Luca couldn't speak. Ercole had called himself his nightmare, but that wasn't true. Nothing was more horrifying than the fact that Luca lost all effort to make sound. He had tried so desperately to make sure Ercole wouldn't hurt Giulia, but the effort was worthless. She had gotten hurt anyway. And now Alberto would too. The second he had heard the big bang, everything went dark. When he had heard Alberto's voice, his heart had lifted, just for a moment before the pills were taking effect.
Now, he was being held in Alberto's arms, sobbing violently into his shirt. He had longed for Alberto, and now he was finally here. Though now he wished Alberto was as far away from him as possible. Then, he'd be safe. Luca kept a tight hold on Alberto's shirt, trying to take in every bit of comfort possible before he'd go unconscious, trying to inhale as much of Alberto's scent before being killed. Before getting Alberto killed.
Luca sobbed harder into Alberto's chest, his tears soaking up the soft yellow fabric. He wanted to tell Alberto it was too late. To leave him with Ercole before he got hurt too. The pain hurt so much. The taste of his own blood filled his mouth, the uncontrollable shaking making it harder for him to breathe. He could feel his stomach churn as the nauseating dizziness came back in painful waves. As Luca cried, trying to express his fear, his pain, his pure sadness at the prospect of his love for Alberto being torn apart by Ercole.
"Piccoletto here can't take any more beatings for now," Luca could hear Ercole say, from what seemed like miles under the sea. "Maybe it's time for you to take his place."
Luca let out a louder sob as he tried to kick, trying to breathe, trying to tell Alberto to run. To abandon him. He wasn't worth his life.
The nausea came back, and Luca bit his lip with such force, he could taste fresher blood. He didn't want to vomit all over Alberto, so he willed himself to keep his mouth shut, muffling his sobs. A clicking noise sounded from behind him and he felt his body lift as Alberto pulled him closer.
"Don't touch him!" Alberto shouted from above him, his voice leaving an echo in Luca's head. An echo of pure pain.
Luca felt the tip of something cold press up against his neck. It was sharp, causing Luca to try to move away. Alberto's response was to squeeze him tighter, almost as if he was holding Luca to contain his violent trembling. But something worse was happening. Luca felt his body's shaking dwindle the smallest bit, as he lost the strength to sob. A wave of overwhelming fatigue fell over Luca. The pills were working their "magic." He began to lose the strength to cry as he tried to turn his head up towards Alberto to warn him. To make him leave.
"Give him here," Luca heard Ercole say. No, no, no! No, this shouldn't be happening! Luca would much rather die than go into Ercole's arms.
Luca forced himself to open his mouth, trying to let out a sound of protest as Ercole continued to speak. "I'll put him down. We'll let him rest. You can take his place."
Luca's heart squeezed with pain as he realized what Alberto would be put through. He couldn't let that happen.
"No!" Alberto shouted back. Luca could feel his tears drip onto his forehead as the rest of Alberto's words echoed in a distant place. "Don't! Let us go!"
I'm not worth it, Luca said in his mind, wishing Alberto could hear his thoughts. Just go. Save yourself. I'm already gonna die anyways. Just please. Go!
A sharpness pierced the skin on the back of Luca's neck, sending a shiver down his spine as he squirmed to stay away from it. He realized what it was. Ercole's blade must have been against his skin as a warning, a threat towards Alberto.
"Fine!" Alberto shouted. "Just- just don't hurt him. . . please!"
No! Luca screamed in his mind. He couldn't bear to leave him, he couldn't let this be the last time. He couldn't let him take his place. Luca let out a small wail as he attempted to grab Alberto's shirt, his weakness stopping him. This couldn't be possible. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen! Luca looked up at Alberto, trying to keep his eyes open, trying to communicate.
Please don't let me go! Luca cried out in his mind, looking into Alberto's bloodshot eyes. Don't let him take me again!
Luca watched as the shadow towered over him, and he knew who it was. His heart dropped with the weight of a bowling ball as he felt Ercole's arms slide underneath him. In a panic, Luca tried to grab Alberto, longing to stay cradled in his arms forever. But as Luca's fingertips grazed Alberto's for what may be the last time, Luca felt his full weight transfer over to Ercole. His body shook at the pure terror of being back in his grasp. He couldn't fight anymore. He couldn't stay awake. His body was at the mercy of the pills, and he felt his eyelids get heavy.
But he wasn't asleep yet. He felt sleepy in his body, as if he was locked inside of it. His mind was wide awake, his thoughts racing as he could smell Ercole's sickly familiar scent as he was carried away from Alberto. Alberto. . .
Luca felt as Ercole laid him down on the stone floor, his limp body turned away from his best friend. He had never gotten a chance to tell him he loved him. Alberto said he loved Luca, but Luca never said it back.
There was a loud commotion from behind him, but Luca couldn't hear. The ringing in his ears got louder as he gave a slight cough, feeling blood splatter over the floor as he did so. From the lurch of the cough, more blood spilled from his nose, making the metallic taste in his mouth induce more nausea. Words between Ercole and Alberto echoed from behind him in a whirlwind of shouts. Luca couldn't understand a thing. He was just suffering. Suffering in pain from being ripped away from Alberto, for being at fault for making Alberto take his place, for letting Giulia get punched in the face. Only one of Alberto's phrases reached Luca's ears from across the room.
"I promise, Luca."
Promise? What did he promise? That he'll be ok? That was impossible. They were all going to get hurt, all because of Luca. All because he was stupid enough to think that getting Alberto a flower would tell him how he truly felt. He should've told Alberto right then and there at the ocean. That he loved him. This way, none of this would have happened.
Luca let out a cry as his mind began to shut down. He was finally falling asleep. Who knew if he'd ever wake up again. The only feeling left was the sickening nausea from being punched in the stomach. It was amazing Luca hadn't thrown up yet. But there wouldn't be much that came out. Just bile, the bites of sandwich and-
The pills. He could throw up the pills! Maybe they were still there in some form, and he wouldn't fall asleep! Luca's eyes fluttered open at the idea. Maybe he could stay awake after all. He could regain his strength!
This time, Luca didn't fight the feeling back down when it's wave came. He welcomed it. Of course his stomach churned painfully. No one liked to throw up. But this could save his life- Giulia and Alberto's life.
Silenzio Bruno, Luca said to himself as he struggled to bring his hand up to his face, and he slowly plunged two fingers into his mouth, slipping past the blood, and towards the back of his throat. The nauseating feeling got worse as his throat seemed to open up and then suddenly close with a gag.
But Luca just shut his eyes tightly as he forced his fingers deeper. His gag reflex kicked in again. Before he knew it, his body lurched forward to empty its waste, sputtering out the now liquid sandwich and- the pills. The bright white pills were somewhat dissolved in the throw up, but there. To Luca's relief, he felt insanely better. The nausea was almost completely gone. It was as if his body needed to get rid of that disgusting sandwich Ercole made him.
Luca took a full, deep breath of cold air. His first full breath he could manage in a while. His heart began to pound faster as he pushed himself up. The loud buzzing in his ears began to fade away as he lifted his head. With a shaky hand, he wiped his palm over his face and pulled it back to examine it. Tears, sweat, and blood. Typical.
Luca wiped the blood on his bare chest as he turned his head. His breath got caught in his throat as he saw Alberto throw a fist at Ercole. Luca gasped as the punch knocked Ercole squarely in the jaw, sending him to wobble sideways from the impact.
"Alberto!" Luca shrieked, looking down in surprise as he regained the power of his voice. "Alberto, run!"
Ercole turned, and looked Luca straight into the eyes. For a moment of horror, Luca stared back, trapped in paralysis. Ercole bared his teeth in fury to see that Luca had woken up, until another punch disrupted him.
Luca looked up to see Alberto pull back his fist. In a split second he turned towards Luca with wide eyes. Luca stared back and stretched out his hand.
"Alberto. . ."
Alberto turned away in fear as Ercole recovered from his second punch, readying his fists. Giulia screamed from the wall opposite Luca as Alberto ducked out of the way, instead using his height to an advantage to send a fist flying into Ercole's chest.
Ercole recoiled with a low shout of fury as he grabbed his chest in pain, taking a moment to breathe as he fought through the pain, just as Luca had earlier. He couldn't believe it. Alberto was winning. He had successfully sent three punches towards Ercole, dodging the fists that flew towards him. In hindsight, Luca wasn't as surprised. Without Guido and Ciccio to back Ercole up, Ercole was truly nothing. He could only ever hurt someone who was smaller and weaker, like Luca. But Alberto had someone to fight for.
Luca turned his gaze to Giulia, who was wiping away the blood streaming from her nose. She made eye contact with Luca. . . and smiled. She outstretched her arm and pointed to the wall to Luca's right. Luca followed her finger to see through the still clearing dust. The vespa Alberto and Giulia broke in with, Ercole's vespa, was on the ground, bits of white wood from the door scattered over the cellar. Luca hadn't had the time to notice until now. This meant-
Luca looked up at the doorway. The door was completely destroyed. Only a small bit of wood connected to a broken hinge swung in the breeze coming through the door. Luca could escape. He looked up at Giulia with newfound excitement.
Giulia looked back at him with a confident smile and gave a small nod. Luca watched carefully as Giulia pointed to her, then at the vespa, and out towards the door. Was she saying- were they going to ride the vespa away? Luca wasn't completely sure. He opened his mouth to call to her, but Giulia put a finger to her lips.
Wait, she mouthed towards Luca. Luca gave an understanding nod as she got up to her knees and crawled past Ercole and Alberto, who were in the middle of a full on fight. Alberto had launched a fist towards Ercole's nose, who had successfully dodged it as he ducked and sent a kick towards Alberto's stomach. Alberto recoiled just in time to avoid getting hit.
"You're not as strong when you're alone, aren't you?!" Alberto shouted as he sent another fist flying towards Ercole's chest.
He made contact, but it wasn't particularly powerful as Ercole didn't need time to recover. Instead, he growled in anger as he attempted to punch Alberto in the side of his face. Alberto stepped to the side just in time as Ercole's fist collided with the stone wall with an audible crack.
The room seemed to go silent as Ercole shakily pulled back his hand, blood streaming down his wrist from his mangled knuckles. Alberto looked up in terror as Ercole examined his wound with wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing. Alberto took Ercole's momentary pain to his advantage as he lifted his leg, kicking Ercole in the stomach, sending him to the floor. As Ercole made contact with the ground, the swiss army knife in his back pocket clattered as it flew out onto the stone.
"Now listen to me!" Alberto screamed as he stepped over Ercole, sending his fist straight down into Ercole's chest.
Ercole gave a low grunt as he was hit, and lifted his arms to shield his face, cowering under Alberto.
"You will never lay a hand on Luca again, you hear me?!" Alberto shouted, panting in anger as he looked over Ercole's cowering body. "You're a monster. You're sick!"
Luca looked down in front of him to see Ercole's army knife lying lonely on the floor, the light red of it's handle contrasting with the dried blood from Luca's wound. Luca reached out to grab it with a painful tug at his ribs.
"Do you hear me!?" Alberto screamed into Ercole's face as he bent down. "You're the disgusting one! I won't let you get away with what you did to him."
Luca abandoned reaching for the army knife, as it hurt too much to push his body to its limit. Instead, he continued staring at Ercole on the ground, quivering in fear from Alberto's punches. It. . . was strange. It was strange to Luca that Ercole had only taken a couple punches, none of which even seemed to leave a mark, and yet he was cowering on the floor like Luca had not long before.
In fact, this triggered a fury in Luca that he hadn't had the time to feel before. An inexplicable anger rose through him as he watched Ercole pathetically whimper underneath Alberto. How dare he shake in pain when Luca never got the chance? After every beating Luca suffered through, he always got up. He always fought back. Ercole had suffered nothing compared to Luca, and yet he was the one trembling on the floor.
Then, something in his mind clicked. A strange, gut feeling entered his head as he started to make sense of the situation. Ercole couldn't possibly be on the ground after that. Wouldn't he have recovered? Luca didn't want to undermine Alberto's strength, but something about the way Ercole had fallen to the ground so quickly seemed. . . off. It reminded him of Ercole's behavior when he gave Luca a break in between beatings to regain his strength. In a flicker of understanding, Luca knew what Ercole was doing. His heart began to beat as he searched for the words to scream as he watched Alberto lean over Ercole, trying to see if Ercole was truly hurt.
"ALBERTO!" Luca screamed, feeling his vocal chords strain at the effort he put into his words. "I don't think he's- it's a trick! Alberto, get away from him! He's not actually-!"
Alberto barely had the time to look up in confusion before Ercole reached up and grabbed Alberto's shirt, pulling him to the ground. Luca was right.
It had all been a trick.