CW/TW: homophobia, emotional manipulation, gaslighting, harm to children.

PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

Gaelstrom pointed a condemning finger at Polnareff's aunt. "You're not supposed to be in here."

Adel mockingly pouted, bringing her knuckles up to her lip. "Awww, I'm not?"

"You know you're not! Jean specifically said he didn't want anyone up here. Including you."

"You're not the boss of me, and neither is your annoying little boyfriend you love so much."

Gaelstrom's heart jolted. He could've looked anywhere else in the room - the painting of Rhiannon holding an infant Polnareff would've filled him with more peace, that was for sure, but it did nothing to alleviate the fear bearing down on him. How could she have known? No. She wasn't serious, it was just an intimidation tactic, that's all. Adel was taking a petty jab at a thirteen year old boy because she was a catty bitch.

He wanted to believe that. He had to brush it off or he'd give himself away. Adel looked back with a malicious smile on her face as her fingertips glided along the handle of the scissors lying on the bed. To Gaelstrom's misfortune, he didn't see them as her body was blocking them from view.

"Don't look so surprised," she said, "I've been watching you."

Gaelstrom glowered. "You don't know me."

"You really think I didn't notice?" She sprang to her feet. Her response was brusque, nearly cutting him off. This was it. She'd spent so much time picking out what she thought to be his flaws, and now they were hers to use how she saw fit. She'd done this same thing with her husbands, except when it came to picking out their insecurities. She had baited them into growing comfortable with her to the point they would confide in her about everything. With Gaelstrom, Polnareff, and Sherry, she was a tape recorder keeping every tiny detail about how they acted, or what they said, memorized.

"I see the way you look at him. It's unnatural. People like you sicken me to the core!" Adel grabbed the jewelry from the blanket and slung them at Gaelstrom. He drew his hands up, shielding his eyes from earring prongs as she stormed over to him.

Adel slammed the door. She forced him against it with a loud slap stinging his cheek, and shortly after, clasped a hand around his throat. Silvery blades snipped in front of his horrified face.

"Now you're going to walk right back out of this room and speak of this to no one. Understand? If you tell anybody that I was in here, I'll castrate you like the dog you are. I don't care that you're young. I don't care what the authorities will say. I'll send you back to where you came from with little more than a hole to piss out of. And every time you squat like a little bitch, I hope you think of me. None of the boys or girls will want anything to do with you, because you'll be the dickless wonder."

"You're insane..." Gaelstrom concluded. "...Mr. Polnareff was wrong - there is no hope for you. You're a monster!"

Adel cackled, bringing the scissors away from his face. Her cackles elevated into full on maniacal laughter. The grasp around Gaelstrom's throat loosened, but only just a bit. "I'm the monster!? Well, what about you, huh? You know it's not normal for boys to like other boys, right?"

In that moment, her eyes lit up, fomenting the terror that branched to every corner of Gaelstrom's body. Something wicked - something cruel - crossed her mind. Adel leaned closer, hissing in his ear. His eyes never left the scissors in her hand until her face blocked his peripheral vision. For all he suspected, she might stab him. Or worse, actually go through with mutilating his genitalia. Gaelstrom shook, trying desperately to keep himself from crying in front of her; believing that giving her any hint that he was weak-willed would only make her enjoy tormenting him more.

"What if I tell Jean of your unspoken affection?"

His face blanched as he shook his head frantically. "No, please, you can't...!"

"But I'd be doing you a favor. After all, you are lying to him by not being upfront about it. You don't want to lie to him, do you?"

"Stop!" he shouted.

Reasserting herself, she pressed the hand holding the scissors to his back. With the other clasped to his shoulder, she side-stepped, throwing him to the floor with a loud thud. Gaelstrom coughed, pressing his palms to the carpet. Adel lumbered over to him, the scissors hanging limply at her side. If he could only move faster and find a way to escape, nobody would have to suffer at the hands of Aunt Adelaide; a woman that apparently didn't mind taking things to the extreme, even when the situation involved children. Gaelstrom had to get out of there. He had to warn Polnareff and his sister. With Adel there, no one was safe. And it'd be over his dead body if he let anything happen to them.

Those eyes stared down at him, devoid of empathy; brimming with malice. Gaelstrom grunted, managing to lift his body off the floor. "You can't just take his mother's things. They mean everything to him."

"You think I care? It's not like they're going to belong to him for much longer anyway."

He looked over his shoulder, bemused. "What do you mean?"

A closed-mouthed laugh rumbled in her chest. "Honestly. Who do you think has the mental maturity to handle the finances? What, did you really think that dim-witted Jean had the brains for that? Idiot. He's a child. When something happens to Jean-Luc - and it will - everything will fall to the next of kin. And who do you think that is, hmm?"

"But his inheritance is really meant for Jean. You're just a legal guardian until he's of age."

Adel's smug expression soured. "How the fuck could you possibly know that?"

Gaelstrom stood up, his brows furrowed. "Because I heard you say so yourself. Last night."

"Enculé..." She tapped the scissors to her chin. "...you were listening in on our conversation. For that, I should cut off your ears for good measure. Jean-Luc's plans are bullshit. He practically left me with nothing!"

"That still doesn't give you the right to plunder through his wife's belongings. Those are Jean's and Jean's alone, whether you're his legal guardian or not. Just because you're going to manage the adult stuff doesn't grant you exemption from everyone else. He said this room is off-limits, so it's off-limits. Respect that and leave."

"You leave!" Adel brandished the scissors, pointing them directly at him. He back-stepped as she moved closer. The cogs of his mind iced over, unable to churn thought. The only thing behind him was a window and a nightstand with nothing on it.

"This family's legal matters is none of your concern." she growled. "What I choose to do with these pearls is nobody's business but my own. So what if Jean doesn't want me to have them? Nobody wants me to have anything apparently!"

Gaelstrom choked on the knot that formed in his throat. The drawers in the floor toppled as she rampaged, throwing them aside. Their contents spilled onto the floor. The back of Gaelstrom's thigh bumped into the edge of the nightstand, making him stumble.

"I can see why," he said, "you're evil."

She'd slipped into a stance, scissors drawn up. Her other hand hung at her side with the crook of her elbow bent slightly. Fingers splayed, curling into the shape of a claw. It made Gaelstrom think she'd use her long, red fingernails to rip his flesh. He wouldn't put it past her to try.

"Now what makes you think I'm evil?" She lifted the scissors over her head and plunged them in a downward motion.

Gaelstrom threw his hands up. He gripped his hands around her wrists, stopping the blades from stabbing right into his face. Adel struggled to inch them closer. She'd gladly carve him to bits if it meant getting him out of her way.

Fighting a woman much stronger than him brought on the fear that Gaelstrom was going to die young. His parents would lose him - he'd fail what he promised Jean-Luc and leave Polnareff behind to suffer at the hands of a deranged woman as self-serving as they come.

His surroundings blurred out of focus, all but the scissor blades mere inches from his eye. The nightstand pressed deeper into his thigh. He leaned back, practically lying on it. The strain in his arms begat thoughts in his mind of how much weaker he was compared to her. That he stood little chance in defending himself at all. Adel was winning, yet he pushed back. Despite how sweaty his palms were getting, his fingers remained curled around her wrists. He had to survive this.

"Don't worry," Adel jeered, "I'll be sure to make a proper burial for you and Jean in a garbage heap. Right where you both belong! How's that for young love?!"

"You lay a hand on him, I'll...!"

"You'll what?!" she barked. "You'll be dead right along with him and his annoying little sister. I'm going to enjoy chopping all three of you into tiny, little pieces. Who knows? Maybe instead of dumping you in a landfill, I'll feed you to the pigs. In the end, how I do the job doesn't matter. There won't be a single shred of evidence left!"

Gaelstrom winced. It was no use. He had to rely on his last resort - summoning his stand. Desperate, he screamed Cu Chulainn's name. Gaelstrom released his grip around her wrists as Adel shrieked, ramming the scissors down into his eye.

SHONK

Just as she stabbed the whiny brat, an unseen force parried the blades. Stuck in mid-air just above Gaelstrom's face were a pair of partially opened scissors. His tightly shut eye opened, unharmed.
Adel staggered back, mind boggled and outrage present on her face.

"Fils de pute! What is this, some kind of divine intervention!?"

Gaelstrom leaned up from lying on the nightstand, his eyes cutting like daggers into hers as he pulled the scissors out of Cu Chulainn's shield.

Adel clenched her fists, knuckles turning white. She had balled her fist so tightly that her fake pinky nail broke clean off under the pressure, though the pain unfazed her. How dare this little bastard toy with her! The mascara around her eyes was smudged. Her hair frizzed out in a tangled mass, desperately needing to be combed. She took her hair by handfuls and tugged at it. Adel's teeth gnashed together, a tea kettle scream barricaded behind them.

"Why are you doing this to me!?" She dropped to her knees, clawing her fingernails down the sides of her face as she let out screechy sobs. "What did I ever do to deserve so much hate?! Aaaaah!"

Gaelstrom grimaced. "What're you talking about? You attacked me."

Adel shook her head frantically. "No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did."

"Ta gueule! I didn't mean to! I was angry, alright? Don't you ever get angry?"

"Well, sure, but-"

"Then won't you accept my apology? I'm really sorry! Please put the scissors down and let's talk, okay? I promise I won't hurt you."

Gaelstrom turned his head, unbreaking his solemn gaze on her pathetic display for forgiveness. Why should he let his guard down? As much as he hated the idea of hurting someone, he couldn't just let her continue to lie and cause others pain.

"Please." she begged, looking up at him from the floor pitifully. "What would my brother say if he found out you hurt me? He'd never forgive you. You'd never be allowed back in this house again."

Gaelstrom scowled. "How can I believe you after everything you just said and did?"

Adel wrapped her arms around her body, digging her nails into her arms. "I just lost my temper. Things haven't been easy since my husband died, you see? I keep lashing out at people. I don't mean to. I'm just dealing with so much pain. I shouldn't have said those horrible things to you. I promise I didn't mean any of it."

"I-"

"You're so lucky." Gaelstrom flinched as she rose to her feet with her back hunched over. Adel's fingers combed through her messy hair, stopping midway. "You have parents that care about your well-being. Mine never cared. My brother never truly cared enough about me to spend time with me the way I wanted to spend time with him. Can you imagine how lonely of a life that must be? Not having any friends, or family, that want to be around you? Can you imagine how Jean feels now that he is going through the same thing? I don't want that for him, not really. I guess I'm just jealous that he's getting everything handed to him. Jean-Luc's right. I need help."

His grasp around the scissors relaxed. "Look, it didn't have to go this far."

"Oh, I know!" Adel craned forward, her hands overlapping each other across her chest. "I feel so terrible. Do you think you could help me? If I am to be their parental figure, I would like to be better. It's what Jean-Luc would've wanted for me - for his children."

All the things she was saying were convincing enough to let his guard down just a tad. Though something still felt off to him; he couldn't place what. The avarice painting over her eyes had subsided, that much he could tell. She bore the look of a woman carrying a great deal of emotional burden, confusion, and regret. Suddenly, condemning her began to feel wrong.

"Well, I...guess that's true."

Adel smiled, sniffling and wiping her tearless eye. "Let's start over. Here, why don't we clean this mess, huh? You can start by giving me those scissors." She pat a hand to his shoulder, standing so near to him, they'd touch if they moved any closer. The guise of innocence dissolved. Adel's face darkened as she looked over his shoulder. Long, skinny fingers ghosted against the scissors in Gaelstrom's hand.

"Putain d'imbecile."

Feeling her try to reclaim them set off alarms in his head. His only reaction was to grip them tighter and pull away from her. Wrong move. Adel's grasp around his hand was unrelenting. Pulling him forward, Gaelstrom's body collided with hers, and the scissors were snatched clean from his hand. Too late.

SHLUK

Gaelstrom choked on a scream. An indescribably painful sting cut into his shoulder, burning and pulsing. Blood spurted from the wound, gushing down his arm and back. One by one, beads of blackened scarlet dripped from the stream running down his middle finger. Adel slowly twisted the scissors lodged in his shoulder. Gaelstrom's fingers splayed, tensing. He let out a blood-curdling scream, feeling as though his vocal chords would tear. Pure agony to him, but bliss for the she-devil inflicting unspeakable pain.

"Face it. The game is over." Adel bathed in the sound of his screams, gripping the scissors tightly as she pressed them deeper into the wound. "You're a witness, and I can't have you ruining my plans. Not you, and especially not Jean."

She was hardly recognizable with the way her hair stood on end, and makeup running down her claw-marked face. "You think anyone would believe you? That they'll take your word over mine? I'm the one pulling the strings around here now. Know that your place is beneath my feet, you worm. Under the ground - where the sun will never shine on your ugly, speckled face again!"

Cu Chulainn's name burned Gaelstrom's throat raw. It manifested with fists balled and eyes glowing a striking neon green. Still unseen, Cu Chulainn's knuckles landed a hit against her cheekbone, sending her tumbling across the room and into the door. Dazed by the attack, Adel placed a hand to her head and groaned. The scissors made a heavy clack on the hardwood floor. The attack only fueled her rage like gasoline on flames. Growling behind bared teeth, she snatched up the scissors and took off.

Gaelstrom back-stepped, doing his best to ignore the pain throbbing in his shoulder. Blood coursed from the wound and down his leg, painting the floor with red shoeprints. Adel's feet smeared them. She swung the scissors, thrusted them. Gaelstrom had called up Cu Chulainn to protect him from the blows. He wasn't falling for backing into the nightstand like last time. He side-rolled across the bed, evading the blades she plunged straight into the mattress.

Rhiannon's jewelry slipped off the blanket, following him down. Fortunately, her little fit from earlier gave him an idea. He grabbed a fistful of Rhiannon's necklaces, bracelets and earrings and poked his upper half over the other side of the bed. Gaelstrom brought back the handful of jewelry and threw them in her direction. Adel lifted an arm, shielding her face.

Through clenched teeth, she snarled loudly and circled around to thwart his escape. Gaelstrom crawled away past the bed post and towards the door, but he wasn't quick enough to evade the sharp, heart-stopping twinge in his calf.

SQUELCH

The opened blades cut him again as they were pulled out of his leg, deepening the cut. She raised the scissors over her head and swiftly brought them down. Gaelstrom rolled out of the way, the blades permanently scarring the floor. Yanking them up, Adel seethed and pursued him. Going for another attempt to stab him, Gaelstrom countered, kicking her in the side of the knee. With haste, he crawled away. Blood streamed down his leg, leaving a trail.

"I've gotta warn Jean," he said to himself as he made his way quickly to the door, "I've gotta...!" All he had to do was reach the doorknob. That was it. Just open the door and call for help. That's all he had to do.

"I told you," she kicked him while he was down, "your place is beneath me."

So much pain. Between the throbbing in his leg and shoulder - and the cracking of his ribs -he just wanted this nightmare to go away. He wanted her to go away . His insides felt as though they were going to burst.

Taking ahold of his red curls in her balled fist, she yanked his head upward, making him wince. This bitch couldn't really be the one to end his life, could she? Was this really how he was going to go? At such a young age?

"Such suffering!" she said in a mockingly pouty voice. "Aww, is nobody there to kill the pain away?"

Gaelstrom whimpered.

"Ha!" Adel forcefully threw his head against the floor as she released her grip on his hair. Pain flamed in Gaelstrom's temple; his heart beat in his ears. "There's no mystical force protecting you this time...where is your God now, huh?"

I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't like confrontations...

"Probably abandoned you, as he did me."

Fighting makes me so afraid...I can't stop shaking...

"Hey! Look at me, you filth. I'm talking to you."

But if I don't protect myself, I'll die...I don't wanna die...

"I said look at me!" she leaned down and back-handed him across the face.

I don't want to hurt anyone. Not even a monster like her.

"I don't blame God for abandoning a worthless piece of shit like you. Who would ever want you, huh?"

I feel so angry...

"That's right, nobody. Your parents will throw you out of the house without so much as batting an eyelash. Your mother will forsake you. She'll hate you with a flaming passion."

You're not making this easy.

"Your daddy probably already hates you, as seems to be prevalent with all fathers. I know if you were my kid, I'd have drowned your infantile ass in a bathtub long ago."

I can't stand you. Your voice. Your face. Your words.

"Aww, what? Did I strike a nerve? Are you going to cry now?"

I can't let someone like you take my only friends out of this world forever.

"Poor little boy. Nobody loves him, and they never will. Awww. Isn't that just tragic? Non. It's the way things are. You need to accept that."

I can't keep holding back like this...

"When are you going to wake up and realize you're fucked up in the head?"

I've never used my stand to injure someone before...I'm scared, but...

"You think you can keep something like this a secret from Jean? That he won't come to despise you with every fiber of his being if he does find out? Well, after today, no one will. You'll all be gone, and Jean-Luc's inheritance will fall to me. And only me. So fight back if you wish, it's useless. Just like you!"

...you've really fucked up now. I'm gonna hurt you good.

Gaelstrom tensed, clenching his fists as he lied in the fetal position.

As she leaned away from spitting in his face, another jaw-breaking punch knocked her back down. The only thing that had kept Gaelstrom from making his stand open up a barrage of attacks was the fact that he didn't want to kill her. Hurt her, yes. Make her suffer the way she was making him suffer, absolutely. She pushed him to this point. He tried to hold back. He tried to walk away. But he was getting really sick of her bullshit - of bottling up his emotions all the time.

His fingers twitched. "Pot calling the kettle black..." he murmured.

"What was that?" she said, her hand faltering from cupping her bruised eye.

The searing pain's flames subsided, but only a little as he climbed to his feet, sucking a pained breath past his gritted teeth. Through whimpering and shaky breaths, he fought back the need to focus on the agony throbbing in his shoulder, calf, and ribs.

"I'm saying that the only one in this room that's messed up in the head is you."

Adel tightly gripped the scissors and glared with the utmost disdain welling in her eyes.

Gaelstrom stood hunched over with a hand clamped over his bloody shoulder, his other arm hanging limp. "All your life, your brother only ever wanted to show you how much he loved you. How much he felt you deserved to be loved, and in return, you spit in his face. And this is how you repay him: attempted murder on his own kids. I'm still young. I've got my whole life ahead of me to worry about finding love. Something a bitch like you will never comprehend in a million years. So what if I like boys, too?"

He pressed his palm to his knee and stood straight. "You know what the beautiful thing about that is?"

Both pairs of eyes exchanged a hateful stare, expressing what their words could not.

"The beautiful thing about who I choose to have feelings for, be it a boy or a girl...is that it's none of your god damn business!"

An ungodly terror shrunk her pupils. Cu Chulainn hurled jabs and punches, delivering a barrage so fast, the motions of its arms blurred. Adrenaline surged through Gaelstrom's veins as Cu Chulainn's repetitive stand cry, EIRIGH, drowned their ears. With a final haymaker to finish the job, Cu Chulainn sent Adel flying back into the drawerless dresser. The impact of her body knocked the mirror over with her. Glass shattered into both miniscule and large fragments, the sound alerting Sherry, who had come back from outside, searching high and low for Gaelstrom with worry in her heart.

The door to her brother's room swung open, her words filling him with fear and concern. The very fact that they were anywhere near the west corridor ignited his irritation. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Sherry cried - begged - for her brother to help. Something was wrong. Really wrong. In a firm voice, he demanded that she stay there - not to leave the room until he got back. Storming up the hall, he could hear the deafening scream of a woman.

Aunt Adel.

Littered shards cut into her hands as she crawled across the floor, some of the fragments getting lodged into her skin. She tried to reach out and grab the scissors but Gaelstrom swiped them off the floor before she could get the chance.

"Give it to me." he demanded, pointing the blades at her with a scowl.

Adel's swollen and bloodied lips smirked as she looked up at him from the floor. "Give what..."

"Don't act stupid, you know what I mean." Gaelstrom spat. "Hand it over!"

The sound of Polnareff's voice coming up the hall startled him, but fed wicked thought to Adel's mind. She let out a soft laugh, and removed Rhiannon's bracelet from her wrist. "Very well." she said, and tossed it his way. "Go on, take it."

Kneeling down, he scooped the pearls off the ground and slipped them around his wrist, securing them from falling back into her possession. Adel let out unnerving cackles, getting louder and her countenance growing darker.

"You think you're so clever, don't you? You're the one holding them in your fucking hand now. Jean, help me! I'm being attaaaaacked!"

At that moment, Polnareff burst into the room, choking on his words at what he saw. Cu Chulainn and Gaelstrom's heads turned in his direction simultaneously. He dismissed his stand, completely unaware that he'd noticed it at all. Adel let out loud, fake sobs, her words coming out incoherently. Her glass-prodded hand reached out to Polnareff, unsteady and frantic. A perfect combination for her over-dramatic act.

"Don't come any closer, he's crazy!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. "He attacked me! He tried to kill me! AAAAAHHHHH!"

Gaelstrom spun around, outrage consuming his being. "What?! That's a-"

"No! Don't listen to him! Anything he says is a lie!"

Polnareff was still in shock at seeing Cu Chulainn upon entering the room to pay much attention to what she was saying. Her words were too muddled by her screaming and flailing around. The aura of the room, however, screamed much louder than she ever could. Rhiannon's once peaceful, untouched room had become a battleground where the two of them were fighting to the death.

His eyes scanned around, finding bloody, smudged footprints, scattered jewelry, drawers slung across the room, and his mother's bed disheveled with puncture holes. The most notable feature he discerned being Gaelstrom's s blood and the broken mirror pieces his aunt was dragging her body through. Noting the puncture holes and blood, he studied their current condition, seeing that Gaelstrom had indeed been harmed, but her wounds seemed just as dire. Frightening even. And with the scissors in his grasp, questions formed a nebulous mist of confusion.

"What..." was all that his soft voice could muster.

The scissors fell from Gaelstrom's hand with a clonk. "Jean, it's not what you think. Your aunt is evil."

Gaelstrom's words appalled him."What!?"

"She's plotting to kill both of you, you need to get as far from here as possible."

Adel stood on her knees, sliding across the floor to Polnareff. "Jean, nothing he says is true. Just look at me, look at what he's done! I was only trying to protect myself, as well as preserve your mother's memory. It's all I care about. Your mother was special to me. I would never commit such a heinous act!"

"That's a bold-faced lie!" Gaelstrom yelled.

"Please!" she begged, throwing herself into his embrace. He leaned forward, catching her with a baffled look on his face. "You must believe me! You and your sister are all I have left. He's the one that tried to rob you both blind. He's been playing with your feelings all this time, he said so himself when I tried to stop him. Please, I would never lie to you!"

Emotions boiled in Gaelstrom's stomach. He wanted to send a swift kick to her face more than ever, but the thought was interrupted by Polnareff's need for an explanation.

"But...that can't be true." he said, clearly overwhelmed, "Gaelstrom's my best friend. He wouldn't do that."

Adel looked up at him, expressing false desperation. "Surely you don't believe your dearest auntie would betray you like this. Look around you for god's sake - look at his wrist if you don't believe me!"

Gaelstrom's s blood ran cold. Polnareff's eyes went wide, noting that his mother's bracelet was in fact dangling from his wrist, tinged by his own blood. Gaelstrom took a step back, holding his hands up in surrender, knowing what was bound to occur, though he hoped he could talk sense into him. Polnareff's face darkened.

"Jean? I can explain."

Fury burned behind a widened gaze that didn't peel away from the pearls. Gaelstrom shook his head, the inner corners of his brows upturned.

"Whatever you're thinking - whatever you're feeling - we can talk about -"

"You son of a bitch!" Polnareff's voice was harsh, terrifying. His nostrils flared as he clenched his fists. Veins in his neck were visible. "I trusted you! What happened to you being my best friend?!"

"Wait, I -"

"Going behind my back?! Disrespecting my mom? Hurting the only relative I have left? I...!" Polnareff's hands pressed against his head, becoming overcome with painful disillusion. Sobs heaved up from his chest as he hunched over, his face hidden from view. "I don't understand."

Gaelstrom stepped towards him, placing his hands to his shoulders. "I swear it's not what you think-"

Polnareff shoved him away. "How could you do this to me!? After I shared my pain with you! After all the time we spent together...just for you to betray my trust like this."

Adel had brought her hands up to her face, pretending to cry into them. But instead, she was snickering at the ordeal unfolding.

"You promised!" Polnareff cried.

Gaelstrom reached out to console him, failing to get through to him at all with words, as they were a jumbled cluster on the tip of his tongue.

"You knew how much my mother meant to me. How much this room meant to me. It was the only way I could preserve her memory, don't you even care about that, even a little bit?!"

Gaelstrom's bloody hands cupped his freckled, teary face, smearing his red thumbprint across his cheekbone. "I'd never go out of my way to hurt you. I love you!"

"What a manipulative bastard!" Adel interjected. "Where's your sense of honor, swine?"

"My aunt isn't a killer," Polnareff rebutted, "how could you say something so stupid?"

He yanked his hands away from his face as the word stupid left his mouth. Gaelstrom's heart ached, stepping back with his worried expression forming into a dejected frown.

"You don't care about me at all," Polnareff added, "or else you'd have stayed the hell out of here, and Auntie wouldn't have gotten- "

"Aw, shut up and listen to reason, wouldja?!" Gaelstrom snapped, stomping his foot. "I'm telling you the truth, dammit! She's gonna kill us all, don't you see? She wants your dad's fortune - your fortune. How can you be so blind?"

"Shut the hell up, you don't know anything!"

"You shut up!"

Something had snapped inside of Polnareff. Without so much as a second thought, his knuckles swung, catching Gaelstrom on the cheekbone. He stumbled before being tackled to the floor, where Polnareff commenced to beating the shit out of him. Adel pulled herself up onto the bedside, amused by the fight.

God dammit, Jean, I don't wanna hurt you!

"You sorry piece of shit!" Polnareff yelled, each punch to the face emphasizing his words as they came.

Both boys tousled, bumping into one of the dressers. A vase rocked atop it and collapsed to the floor with a heavy crash. Pushing her weight onto the bed, Adel stood up with her eyes locked onto them. Gaelstrom couldn't take much more of the stinging, and brain jostling motion with each pang. The aching of his head grew unbearable. He had to do something, but he couldn't risk hurting his only friend. He could never bring himself to do so, even in self-defense.

But enough was enough. He had to get through that dense head of his somehow. Cu Chulainn's shield appeared over Gaelstrom's body, defending him from the blow of Polnareff's fist. His swing jerked to a stop as he realized what he'd done.

"Just as I thought." he murmured. "You're just like me..."

Gaelstrom's heart skipped a beat as Cu Chulainn negated the impenetrable shield. "What? You can see -"

He wasn't even listening. Silver Chariot materialized, brandishing a long, thin rapier. Managing to press both feet into his chest, Gaelstrom kicked Polnareff off of him, sending him tumbling backwards while he scrambled to his feet. He needed to assess the situation. Just how was he going to win this fight without hurting Polnareff? Was there even the slightest possibility to win that way?

Come on, I need to think of something.

It didn't take much time until Polnareff was back on his feet. A loud roar erupted from his throat with a string of saliva dangling from his bottom lip, coloring the shade of his face burgundy. Silver Chariot's rapid swishing barely made a dent in the shield. In fact, Gaelstrom noted how its sword completely missed the target.

Him.

Was this on purpose?

"Traitor!" Polnareff rasped.

"Jean, we can talk about this!"

"There's nothing to talk about," Adel chimed in, not even looking at them as she plucked the shards out of her hand, "ow! You've made your bed, connard, now lie in it."

Silver Chariot's rapier thrusted, lunged, and swiped through the air, but none of its attacks were striking accurately. Each and every one went too far to the side of him, over him, and even in another direction entirely.

"Why can't I control it!?" Polnareff cried.

He can't direct his aim properly; he's too angry. Shite! What if he does something to hurt himself?

Gaelstrom climbed up onto the nightstand and stood erect. With a despondent gaze, he regarded Polnareff's animosity and the effects it had on Silver Chariot. A broken vase, scuff marks across the floor, irreversible scratches etched into the wood - this had to stop. He knew the consequences if he lowered his guard; he knew the probability of death, yet he stood his ground, witnessing the one he loved lose all self-control.

He outstretched his arms, refusing to take part in violence with someone so close to his heart.

"I won't fight you."

"A friend that steals from my mother is no friend of mine!" Polnareff roared.

Slowly, Gaelstrom closed his eyes, accepting what was to come. Silver Chariot's armored body rammed him through the bedroom window, performing a downward slash a few inches too close. From his temple down to his chin, the stand left a gaping laceration. Blood droplets splashed over glass fragments, painting them as they descended to the ground below.

Polnareff froze with eyes wide open. Adel turned her head, flabbergasted at what occurred, though she couldn't care less about what happened to Gaelstrom.

His body hit the roof below the sill, tumbling to the edge and bringing some of the shingles with him on the way down. Hopelessness consumed him. Tear drops rose up from his cheeks, catching the wind beneath his falling body.

"It's alright. I don't blame you for being angry."

Polnareff climbed through the window, the rage torn from his mind and ripped apart by fear - replaced by it. "Gaelstrom!" he screamed.

Adel rose to her feet and scoffed. "What do you think you're doing? Jean, get away from there!"

Barefeet glissaded over the shingles, taking him to the edge where he came to a stop. Mustering up the courage to look below, he gasped on shuddering breath. The repercussions of his actions lied face-up on the grass, drenched in his own blood from head to toe. Bones protruded through the skin on Gaelstrom's legs.

"Oh, god...what have I done..."