A Deathly Kiss

Chapter 2 - Enemies of the heir

Tom Riddle didn't know quite what to think about the new transfer student.

Over the years he'd become quite a good judge of character. He could tell what kind of person someone was based on a combination of things: the way they acted, the way they dressed, who they were friends with and their emotional reaction to those around them. He'd also begun to develop legilimancy and the surface thoughts he could gleam proved very useful in assessing the inner workings of the human mind.

On first impression, Heleus Vasilikas was a standard aristocrat. His hair was jet black and tied in a bun on his head by a silver thong and wearing midnight blue robes with an unfamiliar crest upon them. He had a golden tan, the sort that couldn't be inherited and would only be created by long days in the beach or under the sun and Tom knew that he must be foreign in some way. This fact was later confirmed when he hear the boy's accent.

He acted quite similarly to Cygnus. A bit sarcastic and seemingly amused with everything around, his voice showed confidence and strength. But in comparison, none of it mattered because what Tom saw in his eyes told a different story. They were calm, assessing, flicking between each of the people in the compartment slowly and carefully. But there was also something underlying, something wholly primal like an animal trapped in a cage waiting for any excuse to attack.

And then, the most telling of all, was when those eyes lighted upon his own form.

Tom was no stranger to lust. He'd seen it in other people's eyes many times before. There were boys in his year who'd track his movements quietly at dinner times, struggling with their own emotion but undeniably attracted to him. There were others who'd approach with a vicious and lecherous look in their eyes, wanting a toy to use for a few days and Tom had always shown them their place very quickly. Then there were the girls, leeches most of them. Wanting to latch onto you and then suck away all of your money and happiness away through marriage. They wanted to be wooed, to be courted and treated like a princess. To lure you into their bed and make 'the most beautiful heirs'. They all disgusted him in their own way.

When looking into this teen's eyes there was lust, quite a lot of it. But that was veiled over by a much bigger emotion, something that was a sentiment to his already animal-like nature. It was unmistakably the look of possesion. Like this boys eyes had glimpsed at him and already decided that Tom belonged to him.

He didn't know wether to be intrigued or pissed off.

If any other looked at him that way, any of his followers, they'd be cruciated until they knew just who belonged to who.

And this boy to walk in and within 20 seconds have come to the conclusion that he was something weak, something to be owned. It was unfathomable and it would be punished.

For now he could string him along, play this boys game. It would only make the vengeance sweeter in the end.

He carried on paying attention as he sat at their table in Slytherin robes for the Opening Feast. He memorised his speech patterns, the way he interacted with the others at the table and the way he seemed to be included almost immediately by the boys in their year purely based on his demeanour and blood-status. The girls seemed to swoon all over him and Tom could already visualise the letters they'd send home to their Mummies and Daddies, begging for a marriage contract with the young heir. And yet, through it all, his eyes always seemed to stray back towards him.

Tom was up early the next morning as usual, making his rounds as prefect. And as he passed by the entrance hall he saw a figure running down the steep hill towards the lake, hair tied back, topless and wearing black jogging bottoms with the Hogwarts crest worn proudly as he sprinted across the ground, he felt the unfamiliar swellings of lust throughout his body and he couldn't help thinking just how delicious the coming game would be.

Heleus collapsed down on the bench next to Lucretia, still exhausted from his run but feeling fresh after his shower.

He plucked an apple off her plate and took a large satisfying bite out of it, practically moaning. Once he swallowed he met her disapproving glare and smirked up at her. "Tell me everything you know about Tom Riddle".

The girl stilled completely, eyes going almost glassy for a moment before she looked over at him. She recognised instantly the look in his eyes. "Heleus, of all the people you could choose in the world Riddle is the worst".

He rolled his eyes, "Just tell me what you know and I'll make my own judgement".

She sighed and put down her Witch Weekly. "When he was first sorted into Slytherin there was a lot of backlash. With the name Riddle we all just assumed he was a mud-blood and nobody wanted him in the house of the pure. The most violently against it were the older Heirs. He was bullied intensely but always seemed to take it in his stride. He was a genius, none of us could deny that, but the older years called it out for being a suck up and a teacher's pet. Then in third year things got particularly bad and Richard Jugson, in the year above us, arranged an 'attack' on him. To teach the filthy brat a lesson is what they said. So they stole him out of his bed in the middle of the night and took him somewhere. All I know is that they left thinking him to be scum and came back worshiping the ground he walked on. The transformation was incredible, terrifying really. He gained his little group, Malfoy, Avery, Lestrange and the like. Then Cygnus joined in...They called themselves the Knights of Walpurgis but nobody really knows what the fuck that is. Just that they're the best of the best. And they head off once every week for meetings and even though they never disclose what they're doing there we can all tell it's something bad."

Heleus pursed his lips slightly, "So he's got himself a little cult?"

Lucretia growled and grabbed his collar, "You're not listening to me!" He smirked and her nails began to dig into his skin, wiping the smile off his face. "The last boy who tried to bed him got taken to St Mungos and never came back. He's trouble. You'll only end up getting yourself killed."

Instinctively, his eyes strayed down to the other end of the table where Riddle was sitting peacefully on his own eating an apple just as he himself had been doing before, and reading a book on potions masteries.

He looked completely innocent, but looks could be deceiving. After all, he looked completely normal and he could be the biggest monster of them all. Turning back to Lucretia with a nod, "I'll be careful Lucy. I promise".

His promise, it turned out, was completely irrelevant.

When the first victim turned up petrified in the corridor 2 months later with the message, 'enemies of the heir, beware', his eyes had strayed straight towards Tom Riddle. The blank mask on his face betrayed nothing and everything at the same time and he knew deep down in his heart that he was responsible, no question about it.

Those 2 months he'd tried to keep his promise. He'd partnered with Lucretia in every lesson possible and only talked to Cygnus when he was without his friends but he could never quite get Riddle's image out of his head.

He thought about him in Potions when those long fingered hands worked skilfully, cutting and stirring with the precision of a master. He thought about him as he duelled in Defence, the teen was in his element and Heleus relished in the feeling on his power washing over him. He thought about him in the throes of ecstasy, even as he viciously pounded into the body below him he always imagined the handsome hazel eyes boy doing exactly the same to him. And it was always that image, not the tight heat of his latest conquest, that brought him to climax.

The petrification was really only an excuse to him.

At the moment he was sitting in the office of one Albus Dumbledore with a mug of steaming green tea and a bowl of lemon drops in front of him as had become the weekly occurrence. The Professor was truly a font of knowledge and quite wise about events. The man had approached him during his first week of term with the offer of afternoon tea to talk about how he'd been getting on and he'd been joining him ever since.

They discussed many things: current events, Greece and the Olympus Academy as well interesting branches of magic. When he told Dumbledore he'd been contemplating staying in Britain and getting a job as an Unspeakable the man had shown him various books on alchemical processes and they'd spent a lot of time debating all sorts of crazy and implausible theorems.

Today's conversation, however, was subdued. After talking about the latest Transfiguration lesson they'd dissolved into a contemplative silence.

"Professor?" he asked quietly and the man snapped out of his musings.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any clue about who's responsible?" he inquired quietly. He didn't need to specify as they both knew exactly what he was talking about.

The man hummed thoughtfully, "I'm almost certain of the culprit but unfortunately I don't have much proof. I'm afraid if I voiced my thoughts the Headmaster would think I was going senile."

Heleus nodded along, "I understand what you mean Professor. But it's as I said before, somebody has to make the first step towards change. Why can't it be you?"

Dumbledore chuckled quietly, "You are truly wise beyond your years."

Later that night he lay in bed, staring blankly up at the deep green fabric with his breathing quiet and controlled as he listened to his dorm-mates leaving, one by one. Then, when they were all gone, he got out of his bed in his silk bottoms and a grey t-shirt and he followed behind them. He kept an eye on Malfoy as with his pale blond hair he stood out the most and he was able to follow them deeper through the dungeons and down a set of stairs that he didn't even know existed and into a large room with only a large stone table in the middle. Riddle was stood at the head and the others surrounded at the sides.

"Cygnus?" the boy inquired in a deathly quiet voice.

"Grindelwald's forces have made their way across Europe My Lord, he has followers on the ground in America and they'll soon be here in England".

Heleus felt his breathing speed up as he watched from outside the rooming, he began to panic as soon as he heard the word's My Lord leave Cygnus' and he couldn't help but think how right his cult analogy had been.

Tom sighed, "Grindelwald mustn't be allowed to take Britain. It isn't his country to take".

"Then what are we to do My Lord?" asked Aiden Avery from where he stood at the other end of the table.

"If we are lucky", Riddle began. "He will be taken care of before he can gain the upper hand within our borders. I've heard that Dumbledore is beginning to fight back, although he was reluctant before".

"And if he fails?"

Riddle turned to glare at the voice, "Then we will challenge him for his title. Now, for the main event. Abraxas?"

The blond turned towards the doorway and Heleus flinched back, for a second he thought their eyes had met but then he just continued walking to the corner of the room as if nothing had happened. He grabbed a small writhing figure from the corner of the room and he was pulled, kicking and biting, onto the stone table. A small purple vial was pulled out of Riddle's pocket, "This potion will erase his memory of no longer than 5 hours before it was ingested. I suggest we begin".

And begin they did.

They took it in turns, one by one sending all manner of dark curses at the boy as he screamed and bled and cried for mercy. Deep gashes formed over his arms and his wounds bled an unnatural black that bore the mark of only the most horrible of magics.

"Let it be learnt", said Riddle in a commanding tone. "That a mudblood such as you, Noah, is only worth one thing. And that is to serve the needs of the Worthy. Every moment you spend disrespecting your superiors is another mark on your skin".

The boy let out a pitiful whimper as Malfoy ran a blade down his inner thigh, the room was filled with the combined smells of coppery blood and urine.

"And though your wounds may heal", at this Riddle grasped his head and tilted the child's neck to the side. He dug one of his sharp nails into the cut running down the back of the boy's ear. "Though your memories may fade", he traced a finger over the boy's forehead as he leant down to whisper in his ear. "Let the knowledge forever prosper that you are worthless. You are nothing more than scum under the boots of the Pure". He released the boy's face and stepped back.

"Stop", his tone made all in the room instantly freeze. Even Heleus couldn't move.

He passed the vial to Avery. "Heal as many wounds as possible and make sure he returns to his bed as discretely as possible. Well done".

Hearing the signal of the end of the meeting Heleus quickly jumped into a dark alcove and hid, heart pummelling his ribcage as he tried to get over what he'd just seen. Riddle swept past him and all but Avery followed, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary just occurred. When he felt it was safe to leave he stepped out, only to walk straight into a hard chest.

A hand grabbed his collar and he was slammed into a wall as all the air was knocked out of him and he saw the very familiar face of Abraxas Malfoy. His face was curled into a vicious snarl, "Not so fast Vasilikas. You aren't going anywhere after what you've seen".

And for the first time, Heleus seriously feared for his life. The man holding him had almost tortured a boy to death and he knew if he didn't act fast he would meet the same fate. So he coped the only way he could. He grasped the other boy's colour and smashed Abraxas' lips to his in a fast and brutal kiss, full of force and clashing teeth. The boy responded almost immediately, letting go of his colour and getting lost in the lust. Heleus used the advantage to flip the two over so the other was pressed against the wall and instead of fighting he continued the attack on his lips.

He yanked the other boy into the alcove and pushed him back onto the stone bench, using a spell to get rid of both their clothes quickly and sitting on the other teen's lap in order to guide his erection into his entrance.

Neither of them noticed the set of hazel eyes watching them outside the alcove with a smug look on his face as he tracked their movements.

Heleus rode to ecstasy on the blonde boy's lap and, when they were both done, he let Abraxas' dick slip out of his ass and summoned his wand from the mess all over the floor. He used a spell to ensure he was fully asleep before moving in to cut the pale alabaster skin right on the vein of his neck. The vapour that escaped him was a deep dark purple of forbidden magic. And when he breathed it in, when he tasted it, it was delicious. Like the delightful feeling when you learn another's secret and you can keep it all to yourself. He had never quite tasted anything like it and decided that Abraxas was his favourite conquest so far.

He spelled the Malfoy heir's clothes back on again and used cleaning charms to get rid of the sticky semen covering their bodies of the floor. Then when he was dressed he woke the boy up again who snapped to life almost instantly. He looked around before his eyes lighted on his temporary lover. He grasped his collar and pulled him right to his face and instead of the vicious words of anger he expected, he was only met with sorrow. "You can't tell a soul".

Then he was gone and Heleus almost felt sorry for the young Heir. But then he felt the thrum of newly ingested dark magic through his veins and merely smirked. Oh what a delicious secret he had.

The next day at breakfast he caught Abraxas' eyes on him and turned to look at them, he was met with the familiar stoic pureblood mask with very little recognition of last nights events. Malfoy, like so many before, was going to walk away. Deny who he was and deny his involvement with Heleus. To him, he was just a one night fuck and good for nothing else. People like him were wrong though, he had much more power than they could ever stand. Besides, even if Abraxas forgot, he knew he'd left his mark on him forever.

Lucretia was assessing him carefully. "What did you do?", she asked quietly.

"Nothing out of the ordinary", he answered mildly.

She opened her mouth to ask again but was quickly shut up as a pair of lips came down to place a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Calm down Lucy, leave the poor boy alone". She blushed like a cherry tomato as Ignatius sat down beside her, ignoring the angry stares he got for sitting at the table. Good old Gryffindor Slytherin rivalry at work.

"He's done something!" she shrieked and he was reminded again how she shared Walburga's blood and some of her less favourable attributes.

Ignatius rolled his eyes at her, "Yes of course he has Lucy dear. And I assassinated the King last night".

She huffed angrily at him but said nothing else until she caught Abraxas' eyes looking at them, her mouth gaped and she looked between the two. "Please tell me you didn't" she hissed lowly. She made a small motion with her eyebrows that was hard to decipher.

"I really don't know what you're talking about". A look of complete sorrow came over her face and he thought she was going to cry for a split second, "If you don't trust me that's fine Heleus but please think about your actions before it's too late". She stood, grabbing Ignatius by the arm and pulled him out of the arm. He turned and mouthed a quick Sorry but was gone from his view just as briskly.

Inwardly, Heleus seethed and he left the table, stopping by his dorm to pick up his equipment before storming out towards the lake. Tom Riddle followed quickly behind him, barely catching up. "Vasilikas!"

"What?!" he snarled back as he slung the leather case over his back and pulled a long silver arrow out to sheath in his bow.

"What the hell are you doing?" Riddle questioned, staring at his bow like he was some kind of a madman.

"Archery, what does it look like? We learnt it at Olympus because we actually have a culture", he dropped a small silver disk on the floor and 5 targets burst out of it and floated in the air. He almost took Tom's head off as he swung around to shoot one of them dead in the centre. They circled around him, never staying in one place for more than a second.

"We have a culture", Tom stated indignantly almost like a child.

"Once. But it's been torn apart by your ministry. I've studied the laws of your people Tom and they're a bunch of bullshit. Elemental magics and festival rituals were banned hundreds of years ago along with most of your basic practices. At least I'm not afraid to worship the Gods, unlike you cowards who revoked your faith as soon as you faced opposition. My people would've stood our ground and faced execution." He released another arrow diagonally to his right and hit just to the left of the centre mark.

Riddle ground his teeth but seemed to come to a resolve. "Well then, if we've lost our way maybe you could teach us again. The dark families kept grimoires but not everything is suitable for record. Help us bring back the olde ways".

Heleus stopped abruptly and turned to the handsome boy behind him with a calculating look on his face, "I will never bow down to you and call you My Lord".

The boy merely looked amused, "So you know do you? Well it's best you learnt now lest I had to teach you later".

He dropped his bow and arrow on the floor carelessly as if they weren't a priceless family heirloom and stepped forward. He ran his fingers through silky brown hair and traced his lips across the curve of the other mans ear. "And how, pray tell, would you teach me". He leant back and shivered at the lust in his eyes and a hand came up to his neck, sharp nails digging into his flesh with an iron grip as a face came dangerously close to his.

"Don't pretend you can exert any power over me, I could tear your body from the inside out and proceed to break your spirit until you have no choice but to kneel before me and call me your master". The nails were pressing so deep now that he could feel the blood trickling down the back of his neck. He grabbed the hand and wrenched it away from him, staring down at the copper blood that now dripped down both their fingers.

"As bad as you may be Tom you are no worse than I", he whispered quietly before stepping back and adopting a look of false confidence. "I do so love the games we play".

It was June next when he and Tom next had a full conversation.

Every other in between that time could hardly be classified as one, meaningless talk with no truth borne from the need to maintain their own masks. The threatened each-other with saccharine sweet smiles and were amiable enough around others but the dark emotions still festered angrily between them and they wouldn't spend another second together if they weren't forced by Cygnus.

He was friendly enough to the likes of Avery and Lestrange as they seemed to accept him. But Abraxas avoided him like the plague and he couldn't quite forget all of their faces in the act of torturing that young child. Not that he could demonize them. Had he not broken somebody just as they? By body and by mind? The image of the girl's tears still haunted him to this day and yet something deep, something so evil inside him couldn't help but feel powerful as he watched her shed them. Was this his darker side or was this simply the man he was under all of the masks he wore?

He'd studied hard and continued his tea visits with the deputy headmaster every week, maintaining the image of a kind and curious scholar that even the great Albus Dumbledore couldn't see beneath. That in itself was a miracle bearing in mind just how suspicious he seemed of Riddle, the ultimate teacher's pet and perfectly manipulative Slytherin that he was.

Christmas and the holidays were spent at Grimmauld place with the Black family and they'd attended a ball at the Rosier family mansion that was both in holiday spirit and to celebrate the contract between Cygnus and Druella. Despite his previous lapses in judgement when choosing brides and grooms for his descendants, Lord Black seemed to have chosen well as the two were adequately enamoured with one another. She was only 14 years to his 16 but he'd seen far worse age gaps. His great-great aunt on his mother's side had been contracted to a man 30 years older than her at the age of 15 simply for the large dowry he offered. Needless to say it wasn't a very happy marriage.

His father hadn't visited for the holiday's but had sent him a very nicely wrapped package containing the family Heir ring with a note to say he'd made him very proud. So the rumours hadn't found their way to his family yet? He'd buried the ring at the bottom of his trunk and probably would've sold it to a nice old lady if it wasn't impossible to do so.

Back at Hogwarts more petrifications had occurred, all of them Muggle-Born and it didn't take long for a pair of Ravenclaws to be spreading dark tales over the school about the heir of Slytherin's wicked ways. All of the Hogwarts: A History books were out of the library in an hour and there were hundreds more on owl post order from Flourish and Blotts. It was a period filled with mad theories and the weird kind of excited paranoia that school students get with any kind of gossip.

All that ended when Myrtle Warren was found dead in the second floor bathroom.

A pathetic story was spun where 'gentle-giant' Rubeus Hagrid was expelled for the crime (although everyone knew an Acromantula couldn't petrify a thing) whilst the hero prefect Slytherin was given the award.

It was at that point that Heleus decided to end the stupid facade of a acquaintanceship the two had created and went to confront Tom. It just so happened that the boy was in said second floor bathroom.

"How does it feel?" Tom looked up from where he was sitting on a stone bench tracing patterns in the wall. He smiled calmly at his visitor.

Heleus entered the room fully and locked the door behind him, placing a strong silencing charm there so that nobody could hear the words they spoke. "How does it feel to be murderer?"

Tom turned to him with an amused look on his face. "Don't pretend to be some kind of rightcheous saint Heleus because you're not".

He sat down on the floor and stared at the other mans shoes before saying abruptly. "I raped a girl".

Time seemed to stop in the room and the Riddle looked down at him with complete shock on his face. Not anger or hatred, he couldn't say anything after all, just complete shock. Out of all the things the great Tom Riddle had guessed about him this certainly wasn't it. In fact it came nowhere near his circle of thought.

Heleus snorted, "I know right. Everyone knows I have a lot of sex but rape...nobody could have guessed that. I attacked that girl, took her virtue against her will and enjoyed every second of it". He sighed deeply. "But from one monster to another Tom, the longer you keep quiet the more the guilt eats you up inside. It's best if you confess now instead of living with the result of your lies for the rest of your life."

"I don't feel much", Tom replied still with a slightly confused look on his face as he leant back on the stone bench and they both stared up at the dripping stone ceiling and the spiders that crawled through the cracks.

"Why did you do it?" Tom asked him slowly, looking at him with an odd expression and a curl to his lips. It was purely sadistic, like the dark animal inside Heleus' heart was mirrored through another's body, it was an expression that called to him and begged him to join.

"Have you ever had sex before Riddle?" he asked quietly in almost a reverent whisper.

"A few times", the boy answered. "I can't say it was an enjoyable experience really, the girls were always so needy and whiny. I felt I wanted to Cruciate them".

He spared a brief second to respond with a chuckle before he got back to his point. "When you have sex with someone there are only two positions. It isn't Top or Bottom or anything as inane and basic as that. It's a target and an initiator. One gives and one who takes. During sex there is ultimately a point where one submits to another and thats when a bond forms between you. A bond so intricate, so primal, that it reaches into the very depths of your core, right into your magic and it latches on. All you need to do is find a way to release it, and you can absorb a piece of their power like a vapour. It's like a drug, one hit that supercharges your magic for hours afterwards and for a short amount of time it's the best feeling the universe can offer you. Aleka, the girl, she'd been watching me in the library for a while. I knew she liked me, the shy blushes and the childish way she'd write my name in love hearts when she thought I couldn't see. So I cornered her one day, took her into a cupboard and I raped her. The thing is, about this kind of sex magic, the more broken the target is the more you can take. In times of weakness all the barriers around your core fall away and you can reach in and grab their essence by the handful. If somebody was broken enough you could steal all their magic, their very life source, with just a single kiss. Aleka was broken from the moment I locked the door. She was a virgin too, which only made it worse. Every time a man touches her she won't help but see my face, I've ruined any act of love for her for all eternity and to bang the nail in the coffin I made sure she'll never be able to tell a soul. I took her spirit and tore it to pieces that day and I got high on the feeling, I took so much magic from her that day that I felt it for weeks, months after."

He turned to Tom and saw a familiar hungry look in the man's eyes that was so familiar to him. It was the same hunger he felt every time he chased his prey down and if he were honest to himself, that beast hungering inside of him would probably rape a hundred girls and boys if it could feel that high just one more time.

"What about Abraxas?" Tom asked confused. "I doubt he'd submit to anyone, well besides his lord but that's a completely different story".

"You voyeur", he snorted. "Rapist", Tom replied.

"Touche", he murmured but then a dazed look came over his face. "Abraxas was special. He's gay you know, isn't attracted to women at all but he's been contracted to Selinda Yaxley. He wouldn't tell his father anyway, he's the heir of the family and he'd be outcast from the whole of society if he told people. To them his only purpose is to make more Heir's and further the families standing. He may've fucked me but I was the one in control. In those moments, he gave me his secrets, succumbed to his deepest desires and that in itself created the deepest bond imaginable. And the magic that comes from such an event is simply divine."

Tom chuckled to himself, "We aren't quite so different after all. At least you can appreciate power at its finest".

"Maybe I don't want to be like you", he murmured quietly but Tom heard him perfectly fine. Within a second he was being grasped by his tie a hauled onto the other boy's lap, straddling his thighs. Tom breathed in his scent from the nape of his neck to his hair.

"I can smell it on you Heleus. You won't admit just how much you want that power, it calls to you from deep inside. It's an urge, so deep and primal like a part of your DNA that can never be rewritten. You can try to hide it but it's just as you said, the longer you lie the more it eats you up inside." Lips caressed the shell of his ear lightly. "Let it go. The barriers you hold on you cage around your instincts. Let them go and I can give you exactly what you crave, all the power you'll ever need".

"You aren't my master Tom and you never will be", he growled and yet he made no move to be released from the other's grasp.

Hands combed through his hair, pulling it from its binding. "I was wrong", he murmured. Almost as if the fact was an impossibility. "You're worth so much more than that. You weren't meant to follow Heleus. You and I were meant to lead. Together. If the world is lost, we will guide it. If the people are blind we shall make them see. And if they refuse we'll break their spirits and you shall have all of the power you could ever want for and you will be by my side. Do you want that?"

"More than anything in the world", he moaned at the feeling of the lips so near and yet miles away from touching him just as he wished.

"Then all you have to say is yes".

Then lips were attacking his own, fierce and violent yet filled with such a longing and passion that they'd never felt before. Not for all the people they'd harmed or broken or tortured but only for each-other. They were both despicable, they were both monsters. But that was ok as long as they walked through the oncoming fire together. For the first time ever they both felt something for their lover. Not just the power they could gain but the want in their hearts that sang at the very touch of the other. To any other it would be disgusting, but to them it was beautiful.

And when he let Tom enter him they shared each-others power in a way they'd never experienced before. Then later as the lay in each-others arms on the bathroom floor they both looked up to the ceiling, wondering in unison whether this was the beginning of their world or the end of everyone else's. Perhaps both.

The game they thought they ended was only just beginning.