn't like the sound of the scream. If it weren't for Lukas being able to see Mathias move around, he would've thought that Emil failed his part of the plan and was caught under Mathias's clutches. Still, he couldn't be too sure that Emil was still "safe", the look of that limp before Emil set off was terrible, and that scream couldn't just be from fear. So he sped up and changed directions, keeping his eyes on Mathias as he tried to avoid him and get to his brother first.

"Damn, Emil, where are you?" Lukas hissed, really wishing Emil didn't scream like that, no matter how much pain he was in so it would be easier to save him. Lukas cut through a break in between the shelves when he heard a soft sob, running a few more paces before he stopped, his heart pounding yet ripping in two as he found his baby brother, completely broken and shaking, on his knees in front of another fallen family member.

"Emil-"

"Holy shit!"

Emil and Lukas whipped their head around, Lukas slowly going over to stand in front of the still Emil as Mathias stepped closer, his hands on his hips and his head tilted to the side as he smiled. "Well, what do you fucking know? All this time I was looking for you two, here you both are! What's going on, though?" He spread his arms out and gave Lukas and Emil questioning looks. "What happened to your guys' plan? I thought for a second there that-"

His eyes went over to Emil, now seeing the shameful tears run down his cheeks, as well as what the teen was kneeling in front of. He raised his eyebrows and nodded, completely understanding. "Admiring my latest work, huh?"

Lukas quickly looked back at Emil and Peter and regretted it, his eyes closing slowly as the image forcefully burned into his head. "Mathias, this isn't funny," he finally said, but he knew there was no point; there he was, a young boy half naked and still in his violated condition, and not a flicker of guilt or disgust shown in Mathias's eyes as he kept glancing back down at the boy, because there was too much pride and delight in there.

Mathias shrugged again, shaking his head. "I dunno, Lukas, it was pretty funny to me, then again, I am the one who's winning here-"

"Winning what, you fucking bastard?!" Lukas started to charge at Mathias, but stopped himself, channeling all of his anger into his fists and try ing so damn hard to ignore the sting from his damaged limb. He wanted to kill Mathias; he was going to kill Mathias, this depraved son of a bitch deserved nothing less than long, torturous death.

But there was that part in Lukas, that damned part of him, that stopped him from acting out when he looked into those eyes, those wide, energetic eyes that didn't seem any different from before this ugly, inhuman mess. Lukas didn't know what to do with that last bit of hope that either this truly was a nightmare and he'll wake from it or he'll somehow magically change Mathias back to normal, but it was there, and he'll either have to act on his hope, or shake it off completely in order to save Emil.

How he fucking hates human emotion, sometimes. He closed his eyes again and swallowed, snapping them back open and feeling some inner satisfaction at the way Mathias jumped slightly at the intensity in his violet eyes. Good, let him be scared, even if it was just a momentary shock; he fucking deserves it.

"Tell me, Mathias, what are you winning here, exactly? What kind of satisfaction or-" he gave a short laugh, "-orgasmic pleasure are you getting from torturing your family like this? What type of shit game-" he paused, feeling his voice begin to crack. When he spoke again, his voice was louder. "What type of shit game involves hurting kids?!" He pointed behind himself to the children, Emil's back shivering and shoulders heaving.

"...I'll admit," Mathias said, "I didn't really want to kill Peter, since he serves no purpose-"

"You shouldn't want to kill anyone!"

"-Hey, he was just here! Be happy it was him and not Emil; fucking pussy ran away before I had the chance to-"

Mathias's statement had cut off in a yelp as Emil shoved Lukas out of his way to lunge at the man, Emil himself letting out a blood curdling shout as he tackled Mathias and started slamming his fist into Mathias's gut. Lukas was frozen for a few moments, shocked at the sudden attack, but went straight into action when Mathias hammered his fist into Emil's back, sending the boy down with one blow. Lukas finally charged after him, pounding his knuckles into Mathias's jaw and kneeing him in the crotch.

Mathias resisted the urge to curl into a ball under the sudden, excruciating pain, his cheeks puffing up as he narrowed his tearing eyes. Despite the pain going through his body, Mathias still smirked, backing up and bending slightly as he held his hands out, just like he did on that mat from when they all wrestled together days ago.

"Come and get it, Lukas, my love! I know you want to!"

Lukas ran right into him again, blinded by his rage finally peaking. It seemed like he was making a move to grapple Mathias, and Mathias was more than prepared to grapple Lukas as well- he was so light, Mathias would have no problem lifting the man up and tossing him somewhere- but instead, Lukas just lightly hopped and swung his foot, taking Mathias's jaw with his heel in a roundhouse kick. Luckily for Mathias, he saw it as soon as Lukas seemed to lift from the ground and leaned back to prevent even more damage, but it wasn't far enough to avoid Lukas's entire attack. And because he was so focused on Lukas, he didn't notice Emil crawling onto his hands and feet and lunge for Mathias again, wrapping his arms around Mathias's hips to take him down.

Mathias let out another yelp and steadied his footing so that he wouldn't fall, but it was so hard to do so when he had to focus on avoiding Lukas's swings and kicks as well. The brawl soon progressed from Mathias trying to keep his balance while dodging left and right (and taking a few blows, resulting in cuts and bruises forming on his face and under his shirt) to Mathias trying to knee Emil in the chest or gut or wherever the hell he could get his knee in while swinging wildly at his lover. There was no tactic or rhythm to his attacks; he just needed to get the other damn brat off of him and somehow get Lukas to stop fighting him.

When one thought like that in a fight like this, it was not good for the person.

It definitely wasn't good when the person finally fell under the weight after his other opponent, following his brother's act, latched onto him as well. They all tumbled down, Mathias yelling out a curse as his entire back pounded against the concrete flooring.

Emil moved away when Lukas crawled on top of Mathias, placing a knee on his heaving chest and wrapping his hands around Mathias's neck and pressing down as hard as he could. For a moment, a white light flashed in Mathias's mind, but it cleared, his vision coming back to Lukas's blue-violet eyes staring down at him. They weren't wild and enlarged, like Mathias would imagine serial killers' eyes when they finally got another target, but there was something in Lukas's gaze.

He couldn't figure it out with air being squeezed out of his windpipe, but Lukas looked pretty happy...

Victory. That is what's glowing behind Lukas's sneering grin. He think he's won even before Mathias gasped his last breath; Mathias can even feel Lukas's fingers twitch excitedly on his neck, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Emil sitting there and watching, out of breath and heaving like Mathias, but his eyes soft and excited. Or was that relief?

Whatever it was, it was bad news. Mathias closed his eyes, his eyeballs rolling back. He knows that he has an ace up his sleeve, and if he focused well enough to remember it before he's completely gone, it can say it right now. He doesn't even need to say it, he just needs to channel into his inner being or some shit and draw the magic spell up. But he's not going to do that because that's cheating; it's cheating and Mathias was going to play this fair just like all the others did-

Except the others didn't really play fairly according to his well-thought out rules, did they? Even when he gave them so much leeway in the rules. And that was not fucking fair.

He writhed under Lukas's straddling position, holding onto one of Lukas's wrists to move it enough that he could take a little air. Lukas quickly shoved his hand back down, his lip turning up even more when Mathias choked. He was going to do it, he was going to get Emil out. Fuck human emotions when survival always won.

Wait, was Mathias choking? And what the hell was he trying to say? (Although it really wouldn't matter; nothing coming from this monster's mouth is important.)

With a final, almost weak fight, Mathias moved Lukas's hand once more and shouted. Lukas couldn't tell what it was in the split second after Mathias blurted it out- it sounded like he was gargling and coughing on his built-up saliva- but he knew what it was when a sudden glow surrounded Mathias's body, followed by a force of wind throwing both him and Emil away from Mathias and slamming them into the shelves.

Shame twinged Mathias's heart as he clambered onto his feet, his hand gingerly rubbing at the tender bruises Lukas's fingers left on his neck. He swallowed and tried to laugh at Lukas and Emil trying to rise on their feet, but he couldn't even breathe right, his breaths coming out in wheezes. Mathias shouldn't feel awful about last resorts, because that was what they were for, were they not? But even more shameful than breaking one of his own rules and giving himself even more advantages was how he had let it come to that. He was so prepared for something like this, he even took fucking notes, who the hell takes physical notes on someone's fighting abilities?

But somehow these two short stacks overpowered him and pushed him to a corner and forced him to play the ace up his sleeve. He coughed and shook his head; he was going to make it up to them once he wins, they just have to be patient. And he wasn't going to use the healing spell for now, either. If these two hurt him worse than they already have, then he was going to go through the pain and keep fighting.

But patience was one thing these two didn't have, evident in the blaze in their still tired-looking eyes as Lukas limped over to Emil and held him up despite his own weariness and pain. All of them tried to catch their breath; as useful as that spell was, it did take from Mathias's life force or whatever Lukas called it since Mathias wasn't all that experienced with magic.

His breaths still coming short and hot through his lips, Mathias smirked. "Whoa, heh heh heh, wow, that was pretty cool, huh?" He made a step towards them.

Lukas stepped back and tugged Emil after him, almost pushing Emil behind him as Mathias just chuckled even more. Goddammit, if only Emil didn't try to stay beside Lukas and fight Mathias alongside him, he could be better shielded. "Get behind me," he said to his younger brother.

Without looking at him, Emil shook his head and gently took Lukas's hands away from his, standing straighter and balling his fists at his side.

Mathias tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and patted his chest. "Come on, Emil!" He jeered. "Come on, little buddy!" Emil still hesitate, and Mathias patted his chest harder, almost raising his voice. "Come on!"

Lukas reached out to block Emil with his arm a little too late. Already charging at Mathias, Emil yelled and had a hand raised for a striking blow, with all the hope that he learned right from Kaoru's sometime-y lessons.

"Wait, Emil!" Lukas shouted as he tried to snatch Emil back.

Emil swung at Mathias and tried to pair it with a kick.

Now this was the part where Mathias was glad he did take note during that little wrestling match, otherwise he probably wouldn't remember how Emil's choice of moves, combined with his light body weight, can be used so well against him.

Easily sidestepping Emil's hand strike, Mathias reached out and caught the boy's calf, yanking his leg down to throw him off balance. He wrapped an arm around Emil's shoulder and held onto Emil's chin. Mathias's eyes went up to Lukas for just a moment before he yanked Emil's head back at an odd angle.

Lukas made a strangled cry in his throat as Emil went limp and toppled to the concrete floor , a red, broken ring flaring around his pale neck. For those first few seconds, Lukas's mind flooded with nonsensical thoughts that he couldn't even sift through as he stepped closer to Emil, not caring much about being closer to the predator that wants to kill him next. But then, as he touched Emil's unmoving face, the wild thoughts started to become coherent.

That didn't happen. Emil didn't die right in front of him like that. Emil didn't risk his life, and Mathias didn't snap his neck like he was a sick little bird.

Mathias stepped around to stand behind Lukas, folding his hands in front of himself as he waited in silence for Lukas to mourn. Although it was definitely good for Mathias to have kill Emil- and he did it as quickly as his agility allowed; at least it wasn't slow and torturous- it wasn't right to do it in front of his older brother, who's been protecting Emil ever since the teen was formed. So he stood back for a few moments to let the mourning commence and watched his motionless lover sit on the ground.

But time was still pretty short, so after Mathias allowed Lukas the opportunity to cry- which Lukas oddly didn't take, or maybe he did; Mathias couldn't see his face, but maybe this was one of those silent tears that Lukas was prone to when he's weeping- he crept closer and bent slightly, his hands going around Lukas's neck.

"It's going to be okay, Lukas," Mathias said in his softest, most comforting tone. His fingers started to tighten around the other's neck, eager to get it over with and finally win this game, but not wanting to squeeze the life out of Lukas, too. "It's going to be over."

Lukas reached up and behind him and dug his nails into Mathias's arm, quickly swiping down. As he yelped in pain, Mathias snatched his hands away, letting Lukas duck from him and scramble away. Mathias looked at his forearms; Lukas's nails ripped into his skin and made long red lines that had trickles of blood running down to the web skin of his hands. Hissing, Mathias glared at Lukas, who slowly started to stand and wipe the blood and bits of skin from his nails onto his shirt.

A second of silence passed between them as Mathias looked into Lukas's eyes, feeling a chill as he saw darkness cloud those usually blank eyes, before Lukas turned on the balls of his feet and ran. Watching him run brought a flash of memory back into Mathias's mind of when they were children and Mathias was so slow compared to Lukas, when he couldn't run fast enough to catch Lukas before he hid among the trees or shrubs, always having to watch Lukas's back shrink as he gathered distance like a cheetah.

But Mathias was bigger now, and definitely faster than before. Shaking the pain off and refusing himself to even try the healing spell again, Mathias began to run again when he had stopped. A low gurgled moan sounded, and Mathias looked down. It couldn't have come from Emil, could it? He was dead, and the dead don't talk. He crouched next to the boy anyway to check on his work. Sure enough, Mathias was wrong; now that he could see closely, he did notice the weak rise and fall of Emil's chest, and since he was closer, he could make out the faintest labored breathing as Emil tried to get his injured pipes to work. Dammit, Mathias needed to brush up on his neck-snapping ability.

He patted Emil's forehead and stood again, racing after Lukas. He'll let nature take care of Emil and his last breath that was coming soon; right now, he had to win this game.

Whoa, holy canoli on a stick, I can't believe people are still reading this fic and liking it, even though it's been on the back-burner for a long time now. I'm glad people are still enjoying it! This thing has been fun to write over the time.

And wow, thank you so much, Une-Aline, for your amazing message and reply! ;u;