Rock had been awake for a few hours, trying to gather his bearings through the pain raking his body. Trying to figure out where he was or who had cuffed his wrists to a hospital bed. The room he was in did not look associated with any healthcare institution or the tower for that matter. The world was quiet, except for his panicked, short breaths, stoking the fear curdling through his nerves, pumping nausea in his stomach with every passing worried heartbeat. The room had no window so Rock had no idea what the time was or where he could possibly be.
All he knew was the wave of fear rolling over him when he heard a soft knock on a door somewhere. He lay like a deer in headlights, trembling through dread gnawing at him as horror festered through his very being.
His eyes stretched wide through imaginations of his impending death; gunmen storming the room, lining up to aim at him and emptying their ammo in his flesh. He wasn't sure if the truth was any better when Kain entered the room, one hand resting in his pocket. Standing over the bed, he towered over Rock easily. His smile was grim; thick with self-righteousness, tasteless, hypocritical. A cliché of a villain having gained what he wanted from the heroes. Hastily, Rock swallowed his curses, swallowed the venom dancing on the tip of his tongue.
"Rock," Kain said gently. "It's been a long, long time. Finally, you're mine again."
Something began to sting in the corner of Rock's eyes as words failed him. He tried not to wince at the hand that grabbed his chin, then traced his jaw and the side of his neck, closing his eyes to it.
"I can't imagine the horror you've endured under that snake. It's over now," he heard and tried not to scoff. Tried not to cry out in disgust at the hand brushing over his chest.
Trying not to think of Ryuji or how Rock would find his corpse.
"You look so much like your mother…" Kain spoke softly, and Rock glanced up at him, searching his face for anything resembling awareness. Only to find lust and thinly veiled delusions. Hidden under a layer of lifeless starvation.
The confusion must have been apparent for he began to elaborate when he climbed into bed, straddling his nephew into the mattress. "I adored your mother very much. I loved her far more than a brother should. It was a tragedy when she married Geese for that meant she could never be mine."
Rock held his gaze, the bile in his stomach finding something new to lap at. He clenched his hands and swallowed, feeling all the past demons that he had buried make their slow and ardent return. His heart began to beat faster, his head throbbing with pain and vileness.
"Geese let us be…" he said in a weak retort.
"So he did but he was a fool. His weakness robbed your mother of her strength and killed her. I would have taken much better care of you two. I could have been your father. I would have loved you like a son," Kain said as he hovered over Rock, the hollowness in his eyes turning them into a dark shade of fresh blood. "You were meant to be mine. You were promised to me."
Disgust sharpened Rock's senses. His skin itched at his uncle's hands on his chest, and his memory circled the night of Mother's death; of how he had sprinted out of the hospital, spent time puttering around on a playground until he was found by Terry – saved from the alternative of Kain.
"You could have just taken me…"
"I could if I had not been led into believing you had been snatched by Geese already – or perished. Imagine my interest when I found you alive, taken in by the Legendary Hungry Wolf. I chose to watch you grow into a man and build upon your strength from then on out. When I thought to make myself known, the lesser brother died, the wolf left and that unforeseen pair of events made my plan easier," Kain leaned down to molest more of the young man underneath him.
Rock's stomach twisted and a horrible realization made him ask; "Did you kill Andy?"
"Heavens no. It'd be a waste of time," Kain chuckled. His hums awakened something furious and ruthless inside Rock who wished he could take something blunt and hit Kain, hit him until his skull caved in, blood and brain matter spilling out. Bludgeoning him again and again until his head was little more than a mush of gore.
"I don't want this, Kain. I'm not…" Rock said instead. "You're my-"
Kain cut him off with a scoff. "We've been over this already, Rock. Remember what I told you; family sticks together. And?"
'Emotions are the enemy' but…
Rock could only stare at him, watching him rub a frustrated hand across his face at the lack of power the spell he cast had. Watching darkness fall over his face.
"…He corrupted you. This is what happens when you leave my side. It all goes down the drain. All that I've taught you."
'You can't guilt me, you can't hurt me anymore,' Rock wanted to say, but the thought of Ryuji trapped the words in a chamber somewhere in his throat. He had to play along. He had to.
"Where is he?" he asked. "Is he alive?"
"He's alive until you decide how we kill him. He can't be trusted – even cautiously but he's too dangerous to be let loose," Kain explained, his calm composure ebbing a little yet he was shrewd enough to not actually reveal where Ryuji was. "Because he stole you away from me and I can't tolerate such blatant, weak attempts at oppression. You get that, right?"
Nod. Nod. Nod.
Rock nodded, watching more of Kain's sanity slip. He did not have this air of instability around before.
"And I am not actually interested in listening to whatever nonsense reasoning you've been gaslit into buying for denying what is only natural – but what is it, Rock?" he demanded, voice still calm.
Rock's breath hitched in his chest. With his voice thinner than paper, he began with; "Ethically-"
"Ethically?" Kain interjected, raising his brow. "You don't understand the power I hold, that I am beyond and above it all. Nothing will touch me. Not the law or ethics. I have strength and in this world, the strong always beat the weak. The strong protect what belongs to them. And no one touches what belongs to me."
The calm Kain was an illusion. Rock swallowed, almost on the verge of vomiting. His gaze flickered away to some possible escape route from the room, away from the constant feeling of being felt up by a blood relative.
"I'm sorry," he blurted out to nothing but silence, heavy and crushing. Serrated like a knife that dug its teeth into the atmosphere. Overwhelming until Kain suddenly said; "I will have to reeducate you."
Rock flinched, looking at him, startled to feel him sit upright with his hands resting on the rim of his pants, looking like a beast about to pounce. His expression was controlled, measured, calculated but the eyes were the window to the soul, brimming with seething contempt and determination. That was not there before.
"You were at your most stunning when you had no heart," he said, a notch of anger slipping past his calm demeanor with a grave sigh.
Momentarily, Rock turned away to glance at the cuffs around his wrists, thinking he could rip himself free somehow, injury be dammed. He drew in one breath, then two, steadying himself when two hands pawed at his stomach, pulled his shirt up, and stopped at the scar there. Kain hated emotions but white-hot rage welled up in his eyes, then forced down under the veil of composure.
"I'm sorry," Rock repeated. "Please don't…it hurts."
"No," Kain deadpanned despite the rage bubbling in him. "Your mother would not have liked your defiance."
Rock swallowed the sting. No, it would not hurt. Mother was better than this. Kain was a monster. Rock knew better than this. He would not get abused and debased by Mother's memory used as a shield. He wired his jaw shut and stared into the dead eyes of a shark looming over him. The shell of humanity that Kain hid under crumbled ever so slightly against the habit of hiding it all. it made him unrecognizable, cruel, and unpredictable. Murderous.
No longer human.
"You belong to me. My heir, my protégé. I will make you mine at all costs."
Rock didn't blink. Yet time went from moving very slowly to extremely fast to the point where he hardly registered it. He did however note the horrible déjà vu. How alone he lay here, about to get violated again. Again. Again. Far too many times for him to count. Against his waning strength, hot tears wetting his eyes. Fuck. Fuck…
His mind swam, dizzy from the weight, the barrage of all his past demons standing at the entrance to his brain, knocking on the door and kicking it in. Ready to trash the headspace he'd made for himself. Crushing and destroying everything like the hands groping him; touching his shoulders, rubbing his thighs, fingers carding through his hair. A voice, only Kain's, talking at, talking through, talking about him.
He felt sick. He felt like vomiting. And he wondered if the life he had, the goodness of it all, the promise of something better had all been for naught. If some cruel gods got a kick out of watching him disintegrate. Was it the same gods that took it upon themselves to destroy everything in his life? Had they killed his mom?
Had they made him a plaything?
Maybe he deserved this. Maybe he-
Kain's mouth was on his in a second. Teeth dug into sensitive flesh, biting like a wild animal and it hurt. He wanted to harm, to prove a point. He wasn't-he didn't do this. Such a thought made this-this-whatever this was all more the more twisted. Rock found himself struggling against the cuffs, tearing his face away and letting out a primal scream of instinct like he had been possessed.
The first time, Rock had found himself down this rabbit hole, he had the sudden impulse to kill himself, trapped within the claws of his no self-worth, no sense of belonging. With nothing but guilt and confusion turning him into a mess of a person. Kain had struck like a tiger waiting to pounce, offering him support. A balance to life, a place to be so he could sort himself out.
Kain looked so much like Mom, it was scary. And Rock, in his infinite lack of anything positive had accepted.
Thus, it was the beginning of the end.
The images of Mother and Kain had at that time melted together. Relax as Kain would instruct him to. Relax, don't feel. Relax, don't feel. You deserve this. You deserve to feel numb. You choose this. You-
"Fuck you!" Rock shouted at the top of his lungs, writhing and twisting, spitting and cursing. "You piece of shit! Fuck you!"
"Do not resist. You want this," displeased, Kain grabbed his face to connect their mouths again but Rock ripped away fiercer, only to be crashed into again – and retaliating with a bite to Kain's lips. Hars and sudden, making the man jolt away as he touched his face and saw the blood stain his fingers.
While he sat there distracted, Rock did everything within his power to yank at the cuffs. Kain pounced again, slapping him hard across the face with such force that made his head ring.
"You may look like your mother, but you have your father's lack of manners. Don't worry, I will fix you," Kain's voice was like a faint whisper through a thick haze.
And it happened so quickly when Rock short-circuited. The bluescreen that left him reeling. His body turned limp and vacant like a doll on the bed. Awareness came in waves and the instincts flared up again and Kain grabbed Rock's pants, pulling them down with a harsh yank.
Like clockwork, it happened again. Like a strike of lightning, Rock disconnected. Fear, disgust. Numbness. Cracks in his shell spread, growing wide. Shock. Times before, he had thought of the aftermath, how he could live with himself after this, how he could sink into that numbness again.
Then nothing.
Thoughts came in bursts. Thoughts of Terry, thoughts of Ryuji, thoughts of the life he had gained. Thoughts of Mother. Memories melting together moments in time.
Then nothing.
Returning to his legs being lifted and Kain spitting into his hands. Fury nearly ripped Rock apart then. Fury at the world for being so horribly unfair. Fury at fate for fucking him over. Fury at everything. He couldn't hear a word against the storm of blood rushing to his ear and the scream of a thousand dying souls he let out.
Which turned into a howl of agony as Kain forced his way inside. Then the bluescreen. Rock reemerged, gaining control of his body, energy coursing through his blood while he violently flicked his cuffed wrist, desperate for something to happen. Fuck, he was crying now. The tears strolled down his face endlessly as Kain's filth slowly tore him apart.
"You are mine forever and al-"
And then it came. The boon. The Rasetsu.
A blast of energy emerged in his palm, and he fired it off at Kain, sending the man flying across the room. His body collided with some nearby furniture and it looked to have knocked him out. Still lying here, Rock's breath hiccupped with the adrenaline pumping through his body. The impulse to harm, to main, to kill was overwhelmingly eager but without the power to do anything, he could only lay there and work at the cuffs.
As it was now, he wouldn't be able to pull himself free and he didn't know how long it would take before he could break his own thumb. In his flailing, the short chain of the cuffs became tangled and when he yanked a final time in a fit of frustration, the chain snapped. Instantly, Rock worked on the other cuff, rotating his wrist until he could feel the swivel bind up, then pried and twisted until the second chain broke.
He rolled off the bed, pulled up his pants, and headed for the bundle of tipped-over furniture, looking at the puddle of Kain on the floor, nearly choking on his own tongue when the man began to writhe on the floor. Rock reached for a fallen lamp, raised it above his head, and slammed the butt of its stem down on Kain's skull when he sat up. The lamp dropped to the floor again as did Kain with a spot of red spreading over the top of his head, miscoloring the blond hair.
Rock could easily have knocked him out with one of Terry's, or Geese's moves but he needed all the energy he had. He didn't care to check if Kain was still alive, rushing towards the door and flinging it open to an empty hallway. Lanterns hung on the wall and instantly kicked in Rock's memory.
It became clear where he was.
Swallowing, he jogged down the hallway until he reached the staircase which was rarely used. Kain had an elevator installed in the palace, but the stairs were for construction purposes. Now, they were the key to Rock's freedom as he stepped out, looking over the railing to find himself a few levels above the ground floor or the basement. He could escape that way, but he didn't even think to leave before he had found Ryuji.
Then he looked at the spiraling steps and managed to count two or three floors. Kain's personal quarters and his office were on the second top floor and Rock used to be locked up on the floor under it. He took to the stairs then until he reached his goal and jogged down the hallway again, past familiar surroundings.
Nothing had changed about the palace since he had been here last and maybe that was a good thing as Rock soon found his way to Kain's office through the power of pure memory. The door was unlocked and the room empty, but he wasted no time rushing inside, locking the door, circling the desk, and reaching for the phone. His heart galloped, his mind was racing, pain ached through his body but he forced himself to stuff it all in a closet, forced himself to just think and remember.
He could call emergency services, but they had a long response time. He could call Hon-Fu but Rock never memorized his number. He could call Terry but luring the man out here alone was cruel. He could call Ryuji to figure out where he was – if he was alive.
Rock shook his head and winced at the sharp headache arriving in return. And then he remembered the number from the last job because he mulled over the note with Ryuji afterward. He stood and listened for sounds, then dialed, waiting with a bated breath while the dull monotone tune played.
Once, twice, thrice. On the fourth ring, there was an answer and a deep, unfamiliar voice asked; "Rat extermination?"
"No, this is Rock Howard. I have a message for Geese. Tell him to send whatever band of soldiers he got to Kain Heinlein's palace ASAP and I'll be forever in his debt," Rock searched through the drawer in the meantime, finding a letter opener that he stuck under his sleeve and zipped it up.
"Duly noted," the voice said and the call ended accordingly. Rock wasted no time typing in Terry's number as he got that one memorized. With Geese and his underlings, there would be a better chance against Kain's forces.
"Hello?" a familiar voice answered after the second ring and momentarily, Rock's eyes stung with the urge to cry for this minor sense of reassurance. He swallowed a sob and tried to explain as much as he possibly could, as coherently as possible.
"T-Terry, it's me. Listen; I got no time to explain but I'm being held hostage in a palace thingy on Second South Town. It's a big white building on the west side of the island, hidden behind a forest. You can see the spires above the treetops. There's going to be other people who'll come – I hope, and you won't like it but please, please don't come alone."
As he had said that, there came a series of hard bangs on the door, and his heart sunk to his stomach, unable to withstand the stinging before tears gathered in his eyes.
"Wait, what? What happened?!" Terry frantically asked.
And Rock's response came out as a tremble. "They are coming for me."
"…I got you! Hang on tight, rookie. Fight them off! I'll be there as fast as I can," Terry exclaimed as the door flew open and Grant rushed in, dressed in his mask and cape.
A heartbeat barely passed before he dashed forward with lightning speed and flipped over the entire desk. His massive hands grabbed Rock by the collar, lifted him in the air, and tossed him to the floor with a hard thud that knocked the air out of his lungs. The phone dropped to the floor and Terry's voice frantically called out before Grant crushed the device with his feet.
Rock scrambled to his feet, against the pain raking through his body when a hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up, then tossed him across the room into the nearest wall. His back slammed against a painting, and it fell from the wall, sliding down alongside him. When Rock fluttered his eyes open, stars flooded his vision. He tried to stand up, pushing himself against the wall for balance as Grant stormed towards him, clasped a massive hand around his throat, and hoisted him up, pressing his body to the wall.
"You disgust me, interloper!" Grant growled with such intense fury, it was like some demon of hatred had taken over his body. He brought their faces closer to the point where Rock could see the shape of his eyes under the mask. "If you had only stayed away, then Kain would have been mine. We could have realized our dreams. Make our ideals a reality. But you ruined everything. Thanks to your disruption, Kain has set his sights on you to the point of obsession. Thanks to the sins of your father, Kain never recovered from Marie's death and the promise of you."
"Fuck you! You did it too! You fuckers forced yourself on me! You ruined-" Rock croaked out, gurgling at the tightening of his throat.
"Because it was Kain's will. Thus I stained my manhood with your filth. I pledged my eternal allegiance to him but not a day went by where I didn't wish for your death so the love for you would be mine to appreciate. I dreamt of strangling you to death every time Kain's sexual appetite for you arose. You refused to embrace your wild side. You refused our values. You moped around and were a hindrance to us and now you've hurt him! Thy destiny is death, you selfish whore."
Not if Rock could help it.
He wriggled his arm until he felt the reassuring shape of the letter opener in his palm, flicked the sheath off, and lunged the blade into the side of Grant's neck as deeply as he could, twisting the blade while warm blood coated his hand until Grant grabbed his wrist. They struggled like that for a few seconds, all the while Rock pushed the blade to gash deeper into Grant's neck until blood gushed out like a sieve.
This gave a halt to the older man, and he staggered backward, holding the wound to stop the bleeding while Rock dropped to the floor again, his throat suddenly free of the chokehold. He coughed and swallowed several mouthfuls of air before he jumped to his feet, dashing across the room for the letter opener. It had skittered across the floor, leaving smears and drops of dark blood on the floor.
As Grant grunted, clutching his neck, and falling to his knees, Rock walked over and tore his mask off before elbowing him in the face with a satisfying crack that turned on faucets of blood from his nose. Rock grabbed him by the hair and held the tip of the letter opener to his eye, hands trembling with fury and pure angst, wishing he could comfortably stab the eye out and penetrate the brain. But someone was waiting for him.
"Tell me where Yamazaki is. I know he's alive so open your big fat mouth or I'll take your eye, I fucking promise you. Out with it and you'll have your precious Kain as much as you goddamn want!" Rock hissed with as much eloquence as Ryuji at his most foulmouthed, inching the blade closer at the green eyes that gazed upon him. "But stay the fuck out of our lives, you hypocrite cunt! I don't need to get ruined anymore by you. You wanted to kill me? You bastards made me want to die every fucking day. You felt gross for joining in? Fuck all the way the fuck off with that. You used me. You let others violate me. Fuck you! You and Kain deserve each other but stay away from us."
"I do not control Kain and he cannot control his obsession with you. Now what?" Grant asked with obvious contempt and Rock's swallowed hard lest he'd throw up all over the man.
"I'll kill you both if you ever come near me or Yamazaki again. You can tell Kain that and the fact you both deserve it."
To this, Grant snorted. His movements were a tad sluggish from the blood gushing out of his neck like an artery had been slashed. One could only hope.
"Your precious snake is at the altar."
No sooner had he spoken those words before Rock was back out in the hallway, listening to the low grunts from the bleeding Grant while his mind raced at Mach speed for a foothold. His brain couldn't process the red threads of anything that he had been told today as two goals stood like a pair of shining beacons, outshining everything else; Find Ryuji. Get the fuck out. He sprinted down the hallway to the staircase and practically jumped up the steps until he reached the top floor.
The altar was a place he had never set foot in before. It had been promised to him on numerous occasions by Kain when their ideal vision had been realized. Rock never cared for it. Not even now when he flung the double doors open to a balcony with pillars that were the source of the spires when looking at the place from afar. The afternoon sky stood reflected on the checkered floor. There was a flag waving in the cool wind, hawk statues, and a dome-like structure that created an arch.
An arch that provided a view of a portrait encased in glass. A portrait of Mother.
Rock's breath hitched in his chest, and he closed his eyes to the confirmation of Kain's obsession and the sneaking, disgusting thought that Kain could have been his father in some alternative universe. He swallowed the bile, then lowered his gaze a bit until he noticed a figure tied to one of the pillars under the dome with chains. Black clothing, blonde hair, dark undercut. And that was all he needed. His mind turned mercifully streamlined as he sprinted across the floor, feeling like his body couldn't move fast enough.
He didn't trust Kain but more than anything, he wanted to trust the man when he said that Ryuji was alive. God, he wanted that more than anything. When he reached the person, he loved the most, his emotions took two extreme turns at the sight of him.
Ryuji sat in a puddle of himself, slumped over. One eye had been bruised, painting dark spots across his skin. His nose was bloody. There were cuts peppered over his face and one on his lip. The wounds extended to his bare arms and fingers. The elation of seeing him did little to soothe the fear that corroded Rock like acid on metal, breaking his will to stand so he sank to his knees, eyes staring at a padlock that held the chains together. Ryuji had never taught him how to pick a lock, but he tried anyway, grabbing the lock in one hand and the letter opener in the other.
It occurred to him that when he bent his index and pinkie fingers, he felt a strange tingling which was possibly the result of nerve pressure from fighting with the stupid handcuffs. The remnants of which still hung around his wrists. As he worked, Ryuji slowly reanimated, stirring and mumbling himself to awareness. Bit by bit, his bleary eyes cracked open halfway, then stretched wide once he saw Rock digging through the padlock until the fucking thing finally clicked open.
The chains loosened but Ryuji remained where he sat, his limbs dangling down his side where only his fingers twitched. He didn't react while the chains were dragged off his body, but his limbs came a little more alive and he finally lifted his head with the face of a thundercloud. Rock knelt in front of him again, cradling his head, and tried so goddamn hard to not break into a crying fit.
"It's okay. I got you. You're alright. I'm here," he said quietly into Ryuji's hair and pulled back to watch the blur slowly fade from the eyes staring back at him.
"Did they hurt you?" Ryuji asked and Rock flinched. He closed his eyes and nodded, a notch soothed by the retaliation, he dished out.
"But I smacked one across the head and cracked his skull open. I stabbed the other in the neck and he's probably bleeding out now. They are incapacitated," he answered, his voice laced with anxiety at the possibility that he could have killed two people, at Ryuji moving on his own through unsteadiness on his own feet.
He swung an arm around the younger man's shoulder. It would seem that his strength came back. "You did what you had to, wolfy."
Rock's voice became trapped in his throat, half relieved, half horrified when the weight of what he had done hit him. He wished he could have done it much earlier. He wished he hadn't done it at all. Whatever his dilemma did, it all came flooding with all the bad memories, the urge to harm, the pain, and the numbness. He grabbed his wrist and tried to wake himself out of a breakdown, trying to settle himself firmly on the ground, squarely on the now.
It was a little hard when he stood within the abode of his abusers.
"Hey, look at me," Ryuji said, forcing him to glance up and breathe. The panic, the flashbacks, it all vanished for a merciful second. "You protected yourself, Rock. Got that? Self-defense. You're fuckin' better than them."
Rock nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on the burst of uneasy calmness that settled over him. He looked at Ryuji and the fondness over his face, then at the portrait – with a little terror.
His stomach flipped when Ryuji asked; "That's your mom, right?"
Of course, he'd recognize her from pictures in the binder. Rock nodded and looked away. They couldn't afford to be caught up in saudade, limping away from the altar just as clouds began to dour the sky above them, encountering no one. The trek down the stairs didn't hinder Ryuji at all as he moved briskly, taking the letter opener on the way.
Eventually, they made it down to the ground floor where a strange smell immediately greeted them.
And with it came a bad feeling. Gasoline, Rock guessed as they made it into the ballroom of the palace which Kain never actually used with its wide windows, lanterns on the wall, and wet floors. With Kain and Grant standing in front of the door to the main entry hall of the palace. The former looked unharmed while the latter had bloody bandages wrapped around his neck and adorned his mask once more. His skin was a shade greyer than normal. They had taken the elevator, of course, they had.
"Why…why won't you leave us alone?" Rock asked, somewhere between furious and panicked. His hands began to shake, his eyes stung, and he sucked in a deep breath to do something about the anxiety pooling in his gut.
"Because you are mine. You always will be. You always were. I will make you realize your destiny. But not before my champion rids you of your burden," Kain answered calmly, sticking his hands down his pockets, giving the sign for Grant to step forward.
"Motherfuckers…I've been looking forward to this! I'll make sure you both fuckin' die!" Ryuji began snickering before he burst into crazed laughter, his eyes stretching wide with murderous intent. He made an obscene gesture with the letter opener, then sauntered forward. More than anything, Rock wanted to stop him and find another way out of here but there was no stopping if they were to get out of this wretched place.
And what was up with the gasoline?
Kain stood watch with an insipid smirk on his face, turning his head just a notch, staring at his nephew like he hadn't just attempted sexual assault hours ago. "Do you wish to fight, boy?"
Rock flinched and his entire ribcage cringed with the twistedness of the entire situation. "…I smacked you across the head with a lamp. How are you still standing?"
"I'll tell you if you beat me."
Fine. Fine. The whole weight of this sent a horrible, poisonous rush through Rock and he realized the inevitability of it all. He shuddered, then squared up, wishing he had the fortitude back then. The result would probably have been the same with Kain trying to hold him captive. It was absurd to think otherwise – Kain was apparently never the same after Mother's death.
Rock dared not to think what his life would have been like if he ended up here instead of with Terry – the mere suggestion haunted him. In light of everything, it reminded him of how fragile he was. How fragile he could be. Sometimes he'd think too many people cared about him. And that he didn't really deserve this amount of care.
It had been easy to break him because of that. But he had been on the other side of the misery and felt what it was like to be normal. He had ways to go but he had come far. He was damaged but not irreparably. Not anymore.
Maybe.
"…I'm so sick of this," he said quietly, swelled by a newfound power surging inside of him. "I'm not your plaything. You won't manipulate me anymore. I won't let you hurt me or anyone else again."
Tilting his head back, Kain snorted, then removed his hands from his pockets for the fight of a lifetime. From the corner of his eyes, Rock just briefly caught the beginning of a sluggish scuffle between Ryu-Yamazaki and Grant that splattered blood all over the floor. At some point, the stab wound from the letter opener had reopened so red smears stained the floor.
And then, there came a disruption.
Two bodies went flying in through the ballroom windows with glass sprinkling across the floor from the darkening sky and landed a few feet from the middle of the room. One had a red staff and the other had a white headband. It brought the ensuing brawl to a screeching halt as Rock tried to mentally process the appearance of Billy and Joe.
"Good thing, we didn't eat. Would have puked me brains out with that stunt," the former uttered.
"Was fun, wasn't it? Heroic entrance!" the latter loudly exclaimed in contrast.
Like a glass of water to the face, Rock instantly realized that it was real. People coming was real. The elation struck him like a wave and relief pooled into him so sudden and instant, it was euphoria. He felt a hand grab his arm and drag him aside, causing him to turn his head and look at Ryuji, having shed the skin of Yamazaki again. He had acquired a few more injuries but he moved quickly, making sure that Rock was out of harm's way for what happened next.
Loud banging came from the door to the ballroom until it burst open, and three faces rushed inside. Black suit, red cap, white dobok, chased by Kain's foot soldiers. A second passed before Terry spotted Rock by the wall and ran across the floor, past a stunned Kain and winded Grant.
"Rookie!" he called out just as he reached Rock and slung his arms around the young man, pressing their bodies close together. "Holy shit you're alive!"
Rock's head was still spinning with relief, exhaustion, and adrenaline. And finally, couldn't resist the sting in his eyes. He swiped a hand over his face and smiled. He hardly noticed Ryuji letting go of his arm or Kim jogging towards them. Never mind that he was supposed to be in Korea – apparently. He turned around as some of Kain's footsoldiers went on the attack and met them head-on with Joe and Billy. The threat of violence was too great for Ryuji, and he slinked away to indulge in the brawl, creating a pathway for Geese to enter deeper within the ballroom unscathed.
"So, you show yourself, dear brother-in-law…" Kain deadpanned with Grant by his side.
"I had to," Geese balked, then folded his arms over his chest, looking so supremely fucking smug as always to the point where one could hardly stand him. "You fucked up the task I gave to you. You made plans to usurp me, and you kidnapped your own flesh and blood for some mind-boggling reason to the point where I have been summoned. You've been nothing but a nuisance."
"Hardly. But I suppose Rock didn't tell you," Kain's half-smile reeked of threats and malice and the sight of it caused Rock's nerves to light up so hard that he ended up just kind of staring at his uncle like a deer in headlights. Until he realized what was about to come out of Kain's mouth. "He's not just my nephew or my heir. I have taught him the-"
On a purely animalistic whim, Rock swiped his hands forward twice, creating gusts of wind that raced across the floor towards Kain who stopped it with a flick of his hand.
"Don't say a word! You know what you did to me," Rock snipped and breathed out shortly after. He marched across the floor until he stood next to Geese, momentarily stunned that his father of blood wasn't the person he hated the most currently. It took some getting used to, but Rock couldn't focus on anything else than to not get pushed around again.
"Are you going to claim again that I raped you?" Kain asked dryly, the smirk-thing fading from his face. "I did not. You said yes. You came to my bed willingly. Crying wolf doesn't suit you. Nor does being heterodox. Just admit you enjoyed it."
Rock's breath stopped, intense in a way that send a rushing wave of horror and shame through his body, so intense and agonizing he wanted to fucking die right then and there. His bravado was knocked completely flat, siphoning his energy in the process. His heartbeat turned scattered and desperate, his breathing quickened, and his voice came out as a meek retort no stronger than a bug being crushed under someone's shoe. "…Y-you manipulated me. You-you used me…You sent-"
"But you said yes regardless. A yes is a yes. You'd be so much better off if you stopped attaching such frivolous feelings to it. That's what I've been trying to teach you. If you stopped seeing it as abuse, as violation, as exploitation, you'd been better off," Kain titled his head down just a notch, revealing some of the hairs on his scalp had been dyed black with coagulated blood. The tiniest of smirk stretched over his face and it was as if he increased his voice to let everyone hear. "And don't claim, your mother wouldn't have been accepting of this. She was a pragmatist. She wouldn't have thought you a whore. Even if you objectively are. Or did you not want anyone to know? Including your deadbeat father."
Somewhere, somehow, it burned. Rock couldn't discern the pain or anything else than the urge to split the earth in two and crawl into its maw. His head dropped, unable to look at anyone now seeing the corruption oozing out of him. He felt their stares, their scrutiny, their disgust. The objective reality was that they'd abandon him for how ruined he was. His eyes stung, his gut twitched, and he grabbed his wrist. Amidst all the chaos, it was as if Kain's voice became louder, still restrained with the same placid tone.
"Do you understand now? You're filth. But that's fine because you have me – only. Come to my side and I will teach you how to numb it."
"Shut the fuck up. Maybe try to fight instead of standing there and spitting nonsense, you maggot," Geese scoffed and it was what caused Rock to warily look up, look at the undefinable expression on his face, anger bleeding into his voice. He turned his head askance and Rock instantly looked away, curling into himself.
A musing hum came from Kain, and he lifted his head again. "Gladly. I've been meaning to take revenge for Marie. Maybe with you gone, I can finally create an ideal world."
"Kain…" Grant protested, his voice a little grainy but his concerns were promptly waved off. "Don't you worry, Grant. We'd have to rid ourselves of Geese regardless."
Someone reached a hand around Rock's arm and dragged him away from the ensuing battle. His body felt just about lifeless at this point and he didn't register who was pulling at him until he saw a few strands of long blonde hair from the corners of his vision. Before he was aware of it, he stood by the wall again, left alone…again. Catching a glimpse of Terry stepping up next to Geese as Grant took a spot next to Kain.
"What do you think, Terry?" Geese asked, mildly amused. "This isn't a bad diversion for our never-ending feud, is it?"
Terry let out a groan of aggravation. "I still got more wins than you. But have it your way. I'll fight you another day."
Amidst his haze of misery and anxiety, Rock stole a glance at the two men, his two fathers standing side by side, fighting for his sake, putting their lives on the line for him. He let out a shaky breath, barely able to keep himself intact, feeling like he deserved none of this now that everyone knew what a mess he was. Feeling so tired and weak. Again. Yet again. Doomed to this stupid cycle. Maybe if he.-
"Grant?" Kain asked out loud with raw confusion. "What are you-"
Grant put an end to the battle. He stepped to the side, towering over Kain, and punched him in the stomach to the point where he keeled over, bent forward into two massive arms holding him upright. Grant sighed, ragged and tired. "Forgive me, Kain. I can't bear to watch you suffer anymore. I'll send you to Marie soon and then I will join you. Then, I will no longer be Grant. Just Abel."
Watching the scene, Rock felt a sickening lurch in his stomach. He looked away and focused his attention onto the brawl still happening with Kain's forces versus the…well, the cavalry. Billy used his staff to smack someone across the head before he could get stabbed by a Spanish sword, stepping backward while his opponent fell to the floor until he reached Rock, bumping into him harshly.
"Stop fucking moping and start fucking fighting, kid!" Billy snipped, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, and pulled. "You know how to, right? Do it then and prove to these bloody cunts, you're better than them!"
"I…I-" Rock stood blindsided by the harsh encouragements, averting his gaze because he couldn't quite stand to look at anyone yet.
But something within him clawed at whatever tiny trill resonated within him. It was a small relief, but a relief regardless. He lifted his head just an inch and exhaled. Right. He didn't want to be a numb waste of pace today. This was the end of it all. For his one beacon in this nightmare, Rock looked at Ryuji, looked at the injuries he had acquired, quivering at his apparent exhaustion, and jumped into action.
Just as the smell of gasoline grew stronger and Grant's voice echoed through the ballroom, loud and clear. Calm and leveled. "You wished to end our defeat with fire and brimstone, Kain. I wish to bring you peace. Therefore, I will take the lot of them down with us."
Time came to an abrupt stop then. Frozen like the planet had stopped turning. A calm before…whatever was about to happen. That whatever was a single lighter in Grant's hand. Kain lay in his other arm with a blank look on his face, blood now dripping from the crack in his skull. Slowly, he turned his head, all mechanical and stiff until he blearily locked eyes with Rock.
Just as the lighter was tossed to the floor covered in gasoline, a smile stretched over Kain's smile. A genuine expression. A horrible thing that spoke horrible words.
You will never be free.