Disclaimer: See the first chapter.
A/N: This is really violent. And sacrilegious, if you consider fighting in a church as that. If you like Birdman, you might want to kill me. Actually, if you like any of the characters, you might want to. I'm going to...flee.
Thanks to: SakuraBubbles the Muffin Child (I want to bash Akito in the head, so we're even. XD), The-Dark's-Familiar (Yes, more Galerians yaoi! We need all the Galerians yaoi we can get. The cat's in this chapter. As for Lilia, she had her powers, but she just never needed to use them.), Albel's Fate (I had an idea about Ash's body, too, and I thought it'd be fun to write, what with his and Cain's difficulties of getting along. But I couldn't think of a good explanation of how that would happen. About Birdman... Uh-oh. XD), minachiko (I love this game! Such a cool game should definitely be more popular.), DG-Sama (I love your fanart! Especially the dildo one. XD And the lineart was quite cool.), Riku Aros (Hot in pants! That made me laugh.), and CuddlyChristina2004.
Chapter Six - Unscrewed
"Can you leave yet?" Cain leaned over the counter, head in his hands, watching Rion's activities with interest. "Maybe I should get a job here... Aren't you the only one who works here besides that guy?"
"Yeah." He walked around the counter, grabbing his coat and throwing a glance over his shoulder at the clock to make sure it was time to lock up. If Cain worked here... His mind flashed to things that...were probably better left at home. Unfortunately.
Rita must have been thinking the same thing, because she sighed and muttered, "Nice try, Cain, but I think Rion comes here to work."
"I did think it was a nice try."
Rita shook her head and pushed open the door, sending a blast of freezing air into Rion's lungs and up his sleeves.
Silently Cain added, /You'd still work. Heh./
/And you call Ash a pervert.../
/Ugh... Don't even mention him. He doesn't even know me, but he thinks it's okay to grab my ass?/
They began walking down the sidewalk to their apartment. It was almost unbearable during the dead of winter. The wind whipped into Rion's eyes, and all he could do was shuffle along, hands in his pockets. They journeyed past the tiny cemetery. It may have been a childish superstition, but Rion held his breath, anyway. It nagged at him that Lilia was there.
"Rion, you're quiet..." Cain noticed, observing him out of the corner of his eye.
"I was...holding my breath," he confessed. It sounded stupider when he said it out loud.
"Why? Is that some kind of human thing?" Rita persisted curiously.
Neither of them understood how ridiculous it was, or he was sure that they would have teased him. "Just because," he lied, not wanting to worry them. After all, they thought he was getting better about it. He wondered if he ever really would.
"What's she doing here?" Rita questioned unexpectedly.
A small girl, no higher than their knees, was running toward them frantically. At the same time, she was trying to check behind her. Consequently, she stumbled and crumpled on the sidewalk. They were only a few feet away from her, so it required little effort to run to her.
"Are you all right?" Rita asked, gently reaching for her.
The girl latched onto her immediately, sobbing. Now that she was close enough, Rion could get a good look at her and was horrified by what he saw. Her coat was missing, the rest of her clothes were oddly askew, and her long, dark hair was in tangles. Her skin was so red that it appeared to be raw. Rion would have attributed it all to the harsh weather, had he not seen that there were...marks...
Like she had been attacked.
As he began to fully grasp the situation, Rion lifted his head to meet Cain's eyes. The expression he got in return was grim, resolute. Slowly, Cain looked to where the girl had come from, a narrow alley.
"I'll be right back, okay?"
"Cain. No." Rita grabbed him firmly by the arm, but he just shook her off, as if he hadn't heard her. "Cain, you can't do this!"
This seemed to upset the girl even further. "N-no, that's where he is!"
"Rion, go after him, please!" Rita pleaded, looking off in the direction that he had gone. "He'll kill him!"
I don't care about whoever did this so much as... Cain was the only thing on his mind. He was aware that Cain was highly capable, but the person he was going after could have a weapon. Then there was the matter that if Cain was caught, he would be charged with murder.
"Cain!" he called. The crunching of his own boots was all that answered him. His breath came faster. Everything did. He turned a corner and another and another, not really giving thought to where he was going. Not that it mattered, as he had nowhere else to go. The things in front of him – brick, snow, footprints – swam blurrily in his field of vision.
"Cai –" The rest of his name got stuck in Rion's throat.
Cain was sitting on a man's chest, boots digging into the snow, hands clenching his neck. Blood was splattered all about them, most of it soaking through the shoulder of Cain's coat.
"I... I didn't..." the man rasped, weeping pitifully.
"Shut up," Cain whispered. "Shut up, you sick fuck." His hands began to crackle with electricity.
Stop it...! But the words wouldn't come. Rion was rooted to the ground, perfectly quiet and not protesting, as Cain sent shockwave after shockwave coursing into the body below him. Blood ran in rivulets out the man's eyes, nose, and ears, staining Cain's hands bright crimson.
A moment later, and the only things heard were panting and the echoes of the man's screams. The smell of burnt flesh stung his nose.
"Why did you kill him?"
Cain stood up unceremoniously, still staring at the battered corpse below him. "Why didn't you stop me?"
"Who am I to say that you shouldn't kill, when I've killed all those people?"
"That was in self-defense, Rion. This wasn't."
"Then why?" And here he already knew.
"Because I have no tolerance for that," Cain answered simply.
Snowflakes dusted over the man's face, covering up his wide eyes that were frozen in an eternal, glassy stare of shock. Rion watched, transfixed, as the snow gradually began to soak up the spilled blood.
"Your shoulder... What happened?" Rion had begun to regain control of himself and what was going on. The man was nameless to him, but Cain could've been gravely wounded.
"Knife. It's not that bad." He started walking at about the time Rion did, so they met halfway.
Rion numbly wrapped his arms around Cain's neck, deeply breathing in his scent as it fused with the sharp winter air. "That was...the stupidest thing you have ever done." I knew... I knew that something was going to happen to him.
"Cain!" Rita was holding the girl up with an arm while surveying the damage. "Cain... You..."
"How is she?" he inquired brusquely.
"He didn't fully...but I'm taking her to the police station. You should get out of here as soon as possible," Rita directed.
"The police station –" Cain started.
"I'm keeping the details vague. There's plenty of crime around here for them to be confused about who to pin this on," she explained. "Cain, I understand why you did what you did –"
"What he did was horrible and selfish," Cain spat. "She's only a little girl... I can almost bet that there's no one out there who's going to miss him."
"That doesn't make it right for you to kill him!"
"You don't understand at all!" Cain snapped.
Rita had had enough. "Cain, stop it!"
As a result of their outbursts, the child began to cry quietly again, her wails muffled in Rita's coat.
"I'm...going to leave now..." She cast one more glance at them. "Cain, you at least owe Rion an explanation."
"Come on. Let's go home." Cain's voice was completely devoid of emotion.
Rion forced himself not to look at the body and followed Cain. He didn't expect an explanation, and, really, it wasn't like he could blame Cain. They had all suffered in different ways. Rion still couldn't even approach a hospital without fear gripping his stomach, so if pedophiles made Cain go into a homicidal rage, he wasn't about to chide him.
"You're probably wondering what the fuck just happened, right?" Cain guessed.
Rion sucked in air. I have to do this. "Actually, I already know."
Cain let out a short laugh. "No, you don't. You really don't, but that's okay."
"I've known for awhile now. About Birdman."
Cain stopped moving. Entirely. "So, who told you? Was it Rita?"
"The night you were drunk." He paused, gazing at Cain's back, waiting for him to say something.
He didn't.
"You told me."
Cain slumped to the ground, laughing softly. "Christ... Did I...get into details?"
"No."
"Good. That's good. I don't want you to know just how much of whore I was." Cain drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them, despite the fact that he was sitting in snow.
"You told me that you didn't want it..." Rion stepped behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Cain..."
"I'm really...ashamed. I didn't want you to think any less of me. That's why I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry... I know you deserved to know."
"I never thought any less of you then, and I still don't."
Cain shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder if I deserve you."
"That makes no sense to me." Rion kneeled behind him and embraced him, sending hot breath dancing on his exposed neck. "I've always loved you as you are."
Cain didn't answer.
For once, Rion wasn't going to silently anguish over something that had slipped out. He wanted Cain to know. He had for some time now.
"It doesn't bother you that we haven't had sex yet?"
"We had sex." Rion definitely wasn't about to forget that.
"Like sex sex."
"I'll wait for you. I really..." He smiled slightly. "...don't know what to do in the first place."
"Heh. It's not as complicated as it sounds, trust me. It didn't even feel that good. I would probably hurt you."
"You're biased," Rion pointed out, grazing Cain's uninjured shoulder with his lips.
"I am."
/-/
"You know what? You've been getting along better with Ash..."
"What...?" Cain mumbled sleepily. He had just been on the brink of falling asleep, tired from their previous activities. "...Are you crazy?"
"Yeah."
"That must be the sleep deprivation talking."
/-/
Rion and Cain were lying side-by-side on the bed in the living room, with Sleeves nestled in between them, exhausted after a long day of working. Even though it was Sunday, they had had to stay busy while Rita got to stay home with Rainheart.
Cain groaned. "Is she still taking a bath? It's been like an hour."
"The water's running..." Rion noticed. "Maybe I'm so tired that time drags by slower."
"No, I'm pretty sure. The humidity... It's almost like smoke."
They lay there, content for the most part, besides knowing about the outrageous amount of water that Rita was using. Curled up with his head on Cain's chest, Rion was almost asleep, when the loudest ringing he had ever heard in his life began. It also jarred Cain awake. They stared at each other, each apparently as confused as the other.
"What is that?" Rion asked, wincing. It hurt his ears.
"A...bell..." Abruptly, Cain's eyes widened, and he bolted upright, scrambling to get off the bed. "Fuck! It's the fire alarm! Rion, grab the cat and –"
"What about Rita and Rainheart?!"
"Get out of here!" Cain insisted. "I'll make sure that they do!"
"No chance in hell. I'm going to wake Rainheart up. You can tell Rita."
They hurried down the hall, Rion with the cat in his arms. The smoke was getting thicker, and Rion knew from experience that Rainheart was the hardest person to wake up.
He heard Cain loudly call Rita's name from the other room, then his voice became fainter...
"Rainheart!" He shook him, dropping the cat. "Get up! There's a fire! Rainheart!" No response. He shouted until his throat was raw. Nothing. With a burst of energy, he slammed his palms into Rainheart's prone body in an effort to get him to turn over. "Rainheart! Come on, get –"
Rainheart's eyes were open. So was his mouth. His expression was frozen in one of terror. He hadn't been sleeping at all.
There was a butcher knife, one that they had kept in the kitchen, embedded in his chest.
Rion was vaguely aware of screaming once, twice, before tumbling to the floor. He landed awkwardly on his ankle, shooting pain up his leg, but it was only a fleeting realization. Ohmygodohmygodnonono... "Cain!" he gasped out, choking. "Cain..." Stretching his hand out for the doorframe, he managed to latch onto it and pull himself up. "Cain... Rainheart is..." He leaned against the wall, sobbing so hard that he couldn't breathe. His head was pounding, and the persistent ringing of the fire alarm wasn't helping.
"Oh, my god," Cain whispered underneath the hand that was covering his mouth. He looked up into Rion's eyes and back in the direction where the tub was.
Where Rita should've been seen sitting up to take a bath, there was only an arm hanging limply over the edge. Her long, sharp nails were painted scarlet.
He knew he would find it if he looked. But he just couldn't stop dragging himself closer.
"Oh, my god," Cain kept repeating. "Rion, don't look... I'm going to be sick..." He crawled to the toilet and, with shaking fingers, lifted the lid up. "I'm – I'm going to throw up..."
Rion closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of vomit splash into the toilet. He would at least give Cain the decency of throwing up without having to be watched.
"Rion... Could you..." He wiped his mouth with his arm, slumping against the lid. "Could you scan it? Please. Please, all you have to do is nod to tell me if it was...him."
I don't want to this... his brain hummed, but what he did was approach the tub. As he got closer, the humming escalated into cries. His stomach seized up, and he drew in a shuddering breath, trying to calm it. It didn't work.
He bent over the tub.
She was staring fixedly at the ceiling, completely bare, with glass shards driven into her throat.
"They're from the mirror..." came Cain's voice, so soft that Rion at first wondered if it had been his own thoughts.
Pointlessly, Rion shut off the water, clutching his abdomen and attempting to regain some level of normal oxygen flow. He breathed in deeply again and held up his hand –
"Cain, is that you? I just started the water."
A pause.
"Quit trying to scare me. I can hear you. You shouldn't be pissed about having to work today, when you volunt –"
Birdman. Birdman was there, and she knew.
"You bastard! You son of a bitch, if you hurt any of them –!" She leapt to her feet, apparently unaffected by her own nakedness in front of him.
He laughed giddily, high-pitched, screeching and painful to his ears.
"I'll kill you..." she threatened. "...before you ever touch him again..."
"You know he had it coming," he informed her casually, sitting on the edge of the tub. "You know he deserved it."
"How dare you..."
Snickering, Birdman shook his head. "He said that to me. Does he get it from you?"
"I know how he fought you... I know he did... He just wasn't strong enough... You fucker, he was still a child!"
"You weren't there to see how much he enjoyed it."
Anger stole across Rita's face as she raised her hand. The mirror splintered, the pieces hurtling.
That was the exact moment when Birdman decided to disappear into thin air leaving her in the direct path of the glass, the moment when the shards –
Rion started, springing away from the tub and cracking the back of his head into the sink. He bit his lip to stifle his cry of pain, letting the air hiss out between his teeth. And found that there wasn't much clean air to replace it with. The bathroom was filled with a heavy, suffocating smog so thick that he could barely distinguish where Cain was.
"Rion..." Cain coughed violently, huddled up on the ground. "Are you...?" But he was unable to speak as another bout of coughing took over his body.
"We have to get out of here now..." Amazingly, he remembered to cover his nose with his shirt and do the same for Cain. "Cain, come on! I can't carry you! My ankle..."
Cain clung to him, laying his head on his lap. "I can't... If we die..."
"We don't have to!" he shouted, struggling to stand. Again, his ankle gave out. "Fuck..." His eyes were stinging with the smoke and all that had happened. It felt like he was condemned to death...
Maybe they were.
"Rion, give me a second..."
"What...?"
Cain stood up on wobbly legs and hauled him up, fumbling to put Rion's shirt back over his nose. "I'm going to carry you. Just hop up."
Rion nodded and used his good foot to jump up, wondering what had sparked the sudden change over Cain. He was being carried bridal style, and under different circumstances, he might have laughed. They made their way slowly through the apartment, but it was so difficult to see... Rion wasn't sure how they would be able to make it out of here, let alone the entire complex. But at last, Cain shoved his shoulder into something, and it gave way – Rion realized that it was the door.
They continued like this down two flights of stairs, and that was even more tedious. One misplaced step could lead to a broken neck.
The heat was intense, searing into his skin, but he held his breath and wrapped his arms around Cain as tightly as he could. Cain was hacking now, grasping for air –
All at once, there was light, and cold air rushed over his body. He could hear commotion from other people, but their voices sounded distant and incoherent... He caught a flash of Cain's soot-coated face, the burning building... Then there was the strangest sensation of falling...
/-/
"He's waking up. Give him space..."
Rion opened his eyes and found himself having to squint because of the brightness of the winter sky and snow. It was all too white. He stared up at the faces peering down at him with trepidation. It was freezing... A coat that he didn't recognize was covering him, and he was lying on someone else's quilt.
Wait... Cain!
"Cain! Cain, where are you?!" He tried to leap to his feet, forgetting about his ankle, and immediately cried out and landed flat on his face.
"Take it easy..." one of the onlookers advised.
"His foot... Is he talking about his brother?"
Rion wasn't about to correct them. Instead, he went along with it. He felt uncontrollably nauseated. "Yes, where is he?!"
"Rion, I'm right here."
Cain had been sitting on a blanket next to him the entire time. He eyed him evenly, as if they hadn't just been a few minutes away from death. "You feeling o –"
He was cut off as Rion threw his arms around him and tackled him flat on his back. "Yes, I'm fine... You're alive..."
"Yeah." He hugged Rion back and kissed him lightly on the lips, ignoring the people standing around them. "It's fucking cold out here."
"I –" It seemed rather pointless to say, after the loss of Rainheart and Rita. "The cat... I dropped Sleeves."
"That stupid cat got about before we did. Someone else will take him for us... We've got to get going."
"What?" To say that Rion was confused would be an understatement. "But we just..."
"You should really stay!" an older woman scolded. "It's a miracle that you even survived that."
"Ah... No, thanks." Cain waved, dragging Rion to his feet. "We really have to leave. Sorry."
"Cain?" He was being pulled along with one arm around Cain's neck for support.
"If we don't hurry, he'll find us."
"I think he will, no matter where we go..."
Cain shook his head, breathing hard with the effort of marching through the snow while helping Rion walk. "All those people back there have nothing to do with this, though. They've already had their homes burnt down to the ground. He would kill them all."
Rion said nothing after that. He knew that Cain was right.
It was slow progress.
/-/
"I expected it to be open, but it looks like there's no one here..." Cain commented, pushing open the giant wooden doors.
"How did you know the way here?" Rion asked, studying the vaulted ceiling, the ornate stained glass, the piano, and most noticeable, the giant gold cross behind the altar.
"Rita..." Cain stopped at her name. "Rita took...Rainheart and I to this church a long time ago to see what the humans' god was like."
"What did you think?" Rion limped over to one of the many pews and rested on it. The seat, red like the carpet behind the altar, was inhumanely stiff, but he took comfort in it, anyway.
"It was boring and really confusing. I don't know whether this god is merciful or brutal." Cain walked past Rion and the rows of pews, gazing up at the cross.
"I was always taught that he's both," he remembered, thinking back to what Dr. Steiner had told him.
"Do you believe in god?"
"No."
"Neither do I... I just can't believe, and if there is a god, then why didn't god intervene when Mothe – when Dorothy tried to become her own god?"
Rion leaned against the side of the pew, observing Cain through half-closed eyes as he examined the Bible at the altar. "I'm tired... You should get some sleep."
"I can't... I can't stop thinking about them, and I'm too nervous."
"I'll kill you...before you ever touch him again..."
"So am I..." he whispered. It was unlikely that Cain heard him. He blinked a few times, but it didn't stop his eyes from burning with tears again.
"Why do they need such a thick book?" Cain frowned, flipping through what looked like the beginning pages of the Bible from where Rion was lying. "'And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field,'" he read aloud, "'that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and...slew –'" The book slid out of his hands and landed on the floor with a thump. He backed away from it, and then jerked his head up. "Rion –"
Before Rion had a chance to react, the pew was swept out from underneath him. He rolled to the side, but it was too late. The pew crashed onto his back with crushing force. Can't breathe... His lungs smoldered with the exertion it took to just inhale. Elevating his head, he looked to the side and saw...screws? Someone had to have unscrewed the pews from the floor, allowing this to happen. He could barely see anything, lying on the floor like this with the pews blocking his view.
"Your name suits you, don't you think, Cain?"
If Rion couldn't tell by the voice, he could tell by the insane giggle that followed. The screws had been forced out psychically. "Bird...man..." he forced out, gasping for air. I killed you once. I can do it again. If only he wasn't in this position.
"Yes, Rion?" Birdman asked in a mockingly polite tone.
Rion's breath – though he couldn't spare it – caught as he glimpsed boots scuff the ground beside his head. Birdman bent down, tugging on his hair sharply enough to bring him at eye level.
"Don't fucking touch him!" Cain screamed. "I'll kill you!"
Birdman pressed a simple kiss to his cheek, but his lips were clammy, and they belonged to a man who had...
Sickened, Rion screwed his eyes shut as he was flung to the ground again.
"I think it's kind of intriguing, how similar you look... Tell me, Cain, did you enjoy fucking yourself? You have to really love yourself to go that far."
"You're one to talk about that!" Cain spat. "You always were a selfish –"
"I could snap his neck if I wanted," Birdman interrupted laughingly. "He looks like you, but he's not you."
"I – hate – you! Why?! Why did you do this?!"
"To punish you. To punish you all for disobeying Mother," Birdman explained calmly. "Didn't I tell you enough in that room? It really was your fault... You brought it upon yourself, don't you think?"
"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! I'm going to kill you! She was never any mother of mine!"
Rion bit his lip painfully hard. Cain was in danger, and he couldn't even help him or see what was happening. He had become numb from the neck down. The paralysis that had seeped into his body had the potential to damn them both.
"You..." Cain continued. "You're a coward... You killed Rainheart in his sleep, and Rita was in a bathtub... You're disgusting! Were you afraid that Rita would be able to stop you, like she always had?!"
"You always needed her to!" Birdman shot back, all traces of amusement now absent from his voice. "You were too weak –"
"I was fourteen, you pathetic bastard! Fourteen... But I'm not now. I'm ready to kill you for what you did. Ah!"
Rion desperately wondered what was going on. From the sounds of things, it seemed like Birdman had appeared behind him. He strained to hear more, but all he could make out were Cain's gasps.
"I could kill you now...snap your neck in two. Would that make you feel better?"
"You won't kill me," Cain gritted out. "Even when I wanted you to, you wouldn't."
"I wouldn't be able to play with you, then..."
"Stop...touching me!"
Crackling echoed in Rion's ears. Then laughter. Thud after thud of Nalcon. Rion clenched his eyes shut, flinching as Cain cried out.
Wood snapping.
This time, it wasn't Cain's lips that the screams tumbled over.
"Rion..." he heard faintly. "Are you all right?"
Cain. Oh, god. Barely able to keep breathing, he couldn't answer.
Then Cain was there, alive, prying the pew off him and tipping it over on its side, gathering him in his arms. He ran his fingers through his hair and kissed him all over his face – so fervently that it would've been comical if it weren't for their present situation.
"What happened?" Rion mumbled against Cain's lips.
But Cain didn't answer. He just held him for a few more seconds and wordlessly stood up and guided him to where Birdman lay. The nearby piano had been shattered beyond recognition. There were only keys and a trail of piano wire...
Which led straight to Birdman's neck and limbs.
"When we were escaping from the apartment, I was able to grab some D-Felon on the way out..." He sunk to his knees in front of Birdman's mangled body. "It was like a noose of piano wire."
"Cain..." Rion reached out for his shoulder, which was now shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from laughter or... But Cain didn't cry.
"My eyes..." he whispered. "My eyes are stinging..." Cain rose, heading for the door.
"Cain?"
Cain smiled slightly, and it was only a shadow of what his smile used to be like, but Rion noticed...
There were tears in his eyes.
"We should leave," he suggested. "I hope we can find somewhere to stay."
"Cain..." Rion remembered as Cain turned away. "That fire... You were suddenly able to stand up."
Cain smiled that same mirthless smile again. "I still have you, after all."