"Tessa, please say something."
Her eyes were still wide open, completely blank and her neck dangled strangely. Her face had completely paled and she was awfully still that Dante felt as though he was witnessing death for the first time again. He was too frightened to even touch her, feeling as though the only sanity he had left.
"You're not dead, you're not dead."
For years, he had barely even focused on her. When she decided to completely erase herself from the family, change her name and alienate herself from Draco, she had at least kept in touch with Dante—although he had begged. Draco had sent Dante to murder her, but instead, he found her and embraced her into his arms. They had gone through rough patches and it hadn't been perfect, but he could still recall countless times he sobbed into her arms and she never brought it up.
"Tessa, you're my little sister," his eyes swelled as he choked, "you can't be dead.
"Tessa...is...dead?" Dante didn't even turn around as he heard Reno's quivering voice nearby. As if this had caused Reno's mental sanity to break, he burst into blood curdling screams, falling backwards and crawling as far as he could, only to be stopped by a nearby tree trunk. His back slammed, but his shouts didn't stop, gripping his scalp as he thought of both the dead bodies of Lori and Tessa. They had never expected to lose anyone, especially not this quickly. Nothing had been going according to plan and there was only the two of them that had to face this monster.
The loud booming cackles of their father surfaced, blurring away their cries and screams. Even though his presence was heavy and engulfed them, Dante couldn't peel his eyes away from the corpse of his sister. As for Reno, every time he blanked, the horrifying images were bold and vivid that he felt as though he would faint. It was no surprise that a few seconds later, he leaned to the side and vomited.
"On your feet, boys." His father rolled up his sleeves with a murderous grin curling his lips. "I've trained you for years, you've endured the most atrocious pains. This is no way of leaving this world," he antagonized, bending his knees slightly and lifting his fists. "I am honoured to have this fight to the death."
Was this really happening? Had they always been doomed from the start? What were they thinking? What had motivated them to think that they stood any chance against his beast? He wasn't even human; how had he not only survived the rocket but sent it flying back? Dante felt as if his whole world was collapsing, as if an earthquake was being flipped upside down right in front of his sight and there was nothing he could do.
There was no sign of Lucius, Jules, Jake, and most importantly, the love of his life that he had promised a future, Nate. This meant...he swallowed hard, lowering his head and resting his elbows on his knees. His fate was sealed; the chances of him leaving this battle alive were slim to none. They had never talked about this happening, but one thing was certain; he was definitely going to die by a brawl.
Finally, after numerous long exhales, he slowly pushed himself to his feet and faced his father. For a moment, his legs quivered and he could barely stand, but he had to, because he needed to avenge his family. He stepped past Tyler's body and lifted his fist towards his father. The entire world around them seemed to have blurred completely as he stared within the golden gaze of the one who had raised him.
It had been an adventure of trauma and hurt within his care, endless bashing and destroying, losing their sense of humanity and taught not to love since emotions was a path to their demise. He had forced them to kill when they were children, to kill other people their own age, to kidnap and torture, to prove that they could continue in his footsteps set in stone since before Draco's birth.
But enough was enough.
Dante's squeezed his fists terribly tight that his nails dug inside his palms. He was going to choose his own future and form his own path, and that path was filled with love and care and compassion and empathy. And he was going to be a better human than his father ever could or would ever be, and that was why he lifted his dagger as he tightened into his fighting stance.
With his teeth gritted, he glared towards his father as he hissed, "Bring it on."
His first move was to leap forward and fake a tackle, heading for the ankles first. His father didn't even move, and as Dante changed his attack's direction and tried to stab him in the gut, Draco laughed and purposely placed his hand there, the knife stabbing through his palm. He began to bleed all over the blade, and Dante was taken aback that he failed to dodge the punch that was directed into his cheekbone. As he stumbled towards the side, his father roared as he pulled the knife from his palm and wiped his hand, as if the blood was mere dust that meant nothing to him.
He threw the knife over his shoulder with a smirk. "You lost your knife, now what?"
This wasn't looking good but Dante wasn't ready to give up. The only image crossing his mind was of the blue eyed boy that had taken hold of his heart; he would make certain that Nate's death wasn't in vain. "You're dying today," he snarled. Dante again rushed forward, his fist aimed directly at the ribs of Draco. He thought Draco would at least attempt to block it, but Draco did not move again. Instead, he let Dante's knuckles collide with his ribs, and with the force behind the attack and the crack that resounded when it hit, Dante was certain that Draco was hurt.
However, Draco again burst into laughter as he swiftly griped Dante by his face with one hand. "Who did you say was dying today?" As Dante attempted to resist against his grasp, slamming his fist into Draco's wrist, one punch straight into his stomach was followed by a yelp by Dante, who felt his brain spasm and he ceased to defend himself. He lost complete focus for a moment. "I can tell you who's dying today, and I'm not one of them."
Draco's palm was pressed against Dante's face, his thumb on one cheek and the other fingers on the other side and Dante was being held in the air by his jaw. As Draco shifted his body, Dante didn't realize what he was doing until he heard a loud high-pitch shriek from below him. That was when he noticed that Draco's foot was planted on Eleanor's head. They had planned for this, they had trained for months, only to be killed one by one.
Dante felt his heart pound against his chest.
"Draco, I'll do anything!" Eleanor cried pleadingly, unable to push his boot from over her head. She felt the pressure slowly increase and her vision was starting to grow blurry. "I'll be your wife, I'll bare your children, I'll be at your service whenever you need, please have mercy on me."
"I don't have any use for you and to be honest, you're not any good," he snorted, seeing Eleanor begin to squirm under his foot as she attempted to push it apart. When she realized that the weight was merely increasing, regardless of her resistance, a deafening scream echoed along the forest as she begged for mercy.
"I'll do anything, Draco! Please, I don't want to die. I don't want to die, I don't want to—"
Crunch.
His weight had crushed her skull. In barely a split second, her screams halted and her resistance ceased. But that wasn't enough for Draco who lifted his foot and slammed it down again, another crunch as the blood splattered through her eye sockets and nostrils, leaking along her lips as it tried any way to escape the pressure from his hits. Dante, who was immobile from Draco's grasp, couldn't do anything but whimper, his eyes filling with tears as he heard the death of Eleanor. As he had expected, he was still much weaker than Draco—there was nothing any of them could do.
"Three down," he yawned. "Five more to go."
Reno had fallen into hysteria on the side and the two other people that had been there with them were already dead. And now, Draco had a harsh grasp on Dante and there was no way Dante was going to escape this; they were doomed. All Dante could do at this moment was let the tears leave his eyes and crawl along Draco's palm on his face. He wept, thinking of the silly argument they had moments ago and wishing he had at least made amends before this. He hadn't expected any of them to die and he wished he could have hugged them one last time.
His hope was gone, but that was only make Draco laugh louder and louder. "I can't believe you all thought you could ambush me." His path shifted; he was now directed towards Reno. "I'll be honest; I had no idea you would all try to kill me, but at least have a better plan. Even after all this training, you are all still weak, frail and emotionally soft."
"Stop complaining, we're just getting started."
Draco's eyes gleamed when he heard the voice of an opponent that wasn't there moments ago. This was finally someone that would give him a bit of fun; Lucius seemed much more confident and determined than the last time they fought.
Lucius smirked. "You didn't think I'd be prepared for this." Jake, Jules and Nate were around him; they were all alive. Lucius then pointed to the one Draco had in his palm and spat, "I don't care about these two, they were a nuisance, but I care about the one you're holding, so put him down before I make you put him down."
***
A few moments ago...
"This parka is made with nomex fiber. No fire or flames can get through it."
His gas mask was the only thing that peeked through the smoke as he began shoving the debris away from around Nate. Luckily, there weren't much fire around this area, but the heat was definitely boiling him alive. As he pushed enough debris to free Nate, his eyes shifted to the protruding legs of Lori with his upper body crushed under a huge metallic boulder.
Blood pooled around him and even though he had seen these sights countless times, it still caused his eyes to darken a bit. They were all starting to get accustomed to one another and Lori didn't deserve to die, not in this way. His attention returned to Nate; he was surprised since Nate didn't have any injuries. A few cuts here and there and his hand had been burned a bit, but nothing alarming. "The only thing that hurt was the blast," he explained to Nate, "but if I was to die from that, then what the hell was all this training for?"
Nate hadn't even realized that he was freed from the debris surrounding him since his eyes were stuck on Lori's crushed body. If Lori hadn't moved him out of the way, that would've been him under all those debris. Luckily, not much had even touched him, not even a glaze of fire, and he couldn't stop thinking that he should have been the one to have died. Lori had sacrificed himself and he couldn't think of a reasonable answer to that; why had he given up his life to rescue Nate?
The only reason Nate's mind had shifted elsewhere was when he felt the gloved fingers of Lucius turn his chin. Then, he felt a mask being placed over his face and Lucius began coughing as tightened the strap around the back of Nate's head. When Nate realized what it was, he began resisting, attempting to tear it off and hand it back to him.
"Nathan," Lucius reached for his wrist, trying to stop him but feeling his body grow weaker from the carbon monoxide he was inhaling at large. "Stop it, I'm fine." His deep gagging coughs proved otherwise.
Nate still resisted. "No, I'm not letting another person lose their lives because of me."
"Stop being stubborn, I'm not going to die." He gripped the sides of the gas mask and tightened the straps again. "We don't have time to argue or else we'll all die. If you don't want to wear it then fine, but we can't waste another second, the fire is closing in on us." Just as he said that, debris collapsed right beside them, close enough that it grazed across Nate's arm. Both of them stumbled to the side, feeling the burning fire grow closer and closer.
"You grab onto Jules," Lucius coughed alarmingly as he reached for someone else on the ground. "I have this one." It was only when Lucius pulled him over his shoulder that Nate realized who it had been and he felt as if he was going to puke from the injuries this person suffered. Jake was conscious, moaning in agony with one of his legs missing; it had been blown off from the rocket's explosion. He was definitely going to bleed out if they didn't reach a hospital anytime soon, it was a miracle that he was even still awake. "Let's go, Nathan! Hurry up!"
Nate finally noticed Jules at Lucius' feet and pulled him over his shoulder. The side of Jules face had definitely been burned a bit from how red and swollen it was, and when Nate finally grabbed a good hold of him, he followed Lucius towards the exit. "We're close to the exit but the flames might get you."
However, a thought crossed Nate's mind and Lucius noticed his eyes widened. "Have you seen Dante?"
Lucius was hoping Dante wasn't going to be mentioned. He hadn't seen him anywhere, and all he could do was hope that Dante had gotten out already, along with Eleanor and Tyler. But there was also a chance that they had also been crushed under debris. Instead of worrying Nate, he decided to lie; he had no idea what Nate would do if he told him the truth. "Dante's fine," he said firmly, "he's already outside. We need to go."
"You saw him head outs—"
Another set of debris fell behind them.
That was enough to make Nate's lips seal as he began followed the running Lucius. They sidestepped burning pieces, leaped over flames, almost were crushed by further debris before storming past the fire at the entrance and finally getting a breath of fresh air. The first breath was painful, three of them starting to cough in distress as Nate removed his mask. They reached far enough from the door to where they felt safe, and Lucius lowered Jake onto the grass.
He examined his wound, noticing that the bleeding had calmed itself down, partially because parts of it had been cauterized from the flames. "You'll be fine, you hear me?" He motioned towards Nate to approach him and Nate removed his own jacket, handing it to Lucius who wrapped it around Jake's leg in a tourniquet knot. "After I'm done killing Draco, I'm bringing you to the hospital, so you better stay awake."
Lucius noticed that Jake began to cough, as if attempting to say something but feeling much too weak to even vocalize a coherent words. He leaned in, bringing his ear close to Jake's lips, hearing the alarmingly quiet exhales of Jake. "I'm listening," he urged.
"I know I'm burnt to a crisp," he heard very quietly that he leaned closer to make out the words, "but I have to say, I think I'm in love with you Lucius...you're just too fucking sexy." Although Lucius tried to hide it, he couldn't help but gulp at that compliment, a bit of giddiness overwhelming his stomach. For a second, he lost himself, his mind focusing on every exhales of Jake as if it was a soothing breeze that cooled the side of his face; he felt his cheeks grow warm.
However, their attention was averted when they heard a booming loud voice growl, "I can't believe you all thought you could ambush me. I'll be honest; I had no idea you would all try to kill me, but at least have a better plan. Even after all this training, you are all still weak, frail and emotionally soft."
That was when they finally took hint of the scenery they were forced to face. Nate stepped backwards in distraught when he noticed the body of Tyler on the ground, then the wide foot pressed against Eleanor's skull that seemed to have exploded from the inside. Nate felt as though he would like when he noticed how her eyes that gushed out of her face; even though he despised her, none of them deserved such radical death. However, he felt his entire world go completely grey when he saw the hanging legs of Dante as Draco held him in the air.
He was seconds from crying out to him when Lucius took the lead, putting his arm in front of Nate as he shouted, "Stop complaining, we're just getting started."
The mere look on Draco's face made Nate flinch; he had never seen him this way before. Oddly enough, it seemed as though Draco had gotten much taller, and the radiant bloodthirsty smile along his face revealed that he did not intend to let them leave this place alive, not after this ambush. Even worst, he definitely relished this, as if he had known this would eventually happen and he had been looking forward to this. Lucius did not seem at all phased by the golden piercing gaze of Draco that stared at them as if they were easy preys to devour.
"You didn't think I'd be prepared for this." Lucius scoffed towards Tyler and Eleanor, "I don't care about these two, they were a nuisance. But," he motioned towards Dante and hissed, "I care about the one you're holding, so put him down before I make you put him down."