A/N: Chapter 10 is here my peeps! Oh wow, I never even imagined when I started this that it would get to 10 chapters! I'm really happy that I even got it this far, honestly. I don't know how many more chapters there's going to be, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to actually finish this one, I've got a lot of good momentum going with it.

A lot of the scenes in this chapter I had already written out (or at the very least planned out) it was just sewing them all together that took me a bit.

also, trigger warning for suicidal content.

Elliot jerked open his car door, still fuming from his interaction with Vincent, nearly 20 minutes later. Aside from that, however, he was also worried about Leo. Was Leo really going to cut off contact between them? He wouldn't allow that, he couldn't allow that.

Working through the motions, Elliot grabbing his fencing bag from his trunk, slinging it over his shoulder and closing the trunk with a heavy thud. He pushed open the door to his fencing academy, and was immediately greeting with the sight of his instructor grinning at him, and rows of students both fencing and sitting on the benches taking breaks.

"Ah, you're late, Elliot!" Said instructor sang cheerfully, watching as Elliot began to warm up. "I thought I might have come all this way for nothing!"

"Ah, Break, sorry, I was just-"

"Talking to Oz, were you?" Break grinned, testing his epee against his shoe. "Well, no matter, you're here now, so let's get started, shall we?"

Elliot pulled on his uniform and gauntlet, then drew his epee out of his bag. "Yeah. I'm ready." He tucked his mask under his arm, not putting it on until he got to the strip.

"Good. Let's just do a few warm-up touches. But after that I want you to work on some technique." Break crossed the room to the en garde line, waiting for Elliot to do the same. "Your lunges were a little bit sloppy last time."

Elliot felt his face burning a little at Break's critique. He saluted to Break, stood at en garde, and when Break gave the signal, he advanced, his shoes squeaking against the metal of the strip. He landed the tip of his blade on Break's chest, the metal flexing slightly. Upon Break's instruction, he repeated the touch, working the motion into his muscle memory.

But with every move, Elliot found himself getting more and more distracted. "Is Leo OK? I wonder if Lottie managed to talk to him."

"Elliot, pay attention!" Break rebuked, "You're getting sloppy again."

"Ah, sorry!" Elliot responded, shaken from his thoughts and brought back to reality. He attempted a few more touches, but didn't get very far before his mind started to wander again.

Break sighed, and signaled for Elliot to stop. He pulled off his mask, and pointed towards one end of the strip. "Alright, let's get those lunges cleaned up. Your stance is fine, just keep your body lower."

Elliot nodded, taking his stance for a lunge. Break signaled him to start, so he took a lunge, recovering on Break's mark.

"That was good," Break praised, "Just remember to start with your arm, otherwise you give your opponent the advantage. You have a good reach, but if you start with your leg you give away your intent and your opponent can counter easier."

"Got it." Elliot waited again for Break to signal, trying to apply the corrections he'd been given. It worked out for a few tries, until once again he found his mind wandering, this time to Vincent. "What was up with him? He just snapped, out of nowhere!"

"Elliot, I know you can do better than that." Break spoke up, as Elliot recovered from a lunge. "Are you alright? You seem a bit distracted."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Elliot affirmed, "It's nothing."

"Hmm, nope, you're lying." Break motioned for Elliot to follow him, sitting down on the bench lined against one wall of the academy. "Otherwise you wouldn't be making that many rookie mistakes. So what's going on?"

Elliot hesitated, gathering his thoughts before speaking. "There's this boy, Leo, I met him a while back. He's…...tempermental," Elliot laughed softly at this, since he had no room to judge, due to his own temper, "He's sarcastic, and rude, but I still can't help but want to get to know him. But everyone else is against it. Vanessa doesn't try to stop me anymore, but she will still tell me she doesn't like it. Vincent used to just glare, but now…."

"What happened?" Break prodded, in a surprisingly gentle tone that left Elliot speechless for a moment.

"Well….we were just walking around, and out of nowhere Vincent came up behind us….." Elliot faltered, the memory springing fresh in his mind. "He yelled at us, told me to get away from him. Said that he didn't have to explain himself to me."

"I see…." Break nodded, deep in thought. "Sometimes things just happen that are beyond anyone's control. You can either lose yourself worrying about it, or you can stand up and be there for the ones who need you most."

Elliot couldn't help but feel that Break was speaking from personal experience. "Did you..." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"Lose someone important?" Break finished, a sad smile crossing his lips. "That I did. The Sinclair family, to be exact."

Elliot tilted his head, trying to remember where he had heard such a name. "That was the name of a fencing academy, right?"

"That's correct." Break affirmed with a nod, "I learned everything I know from the Sinclairs. And I used to babysit their daughter, Emily, while I was waiting for my lessons. She was such a sweet little child..."

Elliot felt a pang of sadness, and barely whispered, "Was?"

"Yes, was." Break looked down, his hands tightening around his epee. "There was...a day when I was watching her, when I shouldn't have. I thought I just had a cold. I was wrong. It was pneumonia."

Elliot's heart felt as if it had stopped. "Oh no..."

"Yes. She contracted it, and...she died. It was my fault. I should have gone to the doctor that day. I was too young, too naive. And that mistake cost Emily her life."

Elliot couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that Break had felt, having the weight of a child's life on his shoulders. But in the back of his mind, something Break had said didn't quite line up. "Wait. What about the rest of the Sinclairs?"

"Ah, I wondered if you might ask that." Break gave a wry smile, and he placed his hands on his lap, laying his epee down next to him. "After Emily died, I cut my ties with the Sinclairs. It was another one of my naive mistakes. I found out too late that they died, both of them..."

"What happened?" Elliot barely even whispered, feeling Break's grief, and feeling regretful that he had caused Break to open an old wound.

"They were killed. In their own home no less." Break revealed softly, then added, "Well, you don't need to know all the details, I suppose. What I was trying to say was this. Don't cut someone off, just because you think it will make things easier for both of you. It won't, and you'll regret it someday. Be there for the person who needs you."

"Yeah, I will. It's going to be hard, but I will. Thanks…...thanks for listening. I really needed this." Elliot admitted, a small smile creeping onto his face, despite the gravity of the conversation.

Break took a breath, preparing to speak, but before he could, a rhythmic beeping noise sounded from across the room.

"Ah, that's my phone." Elliot excused himself from the bench and crossed the room, unzipping his bag and shuffling through his stuff to find the device. "I could have sworn I turned this off…." Once he finally found his phone, he reached to swipe the call away, but hesitated. "Um, I might have to take this…..."

Break nodded, a look of understanding crossing his face. "Go ahead, just don't take too long."

Elliot sighed gratefully, slipping out of the academy and answering the phone. "Leo, what's going on?" From the other end of the receiver, he could hear Leo's breath hitch, and panic began to rise.

"Listen, I…."

Elliot gripped his phone tighter, and his next words spilled out faster as his heartbeat sped up, fear building in his chest, "Leo? Talk to me, what's happening? Do you need me to come over?"

But Leo's response, it was nothing he ever could have imagined. It left him completely shell-shocked, horror running cold through his blood, a weight dropping onto his chest as though it was crushing him with a thousand pounds.

"What the actual hell?!"

Vincent tugged open the door to his and Gil's apartment, hardly even paying attention as it slammed shut behind him. He was too absorbed in what had just occurred to even care about the possibility of the neighbors hearing.

Lethargically, he slumped down onto the couch, barely even noticing that the television had flickered on, due to him hitting the remote perched in a precarious fashion on the armrest.

"Jack! Glen! Look!"

"What's that? You have a chessboard?"

"I'm going to teach Gil how to play! He says it's too hard for him, but I know he can do it, he can do anything!"

A sob caught in Vincent's throat, memories of the past flooding back, taking his breath away, leaving him with only a painful, empty feeling. His chest ached and throbbed, feeling as if it was going to be split open. His hands began to shake, and tears gathered, pricking at the corners of his eyes.

"Gil, you have to move that piece forward only! It's the pawn! The only time it can move sideways is when it's capturing!"

"But I don't want you to take it!"

"It's OK Gil, the pawns are the best ones to lose, they're not as powerful and the only thing they're good for is blocking the way of the stronger pieces and creating a diversion."

"That's mean, Vince! Every piece is important!"

Vincent glanced down at his hands, then wrapped his arms tightly around his body in a desperate attempt to quell the shaking.

On the television, a news station began to cover a recent arson attempt, a large warehouse blazing in flames, smoke curling upwards in thick, dusty clouds. A suspect had been caught, attempting to take his life.

Vincent stared at the screen, his chest heaving from shock. The red flames that blazed on the screen reflected within his own red eye, and a new wave of memories crashed through his mind, sending him to the floor in panic.

"Jack?! Are you alright? You're crying! What happened?…..."

"Vincent? I'm….I'm fine. But what about you? Are you…...are you happy here?"

"Me?…...I'm….I'm happy wherever Gil is happy…."

"That's a lie. It's naughty…..to lie, Vincent. You're….you're not happy, are you?"

"No….I'm not."

"I can give you a place where you can be happy together."

"Really?!"

"Yes. But first, can you do me a favor?"

Vincent could no longer hold back tears, they flowed freely as he gasped for breath, seeing within his mind's eye the catastrophic fire that had claimed the lives of many people within Jack's apartment building, where he and Gilbert had also lived. It had blazed for hours, catching the attention of media throughout the city. In a miraculous turn of events, both he and Gilbert had survived, but Gilbert was so traumatized that he remembered next to nothing of the events, nor of Jack and Glen. All he knew was that they had been in a fire, and he believed that that was all Vincent could remember as well, due to Vincent consistently lying about the matter.

Panic continued to grow in Vincent's chest, as he sat immobilized by the sheer distress of the memories plaguing his mind. He tried desperately to move, and finally, finally, his body obeyed, so he pulled himself off the floor, staggering towards the other end of the apartment, but not before turning off the TV.

Without a second thought, Vincent yanked open a drawer where he kept various crafting supplies, and grabbed a pair of scissors. Sobs were racking his entire body, without stopping. He flicked the blades apart harshly, his hands shaking. "I'm sorry, Gil…..." He whispered, clutching a picture of the two of them in his free hand.

He closed his eyes, but before he could strike, a click in the lock made him freeze, his blood running cold. His eyes snapped open, staring at the door in agonizing fear.

Gilbert pulled the door open, a smile on his face. But as soon as he laid his eyes on Vincent, that smile froze, then dropped, exchanged for an expression of pure horror. "What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled, letting go of the door handle, and it slammed harshly behind him. "Put those damn scissors down!"

A/N: And that's chapter 10! Break was the one I had promised to introduce a few chapters back XD Oh, and credit goes to my sister for helping me with the fencing scene, since she's a fencer.

And now finally we're starting to get some answers! Well, a few at least. There's still some secrets left, definitely. Things also won't get better for a while yet, sadly.