"Julius! Tasya! You came," Alex announced, bounding over to them as they walked through the door. Blunt and his three witnesses (Mrs Blunt, Crawley and someone he didn't know) glanced around. He'd been sitting quietly until then: there wasn't anything to be excited about.

Ian had been trying to talk to him since they were told about the "Marriage", but Alex left the room whenever he entered. The man had gotten the message the previous day when a package had arrived from Blunt. Despite being fake, Blunt's note demanded that his "Sub" couldn't embarrass him and ordered him to wear the suit. The look he'd given Ian had caused the man to flee the house, returning when the transport had arrived.

"It's good to see you, Alex, especially on this happy day," Tasya replied, patting him on the shoulder. Alex felt his expression shift slightly at the statement, eyes moving toward the floor (why do women like to wear red high heels?). He thought she had noticed, for her gaze seemed to sharpen. She turned and seemed to examine Blunt, who was making his way over.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your guests?" inquired Blunt, though the tone turned it into an order, placing a proprietary hand on his shoulder.

(Since I'm the Dom in the "Marriage", I have to order you around in front of the witnesses. It shows that I can do a good job)

He reluctantly fell into the required role, repressing his flinch at the unwanted touch.

"Sir, this is Tasya - we met at Point Blanc - and Julius."

"You never told me you had a twin. I'll have to punish you for that," Blunt declared. He panicked - punishment? Why? That was taking the act too far.

"We're not twins - we came across each other online and got talking. We found out that we weren't related after some DNA tests, but we are one of the first confirmed modern doppelgangers," Julius announced, drawing Blunt's attention towards him and giving Alex time to compose himself. He saw Tasya examine Blunt from top to bottom, an unknown expression on her face.

"There's no such thing."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you're wrong. Doppelgangers do exist - we're a prime example," Alex spoke up. He almost stepped back when Blunt turned back to him, anger on his face as his hand became a clawed grip on his shoulder (I may not like the man, but I can admire his acting skills).

"Is that right?" the man gritted out.

"Yes, Sir. We started chatting online six months ago, and Julius informed me last month that he would be in London with his parents this week. We'd arranged to meet yesterday, but when I realised the Marriage was today, I asked him if he would be a witness instead. He agreed, and here we are.

For a second, he thought Blunt would call them out on the lie. His mouth was twisted, his brow creased, and his nose wrinkled. Alex held his breath, praying the man would drop it.

"Mr Blunt. It's a pleasure to put a face to the name," announced Tasya, stepping forward with her hand extended. Blunt turned in her direction, finally letting go of his shoulder. He let out a silent sigh of relief, hand reaching towards his shoulder and trying to rub some feeling back into it. Julius walked over to the corner, away from everyone else, and he was happy to follow.

"Thanks," he said, letting the corner bear his weight for a while.

"From what I just saw, I'm almost certain I'll have to take your place," Julius responded, leaning his body against the wall.

"No, you won't have to - he's just stressed - he doesn't normally act like that," Alex stuttered, panicked. If Juliis took his place, he'd quickly realise it was all a lie, and he didn't want to give up the relationships he'd had with those at Point Blanc. He could picture the confusion, disappointment and disgust the (pilot) people would feel. That idea had to be stopped.

Julius seemed concerned: or as worried as an AI in a robot wearing fake human skin could look.

"From the analysis I ran, all the phrases you said are present in 75% of reported domestic abuse cases (1) reports I can access. I am now more concerned."

How was he supposed to get out of this? It was great that he could recognise red flags, but they were all fake. The more Alex tried to reassure him, the more convinced Julius would be that something was wrong. He was damned either way.

"We're starting!" announced the pastor, entering from a concealed door. He closed his eyes, breathed in, then out, and walked over to stand to the right and one step behind Blunt.

"We are gathered here today to witness the beginning of a New Marriage. Alex pledges himself to be Mr Blunt's Sub before their Witnesses. Do you all pledge to acknowledge this Marriage?"

"We do," murmured the assembled people.

"Do you pledge to act as future legal guarantors if someone tries to invalidate this Marriage?"

"We do."

"Do you pledge to support the Sub in carrying out their duties?"

There was a slight drop in volume with the "We do" in response to that question. That would probably have reassured Alex if he was getting Married, as one of his "duties" would have been to be prepared at any moment to… "assuage his Dom's lust". Even the thought of Blunt having to fuck him made him shudder.

"Do you pledge to help the Dom if the Sub needs discipline?"

This time, only Blunt's Witnesses gave the required "We do." Julius' gaze switched between Blunt and him; Tasya looked like she would be giving the shovel talk (minus the "talk" part); Ian had been quiet since yesterday evening, only speaking when spoken to.

Blunt had told Alex that this was all part of the ceremony. The phrases were needed to make it look official, but Blunt had (tried to) reassure him that any of the terms that caused the Marriage to be legally binding would be changed.

"Even one word in the legally-binding part being different is enough to invalidate the Marriage," Blunt had written in the note accompanying the suit, "It may sound official, but it isn't. Your uncle can contest the Marriage as a living relative, it will be declared invalid due to deviations from the legal terms, and we'll all go about our normal lives."

Once the Witnesses' part in the Marriage was over, most would stay until the end. However, Blunt's third witness, whom Alex didn't recognise, glanced at his watch, nodded at Blunt before turning and walking away, slipping out of the room with barely a squeak from the door hinges. Blunt, noticing the direction he was looking, shrugged.

"He had a pressing engagement elsewhere. No matter - everyone has to earn a living," the man mused, dismissing the matter.

Less than a minute later, while the pastor asked Blunt some of the "legal" questions, Tasya frowned and reached into her bag, pulling her phone out. She looked at it, glanced away, and then looked at the phone again.

It seemed to be the appointed time to leave because Tasya looked around, made a few hand gestures at Julius (to which he responded with a nod), and waved at Alex before she, too, slipped out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

The pledges from him and Blunt took another twenty minutes, ending with a (muted) round of applause from the remaining Witnesses and the pastor. As the group left the room, Alex noticed Blunt had stayed behind, talking to the pastor. He debated if he should also remain as the Sub in the "Marriage", but quickly changed his mind.

Walking through the Marriagorium, (2) Alex noticed a red high heel poking out from behind a potted plant. A few metres down the corridor, a dress (which looked remarkably like the one Tasya had been wearing) had been thrown into one of the bins provided. Two curved, padded, triangular pieces of fabric were thrown behind the next door he passed through, and he couldn't help but blush when he saw a bra dangling from one of the rafters.

Alex's brow furrowed as he approached the exit. Why would someone do that? He knew women wore bras, but didn't need to see the proof.

He could hear screams outside the Marriagorium; breaking into a run, he caught a glimpse of what he thought was a wig thrown behind the open entrance doors.

Bursting out into the sunlight, he quickly took in the scene.

Julius was crouched over Ian, who was crumpled up in a ball near the door. Mrs Jones and Crawley tried to get close, but Julius wasn't letting them. A metal four-pointed cross was lying in the middle of the courtyard, one spike bloody, and, at the far end, two men were fighting. One had black hair and vitiligo and held what Alex had just realised was a shuriken. (3) The other was -

"The pilot?" he murmured, staring for a few seconds.

One obvious thing from what Alex could see was how much the man must have been holding back when he'd fought him at Point Blanc. The lithe body flowed through each movement, blocking strikes and dodging swipes from the shuriken. Despite the pilot only being armed with a heel (which looked remarkably similar to the one he'd seen behind the potted plant), he was holding his own against the assailant, who seemed to have been trying to escape the courtyard before getting caught up in the fight.

"Alex!" cried Julius, wrenching his attention from the fight. Alex looked around, noticing what he hadn't the first time: Ian was bleeding, hand pressed against his throat. Julius had been trying to help staunch the bleeding. Unfortunately, he kept getting interrupted by Mrs Jones (Crawley had turned his back to them, placing himself between the fighters and their group in case one tried to attack). He ran over, dropping to his knees beside his uncle, ignoring Mrs Jones' cry of "Stay back!"

"I'm sorry, Alex," Ian wheezed, blood leaking through his clasped fingers, "I should have told you sooner."

"Alex, stay away from him!" Mrs Jones declared, "we need to preserve the scene!" Alex's brow furrowed briefly before smoothening out as he ignored her. His uncle wasn't dead yet.

"It's all right - has anyone called an ambulance?! - everything will be ok."

"It won't - I'm dying… the ambulance won't get here in time… Blunt will have ensured that…"

"What?" he asked, desperately listening for the ambulance siren.

"With me dead… there's no one to… invalidate the Marriage…don't let him near you… he's done it before… run," Ian wheezed, the gaps between sentences getting longer and his face paler.

His head was spinning. Ian had lied to him his whole life; could he believe him now?

"Who threw it? Ian, who threw the shuriken? The man with vitiligo, the other man, or someone else?" Alex pleaded, desperate to trust someone. Ian frowned, fighting to keep his eyes open. Julius was trying to keep Mrs Jones away, and he could see Crawley was still between them and the fight, which seemed to be dying down as one overwhelmed the other.

"I… love…… you," he wheezed as his eyes closed, hand falling away from the wound on his neck.

He wanted to cry. To scream, yell, claw, fight, run, hide, apologise.

Ian was dead: he hadn't told him he forgave him; that he loved him.

He wanted this to all be a nightmare.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Come here, Sub!" Blunt ordered, walking out of the Marriagorium. Alex looked up in time to see the man spot Ian's body.

The satisfied expression was all he needed to know the truth.

Behind, there was a sharp crunch and a yell. He whirled around, almost falling over. The fight was over; the man with vitiligo was cradling his right arm, the stiletto of the shoe hanging out of his stomach. The pilot had grabbed the shuriken from the other man's hand and studied the situation, gaze lingering on Alex before jumping to Blunt.

"What are you waiting for, Sub? I ordered you to come here."

"I don't think he wants to," commented the pilot, finger dancing along the shuriken in his hand.

"It doesn't matter if he does or doesn't - he's my Sub, and he has to do what I order if he doesn't want to be… punished," the man declared, a leer on his face as he examined Alex from top to toe, "Besides, I can make the Consummation very unpleasant if he doesn't."

Several things happened in the next few moments.

The pilot changed his grip, holding the shuriken between his thumb and the first knuckle of his index finger, drew back and flicked his hand forward, launching it through the air.

Crawley started yelling at Blunt, calling him an ephebophiliac (4) bastard.

Julius walked into the middle of the courtyard and bent over.

Mrs Jones stepped closer to Blunt, face incredulous.

Alex took a step back, putting distance between himself and the man he was sure ordered his uncle's death.

The man with vitiligo stood up and began making a decent attempt at escaping the courtyard.

Unfortunately, Blunt wasn't hit by the projectile.

Mrs Jones' step had brought her into the line of fire, unknowingly saving his life. Alex heard the pilot swear quietly. Blunt, ignoring the collapsing body of his deputy, looked demented.

"A crime! You tried to kill me to invalidate the Marriage! You'll be hunted!"

Alex, move," Julius whispered. He did, looking back at the twin, who had managed to grab the other shuriken.

"What are you-?"

"What I was designed to do - protect Subs. Tell Dr Greif and Ms Stellenbosch what happened, and go with Yassen."

"Who?" Alex inquired, but Julius was already making his way over to Blunt, posture meek and that of a good Sub, shuriken quickly pocketed. He glanced around, noticing that the pilot was staring at him. Since the pilot was the only person in the courtyard whose name he didn't know (the man with vitiligo had slipped out at some point), he came to the only logical conclusion and started sneaking towards the man.

"Finally, Sub. Kneel while I deal with this," Blunt ordered Julius, not noticing that "his Sub" had somehow managed to change clothes in the few seconds he hadn't been paying attention. Julius knelt at his feet, head bowed and right hand still hidden in his pocket.

Alex didn't know if Julius had planned to wait until the man's attention was diverted or if he had been seconds away from stabbing with the shuriken. Blunt had unholstered, aimed and fired a Smiths Wesson pistol round straight into Julius' forehead.

"Julius!" he cried as the body fell - the bullet must have hit some piece of important soft or hardware, he distractedly thought.

"Let me go!" he yelled as the pilot's arm went around his waist, preventing him from running back towards the murderer, who had realised he hadn't killed the person he'd intended.

"Alex, we have to go. You can mourn later, but for now, you need to focus," the pilot declared, gently tugging him away from the bodies.

He turned and ran, the pilot (Yassen?) behind him. Alex wasn't fast enough to outrun Blunt's final declaration.

"Run as far as you want. Go as fast as you want. I own you now, Alex Rider, and I always get what's mine."

(A.N:

(1) This is made up.

(2) This is also made up. Think of it as the New Marriage version of a church/synagogue/mosque/etc. without any religious significance.

(3) This is a link to a shuriken I found that suits the story.

/15309-thickbox_default/shuriken-fantasy-master-scorpion.jpg

(4) "Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19" (Wikipedia)